At the house where the party is, Ariella and Fadila play pool. Amanda talks to a harmless-looking freshman. Molly and Rose fend off advances from inebriated upperclassmen. They don't want to waste their time with obnoxious guys who don't bite. Willow and Kennedy are sitting on a couch, talking. Rona and Madari head downstairs with Faith to check out the tap room and make sure they're aren't any bloodsuckers in the basement. Izora and Chao-Ahn walk around, trying to spot anything suspicious in the crowded place. Meanwhile, Giles was having trouble getting in the door. The vampires might not need an invite to enter. But he does.
DOORMAN: I can't let you in without a pass. [Three young men walk by him]
GILES: Nonsense. Those people didn't have passes.
DOORMAN: They had school id's.
GILES: They didn't show you anything. And I happen to know you've let people in without either. Because they came here with me.
DOORMAN: Sorry pops.
GILES: Look. If I came here alone, your position would be perfectly understandable and acceptable. But I'm here with many other people, and to separate them from me is not only capricious, but dangerous.
DOORMAN: What are you, those girls' chaperone?
GILES: Well, no. They're perfectly capable of fending off your clumsy attempts to ply them with liquor and take advantage of them.
DOORMAN: If that's what you think we're like, why did you even bring them here?
GILES: A valid question, but entirely irrelevant to the matter at hand. I'll put it to you this way: Let me walk through that door, and you won't suffer the humiliation of being publicly thrashed by a man twice your age.
DOORMAN: [laughs] Are you threatening me, old man?
GILES: No. Just giving you fair warning.
After Faith came back upstairs, she looked outside and noticed Giles was having problems entering. She walks out the door, grabs his arm and looks at the doorman.
FAITH: It's okay. He's with me.
Faith pulls Giles into the hallway. The doorman cringes and shakes his head.
DOORMAN: A hottie like that, dating her professor. Damn shame.
GILES: Faith, thank you, but I don't think this was a very good idea.
FAITH: What's the matter? Girls seem to be doing fine.
GILES: Not them. Me. You and Willow can look after them. I'll come by to pick you up round midnight.
FAITH: Oh. I get it. You wanna fit in some time with your lady friend. Can't say I blame ya. Sounds a lot more fun than playing chaperone.
GILES: I was planning on heading home to continue my research.
FAITH: Midnight's like 90 minutes from now. Make it one a.m. That way you can take your time, make it worth her while.
GILES: For the last time, I am going home.
FAITH: Twelve thirty. The parties really don't get going 'till midnight. No use leaving before the vamps show.
GILES: Very well. Half past midnight.
FAITH: Good luck with your "research."
Faith winks. Giles heads out. Faith goes back downstairs. On the first floor, Izora watches a tall, thin man. He doesn't talk to anyone. What's more, unlike virtually all the other young men at the party, he doesn't have a beer in his hand. Add to that his pale complexion and cold, distant stare, and Zora thinks she has a winner. The man walks up the stairs to the second floor. Zora follows. She takes off her prayer bead necklace and wraps it around her right hand. He continues up, then walks down the third floor hallway, listening for noise. He passes all the empty rooms and stops in front of a door at the end of the hallway. He goes fangy and kicks open the locked door. The young man and woman on the bed turn to see the vampire. The woman shrieks. The vampire leaps on the bed, pushes the man off the bed and pins the woman down. She screams for help. Zora runs in and places her right hand on the back of the vampire's neck. Smoke rises up from his flesh. The vampire growls, gets off the woman, turns around and tries to hit Zora with the back of his right hand. She ducks and hits him in the left cheek with a right hook, leaving behind a red, blistering wound. The vampire puts his left hand to the painful injury. Zora quickly hits him with a right jab to the mouth. He screams in agony and charges her. Zora rushes backwards, grabs his arms, and pushes the disoriented vampire to her left. He slams into the student's dresser and turns around. Zora stakes him with her left hand, then turns to her right to look at people she just saved. The girl sits in her bed, shaking and terrified, holding the sheet up to cover herself. The boy stands to her left. He's managed to pull his boxers up, but his pants are still around his ankles. Naturally, neither of them can make sense of the strange-looking disappearing attacker. All they know is there's a girl they don't know in the room whom they certainly did not invite in.
GIRL: Get out!
GUY: Yeah. Get lost, weirdo.
Zora is struck by the complete and utter lack of gratitude.
IZORA: You're welcome.
