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Chapter 7- Rm w/a Vu
The Scooby Gang woke up the next day, and met up with their future selves, having breakfast together.
"How many had you watched last night?" Summers asked to be sure.
"Four", Buffy told her. "And I see there are many more."
"Yup", Rosenberg said. "It's a long, long road."
"But yesterday, when we came, it was night, so we only had time to watch 4", Dawnster said. "Today I think we can watch 8, with a break after the first 4."
"Yeah, fine by me", Xander shrugged.
"Well, hope you enjoy", Harris muttered. "Or not."
"What will you do in the meantime?" Giles asked.
"The usual", Maclay shrugged. "We don't think we are needed to view too much right now."
"But, I will be watching the 8th recording with you", Summers told the past group. "And after the first 22 recordings are finished, all of us will be watching the next few recordings together, since we feel you need to hear out what we think over some stuff that happened in those."
"I have a feeling it wasn't very pleasant", Tara said.
"No, very brutal", Dawn told her.
"Well, hope it isn't bad enough to make us lose our appetites", Willow said.
"Not physically brutal, just emotionally", Harris told her, and she gulped, and then they finished breakfast, going their separate ways.
The future gang went off to do the usual stuff they did, and the past gang returned to the viewing room, taking the same positions on the couch as before.
And then, Buffy picked up the remote and turned the TV on.
At the office, Cordelia held a white trash bag, complaining about it, as Doyle agreed. Cordelia then groaned sarcastically how it was a great audition about things leaking, and they still hadn't picked her. Doyle said they had no idea what they'd missed out on, and as the telephone rang, Cordelia said they'd given it to a ridiculous blonde who looked like Catwoman taking out the trash rather than a housewife.
"If they wanted Catwoman, they should have hired her", Buffy said.
"I know right? She even dressed up as a cat on Halloween", Xander reminded everyone.
"Tough luck", Tara shrugged.
Doyle then asked if she'd answer the phone, and then Cordelia's voice spoke the recorded AI motto on the phone, as her friend Aura left a message, saying she wanted to check in. Cordelia just straightened stuff on her desk, not wanting to pick up the phone, since she wanted to do it when she was acting and had a better place to live.
"She did talk to me a lot", Willow noted.
"She may have been surrounded by many friends due to her popularity, but I guess we were the only real friends she really got there", Buffy sighed, remembering what Cordelia had said to her back when Marcie had been hunting her.
Doyle said he could help with the apartment, and after a little mock hesitation, picked up her stuff, walking out of the place.
"Guess she doesn't want to take any help right now", Dawn said.
"Yup, still in denial", Xander agreed.
Angel read an old book as Doyle sat nearby, putting up his feet, annoying Angel but not enough for him to comment. Doyle commented how getting to know her was like wrestling a tiger.
Everyone chuckled as Willow said. "He's not wrong actually."
Doyle asked stuff about Cordelia as Angel said she couldn't type or file and he had no hopes about the phone till now, and said Aura was one of Cordelia's group from high school, they were called the Cordettes, and were rich and popular, deciding who was popular and what was in. They were like the Soviet Secret Police if they cared about shoes.
Everyone was almost in hysterics as Tara asked. "Is it true or an exaggeration?"
"It is true", Buffy said in between laughs.
"And they were still better than Kirstie", Dawn said, groaning as she remembered the girl who was basically a poor woman's Cordelia.
"Don't degrade Cordy by comparing her to cheap knock-offs", Xander said and all chuckled again. [1]
Doyle realized Cordelia was the richest one as she talked like she had golden servants, and Angel said she was till her parents lost it all, so it was riches to rags, and a come down, but she was doing all right according to Angel.
The humorous mood evaporated as all felt sad for how bad Cordelia's life had gotten once more. Like sure, she could be mean at times, but she was a good person, and deserved to get good education from the colleges she had been selected in. But because of her dad being arrested for tax evasion, it was all gone, and now she had to do this instead.
Cordelia opened the door to her apartment but the key got stuck and she scratched her arm trying to get it out. She turned the light on and it flickered before staying on. She went to the sink to get a drink of water but the water was a dingy brown and shot out of the faucet, splattering her white shirt.
"Oof!" Willow sighed, the sympathy for Cordelia just increasing.
