At the end of the school day, Dawn comes up to Kit's locker. "Okay if I come over to your house today?," Dawn asks.
"Sure. Okay," a somewhat surprised Kit responds.
"When's your dad coming home?"
"I dunno. Five. Five-thirty. Why?"
"Something's wrong with Willow."
"Is she evil again?"
"No. But something that is evil hurt her. With magic. And we can't figure out what."
"Fine. I guess he's worth a shot."
"I got detention. So how bout you swing by here at three-forty five?"
"Hold on. What did you do to get detention?"
"I cut class. Went outside. But only for a few minutes."
"Why?"
"I have my reasons." Elijah walks over.
"What's up?"
"Dawn got detention."
"Good for you. But you should have told us earlier. Then Kit and me coulda broke some rule so we could keep you company."
"Easy for you to say, senior," Kit responds. "You're just running out the clock by now."
"And here I thought I was dating a bad girl." Kit playfully elbows him in the ribs. "Guess we'll see you after you do your time."
"Actually, we're kind of having a girl's thing this afternoon," Kit explains to Eli.
"Okay. See you tonight, Kit?"
"Sure."
"You don't sound so enthusiastic. How come?"
"Eli, you're my guy. You know that. But sometimes you're, well, a little clingy."
"Are you trying to tell me you need your space? That's can't be good."
"Chill. Just cause we're dating doesn't mean we need to spend every minute together. You know what I mean, Dawn?"
"No. Since Connor's too far away to be clingy. But I know that if he were here, he'd want us to be pretty much joined at the hip 24-7."
"Or joined at other parts," Eli jokes. Dawn whacks him in the mouth with the back of her left fist. He grabs his nose. "Ow! That really hurt."
"Don't be such a baby. I barely touched you."
"It's the principle of the thing. You don't hit someone who can't hit back."
"You don't know how to throw a punch?"
"That's not what I meant and you know it. Guys can't hit girls."
"They can't?," Dawn asks. "What world are you living in?"
A demon smacks Cordy with the back of his right hand, knocking her into the pool table. "Okay. If that's the way you want to negotiate. Fine!" Cordy grabs a cue stick, stands up, turns around and shoves it through the demon's heart.
"Cordelia!," Wes yells out in disapproval.
"He hit me!"
"So hit him back. Don't kill him," Gunn advises. "He can't tell us anything if he's dead."
"But his friends can."
"Or, we could kill you," the leader of the four — now three — demons threatens. A demon comes at Fred from behind. She spins round and beheads him with an ax. It doesn't matter than none of them are even close to 100% because of their injuries. After a week of getting pounded by Mal, it's great to fight something that's a little easier to kill. Like jumping around in your sneakers after a few days of wearing lead shoes.
"You were saying?," Lorne taunts. The two remaining demons look at Gunn with his bat and Wesley with his shotgun. If that's how the girls act, they'd hate to test the guys.
"What the hell," the leader says with a sigh. "They're not even our kind."
"Then start talking," Gunn orders. "We don't have all day."
Dawn gets home shortly after dark. "Where have you been?," Giles asks her. "Buffy's been worried sick."
"Right now, aren't I the least of her worries?," Dawn asks back.
"Look Dawn," Anya begins. "We understand your natural adolescent inclination to rebel. But now isn't the best time to go delinquent."
"What are you talking about? And where is everybody?"
Giles explains. "Buffy and Faith the basement, training the girls. Xander's in the garage with Andrew, trying to fix up our vehicles. Willow's upstairs."
"Oooh! That reminds me. I think I have an idea about what hurt her. I wrote it down this morning before I left for school," Dawn fibs. She reaches into her pocket and hands Giles a piece of paper.
"That can't be it," Giles responds.
"Why can't it? It fits perfectly with the symptoms."
"Let me rephrase. Theoretically, this could be it."
Anya looks at the suggestion, scoffs and finishes Rupert's sentiments. "This only works on evil witches."
"Not necessarily." Buffy comes upstairs.
"Where have you been? Detention got out three hours ago."
"You knew about that? Of course you did. Griffin has it in for me. I thought you'd understand. Anyway, I had dinner at Kit's. I didn't want to get in the way around here."
"Would that be why you didn't even bother to call?"
