Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize
Chapter 34- Dear Boy
"I'm really hoping Angel finds out Darla's messing with him real soon", Buffy muttered to the rest.
"Well, he is not stupid. He must be noticing his own deterioration", Willow told her. "So he should notice."
"I hope he does", Tara said as the recording started.
After shots of the city were shown, Angel was shown walking to where Cordelia and Wesley were working, and plopped down on a sofa. The two told him they'd made him tea and it was on the table, but Angel said it seemed far, and Cordelia commented that sleeping for 3 days would have worn him out, calling him the world's oldest teenager and wondering if he was having a growth spurt at 248, though Angel corrected it was 247.
"247, damn that's old", Xander said. "I never knew the exact number."
"Didn't they show his gravestone a few recordings ago?" Dawn reminded.
"I didn't pay much attention", Xander told her.
"So, he's sleeping a lot, and finding a table too far, why aren't they thinking something's up?" Buffy asked. "Aren't they supposed to be smart investigators and all that?"
"Well, Vampires behave weirdly", Willow shrugged.
"Still, there should be some warning bells", Giles said.
"I think Angel downplaying it is why they aren't on it yet", Tara pointed out.
Cordelia and Wesley then started arguing, Angel stopping them and calling them bickering children, saying something will turn up, and then Cordelia was hit by a vision with Angel catching her, a blurry shot of some robed guys fighting with fists and weapons, with a green, slimy monster seemingly growing out of the wall.
"And something's turned up", Dawn said as all sighed.
Wesley looked through some books with Cordelia pacing and Angel hovering around her, and Wesley pointed at a picture, asking if this was the Demon, but Cordelia shook her head, and Angel plopped back on the couch, Cordelia saying the disciples were human and the fight was over how to worship it. Angel joked this was why he rarely went to church, but was ignored and said he found it funny, when Darla appeared and said she did too.
"Is, is she here?" Xander suddenly asked.
"No, it looks like an illusion", Willow said.
"So she has affected him that badly", Buffy snarled.
Darla was then on Angel's lap, nuzzling and kissing him, while Cordelia and Wesley continued researching as if she wasn't there. Darla told him she'd missed him, and while the research continued, Angel jumped up with a shout, no Darla around, and rambled he hadn't dozed off, before starting to pace as Cordelia said he was weird lately. On hearing Cordelia describe what the place looked like, Angel realized it could be a water tank, and managed to figure out where the place was, before telling Wesley to call Gunn, Wesley about to make an argument about money but Angel told him to call Gunn and he did.
"Well, at least he figured it out when he put his mind to it", Tara said with a shrug.
"What he needs to figure out is that Darla is playing with him", Buffy said, just barely managing to stay calm.
At night Angel, Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn came down a long stairway into a huge cavernous chamber of slender pillars, and stopped at the bottom where people in black robes battled people in red in front of the slimy thing from Cordelia's vision. Gunn said he wasn't paid enough for this, saying some advice he'd gotten from Uncle Theo, even though he didn't have one.
"Maybe we should all have fictional uncles and aunts", Dawn suggested as the rest chuckled.
"Huh, could work", Willow said.
Wesley said it was a thrall Demon so killing it would un-thrall the rest, and Cordelia started commenting how they were fighting each other and not them, when they were spotted by the slimy demon, and so the groupies charged them, a fight starting.
"And she jinxed it", Xander said.
Angel and Gunn both knocked some down as Wesley battled another, when Angel was knocked down from behind by a red one who hit him again. Gunn took another down while Angel rolled back up and started wailing on the guy, Gunn taking another down and asking Angel to watch his back, but got no response so Gunn told him to keep beating the guy while knocking another down.
"Oh my God!" Buffy said at that, rubbing her hand over her head.
"What's the matter, Buffy?" Giles asked her.
"Faith did something very similar when we first met", Buffy said, remembering when Faith was wailing on that Vampire instead of watching her back, and now Angel was doing the same thing.
"Guess they're even more alike than we think", Willow muttered.
Wesley managed to take down his opponent as Cordelia ran to kill the slimy Demon but a disciple hauled her from behind, while Gunn and Wesley took down one each. Wesley knocked down the one holding Cordelia while Gunn knocked down another and brought down his ax on the Demon, finally killing it. Angel was still wailing on the disciple when Wesley pulled him back, walking back to the rest as Angel wiped a hand over his head.
"He looks so….worn down", Tara said about Angel.
"Darla must have messed him up real bad", Dawn said angrily.
"So bad he's now becoming Faith before she went to jail", Buffy commented, still disturbed by the parallel.
Later, Angel's team and the now peaceful disciples walked out as Gunn called Angel out for his actions Angel gave Cordelia the car keys, saying job got done, and headed off while the rest watched. Wesley said Angel wasn't sleeping well, Cordelia adding he was off his game, and Gunn asked since when was it a game.
"Not since day 1", Xander said to Gunn, the rest just worried about Angel.
