---

Cordelia walks into the office carrying the mail. She sorts through it reading off the bills, lamenting that they're not making money to actually pay them. Cordy tells Doyle they need to start running the business like a business and that means charging people for their services so they can pay the bills and she can have a raise.

Doyle reminds her she's only been working there a short time. Cordy acknowledges that it's only been a month but she has "needs" in the way of material things.

Doyle doesn't agree with her about the material things, but he does agree that Angel Investigations should be charging, even though he knows that it's not a topic Angel likes to bring up with their clients. He points out to Cordy that Angel is comfortable with a certain image, and asking for money isn't part of it.

The elevator stops, opens, Angel steps out of it into the office. Cordelia and Doyle stiffen their resolve to bring up the subject of money but not until Angel has had his morning coffee.

Angel greets them, pours himself a cup and drinks from it, making a "this is awful" kind of face. He wants to know what that was. Cordelia says it's week old coffee.

Doyle tells Angel they're proud of his fighting the good fight the past few weeks, vanquishing evil and all. Cordelia enthusiastically agrees.

Angel, knowing where this is headed, interrupts them without looking at them directly and tells them asking for money from people makes him uncomfortable.

Cordelia's response is a curt "get over it" which is met by a look from Angel. She backs off, explaining she meant it in a kind way.

Doyle adds that he understands Angel's reluctance to ask for money but it's the "right thing" to do. Angel doesn't understand how it's "right" to ask people who are in trouble for money.

Doyle is about to explain what he means when his face suddenly contorts in pain and he doubles over the desk, a montage of muddled images filling his mind.

Doyle tells the others to get him paper, a pen, and a drink. Angel brings him the drink, Cordy provides the paper and pen.

Angel asks him what he sees.

Doyle tells him a woman's name, "Melissa Burns", and the name of her employer, "Pardell Paper Products."

Cordy rifles through the phone book, searching for the business. She finds the company address and relays it to Angel, who puts on his coat and leaves to follow up on the vision.

---

Melissa is in her office, there's a birthday cake on the table. She notes to a coworker the name on the cake doesn't match the name of the person for whom it's intended. She decides to try to fix it herself and swirls her finger through the icing. The coworker next to her puts some candles on the cake. They both agree it looks good. Melissa tells him to light the candles.

Another woman, Penny, approaches the table, both Melissa and her coworker greet the new arrival with "Happy Birthday". Penny is appreciative of the effort, in spite of the fact she notices the name on the cake isn't quite right.

Melissa offers Penny a plant in a handmade pot she brought as a birthday gift. Penny accepts it and expresses her gratitude for the thought.

A young, African-American guy enters, bearing a large bouquet of white flowers. Melissa thinks it's for Penny and makes a remark about her plant gift being upstaged. Penny doesn't think the bouquet is for her. The guy confirms that as he hands the card to Melissa, telling her it's for her.

Melissa takes the card, wondering who the bouquet is from. The guy tells her he doesn't know, but the delivery came from "Ned's Flowers."

Melissa scans the card, her quizzical look replaced by one of fear as she reads the note, "My undying love, Ronald." The guy who gave her the card asks if something is wrong. Melissa responds there isn't and walks to her purse, sitting on top of a file cabinet. She digs through the purse and pulls out a bottle of pills. She asks Penny to answer her phones for her. Penny agrees.

Melissa enters the ladies room, stares at herself briefly in the mirror, then pours some tablets from the prescription bottle into her hand and takes them with a drink of water.

---

Melissa enters the underground parking garage. Angel is standing near her car, partially concealed in the shadows. As he steps forward, he calls her name, startling her. She turns quickly around in response, taking a moment to collect herself. She tells Angel she thought he was "someone else".

Angel wants to know if she's okay. She tells him she is. He introduces himself, telling her he's in "private security". Melissa doesn't seem quite sure what to think and is clearly anxious to get out of there.

Angel takes out a business card and turns it in his hands explaining, rather nervously, that private security is his job.

Melissa finds it odd he goes around approaching people in parking garages this way.

Angel offers Melissa the business card, telling her he thinks she might need his help.

She pauses briefly, looking at Angel, then accepts the card. She tells him she doesn't think she can afford a private security service.

Angel assures her it's not about the money, it's about helping people who need it.

