The next morning, Doyle and Xander snuck into Angel's office. They heard movement from downstairs and went to see if Angel was up yet. Instead they found Cordy sitting at the table brushing her hair out after a shower. She jumped up with a squeal when she saw Xander.

"Xander, I'm so glad you came."

"Yeah, me too." Xander gave her a quick hug.

"Did you stay with Doyle last night?" Cordy went back to the table, sitting down and looking into the hand held mirror she had taken out of her purse. Turning to Xander, she asked him, "Would you hold this for me? The man doesn't own a mirror. Like it'd kill him to not see himself."

Xander had to laugh as he took the mirror and held it up for her. Seemed like old times. "In answer to your question, before the ranting of the non mirror man, yes, I stayed with Doyle last night. And I take it you spent the night with Angel?"

Before Cordelia could answer him, Angel walked into the room wearing nothing but a pair of black silk boxers and a red bathrobe which was hanging away from his tall, lean form. Both men's eyes widened at the sight. One thing you had to say about Angel, Xander thought, he was one fine looking man.

Angel acted like he didn't even notice the men who were so openly ogling him. He walked straight for Cordelia, appearing slightly annoyed. "You got peanut butter on the bed." And with that he held out his hand, showing her the peanut butter on it.

"Really?" Cordelia asked innocently. "I don't think so." Angel gave her a glare. "I'll look." She got up and crossed the floor to Angel's bedroom as Doyle stared at Angel.

"No, no, no, no, no. Angel, man how could you? Come on, you knew I was crazy about her and I was wearing her down too, but no, handsome, brooding vampire guy has to swoop in all sensitive mouth and overhanging forehead. How about leaving some scraps for the homely looking fellas that don't turn evil when they get some."

"Cordelia stayed over because there's something wrong with her place. I was on the sofa." Angel explained to Doyle as he walked off. Xander felt sorry for Doyle. He knew what it was like to be crazy about someone and have Angel come in and snatch them up.

The moment was broken when Cordelia re-entered the room. "Angel, at some point in recent history you got peanut butter on the bed, and it's gross. I think you're going to have to change the sheets."

"I don't eat," Angel retorted.

"Well, I don't even want to know how it got there," Cordelia raised her arms in the air in a gesture of defeat.

Angel left the room and everything was quiet. Then Doyle asked Cordelia, "Listen, I was wondering if anybody called lately maybe asking about me, or maybe asking for my address."

"Oh, yeah, yesterday your cousin called with one of those names from your part of England."

"My part of England?"

"And how exactly did you get such great SAT scores in high school Cordy? Even a high school lame brain like me knows Doyle is Irish."

"Well, they never had any questions on the SAT's about accents now did they?"

Xander thought about that one and finally gave up. "No, I guess not."

"Did he find you?" Cordelia asked Doyle.

"Yeah, he did alright. But you see a little warning might have been nice, give a guy a chance to neaten up the place you know." Doyle chastened Cordy.

"Geez, I only helped the guy as a favor to you," Cordelia looked annoyed. "Maybe next time I won't bother." She stood up and started to walk away.

"Well, it's not like you even have to pick up the phone. You left your friend Aura hanging." Doyle was wound just a little too tight, Xander noticed. He didn't know whether it was because of the demon last night or finding Cordelia with Angel this morning. Both were equally disturbing.

Whatever was bothering Doyle, he had put Queen C in a bad mood. "Well, here's an idea. How about you make a list for me of people you're too good to talk to." She snapped, putting her coffee cup on the table and looking at him haughtily. Xander knew that expression all too well. He had seen it directed at himself many times before.

"Hey, guys please don't argue. It's not a big deal...the phone stuff I mean...well it's just that I came to visit to get away from arguing only to walk into arguing. Maybe it's time for me to head back to the mo...more quieter confines of Doyle's place, Xander amended quickly. "I can get scenes like this at home." He stood to leave but was stopped by Angel. "What's going on?"

"Nothing just..." Xander couldn't finish his sentence, instead looking down at the floor.

Angel glanced at Doyle. "You have a bruise on your hand." He appeared concerned.

Xander thought that now might be a good time to distract the vampire. He knew that Angel would want to know where Doyle got the bruise and that Doyle wasn't ready to tell him. "Oh, man Angel look there's a wet towel on your leather chair. That is so not good."

The tactic worked like a charm. Seemed Xander knew Angel better than he thought. The vampire looked at Cordelia with annoyance who then turned that look on Xander before she gave Angel a sweet smile. Angel picked up the towel and after one final glance at Doyle, he turned and left the room.

"Thanks a lot, you saved me there buddy," Doyle said gratefully as he sidled over to Xander's side.

"Yeah, did you see the look Queen C gave me? You owe me big time buster." Xander said with a smile. "Let's find something to do."

"I thought you came to talk to me," Cordelia said with a pout.

"I did Cordy, but Doyle promised to show me the sights, didn't you Doyle."

"Yeah, I did," Doyle said following Xander's lead and guiding him to the stairs. "Tell Angel we'll be back later." And with that the two men were gone.

A few hours and quite a few beers later, the two men arrived back at the apartment. They were shocked to see Cordelia taking a knife to Angel's kitchen linoleum. Xander couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. He was going to vamp out big time when he saw this.

"What are you doing?" Doyle asked the girl with a smile.

Cordelia was acting as if she had just been caught breaking into Fort Knox. "I just...um...I just wanted to see if he had hardwood floors under here, you know. I might be here awhile."

Doyle noticed Cordy's trophies lining Angel's mantle place. "The things you learn. I had no idea Angel was 'Queen of the Winter Ball'."

Cordelia looked up at Doyle and Xander noticed a touch of sadness in her eyes. "Those are mine."

"Hey, Cordy did you keep those antlers you won in that contest?" Xander asked, trying to cheer her up.

"What are you talking about Xander?" Cordelia was truly baffled.

"Don't you remember, 5th grade, little song and dance you know...Be my deputy." Xander replied, holding his hands up to his ears like a deer.

"Shut up, Xander," she said, her smile giving her away. She did remember, she just hadn't expected Xander to remember. She went back to cutting on Angel's tile while she tried to distract them from what they had been talking about earlier. Something was clearly wrong with this picture. Xander thought he would never see the day when Cordy didn't want to talk about all her achievements.

"Your high school diploma is all burned," Doyle noticed.

Xander and Cordelia remembered the fear and loss that surrounded their graduation. They had lost so many people that day. "Yeah, it was a rough ceremony." Cordelia told Doyle.

"Would we expect anything else?" Xander asked her. "A graduation befitting the Hellmouth on which we lived."

"Yep, there it is my whole life pre-here," Cordelia told Doyle sadly. "Five trophies with some of the shiny worn off."

"Hey, I'm offended," Xander tried to appear as hurt as possible as he teased Cordelia. "Where are the pictures of me and you? If I was locker door material, then surely I deserve to be on a mantle too."

"I told you back then that you were barely locker door material," Cordelia teased back, coming out of her funk. "You didn't make the mantle brigade."

"Damn, I knew it was too good to be true." Xander and Cordelia laughed and hugged each other. Doyle was once again amazed by this young man. Here Xander was, being shunned by his life-long friends over a confession about something he did a couple of years ago, coming here to get some respite only to be held hostage by a demon who was looking for someone he had just met, but yet even through all that, he had managed to make Cordelia laugh for the first time that day. Just then, Angel came down the stairs calling out to him, "Doyle, you down here?"

"There you are," Angel said as he got to the bottom of the stairs. "There's a big guy here to see you. I’ll tell him you'll be right up."