Angel walked down the promenade at night. There was a juggler, clowns making balloon animals, street vendors, musicians, lots of passers-by. Suddenly Angel looked up and saw a blonde in a striking red dress. There was a flash to a shot from Angel's recent dream, as Angel recognized her as Darla.
"Is it really her? Or an illusion?" Dawn asked the rest.
"At this point, it's near impossible to tell", Buffy told her.
"Yes, he is dreaming and thinking of her so much that he would probably even see her on day time now", Giles commented about the situation.
In the past, Angelus was walking down a street and was going to pass the mouth of an alley when he stopped and turned to it, holding out his hand as Darla took it, letting him help her up. He commented he thought they were meeting in the Square, but she said she ran into horrid little Lord Nichols, looking at his lying body with bite marks on the neck, and told Angelus she'd told him she'd do him for nothing, Angelus calling her charitable. Darla dabbed her mouth with a handkerchief, saying she hated cheap royalty.
"And I hate evil exes like you", Buffy shrugged back.
"If we're seeing a flashback, then it means something horrible is about to happen", Tara said grimly, and everyone felt a pit in their stomachs.
Angelus half-kissed, half-licked her mouth, saying all tasted the same and then asked why she'd killed the streetwalker, looking at a dead woman next to Lord Nichols and Darla said she liked her, asking him to guess what was next, the two exiting the alley and walking along the street, again telling Angelus to guess, and he scanned across the street before spotting a family with 3 young daughters exiting a building. Angelus noted they were all virgins, but Darla told him to look closer. Angelus said the one in the middle was delicate and unique, Angelus asking if she'd found him a saint. "Better than that- she has the sight", Darla said as the girl in the middle turned. It was Drusilla! She looked right into Angelus' eyes.
"Oh no", Buffy shook her head, now her heart beating even faster.
"Drusilla", Xander said with a sigh, as Tara realized why Buffy was reacting this way.
Willow started. "Angelus….ruined her."
"I don't want to see that", Buffy whispered to herself, remembering when Angel had told her of what he'd done to Drusilla.
Angelus walked to Drusilla, Darla clinging to his arm. "Visions. She sees the future. She is pure innocence, yet she sees what's coming, she knows what I'm going to do to her. I'll really have to come up to snuff for this one." Drusilla turned away from them and herded her sisters away, with Darla stopping Angelus from following further, telling him to let the plum ripen, and said coming up something new keeps her young.
"She looks so…innocent", Buffy said about Drusilla, never having thought she would say that. But she'd never thought she'd see human Drusilla either.
Back on the promenade present day Darla was passing between two clowns making balloon animals and a guy dressed up like a giant hot dog. Angel tried to catch up to her, but a group of people blocked his view of her for a moment and after they passed, Darla was nowhere to be seen, no matter how hard Angel looked around.
"Guess she was an illusion", Xander said.
"Or she could be real too, but he is just confused and irrational around her", Giles told him. "So she used that to her advantage."
"Anything can be true", Willow sighed.
At the hotel lobby next morning, Harold Jeakins sat on a couch opposite Cordelia and Wesley, nervously playing with one of Angel's business cards, saying he needed help right away, though Cordelia said he was returning from an important case, Wesley handing Harold a list of payment plans, while Harold said his wife Claire was abducted by aliens on a regular basis, surprising them as he said she always came back in a day or two.
"And here I was thinking I'm a dumb guy", Xander quipped, surprised Harold was this stupid, because even denial usually didn't extend this much.
"Really? Aliens abducting someone regularly?" Willow wondered. "How is he such a rich guy if he's that stupid?"
"A mystery for Sherlock", Dawn said with a shrug.
"Yeah, sounds like a job for him", Buffy said, jokingly turning to Giles.
"Just because I'm British does not mean I am him", Giles said, rolling his eyes.
"We know, we're just messing with you", Tara said as they all chuckled.
Harold said he trusted Claire but he'd found a receipt from Franklin Hotel when she was supposed to be in the Trifid Nebula. Cordelia took the receipt, looking at Wesley, assuring Harold they'd get to the bottom of this, and then Angel walked out of the basement, looking like he'd been up all night, and Harold asked him if his wife was cheating on him, Angel simply walking to his office as he said she probably was. Cordelia assured Harold that Angel liked him and Wesley added the great ones were eccentric, like Sherlock Holmes and Phillip Marlowe. Harold pointed out they were fictional characters, to which Wesley responded that gave Angel an extra leg up.
"I'm surprised he knows they're fictional", Buffy said as they chuckled.
"I'm surprised he hasn't met Sherlock yet", Xander said and they laughed harder.
Wesley walked out with Harold as Cordelia sat to enter information in the computer and sarcastically called out Angel for treating a customer like that, and showed Angel his file and how rich he was, when Angel instead started smelling her hair and touching them, startling her as she jumped off her chair and headed away from him yelling 'personal bubble', and Wesley came back.
"What the hell?" Dawn said, everyone a little startled.
"Darla has affected him worse than we thought", Buffy said, clutching her fists angrily.
