Xander walks into the bathroom just as Cordelia leaves it, muttering to herself in an overly happy tone about it being a 'bright and shiny morning'. That was Xander's first warning that this was going to be a bad day. But she was still mostly asleep so she ignored it.
Xander did all the morning bathroom things you do, as she brushed her teeth looking at the girl in the mirror she sighed. Every day she hoped to see boy-him in the mirror, and every day was disappointed. As she finished brushing her teeth, she heard Cordelia scream. Running out of the bathroom into the living room she heard Cordelia yelling.
"...I get it! You're a ghost! Your DEAD. Big accomplishment! Move on...you see a light, go towards it."
"If it's a ghost, Cordy, I doubt it saw the light in the first place"
A cold wind blew threw the room.
"Ooo, a cold wind, how cliché! What are you going to do..."
"Stop egging it on, Cor!"
"...blow me to death?"
"That so didn't sound right." Xander muttered then decides to help Cordelia irrated the ghost " Ah, come on is that all you got"
The wind dies suddenly, and then a knock came at the door causing both of the girls to jump.
"Cordelia! Xander! "
They looked at each other then at the door. Cordelia goes and hesitantly opens it. Angel and Wesley are standing there. Xander after seeing them starts to clean up the mess the ghost made.
"Angel...and Wesley, why are you here?" Cordelia asked.
"Cactus," Angel said holding up a potted one. "Housewarming present"
Wesley cleared his throat.
"I thought you might need some help settling in.," he said as he tries to come in but Cordelia stops him.
"Thanks, but I'm getting the place just how I want it. And I have Xander. Xan's gonna be my roomie!"
"Xander's here?" said Wesley pushing past Cordelia, looking for Xander.
"Rude much," Cordelia mutters at the Englishman. Wesley spotted Xander putting shards of a broken vase in a box. She looks up at him.
"Hi, Wes."
"I don't know what you were thinking. Sending me on that escapade. You know the oddest people. Those cult people..."
"Come on, Wes, you know you had fun, admit it!"
"I most certain did..."
"What about the rule!" they heard Cordelia shriek. As Angel walked into the apartment.
"You said when you got a place I was completely invited over." Angel reminded her.
"What, I didn't even have a place then"
Xander smirked then walked over to them followed by Wesley.
"Sloppy, Cor, very sloppy, you never would have made a mistake like that in Sunnydale."
"Theses rules are getting all screwed up!" Cordelia muttered then saw Wesley fiddle with the curtain cord. " Don't touch that!" Wesley gave her a look and said " I was just closing these so Angel doesn't burst into flames." Cordelia glared at him. Angel looks around the apartment.
"This is nice...how about a tour."
"This is the livingroom,"Xander said motioning around " that's the kitchen." She pointed to it. Cordelia nodded.
"I'm going to knock out that wall. That's about it. Oh, thanks for the cactus!" Cordelia told them. Xander and Cordelia saw the pair of sciorors rise off the desk then fly straight at Angel's back. Xander snatches them midair.
"I can't believe you can afford this!" said Angel obvious to what had almost happen.
Xander walks over to a desk and shoves the sciorors in the desk drawer. Then the top of the desk bugles up into the shape of a human face. Xander barely holds back a squeak of fright. She slams the drawer shut, then turns and leans against the desk.
"Cordy, lunch?" asked Xander. Cordelia frowned, 'Why is she thinking about her stomach at a time like this' she wondered. Then noticed the look on Xander's face.
"Oh, right! There's a place down the street." Cordelia told them, as one of the trophies one the mantel behind the guys flew off of it towards Wesley. Angel turns and catches it before it could hit Wesley.
"It lunged at me!" Wesley said shocked.
"That thing it's be doing that all morning. I think the mantel is uneven." Cordelia said. Xander couldn't believe she said that, they weren't going to buy it.
"What is going on?" Angel asked looking around this for danger.
"Ok, it's not the mantel." Muttered Cordelia. Xander saw that she didn't want to tell them so Xander spoke up.
"It's a fault line. We get small tremors all the time..." Xander trailed off when she saw they weren't listening but staring at the wall behind her, she turned to look. The word DIE appeared slowly, in bloody red letters.
"Dear lord..." said Wesley.
'So Giles isn't the only one who says that in times of crisis.' thought Xander.
"Come on." Angel grabs one of Cordelia's arms and tries to pull her toward the door.
"I'm not giving up this apartment...Xander's not either!"
' Why is she speaking for me?' wondered Xander.
"It's haunted!" said Angel trying to reason with Cordelia.
"It's rent controlled." Cordelia threw back at him.
"Cordy, it says 'die'." Xander said coming up and taking her other arm and helps Angel pull her toward the door.
"Hey, maybe it's not done, maybe it's 'diet'. That's friendly...a little judgmental sure. Angel, I'm not giving up this apartment," She growled, " I need this, Xander needs this!
'There she goes talking for me again'
Xander sighed.
"I know this place is beautiful, and how much you want it and in any other circumstance it would be soo, you. But, Cordy, you don't need this." Xander told her.
"It's just a place. Your more than that." Angel told Cordelia.
"How? How am I more than that?" asked Cordelia.
Xander had never heard that tone from Cordelia before. It told how much she wanted this place. Xander who was a sucker for one of his girls turned to Wesley and asked, " Can we cleanse it?" Wesley looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Try and put the ghost to rest?" he asked. Xander nodded.
"Can we?" begged Cordelia holding on to hope that she could keep this apartment. Angel nodded. Anything to get them out of here, he didn't like ghosts they freaked him out. During all of that the wind in the apartment had started to pick back up.
"We can try, but we have to go now. We'll figure it out at the office." Angel told Cordelia.
"Ok," said Cordelia and stops when Xander and Angel almost had her out the door.
"Listen up, Casper. You haven't won anything here! I'll die before I give up this apartment! You hear me! I'll die!" She yells back into the apartment. All of them were out of the place.
"Stop, giving it ideals, Cor!" Xander yells at her but the door to the apartment slammed shut.