She walks out and heads back downstairs, with a new appreciation of what Buffy must go through while protecting a clueless and occasionally hostile public.
Giles sits next to Stella on her couch. She's watching the local news.
GILES: I hope I'm not imposing, coming over here, unannounced, at such a late hour.
ESTELLA: No. I'm glad you imposed. I would've dropped by, unannounced, at your place, but something tells me we'd get lost in the throng.
GILES: Yes. This is certainly quieter. And more spacious. I like what you've done here. My old place had a courtyard garden much like yours. Except it was in front, and somewhat smaller.
ESTELLA: Where was that?
GILES: On Hallston Street. Near the intersection with Andrews.
ESTELLA: One of those white stucco numbers. Did yours have a fountain?
GILES: Yes it did. Didn't your brother tell you about it?
ESTELLA: Maybe. It's strange how we never met before now.
GILES: Vincent never mentioned you. I didn't know you even existed.
ESTELLA: You never watched the news?
GILES: No. And I only read the paper to spot suspicious deaths.
ESTELLA: I guess we were both caught up in our work.
GILES: So what changed?
ESTELLA: I became caught up in your work.
GILES: The First has come after you?
ESTELLA: No. I wouldn't know anything about that. But my family's always had this story about how Sunnydale would be the site of some final struggle, and we had to be here for it. That was the convenient excuse for why none of us ever managed to get out of this town. Then, last year, I had this dream where a bolt of lightning struck right where the high school is. The building exploded. The ground began to crumble and fracture, and the whole town looked like it was perched precariously on top of a giant volcano. The people were gone. But I could hear all these screams and cries.
GILES: You had a dream about the Hellmouth.
ESTELLA: Which is only natural. I've lived on it for forty years. But the truly frightening part happened once I woke up. I felt this searing, burning pain in my belly. Like someone was pouring acid on my skin. And then I saw this.
She pulls up her shirt and shows Giles her stomach. Radiating out from her navel are twelve red lines, each about two inches long.
GILES: My word. [Giles tentatively reaches out to touch one of the rays]
ESTELLA: Don't. It still hurts when it's touched.
GILES: I'm sorry. [looks carefully at the symbol] This is most unexpected. I've never heard of the First doing anything like this, especially to someone unaffiliated with the Council, or Slayers, or any of their usual targets. Simply baffling. Do you have any idea why you were chosen to be, er, marked?
ESTELLA: No. Except that, you know, it somehow always seems to be the women who get picked.
Faith, Willow and Kennedy stand in the pool room of another house, looking out onto the dance floor, where six of the Potentials are. Izora and Molly are downstairs playing darts, and Amanda and a freshmen guy are playing a sophomore guy and girl in eight-ball.
FAITH: When did that lair become the Women's Center?
WILLOW: Last year. So who lived there when you were around?
FAITH: Guy in a white hat with a pot belly. Guess his flunkies were out when I dusted him.
KENNEDY: You think after a while a college would notice a big empty building that keeps getting filled with the corpses of its students.
WILLOW: Maybe they finally did. Or, more probably, they finally needed the extra office space.
FAITH: It's been a slow night. Six clubs. No vamps.
KENNEDY: Zora got one.
FAITH: That's right. Where is she?
WILLOW: Downstairs at the dart board. She's won like three games in a row.
FAITH: Good for her. They play darts in Morocco?
KENNEDY: No. Guess she's got good aim, no matter what she's shooting.
FAITH: Wesley would like her. He's got this whole Dirty Harry gun nut thing going on.
WILLOW: [laughs] Wesley's trying to be Dirty Harry? "You feeling lucky, punk?" [laughs some more] I can't even picture that. No. I can. That's why I'm laughing.
FAITH: It works for him. Told ya the guy's changed.
WILLOW: No one can change that much. Especially not Wesley.
FAITH: Look who's talking. Four years ago a boarding school brat like Kennedy wouldn't have given a shy dweeb like you the time of day. Hell, you wouldn't have known what to do even if she did.
KENNEDY: Please. Willow was already plenty hot back in the day. I would've noticed her in a heartbeat.
WILLOW: And I was a geek, not a dweeb.
FAITH: Point is, people change. Places change. Time was I could pick off a vampire or two at every party on this street. And nothing's even risen in this town since I got here.
KENNEDY: They're running scared. Wouldn't you be scared if all of us were on the hunt? Oh my god. Look at her.