"Now this will definitely ring warning bells", Giles told the rest.
Cordelia told Wesley that Angel was feeling her hair, and he apologized, saying he'd seen her in town last night. Cordelia assumed it was Buffy, but then Angel revealed it was Darla, surprising Wesley who knew she was his sire. Angel said he'd been dreaming about Darla lately and felt like he was losing his mind, but she was alive. Wesley said that was impossible since he'd staked her three and a half years ago, and that Vamps didn't come back from the dead, but Angel was adamant.
"Remember the box?" Willow asked randomly.
"They are probably still thinking that some big evil creature was brought back in it, rather than Darla", Xander said with a sigh.
Wesley said it could be due to his guilt over killing her, and Cordelia agreed, saying Angel loved guilt and so he needed an exciting new case, which could be aliens or adultery. Angel said maybe he was dreaming about her because she was here, while Wesley said maybe he thought she was here because he was dreaming about her.
"I don't see why both cannot be true" Tara told the rest and they had to concede.
At Wolfram and Hart, Darla said Angel was falling apart, impressing Lindsey as she said she'd created a lot of his strengths and weaknesses so she'd a good handle on that. Lindsey said she'd given them a lot of info on Angel, especially the side they were interested in, and said they wanted Angel dark, and she could awaken his nastier urges.
"He would never", Buffy snarled with gritted teeth.
Darla noticed Lindsey's artificial hand, saying Angel had done it to him, and then stroked it, saying it was smooth and he didn't feel a thing. Lindsey asked how it was seeing Angel again, and she said it was strange as he pointed out Angel had betrayed her. Darla played with the scales on a statue of Justice. "Everyone betrays you, that's not what eats you in the long winter's night..." Lindsey asked. "Yeah? What does?" Darla explained. "Missed opportunities. - He got a soul and it sickened me.- All that power wasted on a whiny mopey do-gooder. God, I could eat his eyeballs."
"You only like him when he's evil like you, not the real guy", Buffy told Darla, mostly because she was pissed at her.
"Sounds more complicated than that to me", Giles said as Buffy turned to him in surprise.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I do not fully understand this myself, but it seems more complicated than what you're making it out to be", Giles explained to her.
Lindsey said they'd long term plans for Angel but she could help herself, and Darla called him fun for a human as Lindsey said he'd a particular interest in Angel, and many others did too, picking up a manila envelope. Kate sat behind her desk as a detective approached carrying the same envelope.
"Huh, so they're gonna use the law as their weapon. Surprising since these lawyers don't use law usually", Xander quipped.
"Sticking Kate on Angel, which would work like a charm considering her vendetta", Tara said with a sigh.
The detective, Jack, greeted her, telling her he'd stuck out his neck for her but she still went around, looking for unnatural stuff, and asked if she thought it'd get her a promotion. Then he gave her the envelope and it had a picture of the Hyperion Hotel with Angel's new business card, and new address and phone number. She thanked him as he told her to stay out of trouble.
"Don't count on that", Willow said to Jack.
Cordelia, in a skimpy yellow waitress uniform picked up some empty glasses at an upscale hotel, walking past a blonde and a guy in a repairman uniform. She slid some napkins with a tiny microphone hidden between them along the top of the bar so it was aimed at them. The woman, Claire talked to the guy, Marty, saying how aliens abducted her when the mood hit and it hit them pretty hard this morning when Harold left for work. Angel hid behind a plaster, listening via an earwig, and Wesley reading a newspaper lifted a tiny camera to his eye to snap a picture of the two, with Marty telling Claire he'd abduct her right now.
"With each passing sentence, I'm thinking more about Harold's state of mind", Dawn told the rest.
"You are not the only one", Giles agreed.
Angel shook his head and came out from behind the planter and headed to intercept them. As he passed by Wesley, he pulled the camera out of his hand, stopping the two as he told Claire and Marty what they were up to and that Harold knew. He threw the camera at Marty who caught it as they left in opposite directions, Angel moving off as Cordelia and Wesley moved to intercept him.
"He just blew it", Willow sighed in shock.
"Is Darla around again?" Buffy wondered now.
Cordelia was angry at Angel for what he'd done as he shoved the recording equipment onto Wesley's chest and spotted Darla, getting up from a chair across the lobby. Angel stepped in front of her, letting her bump into him as he took her wallet and flipped open to reveal several credit cards, asking if she was trying to pass off as a human, but she stuffed it back into her purse, as he said he knew her, calling her 'Darla', while she told him to leave him alone. She walked past him but he grabbed her arm, telling her she wouldn't win at this game. Wesley tried to talk to him as the security guy arrived. Darla said her name was DeEtta Kramer and her husband was getting their car outside, she didn't know any Darla.
"Funny, you look exactly like her", Buffy said, getting angrier at her. "It is her."
"Angel causing a scene isn't gonna help though", Dawn said.
"Probably a side-effect of what Darla did to him", Tara said with a sigh.