"I thought you'd be busy. All of you. And you don't have to worry about me. I'm not one of the girls the First is trying to kill."
"That doesn't give you the right to misbehave."
"Misbehave? Like you never missed a class."
"That was completely different," Giles jumps in. "She had to train." Dawn's feeling tempted to reveal her secret.
"How can you be sure I didn't also have a good reason?"
"Okay. Try me," Buffy says as she folds her arms and waits for Dawn's lame excuse. Dawn pauses for a few seconds.
"I had to help someone. They were in danger."
"Really. Who?"
"I'm not sure."
"Dawn, don't waste my time."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
"You think I can't make a difference?"
"Don't change the subject."
"I'm not."
"If you wanted to help someone, why didn't you come straight home after school to help us?"
"Now you're changing the subject."
"Dawn. Quit playing games."
"I'd tell you, but you wouldn't believe me."
"I'm getting sick of this. Just go to your room and stop wasting my time." Now Dawn goes for it.
"But maybe you'd believe Angel. Or Wesley. Ask them if I make a difference."
"You're making even less sense than usual," Anya comments. "What does this have to do with Connor?"
"Quite a bit. Never mind."
"You cut class to give him a call?," a somewhat outraged Buffy asks.
"Only because lives were at stake."
"Don't give me that. What has gotten into you? Ever since he showed up — "
"Buffy, I think you need to sit down. I don't know how to say this, but when I do say it, you'll be pretty freaked out."
"You're pregnant?," Anya asks. A tiny part of Buffy and Giles worries that Anya's on the money.
"No. But it does involve something Connor did to me which he didn't mean to." Buffy tries to prepare herself for whatever awful thing Dawn is about to tell her. A few minutes later, she's doing enough screaming to draw all the adults into the kitchen.
"He gave you what!!?," Buffy yells. Xander comes in the back door.
"I heard yelling. Is something wrong?"
"I am going to kill that kid," Buffy vows.
"Could you be more specific?," Xander requests.
"That bastard."
"Buffy, don't call him that," Dawn demands.
"Technically, he is a - ," Anya mentions.
"In both senses of the word," Buffy adds.
"What did Connor do this time?," Xander asks.
"He gave you visions!," Buffy exclaims. "That boy is so selfish."
"I'm saving lives. What's selfish about that?"
"What's selfish is, you're not in LA. Which means you're the last person who should be getting these things. I can't believe he'd do this. No, I can. But I can't believe Angel would let Connor do this to you."
"Dawn has the sight?," Spike asks. Considering the only person he knows who got visions was Drusilla, this is a tad frightening.
"I don't understand," Giles stammers. "Where do they come from?"
"I dunno," Dawn responds. "Some higher power."
"You mean you have what Cordy had?," Willow asks.
"What do you mean what Cordy had?," Buffy inquires. The Dawn-Cordy juxtaposition sickens Buffy as much as the Dawn-Drusilla juxtaposition sickens Spike. Willow tries to explain.
"I don't know the whole story, but Cordelia used to get these visions of people in trouble. They were warnings about the future. She'd tell them to Angel, and he'd go save the person."
"Cordy was a precog?," an astounding Xander asks. The unsettling comparisons continue.
"Kind of. I guess," Willow haltingly answers. "But she'd only get them occasionally. Like once or twice a week."
"That's cheating!," Xander exclaims. "We have to do research. Track down the monsters ourselves. No one sends us an invitation: demon. Nine o'clock. Attacking a nice couple in the alley behind the hardware store. Bring weapons.' Can you imagine how easy our lives would be if we knew things like that in advance?"
"Angel's definitely cutting corners," Spike adds.
"Guys. You're taking this the wrong way," Dawn pleads. "It's a good thing. Last Thursday night, I help save a boy and girl about my age from a vampire attack. Today, it was a nine year-old boy. I'm not sure from what. And Wednesday night, I helped save Angel's life."
"Bloody hell!," Spike yells out. "Can't he save himself? Some hero."
"What do you mean you saved Angel?," Buffy demands to know.
"I had a vision. He was alone and in danger. Thanks to me, his friends got there in time to help him out."
"Bloody pathetic," Spike comments. "Boring old sod can't do anything on his own."
"I'm confused," Willow begins.
"We all are," a still-shellshocked Giles concurs.