Melissa is incredulous that he does this solely for altruistic reasons.

Angel realizes he's not really explaining things very clearly.

Melissa agrees he's not, but thanks him anyway as she gets into her car and prepares to leave.

Just before she drives out of the garage, Angel calls to her that he can be reached at the number on the card if she needs help.

---

Back at the office, Angel is telling Cordelia and Doyle that he thinks he frightened Melissa.

Doyle observes that it sounds like Melissa was frightened before Angel ever approached her.

Angel paces the office, asking Cordy and Doyle if they think he's intimidating.

Cordelia offers that she doesn't think so, for a vampire, but she suggests he might reconsider his fondness for wearing basic black.

Angel suggests to Cordelia that maybe it would be better if she talked to Melissa. Cordelia agrees, but not until Melissa is a paying client.

Doyle agrees that they should stay out of it until Melissa comes to them but Angel disagrees, he thinks they should get involved immediately. He doesn't want this to be about money.

Doyle says it's not about the money, it's about letting clients feel independent, hiring someone to do a job and then allowing them to pay for services rendered.

---

Melissa approaches a bank Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and tries to withdraw money but finds her Personal Identification Number (PIN) no longer works. She tries once more.

A tall, well dressed, middle aged man approaches her. She obviously recognizes the man (Ronald) and draws back from him. Ronald tells her, with a smile, that her PIN will no longer work, he has changed it. He chides her for using so obvious a choice as her birthdate for her PIN, and warns her that it would be the first try by a "thief".

Melissa wants to know why Ronald is there. He enters a code into the ATM, telling her he changed it to match the day he and Melissa met. Melissa wants him to stop doing this to her. He says he's only looking after her. He just wants her to be happy and safe. He notes she looks like she's lost weight and wonders if it's the tranquilizers she's taking. He asks her how many she took in the ladies room today.

Melissa realizes he somehow knew what she did at the office and wants to know just how he knew.

Ronald doesn't answer the question, instead saying he doesn't think the tranquilizers are the solution to her problem and asks if she took the supplement he prescribed for her. Ronald answers his own question, telling her what she did with the supplement, throwing it in a drawer as soon as she returned home from his office.

Melissa is unnerved by his knowledge of the details of her life, even occasions when she was supposedly by herself. She wants him to leave her alone. He doesn't know how two people in love can do that. She reminds him they only dated one time.

Ronald doesn't seem to be listening to her. He tells her that commitment is something he takes seriously and wonders if she had a bad day at work.

He is interrupted by the sound of his pager going off. He checks the number and tells her he's needed in surgery. Before leaving, he pulls the cash from the ATM slot and hands it to Melissa who takes it cautiously. He tries to kiss her but she pulls back from him. He doesn't press the issue, but tells her he'll see her that night.

---

Cordelia answers the phone at Angel Investigations. After hanging up, she tells Angel it was Melissa, she's coming into the office.

Angel, dressed in his usual black on black and recalling Cordy's earlier suggestion to mix up the colors a bit to project a less intimidating image, decides to change his shirt.

---

Melissa has arrived at the office of Angel Investigations and is sipping coffee. She is detailing her history with Ronald Meltzer. Angel (who has changed from his usual black on black to a white sweater prior to her arrival), Cordelia and Doyle are all present.

Melissa tells them that Ronald was her doctor, a neurosurgeon who operated on her and saved her sight. Afterward, he asked her out on a date which she wasn't really keen on accepting.

Cordy stops taking notes and offers that Melissa probably felt obligated to go out with him since he'd helped her. Melissa nods in agreement. Cordelia assumes the fact that he's a doctor must have made him seem like a good potential catch.

Melissa continues that they went out once, shared a drink and that was it but ever since then he's been calling her all the time, showing up everywhere without warning, telling her he thinks they have a special something. He has matrimony on his mind.

Melissa continues, telling them that she feels like Ronald is always watching her, even when he's not actually in the same place she is. She relates the incident about his knowing she took the tranquilizers in the ladies room, and how many, and can't understand how he could know this when she was alone at the time.

Angel assures her they will help her with this. Cordy pipes up that they will, for payment. Angel gives her a stern look, she looks at him briefly then diverts her gaze to the desktop.

Angel tells Melissa that Doyle will escort her home. Melissa asks Angel just how he knew that she was in trouble. He says he has a friend who's a cop.

