Written by: David Greenwalt & Jane Espenson
Directed by: Scott McGinnis

Cast: David Boreanaz as Angel, Charisma Carpenter, as Cordelia Chase, Glenn Quinn as Doyle.

Guest stars: Elisabeth Rohm, as Detective Kate Lockley, Beth Grant, as Maude Pearson.

Original broadcast date: November 2, 1999

In the office, Cordelia is giving Doyle a demonstration of the commercial she auditioned for earlier in the day. She complains that they gave it to the wrong girl and Doyle tells her they don’t know what they missed. The phone starts to ring and Doyle asks her if she’s going to answer it. Angel walks in and says that’s a good question. Cordelia moves around the desk to answer the phone but the machine gets to it first. It turns out to be one of her friends so Angel goes back to his office. Doyle asks her why she doesn’t want to talk to Aura and she says it’s because she isn’t up for leading the parade of pain. She says she’ll talk to her when things are better. Doyle says he can’t help her with the acting, but if she ever wants to spend a night away from her place, just give him a call. She leaves so Doyle heads into Angel’s office and pumps him for information on Cordelia. He says it’s a riches to rags kind of story, but she’s doing all right now.

Meanwhile, Cordy arrives home to find brown water running from the faucet and cockroaches crawling on the television. She decides to call the superintendent and crushes a roach under her foot while she’s on the phone. She screams and then decides to call Doyle.

The phone is ringing when Doyle walks into his apartment but he doesn’t answer it because a demon is waiting for him. He says Doyle owes money, but Doyle says he has the wrong place. The demon says it again and Doyle tells him he has his money. He walks over to a dresser and puts his hand inside, but the demon slams the drawer and asks if he’s stupid enough to have a gun in there. Doyle says no, then pulls the drawer out, hits the demon and takes off through the door.

Back at Angel’s, music is playing and the shower is running when someone starts pounding on the door. Angel comes out of the bathroom, wraps a towel around his waist and goes to answer it. It turns out to be Cordelia with her luggage in tow. She steps in the apartment, pushes a couple of bags into his hands and heads on inside. She tells him not to look at her because she’s such a mess and then adds that he may want to get her suitcase from the hall. Angel, with bags in hand and nothing but them and a towel covering him, asks her what happened. She tells him it’s her apartment and that she feels like she’s living in the projects. “I’m the girl from the projects,” she says, but Angel says he isn’t so sure about it. She goes over to sit down and tells Angel she tried to call Doyle but he didn’t answer and now she doesn’t have anywhere else to go. She then tells him about the roaches and the brown water and says she’s dying for a hot shower. She says she’ll just be staying there until she can find a decent place, however long that takes, but he’s completely invited over when she does. Reminding him that her other suitcase is in the hall, Cordelia grabs a bag and heads for the shower while Angel stands there and wonders how this happened.

The next morning, Doyle arrives at the office and he’s a little bruised up from the night before. Downstairs, Cordelia is sitting at the table, trying to see what she looks like in a metal vase. Just then, Doyle steps out of the elevator and calls out for Angel, but its Cordy who replies. “Hey Doyle. You ever get the feeling that you just can’t shower enough? Like something’s happened and you’re never going to get clean?” Doyle can’t do anything but stare at her when Angel passes through the kitchen wearing nothing but boxers and a robe. The situation only gets worse when Angel walks up behind Doyle and accuses Cordelia of getting peanut butter in the bed. Cordy says it wasn’t her and decides to go look. While she’s gone, Doyle asks Angel how he could do it, but Angel doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Doyle rambles on about how he knew he was crazy about Cordelia and asks him why he couldn’t leave some scraps for the “homely looking fellows who don’t turn evil when they get some.” Angel then realizes what Doyle is thinking and tells him that Cordelia stayed there because she’s having problems at her place. He slept on the couch and she slept in the bed. Doyle says that’s okay then and Cordy comes back in, saying she it must’ve been Angel who got the peanut butter on the bed. He reminds her that he doesn’t eat and she says she doesn’t even want to know how it got there then. Angel stalks off to the bedroom and Doyle tells Cordy she looks great. She says she wouldn’t know because Angel doesn’t have any mirrors. Doyle then asks her if anyone has called for him lately and she says just his cousin. Doyle says it might be nice to have a little warning next time his cousin comes to town and that she doesn’t always have to pick up the phone. Angel comes back in and notices the bruise on Doyle’s hand. Doyle says he got it playing badminton. Angel picks a towel off a chair and asks if there is a reason for the wet towel to be on his chair. Cordy just smiles and Angel drops it and then heads out of the room.