"Okay, that's great," Doyle said nervously looking at Xander. Angel followed his gaze but Xander's face gave nothing away. Xander thought that Doyle must have lost his money playing poker because boy was he lousy at poker-face. As soon as Angel headed up the stairs, Doyle took off running out the other door. Xander took off after him, leaving a stunned Cordelia behind.

As he turned a corner trying to keep up with Doyle, he smashed right into the guy. Looking past him to see what had stopped his retreat, he saw Angel standing there nonchalantly leaning against the wall.

"You know it's not nice to trick people," Doyle admonished Angel.

"Uh, oh...busted. I could have told you that he knew," Xander explained to his new friend. "Come on, you suck at poker face."

"You going to tell me what's going on?" Angel asked Doyle, ignoring Xander.

"Well, if he won't tell you invisible boy will," Xander said with a hurt tone. At the look Doyle threw him, he just shrugged his shoulders and added, "I know I promised I wouldn't tell but come on, Doyle. You can't run forever. Besides, Angel already knows something's up. Might as well tell him so he can help." He turned back to Angel. "In a nutshell, apartment, pissed off, strong demon, owes money, dresser drawer, boys run.""So you're telling me that there was a big demon in Doyle's apartment last night waiting for him. He grabbed you and demanded money from Doyle that Doyle owes him or someone else. He threatened to kill you because he was mad over the money. Doyle hit him with a dresser drawer and you two ran away?" Angel asked Xander with a smile on his face. He knew that Doyle would be surprised to find out that Angel could actually talk Xander-speak.

He turned to face Doyle who was standing between him and Xander with his mouth wide open. "Oh, come on Doyle. I can understand him. We've known each other for almost four years now. I've been around him and his gang long enough to think like them and come to think of that, that idea is very scary." He and Xander laughed as Doyle filled them in on what they knew about the demon.

"You don't even know who this demon is collecting for?" Angel asked Doyle when he was finished with his story.

"Alright, look, here's how it works. I owe some people, other people owe me. I do a favor for some guy and the debt goes away. It's a system of checks and balances." Doyle explained.

"And some of your checks didn't balance."

"Well, it will work out," Doyle told Angel with false hope in his voice. "It just takes a little diplomacy. The kind of thing you're so good at actually. Hey, maybe you wouldn't mind taking a crack at it."

"Angel is diplomatic? Since when?" Xander interrupted. He thought for a minute. "Gee, who would have thunk it? I would have expected more of a crush, kill kind of method myself."

"If all else fails," Angel told him before turning to Doyle. "We all have problems. This is about priorities and at the moment, I have a bigger one than you do."

"Bigger than a Kaileff demon?"

"Much. I'm thinking you can help me with mine and maybe I can help you with yours."

Doyle seemed worried. "I don't know man. I mean what's your problem exactly because you know vampire business is ---"

"Think Doyle," Xander interrupted. When Doyle just stared at him, Xander rolled his eyes. "Cordelia, Angel's apartment, peanut butter, wet towel. Ring a bell?"

Doyle's eyes widened. "Oh, you want me to find Cordelia a new place so that she'll move out of yours. Did I get it right?"

Angel smiled at the half demon. "See Xander-speak is not that hard to pick up. Find Cordelia an apartment and I'll deal with your demon."

"With the help of me." Angel turned to look at Xander, ready to tell the boy that he didn't need his help with the demon but the determined look on Xander's face stopped him. “Look, I want to help Doyle and besides, I know how to handle demons much better than I do Cordy. They're more predictable."

"Alright. But you let me do the handling, got it?"

"Oh, yeah, sure" Xander promised him with an enthusiastic smile.

Angel motioned for Xander to follow him and muttered under his breath, "Why don't I believe you?"

"I don't know. Maybe you have reason to." Xander said softly, but Angel heard him anyway.

While Doyle was taking Cordy out to show her some apartments his contacts had told him about, Angel and Xander headed to Doyle's apartment in silence. After a while the boy spoke up.

"I know why you're helping Doyle, Angel. It's not just about getting Cordelia out of your apartment, although that is a bonus. You care about him and you knew he wouldn't accept your help without thinking he was helping you, right?"

"That's no secret Xander. He's my friend, he's my link to the PTB."

"Link to the who? Who is the PTB?"

"They're higher beings that send visions to Doyle so that they can guide me to people who need my help."

"Oh, hey that's cool. But why do you act like you're just helping Doyle to get something in return? You must never have had many friends in your life because you sure don't know how to let people know that you care about them."

"Maybe my relationship skills do need a little work," Angel conceded.

"That's putting it mildly."

"I hate getting close to people. They get killed or they die of old age and I have to go on living. It's not very fun."

"I never thought about it that way. I guess that would be a bitch." Xander thought for a minute. "Is that why you only came around the gang when you needed to tell us what was going on or staying just long enough to help, cause I got to tell you I was thinking of getting a little bell to put around your neck so we could keep up with you."

"I never wanted to get close to any of you. It was enough that I had fallen in love with a slayer knowing their life expectancy. But three kids and a librarian living on a Hellmouth? I didn't really expect any of you to last very long. I certainly underestimated everyone."

"Yeah, you did. See, there's that upbeat guy I knew in Sunnydale," Xander said sarcastically. "Seriously, I know I made it easy for you not to like me and even though I love Giles, he can be kinda boring. However, you can't tell me that you didn't at least care for Willow and Cordy. I mean, Cordy is still hanging with you. And what can you say about Willow? No one can stay around her for more than a minute or two without wanting to cuddle her, she's that loveable."

"You're right on all counts, except I did come to care about allof you." Xander looked at him in shock. "What? Yes, Giles has a tendency to put you to sleep with his lectures and you could be a real pain in my ass, but you are both good men. How could I not care when you took such good care of Buffy? Besides, I didn't make it easy on you either, Xander. The jealousy went both ways, you know."

"I'm sure you were jealous of me," Xander snorted. "I'm all 'boy with big mouth, bad clothes and no coordination or fighting skills who kept getting in the way' and you're 'big, bad ass, strong, handsome, broody guy who saves the day'. I could see how you would be intimidated by me."

"You were more than that to Buffy and you still are. You were someone she could count on to be by her side in a fight, who could make her laugh even when she was scared or hurt and would be there to give her a shoulder to cry on when she needed it. Plus, you got to be with her all the time. The sun sort of limited my time with her."

"Thanks for saying that Angel. It means a lot to me, really. Still, I didn't hear you disagree with my description of me," Xander said, smiling at the vampire.

"I was hoping you wouldn't notice that. I mean you did talk a lot back then, still do, only now I enjoy it more. And we both know your clothes were well - how do I describe them? Colorful?" Angel smiled back.

"I just had my own style back then. It was a cross between garage sale grunge and Dollar Store dress style. That's all I could afford and besides it was comfortable."

The two men sat quietly for a few minutes. Xander was embarrassed that he had actually told Angel the truth about his clothes and Angel was beginning to see that there must have been more in Xander's childhood to put that sad look on the boy's face, than merely the way he had dressed. Before he could ask Xander about it the door opened and the Kaileff demon appeared in the doorway. The demon didn't have a chance to make a move before Angel rushed him, already in vamp face. Angel threw himself into the fight and soon had the demon pinned up against the wall with his arm held firmly behind his back.

"My name's Angel, what's yours?"

"Screw you," came the reply.

Angel grabbed the demon by the collar and rammed his head into the wall once again. "My name's Angel, what's yours?" he asked again. Not getting a reply he butted the demons head against the wall. Finally realizing he couldn't get away from the vampire, the demon gritted out, "Griff."

"Good start. Who do you work for?"

"He never gave me his card." Now Angel was really angry. He threw the demon on the ground, jumping on top of him. "I don't know his name," Griff told Angel when he saw the enraged look on the vampire's face. "He gets his orders to me."