Doyle and Melissa leave the office.

Cordy is creeped out by the fact Ronald is a doctor, that someone who knows a person so intimately could be so twisted.

Angel is preoccupied with trying to figure out how Ronald is seeing Melissa when she's alone. His possible explanations tend to the paranormal.

Cordy offers that maybe he has an accomplice or a surveillance camera hidden somewhere. She doesn't think everything has to necessarily have a supernatural explanation.

Angel agrees with that but ascertains that it's more likely to be a supernatural explanation than a natural one since Doyle had a vision about it.

Cordelia agrees, since it seems the "Powers That Be" don't send messages regarding the more mundane types of trouble.

Angel goes back to pondering just how Ronald is able to see Melissa when he's not in the same area.

Cordelia is freaked by the thought and leaves the office as Angel continues to ponder the question of "how."

---

Melissa closes the drapes in her bedroom, stands before a mirror, brushes her hair, then turns with her back to the mirror and begins to undress.

Ronald is sitting alone in his office, nursing a drink. He has a framed picture of Melissa on his desk.

Melissa continues undressing.

Ronald has one hand up to his face.

Melissa is unfastening her slip.

Ronald takes his hand down from his face, revealing a bloody, empty eye socket.

As Melissa is getting out of her slip, a disembodied eyeball is floating in the air behind her, watching.

---

Angel approaches Kate's desk at the precinct. He tells her he's got a client, a woman who's being stalked. Kate notes stalking is an ugly matter, she asks Angel the name of his client.

---

Doyle is accompanying Melissa to her job. She tells him it's not necessary for him to stay the entire day, she's afraid he'll get bored. Doyle has brought along a word puzzle book, he says that will keep him busy.

Melissa takes her place at her desk, telling Doyle she really does feel better having Angel Investigations on the case. She wonders if Angel has handled a lot of cases like hers.

Doyle tells her not many exactly like hers, but he's used to protecting women and that three out of the last four are still alive.

Melissa responds with a look of dismay which leads Doyle grasping quickly for another topic of discussion.

He points to a picture on Melissa's desk of her on a bungee jumping adventure and inquires about it, changing the subject. Doyle doesn't think she seems like the risk taking type.

She says that was before the trouble with Ronald. She doesn't do much now.

Doyle assures her that once Angel settles the Ronald situation, Melissa will be ready and able to return to her adventurous ways.

---

Kate returns to her desk where Angel is waiting, file in hand. She tells Angel that his client filed a complaint a couple of months previously, Meltzer denied the charges, his lawyers filed a restraining order against Melissa in response. Ronald has no police record of violence. Kate mentions that Meltzer is represented by lawyers working for the firm of Wolfram & Hart. She wonders if Angel has heard of them. He responds that he has.

Angel tells Kate that he thinks it's only a matter of time before Meltzer does something violent. Kate offers to assign a uniformed cop to Melissa's place but one can't be spared for more than a couple of days. Angel thanks her.

Kate asks Angel how Melissa is dealing with it all.

He says Melissa is afraid, Meltzer has been wearing on her for quite some time.

Kate thinks Melissa needs to get mad, to stand up to the man who's terrorizing her. She tells Angel that Melissa needs to reclaim her power from Meltzer, or she will never be free of him, even if he were to go to prison. Melissa is the only one who can do that for herself.

---

Angel is walking down the hallway of a posh medical clinic. He enters Meltzer's private office and checks the place out. Through a door that's slightly ajar, Angel hears Meltzer consulting with a patient.

Angel continues his search, pausing a moment to notice a picture of Melissa on the doctor's desk. He moves on, scanning the bookshelf and removing one that has a personal dedication inside, on the front page.

Angel is interrupted by Meltzer, who wants to know what he's doing there. Angel has his back to the doctor, he quickly conceals the book inside of his coat and extracts a business card as he turns to face him.

Angel introduces himself as "Jensen" and tells the doctor he needs to talk with him. He's heard he has rare skills.

The doctor tells him to make an appointment and threatens to call security as he picks up the phone.

Angel continues the ruse as "Jensen", telling the doctor that his wife has a malignant growth on her optic nerve and she'll die unless he can find someone to operate.