"I have a feeling she is about to take up Doyle's offer", Giles said.
She turned on the lamp and then TV to see a cockroach on it and groaned, calling up and reminding she had asked for an exterminator, and was told one had been there. She noticed 3 cockroaches on the TV screen now and squashed another with her foot, seeing a lot of dead bugs on the carpet, getting startled, and quickly called up Doyle.
"Damn, this place has more cockroaches than sewer lines", Xander said. "And I hate 'em."
"Join the club", Tara said.
"I mean, what do they need 6 legs and those antennae on top for anyway?" Willow asked.
"Okay, stop giving me mental images!" Buffy said.
"So, the Slayer is scared of cockroaches?" Dawn asked and Buffy gave her a look. "No worries, everyone is."
"Are you afraid of cockroaches, Giles?" Xander asked.
Giles took off his glasses with a sigh and said. "No."
"So, yes?" Tara asked.
"Yes", Giles nodded, putting his glasses back on. "Bloody little pests."
Doyle came in as his phone rang and turned on the light but saw a dark brown skinned Demon with spines along his jaw and on the sides of his hairless head, and the Demon greeted him.
"Looks like he has a different kind of problem", Tara said.
"Yeah, life threatening one", Buffy agreed.
Doyle said he had the wrong place but the Demon said Doyle owed money, with Doyle distracting him with talk of friendship and family, but the Demon didn't care so Doyle said he had his money in a drawer and walked to a dresser, reaching for the top drawer which the demon slammed shut, asking if Doyle was stupid enough to have a gun there.
"Looks like this one has seen quite a few movies", Giles said about the demon.
"Yeah, having a gun in the drawer is such a cliché now", Xander said.
Doyle said he didn't, and pulling the drawer out hit the Demon on the chin, running out as the Demon gave chase.
"I don't think anyone does that though", Buffy said, everyone finding Doyle's quick thinking admirable.
"Yeah, that's new, go Doyle!" Dawn cheered.
"But he is in trouble", Willow said and all groaned.
Beethoven's 'Ode to joy' played on a phonograph in Angel's place as the shower ran, and there was a knock as Angel came out of the bathroom, all wet, wrapping a towel around his waist as he went to answer the door, and then Cordelia stepped in, pushing some bags into Angel's hands as she walked into the apartment.
"She is so freaked", Buffy said.
"And with that level of freakiness, she might even freak out Angel", Willow said.
"Poor Angel", Xander of all people muttered.
Cordelia raised her hands, saying how she was a mess and the lowest of the lowest, talking about a suitcase she left in the hall. Cordelia ranted how she was living like the girl from the projects, which Angel didn't know about as he almost dropped a bag. Cordelia then said she had sunk low enough to call Doyle.
"Oh come on, he's not that bad", Dawn said.
"It's just the Cordelia way of saying things", Buffy told her.
Cordelia ranted about the roaches, muttering some had antlers, to Angel's confusion, as she wondered how many she had stowed away in the bag, making Angel look down at it.
"Really hoping none came in it", Xander said.
Cordelia then ranted about the water, and said she needed a shower since she smelt for the first time ever. She said she would stay here till she got a place and he would be invited when she did, and then said he could dump her stuff on the couch or let her have the bed, whatever he wanted, and said her suitcase was still in the hall, before walking into the bathroom for a shower. Angel just stood there, scratching his head.
"How much of that do you think he got?" Tara asked.
"I don't think he got any of it", Giles told her.
Next morning, Doyle arrived, a dark bruise on his right hand while Cordelia sat in a white bathrobe at the table, trying to see her reflection in the vase as she combed her wet hair with her fingers, and Doyle came out of the elevator, asking for Angel. Cordelia greeted him as Angel walked out of the kitchen wearing shorts and an open bathrobe, while Cordelia asked Doyle if he got the feeling where he would always be unclean even after a shower.
"I did", Willow said with a wince, sighing, as Tara just grasped her.
"For some reason, with how they look, I don't think Doyle is gonna take it well", Xander said.
Doyle stared at her as Angel told her she got peanut butter on the bed, and then showed his hand, prompting her to look, while Doyle was angry at Angel since he, the broody Vampire had swooped in and taken her away even though he was wearing her down, calling himself a homely fellow who didn't turn evil when he got some, and then Angel said Cordelia had stayed over because there was something wrong with her place and he had slept on the couch. That made Doyle pause as he said that was fine.