"You can get a message back to him?" Angel asked in a not so nice way.

"Yeah," Griff nodded his head up and down. Angel picked him up off the floor and threw him against the wall making sure it was the one furthest from Xander.

"You're letting me go?" Griff asked the vampire in shock.

"No, I'm letting you up," Angel clarified. "You were sent to collect from Doyle?"

"At first. But I'm not seeing any money. So now Doyle gets dead. A message for the others."

"And your boss never gets his money. Pretty expensive message when you add whatever he's paying you to do the job."

"My fees are very competitive." Griff looked offended.

"I can get Doyle to pay you the money, you have my guarantee."

"I saw what I saw right?" Griff asked. He knew that he had seen this guy turn into a vampire earlier when they were fighting. "You're a vampire. How come you're helping some demon half breed and a scrawny little human?" he gestured towards Xander.

Angel had a look on his face that Xander had seen many times in Sunnydale when some demon had threatened Buffy or one of the gang. He knew Griff was in for a world of hurt as Angel stalked towards him.

"It's a good offer, you should take it." Angel said in a tone that meant Griff better take the offer before he killed him. "On the other hand you're making me want to fight some more. You touch that boy again, or do anything to hurt Doyle, hell you even look at either of them cross-eyed and it'll be the last thing you do. See, when I fight you - well let's just say you get lucky, you might just last 10 minutes, really lucky and you're unconscious for the last five."

Wow, Angel really was cool, Xander thought listening to the vampire bully the now contrite demon.

"I've got nothing against the boy, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You get Doyle to pay and he's safe." Griff acted like he really had a choice when he knew from the look on the vampire's face that he would be lucky to even make it out of this room in one piece.

"Thanks," Angel replied. "Good meeting."

Griff took one last look at Angel and careful to avert his eyes from Xander, he ran from the room. When he was gone, Angel turned to Xander. "Ready to head out?"

"Yeah. Look, Angel I think what you did for Doyle just now was really great. I mean it was kinda cool watching that guy almost wet himself, he was so scared of you. But you didn't have to warn him off me. I can handle myself and also, I'm a man not a boy FYI." When Angel looked at him weird he said, "By FYI I don't mean 'Fuck You Idiot', I mean 'For Your Information'. Just clarifying that for you." Angel nodded as they left the apartment. "Angel, do you think you could teach me to fight like you, not so much like you but better than I already can?"

"You mean Giles or Buffy never offered to train you?" Angel was shocked when the boy shook his head no. "Maybe we can make time for it later on, that is if you're up to it." Xander looked much happier as they headed back to the office.

When Angel and Xander got back to the office, they were happy to find that things had worked out for Cordelia. She couldn't stop raving about her beautiful new apartment Doyle had found for her. Xander offered to help her move her things in and they had left soon afterwards. Now Angel found himself alone with Doyle. When his friend started questioning him about what had happened with Griff, Angel filled him in on their agreement and needless to say, Doyle was not a happy camper.

"I have to pay?" Doyle was asking Angel as he paced back and forth in the office. "Man, I should have just handled this myself. I mean, I don't have the money. And you can't get blood out of a stone."

"He can get blood out of you and let's not forget about Xander. Griff has seen him twice already and even though I warned him away from Xander, who's to say that he won't try to hurt him to get at you? Do you want that on your conscience?"

"Of course not." Doyle snapped. He liked the kid a lot and would try to kill anything that touched him. He had a feeling by the expression on Angel's face that he felt the same way. Was Angel beginning to have feelings for Xander? Well, he knew that old saying that the line between love and hate was very fine. He was brought out of his thoughts by Angel's voice.

"There's a price on your head, Doyle. They weren't even looking for money anymore."

Doyle knew he was being too hard on Angel. He had done the best he could for him. "Thanks, man, you probably saved my life."

"Can I ask you something?" Doyle nodded. "Why do you want to live like this?"

"Well, why not live like this, I mean what's wrong with it?" He watched as Angel shook his head and looked down at the floor. Yes, it was definitely disappointment. "Yeah, well, I guess it's the kind of life that keeps your expectations from getting too high. Seems like you'd understand that."

"I do. I just don't know why that's important to you. This sort of life just kind of picked me. You don't have to do it this way. What happened?"

Doyle was getting more upset by the minute. "Don't worry about it, okay? And things aren't all gloom in Doyle city. I mean there's bright spots like my new friendship with Xander and Cordelia. I mean she loves that new place so much. Speaking of which, I better go home and get some rest if we're going to go over there tomorrow and meet them. I bet Xander will be glad to see a friendly face after what Cordelia's probably put him through tonight with the moving in and all." Angel had made Xander stay with Cordelia to keep him safe from the demon in case it returned looking for Doyle.

"She can be a handful alright. I don't envy the poor kid, I mean man," Angel replied, smiling as he remembered Xander insisting on being called a man. It was hard for Angel to think of him like that though. I mean after all he was 260 years old, Xander was only what 18 or 19? Big difference there, yet Xander seemed to have the wisdom of someone much older than he was.

Doyle saw the smile that crept across the vampire's face when he mentioned Xander. Now this was getting interesting. "Something happen between you and Xander today?" When Angel looked at him uncertainly, he continued, "I mean when Xander first got here you were still at the not hate, but awkward stage and now you're smiling when you talk about him."

Angel thought for a minute before he tried to explain his feelings for Xander to Doyle. "Like I told him today, I was jealous of him when I lived in Sunnydale. Jealous because he could be with Buffy even during the day, because when she was down, he was always the one that could make her laugh. I couldn't do that. Not to mention, he was the only one of the Scoobies that would tell me what he thought whether I liked it or not. Even when I was Angelus. You know he was right when he said he had gotten lucky when I was Angelus. What's so amazing is the fact that he has no slayer or witch powers like his friends. He's a mortal. And yet he insists on fighting side by side with Buffy and the others, no matter what they go up against. Besides, the more time I spend with him the more I see what an amazing spirit he has. Now I know why Willow and Buffy love him so much."

"Yeah, I guess you do." Doyle had to admit that Angel was right, however, he couldn't help but feel jealous of his new friend. He had earned Angel's respect, something that Doyle felt he didn't have. He felt like he was a disappointment to Angel. And what about Cordelia? Would she want Xander back? Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to send him to Cordy's new place.

"Well, I'm glad that you're on his side because I know he was worried. Hell, he still is. He doesn't know whether the people in Sunnydale will ever forgive him and it's eating him up inside even though he doesn't say anything about it."

"We'll just have to make him feel welcome here," Angel stated firmly. "I hope that Buffy, Willow and Giles come to their senses and make up with Xander, but if they don't maybe we can persuade him to stay here and help us."

"Sounds like a plan." Doyle muttered as he left Angel's office. He wanted Xander to stay, cause he had come to like the boy but he was also a little jealous of Xander, too. He needed to get home to his bed where he could think through all the stuff that was running around in his head. Morning would come soon enough.

The next morning didn't come soon enough for Cordelia. She had awoken in the middle of the night to her radio alarm clock playing some weird oldies music. She had turned it off several times, only to have it start up again. When she had tried to turn her bedside lamp on it would not come on.

At first, she had been pissed off because she thought Xander had rigged this stuff up as a prank to scare her. She called out to him but he didn't answer. Then she remembered that he slept like the dead. It had always been hard for her to get him up for school when they were dating. She usually had to honk on the horn for half an hour before he would come out and by then the whole neighborhood was mad. She knew that he slept like that because he had learned at a very early age to tune out the loud rantings of his alcoholic family, or so he had told her when they were dating. Oh, well, she would get him good tomorrow. How dare he scare her on her first night in her beautiful apartment.