This gets Ronald's attention, he hangs up the phone. He tells Angel the surgery is difficult and dangerous, as well as illegal. He would be risking his license. He says he understands his desire to help his wife, but he can't do it.

Angel picks up the picture of Melissa from Meltzer's desk and shows it to him. He asks what this woman means to him, what her relationship is to him.

Meltzer tells him Melissa is his fiancé.

Angel reckons he must know how it feels to have someone he loves so completely, that he'd do absolutely anything for them. He asks Ronald if he would die for his fiancé. The doctor replies that he would. Angel figures he understands then to what lengths he will go for his wife. He offers to pay whatever the doctor wants for his services and asks him to consider it.

---

Cordelia is digging for info on Meltzer by interviewing a nurse at the hospital, under the guise of being a reporter, penning an article on Dr. Meltzer. The nurse tells her that he's a brilliant doctor, one of the best at reattaching severed nerves. Cordelia wants to know if the nurse ever thought he was a "creep".

The nurse, taken slightly aback by the question, asks Cordy exactly what kind of article she's writing.

Cordelia admits that the article may not be particularly flattering to the doctor, she doesn't like the way he treats women and wants to know from the nurse what the real story is on this guy.

The nurse confides to Cordy that Meltzer isn't very giving, doesn't share his knowledge with other doctors and makes claims to have done things that are considered radical.

Cordelia wants to know exactly what things.

---

Cordy is pacing in the office, telling Angel what she found out from the nurse. Meltzer is accomplished at radical and difficult techniques, a man very adept with a knife, not a skill you want in someone who's stalking you. Cordelia doesn't get why someone like Meltzer would risk everything the way he is, by stalking someone. She wonders what it is about Melissa, in particular, that has motivated his actions.

Angel tells her it's not about Melissa, it's about Meltzer and his own rage. The situation is created by his own inadequacies, and when the fantasy doesn't live up to the expectations he creates for it, he has to destroy it because the object of his attention only reminds him that he's a failure.

Cordy realizes Angel has a special insight into this type of behavior, since it's not much different from the way she figures Angelus views the world. She sees this as a good thing, in that it would allow Angel true insight into Meltzer.

Angel assures her he knows the why, but he's still trying to figure out how Meltzer seems to be more than one place at the same time. He shows Cordy the book he pinched from Meltzer's office. He says the author claims "we are everywhere at the same time ..."

Cordy remembers the author, someone who had a high public profile a few years before, then just seemed to disappear from view.

Angel's eyes are fixed on the computer screen, he tells Cordelia that the author, Vinpur Natpudan, had a mental breakdown shortly after he led a retreat for an elite group of physicians and yogis.

Cordy assumes Meltzer attended the retreat. She watches as Angel types away on the keyboard, wondering what he's up to. He's sending an email to the author of the book. Cordelia reads the email, then looks at the book and reads the dedication, noting that wording of Angel's email to the author and the wording of the author's dedication are very similar. She makes the connection and asks Angel if he stole the book.

He acknowledges he did.

---

Angel is sitting in an ornate room, Vinpur is seated opposite him. Vinpur notes that Angel's email indicated Meltzer could be a danger to a young woman, he wants to know what help Angel thinks Vinpur can offer.

Angel tells the author he thinks he can help him understand Meltzer better. He tells Vinpur that he thinks the doctor is different from other people. He wants to know how the author first met him.

Vinpur recalls Meltzer attended a lecture he gave on the power of the mind and it's untapped potential.

Angel wonders what would happen if someone could find a way to tap that potential.

Vinpur says he introduced Meltzer to practitioners of yoga who could shut down their body's systems for days at a time, but that Meltzer surpassed the abilities of all of them. His abilities basically rewrote the approach to the teachings and caused Vinpur to rethink it all.

Angel wonders if what Meltzer achieved made Vinpur doubt his beliefs.

Vinpur assures him it was the opposite, that he became a total believer and that's when he got out of it.

---

Melissa is asleep in her bed. Ronald is standing on the outside of the wrought iron fence surrounding her home, looking in.

A police car pulls up to the curb, an officer steps out and approaches Meltzer. He tells him to turn around and raise his hands over his head.

Meltzer turns, keeping his hands in his pockets. He casually says he was just out walking.

The officer pulls his gun and instructs him firmly to put his hands up.