FAITH: Not bad. Don't think she plays for your side, though. [looks at the Potentials on the dance floor] Uh oh. That guy's getting too close to Ella. This could get ugly. [The guy paws Ella and starts grinding against her. She pushes him away. He slams into the wall and falls down.] I better go take care of this. [Faith rushes out onto the dance floor]
Just off the dance floor, near the keg, a tall blonde woman hits on a dorky freshman, smiling and laughing and caressing his shoulder.
KENNEDY: She does not belong with that guy. Who is she trying to kid?
WILLOW: You think she's one of us?
KENNEDY: No! I think she's a vampire. The only thing a woman like that would want a guy like that for is, well -
WILLOW: Dinner?
KENNEDY: Uh-huh.
WILLOW: Should I go tell Faith.
KENNEDY: I think we can handle this one ourselves.
WILLOW: We? I wasn't planning on busting out the spells tonight.
KENNEDY: You won't have to. Just back me up.
The woman puts her arm around the guy's waist and they walk out the back door, into an alley. Kennedy and Willow follow. She has him against a chain link fence, and she runs her fingers down his chest. He smiles.
KENNEDY: Can we play, too?
The vampire turns to her right and sees two young women walking towards her.
VAMPIRE: You'll get your turn. [she naturally assumes Kennedy and Willow will be her next victims]
KENNEDY: I was thinking, before you dig into him, you and me could go at it while he watched. I bet the boy would like that. [looks at him and smiles. He smiles back, confused but titillated]
VAMPIRE: Don't see the harm in that. Long as he doesn't run away. [slams the guy's back into the chain-link fence] You better not. [the frightened but still turned-on guy shakes his head. He wonders why she would think that he would leave.]
KENNEDY: Here we go.
Kennedy hits the vampire in the face with a straight right kick. She goes bumpy. The young man gasps. The vampire throws a right hook kick. Kennedy ducks and punches her in the stomach with a left uppercut. The vampire blocks her right hook and throws Kennedy back ten feet. She tumbles to the ground. When the vampires closes with Kennedy, Willow comes at her from behind and tries to stake her. The vampire spins around, knocks the stake out of her hand with a left roundhouse kick, then puts her left hand around Willow's neck.
KENNEDY: Willow, no!
Kennedy leaps to her feet, concerned about her girlfriend's attempt to play hero. The boy tries to run away. The vampire knocks him on his back with a right kick to the chest. She hurls Willow into the fence. As she prepares to throw a right hook, Kennedy comes at her from behind, a stake in her left hand. Instead of throwing the punch, the vampire swings her right arm backwards, trying to hit Kennedy in the face. Kennedy ducks under the punch, gets between Willow and the vampire, then stakes her with a backhand stab. The vampire turns to dust. The guy shrieks and stares at Willow and Kennedy.
WILLOW: I'd run home if I were you.
He gets to his feet, looks at Willow and Kennedy and the pile of dust twice more, then runs off.
KENNEDY: Are you okay?
WILLOW: Oh please. This was nothing. [they walk back towards the house]
KENNEDY: Good thing I had your back.
WILLOW: You think you saved me?
KENNEDY: So you weren't about to get pounded and bitten?
WILLOW: Of course not. In fact, I was about to stake her.
KENNEDY: Your stake was on the ground.
WILLOW: Yes. But then there's that trick I can do.
KENNEDY: You shouldn't be ashamed.
WILLOW: I'm not.
KENNEDY: Everyone needs saving sometime.
WILLOW: Yes. But that wasn't one of my times. The stake. The one on the ground, right behind her. I was planning on floating it and driving it through her heart.
KENNEDY: Sorry. I forgot how good you were at making the timber rise.
WILLOW: What's that supposed to mean? [Kennedy hugs Willow as they walk towards the back stairs of the house]
KENNEDY: Nothing, sweetie. Didn't anyone ever tell you that sometimes a stake is just a stake?
It's five pm on Friday afternoon. The construction workers are taking down their scaffolding and packing up their equipment. On Wednesday and Thursday the new columns were poured. On Friday the floors on the second-level balcony were finished. Xander, who as a carpenter wasn't directly involved in these tasks, repaired the busted floors and walls throughout the hotel, especially in the sub-basement, where most of the fighting with Angelus and his gang took place. Xander has just distributed the last $3,000 of the bill to his workers. He's talking with Gunn, Fred and Angel, who for one is glad to be rid of Xander.
XANDER: They really like these cash-only, under-the-table, tax-free jobs.
ANGEL: You make it sound like we're doing something illegal.
