Connor develops feelings for Anne. Buffy's haunted by what Connor did to her. Dawn wants to avenge the death of her friends. And Angel finally figures out that he's not the primary target of his son's wrath.

Angel is back in his room at the hotel, recovering from his burns and talking to Lorne. "So Connor hates you. So he wants to hurt you. What's different?"

"It's personal."

"And dunking you in the foamy brine wasn't?"

"Back then, he was punishing me for hurting others. Today, he tried to punish me for hurting him. Back then, he hated me for what I did as Angelus. Now he hates me for things I've done as Angel."

"No, sugarplum. It's an excuse. Since Connor was born, you've done absolutely nothing to make him think he wasn't the most important person in your life. If he thinks otherwise, it's only because he wants to."

"He had this look on his face. LIke I had betrayed him."

"But you haven't. Angel, you can't reason with the irrational."

"Connor doesn't like being exploited. I just need to explain to him who Lindsey is, and why he's using Connor."

"What makes you so sure it's Lindsey?"

"It has to be. Connor knew things I had told Darla. Who else could have known? And who else could have told Connor?"

"Coming at you through your son would definitely be Lindsey's style. Especially given his connection to mommy."

"If only I could find him. I need to track Connor tonight. See where he's going."

"Say you find Lindsey. Then what? Has he lied? Has he misled Connor?"

"That's not the point."

"He speaks the truth, but his motives are suspect. I'm sure that'll mean a lot to Connor."

"You think Angel would know better than to meet with Connor near a large window on a sunny day," Fred states.

"It's almost like he was tempting the boy," Gunn adds.

"Does this mean that Spike vampire's working for this Lindsey guy?"

"Naw. If a vampire wanted to make Angel feel bad, wouldn't he just try to kill us? Or Cordy?"

"That's a reassuring thought," Fred responds with a nervous sigh.

She couldn't get the boy out of her head. She couldn't stop thinking about him. She saw him everywhere. And not in the sexy way she once obsessed about his father. In a menacing, horrifying way. Connor had come out of nowhere and ambushed Buffy before she had a chance to fight back. He could be around any corner, behind any door, waiting to pounce. She was used to enemies who showed their face, introduced themselves and preened around flamboyantly, trying to intimidate her. Not Connor. He attacked first and talked later. Well, whined mostly. He had the cold blue eyes of a killer, the pouty, aggrieved lips of an adolescent suffering from an acute persecution complex. This was a catastrophic combination. The sort one finds in serial killers. Buffy's listening to a female student, and sees Connor behind the girl, grinning as he slits her throat. Buffy blinks, and he's gone. A little later, Principal Wood enters the room. Inexplicably, he turns into Connor. "You killed my mother," Connor/Wood says, brandishing a knife as he walks up to Buffy.

"What?"

"Did you talk to Scott Rasmussen's mother?" Connor's gone, Wood's back, and the knife is replaced by a pen.

"Yes."

"So I she signed the form, and now all it needs is my signature?"

"Yes." She fumbles with the files on her desk until she finds the right document. "Here it is." He signs it.

"Buffy, are you okay?"

"Sure. Just peachy."

"You seem a little on edge today."

"Rough night."

"Would that explain the rope burns on your wrists?" Buffy puts her hands under the desk. She had thought the burns were completely gone.

"It's not what you think."

"What you do in your private life is no business of mine."

"These injuries aren't, umm, recreational. See, I was helping a friend of mine on his boat, and, and, there were ropes, and tying, and such." Wood grins and chuckles at her flailing explanation.

"So you weren't attacked by some sociopath before pluckily foiling his attempts to imprison you?" Buffy laughs a little too long in response to this.

"Gosh no. What kind of girl do you take me for?" At first Buffy worried the principal would see her as some sexual deviant. Now she's worried he'll see her as a victim.

"One who knows how to get herself out of trouble. It's a dangerous town. At least that's what I've heard." He leaves. Now, on top of everything, Buffy has to wonder why she juxtaposed Principal Wood and Connor. They have absolutely nothing in common. Don't they?