Angel said he knew it was her as the security guard tried to pull him off but Angel threw him away as Darla ran off screaming for 'Stephen', and Angel watched as Darla walked into a sunny patch in front of the doors, a guy catching her as he asked if she was okay, and she looked back at Angel, who stared at her, noting she was unaffected by the sun shining on her.
"How is she not dust again?" Xander asked, confused once more, like the rest.
"Did she become invulnerable or something on resurrection?" Buffy asked too.
"Or maybe, they brought her back as human", Tara said.
"You really think so?" Buffy asked. "Why isn't she feeling any guilt then? Why is she trying to destroy Angel?"
"Sometimes, people under guilt do things to distract themselves", Willow told Buffy with a grim look, and Buffy realized she was speaking from experience.
"I'm sorry", Buffy said to her as Tara grasped her hand tightly.
Angel, Cordelia and Wesley entered the lobby as Cordelia again sarcastically called Angel out for his actions, Angel moving to a hotel desk and rifling through the phone book as Wesley said there was a silver lining, in that the woman walked into direct sunlight so she wasn't a Vampire and Angel was mistaken, and told Angel they'd help him come to terms with this and not condemn him, when Cordelia said he was crazy and needed professional help, but Angel said it was Darla and she was back as a human, but he could tell from her scent. Wesley said one couldn't tell from a sniff, when Angel sniffed him and said he'd sex last night with a bleached blonde.
"Huh? He got sex?" Xander said in surprise.
"Probably that blonde from 4 recordings ago", Giles realized.
"Yeah, has to be her", Willow said.
"Never thought I'd see the day", Dawn shook her head with a smile.
"Well, he is not a bumbling idiot now so that helps the appeal", Buffy pointed out.
"Looks like it", Tara nodded.
Cordelia said she couldn't believe Wesley had sex, and Angel closed the book saying she wasn't in it, and told the other two to run a title deed search for the address of DeEtta and Stephen Kramer, while he'll try some other avenues, then asked Wesley if he had any money as he'd need it for the cover charge, Wesley realizing what he was about to do as Angel said he'd do whatever it takes.
"NO!" All went together, realizing what Angel was about to do.
At Caritas, Angel sang. "Everybody have fun tonight - everybody Wang Chung-fun tonight, everybody Wang Chung tonight, everybody have fun tonight, everybody..."
All were covering their ears as Xander said. "This is worse than last time."
"I thought that impossible", Dawn commented, feeling similarly.
"Why do they need to sing for Lorne to tell their future?" Buffy wondered.
"I'm asking the same question right now", Willow sighed.
"This butchery of music is unacceptable", Giles agreed.
"Can't do anything about it though, sadly", Tara muttered.
The other Demons were clearly finding it bad too as Lorne never took his eyes off Angel, and then Angel abruptly hit the off button, apologizing to everyone.
"Yeah, that's right, apologize to everyone", Buffy said, the rest nodding.
He made a beeline to where Lorne was, asking about Darla, but Lorne said he was sending out family-sized vibes, and told Angel he was at a crucial junction, but refused to tell him anything because he was headed to trouble, and Darla's way had badness. Angel asked why he cared since he gave murderous Demons advise but wouldn't help him, to which Lorne said he set people on their paths and this was way off his path. Angel leaned in closer, asking about Darla, but Lorne said he wouldn't start a thing here due to being a good boy and getting up, told Angel to have a drink before he went, and it was on Lorne.
"So Lorne knows Angel is headed to a self-destructive path", Willow said, feeling a little thankful that he hadn't told Angel a thing.
"But would not telling him make him any less self-destructive?" Tara asked.
"Doesn't look like it", Buffy sighed.
The telephone rung at Hyperion as Cordelia answered it, and first tried to advise him but Angel was insistent so she gave him the address, and he hung up the phone, seeing a horned Demon looking at him and asked what he was looking at, to which the Demon turned away.
"The guy with a killer voice, literally", Xander said as chuckles followed.
Wesley was annoyed Cordelia hadn't stood up to Angel, mimicking her voice when she'd mocked him for it, and Cordelia told him to shoot her if she sounded like that, to which Wesley took out a gun, making her say in shock she was joking as he told her it was a tranquilizer gun for Angel, and he needed to call Gunn so Cordelia pushed the phone to him for him to pick the receiver.
"And it has already come to tranquilizer guns", Dawn muttered.
"Angel is getting out of control", Willow pointed out. "Hey may not give them a choice."
At night, Angel walked to a suburban home and looked through one of the windows, seeing Darla come in and give Stephen a kiss as both walked into the next room, and Stephen held Darla's chair for her as she sat down. He then started asking questions saying if he was supposed to hold the chair after marriage, and she told him to just eat. Angel walked around to where he could watch them have dinner from the window, and Stephen said how he'd just mime eating to watch his figure, but Darla told him to smile and nod instead.
"If he keeps annoying her like that, she'll drop the act out of annoyance", Xander commented.
"Wouldn't blame her in that case", Tara shrugged.
"So he doesn't even know what he's in for", Buffy said about Stephen.