FRED: Why would anyone draw that conclusion? Just because we paid you twenty grand in cash that we can't explain how we got our hands on?
ANGEL: I do things by-the-book around here.
XANDER: As by-the-book as a 200 year-old dead guy-slash-occasional serial killer can. Legally, you don't even exist. You probably don't even pay taxes.
FRED: You don't?
GUNN: We have to. This is why we need equal shares. Even with that, we still get less take home.
ANGEL: They've never sent me a form. What was I supposed to do? Complain?
XANDER: So are you satisfied with out work?
Angel walks over to one of the columns and touches it.
ANGEL: Not the same. But close enough.
XANDER: Remember, they're reinforced. So's the balcony. And I put a few more lateral supports in the staircases. That way the place should hold up better next time you have one of your rumbles.
With the workers walking out and not looking in the direction of Angel and his friends, Lorne comes upstairs to talk.
LORNE: The ballroom is spectacular! Even better than before.
XANDER: So you like what I did with the windows looking down from the basement?
LORNE: It's wonderful. Before they were kind of gloomy and gothic. Now they're playful and Palladian. It goes much better with the space.
XANDER: I thought it would. Now, as for the upstairs rooms, how many mini-disasters have you had? I was thinking earthquake, but that only fits for a small portion of the damage.
ANGEL: Three years. Lots of evil fighting. Things happen. Plus, the place was run down when we moved in, and I'm sure there were whole wings we never got the chance to refurbish.
XANDER: This place does have more rooms than you could ever use. Maybe Anya's right when she says you should start knocking down walls, making grander spaces. This place could certainly use a training room.
GUNN: Now this I don't get. If we're out there fighting for our lives every day, why do we need to train? How would we even have time?
Wesley comes down the stairs.
WES: Not bad. Your men did a, a very professional job.
XANDER: They're professionals. Go figure.
WES: Though, I have to admit, it is odd to see you in a position of authority, as a leader of men.
XANDER: I'd probably feel the same way if I ever saw you in charge. So this stubble thing must be your new look. At first I thought you just forgot to shave. Now I see that it's the exact opposite – you're remembering NOT to shave.
And here Angel thought he'd be the one who would want to slug Xander. Before Wesley can respond and escalate the friction, Connor pops in. Literally. He leaps down from the balcony and lands on his feet among the group. Xander jumps and looks startled.
CONNOR: Didn't mean to scare you.
XANDER: You didn't scare me. You only, barely, startled me. [Angel and Wesley and Connor – boy, was Xander ready to leave.]
CONNOR: How's Dawn doing? [now "doing" and "Dawn" were two words Xander did not like to hear Connor speak in the same sentence]
XANDER: She's fine. You thought she wouldn't be fine, just because you're not around? [Angel's in the odd position of being in the same boat with Xander on this one. Both of them are made uncomfortable by the Dawn-Connor relationship.]
CONNOR: I just meant, is she healthy? She's not sick, or in pain, right?
XANDER: [mystified] No. Why would she be in pain?
ANGEL: No reason.
WES: No reason at all.
LORNE: The boy just worries. You know how young lovers can be.
XANDER: [more mystified] Okay. I think I'll be going now. And, Buffy and Faith are fine. In case you were wondering. [if they were nervous about Dawn, surely they worried about the two Slayers who were on the front lines, both of whom Angel cared about deeply, though in very different ways.]
ANGEL: Thanks. That's good to know. You can tell Buffy that we're also fine.
XANDER: So everyone's fine all around. Good then.
FRED: Thanks for fixin' everything up.
GUNN: Yeah. We'll be sure to call you next time someone trashes the place.
XANDER: I'll keep that in mind. I'm sure my guys would be happy to work here again, as long as you keep supplying those mysterious bags of don't-ask-don't-tell cash.
Xander walks out the front door. Cordelia, who was in the office, comes out. She didn't like being around Sunnydale people. It reminded her of how much she'd changed. Especially of how evil she became. In the courtyard, Xander passes a short, slender black man in a maroon four-button suit with a black shirt and tie. He walks through the front door and down into the lobby.
DIZZY: Is everyone cleared out? I assume you want to keep this private.
ANGEL: Can I help you?
DIZZY: No. Of course not. I assume Lorne is horny.
LORNE: I'm what!?
DIZZY: On your forehead. I'm sure you've noticed them. I'm Dizz. They told me a demon named Lorne summoned me to this address.
FRED: Lorne, have we been tinkering with the magic again?
