Roomies

Disclaimer: The characters of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: the Series Universes (Angel, Cordelia, Spike, Xander, Doyle, etc…) are the creation of Joss Whedon and are, therefore, the property of him, Mutant Enemy (Grr, Arg), and 20th Century Fox (and all other affiliated parties). No money is gained from this work as it is created purely for the enjoyment of others. Please do not sue.

AN: Constructive criticism and friendly fedback are always appreciated. Flames will be used to warm my toes.


~Part 20: Another Day On The Job~


The huge smile that had been on Cordelia's face since Doyle picked her up half an hour earlier was threatening to crack the rest of her face it looked so large. Doyle was positive that the brunette was going to hurt herself if she didn't give it a rest and soon. He shook his head at the energy running through her that was the obvious cause of her bouncing.

He knew better then to question her though, so he shrugged and knocked on the door. When it opened, the face of a man who had barely gotten a single moment's rest the night before for reasons, which obviously weren't as good as Cordelia's if the bag under his visible eye was any clue, greeted him.

Cordelia's smile somehow managed to kick it up another notch when the door opened and she held out her gift. "Cactus! A housewarming present from *my* favorite blonde vampire. Spike seemed to think that it would be perfect for you. Angel sends his love in the form of his gold card and a grumbled 'whatever'. I convinced him that it wouldn't be a good idea for you to be going back to Sunnydale for a while," she said as she looked pointedly at the bandage. "I also brought a cell phone so that you could call the Scoobies sometime today and let them know what's going on."

"Um... Hi... Uh... Thanks?" Xander said weakly. He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Look, there's something about the apartment that I need to tell you—"

"Th'place looks great. Yah worry too much," Doyle said overenthusiastically, cutting Xander off as he slipped in past the younger man. He managed to brush shoulders with the teenager and a small shiver ran down his spine at the minute contact. He silently berated himself for acting like a teenage boy, nearly swooning at the slightest contact from his crush. His eyes caught the sight of a chair with a shattered leg lying in the middle of the floor. He frowned slightly as he glanced over his shoulder to say grimly, "I dunno wha' yah 'ad ag'nst tha' chair tho'."

"Ah, the Chair," Xander said in feigned fond remembrance. "It tried to fool me with promises of being comfy though it was anything but. We fought many a battle, that Chair and I. However, I managed to triumph over its great and evil sorcery and foiled its many evil schemes."

Doyle chuckled. He kept an amused eye on Xander as he made his way over to the front bay window. Once he hit Cordelia's wall of boxes, he had no choice but to remove his eyes from the sight that was Xander. "Yah're one ov a kind Xander."

Cordelia's smile wavered as she noticed the cord from the curtains seemingly flying through the air. It lost whatever life it had in it as Doyle reached the window and picked it up. Her eyes went wide. "Oh my God, don't touch that!"

Both men turned and stared at her.

"What? 'm jes openin' them so tha' we c'n get a li'l bit a sunlight in 'ere. This place is darker th'n th'office," Doyle said defensively. He pulled the cord and the curtains opened spilling sunlight into the room. He raised an eyebrow at her in a playful, though pitiful, imitation of Spike.

"Oh... okay," she muttered softly from where she stood next to Xander.

"This is nice... how 'bout a tour?" Doyle asked as he walked through the maze that was Cordelia's boxes, ending up by the fireplace.

"Uh, sure. Over there is the kitchen, that's the living room, I'm assuming that's the wall that Cordy wants knocked out, and behind door number three is the bedroom,” Xander said, pointing to each item out as he listed it.

He glanced at Cordelia. "Tell Spike I said thanks for the cactus." His voice held an edge of sarcasm but the slight smile tugging at his lips softened his words.

Cordelia nodded, smiling, and handed said cactus over to him.

"I still can't believe Angel is willing to pay for this place. Looks like the rent would cost a fortune," Xander muttered as he walked over to stand next to Doyle and lean on the mantle tossing the cactus from one hand to the other. As he walked away from Cordelia, a pair of scissors went flying across the room directed at his back.

Cordelia caught them before either Xander or Doyle noticed and quickly walked over to a desk that sat against a bare wall. She went to drop the scissors into one of the drawers, but was caught by the sight of the indentations of a face pushing through the woodwork. She slammed the drawer after dropping the scissors and turned fast to meet Doyle and Xander's confused looks.

She grinned widely. "Knowing and having dated you Xander, I bet you're starved! There's this place down the street that I've been dieing to tr - " She cut herself off with a gasp when one of her trophies flew off the mantle towards the back of Doyle's head.

Xander caught the thing before it caused any damage, but Doyle looked over at Cordelia in confusion after he gasped, "Dear, swee - !"

"Wow! That mantle must be... really... uneven," Cordelia stated as she illustrated with her hands. Her face looked tense, as if she knew that they knew that she knew what was going on even though she still insisted on trying to cover it up.

Doyle looked at her, flabbergasted. "Tha' thing lunged at me!" he exclaimed.

After a brief, uncomfortable pause, Xander asked, "Did I forget to mention that this place is haunted? Ahh...yes, actually I *was* about to say something before I was so rudely interrupted by Doyle."

Doyle grinned sheepishly; glad he wasn't the type to blush.

Cordelia seemed to be searching for the perfect answer to all this. Suddenly her face brightened. "You're right, it's probably not the mantle. That trophy has always been a pain!"

They all quieted as the room began to fill with moans of the dead, though not rested. A look of horror crossed Doyle's and Xander's faces and Cordelia turned to see a word forming in what looked like boiling blood across the wall behind her above the desk.

"C'mon," Xander said, grabbing Cordelia's arm.

Another whispered "Dear, sweet..." escaped Doyle's lips.

"I am *not* letting you give up this apartment!" Cordelia ground out as she pointed a finger in Xander's face.

"It's haunted," Xander stated, exasperated.

"It's rent controlled," Cordelia shot back as if that solved everything.

"Cordy, it says 'die'!" Doyle exclaimed.

Pulling away from their hands she launched into a babble fit. "Hey. Maybe its not done yet? Maybe it's 'die'-et? That's friendly, a little judgmental, sure -- I mean, Xander has absolutely no excess body fat from what I can tell." She drew in a deep breath and faced Xander, "You are not giving this up. It's perfect for you and gorgeous and so... well me, but I can make it so that it will fit your style... if I dub that you actually have any style. You *need* this place, you *deserve* this place."

"He doesn't need it," Doyle said as he pulled her towards the door, "it's jes 'n apartm'nt. He's more th'n that."

"How!?" Cordelia demanded, reeling around to face Doyle. "Exactly how is Xander more then that?"

"We can do a witch-y exorcist thing," Xander said suddenly. He turned to Doyle in a moment of panic. "We can try, can't we? Find out why whoever's here is here, then solve their problems so they can rest or whatever." Turning back to Cordelia, he said, "Like we tried to do at the high school during Sadie Hawkins."

"Can we?" Cordelia begged, once again turning to face Doyle.

"We c'n try," Doyle said, urgently trying to direct them out the door. "We 'ave ta go now. We'll fig'r it out at th'office."

"Okay," Cordelia breathed.

As they dragged the girl out the door, she turned back to face what looked like an empty apartment. The sounds that were building made it hard for them to believe their eyes as the moaning grew louder. "Listen good, Casper!" she called out. "You haven't won a thing. He'll die before I let him give up this apartment. He'll die!"