Fred loves the laboratory. Among the glassware and technology, she feels an aura of safety against the harsh world out there. It's soothing to try to theorize some far-out theorem in the lab, rather than break into a deserted warehouse building, guns ablazing, to rescue some homeless guy from an evil demon and not even get a 'thanks' for all the effort. No, Fred prefers the lab. Where everything she does is recognized and congratulated, no matter how insignificant an accomplishment, for everything is an accomplishment.

And, yes, this is an egotistical view of the world, especially when Fred works for people like Angel who want to save everybody, from that homeless man on the streets to the well-fed lawyers of Wolfram and Hart. That's Angel's problem; he hasn't quite distinguished between the people who deserve to be saved and the people who don't.

But Fred has. It may be cruel, callous and wrong, but she knows people like Lilah Morgan do not deserve to be saved. They absolutely do not deserve the love of a good man like Wesley, forgiveness, salvation from the fiery depths of Hell and a comfy and powerful position as personal assistant to Angel.

It's unfairness like this that makes her sick to her stomach. Lilah doesn't deserve all the good that's been showered upon her. Deep down, Fred supposes she's a tad jealous, but she'll never admit it. She only talks about morality and evildoers and their rightful punishment.

But maybe she's wrong. She's been, she admits to herself, wrong a few times. This is a different place, not like dear old Texas where they lop off murderer's heads to the sound of applause. This is Los Angeles with the light black and the dark white and the ever present and growing gray and Sheryl Crowe summing it up with "all I wanna do is have a little fun before I die." She may not play by these rules, but everyone else does. So she should reevaluate this and reconsider.

Fred lives her life by the rules that serve her well in the laboratory. The scientific method is supposed to weed out the truth amidst lies and deception. She starts by observing Lilah, watching her sway to a beat that only she hears and seducing the world into obedience just with her smoky eyes. Lilah moves with a self-confidence and grace Fred envies. She obviously thinks that she not only deserves what she has, but more. Her ego is bigger than Harmony's boob job and Fred thinks of that joke with the passenger buying two seats on the airplane, one for herself, one for her ego.

She makes a hypothesis based on her observations: Lilah is a talented manipulator and schemer. She does not deserve anything she has.

Now that Fred has a hypothesis, she needs to go experiment and see if it holds up under pressure. But experimentation consists of being shoved against the wall, panting for air as Lilah's hot mouth descends upon hers. Fred mentally damns herself, because she sure isn't in Texas anymore.

Lilah's wicked clever; she caught onto Fred like a dog on a hot trail. Somehow Lilah knew everything; she stared at Fred during observations, kicked her under the table while she was cogitating and resisted all of Fred's attempts to bait her.

And maybe Lilah even looked deep inside her soul with those eyes of hers, and discovered things about Fred that Fred herself didn't know- because never in her wildest dreams had Fred thought she would do this sort of thing.

It strikes Fred now that Lilah is doing her own scientific method, trying to figure out the essence of Fred. What is her hypothesis? she wonders. Is this her experiment as well?

But Fred's too hot right now to really think about it; it's enough that her scientific method has served her well and tested her theories.

Lilah's mouth now on her neck, Fred concludes that Lilah is definitely good at manipulations and schemes. The only reason Fred is against the wall right now is because Lilah manipulated her skillfully, pressing the right buttons hard according to some mysterious master plan of hers.

But does she deserve everything she has?

Well, for doing such a good job, thinks Fred as Lilah slips her hands under her shirt, maybe she does.