"Well, it could have been worse", Tara said.
"She did call him last night, right?" Buffy asked and all nodded. "I think they're going to have a talk about it."
Cordelia walked back inside now wearing clothes, saying Angel had somehow gotten peanut butter there in recent history, and when Angel said he didn't eat, she said she had no idea how it got there in that place.
"I do. It's you!" Dawn said as all chuckled at Cordelia's behavior.
"Just like old times", Xander said.
Angel walked to the bedroom as Cordelia began to brush her hair, and Doyle said she looked good, with her ranting she couldn't know as there were no mirrors, and would it kill Angel to not see himself. Doyle laughed.
The audience laughed with him.
Doyle then asked if anyone had called, asking for him or his address, and she said some cousin with a name from his part of England had. Doyle told her a warning would have been nice as Cordelia said she helped the guy as a favor to him. Doyle reminded she let Aura hang in there and Cordelia told him to make a list of people he could talk to, and then Angel arrived, noticing the bruise as Doyle lied it was badminton. Angel then asked about the wet towel on his leather chair, and Cordelia gave a fake smile, making him sigh and drop it as he walked off.
"I think she's gonna make him stake himself", Xander said, making everyone chuckle.
"Not if Doyle helps her out first", Buffy said.
"Guess Doyle will be Angel's hero instead of hers in that case", Dawn said with a chuckle.
"Or both, since she does need a place", Willow reminded.
Later, Doyle saw Cordelia cutting up Angel's vinyl floor as she said she wanted to check if he had hardwood floors, and then Doyle looked at some trophies behind, quipping he had no idea Angel was Queen of the Winter Ball, Cordelia saying they were hers.
"Yeah, she got quite a few of those", Willow said in remembrance.
"Which makes this even worse for her", Buffy said in sympathy.
Doyle looked at Cordelia's burnt diploma, commenting on it as Cordelia said it was a rough ceremony.
"Understatement of the century", Xander said as all laughed.
"Yeah, it was so rough I had to blow off the school", Giles said, the laughter increasing.
Cordelia said it was her life pre-LA and Doyle said at least she could look back, unlike him, and then Angel arrived, saying a big guy had come to see Doyle, and called him up.
"Guess it's the Demon", Dawn said.
Doyle then walked in and saw it was just Angel, complaining it wasn't nice to trick people but Angel said he needed to tell what was going on. After Doyle did, he said he had a system where some owed him, and he owed others, so if he did a favor for someone the debt went away, it was a system of checks and balances, but some checks didn't balance, Angel noted.
"It's a very dangerous way for anyone to live", Tara said.
"Yeah, one misstep and-" Xander ran a finger across his throat.
Doyle said they just needed a little diplomacy and asked Angel to talk to him, but he said he had bigger issues, surprising Doyle. Angel then said he could help Doyle with his problem if Doyle helped him too, and then Cordelia cleared her throat, smiling and waving as she asked if Angel had linoleum glue for when it started folding over.
"Yup, definitely a bigger issue than a Kailiff Demon", Willow said, all chuckling.
Angel assured he'd be there quickly as she walked off, and then he said he would deal with the Demon if he found Cordelia an apartment.
"Sounds like a fair deal", Buffy shrugged.
Later, a guy showed Doyle and Cordelia an apartment, though Doyle said he could call his guy, but Cordelia wasn't interested. Doyle commented it couldn't get worse than this and Cordelia said they couldn't tell from the hallway, and looked inside, the place was tiny, Doyle said the place had potential and Cordelia said next one would be better.
"Here's to hoping", Dawn said.
Later, a clean cut guy lead them down some steps, pulling a curtain to reveal a toilet and sink, and said they were a community that did chores together, and then Cordelia commented to Doyle her urination hadn't been public lately. The guy said they didn't believe in barriers as it was first rule of the great leader, and she could come to the meetings if she wanted at 5:00, and when Cordelia said it was too early, the guy said the chanting began at 4:00.
"Pass!" Dawn said.
"Yeah, not interested in that stuff", Willow agreed.