DIZZY: You can't summon me with magic, doll.
LORNE: Oh! You must be from The Powers.
CORDY: He's with The Powers That Be? [walks up to Dizzy and looks down at him as if she's going to rip his face off] You have a LOT of explaining to do. And you better start doing it quick. Because after what you put me through, I'm not gonna be very patient. [Dizzy steps back]
DIZZY: One second. [unbuttons his jacket. Pulls a PDA out of his jacket pocket and presses the screen a few times with his stylus.] Cordelia Chase, I presume?
CORDY: You don't recognize me? I was a freakin' Higher Being!
DIZZY: It's a big universe, honey. The right hand doesn't know what the left's doing. What I mean is, I had nothing to do with what happened to you. [looks at his screen] Damn. God damn. They really put you through the ringer. Oh. Now that's just wrong. [looks at Cordy] This was not even close to my department. I'll be honest. Things are more chaotic up there than you could ever imagine. Hell, if you knew how screwed-up The System really is, you wouldn't be able to sleep at night. [chuckles] This fellow. Your contact. I've never heard of him. They sent me because I know Angel's contact. Whistler and I me, we're old friends.
ANGEL: [smiles] Really! You know him. How is he?
DIZZY: As good as a cat can be while doing a hundred years of desk duty. That's his punishment for losing your soul. But he knows he's lucky. He coulda gotten your punishment.
ANGEL: Whistler suffered for my mistake?
DIZZY: What are you talking about? You suffered for his mistake. He knew what would happen. You don't lead a horse to water and then forget to tell him all hell's gonna break loose if he takes a little sip. You found out the hard way. But that's old news. I'm here for Summers, Dawn. Which one of you is her?
FRED: If you're really a Higher Being, why do you need one of those things. Shouldn't you be omniscient?
DIZZY: Higher Beings don't come to earth. I'm a Guardian Angel. As opposed to my boy Whistler, who was a Guardian of Angel. [chuckles] Tough crowd. I see that Summers is not supposed to be here. You. kid. You must be her liaison.
ANGEL: My son's private life is none of your business.
DIZZY: It's a technical term, pops. You people need to chill. Got any single malt?
LORNE: Yes. I do.
DIZZY: On the rocks. Pronto. We ain't got any of the good stuff back home. Back to business. Connor, I'm here to tell you that the visions are where they belong.
WES: Excuse me?
CORDY: Connor has super-powers. Dawn doesn't. In what bizarro world is she meant to have the visions?
DIZZY: Connor cannot receive the visions precisely because he already possesses a demonic power.
CONNOR: I'm not a demon.
DIZZY: I didn't say you were. Touchy, touchy. Do you or do you not have super-human strength, quickness, resilience, and so on?
CONNOR: Yeah. I guess.
DIZZY: That's quite a gift for understatement you got there. From what I'm told, the visions were dormant in Angel. He tried to transfer them to Connor. When visions are transferred to a living person who cannot have them, they migrate to the nearest person who can.
ANGEL: Nearest? How was Dawn the nearest? She's ninety miles away.
DIZZY: Ain't got nothing to do with geography.
CORDY: Love. It's love. That's why Doyle could give me the visions.
CONNOR: Dawn got them because I love her?
DIZZY: To transfer remotely, it had to be a lot more than that.
CONNOR: [smiles] Is it because we're soul mates?
Angel nearly heaves. Dizz bursts out laughing.
DIZZY: I'm sorry. It's hilarious, if you take it literally. Souls mating? [more laughter] The imagery alone. [stops laughing] It's an immortal thing. You wouldn't understand. For reasons I don't know and could care less about, the visions sensed that you two were linked in one way or another. You're linked to Angel. She's linked to you. And since the Visions are intended to help Angel, Dawn is the logical one to receive them.
A big smile comes across Connor's face. Angel looks paler than usual. This is a nightmare.
CORDY: Again, why can she receive them? She's just a person. And that's all she is.
DIZZY: I have a very good answer for that. Just one minute. [looks at his PDA. Opens the "Summers, Dawn" file. His eyes practically shoot out of their sockets] Good golly, Miss Dawny. This I sure ain't seen before. I mean, I have, but never on this scale. Got it. Here were are. She's a portal.
CONNOR: Huh?
ANGEL: She was. But not anymore.
DIZZY: Can we settle down and let the expert explain? And where's my drink? [Lorne comes back, hands it to him] Thank you. [drinks half the glass in his first sip] Twelve years?