"Looks like it, probably was offered money", Willow said.
Stephen kept asking more questions so Darla's hand slipped under the table in the region of his crotch, hurting him as she told him she'd kill him if he didn't shut up, and he agreed as she brushed her hair back, revealing an earwig.
Xander and Giles shared a look and winced, being the two men in the group, so they could feel Stephen's physical pain.
Darla asked Lindsey if he could hear her, and back at office Lindsey said he could, telling her they needed a few more minutes to set it all in motion, while Angel watched from where he was standing. Stephen asked who Darla was talking to but she gave him a look so he shut up.
"Yeah, you just stay shut", Dawn agreed.
"What are they planning though?" Buffy wondered. "To arrest Angel for trespassing and harassment?"
"If Darla keeps up her act, that can work", Willow said with a sigh.
In the lobby Gunn stared at the tranquilizer gun and chains, Wesley assuring him this was precautionary as Cordelia assured he didn't always turn evil when he was cranky, and Gunn asked if Angel turned evil, to which Wesley told him some things could revert Angel to Angelus, and that's what he was before he got his soul, and when Gunn asked how bad would Wesley rate Angelus, Wesley said he was historically the worst one, especially with Darla.
"I don't think someone like him would hold back with that kind of info", Xander said about Gunn.
"If Angel becomes Angelus, that's what he would want though", Tara pointed out.
Cordelia said they were researching if she had resurrection powers, and Gunn knew this was a bad combo as Wesley told him they'd rampaged through half the world till Angel got his soul. Then a colored glass window with picture of a saint past some candles sitting in wall sconces was shown as Angelus sat on the edge of a table staring at something in the past. Darla entered the room behind him and he greeted her while she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, saying they had made a mess with blood and habits everywhere, and Angelus said convents were a great big cookie jar.
"Convent", Buffy trailed off, realizing what this was, putting her head in her hands. "Oh no!"
"What's the matter?" Dawn asked.
"Drusilla", Buffy sighed in a hoarse whisper, using all of her willpower to look back up a little.
The two kissed as nearby an insane Drusilla ranted, and the two looked at her sobbing form as she begged to make it stop. Darla thought Angelus had killed her but he said he'd only killed her family. He pushed Darla down on the floor and rolled on top of her while Drusilla scooted back, rambling, and Angelus told Darla he had special plans for her. He leaned to kiss her as Drusilla repeated 'Snake in the woodshed' while Darla rolled them over to come on top, asking if they'd kill her during or after, but Angelus sat up, staring at her. "Neither. We turn her into one of us. - Killing is so merciful at the end, isn't it? The pain has ended." Darla asked. "But to make her one of us? She's a lunatic." Angelus said. "Eternal torment." He grabbed a hold of Darla's arms and rolled them so he was back on top with her under him on the floor. "Am I learning?" Angelus started to kiss Darla while Drusilla first laughed then cried.
Buffy looked back down, holding her head in her hands, a tear actually dropping out of her eye, while Dawn had her mouth covered, struggling to keep herself together as well at what she'd just witnessed. Angel had never told her this bit, now she knew why.
Willow and Tara shared a horrified look before looking back at the screen, and Xander and Giles were just staring open-mouthed.
"That…that poor woman…." Giles said, trailing off. While Drusilla had brutally tortured him and turned into Jenny to make him give up info, it was still hard to not feel bad for human Drusilla here, who was just as much a victim of Angelus as Jenny was.
"I never thought I'd feel bad for her", Xander muttered, looking downcast. He'd thought he'd seen the worst of Angelus when he'd killed Jenny and then the Gypsy girl, but what he had done to Drusilla alongside Darla put it all to shame.
"Even Vampires were victims once", Buffy sighed, wiping her tear, feeling horrible for what these two had done to human Drusilla.
"They really did make her torment eternal", Willow commented, remembering all of Drusilla's insane ramblings and antics, and after what had been done to her, it made perfect sense. Who would blame Drusilla for going crazy after what these two had done to her?
"Damned her forever for life", Tara sighed, feeling sympathy for human Drusilla, since she was an innocent who had been targeted by these horrible Vampires for being innocent.
Dawn couldn't even say a word, she was terrified and sad both.
In present, Angel watched Darla and Stephen carry the dishes out of his line of sight as Darla passed a security guard standing hidden from the dining room in the kitchen, dropping her plate in the trash as she said told Lindsey she was waiting, and Lindsey told her to have fun. Darla then picked up a phone and dialed 911, telling her fake name and address and said a man outside was breaking in, screaming for help. Stephen was now getting nervous as Darla told the guard to do it and make it look real. Stephen said this was illegal when the guard turned into a Vamp, terrifying Stephen while he backhanded Darla hard.
"I think I figured it out", Giles sighed.
"Frame Angel for the murder of DeEtta's husband?" Buffy asked and he nodded. "Yeah."