Meltzer smiles and slowly pulls his hands out of his pockets, or rather what should be his hands, displaying two handless stumps.

Two severed hands work their way up the side of Melissa's bed.

The police officer returns his gun to his holster. He apologizes to Meltzer, deducing this man with no hands couldn't be who he's looking for.

Ronald assures him no offense taken and departs.

Melissa awakens and looks under the blanket, where she discovers the severed hands. She screams.

The officer is standing at his squad car, calling in his status. When the scream is heard, he sprints toward the house. He shatters the glass of the door with his nightstick and reaches through, opening it from the inside, then rushes upstairs.

---

Melissa is desperately trying to unlock the safety chain on the door. She finally manages to get the door open.

The officer enters, his gun drawn. He wants to know what's going on. Melissa tries to explain but can't find the words. The officer again asks her what's happened. He tells her he can't do anything until he knows what's upset her.

Melissa points, indicating the bedroom. The officer checks out the bedroom and adjoining bathroom with his gun at the ready. Finding nothing in his search, he returns his weapon to his holster and tells Melissa there is nothing there. He asks her again to tell him what happened.

Before Melissa can answer, the severed hands grabs the officer from behind, clutching his throat, and pull him backward.

Ronald watches the house from outside, smiling.

---

The officer staggers into the hallway, the hands still clutching his throat, choking him.

A frantic Melissa runs past him screaming, down the stairs and out of the house and runs straight into Angel.

Melissa tells Angel that Meltzer is in the house, or at least his hands are. She's freaked and nearly hysterical, not knowing exactly how to explain what she saw.

Angel assures her he believes her, he's wise to Meltzer's talents.

Melissa begs Angel not to leave her alone as she breaks down, crying.

Angel tells her things will be okay as he takes her into a reassuring embrace.

Meltzer is outside of the fence, watching Angel and Melissa. One of the hands crawls along the ground, up his leg, and reattaches to his arm. He looks up once again at Angel holding Melissa, then departs.

---

A crowd has gathered outside of Melissa's house. A gurney is being brought out, bearing the body of the officer. Doyle hands Melissa a cup of coffee and tells her it's over.

Angel and Kate are walking toward Melissa. Kate tells Angel that Melissa isn't making much sense. Angel observes that Meltzer has been terrorizing her for months. Kate asks if he thinks it was the doctor who did this. Angel is sure it was.

Kate doesn't understand how he could have done it when the windows all have security bars and the security cameras only show the officers going in, but nobody else going in or coming out that day. She says they got fingerprints, if they match Meltzer's, he'll be arrested.

An officer asks Kate to sign some paperwork, she leaves.

Angel walks toward Melissa and Doyle. Doyle walks away from Melissa a short distance, to meet Angel. Angel wants to know how she is. Doyle says she's "numb" and asks if the police were able to get fingerprints. Angel confirms they did.

Doyle figures that will nail Meltzer and he'll be in jail but they won't be able to keep him there because of his ability to take himself apart.

Angel observes that Meltzer is losing control, he was a stalker before, now he's a murderer, having killed a police officer.

Doyle notes that he seems willing to kill anyone that gets in between him and Melissa then realizes they are in that position. He wonders what they can do to stop him if he can't be killed or contained somehow.

Angel theorizes that if the body parts can be kept from the body for long enough, depriving them of blood flow and oxygen, they'll decay and Meltzer will no longer be able to pull himself together.

Doyle wonders what they should do until they can make that happen.

Angel says they'll protect Melissa.

---

In Angel's apartment, Doyle is taping over a vent in an effort to seal off any possible route of entry for Ronald (or parts of him). He's accompanied by Cordelia who's assisting.

Angel and Melissa are seated at the table in Angel's kitchen, Melissa is drinking tea. They are joined by Doyle and Cordy.

Melissa fears Angel must think she's nuts claiming to have seen unattached hands scurrying about in her bedroom. Angel assures her he believes her. Melissa still can't believe she really saw what she saw. She can't see how it's possible.

Angel tells her it is possible, that this is one of those things he handles because the police can't. He reassures her that he will finish things with Meltzer and that Cordy and Doyle will look after her while he does that. He wants her to try to get some sleep.

Doyle secures the trap door entry into the apartment from the sewer tunnels with a bolt.