"That's not what I mean. How could Connor pass the visions to you? That sort of mystical transfer requires a lot of magical power. It would be tough for me, let alone Connor."
"What about kam-shaking?," Anya suggests.
"Beg your pardon?," Giles asks back.
"Kam-shak. The transfer of mystical powers through sex. That can do the job. Even if neither person knows the first thing about magic." Now Buffy is very red-faced.
"Oh, I am going to kill that boy."
"So it's like the clap?," Spike asks Anya.
"A sexually-transmitted gift. Not a sexually-transmitted disease. Though visions have been known to kill. But I'm sure that won't happen to you, Dawny. It makes complete sense. Cordy passed it on to Connor, and he passed it on to Dawn."
"No. That's not how it happened," Dawn objects. "Cordy gave it Angel."
"Angel did what with Cordelia!!?," Buffy exclaims. As if she wasn't mad enough at him already. Dawn continues.
"Then Angel gave it to Connor. And Connor passed it on to me." Everyone goes quiet for a few seconds.
"Angel gave it to Connor," Buffy repeats. "We're not talking about kam-shaking, are we?"
"I certainly hope not," Giles responds expressing the sentiments of everyone in that room. "With every fiber of my being."
"I'm confused," Xander declares. "Who did Cordy get them from?"
"An Irish half-demon," Willow answers.
Xander cringes. "She did it with a demon!"
"Could you be any more hypocritical?," Anya asks.
Willow tries to sort things out. "Doyle — I think that's what Cordy said his name was — worked for Angel when he first came to LA."
"That little mick was demon?," Spike asks himself.
Willow goes on. "He threw himself on some very powerful mystical device, giving his life to save the world. Or, at least, to save thousands of people."
"I did that," Buffy notes with outrage. "I hate it when people copy me."
"Doyle died a couple months after Cordelia arrived in LA. We were freshmen in college."
"Wouldn't that make you the copycat?," Anya quips.
"Before he did this, Doyle kissed Cordy, and that gave her the visions." Then it comes to Willow. "Angel must have taken the visions when he kissed Cordy."
"Angel kissed Cordy? When did this happen?," Buffy demands to know.
"It was a friendly kiss. Loving, but not at all sexy. She was in a coma! Because I had sucked the evil out of her. The kiss woke her up. Right after I gave Angel his soul back."
"And the first thing he did was kiss Cordelia?," Buffy asks.
"Buffy, calm down. It's not like there was tongue or anything."
"Guess Xander's not the only hypocrite tonight," Anya notes. Buffy's hardly in a position to get jealous, even if there was something to get jealous about.
"But how did Connor get it?," Willow asks.
Dawn explains. "Angel couldn't receive the visions because he was dead. So he did this spell his friends found to transfer the power to Connor. But Connor couldn't get the visions because he already had super powers."
"Then how on earth did they jump to you?," Giles wonders.
"Because Connor loves me. We're soul mates," Dawn tells them with a smile. Buffy and Xander cringe.
"They just traveled ninety miles?," Willow asks.
"Well, yeah," Dawn responds.
"That's impossible," Anya declares.
"It's obviously possible," Spike retorts. "It bloody happened."
"You can't just send something like that over long distances. It's a mystical power, not a phone call."
"Even if the person doing the sending is a witch or a wizard," Willow says, "the power involved would be staggering."
"Guess he really loves her then," Spike impishly concludes. He likes the idea of Dawn and Connor coupling because it puts a wedge between Buffy and Angel.
"A lot," Willow adds. "A scary, frightening lot."
"That's not happy, running though the meadows love," Anya comments. "That's crazy, destructive suicide pact love. Although I'm sure it will work out in your case, Dawny. With a minimum of bloodshed and carnage." Anya and Willow both look blown away and disturbed as they ponder the amount energy needed to make such a transfer possible.
"Wouldn't the receiving of visions cause side effects?," Giles asks.
"For humans, yes," Willow responds. "Cordy got these horrible, debilitating migraines. They were going to kill her until she became part demon."
"Connor's going to turn you into a demon?," Buffy asks with dread.
"No. Of course not. I wouldn't have gotten these visions if I couldn't handle them."
"How?," Willow inquires.
"Something to do with my having been a Key. This immortal demon from The Powers That Be came down and explained it all to Angel and Connor."
