Fred answered the door cautiously, even though she knew it was Lorne on the other side.  She was still paranoid from her experience in the demon's home dimension.

            "Good evening to ya, Freddie." Lorne greeted her warmly.  "How are ya feelin'?"

            "Oh, Ah'm pretty good.  Who's your new friend?  Ah ain't seen her before - or have Ah?  My memory's a muddle still sometimes."

            "Fear not, Sweetie, you haven't met her yet." he assured her kindly.  "This is Tec.  She was hoping to talk to Cordelia, if she's around?"

            "Well, no one's here but me," Fred shrugged, "But they should be back soon, if you wanna come in and wait."

            "That would be great," Lorne allowed Tecothra to enter before him.

            "How did you come to be lookin' for Cordy?" Fred asked the other woman.

            "It's a long story, but basically I'm here to help her." Tecothra explained.

            "Help her with her visions?"  She nodded.  "Oh, that's good, 'cause she for sure needs that."

            Tecothra was only half-listening to Fred.  She was searching the lobby for Spectral Traces - the trails left behind by ghosts in the places they visit.  "A great evil used to reside here."

            "You'd have to ask Angel about that.  I'm not too familiar with the history of this place." Lorne told her.

            "I don't have to ask Angel.  I can sense it.  The Evil lived here, undisturbed, for many decades.  Eating souls," she knitted her eyebrows together in concentration, trying to single out other Spectral Traces.

            "You can sense things?" Fred inquired, "Like a psychic?"

            "Something like that.  I can see ghosts, and I can tell when one has been in certain places.  And when the Powers deem it necessary, I can bring the ghost back, or help it cross over."

            "Are you looking for a ghost now?"

            "Yes." Tecothra smiled warmly.  "His name's Doyle.  He was killed two years ago by the Scourge.  Horrible monsters," she shook her head, willing her own experience with the demons to the recesses of her mind.

            Lorne saw the woman's distress in her aura, but decided not to ask her about it.  Perhaps she would reveal more when the others returned.  "When do you expect Angel back, Fred?"

            She looked up at him, thinking hard.  "Actually, you know, they didn't tell me."

            "Oh."

            "But we got our new TV today!  Wanna see what's on?" she asked excitedly.

            Lorne had to smile.  The simplest facets of everyday life amazed Fred.  She had not seen modern conveniences in five years, and she reacted to them as if she was seeing them for the first time.  We should all be so lucky to see the world in such a way.

            "You two go ahead.  I'm going to have a look around, if that's alright with you?" Tecothra directed the question at Fred, since the hotel was her residence.

            "No, no, Ah don't mind.  But my room's the second door upstairs."

            "I won't go in, I promise." she smiled reassuringly.

            Fred returned the smile and nodded.  "Okay, come on Lorne," she took the demon's arm in hers, and led him over to the television set in one of the hotel's many rooms.

            Tecothra set to exploring.  She was anxious to get a glimpse of her quarry, and maybe discover what was so great about Doyle that made the Powers That Be deem him worthy of Rebirth.  She pushed open the door to the washroom slowly, not expecting to find anything.

            The wave of emotion that swept over her forced her to step back, gasping.  So much sorrow from such a small room.  And not just sorrow, but guilt.  Why was the washroom such a significant place to Doyle?  Tecothra dismissed the obvious answer, since if he was a Peeping Tom sadness and guilt would not be the feelings here.

            She moved away from the washroom, still reeling from the shock that had come from that space.  Tecothra entered one of the hotel's vacant luxury rooms.  The perfectly made bed's red comforter had a thick cover of dust, but the chair of matching shade had recently been occupied.  This room held a different emotion from the last:  Joy.  Doyle had laughed here.  At what, Tecothra could only guess for now, but it was a welcome sensation compared to the ache the washroom had left.

            Tecothra movied on down the hall.  She came to a closed door, but as she reached for the knob it swung open.  She had to step back to avoid getting hit.

            The vampire growled at the stranger in his home, but his scare tactic did not work.  "Hello, Angel," Tecothra greeted the other.

            "Who are you?" he barked.

            She offered her hand, "Tecothra,"

            He ignored it, "How did you get in?"

            "Fred let Lorne and I enter to await your return."

            Angel's demonic visage was replaced by his human persona.  "Oh,"

            Wesley spoke up, "How may we help you?"  He was more polite than Angel, now that they knew the stranger had arrived with a friend.  The two moved aside, granting Cordelia entry as well.  "Obviously if you came with Lorne we can trust you."