She had gone to lay down again only to see the water on her bedside table start to boil. How did he manage that? Then all of a sudden, her bed raised up and started floating in the air. That's when Cordelia knew that it wasn't Xander, but something else that was doing these things. Now she was scared. She had stayed huddled in her bed, hoping and praying that by some miracle Xander would awaken and come to check on her, but unfortunately he had slept through the night.

"I knew this was too good to be true, I just knew it." she said aloud. Maybe whatever was doing this would hear her and leave. "I'm from Sunnydale," she screamed at whatever it was. "You're not scaring me you know, you're not scaring me." All of the sudden her bed hit the floor with a thud.

Then there was a knock on the door and Xander was yelling, "Cordy, are you okay in there? What was that noise?"

"Xander, help me!" she screamed and Xander came rushing into her bedroom looking around for whatever monster or demon was attacking her. Seeing nothing, he came to her side, and she grabbed him and hugged him for all she was worth.

"Cordy, honey, what's wrong? What's going on in here?" Xander questioned her as he rubbed her back and tried to calm her down.

"I don't know. The radio came on and I turned it off and it kept turning back on. Then the light wouldn't come on. At first I thought you were trying to scare me, but then the water in the glass started boiling and then my bed raised up off the floor. It stayed like that all night until just now. That's the noise you heard." Cordelia was still shaking.

"Why didn't you yell for me?" Xander asked. After looking at her perturbed face, he gave her a small smile. "Oh, yeah, I forgot. I sleep like the dead. I am so sorry Cordy. I should have helped you, but I'm here now and we'll get rid of whatever it is together. I'll just go call Angel and Doyle and have them come over to help."

"No, don't you dare, Alexander Harris, " Cordelia snapped at him. When he gave her a questioning look she continued, "They'll try to make me leave and I'm not leaving this apartment. It's everything I've wanted since I moved here."

"Okay, take it easy, maybe we can figure this out. You don't suppose it's an invisible girl that you neglected, do you? Or what if it's...wait what did Giles call it? A poltergeist of some sort? Because we've beaten those before."

"Yeah, you're right. But wait a minute, Marcie was slashing my face and locking you, Giles and Willow in a room filled with gas until Buffy and Angel saved us. And the poltergeist was cast out by Willow, no wait a minute that's not right. The spell didn't work until Buffy and Angel went in and played those little roles remember? We didn't beat those things, Angel and Buffy did that."

"That may be true but we watched them do that. Maybe we learned enough to get rid of this on our own." Xander told her hopefully. "Look, if it is a ghost, we just have to find out why it's here and what it wants. If it wants us to play a part in it's ghostly saga, well, hey you're an actress."

"You're right. Then we can just make it leave." Cordelia was feeling much better now. "I'm going to go take a shower and get dressed. We have a ghost to kill."

"Cordy, ghosts are already dead. That's why we call them ghosts, remember?" Xander teased her. "But even if we do figure out how to get rid of this thing, we still have something else to worry about."

"What's that?"

"Don't you remember? Doyle said he and Angel would probably stop by today so Angel could see the apartment when it was finished."

"Damn, that's right, I'd forgotten. Listen you go call them, tell them we haven't finished yet or that I'm sick...I don't know tell them anything, just make sure they don't come here today."

"You got it. I'll go call them while you take your shower. But if anything weird happens, just yell and I'll come running." They looked at one another. "Oh, right there would be nakedness followed by extreme embarrassment. Okay. Just hurry up and get a shower as soon as you can and meet me in the living room when you're done. And don't worry, Cordy, we'll get rid of the little Casper."

With that being said, Xander made his way back out to the living room. He tried calling the office but Doyle and Angel had already left. There was no answer when he tried to call Angel's cell phone. Oh, boy, Cordy would not be happy about that. He sat down and tried to remember everything he could about that movie he had seen, 'Ghostbusters'. What had they done to get rid of their ghosts? Oh, yeah they used those little guns to suck the ghost in. Well, shit they didn't have any of those so he guessed they'd just have to think of some other way.

Xander was still sitting on the couch when Cordelia entered the living room. "Did you get hold of Doyle and Angel?" She asked nervously.

"Sorry, Cordy, they weren't in the office and Angel didn't answer his cell phone. I don't even think he had it turned on. But don't worry, I think ghosts are like vampires you know, they don't like the daytime either. Maybe nothing will happen while they're here."

"Let's hope not," she said as she made her way over to the chair sitting against the wall. She straightened it up and as she was walking away the chair moved back against the wall. They looked at each other and Cordelia once again moved the chair back out further from the wall. This time it wedged against the desk.

"You're right," Cordelia smiled at him. "It's just a naughty little ghost who likes to joke around."

"Right, something I aspire to be when I'm dead," Xander teased her. "We'll just have to show it who's boss won't we?" And with that he put the chair where Cordelia had originally put it and sat down, crossing his arms over his chest in determination. "Let's see you move it now, buster. I dare you." He said, looking around the room. When nothing happened, he looked at Cordelia with a smug smile of satisfaction on his face. "See, I told you we could handle this without any help."

Cordelia smiled back at him, sure that this nightmare was over. "Yeah, you're right we're practically pros at this. After all we are from Sunnydale."

"That's right," Xander was feeling his oats. "We showed this little boo-boo who was boss." Just as he said that the chair flew up throwing him into the wall as it came down with a crash splintering the leg off.

"Xander, are you alright?" Cordelia asked as she rushed over to help him up. Now Xander was really pissed.

"Ouch, that hurt you stupid little piece of ghost shit." He stood up next to Cordelia and looked around rubbing his head. "Look, I get knocked around enough by the living and the evil undead, not to mention my father. I sure as hell don't need to take any abuse from the unseen, evil dead." As he was talking he saw the curtain ropes winding around Cordelia's arm. "Cordy, look out behind you!" He yelled running to her only to be tripped up when the carpet rose up under his feet. Again, his face met the floor and he rolled to see Cordy jumping away from the windows. "Fuck off and stay the hell away from her," he yelled, getting to his feet.

Now Cordy was getting pissed. Who did this whatever think it was messing with her friend like that. No way was it going to run her out of her own apartment. "You know what, I get it, you're a ghost you're dead. Big accomplishment, move on. You see a light anywhere go towards it okay?"

"Uh, Cordy, I hate to interrupt that wonderful diatribe you had going there but you do realize that if this is an evil ghost it wouldn't be allowed to go into the light. That's for heaven only. They would be headed in the other direction." He stated pointing down to the floor.

Before Cordelia could reply a strong wind came through the apartment blowing pieces of packing paper all over the place. "Oooh, cold wind, scary. What are you going to do blow me to death?" Xander cleared his throat. "Forget I said that."

"Because that would be my line wouldn't it?" He asked innocently. When she gave him one of her patented Cordy looks he addressed the ghost. “You're messing up what I worked so hard to clean up yesterday. You must have been a slob in your former life. Bet you're a guy aren't you? Do you realize how hard it was to please this woman?" Xander added. When Cordelia gave him a dirty look, he said, "Well, it is."

Cordelia looked up and asked, "So scary. What else you got?" At the knock on the door, Cordelia and Xander both jumped. Then they heard Angel's voice. "Cordelia, Xander, you guys in there?"

"Not a word," She warned Xander as she went to answer the door. He made a lock and key gesture toward his mouth and then acted like he threw the key over his shoulder. Cordelia opened the door and saw Angel and Doyle standing there waiting to come inside. Angel held out something and said, "Cactus. It's a housewarming present."