"How is it any of their business?," Anya asks.
"They're the ones who send the visions."
"Yeah. Sure. And the sun moves through the sky because it's being pulled by a chariot. Is Angel really that gullible?"
"I haven't a bloody clue what you're talking about, but I'd say yes," Spike responds.
"Cordy told me the same thing," Willow notes. "They're these Higher Powers Angel's worked for since he went to LA. They help him help people."
"No Willow. The Powers that Be have no powers. Demons call them The Greater Fools. They trick poor saps like Angel into thinking they're like demigods or something. But they can't do anything. They're omniscient, but powerless. And if you're staking your life on their beneficence . . . that must be why Angel's always suffering so horribly. It's not his soul. It's his stupid faith in those powerless Powers. I need to give him a call."
"Sorry. Me first," Buffy tells Anya.
"Of course. Go ahead and throw your Slayer-strength bitchy fit." Buffy lets this slide. She has bigger fish to fry. And right now, she has a question for Anya.
"You said these guys lie. Could they be lying about Dawn being able to handle the visions?"
"You think I'm too weak? They don't even hurt me. They hurt that Doyle guy, and he could take them. So I can completely handle them."
Anya answers Buffy's questions. "They don't lie about what is. Or what's happened. That's the one thing they can do right. But they do lie about why things happen. Like how they tricked Angel into thinking they're the ones who send down the visions. You know, I would have thought Lorne could see through them. And Wesley and Fred read all those books. Someone should have figured this out for Angel by now."
"Or he could be a man and find out on his own," Spike suggests. "Wait. He can't. Cuz this is Angel we're talking about."
"You're telling me you don't think they're lying about Dawn?," Buffy asks.
"Probably one of the few things they haven't lied about to Angel. Don't worry, Buffy. If Dawn couldn't handle the visions, she'd get skull-splitting migraines until, one day, the back of her head would explode. So we'd know. Before any exploding, of course."
"How long has this been going on?," Buffy demands to know.
"Only since last Thursday."
"Eight days. More than a week ago. And you never thought of telling me?"
"I didn't know what it was. Not until the next day. But that's when Seth came. So you had other things to deal with. And then there was Nina. I didn't want to distract you."
"How long were you planning on keeping this secret?"
"I don't know. Until we went a day or two without a Potential dying, or Xander losing his hand, or Willow losing her sight. I thought those things were more important."
"She has a point," Xander says in defense of Dawn. "Guess what? I can see the future!' would have a little out of place."
"You're defending her?," Buffy asks Xander.
"Let me think. Girl gets a special power she didn't ask for and doesn't understand. Something that sets her apart. Occasionally gets her into trouble. So she tries to hide it from others. Even her family. Sound familiar?"
"Xander, it's not even close," Buffy shoots back. She can't believe he would have the gall to compare the two.
"Buffy's right," Anya concurs. "Seers live a lot longer. They're not hunted on a nightly basis by demons. Although their eyes can fetch up to twenty thousand dollars on the black market. Twelve thousand each if sold separately. So, there's that risk."
"How do you know that?," a reasonably outraged Dawn demands to know. "What, is there a commodities market for things like that?"
"I wish," she says with a laugh, before realizing she's the only one laughing. "You hear things. And Giles, I know for a fact at least one of our Magic Box suppliers wasn't averse to dealing in this kind of contraband."
"Maurice?," he asks.
"Lenny."
"Really? Leonard seemed so straight-arrow and above-board."
"I know. They're always the dangerous ones."
"How common is this sort of thing?," a nervous Dawn asks. "How much of a risk is there?"
"For you, not much. Your sister being the Slayer, they'll be scared of retribution. Cordy would have enjoyed the same sort of protection because of Angel. Then there's Connor, who, unlike Buffy, probably has no moral qualms about horribly torturing and slowly killing anyone who tried to hurt you. So you're doubly covered."
"Cordelia was working with Angel," Buffy points out. "She was right there to tell him. You're here. You hardly know Angel. Why would you get visions that are meant to help him?"
"What if they're meant to help Connor?," Willow surmises. "Okay Buffy. Even though I'm blind, I know you're giving me some super-strength glare of death right now. But if Connor unconsciously did this, it was because he wanted to be around Dawn. And the fact that she's getting them means whoever sends the visions agrees with him."