            Tecothra smiled as Cordelia pushed past the two men.  She did not see it, but Wesley observed that the smile was not intended for the young woman, but rather the space behind her.  Angel noticed it too, his brow creasing in confusion.

            Another brow was also creased in confusion:  Doyle could not shake the sneaking suspicion that this woman was smiling at him.  He tried to ignore her as he went over to stand by Cordelia, as he often did in his Afterlife.  Cordelia sat down on the stairs.

            Tecothra did not take her eyes from the spectre as he passed her.  Doyle met her gaze, standing a foot away.  "You can really see me." he breathed, his voice sounding to her as it would to any other ghost:  Echoed, and distant.

            "Yes, I can," Tecothra replied.

            "You can what?" Angel asked.

            Lorne and Fred joined the others in the foyer.  "I thought I heard voices." Lorne grinned.

            "Lorne, who is this girl?" the vampire asked in a hushed tone.

            "Oh, don't worry about Tec.  She passed the test."

            "Test?" Wesley put in.

            "Man, can she belt out a tune," Lorne was thoroughly impressed.  "Under different circumstances, I'd advise and encourage her to record a demo."

            "You can see and hear me?" Doyle was teetering on the line between giddiness and disbelief, leaving no room for quirky quips.  "How?  And why are you here?"

            "I can more easily respnd to the last question.  The Powers sent me to bring you back."

            Angel and Wesley both turned to Lorne for an explanation.  The Host broke into a smile.  "If I hadn't seen her in the club earlier, I'd never believe any of this, either." he said by way of reply to their questioning gazes.

            Angel was not satisfied, and losing his patience.  "Believe what?  Lorne, what is going on?"

            "She's talking to Doyle." he answered simply, and quietly.

            "What?"  Wesley did not understand.  "How?"

            "Doyle's dead." Angel's voice was low so that Cordelia would not hear him.  As it was, she was talking to Fred, and not paying any mind to the strange scene playing out in front of them.  "He's been dead for almost two years."

            Lorne replied, "I know.  Tec told me as much as she knew."

            "Bring me back?" Doyle shook his head.  "You can't."

            "I can, but you have to be willing.  I can't drag you back, you have to return voluntarily." Tecothra explained.

            "The fact that I don't have a body to return to might pose a problem."

            "It doesn't matter.  When I bring you back, your spirit will recreate its material self as you cross over."

            "First off, Lady, it's if you bring me back.  I'm not sure I fit in with the Living anymore.  I've been here a long time, and I don't think the World's ready to welcome me back with open arms."

            "Don't be ridiculous!" she exclaimed.  She quickly realized that everyone in the hotel lobby was staring at her.

            Cordelia spoke for the first time, "Who are you talking to?"

            "Don't tell her!" Doyle said quickly.  "She can't know."

            "Let's talk somewhere away from intent ears."

            The ghost nodded, so Tecothra followed him into one of the other rooms.  She closed the door behind them.

            "What was that all about?" Cordelia demanded, slightly testy from the night's events.

            "She talks to ghosts." Fred answered.

            "We have ghosts?  Since when?"

            "Not we," Fred shook her head.  "Just you."

            Cordelia raised her eyebrows, not comprehending.

            "It's a long story," Lorne stepped in before Fred told her too much.  "And I think you should hear it from Tec."

            "Tec?  You mean the crazy chick who talks to herself."

            Lorne sighed, scratching his forehead absently.  He left the remark unchallenged because he trusted Tecothra to explain herself eventually.  He had seen into her soul and therefore he knew that she was trustworthy and that she had helped many beings trapped between between the Spectral World and the Material World.  Doyle would be another name on a long list.

            Lorne had also had a glimpse of her troubled past.  Tecothra was not a demon, or even half demon.  She was a human with special abilities.  Unfortunately, news of her powers had reached The Scourge - the self-appointed race of demons to wipe out all half-breeds - and they had gone after her.  The Scourge had murdered Tecothra's parents and brother while she was away.  She had returned home to a massacre.

            Lorne had heard of various encounters with the demons in Caritas, both onstage and through overheard conversations, but he still knew only the basics about them.  "Angel, tell me what you know about The Scourge."

            Cordelia's eyes glassed, and she ran up the stairs.  She slammed the first door she came to.

            "Oh, no, I'm sorry.  I forgot." Lorne apologized.  Wesley was halfway up the stairs to talk to her.  "Tell her I'm sorry.  I wasn't thinking."