Angel heard dishes crashing and Stephen screaming, and sounds of an assault as Darla screamed for help, and then the front door burst open as Angel flew in, Darla huddled over the now dead Stephen, crying, a big bruise on her cheek. She screamed for help, then scrambled back on seeing Angel, who noticed Stephen was dead with blood on his throat, and Darla accused him of killing her husband. Lindsey commented she should have her own series as sirens were heard outside and 2 cops arrived, aiming at Angel, while Darla threw herself at Stephen, sobbing harder. The cops ordered Angel to face the wall and he did while raising his hands, and told Darla she'd pay for this before taking off as they fired but he was unaffected and jumped straight through an attic access door in the ceiling, so one cop gave the other orders.
"Plan worked like a charm", Willow muttered dryly.
"Angel had to rush in, but they were always 10 steps ahead", Tara sighed. "And now he has been framed for murder."
"Kate is gonna be on it", Buffy realized.
"Which makes it even worse", Xander said.
"Wolfram and Hart really planned this to the smallest factor", Giles commented. "They are evil, but their planning process is meticulous."
"Tell me about it", Dawn muttered.
More cops arrived as Darla continued wailing, and then they heard Angel's footsteps on the rooftop as he jumped down, and they saw him from a window and chased him while Darla smiled, hidden. Later, Kate and Darla walked outside the house as Darla played dumb, and Kate said he'd been chased for 16 blocks, and that one of her officers had said she recognized this man as Angel. Darla said Angel had started following her a few weeks ago and called her Darla, and today he'd shown up where she was having lunch at the Franklin Hotel. And then she started explaining his Vamp face the way a normal human who'd seen it for the first time would, and Kate assured she'd find Angel and make him pay. Darla looked at Kate with tearful eyes and thanked her.
"Few weeks ago, wasn't that when you started sneaking into his bedroom naked?" Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Have to say though, if we didn't know this was an act, we would have bought it too", Xander commented.
"Can't say you're wrong about that", Willow sighed.
Kate then started talking to cops nearby while behind, a hand swopped from above and clamped around Darla's mouth and an arm wrapped around her waist as she was lifted into the tree above.
"And now he's gonna expose her charade", Dawn said.
"Doesn't look that simple to me, Dawnie", Tara told her.
At Hyperion, Gunn was pacing around, adjusting to the idea that the good Vamp he worked for could go bad, and Wesley said it took time, Cordelia adding he was good 99% of the time and had done a lot for them. Gunn said he respected loyalty, but if bad Angel walked through the door, he'd kill him. Then the door burst open as Gunn took out a stake but saw it was Kate with multiple cops so he put it back, and Kate told the cops to check the whole place. Wesley said they didn't have a warrant but Kate didn't care due to the murder of Stephen, and the two tried to argue he wouldn't do this as Kate told them they could go out or go down with the boss, and both folded their arms in front of her.
"They are damn loyal!" Xander said, impressed by that, like the rest.
"After all he's done for them, they aren't gonna give up on him just because he became trippy lately", Buffy said with a smile.
"But Kate is coming here without a warrant", Willow pointed out. "And this is private property."
"I think she cares more about her vendetta than Stephen dying", Tara told her.
"I don't think that is untrue", Giles agreed. "She stormed in here to get back at Angel. I can tell."
Buffy stroked his shoulder as Dawn said. "So, pursuing revenge in the name of justice, huh."
"Cordelia and Wesley have every right to report her for this, and she'd be lucky if she's not demoted to desk duty at that point", Willow told the rest.
"Another person losing sense due to a vendetta, I'm glad it wasn't me", Xander said with a sigh, glad his eyes (or more accurately, eye), had been opened.
Kate noticed Gunn and called him a new player as Cordelia said he was a friend, and when Kate asked his name he introduced himself as Charles Gunn. She wanted ID so he gave his driver's license and asked if he'd any priors before asking a cop called Montgomery to run the sheet, while asking about Darla.
"They'd tell you, but you have lost so much sense you wouldn't understand", Xander shrugged.
"She has lost so much sense she wouldn't understand she has lost it", Willow added.
Angel manhandled Darla down the long stairwell and a good ways into a giant empty water tank, realizing she was what Wolfram and Hart had brought back in the box as a human because they thought he wouldn't kill one, but then said they didn't know him that well. Darla tried to make a run for it but he cut her off, saying this place was a convent before excavation, reminding how much he liked those, while she made the sign of a cross, but he said they were too old to play games and he needed to see the real her. He morphed into Vamp face and charged her, pushing her into the pillar as he ripped off her jacket, baring her neck, and told her to scream all she wanted. He nuzzled and scratched her neck with his teeth as she started smiling and breathing her, saying she wouldn't scream, turning her face against his neck as he pulled back and kissed, her responding. They broke apart as Darla smiled at him. "There's my boy." She put a hand around his neck and they kissed harder.
Buffy was too shocked and disgusted to comment. They were…kissing? Sure he was in Vamp face and she was manipulating him, but it didn't reduce her disgust.