Later, Cordelia stood at the doorway of a nice apartment as a big guy with a big gut stood next to her, saying he was right across the hall and she could sleep easy knowing he was the only other soul with a key to the door. He smiled and tossed his keys in the air, telling her to think about it.
"Not subtle", Tara said.
"Creep", Xander muttered.
"So, pass!" Dawn said.
Cordelia finally asked Doyle about the guy and he commented how she and Angel always did it the hard way.
"Yes, some people just love doing things the hard way", Willow said.
"Yup, like I once knew a guy who preferred stairs to elevator", Tara said. [2]
"Seriously?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah", Tara said.
Angel looked around at Doyle's apartment when the Demon wrapped an arm around his neck from behind.
"Oh no", Dawn said.
A lady in a suit lead Doyle and Cordelia into a furnished apartment, Cordelia finding it very beautiful, and just perfect, before asking the lady what was wrong with it. The lady said there was nothing wrong and the previous tenant had broken their lease, saying she didn't know how Cordy heart about it, and she smiled at Doyle, while the lady said it was quite a bargain, furniture included, and asked if Cordy wanted it. Cordelia said in awe how she used to have this, and the lady commented it must be her lucky day, and Cordelia responded she used to have those too. Doyle said she'd take it and the lady left, saying she'd fill out the rental forms.
"So she has a place now", Willow said happily.
"Yeah, but the Universe is never kind", Xander sighed.
"You think there is something wrong with the place?" Tara asked.
"I know it", Xander said.
Cordelia pointed at a wall, saying they needed to hire someone to take it out. Doyle reminded she'd called it perfect, and she said perfect included one tiny little flaw for her to fix, making Doyle comment how she found him fascinating.
"Maybe she found me fascinating too", Xander shrugged.
"More than you know", Buffy muttered, but Xander heard her.
"What do you mean?" Xander asked but Buffy didn't reply, but now Xander really wanted to know. "Buffy, you wanna tell me something?"
"Remember that time during homecoming when the Vamps went after me and Cordy, thinking she was Faith, and then we got trapped?" Buffy reminded, and Xander nodded. "She told me she loved you."
"Huh?!" Xander asked, never having known that. "She did?"
"Yeah, she said you grew on her", Buffy said. "And that she loved you."
"And I went and betrayed her", Xander muttered in self-loathing.
"Hey, it was a long time ago", Tara said comfortingly. "You two have moved way beyond that."
"It wasn't just your fault though, it was mine too", Willow reminded.
"Let's not think of it", Xander sighed. It may have been moments of weakness, but Xander would never forgive himself for betraying Cordelia like that, especially since he now knew she loved him back then.
Cordelia hugged Doyle, saying how she loved his guy.
"How he wishes she said 'you' instead of 'your guy'", Dawn said and all chuckled.
Doyle said this was a good day as he took care of her problem and Angel took care of his, and they walked off, not noticing a face like bulge on the wall Cordelia wanted to tear down.
"Told ya", Xander said grimly.
"The Universe really does hate us", Buffy agreed.
"So this house is haunted by a ghost then", Giles said.
"Looks like it", Willow agreed.
At Doyle's apartment, the Demon threw Angel against the wall but Angel turned around, grabbed the Demon and pushed his face into the wall, and getting his Vamp face said. "My name is Angel, what's yours?" "Screw you", the Demon snarled and Angel smashed his face in the wall. "My name is Angel, what's yours?" The Demon growled and had his face smashed into the wall again. "Griff!"
"Hell of an introduction", Buffy said.
Angel asked who he worked for but Griff said he only got orders, making Angel throw him down, and asked him to give a message, turning his face to normal as he picked the Demon up, asking about Doyle, and he said first he was supposed to make Doyle pay, but now he would die as a message to others. Angel pointed out the boss wouldn't get any money and added to what Griff was being paid, expensive message. Angel then assured he could get Doyle to pay, though Griff was more interested in why a Vamp was helping a half-breed. Angel said it was a good offer, but he wanted to fight some more, so if the Demon was lucky he would last 10 minutes, and if really lucky, he'd be unconscious for the last 5. The Demon agreed so Angel let him go, saying it was a good meeting.
"For some reason, I think the deal will go south by the end of this one", Dawn said.