"Um, hi...thanks," Cordelia stammered. As Doyle was about to enter she stopped him. "Look, I'm still getting it just the way I want it, but maybe in a day or two okay?"

Angel was eyeing Cordelia suspiciously. What was she trying to hide and why wouldn't she let them come in? Doyle stepped around her and walked inside. "The place looks great, you worry too much." He saw the shattered chair and shook his head. "I don't know what you got against that chair, though. What happened?"

Xander decided it was time to try to help Cordy. She was looking a little flustered. "The chair was my fault. That's what happens when you eat too much junk food, yessiree," he patted his perfectly lean stomach.

Angel and Doyle looked at the boy's body. Oh, sure there was muscle there but definitely no fat. Nothing that would make a chair fall down just because he sat on it. They looked at him with raised eyebrows and the boy flushed. "Would you believe I was practicing my martial arts?"

"I didn't know you practiced martial arts," Angel said skeptically, remembering the conversation the night before about Xander wanting help with his fighting skills.

"Oh, yeah, I'm just full of surprises," Xander laughed, striking a pose that was nothing near anything Angel had ever seen done in martial arts or anywhere else for that matter.

"I can see that," Angel looked at the boy, trying not to laugh. "Who's your teacher?"

"My teacher?" There was that nervous tone again. Yes, the boy was definitely up to something. "uh, uh, well it's an ancient Chinese secret." When Angel continued to look at him he continued, "Oh, alright, uh...I'll tell you...but only because you guys are friends *come on, Xander, work brain, work, you can do it*....my teacher was Master...Splinter."

Angel and Doyle exchanged amused glances. "You mean like on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?" Doyle teased.

Damn, busted. Who would have thought that Angel or Doyle either one would have watched that show. Well he could cover up that tiny mistake, couldn't he? "Yeah, as a matter of fact, they named that rat guy after my teacher...you know because he was really good and...and..oh because he sort of looked like a rat too...well from the side anyway." He babbled.

Cordelia noticed Angel was standing in the middle of the living room. "Wait, what about the rule, you know the one that says a vampire can't come in unless he's invited?"

"You said when you got a place I was completely invited over." Angel explained.

"What!" Cordelia shrieked. "I didn't even have a place then. These rules are getting all screwed up...oh, my God don't touch that!" she yelled when she saw Doyle grabbing the ropes to the curtains so he could shut the blinds.

"I'm just going to close these so our boss doesn't burst into flames," Doyle said.

Xander rushed over and grabbed them out of his hands. "I'll do that. She's really picky about how they're opened and closed...you know the pleats in the curtains have to be just so-so...and the ropes have to dangle just right...I practiced at this for like an hour last night, didn't I, Cordy?" he asked as he made a big show of closing the curtains and getting them just so. He stood by and gestured grandly at the windows when he was done. "Did I get them right, Queen C?" he teased.

"Yes, they look perfect. Thank you Xander," Cordy answered brightly.

Angel walked around the apartment looking it over. "It's nice. How about a tour?"

"Uh, huh, this is the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom," she said as she pointed at each room without moving. "And that's about it. Thanks for coming", she concluded cheerily. Just as she was finishing, Xander noticed a pair of scissors flying straight for Angel. He jumped up behind the vampire and snagged them in his hands, while Cordelia was talking to Angel. She looked at Xander and thanked him with a nod. Xander just sighed and went to put the scissors in a drawer, while Cordy and Angel walked off. As he opened the drawer, an outline of a face rose up from the bottom of the drawer. He slammed the door shut as Doyle and Angel turned to look at him.

"Looks like all that martial arts has made me stronger than I realized." He blurted out.

Cordelia ran over and stood next to him. "I bet you two want lunch, there's a place down the street---" before she could finish a trophy launched itself at Doyle. Before it could hit him in the head, Angel grabbed it as Doyle ducked away.

"Ooops, that thing's been doing that all morning, I think the mantle is uneven." She turned to look at Xander. "I thought I told you to fix that." she said raising her eyebrows at him, trying to get him to play along.

"Damn, I knew there was something I forgot. Well, we'll see you guys later, I have work to do...we both do...me and Cordy, Cordy and me...and I bet the PTB is sending you all kinds of visions to follow up on right, Doyle...don't let us keep you." Xander tried to stall.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to deter Doyle from the fact that a trophy had almost knocked him in the head of it's own accord. "That thing lunged at me."

Angel started looking around warily. He turned to Xander and Cordelia. "What's going on?"

"Okay. You're right it's not the mantle - "Cordelia began. Merciful Zeus, Xander thought. Don't tell me Cordy's giving in that easily. He waited to hear what she was going to say so that he could follow her lead. She was a smart gal, she would convince them it was something other than a ghost. However, when he heard her next words he hung his head shaking it back and forth. "It's a very, very bad trophy." How very lame was that? He tried to save the day by making it look like she was joking with them. He went over to the trophy, making an attempt to pick it up, but he was stopped by Angel grabbing his arm.

"What?" he asked the vampire innocently. "I was going to take it and make it stand in the corner for an hour for being bad, right Cordy?" He felt Angel's grip tighten on his arm and turned to look at where Angel and Doyle were staring. On the wall behind Cordy, blood was dripping down the wall with the word DIE written on it. *Oh, hell there was no salvaging this*.

"Come on," Angel said walking towards the door and pulling Xander along with him. Doyle had grabbed Cordelia's arm and was doing the same thing. "I am not giving up this apartment," she said determinedly. "It's rent controlled."

"It's haunted." Angel stated matter of factly, tightening his hold on Xander's arm as he watched the wall.

"Cordy, it says die," Doyle pointed at the wall while dragging Cordelia along with him.

"Yeah, it sure does," Xander nodded his head at Doyle. "Maybe it knows you're a gambler and it's asking you if you have any die on you, you know like plural of dice, right? A friendly game of craps, you know?"

Angel and Doyle stared at Xander, still pulling him and Cordy for the door. Xander looked at Cordy as if to say give it up and let Angel lead him toward the door.

Cordelia was making one last ditch attempt to convince Doyle and Angel to let her stay. "Hey, maybe it's not done yet, maybe it's diet. That's friendly, a little judgmental sure. I'm not giving it up, it's perfect and beautiful and so me. I need it."

"You don't need it, it's just a place you're more than that." Angel told her.

"How? How am I more than that?"

"We were going to use a spell on it you know cleanse it like Willow did the school." Xander added. "Well, actually she didn't cleanse it so much as there was a swarm of these big, ugly wasp thingies-"

"Hornets," Cordelia interrupted him.

"What?" Xander stopped to ask.

"The big bug thingies were hornets, not wasps."

"Don't think so. I know wasps when I see them and they were definitely wasps."

"Yeah, this from a guy who doesn't know a praying mantis when he sees one. They were hornets."

"Wasps. And Ms. French definitely didn't look like a praying mantis when I went to her house. She looked like a gorgeous woman."

"Hornets. Well she wasn't a woman, and definitely not gorgeous, she was a praying mantis."

"Wasps. And yes, she was too gorgeous. She had all the boys drooling after her, including yours truly."

"Hornets. And you guys would have drooled over anything with big boobs and a nice ass."

"I hate to break up this fascinating argument but can we please get out of the haunted apartment?" Doyle cut into their argument.

"Whatever." Xander finally gave up. He had never won an argument with Cordy the whole time they had been dating, so why would now be any different. "As I was saying, it's worth a try."

Angel seemed confused. "What's worth a try?"

"The cleansing spell, of course," Xander explained to him, as if he were a child or something.

Angel shook his head at the boy. How could anyone keep up with the way Xander and Cordy's minds worked? Angel grabbed Xander's arm, once again leading him out of the apartment. Doyle did the same with Cordelia. "Can we try?" Cordelia was pleading now.