Later that day, Cordelia is busy cutting up the vinyl floor in Angel’s apartment. It seems she’s curious to see if he has hardwood floors. Doyle is there and he looks over Cordelia’s trophies on the mantel and comments that her diploma is all burned. Cordelia says it was a rough ceremony and that the trophies represent the life she had before she came to LA. Doyle says it’s good that she can look back – it’s something he never does. Angel then comes in and tells Doyle there is a big guy waiting for him upstairs. Angel says he’ll tell him he’ll be right up and heads up the stairs, but Doyle doesn’t follow. He heads out the door instead, where he finds Angel waiting for him. Doyle says it’s not nice to trick people and Angel asks if he’s going to tell him what’s going on.

In the office, Doyle tells Angel about the demon coming to collect money he owes. He says it’ll all work itself out – it just takes some diplomacy. Realizing Angel is good with that kind of thing, he asks for his help. Angel says they all have problems and right now, his is bigger than Doyle’s. He thinks about it for a minute and then tells Doyle that he’ll help him with his problem if he’ll help Angel with his. Doyle isn’t sure about it because he doesn’t know if he can help with vampire business. Just then, Cordelia pops in and asks if they have any linoleum glue for instances where it might start curling up all over. Angel tells her that he’ll be there in a minute and Cordelia turns to go. He looks at Doyle and tells him to find her an apartment and he’ll deal with the demon.

In a hallway, Doyle and Cordelia are following a guy to an apartment. Doyle tells Cordelia he wishes she’d just let him call his guy, but Cordy says she’s not doing it that way because he would probably judge the property value on how far the bus ride is to the track. Doyle says it couldn’t get any worse than where they are, but Cordy says you can tell anything from the hallway. They go inside the apartment – it’s small and smells of mildew. Doyle says he smells potential in there, but Cordelia assures him the next one will be better. They look at a few more apartments before Cordelia finally agrees to let Doyle call his guy.

In the meantime, Angel is busy looking around Doyle’s apartment. He doesn’t get far though because the demon comes up behind him and wraps his arm around Angel’s neck.

Back with Cordelia and Doyle, a lady is letting them into a furnished apartment. Cordelia loves it. She says it’s just perfect, but she asks the lady what’s wrong with it just to be sure. The lady says nothing is – the previous tenant just broke their lease last week. She isn’t even sure how they heard about it so soon, but feels it’s quite a bargain and the furniture comes with it. She asks Cordelia if she wants it, but she just keeps rambling about how she used to have nice things like this, so Doyle replies that she does. The lady goes off to fill out the rental forms and Cordy says she’ll need to find someone to take out one of the walls. Doyle says he thought it was perfect and Cordelia says part of being perfect is that there’s one tiny flaw for her to fix. Doyle figures it must be why she finds him so fascinating. Cordelia laughs and hugs him, saying she loves her new place and his guy. Doyle says it’s been a good days work for them – he took care of her problem and Angel is taking care of his. Cordelia tells him she’s happy to be able to move in right away and the two of them leave. As they walk out, a face appears on the wall she wants to tear down.

Meanwhile, Angel and the demon, Griff, are fighting in Doyle’s apartment. Angel throws him on the floor and asks him if he can get a message back to the guy he works for. Griff says he can, so Angel helps him up. He says he was sent to collect for Doyle, but he’s not seeing any money so he’s going to kill him. Angel says that means his boss will never get his money. He says he can get Doyle to pay him and Griff says Doyle will be safe if he does.

At her new apartment, Cordy is sleeping when the radio comes on and music begins to play. Then the drawers on her dresser begin opening and closing and a voice whispers, “What are you doing here? You never should have come.” A drawer slams and Cordy wakes up.

