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Disclaimer: I own no one. They are all the property of Joss Whedon.
Author's Note: Aside from that, I suppose this story and the ones that will follow it require some explanation. As of the episode, “Expecting,” I have decided it might be fun to write down journal entries the way I imagine Cordelia would write them. There will be at least one to mark each episode of the series thus far, and will end whenever the Angel Series Finale airs. Hope you enjoy the look into Cordelia’s mind as much as I will enjoy writing about it.
On a side note, each entry will be subtitled with a quote from the episode of which it’s about. Enjoy:
“Okay, Flesh, Anytime You Want To Stop Crawling, It’s Okay With Me.”
November 5, 1999
I’ve always known that dating is rarely ever safe, especially if you live in Sunnydale. But somehow, I expected LA to be different. Shouldn’t there be less chance here that the man you go out with will turn out to be an obsessive, psychotic doctor who’ll end up stalking you?! This is exactly what the case was with Melissa Burns, a young woman working in an accounting firm... Well, I should back up and say that another of Doyle’s mind-numbing visions led us to her, this following an argument said visionary and I were having with Angel over charging people for helping them.
Angel’s main hang-up with accepting cash is that he doesn’t think it’s appropriate to take “advantage” of people that way. I personally don’t get what the big deal is or why he’s so reluctant! I mean, come on! We do need to pay bills and rent money around here, not to mention my salary! What does Angel think, that money’s going to come to us on will alone?!
Okay, deep breath... Alright, I’m calm now, and ready to get back to the main point of this entry: telling about Melissa’s problem. She was a little reluctant to talk to Angel when he first approached her, only that could be because his conversation skills leave something to be desired... In any case, her stalker paid her a visit afterwards, and something about the encounter had her coming to us.
Melissa told us her story in short order. She had gone to this doctor (Ronald Meltzer) for an eye operation, something about a severed nerve. He saved her from going blind or something, and as a sort of gratitude, she went out on one date with him when he asked. Problem was, he wouldn’t leave her alone after that, showing up at her home, her place of business, saying they should get married, etc. In my opinion, the guy’s a nutcase if he thinks that’s the way to woo a girl! In any event, Melissa now has the feeling that Ronald’s able to see her every move, even when she’s completely alone in a room, or rather, he outright implied that he could. Very creepy, if you ask me.
Nevertheless, I was ready to chalk that tidbit up to Ronald having some secret video cameras installed, but Angel had to disagree. According to my vampire boss, Doyle’s visions do tend to hint at a supernatural element involved. The only thing we couldn’t figure out was just how Ronald would be able to see her if she was alone.
The next day had the three of us splitting up temporarily to work towards a resolution. While Angel went to check up on Dr. Ronald Meltzer and Doyle accompanied Melissa to work to watch out for her, I went undercover as a reporter to “interview” some of Ronald’s co-workers, just to dig up any dirt on him. And boy, was there dirt! Turns out the “good” doctor is rather secretive about his work, that he claims to be able to reattach even severed eyes, which I guess is an impossibility in the medical world, but doesn’t have any proof to back it up. So there I was, heading back to the office to report to Angel, with my stomach churning over the absolute disturbing images that medical lingo stirred up!
The biggest surprise that Angel laid on me was that he had actually stolen a book from Ronald’s office, who had in turn received it as a gift from some big-time guru who had a nervous breakdown a few years back. So, what does Angel do but send the gift-giver an e-mail imploring for help, using words from the inscription to arouse interest. In any event, Mr. Guru soon writes back agreeing to meet, and Angel takes off shortly thereafter.
I waited around the office until nightfall before I heard something more on the matter. Angel called in a few hours after he’d left, saying that he and Doyle were bringing Melissa in and that I’d do well to start boarding up the place, INCLUDING the air vents! During the wait, I was just freaking out so much, already half anticipating a poisonous gas cloud to start seeping in and kill me! Turns out, based on what Angel and Doyle had to say, that was actually the bright side of the situation!
Where do I start with this one? Oh, well... Number 1: Ronald Meltzer apparently has the ability to detach and reattach any part of his body at will (yuck!), a little something he learned how to do from a group of yogis and the top medical experts during a seminar retreat. I didn’t ask Angel for any more details than that because I basically DON’T want to know. In any case, that’s how he was able to spy on Melissa; it seems everyone at her company is oblivious to floating eyeballs... unless he... they... it managed to slip in under radar.
Number 2: Ronald “attacked” Melissa inside her own home, and he killed an investigating cop whom Angel had contracted to watch her place. Thus, the reason he and Doyle brought her to the office; they figured she wouldn’t be safe as long as Ronald was on the loose. So, while Angel went out and made preparations to ensure Ronald couldn’t do any more harm, Doyle and I had our hands full barricading the apartment and making sure that Melissa got settled in comfortably... Or rather, Doyle just knocked her out completely with I don’t know how much whiskey.
In the end, it seemed even our best efforts weren’t entirely enough. Dr. Meltzer somehow overpowered Angel when the two met, because he was at the office breaking in before Doyle and I knew it. We both got knocked out for the next hour or so, but I heard from Angel later that things still turned out for the best. Melissa actually stood up to Ronald, who was rather intimidated when she proved she wouldn’t let him scare her anymore. The guy was even already falling apart (literally and figuratively) when Angel showed up on the scene and finished off Ronald, storing the parts in a steel safety deposit box so he couldn’t reassemble himself.
Anyway, the plus side to this whole fiasco is that we got our first paying client! I guess Melissa has a few issues with owing a debt of gratitude to someone (like she did Ronald), because she turned up the next day with a pre-written check! Naturally, I couldn’t wait to get to the bank to deposit it, with Doyle offering to accompany me, but the thought that maybe this would help loosen Angel up on accepting cash did cross my mind. And I’m sure Doyle will agree... as soon as he gets over his distrust of me, that is. I swear, you casually ask if he’ll have another vision if you hit him in the head, and the guy gets all paranoid!
If I can speak candidly, I don’t see where Doyle’s problem with that lies. I thought he was all for helping people in trouble... Isn’t he? Oh, well, who am I to doubt? Doyle’s a saint. There’s no way he could have done something terribly wrong that would harm someone else. I may not know much about him, but I know him well enough to believe that...