[Willow and Fred return to the Hyperion. They want to tell Angel about their locator spell. When they enter, they find the lobby is empty.]
WILLOW: These are some sweet digs. Who'd Angel have to kill to land this pad?
FRED: I didn't wanna ask.
WILLOW: It's like the world's coolest clubhouse. How big is this place?
[They walk into Angel's office. It's empty.]
FRED: If he ain't here, he's probably in his room brooding. I think he'll want to hear your news.
[They go down the hall and open Angel's door. Cordy and Angel are on the bed, naked. Willow gasps. This is a surprise for all sorts of reasons.]
FRED: This is the second time today. I really should learn to knock before entering. [she runs away. She's seen too many naked friends for one day. For one lifetime, actually.]
CORDY: What are you doing in here?
WILLOW: I should ask you the same question.
ANGEL: [looking stunned and sheepish.] Hi Willow.
WILLOW: Hi Angel. Are all souls present and accounted for?
ANGEL: I didn't. I mean, whoa. That never crossed my mind. We were so caught up in the moment.
CORDY: I forgot about that completely. I was just - wait, why are there three people in this conversation? [she realizes she not completely covered.] Willow! do you mind? Turn your prying eyes away from my body.
WILLOW: Please Cordelia. Don't flatter yourself. Gotta admit, never thought the high school reunion would go like this. Course, you fathering a child might mean the Curse doesn't apply. I coulda muffed the spell. Though I don't see how I could have screwed it up so much that I made you fertile.
ANGEL: You mean for the last four years I haven't been cursed?
WILLOW: I didn't say that. I don't know. There's really only one way to find out. And in my opinion that's not an experiment worth running. Cause if we're wrong, and the Curse still holds - well, you've seen that movie before.
ANGEL: I need a cold shower.
WILLOW: I thought vampires didn't have body heat? Or do only parts of you get hot? Ewww. Don't answer that. Leaving now. And to think I worried that seeing you again would be awkward. [leaves room. closes door.]
FRED: Is he still . . . ?
WILLOW: Imperfectly happy? Apparently.
FRED: I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm sorry I had to see that. Things are beyond insane around here. I mean, how irresponsible could Cordy be?
WILLOW: I'm going to try to erase that image from my mind. I'll just use a forgetting spell. Wait, those tend to go horribly awry. There has to be something to take out just one memory. A spell which doesn't have serious side effects. What am I gonna tell Buffy? "How was Angel?" Naked! "What was he doing?" Cordelia! They could have at least had the common decency to turn the lights off.
FRED: Decency flew this coop a long time ago. [Connor enters] And look who just flew in.
CONNOR: Who's this?
WILLOW: I'm Willow. I knew Cordy back in Sunnydale. Are you Connor?
CONNOR: That's one of my names. But you can call me anything you want. You're hair - I've never seen a girl with hair that color. It's fiery, and dazzling, like the sky back where I grew up. I could tell you about where I grew up. Then we could dust a vampire or two and head back to my place. Whadya say, cutie?
WILLOW: Kiddo, you are so barking up the wrong tree it's not even funny. Actually, it is funny. But only in a very disturbing way.
FRED: [sarcastically] So Connor, how was Lilah?
CONNOR: She didn't suck. Actually, she did. That was the fun part. [Fred looks nauseous. Willow winces.]
WILLOW: So young, so innocent looking, so horribly debauched. You've created a monster. But he is a pretty monster. I'll give him that.
CONNOR: Does that mean you're interested, Willow? [smiles hopefully]
WILLOW: Sorry kid. Not gonna happen. Don't make me have to explain why. Just accept it, move on.
CONNOR: Your loss. [Willow's shocked by the kid's arrogance] One thing I didn't like was when Lilah wanted to tie me up. I told her it's wasn't very fun when Fred did that to me.
WILLOW: Why Winifred! I never thought . . .
FRED: I only did it because he had been a very naughty boy.
WILLOW: Oh I bet he had. Did you enjoy punishing him?
CONNOR: She sure did.
FRED: It wasn't like that! Willow, that's sick! I found out what he did to Angel, and I had to restrain him so he wouldn't hurt anyone else. There sure as heck wasn't anything kinky about it.
CONNOR: Don't tell me you didn't get off on it. It was all a game to you. You came into my room, smiling, bringing me food. You flirted with me, ran you hand seductively along my shoulder, said some things to me about how horrible my life was. Same things Cordy said. Then you took control, stuck me with a cattle prod again and again until Gunn made you stop.
WILLOW: Is he telling the truth?
FRED: Well, uh, technically, for the most part, yes. But he's totally distorting things and taking stuff completely out of context. It was nothing like that. I'm not the one here who likes hurting hurting people.
CONNOR: Maybe you don't like hurting people. But you sure liked hurting me.
WILLOW: Changing the subject to something slightly less revolting, when did you see Lilah? Cause she stopped by Fred's apartment a little while back.
CONNOR: Didn't know you two were friends.
WILLOW: She wasn't there to see Fred. She was there to see me. But I rejected her evil come-ons. I'm not on that team. The evil team, I mean.