Back at Angel’s, Doyle is upset because he has to pay. He doesn’t have the money and says you can’t get blood out of stone. Angel tells him they can get blood out of him and there’s a price on his head now. Doyle thinks about it and then thanks Angel for saving his life. Angel asks him why he lives like this and Doyle says it’s the kind of life that keeps your expectations from getting too high. He thinks Angel must understand and Angel says that he does. He just doesn’t understand why it’s so important to Doyle. He says this kind of life just sort of picked him, but Doyle doesn’t have to do it this way. Doyle says it isn’t all gloom – there are bright spots like Cordelia. He figures she’s going to be grateful for a long, long time. However, sitting on her levitating bed, Cordelia isn’t feeling gratitude – she’s feeling scared. She says she knew it was too good to be true and then tells the ghost she’s from Sunnydale and it isn’t scaring her one bit.

The next morning, Cordelia is hugging a pillow and rocking herself back and forth in her floating bed. Suddenly, the bed falls to the floor and Cordelia goes to get dressed. Looking at herself in the mirror, she says it’s a bright, shiny morning and that there’s nothing bad here. As she looks to the side, an old lady appears in the mirror beside her, but she doesn’t notice. She then goes into the living room and pulls out a chair. The chair slides back to where it was so she pulls it out even farther this time. It goes smashing into the wall and she starts backing away. The curtain cord coils around her arm and she pulls away. She then begins yelling at the ghost and papers go flying around. Cordy says she isn’t scared, but a knock on the door makes her jump. She goes and opens the door to find Angel, who’s holding a cactus, and Doyle. Doyle tries to come in, but Cordy stops him by saying she isn’t ready for visitors yet. Doyle pushes past her and says she worries too much – it looks great. Cordy sees that Angel is still standing in the hall and remembers he can’t come in until she invites him. Angel steps into the apartment and says she already did. He was just waiting for Doyle to close the curtains. Angel asks Cordy for a tour so she starts pointing at the different rooms as a pair of scissors go flying in the air behind Angel’s head. Cordy grabs them, puts them in a drawer and then suggests they go to lunch. Just then, a trophy comes flying at Doyle from the mantel. Angel asks her what’s going on and Cordy says nothing. Then the word “die” appears on the wall behind Cordy and Angel says they have to get her out of here. Cordy refuses to go, but they eventually push her out the door and say they’ll figure out what’s going on at the office.

At the office, the three of them do research on past tenants and find information on Mrs. Maude Pearson, the first person who ever lived there. It turns out she built the building and then took one of the apartments. She died of an apparent heart attack in the apartment in 1946 but they didn’t find her body for three weeks. Angel says it doesn’t sound right because it wasn’t a violent death, but Cordelia is convinced it’s her. She wants to do a cleansing spell, but Angel tells her it isn’t an easy one to do. Doyle says he knows a guy who can get him the stuff for the spell and heads out. Angel decides to go see what he can find out from Kate and tells Cordy to wait for him there. A little later, the phone rings in the office and Cordelia let’s the machine get it. Hearing Angel’s voice, she picks up the phone and asks if he’s got something for her. He says to meet him at the apartment and they’ll figure out what to do. “Okay,” she says and leaves.

Arriving at her apartment, Cordelia doesn’t see any sign of Angel. Then she hears his voice coming from the bedroom. She goes in there, but finds Maude, speaking in Angel’s voice, instead. Cordelia runs out of the bedroom and tries to leave, but the door won’t open. Suddenly, she goes flying through the air. She stands up and Maude is in front of her. In her own voice, Maude tells her that she doesn’t fit in around there and it’s too bad she wouldn’t leave her son alone. A confused Cordy says, “your son?”

At the police station, Kate tells Angel that there was an investigation into Maude’s death. The medical examiner called it a heart attack, but there were problems with her son. His name was Dennis and he lived with her. They argued a lot about the girl he was engaged to because Maude didn’t like her. It seems Dennis skipped town on the day Maude died and the police never caught up with him. Angel asks if there were any other deaths and Kate says no murders. He says not murders – suicides so she checks again. It turns out there have been three since Maude died. She says it doesn’t make sense, but Angel tells her he has to make a call and he heads out to the hallway. In Angel’s office, Doyle walks in carrying a box full of stuff and hears the phone ringing. He answers it and it’s Angel. He tells Doyle to put Cordelia on but he tells him she isn’t there. Doyle plays the message on the machine and Angel tells him that isn’t him.