"Not many relationships get divine endorsement," Anya notes to Buffy's furor and exasperation.
"No offense, but that's the stupidest thing I've heard in, well, I don't know. At least since I came back to life."
"This is in no way a divine endorsement of their love," Giles argues. "It's more of a magical, or mystical endorsement. A reflection of internal sentiments, pure and simple. This was an accident. A fluke. Something that was entirely unintended."
"Tell that to Rory and Jesse," Dawn counters. "Go tell them their lives are unintended. This is a good thing. And Buffy, the fact that you'd let people die because you don't like me being with Connor. That's just, that's just so selfish." Dawn storms upstairs.
"This, this is insane. I can't believe she's acting like this," Buffy tells the others.
"Was that a threat?," Spike asks. "Keep me away from my hubby, and innocent people will die? I've heard it before, but it has a different ring when the person making it isn't evil." Buffy picks up the phone. GIles, Spike and Anya leave. Xander takes Willow's arm.
"What's going on?," Willow asks him.
"I think Buffy's calling Angel," Xander responds.
"Oh. Good idea." Willow stands up and Xander leads her upstairs. Everyone wants to give Buffy plenty room for this one. At the Hyperion, spirits are high this evening. The gang's telling Angel about their adventure.
"So it was a group of Ordock demons?," Angel asks. "Or were they the ones you interrogated at the bar?"
"Those were Neg-tao demons," Wesley responds. "The Neg-tao were working for the Ordock."
"Of course they were. Ordocks are smarter and stronger."
Gunn finishes the story. "The Ordocks were working for an empath."
"A Yelig demon named Ruk," Lorne interjects. "Nasty fellow. Horrible dresser."
"These Ordocks were tough suckers," Gunn explains. "The five of us, against three of them, in our condition — we'd win, but it wouldn't be pretty. Now Ruk's a big player. Little Gregory's dad owed a hundred large to a bookie who worked for him. That's why the boy got kidnapped. The fight doesn't start out so well, so Cordy decides we should negotiate."
"I wanted to know if they were happy with their employer," Cordy adds before Gunn picks it up again.
"Turns out they owe Ruk a bundle in funky-smelling demon money. So I had an idea: we kill Ruk, they bring us the boy. They're feeling it. Only problem is, they don't know where to find the head honcho. That's where Lorne came in."
"Us empaths can sense if another's nearby. There are three others in this town, and I guessed Ruky-boy was at the swankiest address. That's what I called him. He sold me insurance on Caritas. Refused to pay when it all went kablooey. Had the tamales to say I did it myself! Still, he did give me a small settlement that helped pay the rent. And we were still on good terms. Which allowed me to drive into his compound — with Wes and Gunn in the trunk."
"That part I'd like to forget," Gunn mentions.
"You?," Wes asks. "You weren't the one who had to spend fifteen minutes with you face pressed against the back seat and someone's kneecap in your back."
"It was five minutes. Stop being such babies," Lorne counters.
"I passed out," Wes complains.
"Only because you were hyperventilating," Gunn counters.
"You two think you had it rough," Fred tells them. "Try going there as Lorne's bunnies."
"Your what?," Angel asks Lorne suspiciously.
"They're exaggerating. It's not like they I made them wear revealing."
"Only because we didn't have time," Cordy responds. "If you had your way, we'd both be wearing that Vegas showgirl's outfit Fred put on, without the green paint."
"Excuse me? What showgirl's outfit?," an intrigued Wesley asks.
"How did you know about that?," Fred asks Cordy.
"I was still omniscient back then. Remember, I'm the one who got you out of that bad luck trap. Anyway, Lorne tried to pass us off as high-priced call girls who wanted to work for Ruk."
"How high-priced?," Angel inquires.
"Well, Lorne here wanted to pass us off as $500 dollars-a-night, which we both found to be completely insulting," Cordy explains. "But, thankfully, we didn't have to get that far in the negotiations."
"Cordy kicked him below the belt, I stuck a pen-knife through his palm, and Wes and Charles burst in and stabbed him about twenty times," Fred adds.
"The plan was to get away before the security guards caught us," Gunn recounts. "But once they saw their boss was dead, they were too busy looting his crib to go after the people who killed him."
"Glad to know things went smoothly," Angel remarks. "So what happened Gregory's dad and his debt?"
