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 21: Fee Fie Foe Fum, I Smell a Dead Old Mum~


Xander nervously started the coffee maker. His mind was in a haze and his distraction caused his movements to be jerky at best. He had spent the night barely sleeping thanks to his ghostly visitor and his mind playing over the events that had occurred in his living room before ending up in Angel's convertible. Once the coffee machine was all set up, he idly began to play with his cactus. He hadn't had a chance to put down before they had made a run for it.

He glanced over at Doyle and Spike, the in house computer experts. They reminded Xander of all the times he and Willow had sat in front of a school computer discussing the latest "End of the World" and which key words they should use in the search engine this time.

"Lot ov stuff 'ere abou’ th'building," Doyle said, catching Xander's attention. Spike clicked the mouse in quick succession moving in time with Doyle's softly muttered, "Construction bids... City inspections..."

Angel leaned over the blonde's chair; quickly scanning whatever he could that came on the screen before Spike clicked it away. "Tenants. We need people who lived there," he said in annoyance.

"We all know that you bloody twat," Spike growled. "S'not like I 'aven't done this before... pouf."

Angel lifted an eyebrow at him, a grin touching his lips. "You've done this before?"

Cordelia cut through them to stare blankly at the screen for a moment saying, "Don't forget died there." She ran a hand through her hair and was about to start pacing before Spike caught her around the stomach and pulled her down to sit on his lap. He rested his chin and her shoulder and continued on with his work.

Laughing almost hysterically, Xander started to pour a cup of coffee as he said, "All the key ingredients to a murdering ghost type person."

Angel gave Xander a calculating look and walked over to the brunet. He watched as the teenager put as much milk as he had put coffee into the cup and then what looked like a couple dozen scoops of sugar. He resisted the urge to shiver in disgust at exactly what that concoction might taste like as Xander also added a couple good squeezes of chocolate syrup to the cup.

Finally cracking under the vampire’s intense scrutiny, Xander muttered a soft "What?" before swallowing a much too big gulp of his drink. He shuddered to the taste, the sugar rush almost too much for him to handle.

"You know..." Angel started softly, conspiratorially, "this really is just a place to live."

Xander stiffened and whispered, "No, this is..." Uncertain of how to continue, Xander trailed off and took another sip of his drink, grimacing as it went down.

"This is what?" Angel asked, truly curious.

"For Cordelia." Xander ran a sweaty hand over the sweat pants that he had worn to bed that night not having a chance to change before running out of the apartment. Finally he came to a decision and said, "I have this feeling that... She seems to thinks that if this apartment goes away... it's like she's still being punished."

"Punished?" Angel asked in surprise. He turned and watched his two lovers. Admittedly he hadn't noticed anything odd about the woman he loved, but now that Xander had mentioned it, he could see the tension in her tightly coiled muscles, the lines around a mouth that was clenched shut, and a lack of sparkle in eyes that usually *never* died. "What for?"

Xander shrugged slightly. "I'm not sure exactly. Maybe for how she was? For everything she said and did in high school just because her 'daddy' was a lawyer and she was rich and she could get away with murder if she wanted to. When it all ended... Her dad getting caught by the IRS... Her having to work... Us: all graduating. She's got to pay." He risked a glance at Angel who was watching him with a look in his eyes that Xander couldn't quite decipher.

"With this apartment though... she can get a bit of a reprieve. Punishment if not over, postponed." Xander finished off the rest of his drink and sighed automatically. "If she can do this for herself - and me - maybe she won't feel all that awful a person... It's kinda a lot like you."

"Because I used to have that mansion," Angel stated in a positive tone.

Xander nearly choked. "Sometimes I really think that all the gel you've put in your hair over the years is beginning to rot your brain out. I was talking about your fight for redemption, Deadboy. You considering stopping the fight now that you've got a couple o' luv bunnys?"

Angel was saved from having to reply when Spike called out in triumph. "We've bloody found something!" he exclaimed.

"Lady an' g'ntlem'n, we 'ave a death," Doyle stated, sharing a grin with Spike.

Angel walked towards the desk with Xander close on his heels. Now that he could see things through Xander's eyes, he couldn't help but be astounded by just how perceptive the boy was. Hell would freeze over before he would admit it aloud though.

"Firs’ pers'n ta live in th'apartm'nt," Doyle continued, moving out of the way so that the other two could see the newspaper on the computer screen. "Mrs. Maude Pears'n."

"How'd you get that?" Angel asked incredulously.

"The name carved over the entrance of the building," Xander offered immediately. He placed his cactus on the desk and leaned down so that he could quickly read over what was on the screen.

Spike nodded. "Pearson Arms. Checked the obits. Maudy built the bloody place and lived there too. Bird dropped dead in the living room over fifty years ago from a heart attack."