Melissa tells Angel and Cordelia she's tired of being afraid all of the time. She doesn't want things to keep on this way.

Angel tells her that she's doing fine, she's strong. After months of being victimized by Meltzer, it's not her who's going over the edge, it's Ronald.

Cordy asks to speak to Angel upstairs.

---

Angel and Cordelia are in the elevator, headed up to the office. Cordelia expresses her concern about Angel going against Meltzer alone.

They exit the elevator. Angel picks up the phone book, scanning the yellow pages.

Cordelia wants to know what he's looking for.

Angel tells her he's looking for a place that sells steel boxes.

Cordelia pauses for a moment, not sure what this has to do with anything, then it dawns on her that Angel intends to put pieces of Meltzer in the boxes. Cordelia comments wryly on the "educational" aspects of her job. The phone rings.

Cordelia tells Angel it's the "special line". He directs her to pick it up. She pauses for a moment, rehearsing her answering spiel, trying to remember the exact name of the phony company she's suppose to be. She answers the phone as "Jensen International Holdings", puts the caller on hold and tells Angel it's Meltzer.

Angel picks up and answers as "Brian Jensen". Meltzer agrees to operate on "Jensen's" wife and tells him it has to be done outside of the country and he needs a substantial sum of money, in cash, before he sets things up.

Angel determines Meltzer is calling from his office and tells him he'll bring him the money shortly. He hangs up the phone.

Cordy is concerned that Angel intends to go to Meltzer's office alone. Angel assures her he can handle the doctor.

---

Angel enters Meltzer's office, carrying a case. The doctor looks at the case and observes that it wasn't necessary to bring the cash in "small bills". Angel starts to tell him he didn't bring any money but he's interrupted by Meltzer who had already surmised as much. He lets Angel know that he did some digging on his own, he knows Angel isn't who he claimed to be and that he has no wife in need of help.

As Meltzer is speaking, he reaches into his desk with one hand, getting Angel's attention. While Angel is warily eyeing the hand in the desk, Meltzer lifts the other hand and fires a dart into Angel's neck. Angel staggers, pulls the dart from his neck and begins to feel the effects of the drug.

Meltzer explains he designed this implement for working with animals, who don't take too kindly to having their limbs removed and tend to be dangerous in self-defense. He explains the drug is a paralytic that will stop his heart. He thinks Angel tried to steal Melissa from him, he saw him embrace her outside of her house the night Meltzer's hands killed the policeman and this is payback.

Angel begins to weaken and drops to the floor, ending up on his back, his eyes fixed in an unfocused gaze at the ceiling.

Meltzer continues ranting about Angel trying to take Melissa away from him, saying nobody will take her away from him, and if she can't accept that, he'll have to do something about it. Meltzer takes a scalpel from his desk. He's angry that he's done so much for Melissa, tried repeatedly to show her how perfect they are for each other but she still refuses his attentions. Now he's tired of her making a fool of him.

As Angel slips into unconsciousness, Meltzer leaves the office.

---

Doyle is still taping up vents in Angel's darkened apartment. He finishes the job, telling Cordy he thinks he's gotten them all. Cordy tells him to keep it down, Melissa is finally getting some sleep. She wants to know what Doyle put in her tea. He tells her a hefty dose of whiskey.

Cordelia notes that it's unfair that this situation played as it did. After all, Meltzer is a doctor, that should be the perfect catch but instead he turns out to be a lunatic who terrorizes the object of his attentions.

Doyle assures her that not every relationship ends up in a psycho stalker killer kind of thing. Cordelia doesn't seem convinced.

---

Melissa is asleep on Angel's bed. Cordelia is worried that Meltzer will show up before Angel can get back. Doyle is crouched on the floor taping over another opening, he assures Cordy the place is sealed tight.

They both hear a noise, Cordelia wonders what it was. Doyle stands up and scans the area as he heads slowly toward the living room, Cordelia behind him. He pulls a battle ax and a wicked looking dagger from the wall and hands the dagger to Cordy. He tells her the noise was probably "just the wind", but neither of them seems to believe that.

As Doyle and Cordelia continue into the living room, weapons at the ready, an eyeball floats up from behind a pipe, watching them.

Doyle makes small talk about playing cards while they continue their search for the source of the noise they heard.