"We can try, but we have to go now." Angel answered her. "We can figure it out at the office." All he wanted was to get all of them out of there safely.

As they got to the door, Cordelia turned around and shouted out, "Listen good, Casper, you haven't won a thing. I'll die before I give up this apartment."

"Yeah, you're picking on the wrong people here sister, buddy, ghost whatever," Xander put his two cents worth in as Angel struggled to get him to leave. "We're hellmouth born and raised and we don't give up without a fight." With that Doyle and Angel pulled him and Cordelia out of the apartment.

When they got to the office, Angel was more than a little miffed at them for staying in the apartment even though they knew there was a ghost there. He was checking them out to make sure they were alright, when he noticed a large bump on Xander's head. "Here sit down, you're not feeling dizzy or nauseous are you?"

"What?" Xander rubbed his head, feeling the large bump Angel had indicated. "No that little thing, it's nothing. I've had worse after a night of patrol."

"What in the hell did you all think you were doing?" he asked them. "You both could have been killed."

Before he or Cordelia could answer, Doyle spoke up. "Lots of stuff here about the building." He pointed at the computer where he had been at since they arrived in the office. "Construction bids, city inspections..."

"Tenants," Angel interrupted him. "We need people who lived there."

"And died there," Cordelia said as she poured herself a cup of coffee. "That's the ingredients for ghosts right?"

"Hey, this isn't easy," Doyle took up for himself.

Angel walked over to Cordelia who handed him the cup of coffee she had just poured. "You know, this is really just a place to live."

"No," Cordelia protested. "It's more. It's beautiful and if it goes away it's like--"

"Like what?"

"Like I'm still getting punished." She told him, her eyes full of shame.

"Punished? For what?" Angel was confused.

"I don't know," Cordelia shrugged her shoulders. "For how I was. For everything I said in high school because I could get away with it, and then it all ended and I had to pay."

"That's crazy talk," Xander interrupted from his seat. "Do you remember that Chinese girl named Susie - and by the way, what respectable Chinese person would name their kid Susie? Remember what a bitch she was to you after we broke up? Well, she's married to a lawyer, they live in a big, huge house and she has the 2.5 kids. Very happy couple with not a care in the world. Believe me, if anyone needed to be punished it was her."

"Really?" Cordelia thought for a moment. "I so need to catch up on that gossip don't I?" Xander nodded his head and Cordy went on more excitedly. "This apartment, with it I could be me again, punishment over, welcome back to your life, like I couldn't be that awful if I get to have a place like that. It's just like you."

Angel thought he understood what Cordy was talking about. "Working for redemption."

"I meant because you used to have that mansion." Cordelia clarified for him.

All of the sudden, Doyle yelled out, "Hey, I found something. Ladies and gentlemen we have a death. First person to ever live in your place was Mrs. Maude Pierson."

"How did you get that?" Angel asked.

"Name carved over the entrance to the building, Pierson Arms," Doyle explained. "I checked the obits for Pierson and we got lucky. Turns out Maude Pierson built the place and took a unit there, too. And in 1946 she dropped dead of a heart attack in Cordelia's living room at age 57."

"That's it!" Cordelia exclaimed excitedly. "That's her."

"I don't know, " Angel was skeptical. "It's not a violent death, ghosts are usually---"

"It's her I know it. The place has that weird little old lady smell like --" Cordelia was searching for the right words, "like violets and Aspercreme."

"Well, they didn't find the body for three weeks so it wasn't violets at the end I'm thinking." Doyle deadpanned.

"This is easy. Little old lady ghost. Probably hanging around because she thinks she left the iron on. Let's get a nice cleansing spell and do this thing." Cordelia was really excited now.

"I don't know, Cordy," Xander said. "My grandma is 72 and she can still beat me up."

"And it's not an easy spell," Angel added. "I mean, hawthorne berries and lungwort and bile, do we need bile? I don't know if we can get everything."

"I can," Doyle told him. "I know this guy in Koreatown, does spells all the time, I can get the stuff from him."

"Oh, goody, another one of Doyle's guys. Tell me, is this the same guy that helped me find my poltergeist delicious apartment," Cordelia asked Doyle who looked chagrined.

"Hey, don't mess with my man Doyle there," Xander admonished Cordelia. "You know you love that apartment, well except for the little old lady factor."

Angel put his arm on Doyle's shoulder and looked kindly at the man. "Doyle, go get what you need." Doyle got up, grabbed his coat and looked at Xander. "You coming with?"

"No, count me out of this field trip dude. I fight monsters, vampires, and I'll even Cordy sit but I don't do bile." Xander insisted. Doyle shook his head at the boy and then left to get the ingredients they would need for the spell. Angel walked over to Cordelia who had manned the computer. "I'm going to try to get some more information. Maybe Kate can find something. You two wait here." After a warning look at the two of them, he left the room.

"Who's Kate?" Xander asked Cordelia.

"Oh, some lady cop we met awhile back. She's been useful before, let's see if she keeps up her track record."

"Here's hoping," Xander said as he crossed his fingers, while Cordelia went back to her work on the computer. "Little old lady ghosts, how come Patrick Swayze's never dead when you need him?" she asked Xander.

"I don't know but even if he was you don't look like Whoopi or Demi either one." When Cordelia glared at him, he added, "Cause you're so much more beautiful than them." He sat down to read while they waited for Angel to call.

It was late into the night and Xander was getting hungry. He was tired of waiting around for Angel's call and so was Cordelia. "You all got anything here to eat besides blood?"

"Yeah, come on I think we can find a few things," Cordelia led him down to the kitchen and they raided the fridge. Just as they were finishing their snacks the phone rang. Before they could get to it, they heard the answering machine pick up. They heard Angel's voice following the beep, "Cordelia are you there? Look, I think we can end this whole thing--and that's all Xander heard before Cordelia lunged at the phone grabbing it up. "Yeah, I'm here, it's about time you called." Have you got something?" She listened for a minute, said O.K. and hung up the phone. "Let's go, Angel said for us to meet him at the apartment."

"It's about time," Xander lit up at the news. "I so hate the waiting game."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Come on, let's go get that little old lady out of my apartment." Cordelia said as she took him by the hand and led him out of the office.

Half an hour later they were back at the apartment. When they walked in, they heard Angel's voice coming from further inside. "Cordelia, I'm in the bedroom." Cordelia started to walk to the bedroom and Xander grabbed her arm. "Cordy, something's wrong here." He whispered.

"Well, duh there's a ghost here that we're trying to get rid of silly."

"Yeah, but why is Angel waiting in the bedroom? Shouldn't he be out here hovering? You know how hovery he is."

"Oh, Xander, you're just being crazy." Cordy rolled her eyes at him. "Come on." She led the way to the bedroom. Xander didn't know why, but he still had a very bad feeling about this.

"Angel," Cordelia called out as they entered the room. Neither could see hide nor hair of the vampire. Xander wasn't liking this one bit. "Cordy, we need to get out of here, it's some kind of trick." He grabbed her by the arm and they turned right into the face of one Ms. Maude Pierson, ghost extraordinaire. "I see you got my call." she said in Angel's voice.

"Damn, I knew this was too easy." Xander muttered. Cordy was standing next to him frozen with fear. "Really good imitation there lady. Do you do any others, like say Darth Vader?" he asked the ghost while pushing Cordy towards the door. When he saw the annoyed look on the ghost's face, he gave Cordy one final push before she started running from the room with him close behind. As they got to the front door, they both grabbed the handle at the same time, pulling with all their might, but the door wouldn't budge.