"Turns out the bookie owed Ruk even more than Greg's dad owed him. Slate's clean. Also, I think the bookie was afraid of us after we iced his boss. Didn't hurt that our new Ordock demon friends promised to rip him to shreds if we gave 'em the green light," Gunn replies.
"But is the father going to stop his gambling?," Angel asks.
"Maybe nearly losing his kid will straighten him out," Fred hopes.
"And if it doesn't, then I guess nothing will," Angel concludes. "Can someone get us some more beverages?"
"A cup of the red stuff?," Lorne suggests.
"Make it four. My appetite's beginning to come back."
"And a banana-vanilla shake for you?," Fred asks Connor.
"Banana-vanilla-strawberry," he answers. The phone rings. Lorne runs down to answer it.
"Okay. I'll go get him. Hold on for a wee bit," Lorne says before rushing back upstairs.
"Something wrong?," Angel asks.
"Buffy wants to talk to you. And she asked how Gregory was doing."
Angel winces. "Perfect."
"Just when you thought you couldn't be in any more pain," Cordy quips.
"Put her through." Lorne and everyone else go downstairs. Angel picks up the receiver. A few seconds later, he's on the phone with Buffy.
"Angel?"
"Hi Buffy," Angel says nervously. "Okay. Look. I didn't want this any more than you. You know that."
"You didn't want Dawn to get these visions, or you didn't want me to find out?"
"The first, of course. The second was up to Dawn. It wasn't my place. Her visions, her choice."
"The visions weren't her choice."
"And they weren't Connor's, if that's what you're thinking. That was the first thing I thought. But he had no way of knowing. We had to perform this elaborate spell just to transfer the visions from me to him. There was no way he could have suspected he could just will them to Dawn. And Connor was also upset when he found out. He knew the visions hurt Cordy, and he didn't want the same thing to happen to Dawn But she says they don't hurt her. Have you noticed anything?"
"No one has. She had one in our dining room in front of me and Giles, and we didn't pick up on it. So how long did you plan on waiting before telling me?"
"I know you're in the middle of some arduous, epic war against evil that's even more arduous than what you're used to."
"You thought you'd be distracting me?"
"I didn't want to upset you at the wrong time."
"Angel, there's no right time to upset me."
"But some are worse than others. Say you're about to go off and fight your toughest enemy yet. The fate of the world hangs in the balance. And right before you step out, I call with this bombshell."
"That's a risk you sometimes have to take. Right now, you could be about to fight some stoned demon, or whatever it was that blotted out the sun where you are."
"Stone demon, Buffy."
"Whatever. But then I'd never call. Because that sort of thing can happen to us on any night."
"Not tonight, I hope," Angel jokes.
"It's like I said the last time we talked. We can't keep secrets just because we think the other person can't deal. We're adults. We love each other. We don't need to play make believe. What we have is a lot stronger than that."
"So is there anything you want to come clean about? Because I think I've run out of bombshells."
"No more rugrats I should know about?," Buffy jokes.
"You seem to be taking this well."
"You're just lucky I burned out most of my anger yelling at Dawn."
"It's not her fault."
"That she used this vision thing as an excuse to cut class and get detention? That she didn't tell me where she was all afternoon?" Buffy's not buying the line about Dawn being at Kit's. And she begins to wonder if Dawn's been exaggerating the importance of her visions. "Did you save two kids last week because of one of my sister's visions?"
"You mean Rory and Jesse? Really great kids. They were attacked by two vampires in MacArthur park. They'd be dead or turned if Connor and I hadn't gotten there in time."
"And this Gregory kid?"
"Kidnapped by demons this afternoon. He's back with his parents, safe and sound."
"And you? She said she saved you?"
"I like to think I could have handled those four demons all by myself. But having Connor and everyone else there made things a whole lot easier."
"Huh. Interesting. So this is what Cordelia did for you? She saved lives on a regular basis? Cause that's just hard for me to believe."
"People change."
"Yeah. I think my lesbian mega-wicca best friend who almost destroyed the planet mentioned that to me. He's not evil, right?"
"Who?"
"Connor. To you, I mean. He's not still trying to think of sadistic ways to punish you for your past crimes?"
"We're getting along."
"Does that mean he loves you or that he's just given up on wanting you dead?"
