"Hey you," Cordy smiled as she hugged Angel.

He was stiff and looked anxious which made her worried. No smile, no warm hug, he just simply stood there.

"We have to talk." He said bluntly.

She sighed. "Ok, what's up?"

"Wesley found these letters," He said holding up the stack, "You wanna explain all of this Cordelia?"

She stared in shock as Angel released the letters one by one, letting each of them flutter to the coffee table.

"I can't believe you…" She whispered. "You-you both looked in my desk…?" She whispered.

"Cor we were just trying to help you."

"Well I never asked for your help! You invaded my privacy…as if I haven't had enough of that lately." She said coldly.

"Why didn't you talk to me?" He asked her grabbing her arm.

She pulled it back. "Because my life isn't on fucking display Angel! I can make my own decisions, and I'm not in high school anymore! What I do is none of your business!" She screamed with rage.

He stared at the ground, not knowing what to say, and with that, she grabbed her purse and walked out of the hotel into the daylight.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Cordy snuck through the fire escape so the landlord wouldn't see her. Yes, the wonderful life she'd been dreaming of, sneaking into her own apartment and living off of club crackers from the cheap convenient store down the street.

The fridge was practically empty, as usual. She gazed at the contents, some cheese whiz and a jar of blood, wow.

She remembered when she had first moved in, when Doyle was there. The apartment had meant a new phase of her life, a fresh start, it was perfect.

Everything seemed to be falling apart. It was as if she was a yo-yo, in complete control at first going up and down smoothly, but that one fumble, that one regretted wrist movement tangles it into an ugly knot.

Dennis handed her the cheese whiz in an attempt to comfort her and she almost smiled.

"I should go back shouldn't I?" She asked him.

She didn't need him to nod through her teddy bear or write 'yes' on a notepad. She got up and proceeded to leave the apartment, this time through the front door.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Angel sat on his sofa with his head buried in his hands. He barely noticed the seer coming in, too distracted with his own jumbled thoughts.

She moved the curtain ever so slightly to look outside, making sure not to let the light touch him. He felt safe in the dark, and she began to fell the same way.

"It was about six months ago, maybe seven," She began without bothering to look at him.

"When your visions started to slow down." He noted softly.

"I heard you and Wesley talking about how tight we were on money, and how the bank was going to take the hotel if we couldn't pay rent on time." Her eyes slowly began to well up, "I just-I just felt like it was my fault. I'm the one with the visions! I'm the one who's supposed to bring us business!"

Angel stood up and put a hand on her shoulder. "Sweetheart, it was never your fault."

"I know…I know Angel, but you were so stressed and I hated to see you so upset. I mean, Angel Investigations is everything to you. It's everything to all of us."

"So you took out the loan?" Angel asked.

Cordy nodded. "But soon, I couldn't even afford to pay my rent, everything I made I put to the loan and it was all getting so out of control. Then I met this guy, Tony. He said that all I had to do was deliver some packages for him and he'd pay me."

"Cordy you know better-"

The seer cut him off, "It seemed fine at first! Shady, yes, but pretty ok. I'd drop of the packages and pick up my check from Tony the next morning. But the deliveries just got worse and worse. Bad parts of town, even Sharpe Point a few times. I started to get really scared, and I knew that this wasn't worth it."

"So you stopped going didn't you?" Angel asked.

She nodded. "Tony wouldn't leave me alone about it. He called me a million times a day telling me that I was 'his' and that I couldn't just quit. I ignored his calls, even though they started to get pretty bad."

"Bad how…?" The vampire inquired, his eyes drowning with concern.

She took a deep breath. "Tony would threaten me, tell me he'd break into my apartment and bullshit like that. I didn't really listen. I know I should've, but things were picking up here and you know, you and me…it was all coming back together again. One night I was walking back to my apartment and before I knew it, there he was, grabbing me and shoving me up against the wall with his friends."

Angel wrapped his arms around his seer and let her rest her head on his shoulder. He felt her pain at the memory. "Assholes." He muttered.

"I thought I could fight them, but I was so scared and there were so many!" She whimpered.

"Shhh, it's ok. Darling why didn't you tell me about all of this? I would have helped you, you know that."

She shrugged. "I just wanted it all to go away. Besides, I knew you'd go and kick his ass or something stupid like that."

"That's for sure." He said.

She softly grinned and whipped at her tears.

"So what are we going to do?"

Cordelia Chase looked up at the vampire with the most assured look upon her face. "I think I'm gonna have to figure this one out on my own. But whatever I do, it'll make Tony scream."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

I think one more chapter should do the trick, how is it?