"And for some reason, I think you're not wrong", Buffy said to Dawn, agreeing with her.
At her new apartment, Cordelia slept in the bed, and then the radio on the dresser turned on, switching to 1400 AM, with the music playing. "You always hurt the ones you love, the ones you shouldn't hurt at all…." Some drawers opened and closed as a voice whispered she should have never come, and then a drawer slammed shut, waking Cordelia up.
"Ghostly activity", Giles muttered.
"And Cordelia's living right there", Tara sighed sadly.
At Angel's place, Doyle was a bit bummed he needed to pay but Angel pointed out he was going to die, so Doyle was grateful for his life being saved. Angel then asked why Doyle lived like this, and Doyle said this kind of life prevented him from getting expectations up.
"It's not a good way to live", Xander said, relating to some extent, as he had accepted his outcast status in high school long ago to prevent his expectation from getting too high.
Angel said this life had chosen him, while Doyle could do better, but he said there was a bright spot, like Cordelia having a new apartment, and said she'd be grateful for the rest of her life.
"If you don't get that ghost out, she's gonna get even angrier", Tara said.
At her apartment, Cordelia sat up in her bed, scared, and turned the radio off before trying to turn on the lamp, but it didn't work. She reached for the glass of water but it began to boil, and the bed started levitating as she said. "I just knew this was too good to be true. I just knew it! I'm from Sunnydale, you're not scaring me, you know. No. You're not scaring me. You're not scaring me. Not one bit."
"I think she is scared now", Dawn said.
"The ghost doesn't know who it is messing with", Buffy said confidently.
"You think so?" Giles asked.
"Yeah, its Cordelia, she can scare the ghost easy!" Buffy said.
In the morning, Cordelia still sat on her levitating bed, holding her pillow, and then it dropped to the floor. Cordelia dressed in front of the mirror, reassuring herself, and as she looked to the side, a specter of an old lady appeared in the mirror beside her reflection but Cordelia didn't notice.
"So that is the ghost", Giles noted.
"Right in a good place", Xander groaned.
Cordy pulled out a chair from the wall, but it slid back. She pulled out further and the chair smashed into the wall, a leg breaking. Cordy backed away as a curtain cord wrapped around her arm, making her jump away with a scream, and she told the ghost to go towards any light it saw since it was dead. Then wind blew paper scraps in her face, and she taunted it, when there was a knock on the door and she jumped. It was Angel and Doyle though.
"Just in time", Tara said.
"You think she's going to tell them?" Willow asked.
"Don't think so", Buffy said.
Cordelia opened the door to see the two, and Angel held a potted cactus, calling it a housewarming present, and she thanked him. Doyle tried to walk in but she stopped him, saying he could come in a day or two when it was the way she wanted, but Doyle said it was great, before noticing the broken chair and commenting Cordelia had something against it, as she noticed Angel was still out and remembered he couldn't come in, but he still stepped in, reminding he had said she'd invite him over when she got a place, and Cordelia commented how the rules were screwed up since she didn't even have a place then.
"Just tell them about the ghost!" Tara said.
"I don't think she wants to give up this apartment", Giles said.
"Her life is more important than it", Willow said.
"She doesn't see it that way", Xander told them.
Doyle closed the curtain to block the sunlight, and Angel asked for a tour, and she simply pointed at the places, ending it by saying she'd tear down the wall. A pair of scissors flew behind Angel's back but she grabbed them before anyone noticed, as Angel commented he couldn't believe she could afford this. Cordelia put the cactus down and opened a drawer to put in the scissors, but a bulge in a face's shape appeared, making her slam it shut.
"Don't think its gonna work", Buffy said.
The two turned at the sound as she offered to go out for lunch when a trophy behind lunged at Doyle's neck but Angel caught it, and Cordelia again tried to make an excuse of an uneven mantel, but the charade was over. There was a moaning sound as the word 'Die' appeared on the wall behind Cordelia as if blood was soaking from inside, and both Angel and Doyle tried to pull her out, even if she didn't want to give the place up, and she joked the ghost might mean 'diet' instead.
"It shouldn't appear in blood then", Xander pointed out.
Doyle suggested they could put the ghost to rest and the guys tried to take her out, and she yelled to the ghost she'd die before giving up the apartment, and with that, Angel and Doyle got Cordelia out while the door shut, and the specter's voice decided to oblige.