All of the sudden they were both hurled up against the wall, landing with a thud. Xander got up and reached over to help Cordelia off the floor. They turned around and saw the ghost lady standing in front of them once again. "Poor thing," she said looking at Cordelia. "You just don't fit in around here do you? Too bad you wouldn't leave my son alone."

"Your son?” Cordelia asked not knowing what in the hell the spirit was talking about. Xander decided to try something. Maybe it was one of those role playing ghosts he and Cordy had talked about earlier. He stepped up and looked at Maude, not believing he could actually see her. "Mom," he said plaintively, "You don't want to hurt her. Just be nice and let her go and I'll never see her again." He said playing along as best as he could.

Maude turned to look at him and sneered, "You're not my son, boy. My son is dead."

Well, that didn't work. Wait a minute, her son was dead? Oh, boy he hoped that Angel and Doyle would find them quickly before he and Cordy ended up the same way.

Meanwhile, Angel had found out from Kate that the old lady had had problems with her son, Dennis and his fiancée. They left town at the same time the old lady had dropped dead of a heart attack. They looked through murders, finding nothing. Then when Angel suggested suicide they found 3 suicides all in the same apartment. He went to call Cordelia and Xander. But it was Doyle that answered the phone. "Angel Investigations, we hope your helpless," Doyle stammered.

"Put Cordelia on," Angel demanded.

"She's not here and neither is Xander." Doyle informed him. "Hold on there's a message."

Both men heard Angel's voice telling Cordelia to meet him at the apartment. Angel knew that was not him and they had met up and were quickly making their way to Cordy's. "You were right about the old woman, the ghost is Maude Pierson. She didn't die of a heart attack, her son killed her."

"A murder victim?" Doyle asked.

"Right. Full of rage and confusion, that's why she's been killing people. She can't rest until the truth comes out." Angel explained. He wished he was already there because he was suddenly very afraid for Cordy and Xander. He looked at Doyle and noticed the man was feeling the same thing.

"That's a pretty strong ghost. Bile, I should have got more bile," Doyle said as he looked in the backseat at the ingredients he had piled into a box.

Meanwhile, back at the apartment Xander was starting to get very scared. Not that the ghost was paying any attention to him, she seemed fixated on Cordelia. Cordelia was looking even more frightened than Xander as she started talking to the woman. "Look, whoever you think you're talking to it's not me. My name is Cordelia."

"Oh, that's the name of a cheap, small town tramp trying to sound better than she is. You're not good enough for my boy. This will never be your home." She snarled, advancing toward Cordelia as the girl started backing away.

Xander instinctively stepped between Maude and Cordelia. He knew she was a ghost and could step right through him, but he had to try something. "Look, Granny Ghoul," he said getting Maude's attention. "She may have come from a small town, but she's not a cheap tramp, believe me I know I used to date her. And she's good enough for anyone she wants, even your stupid son."

Now Maude was really pissed off. "Who do you think you are coming here with this whore and talking about my son like that? Maybe she was good enough for you, you're a nothing, but my boy was so much more." And with that she sent Xander sailing into the fireplace mantle. Ow, that little old lady could pack a punch. She must be like my grandma. Xander saw Cordelia trying to focus on what was happening and what the old lady had said. "This is my home." he heard her say. *Leave it to Cordy to fixate on that one topic*. "My friends will come here." Xander hoped she was right.

"You don't have friends. Why would anyone care about you? Nobody really cares. You don't deserve to live here. You don't deserve anything." The woman taunted. *Come on Cordy use that mouth of yours* Xander stood and made his way back over to Cordelia's side. Then it hit him. The old woman somehow knew Cordy's secret fears, the ones she had expressed to Angel back at the office. Even though she had found Angel and met Doyle here in L.A., Cordy had felt lost and lonely since moving here. She felt like no one cared about her and she felt like she didn't deserve the apartment. Maude was just pushing Cordy's fear up a notch and using it against her.

"Don't listen to her Cordy," he said taking the girls hand. "I care about you and so do Angel and Doyle. And there's the whole gang back in Sunnydale. I know you thought you were mean in high school, and to tell you the truth, you really were but you're not like that now. Don't let this wrinkled up old ghost get the better of you. She doesn't get to decide who needs to be punished and who doesn't." When Cordelia didn't respond he faced the old lady. "Leave her alone you phony phantom. You don't have any control over things."

"Oh, you're wrong there you stupid, foolish boy." And that's the last thing he remembered before the chandelier was whipped off the ceiling and came crashing down onto his head. "Xander," Cordelia whispered, frozen in place and unable to help. "I will leave please. Just let me take my friend and we'll go," she pleaded.

"Oh, I don't think so." She grabbed Cordelia and pushed her backwards. You're worthless. You've never been kind, you've never been smart. You're a loser. Everyone will be glad when you're dead," she said just as the cord from the chandelier wrapped around Cordelia's neck and lifted her up off the floor.

"No," she cried trying to get the noose from around her neck.

"If anyone really cared about you would you be here?" Maude continued to mock Cordelia. "People let you end up here because they were happy to see you fail." Cordelia felt the blackness engulfing her and she stopped struggling, her eyes rolling back into her head.

All of the sudden, the door was thrown open and Angel and Doyle rushed into the room. Looking around they saw Xander lying under the chandelier and Cordelia hanging from the ceiling. "Help Xander," Angel yelled at Doyle while he picked Cordy up, unwrapping the cord from around her neck and sitting her on the floor. She started coughing and sputtering. Thank God she's alright. Angel's senses picked up Xander's heartbeat. He was relieved when Doyle told him that Xander was just knocked out. He turned his attention back to Cordelia.

"The furniture and...and the wall...and the blood...and Xander, she's doing it." Cordelia was sobbing hysterically. "She's doing it all. She'll be back, she's stronger than us and she knows me."

"We can stop her," Angel said comfortingly.

"No, no we can't stop her." Cordelia was definitely hysterical. Angel was trying hard to get through to the girl. "She's made a connection with you, right? She thinks you're someone else, someone she blames for her murder. Cordelia, answer me." The vampire pleaded. He heard Xander stirring and Doyle was setting up the spell.

"She thinks I’m taking her son away, she thinks I'm taking her son." Cordelia said between sobs.

"That's great. Her son was the one who killed her, alright? You're playing a role in her delusion, that gives you the power. You can stop her." He turned to Doyle. "Start the binding circle, I'll find the spell."

"What about Xander?" Doyle asked, looking over at the boy, who was slowly rising to his feet, blood trickling down his forehead.

"I'm alright, Doyle. Just get that damn spell ready so we can get rid of the old bitch." Xander was pissed. Not only had she hurt him, but she had made Cordelia hysterical and that was something he thought he would never see. "Here, I'll try to help."

The wind kicked up and books, papers and a little bit of everything was flying around the room. Angel stood and grabbed a book from the floor. Xander knew that he was starting the spell. "Bring the truth into the light, let the villain be revealed so that it's soul can take it's place for eternity." The wind was gradually picking up and more things began flying through the air. "We need Cordelia now." Angel yelled. He started chanting in Latin.

Xander went over to Cordelia and tried to help her up but between the knocks on the head and her hysteria he wasn't having much luck. "Cordelia, stand in the middle of the circle and start getting centered," he heard Angel yell. When he didn't get a response, he came over to Cordelia and Xander. He grabbed Cordelia and started yelling at her, "You know what it means," he answered the girls babbling. "The ghost is in contact with you, she's given you that."

Xander saw the ghost appear in front of Cordelia again. "They don't care about you," she whispered. "They want you to fail."

Angel stood up and handed the book to Doyle. "Start to chant." He ordered him.

Doyle took the book from Angel and looked at it. "Oh, man Latin. One of those dead languages you always mean to learn."