LORNE: Aged fourteen, as a matter of fact.
DIZZY: Thank you. I knew an empath would have the good stuff. After all, it's what fuels you.
GUNN: Booze is your food?
LORNE: No.
DIZZY: But it fuels your powers. Get off the juice, and you can't read no more.
FRED: Lorne, is that true?
LORNE: I dunno. I never tried.
DIZZY: Don't. Once they're gone, you can't get 'em back.
WES: So there's a reason you drink so much.
CORDY: And all this time I thought you had a serious problem.
CONNOR: Can we get back to Dawn being a portal?
DIZZY: Of course. [finishes the glass] Can you freshen this? [hands glass to Lorne] Dawn Summers used to be energy. Then she became matter.
FRED: Wow Connor. Your girlfriend has quantum properties.
DIZZY: But she's always been a portal. The vanquishing of Glory from this dimension did not change Dawn's fundamental nature. The visions are sent from other dimensions directly into a person's brain. Ordinary people cannot handle the trans-dimensional energy stream. Even demons find it painful. That dimensional hop will sting you every time. However, Dawn is potentially connected to all dimensions, making the vision transfer process essentially painless. That's it. That's the scoop. [Lorne hands him his refill] Thank you. To your health.
LORNE: And my powers. [they clink glasses. Lorne drinks his cosmo. Angel's too shocked to say anything. Connor's too happy. Wes, Fred and Gunn are still trying to make sense of what Dizz told them. Cordy's mad.]
CORDY: I don't believe this. I suffer for three years. I nearly die. I get taken from my friends, and when I'm sent back, I get forced to do things, and people, I would never do. And you're telling me this girl won't go through ANY of that, just because she wasn't born like the rest of us? That is SO unfair. Why does that family get all the luck?
DIZZY: I ain't got a clue what you're talking about, but those questions sounded rhetorical to me. [finishes his drink. puts the glass on the counter] Thanks Red-horn Greenpants. So, to sum up, nothing to worry about. The Visions are where they belong. My work's done. I'm outta here.
Dizz disappears.
FRED: If he could do that, why'd he bother to walk in through the door?
ANGEL: I don't believe this.
CORDY: I've had to work – and suffer – to get where I am. Those Summers girls have everything handed to them on a silver platter.
Connor, still grinning ear-to-ear, runs up to his room.
ANGEL: Connor, where are you going? We have to talk about this.
GUNN: I think he wants to tell his girl the good news.
ANGEL: Good news? This is a disaster!
FRED: I'm sure the people in her visions – ya know, the ones you'll save – won't feel that way.
ANGEL: That is not what I meant. I'm glad someone is getting the visions.
WES: You just wish someone different was getting them.
ANGEL: She doesn't even live here.
CORDY: She lives with Buffy.
ANGEL: It needlessly complicates things. What if she can't get in touch with me?
CORDY: Buffy will not be happy with you when she learns her kid sis has become your Vision Girl.
WES: It's not Angel's fault. It's mine. I was the one who found the spell that transferred the visions.
CORDY: And she already hated you to begin with.
WES: Maybe she'll accept this as an ironic lesson about unintended consequence. No. I'm a dead man.
ANGEL: It's my fault. I was an absentee father.
GUNN: Because he sunk you out at sea.
LORNE: You can't blame yourself, Angel food. You did everything you could for that boy, and them some.
ANGEL: No I didn't. I drove him away.
FRED: By then, you were evil.
ANGEL: But you stayed. All of you did. Because you loved me. [Cordy sheepishly raises her hand]
CORDY: Actually, Angel, in case you forgot, I was trying to keep you from ever getting your soul back.
ANGEL: But you still loved me.
CORDY: Deep down. I guess.
ANGEL: Connor left town because he didn't love me. I couldn't make my own son love me.
WES: Granted, there were some severe obstacles placed in your way.
LORNE: Angel buddy, I know how self-flagellation makes it easier for you. But not everything that goes the way you didn't want it to is your fault. And Connor loves you now. He does, right?
ANGEL: Yes. He told me.
GUNN: Can we be sure he means it? [Angel looks angry]
ANGEL: I know my own son.
FRED: Speaking of which, did you notice how happy he was when he heard the news?
ANGEL: And just when he was starting to get over her.
LORNE: So much for you knowing your own son. Let's face it. Kiddo's got a right to be giddy. How many relationships get the magical Seal of Approval?
NEXT CHAPTER: Buffy meets the new Big Bad in Sunnydale.