"Is that it? Is that her?" Xander asked.

Angel glanced over at him then went back to reading the report on the computer. "I don't know. This wasn't a violent death; I mean she had lived her life. She was..." he paused looking for a number before continuing, "fifty-seven when she died. Ghosts usually only persist if the events leading up to their death were extreme."

"Who else could it be?" Cordelia asked. "Plus, the place has that weird little old lady smell like - like, violets and Aspercream."

Doyle’s nose crinkled as he said, "They di'n' find a body fer t'ree weeks. It wasn't violets there at th'end, 'm thinkin'."

Xander sighed and asked, "So this is gunna be easy, right? Granny-ghost that's probably only sticking around because she thinks she didn't leave enough food out for the cat? Let's do whatever needs to be done and finish this."

Angel was shaking his head as he picked the book that Doyle had found the spell they needed to do in. He skimmed the ingredients and frowned. "This isn't an easy spell. I mean there's hawthorn berries and lungwort... a-and bile. We need bile. I don't know if we can get everything."

"Willow has all those things on hand all the time," Xander offered. "Could always ask her if she would send us some."

"It wouldn't get here soon enough and plus, bile doesn't travel well," Angel stated.

Doyle took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. Looking up at Angel he said, "I know a guy in Chinatown who does these kind ov spells all th'time. I c'n ge’ th'stuff from him."

Glaring at him, Cordelia plastered on a fake smile saying, "Oh, goody, another one of Doyle's guys. Tell me... is this the same guy that helped me find Xander's new poltergeistalicious apartment?"

"Wait, Doyle got you this apartment?" Xander demanded. "How come nobody told me this little tidbit of information?"

"Shut yer gob, Whelp. S'not like you would bloody well do anything with it anyways," Spike stated.

"Doyle, Spike, go. Get everything we need," Angel said in an exasperated tone. As Spike rose, releasing Cordelia, Angel grabbed the blonde and pulled him in for a kiss involving tongue, lips, and a flash of fang. Once he had released the blonde, Angel said softly, "And stay out of trouble."

Spike laughed at the absurdity of Angel's request, dragging Doyle with him to the door.

Angel heaved a heavy sigh as he watched Childe and Seer walk out the door. After a long pause he turned back to Xander and Cordelia and said, "I'm going to see what I can do about rounding up some more information. Maybe Kate has something about Pearson's death on file. You two stay here."

After Angel had kissed Cordelia and walked out the door, Xander turned to Cordelia and asked, "Kate?"

"Cop," she stated. "Our one and only contact with the outside world. Angel met her on a case a couple weeks ago."

Xander nodded slowly, not noticing the resentment in Cordelia's voice, before dropping down in front of the computer. He started typing while Cordelia just stared at him in amazement. "What?" he finally demanded.

"Since when did you know how to do that?" she asked, referring to the lightning fast way that he went through files.

Xander grinned goofily. "Growing up with Willow? Come on, I was bound to pick up a few of her tricks."

Cordelia nodded slowly and sighed as she perched on the arm of his chair. "Little old lady ghost.... How come Patrick Swayze's never dead when you need him?"

Xander shook his head. "Dunno, but damn we need him now."

~~~

Xander took in the state of his murderous-ghost free apartment. The place was beautiful, manly, yet still seemed... him. He grinned at Cordelia who smiled back and snuggled into Angel's arms. He still couldn't believe that he had invited the vampire into his new home, but since he was paying for it, Xander wasn't going to start picking fights.

"So..." he said softly.

Spike came up behind him and slung a friendly arm around his neck. The blonde took a gulp from his bloody Mary and said, "Looks good. Can't say that I would ever live in a place like this, but it's good enough for you."

"Hey! I know that there was an insult somewhere in there, Deadboy Jr.," Xander exclaimed.

Chuckling, Spike dropped down on the couch next to Angel, who just happened to have dumped his drink all over his chest earlier in the evening, and Cordelia. He smirked at Xander before saying, "Think of it this way: I don't like your flat, an' your room mate doesn't like me fuck buddy. Even?"

Xander considered that, ignoring Angel's reaction to Spike's words. "Even," he finally said with a large smile. He sat on the arm of the chair that Doyle was sitting in, smiling at Doyle as he moved.

He absently brought up a hand to rub his eye. Once he had *finally* gotten to the clinic, he had discovered that his eye needed stitches. He had been rushed in for emergency surgery. The doctor had told him that had he waited any longer, he might have lost all sight in his left eye. As it was, his eye was now a milky color and things seemed a bit dimmer when he closed his right eye.

"Yah know -" Doyle was cut off by the phone ringing.

The cordless flew through the air and planted itself in Xander's hand. Xander smiled and called out "Thanks Dennis!" before putting the phone to his ear. His grinned widely and said loudly, "Willow!"