"Never give such challenges to a ghost", Giles said.
"I guess if the ghost is haunting such a nice apartment, anyone would react like that", Tara said.
"Yeah, it's understandable, if stupid", Willow agreed.
Later, at the office, Doyle looked up the place on the computer, with Angel reminding it was just a place to live, but Cordelia said it was beautiful, and said if it went away, it was like she was still getting punished. Angel was confused as she said. "I don't know. For what I was? For everything I said in High School just because I could get away with it? - And then it all ended, and I had to pay... Oh, but this apartment... I could be me again. Punishment over... welcome back to your life! Like, like I couldn't be that awful if I get to have a place like that? - It's just like you!"
"Don't think like that", Tara said in sympathy.
"I think she's been punished enough, this ghost is out of line!" Xander said.
"Yeah, such a mean thing!" Willow agreed with him. "And I never thought I'd see the day we would speak up for her."
"Life's funny like that", Buffy muttered.
Angel wondered if she was talking about his redemption but she said he used to own a mansion.
"More like hung out in one", Giles said about the Crawford Street Mansion.
Doyle finally noted a death of a Mrs. Maude Pearson who built the place and took a unit there, before dying of a heart attack in 1946 in Cordelia's living room when she was 57. Cordelia said it had to be her, though Angel disagreed since it wasn't a violent death, but Cordelia was adamant, and wanted to do the spell. Angel warned it wasn't easy since they couldn't get all ingredients, but Doyle said he knew a guy from whom he could get it, and he left after a snippy comment from Cordelia over Doyle knowing guys, and Angel said he would talk to Kate, Cordelia commenting why Patrick Swayze was never dead when one needed him.
"Oh, Patrick Swayze!" Dawn said. "Yeah, he'd make a better ghost than this one."
"Hope he never becomes one", Buffy said.
Later, Angel called up the office and Cordelia picked up as he said they could end it, so she hopefully hung up and left.
"Finally", Xander said in relief.
Cordelia returned home, looking around when Angel's voice said he was in the bedroom, but when she stepped in, she turned around and jumped back on seeing Maude, who spoke in Angel's voice Cordelia had got her message.
"So it was her", Buffy snarled.
"Now she is even more out of line!" Willow said.
Cordelia ran out but the door wouldn't open as she flew backwards. She got up as Maude stood there, saying how Cordy didn't fit and couldn't leave her son alone, surprising her.
"So she had a son too", Giles said. "That sounds important."
"I think it is", Dawn said.
Kate sipped a coffee, wishing she could be more help, with Angel saying knowing the kind of things that don't happen help so it eliminates the possibilities, with Kate saying he sounded like a detective, which Angel said he was.
"So, Detective Angel", Willow said, all imagining him wearing a hat to finish the look, and chuckled.
Kate joked that detectives had resumes, business licenses and last names, and pop stars and popes had one names, Angel joking he was a pope.
"Pope Angel now", Dawn said, the laughter increasing.
A guy handed Kate a folder as she read it, saying Maude's death sounded suspicious because her son Dennis Pearson had a lot of arguments with her over his fiancée, whom his mom didn't like, and he had skipped town the day she had dropped dead. Angel thought it could be an unavenged murder.
"So, he made her have a heart attack?" Xander wondered.
"There is some magic that could do that", Tara said. "Not advisable to do it."
Angel noted there had been suicides there due to a kind of killer, and Kate looked up some suicide victims, who had all died in the same apartment. Angel later dialed on a payphone, and Doyle, who had arrived with the stuff, picked up, saying the motto wrong with 'We hope you're hopeless.'
"Very forthcoming there", Buffy quipped.
Doyle noted Cordelia wasn't there and then noticed a message, which was Angel telling Cordelia to come to end the whole thing, but Angel said that wasn't him.
"It was that lady who tricked poor Cordy into coming there", Willow said.
"They'll save her", Buffy assured.
At the apartment, Cordelia tried to convince Maude she wasn't whoever she thought she was, and Maude mocked her name, saying she wasn't good enough for his boy. Cordelia said her friends would come but Maude mocked her more, and she didn't deserve anything. Angel and Doyle rushed in the convertible, Angel saying Dennis had murdered Maude so she was a rage ghost, and Doyle said they should have brought more bile.