CONNOR: So that's where she went. We did some stuff, she said she had something to do, then she came back and we did some more stuff.
FRED: Yuck. That means, when we saw her, she had just finished . . .
WILLOW: And was about to start . . . We were the intermission. Yikes. That is disgusting.
[Angel comes out of shower. Gets dressed. Cordy's already dressed.]
ANGEL: When did our lives become this crazy, demented ride we had absolutely no control over?
CORDY: Is that your way of saying you regret what we just did? I mean, what we almost did?
ANGEL: No. Even considering the risks. There's more than one way to lose your soul. I've become filled with so much darkness. Losing Connor. That summer of sub-aquatic sensory deprivation. Losing you. Getting you back. Losing you again. And then, seeing you - and him . . . The pain, the frustration - it eats away at my soul. Fills me with horrible thoughts about hurting people, about giving up, no longer trying. I thought being with you would make some of the darkness go away, make me forget about the things I've seen which haunt me. And it did. But only for a little while.
CORDY: I'm so sorry. What I did was really, really, really stupid. Phenomenally stupid. In so many ways.
ANGEL: I know the speech. You only did it cause you thought the world was going to end, it was your last night on earth . . . blah blah blah. But if you thought that was your last night on earth, why didn't you want to spend it with me? [Cordy has no answer for that one. She leaves the room.]
[back in the lobby]
WILLOW: A little friendly advice, Connor. You're doing what is called coming on too strong. It's a turn-off. Drives the girls away.
CONNOR: Like how when I tried to kiss Cordy when she was undressing she turned me down. But then a few nights later when I let her make the first move, it worked. Cause I wasn't making her uncomfortable. And I was, what's that word for being sensitive and easily breakable?
FRED: Fragile?
CONNOR: No. That's not it.
WILLOW: Vulnerable?
CONNOR: Yeah. That's the one. Being vulnerable. That's what works. Am I right?
WILLOW: Yes, actually you are. Although you shouldn't want to be one of those jerks who fakes vulnerability to score with the ladies and then abandons them and leaves them feeling hollow inside.
CONNOR: You mean pretend to be something I'm not? I can't do that. I wouldn't know how. And it would be wrong. Like my father - I mean - like Holtz said to me - "Most of all to thine own self be true."
WILLOW: That would have been back in your old home. What was that place called?
CONNOR: Quor toth.
WILLOW: Right. I knew it sounded familiar. One time, when I was in a really bad place in my life, I went on a mystical bender and made contact with that dimension. Interfaced with its essence, actually. I could tell it was a horrible dimension. And to think that you spent spent your childhood there, in that hard, evil place. I almost want to hug you and comfort you and make you feel better. Except I know that if I did you'd try to cop a feel. But I can see how the little boy lost schtick works for you. [Cordy enters] Is this how it started, Cordy? You wanna make the boy feel better, and before you know it he's feelin' a whole lot better than you initially planned on?
CORDY: I don't make jokes about your personal life. Well, not recently, anyway. I mean, grow up already.
CONNOR: Does growing up mean using people and throwing them away when you're done with them?
CORDY: Excuse me?
CONNOR: I thought we had something special. What we did, it meant something important to me. Willow, Fred - help me out here. Is this the way it always is? Sleep with a girl, and she goes evil? [Willow's jaw drops to the floor. Connor's talking like Buffy.]
CORDY: What the hell are you talking about?
CONNOR: I'm talking about us. About how there isn't an us. About how once upon a time you were nice to me, and cared about me, and wanted to be a part of my life. Then you had me, and the next morning you're all cold and distant. You don't even want to cuddle. Won't even let me touch you. All you want to do is get dressed, leave, and never come back. You can't just make somebody love you and then walk away once you've had your fun. It's not right.
CORDY: I said I was going to give you something special that night, and I did. You know I never said I wanted a relationship. You knew what was going on. And what's with the sensitive guy act? What happened to all that swagger you had this morning?
WILLOW: And all that swagger you had about two minutes ago?
CONNOR: What am I supposed to do? Feel sorry for myself because the woman I loved, the woman I would give my life to protect, had sex with me out of pity, because she felt sorry for me? I adapt. That's what I do. That's what I've always done.
FRED: Never knew you had feelings. Or are these fake feelings, like when you pretended you were upset that we couldn't find your dad?
CONNOR: Whatever. Like any of you could ever understand me.
WILLOW: Wow. Spoken like a normal teenager.
CONNOR: I never understood that word. What exactly is normal, anyway?
[XANDER enters through the front door, on the opposite side of the lobby from where Connor, Willow and Cordy are.]
WILLOW: Oh look. My ride's here. [Cordy scowls at the sight of Xander. ANGEL hears someone enter and comes out to the lobby to see who it is. He sees Xander, and looks disappointed and annoyed.
ANGEL: What the hell are you doing here?
XANDER: Is this the way to treat everyone who comes through that door? Cause with an attitude like that you're probably not landing many clients. Do you validate parking?
ANGEL: No. [looks as if he's just been asked the most senseless question of his entire life.]
XANDER: Well then, I'll go find a spot on the street with a meter. [leaves. Even Willow thinks that was an odd entrance.]