"She has him wrapped around her finger", Dawn muttered, disturbed, like the rest of them, by Angel's behavior as well as how easy it really was for Darla to awaken his violent instincts.
"Guess we can say you narrowly survived", Willow reminded Buffy.
"Yeah", Buffy nodded with a sigh, knowing Angel could have chosen to kill her for Darla instead as well, but he had chosen right back then. Now Darla was manipulating him even worse.
At the hotel, Kate returned with the rap sheet, noting Gunn had done a lot of crimes, but Cordelia defended him, saying he helped people so this stuff would have been from a long time ago. Kate said some was when he was a minor, and some from the last 2 weeks, surprising Cordelia, and Kate told him hanging out with these 2 and Angel wasn't good for the resume. Cordelia brought the talk back to Angel as Kate said Angel had lost it, stalking the woman because he thought she was Darla, knocked down her door and killed her husband, so he hadn't changed. Gunn said. No he hasn't, he's still a vampire." Cordelia said. "Gunn - not helping." Gunn then asked. "So, how'd he get in the house? She invite him in?"
Everyone's eyes widened, realizing the intensity of the situation had made them forget that little detail.
"He has her now", Dawn said with a smile.
"Wonder how she will try to come back from that one now", Tara agreed.
"Like Xander says, she has lost sense, she will try to come back from it somehow", Giles told her.
"Is it just me or are you agreeing with me?" Xander asked Giles, and all chuckled.
"We can say you have grown more intelligent", Giles said with a shrug as Xander chuckled.
"Willow, go and check Hell, it must have frozen over", Xander told her as all laughed, the mood lifted a little.
Cordelia said the only way Angel could have gone in uninvited was if the real owners were dead, so the woman was a faker. Kate accused them of grasping at straws but Wesley showed her a daguerreotype of Darla from over 100 years ago, asking if she looked like DeEtta, and the picture was of Darla in period clothing.
"Well, she did try to come back from that", Willow said.
"By grasping at straws herself, while accusing them of it", Buffy shook her head. "The irony."
"Now, will she come back from this?" Dawn asked.
Angel and Darla were still kissing before he pulled back and walked off, having had enough, but Darla was excited, saying he had ways to go as she pushed him into a pillar, nuzzling close, while he grabbed her arm and held her away, Darla liking being hurt. He flung her away, took a deep breath, turned human, and confronted her, asking what the play was, and Darla said she was just having some fun due to having been out of commission, but Angel knew they hadn't brought her back for fun. The plan was to screw him so badly he went evil again. Darla said it was trite but they were human, and Angel told her to embrace the mediocrity since she was a human too now. Darla walked to him with a smile, pressing against him as she said she was still herself, and remembered what they'd done and could do.
"She is just delusional and crazy", Buffy shook her head.
"Maybe it's because she has a soul now", Willow pointed out to her and now Buffy's jaw dropped, that hitting her.
"Then why is she….." Buffy trailed off.
"Just because Angel and Spike moped doesn't mean every Vampire will have the same reaction", Tara pointed out to her.
"So this all….." Buffy trailed off. "She's doing this to distract herself from her pain?"
"That's what it looks like to me", Willow told her.
"Huh, never thought about it that way", Xander muttered.
"You people still have a lot to learn", Willow told them.
Angel smiled at Darla and ran a hand though her hair. "Yeah. But the bitch is", he got serious and pushed her away with one finger, "you have a soul now." Darla backed up a few steps, smile gone. "Pretty soon those memories are gonna start eating away at you", Angel walked past her. "No matter how hard you try - you won't be able to escape the truth of what you were. Believe me, I know." Darla walked up to him and wrapped herself around him. "But you can escape. You can escape it all. Remember what it was like to get lost, huh? Every thought a million miles away, every part of you being alive! All you have to do is let me give you one little moment of happiness." Angel said. "You took me places, showed me things, huh? You blew the top off my head. But you never made me happy." Darla backed away from him. "But that - that cheerleader did? We were together 150 years! We shared everything. You're saying - never?" Angel told her. "You couldn't understand." Darla denied. "I understand alright." She walked away from him. "Guy gets taste of something fresh and he thinks he's touching god."
"It wasn't healthy, but it was still better than what he had with you", Buffy said to Darla. "You two were just soulless beings at the time."
"Darla is in denial over that right now, she never thought her boy would reject her the way he is now", Tara pointed out, seeing the signs.
Angel started. "It wasn't about..." Darla snapped. "Oh, you bet your ass it was! There was a time, in the early years, when you would have said I was the definition of bliss! - Buffy wasn't happiness. - She was just new!" Angel started to laugh. "You know - you are getting awfully bent over this, Darla", he slowly walked towards her. "I couldn't feel that with you, because I didn't have a soul. - But then I got a second chance - just like you have." Darla sneered. "What a poster child for soulfulness you are." She walked up and pressed herself against him. "This is no life Angel! Before you got neutered you weren't just any vampire, you were a legend! Nobody could keep up with you - not even me. You don't learn that kind of darkness. It's innate. It was in you before we ever met. - You said you can smell me? Well, I can smell you, too. My boy is still in there and he wants out!" Angel stood immobile, not looking at her.