"Just hope it does the job", Dawn said.
Cordelia said she'd leave but Maude called her worthless, crashing the chandelier behind her, and then pushed her back. A cable snuck out from where the chandelier was and wrapped around her neck. As Maude's taunts continued, the cord went back up and pulled Cordy with it. Cordelia tried to keep the cord from choking her, Maude saying people sent her here to fail. She went limp as Maude disappeared.
"No, no, no, no", Xander muttered to himself repeatedly.
Angel and Doyle burst in, Angel lifting her up as Doyle got the noose off her neck, and Angel laid her on the sofa as she started coughing. She panted about the ghost as Angel asked her about the murder, saying Maude had made a connection with her. Cordelia said Maude thought she was taking her son away, and Angel said she played a role in the delusion so it gave her power, then told Doyle to start the binding circle while he found the spell. Doyle lay out a circle as paper flew around, Angel flipping through a book as he started chanting and more stuff flew around.
"Won't give up without a fight, would she?" Buffy asked.
"Doesn't look like it", Giles said.
Angel then asked Cordy to stand in the circle and strike at the center since the ghost was in contact with her, and Maude whispered to her. Angel handed the book to Doyle while trying to encourage Cordelia, calling her the biggest pain so she could do it. Stuff kept smashing into walls so the two grabbed Cordelia to get out but a man, and two Kailiff Demons including Griff were there, stopping them.
"As if things couldn't get any worse", Willow groaned.
"Looks like they really don't want the money, just some deaths", Tara noted.
"Which makes them even worse", Buffy said.
Griff said he lied about the payment while Maude was angered at the 3 thugs, light bulbs blowing. Doyle pulled Cordy away as the human shot at Maude and broke a tile surrounding the fireplace, angering her. Angel fought Griff as the human ran, and the other one pulled Doyle up who frantically said he'd pay. The drawer opened and knives flew out, Angel punching Griff down while Doyle ducked as the knives hit the other Demon.
"One down", Dawn said.
"Ghost to go", Xander added.
Griff threw Angel over the sofa as Cordy went flying into the bedroom, the door slamming shut. Doyle jumped on Griff's back, while Cordy cried, begging Maude, who taunted her while Angel continued fighting Griff, and as Cordelia apologized, and Maude said. "You better be sorry, you stupid little bitch." Cordelia stopped crying and slowly looked up at Maude. "I'm a bitch."
"I have a feeling the ghost shouldn't have done that", Giles said.
"Oh yeah, Cordy's back!" Xander said.
"So, ghost is gonna go?" Dawn asked.
"She'll be tortured for all of her unlife if she doesn't", Willow said.
"Go Cordy!" Buffy said.
Maude told her to kill herself as Cordelia snarled. "I'm not a sniveling whiny little Cry-Buffy. I'm the nastiest girl in Sunnydale history. - I take crap from no one."
"Cry-Buffy?" Buffy asked, offended.
"Well, to be fair, you did cry a lot in years 2 and 3 of high school", Dawn told Buffy, making Buffy look at her. "It's true!"
"She's not wrong, you know", Willow said.
"Yeah, I remember quite a few instances", Xander agreed.
"It was probably your relationship troubles", Giles said.
"Yeah, that was it", Dawn said, remembering her comment to Riley about how Buffy always cried over Angel, and not him, to make him feel better. Though looking back, even Angel was better for her sister than Riley.
"Guess so", Buffy sighed, deciding not to argue, since they weren't right. "Still don't like the term though."
As Maude tried to order her to kill herself again, Cordelia snarled. "Back off! Polygrip... You think you're bad? Being all mean and haunty? Picking on poor pathetic Cordy? Well, get ready to haul your wrinkly translucent ass out of this place, because lady, the bitch is back." Angel and Griff continued fighting as Maude told her she wouldn't take trash from her, but Cordelia said. "I tell you what I think. I think that you're going to pack your little ghost bags and get the HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!" There was a flash and Maude flew backwards through the wall.
"Oh my God!" Tara said, everyone surprised.
"She is gonna kick the ghost out!" Dawn cheered.