            Wesley nodded, ascending the rest of the steps.

            Tecothra closed the door behind them.  Doyle was already pacing the room.  "Tell me why the PTB sent you."

            "They sent me because Cordelia can't handle her new responsibility.  They understand that it was a split-second decision, and therefore they do not blame you, but they do feel that having you back would be best for their Champion."

            Doyle's face fell.  "I really did believe she'd be alright."

            "I know," she replied.

            "You know." he repeated in the same tone.  "How much did the Powers tell you?"

            "They told me everything, Doyle.  Including that they had not intended for their Champion to lose you so early in his career."

            "Yeah, well, tell that to The Scourge." he muttered.

            "We both know that The Scourge works under its own guidance.  The Powers can do nothing about their coming and going."

            The ghost nodded.  He fell into a different mood, deciding that if - if - he was going to allow this woman to bring him back to mortal life, he wanted to know more about her.

            "Go ahead," Tecothra said, "Ask me."

            "You read minds, too?"

            "No, I can read you.  Ghosts have an unusual way of expressing their emotions."

            "How long have you had your powers?"

            "Always.  Even when I was little, though I didn't really understand what to do with them." she smiled, as a memory sprang to mind.  "When I was nine, my family moved into this old farmhouse.  At night I would hear this sobbing outside my door - I had the room in the basement - so this one night I finally got up my nerve, and I looked out into the rec room.

            "There was this boy - this fifteen year old boy on his knees in the middle of the floor.  I asked him what was wrong, and when I looked into his eyes I knew.  I just knew without him having said anything.

            "His name was Jared and he had been murdered right there in my rec room by his mother - his own mother!  I tried to comfort him and we talked all night and then every night for amost two weeks before Jared told me that it was time for him to go and that I had helped him realize that he didn't need to stay behind anymore.

            "I don't remember if I understood what he meant back then, but I was always glad that he wasn't around anymore.  I knew that it meant he had gone to a better place at long last."

            Doyle studied her intently throughout her story, but found no indication that she was lying.  "So, you also help the Living Impaired to Cross Over, then?"

            Tecothra nodded.  "That's the job I do most often, although not everyone gets to where they think they deserve to be."

            "But you have no control over that, right?"

            "Right.  That's not my department."

            "Do they blame you for where you send them?"

            "Sometimes,"

            "What do you do when that happens?"

            Tecothra averted her eyes.  "Try not to think about it." she murmured.

            "Oh," he arched his eyebrow. "Does it happen often?"

            "No, but - nevermind.  You don't need to hear about that."

            "No, I suppose not." he tried to lighten the mood by saying, "Those crazy Powers.  They never take responsibility for themselves."

            She half-smiled.  "Don't I know it,"

            Doyle shook his head.  "Ah now, see Darlin' you weren't kidding.  Ya were just tryin' ta humor me.  But that's alright."

            "I'm sorry.  It happened years ago, but the memory's still fresh."

            "I understand." Doyle replied wistfully.  "Sometimes I think I died yesterday."

            She looked up at the spectre in surprise.  Of all the ghosts she had encountered, very few knew that they were dead.  None of them actually remembered how until shortly before they Crossed Over.  "You can actualy remember the means of your death?"

            Doyle nodded.  "Oh yes, quite vividly.  Do you want to hear about it?  Blinding white hot pain, and then suddenly nothing." he ignored that she was shaking her head.  "And you want me to go through that again.  How thoughtful."

            "This time will be different."

            "Oh, great.  Maybe I'll be splattered all over the pavement, or shot, or hit by a bus.  That sounds just peachy."

            "Doyle - "  Tecothra had to choose her words carefully, and therefore went through them in her head before continuing, "You can't look at it like that.  This is a second chance at Life, a second chance to be with your friends, a second chance with Cordelia.  The Powers told me that you chose to stay behind, but I didn't understand why until I saw you two ten minutes ago.  You want to be here at the Intersection when it comes to be her turn so that you can Cross Over together."

            "That's not the only reason." he said indignantly.  "I didn't want to be without her." he confessed.  "No matter what was on the other side for me."

            Tecothra nodded, then asked, "Then why don't you want to come back?  To try again?  This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that the Powers are offering you.  Well, Afterlifetime."

            "True," he conceded, "But it's also not the kind of thing one rushes into." Doyle sighed.  "I'll have to think about it.  Just don't pester me."

            Tecothra shrugged, "Fine.  Although, it seems obvious to me which path you should take.  Things can't get any worse for you, you being a ghost and all."