Angel went over and instructed Doyle how to read it and as Doyle started chanting, the vampire came back and bent down next to Cordelia. "You do know what to do, you can stop all of this. Look at you. Are you going to let her do this to you?" When he didn't get a response he grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, "Damnit, you're Cordelia Chase are you just going to lie there like a weakling, now get off of your ass and get tough."

Cordelia was way gone. "I can't." With those words Angel picked Cordelia up and drug her into the center of the circle Doyle had made. After a few minutes of chanting, Angel looked around worriedly. "This isn't going to work."

"Man, it's getting dodgy in here," Doyle yelled back.

Angel seemed to agree. "We've got to get out of here," he said looking around him at everything that was hurtling through the air. "This isn't safe. Here, you take Cordelia and I'll get Xander." He handed Cordelia off to Doyle and went to help Xander up off the floor where he had collapsed earlier. Lifting him up they made their way to the door. Just as Xander thought they might be safe after all, he looked up and through the blood on his face he saw what looked like two demons and a man standing in the doorway holding guns in their hands. Nobody's going anywhere," the demon Xander recognized as Griff growled. Cordelia jumped in behind Doyle and Angel grabbed Xander and pulled him behind him. "You were going to let him pay," he snarled at Griff.

"I lied." Simply stated, Xander thought, just as he saw Maude appear behind the three in the doorway. "No more people," she shouted. Well for once, Xander had to agree with her there.

"What's going on?" the guy that seemed human asked Griff.

"Ignore her, it's just a ghost," he said. Maude disappeared and reappeared behind Cordelia making her jump in front as she shouted, "GET OUT!".

All of a sudden the lights all through the apartment started to blow up, throwing Cordelia, Doyle and Xander onto the ground. The demons started firing at the ghost who was yelling something about them breaking something. Boy, were these guys dumb. Bullets worked about as good on ghosts as they did vampires. And speaking of vampires, Xander looked up to see Angel attack Griff. The human guy, apparently scared shitless, ran. The other guy reached out and grabbed Doyle before Xander could stop him.

Xander heard Doyle holler something and then he saw the ghost reappear in the kitchen, yelling something about this being her house. Man she just wouldn't let that lie, would she? Getting up and helping Cordy to her feet, he watched as he saw the kitchen drawer fly open and a bunch of knives started heading for Doyle and the demon he was fighting. Before Xander could say anything, he heard Angel yell at Doyle "Knives". Doyle ducked as the knives flew through the air over his hand and embedded themselves in the demon's chest.

He and Cordy were standing against the wall, with his arms around her and her face buried in his neck. He watched as Angel was thrown over the couch by Griff and just as he was about to try to help, he and Cordy found themselves being pushed through the air into the bedroom. Then the door slammed shut behind them. He went to the door but found he couldn't open it. He heard the fighting continuing in the living room and hoped that Angel and Doyle would be alright.

Turning back to the bedroom, he saw Maude standing in front of Cordelia again. He heard Cordelia pleading with the ghost and it scared him worse than anything else that was going on in the apartment. He had never seen Cordelia plead to anyone, including all the evil monsters they had fought back in Sunnydale. This was just so wrong.

"I'll leave, I'm sorry your son killed you. You can have the apartment, just let us go."

The ghost turned back to Cordelia. "It's too late for you to leave, it's too late for that boy over there," she said nodding her head towards Xander. Gee, he wished everyone would quit calling him that. He watched as the ghost advanced towards Cordelia. "You know what happens next. Your friends are dirty, they ruined my nice home."

Cordelia fell onto the floor sobbing as the ghost continued, "I knew you were trouble from the start. I'm surprised that my son didn't smell the stench of poverty and failure on you. I can."

"How can you smell anything the way you smell?" Xander taunted the spirit, hoping to give Cordelia time to get herself together. The ghost just pushed him aside and continued her walk toward Cordelia.

"I'm sorry," Cordelia sobbed.

"You'd better be sorry, you stupid little bitch." Maude spat.

Xander looked up to see Cordelia finally getting mad. About time she was finally getting her anger on. Yep, the ghost had overstepped the boundary.

"You are so going to lose now." He taunted the ghost.

"I'm a bitch?" Cordelia asked Maude.

"Take off the bed sheets. Make a noose. Go on." Maude directed.

She didn't notice the change in Cordy's expression but Xander did. It was that fuck you attitude that he had always admired coming out again in the girl. "That's it Cordy. Give it to her. You never let anyone talk to you like that in high school." He cheered the girl on.

By this time Cordelia had gotten up and was facing the ghost haughtily. "I'm not a sniveling, whiney little cry-Buffy. I'm the nastiest girl in Sunnydale history. I take crap from no one. Hell, I loved him," she said pointing at Xander, "and I got him turned into a vampire in an alternate universe. You think I'm scared, think again, you old ugly bat."

"You go, Cordy," Xander told the girl. "Show her just who the real Cordelia Chase is."

Maude still didn't realize that Cordelia wasn't going to back down again. She got up in the girl's face and said, "You're going to make a noose and put it around--"

"Back off Polygrip!" Cordelia interrupted her. "You think you're bad? All mean and haunty." She started advancing on the ghost. Oh, yes the game was changing indeed. "Picking on poor pathetic Cordy? Well get ready to haul your wrinkly, translucent ass out of this place because lady, the bitch is back." Xander thought back to Buffy saying something about nobody wanting to make Cordelia mad back during the Homecoming dance and he had to agree. She was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

"Do you think I'm going to take that from trash like you?" Maude was still trying.

"I'll tell you what I think." Cordelia answered her. "I think you're going to pack your little ghost bags and get the hell out of my house!" And with that there was a flash and the ghost lady known as Maude Pierson was gone. Cordelia looked around the room and saw Xander standing there looking at her with a smile on his face. "I'm proud of you. You stood up to the old geezer."

She looked at him and smiled. "Yeah, well she pissed me off. Let's go check on the others."

They went into the living room where they found Doyle and Angel all in one piece. Angel was helping Doyle to his feet and looking around worriedly. "Are you two alright?" he asked, concern written all over his face. Just as Xander was about to answer him, they saw Cordelia go towards the lamp in the corner. Her eyes had turned white and she was staring out, not seeing anything. She headed for the wall in the center of the room.

"Cordy," Angel and Doyle yelled at her but she just brushed past them all and headed for the wall, smashing the lamp into it over and over again. When the wall finally broke apart they saw a skull inside. All of a sudden, everyone watched as a scene played out in front of them. Maude, imprisoning her son in his final resting place, burying him alive while he begged her to stop.

At that moment, Maude's ghost was standing looking sadly at the skull inside the wall. All of the sudden a white fog started seeping out of the skull. "Dennis, I presume." Doyle stated. "Probably not too happy with his mum."

"Dennis it was for your own good," Maude pleaded. "I had to do it. She would have made your life miserable. I'm sorry. Please, please," she begged just as the white fog engulfed her and she disappeared.

"And I thought my parents were bad." Xander stated, before adding, "I've heard of parents smothering their kids with love but this is ridiculous."

Everyone started trying to help Cordelia clean her apartment up and after everything was pretty much back in place they all headed back to Doyle's where Angel made sure that Doyle put an extra lock on his door.

As they were getting ready for bed that night, Xander turned to Doyle. "And here I thought it was going to be a dull visit. Man, are you sure you all don't have a hellmouth under L.A. too?"

Doyle just laughed, "Could be, Xander, although I tend to lean more towards just big city bad asses and a few assorted demons and weird things happening."

"It sounds the same to me. Only difference is big city versus small town." Xander said getting into bed and turning off the light. "Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow." he told Doyle, before falling asleep.