"No more than she deserves, being murdered doesn't give her the right to do all this", Xander said about Maude.
Angel dropped Griff as the flying stuff stopped, and Cordelia walked out of the bedroom, looking up, her eyes all glazed white, and picking a metal lamp, demolished the wall she had been wanting to take out. Cordelia kept hitting it till she revealed a tied up skeleton bound with ropes as Maude screamed.
"Who's that?" Willow wondered.
"It doesn't look like a woman's skeleton", Buffy said. "And the police found her body, so it can't be her."
"So who else could be there?" Giles wondered.
In a flashback, Maude bricked up her son Dennis in the wall as 'you always hurt the ones you love' played, her telling Dennis he made her do this. Dennis begged her to stop as she taunted, saying now he couldn't leave or marry the streetwalker, and Maude later finished the plaster in, as Dennis begged to be let out, suffocating. Maude hung a picture on the finished wall, saying it hurt her more than him before dying of a heart attack.
"Good God", Giles said in horror, speaking for everyone as he took off his glasses.
"She….murdered him….." Buffy trailed off, not sure what to say.
"She didn't want him to elope so she killed him?" Dawn asked, horrified. "How insane is she?"
"Very", Willow said.
"And here I thought my parents were bad", Xander muttered.
"I think all of us here have bad experiences with our parents, but none are as bad as what happened here", Tara said, feeling sympathy for poor Dennis.
"Looks like it", Buffy agreed.
Maude stared at the skeleton as a white light oozed out of it, Doyle saying Dennis wasn't too happy with his mom. Maude screamed she had done it for Dennis' good, as his fiancée would have made his life miserable.
"He would still have a life!" Dawn snapped at Maude.
"She is just screwed up in the head, so everyone but her is wrong", Buffy snarled in disgust.
A white light coalesced and headed for her, and then a great gust of wind obliterated Maude's specter. Cordelia said she knew she didn't like the wall.
"Justice served right", Giles said, everyone satisfied.
"The heart attack might have been someone's punishment for her actions", Willow said.
"Yeah, but now she has finally gotten her comeuppance", Buffy said.
Later, at Doyle's apartment, he added an extra lock to the door, Angel assuring he would always help out, but needed to hear the story of Doyle's life. Doyle tried to tell a grand tale but Angel didn't want it, so Doyle said he'd tell it in time, saying the past never let go, and Angel agreed.
"The past never will let go", Xander said in agreement, thinking about his resentment for Vampires over losing Jesse, which had always dictated some of his actions, especially ones regarding Angel and Spike.
At her apartment, Cordelia sat on the sofa, talking to Aura, commenting on how she missed her calls because of an incompetent girl at work, and lied how celebrities were on top of her, with Steve Paymer living down the hall, and she joked she had a roommate whom she never saw. Her can of diet root beer slid away from her on the sofa table and she put her hand over the receiver, telling Phantom Dennis to put it back, so it slid back, but then TV turned on, so Cordy told Dennis this was quiet time due to her being on the phone, and the TV turned off, Cordy thanking Dennis before resuming her typical talk with Aura.
"So, she has a Phantom roommate now", Willow said.
"Stranger things have happened", Tara shrugged.
"Poor Dennis", Dawn said.
"Yeah, having to bear with her", Buffy joked.
"Well, at least she got a place, even if she's exaggerating it and her career, or lack thereof", Xander joked.
"So, time for the next one then", Giles said.
"Yeah", Buffy nodded, since there were 3 more to see before the next break.
So that's another one done. Cordelia telling off Maude will always be epic, don't mess with our favorite bitch. And Dennis is such a sweety, I love him, he is the best. Anyone else think he and Clem should be roommates?
[1] Kirstie from 'The Body' kind of felt like Dawn's own Cordelia to me, as a way to parallel Buffy and Cordelia, though Kirstie is a cheap copy of course, no one can be Cordelia, there is only one.
[2] So, there are some people who use stairs over an elevator, even if it is to climb 4 or 5 floors, and I am one of those people. So I made Tara refer to myself.
Also, I think they'd need future Buffy to watch Episode 8 with them, since she'd be good at defending Angel's side to them, and they definitely need the whole gang to watch the first half of Season 2 with them due to what happened in that, and we know Giles can get pretty judgmental.
Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!