"Just because it's always inside doesn't mean one can't fight it", Willow said, once more speaking from experience. "And you will see it soon."
At Hyperion, Angel wasn't found as Kate told them to leave some if he showed, and said she'd mention Cordelia's, Wesley's and Gunn's cooperation in the case, to which Cordelia said they'd solved the case, they had to find out who'd killed the real owners of the house and would find the killer. Kate instead said that while they were fighting these battles, innocents were getting killed, like Stephen and the real owners. Wesley told her Angel was trying to do what was right, while Kate sarcastically said she kept forgetting he was good, asking why he'd kidnapped the woman again, and walked out on not getting a response.
"Innocents like your father, right?" Xander asked Kate with a slight sneer.
"She is talking about innocents while really wanting revenge for her dad, who found himself in this mess on his own", Dawn reminded them all.
"And didn't they just show her Darla's face in the book?" Buffy asked.
"She is either in denial or just too obnoxious", Giles shrugged sadly.
Angel's car, top down was parked in front of the little building housing the head of the stairs down into the water tank. The sun was shining. Inside the sun was shining down through the open door onto the stairs leading down. Angel and Darla were standing in the shadows between the pillars, facing in different directions. Both looed close to exhausted. Angel said. "You're gonna feel it, you know. - What you did - that man you got killed." Darla scoffed. "Please! He was an actor." Angel walked closer to her. "I'm serious." "Yeah, like a heart attack, Darla turned to look at him, "and just about as much fun." Angel threatened. "Darla, you hurt anyone else and I'll kill you." Darla asked. "Will you? Isn't that against your cub-scout code?" Angel said. "I'll make an exception." Darla stepped close to him with a smile. "You're gonna miss those dreams, honey. You should have heard those things you said in your sleep. Nasty things, Angel. Things like..." Angel's hand shot out and he grabbed her by the throat. "Stop!" Darla pulled out a cross and pressed it against his chest. "No, you stop!" The cross burnt into Angel's chest, but he refused to budge. Darla asked. "See? No matter how good a boy you are - God doesn't want you!" Angel let go of her and threw himself back away from her cross. They looked at each other breathing hard. Darla said. "But I still do." After a moment she dropped the cross and hurried into the sun and up the stairs. Angel made no move to stop her. Darla turned around on the stairs. "What? No good-by kiss?" She slowly climbed up the remaining steps, safe in the sunlight. Angel watched her leave.
"So while Angel is proven right that she's back, he can't do a thing to stop her or Wolfram and Hart", Tara summed up sadly.
"And he's still a suspect for murder", Buffy sighed.
"They played him real well, got his darker side to show", Willow muttered.
"Don't let her get to you, Angel. Just because the cross burnt you doesn't mean you're bad", Dawn assured Angel.
At the Hyperion, Angel was in his room when there was a knock. Cordelia and Wesley were there, so he got up and opened it after a beat. Cordelia had her hands behind her back and Wesley had his hands in his pockets, Cordelia inquiring about his condition as Angel assured he hadn't gone bad, and she said she wasn't worried about it, shoving something into Wesley's hands, and it was the tranquilizer gun, Cordelia saying he always assumed the worst. Angel asked if there was anything else but there wasn't, so he started closing the door when Wesley told him be careful. "Well, it's just -with Darla back, in league with Wolfram and Hart there are a lot of forces arrayed against you. - There's going to be trouble." Angel laughed. "Yeah. There's gonna be a lot of trouble - and I say bring it on." The screen went black.
Buffy was reminded of her own speech after her first fight with the Turok-Han, only in her case she was trying to inspire hope, while here Angel was in denial and clearly shaken by what Darla and Wolfram and Hart were putting him through.
"Are you sure you can take it?" Tara asked Angel.
"I don't think he is, but he will still take it on", Buffy told her.
"This was so, so intense to watch", Dawn said, the scene with Drusilla still fresh in her mind and terrifying her, as Tara wrapped an arm around her little girl.
"You sure you wanna watch one more?" Xander asked.
"I don't think it will be as intense as this one", Giles said.
"Don't jinx it", Willow told him.
"One can only hope, though it looks to me like its gonna get worse before it gets any better", Buffy sighed as she changed the recording.
This episode was so amazing, with Angel and Darla finally coming face to face, and I actually do enjoy their relationship, because while toxic it is also a complex and epic love story spanning centuries and continents, and it is full of darkness as well as some light, and there is a deep psychological bond there. As crazy as it sounds, outside of Cordelia, Darla is my favorite pairing for Angel, followed by Nina, and then Gwen Raiden, and Buffy at last.
I love both Buffy and Angel, but not as a couple, which you all know obviously. For Buffy too, my favorite pairing for her is ensouled Spike, and then Faith, and then Angel at the bottom (Riley who?).
Anyway, next episode is gonna be fun due to Wesley's little disguise charade.
Hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!