At Cordelia’s, she’s standing in front of Maude telling her that whoever it is she thinks she’s talking to, it isn’t her – her name is Cordelia. Maude says that’s the name of a cheap small-town tramp trying to sound better than she is. She says she isn’t good enough for her boy and that this place will never be her home. Cordy says it is her home and her friends will come there. Maude says she doesn’t have any friends – no one cares about her.

In Angel’s car, he tells Doyle he was right about the ghost. It’s Mrs. Pearson, but she didn’t die of a heart attack. Her son killed her and now she’s filled with rage and confusion. She won’t be able to rest until the truth comes out about what happened.

Back at Cordelia’s, she’s telling Maude she’ll leave as things come crashing down around her. Maude tells her she doesn’t think so. She says Cordelia has never been kind. She’s a user and everyone would be glad if she were dead. A cord from the chandelier wounds itself around Cordy’s neck and then pulls her up to hang. Maude says if anyone cared about her, she wouldn’t be here. Cordy goes limp just as Doyle and Angel break through the door. They pull the cord off her neck and lay her on the couch. She begins to cough and tell them about Maude. Angel says they can stop her, but a crying Cordy tells him they can’t. She says she thinks she’s taking her son away and Angel says that’s good because she has the power to stop her now. Doyle and Angel start the spell and things start flying around again. Angel says they need Cordy now, but she won’t get up. Maude is whispering to Cordelia, telling her they don’t care about her – they want her to fail. Angel tries to shake Cordy out of it, but she pushes him away and say’s she can’t do it. Angel looks around and tells Doyle it isn’t going to work and they’ll have to get her out of here. They grab her and head for the door, but Griff, another demon and a human are standing on the other side of it when they open it.

The three of them come into the apartment and Angel tells Griff he thought he was going to let Doyle pay. “I lied,” he says and then Maude appears. She’s angry because more people are there and sends more stuff flying around the room. Meanwhile, Griff and Angel begin to fight, the guy runs out and the other demon holds a gun to Doyle’s head. Suddenly, a drawer in the kitchen opens and knives begin to hover in the air. “Knives,” Angel yells and everyone ducks for cover. Then Cordy goes flying into her bedroom and the door slams shut.

In the bedroom, Cordy is crying telling Maude she’s sorry and that she’ll leave. Maude says it’s too late for that because her friends ruined her home. Maude says she should be sorry and calls Cordelia a bitch. Cordelia stops and slowly glances up at Maude. “I’m a bitch,” she says and slowly gets up. Maude wants her to hang herself, but Cordy says she’s the nastiest girl in Sunnydale history and she doesn’t take crap from anyone. Cordy then says she needs to pack her bags and get out of her house, which sends Maude flying backwards through the wall.

In the other room, all the stuff flying through the air falls and Cordy comes out of the bedroom. Doyle says she did it and Cordy says Maude pissed her off. Then her eyes glaze over and she picks up a lamp stand and starts hitting the wall. Angel yells at her, but she just keeps going. Finally, she knocks a hole in the wall and they see a skeleton tied up with ropes. Maude screams and then they flash to the past.

Maude is putting her son Dennis in the wall. She says he’s making him do it and he’s begging her to stop. She says he won’t be able to leave and marry the girl now. Maude finishes the job and Dennis is saying he can’t breath and begging her to let him out. She tells him this hurts them both and then says goodbye. She falls to the floor and dies from the heart attack.

In the present, Maude tells Dennis she’s sorry, but it was for his own good. Then a blast of wind comes into the room and Maude poofs into the light. Cordelia says she knew she didn’t like that wall.

A little later, Doyle and Angel are at his apartment installing more locks on his door. Angel says eventually he’ll have to tell him the story of his life. Doyle makes a joke and then says the past never lets go. Angel says it never does.

At her apartment, Cordy sits on her new couch and gabs on the phone with Aura. She tells her about the new apartment and says she has a roommate. Just then, her can of soda begins to move and Cordy quietly tells Dennis to put it back. He does. Then the television comes on and she reminds him that it’s quiet time when she’s on the phone. It goes off. Cordy starts talking and laughing on the phone with Aura as she fills her on who’s wearing what in Sunnydale.