The rattling noise is heard again.

Doyle calls to Cordelia as he sees the source of the noise, something is trying to enter through the trap door leading from the sewer tunnel into the apartment that Doyle had bolted earlier.

Fingers are seen working at the bolt on the trap door, trying to dislodge it.

A hand opens the door to the apartment. Ronald enters and steps into the eyeball floating in midair, it takes its place back in the empty socket.

Cordelia and Doyle watch the hand at the trap door push aside the bolt. Doyle crouches by the trap door, battle ax at the ready, and flips the latch. He lifts the door open and scans the sewer tunnel below.

Ronald grabs Cordelia from behind, his hand over her mouth, rams her into the wall and then out the door.

The disembodied hand yanks Doyle head first down into the sewer tunnel, the trap door slamming shut behind him.

Ronald closes the door and turns, seeing Melissa sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at him. She watches in a mix of fear and revulsion as the hand returns to Meltzer and reattaches itself.

Ronald greets her. Melissa wants to know what he is. He tells her more than she knows, too bad she never bothered to get to know him better. He accuses her of leading him on, using him until she found someone else. As he's talking, he pulls the scalpel out from the inside of his coat.

Melissa starts to run past him, but he blocks the way, cornering her against the wall. He tells her she's disappointed him.

Melissa is visibly shaken, she tries to play along as she stares at the scalpel in his hand, telling him she understands. Ronald isn't buying it, he tells her to stop talking.

Melissa finds strength in her fear, telling Ronald that he is the disappointment who's nobody but a jerk who likes to hurt others. She tells him how disgusting it would be to be near him and his various "pieces". Ronald is angered by her verbal assault but Melissa is not swayed from it. On the contrary, she seems buoyed by his reaction and continues assailing him.

She calls him a "freak" and tells him she's not afraid of him anymore, that no matter what he does to her, it won't change what he is and she still won't be afraid. She tells him that Angel's observation of him as "weak" was accurate. Ronald wonders if he's so "weak" how it is that he managed to kill Angel.

The door behind him opens. Ronald turns to see Angel standing in the doorway. He's taken aback by that fact, fully expecting that he had killed Angel with the drugged dart earlier in his office.

Meltzer's teeth fly out of his mouth, sinking into Angel's forearm. Angel smashes them against the wall and goes after Ronald.

Meltzer stabs Angel in the shoulder with the scalpel, which has little effect. Meltzer tosses his hand off of his arm, which clutches Angel's throat throwing him backward, onto the floor.

He rips the hand from his throat and tosses it aside. It comes crawling back toward him. He removes the scalpel from his shoulder and skewers the hand with it.

Meltzer is facing Melissa, telling her they could have been happy together. Angel's voice is heard, calling Ronald's name. As Ronald turns, Angel decapitates him with a pipe.

Angel approaches Melissa, asking if she's okay. He comforts her with an embrace.

---

At the office, Cordelia is making coffee, complaining about having to reuse the grounds. Angel enters and gives her some papers. Cordy wants assurances that Meltzer won't be pulling himself back together anytime soon.

Angel assures her he's been separated into several pieces, each secured in a separate steel box and then the boxes sunk in the concrete of a new construction project.

Melissa enters the office, carrying a plant. She greets them and hands Angel the plant, telling him she brought that for them. Cordy offers her some coffee, she declines, saying she has things to do and is happy to be able to do them now, thanks to them.

Cordelia and Doyle start coughing, looking at Angel.

Angel gets it, they want him to remind her about the bill, which he reluctantly does.

Melissa is happy for the reminder, telling Angel that was the other reason she came, as she pulls a check from her purse and offers it to him.

Cordelia rushes over, snatches it from her hand and thanks her.

Angel, still uncomfortable with the subject, tells her it wasn't about the money. She understands that but is happy to pay for services rendered. She shakes his hand and thanks him before leaving.

Cordelia is pointing out to Angel that this is proof it is possible to help those who need it and make a little money at the same time. Doyle suggests they head straight to the bank and deposit the check. Angel tells them to go on without him, pointing out it's daytime.

Cordelia tells Doyle they need more income, he should have a vision. He tries to explain to her that it doesn't work that way. They banter back and forth about it as they leave the office.

Angel walks into his private office and sets the plant down on his desk.