"Somewhere in the middle. But closer to first one, I think."
"So there's a learning curve with him? He's finally starting to notice how great you are?"
"No offense Buffy, but why do you care?"
"I know what he did to you. The really rotten summer vacation."
"I remember you one sending me on one of those," Angel jokes.
"You didn't leave me with much choice," Buffy jokes back. "What can I say? I worry about you. And I know Connor's really good at pretending to be nice. So, in the back of my mind, I worry that it's all an act. Or, maybe it isn't. But then one day he snaps."
"I can worry about that. You just worry about saving the world."
"You know, for a moment there, I almost forgot about that," Buffy kids.
"It's always good to hear from you. Even when you're mad at me."
"Thanks. Remember the good old days when your problems and my problems were separate?"
"Yes. But I don't remember them being that good." Angel hangs up. Connor shakes his head.
"You can do better. You really can."
"Do I criticize the woman you love?"
"She's my girlfriend's sister!" Angel just lies there, dumbfounded by his son's ridiculous reasoning.
"I'm not even going to bother to respond to that. How bout we watch Indiana Jones?'"
"Okay. Who's gonna get it? It's all the way across the room." They look at each other. Angel dials the front desk.
"Hi Cordy. It's room 326 again. Could someone come up? And where are our drinks?"
Willow is lying down on her bed. Kennedy walks in. "Who is it?," Willow asks. Kennedy doesn't answer. Instead, she walks over to Willow and kisses her on the lips. "That eliminates Xander, Giles or Buffy. At least I hope it does." Kennedy lies down to Willow's right and puts her arms around her.
"How you holding up?"
"I'm starting to get used to it. Which is the scary part. What if I'm stuck like this forever?"
"Not gonna happen."
"Why? Because you want to believe in a happy fairy tale ending?"
"Because you're too strong not to beat this. And then you'll beat her."
"That pretty much confirms my fairy tail ending theory."
"Nina's a killer. But you're a miracle worker."
"No I'm not. Why would even-? . . . Okay, maybe once in a great while. But the rest of the time I'm just plain old Willow."
"Trust me, you look anything but plain."
"I'll have to take your word on that for now." Kennedy puts her left hand to Willow's face. She smiles and inches closer to where she thinks Kennedy is, putting her left hand on the back of Kennedy's neck.
"You'll find a reversal spell. I wish I could help find it, but you know that's not exactly my area of expertise. So, I guess all I can do to help is keep you company."
"I appreciate the company," Willow says before kissing Kennedy. "Sure beats sitting in the dark. Or, the light. I can't tell which." They kiss some more. Kennedy puts her left hand under Willow's shirt.
"There is one slight, tiny benefit from this awful tragedy," Kennedy tells Willow. "Doesn't, um, losing one of your senses heighten some of the others?" Kennedy slowly runs her right hand up Willow's left leg and licks her neck with her tongue ring. Willow smiles and quietly moans.
"Guess I'll have to," she stops talking to sigh happily, "test that one out for myself." Kennedy gets on top. Willow fumbles with the buttons on Kennedy's shirt. Then they hear a knock at the door.
"Don't worry, it's locked," Kennedy tells Willow as she undoes Willow's belt. There's more knocking.
"I'm resting!," Willow yells. Kennedy laughs as puts her left hand over Willow's mouth to keep her from making too much noise.
"Fine," Dawn yells from the hallway. "But Buffy wants Kennedy downstairs."
Kennedy sits up and groans in disappointment. Willow doesn't look too happy either. Kennedy buttons her shirt as she sits on the edge on the bed. "If this is just for another one of her inspirational speeches, I'm going to be very mad at Buffy." Willow sits up, feels around for Kennedy, finds her and puts her arms around her.
"You better not stay grumpy all night."
"I won't. Just as long as I don't have to stay away from you." She kisses Willow, gets up and leaves. Willow lies back in her bed, frustrated and annoyed. A few seconds later, Willow discovers, to her complete amazement, that she can see again. Willow sits up and looks around her room. She stands up and walks towards the windows. Then she sees something that stops her cold and causes her heart to race. Someone else is in the room, standing right in front of her. It's Tara.
NEXT: Tara talks to Willow about Kennedy. The Mayor talks to Faith about Lindsey. And Spike meets his father.