            "That was yer two cents.  Now we'll hear no more of yer sales pitch, alright?"

            She nodded, and then he phased through the door.  "This is going to be more difficult than I had anticipated." Tecothra muttered to the empty room.

            In a bright flash of light there appeared a woman.  An Oracle.  Since the murder of two of such beings two years previous, they feared leaving transdimensional access open to anyone who knew the way, in case something of such magnitude was to happen again.  The Oracles now only appeared to those who required their guidance.

            "You were told that he would need more convincing than most.  He still believes he deserves this existence." the Oracle, whom Tecothra had come to know as Akishya, said solemnly.

            "So, how do I tell him he's wrong?  I don't know what to say.  I'm not a counsellor, Aki.  I just listen until they work it out on their own.  I give them pointers, not whole solutions.  What do the Powers expect me to do?"

            "Fear not, Tecothra.  Something is coming that shall change his mind for you."

            Tecothra was about to ask what, but Akishya disappeared in the same manner as she had arrived.  Tecothra shook her head, then went out to join the others.

            Lorne was leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest.  He studied her as she came out of the room, not noticing him there.  "Didn't quite go as planned, did it, Sugar?"

            Tecothra turned to face the demon.  "No, not really."  He continued to read her as she stood there, but she decided to tell him outright, knowing that he would understand.  "I think Doyle's scared."  Lorne nodded encouragingly.  "Actually, I know he's scared.  He told me that he doesn't want to go through the whole dying process again - which is understandable, but there's more to it than that.  I think he's afraid of what it would be like to be back, how his friends will treat him - or if they even want him back.

            "And I don't know what to tell him to convince him otherwise." she sighed.  "He's the first ghost I've ever encountered who actually remembers dying.  Usually part of a ghost's problem is that it doesn't realize it's dead.  That's how they get stuck Between.  Once they realize it and accept it, they can Cross Over.  But Doyle knows he's dead.  He knows how he died.  Yet he's still here.  He won't leave, but he doesn't want to come back, either."

            "That all sounds complicated, but I know you'll work it out." Lorne tried to comfort her.  He could see the distress etched into her Being.

            Tecothra furrowed her eyebrows.  "Lorne, when I sang for you, did you see anything big approaching?  Possibly something bad that's attached to my being here?"

            "No.  Nothing directly attached to you."

            "So you did see something, then?"

            "I saw trouble.  You haven't brought it with you, but it will find you."

            "Don't be cryptic with me, Lorne.  I get enough of that from everyone else." she scratched her brow absently.

            "Sorry, Peaches, but that's part of my gig.  I give you advice, and you figure out what to do with it."

            "So what is this - "

            "Hey, Cordy," the demon's attention was diverted by the girl coming downstairs after a half hour alone.  Wesley had tried to comfort her, but she told him off.  Now, the perceptive Pylean could see that she was still upset, and not only inwardly, for her eyes were red and puffy from crying.  "Excuse me," he said to Tecothra, as he went over to Cordelia.  "Are you okay, Precious?"

            Cordelia nodded, brushing her fingers through her hair.  "Yeah, I'm okay."

            "I'm really sorry, Sweetie.  I didn't mean to tear open old wounds."

            "I know you didn't.  Don't worry about it."  Tears threatened her again.  "I just - I still miss him."

            Tecothra could see Doyle working his jaw.  He was standing beside Cordelia, arms crossed over his chest.  She did not know if he was trying to find something to say to her, or if he was just surprised to hear the words that came from Cordelia's mouth.

            Cordelia threw her arms around Lorne.  "I know you can see how I feel and that it hurts you, too."

            Tecothra slipped away from the scene.  She was certain that Cordelia did not intend for a total stranger to witness her emotional outpour.

            Cordelia continued without noticing Tecothra's departure, as she had not noticed that she was even present.  "I'm sorta glad you know.  It's tough holding it all in all the time.  But Lorne," she withdrew from the hug so she could look into his eyes.  "You have to promise that you won't tell the others.  They can't know that I'm not as stable as they think I am."

            Lorne nodded slowly.  "Of course I promise, Dearheart.  This is just between us." as he said that, he realized that there was one other set of ears, though unseen, who was probably aching to hold Cordelia the way that Lorne was now.  "It'll get better, Cordy.  I promise that, too."

            Cordelia smiled, a toned down expression from her usual one, but the message still came across; she was relieved, but skeptical at the same time.