In Connor's life, there had always been one goal, and only one goal, at any point in time. Defend Holtz against the demons. Avenge Holtz by hurting Angel. Keep Gunn and Fred from finding out how he hurt Angel. Find a place to live. Try and seduce Cordelia. That last goal remained. But it was joined by several other issues. Three, to be specific: what to do about Angel, what to do about Buffy, and what to do about Spike. Angel should be made to grovel and admit his mistakes, reversing the guilt dynamic between father and son. This should could be combined with making Cordelia see that Angel doesn't really love her. This brings Connor to Buffy. He's convinced she's part demon. He's also convinced she's the cause of substantial evil. But the vampires feared her, which balances the scales somewhat. She seems to have human emotions, which makes her harder to kill. What really gets Connor is her overweening pride, her sense of superiority. This makes Connor want to knock her down a peg, not knock her off. He went a long way to doing that the previous night. That left Spike. He was by far the simplest matter. Spike was a vampire, and thus assumed to be evil. Furthermore, he had already served his part, informing Connor about Angel's past and leading him to Sunnydale. Now he was useless, and probably dangerous. Spike needed to be knocked off. The sooner, the better.

Dawn enters Buffy's office before the last period of the day. Her eyes are red, and tears stream down her face. "Dawny, what's wrong?"

"You didn't hear?"

"Oh my God. Did something happen to Willow? Or Xander?"

"It's Carlos."

"Who?"

"My friend. We met met in the basement."

"Right. Carlos. What happened?"

"Police found his body. Apparently, he was killed last night when he left the Bronze."

"Oh no." She hugs Dawn. "I'm so sorry."

"Kit's missing. So's Janice."

"How do you know?"

"They weren't in school today."

"Maybe they were sick."

"I called their houses. Their parents said they didn't come home last night."

An angry, confused Connor walks over to Anne's shelter, and sees her outside unloading donations from the back of a station wagon. "Hi Connor!"

"Hi," he nervously responds.

"Did you come by to talk?"

"I dunno."

"How's your friend? The one you said was staying with you."

"She's okay. She's safe."

"Of course she is. She's with you." Connor smiles.

"Why are you nice to me?" Anne is taken aback by the suspicious question.

"Why shouldn't I be?"

"People are nice to you for a reason. Usually cause they want something."

"I certainly don't want anything from you, Connor. I help people. That's my job."

"Why?"

"Because someone was there to help me when I needed it."

"What did they want?" Holtz helped Connor when he needed it, when the boy was very young and relatively helpless. But that was so Connor could one day hurt Angel.

"Nothing. Just, to help me."

"I wish I knew someone like that." Actually, he did. The night before, he brutally attacked her. Connor thinks Angel only cares about him because he's Connor's father, and therefore has to. Gunn and Fred only tolerated him because of their connection to Angel. And Cordy seemed to like him because he could protect her. Connor believes that if there was anything more to her feelings, she wouldn't have turned him down a little while back.

"Connor, I don't know your story. But I'm guessing it was bad enough to justify your suspicions about people in general. Not everyone's like that. There are a few good people in the world. More than a few, if you're willing to give them a chance."

"Like you?," he asks with a smile. Connor seems to be fishing for a surrogate mother figure. Or possibly a future crush. With Connor, it can be hard to tell the difference.

"I don't think you really need my help. But if you want to come over, just to hang out and meet people, you're always welcome. I know how lonely it can be out there."

"I can be a lot lonelier," he cryptically responds before walking off. When he's ten yards away, Connor looks back and smiles. Anne waves. If only all women could be like Anne, instead of shrill, arrogant Buffy, hot-and-cold Cordy, deceitful Justine and taser-loving Fred. Anne was the only woman, the only person, he felt comfortable trusting. Except for mom.

"Twelve missing in the past week. Mostly young girls," Willow reports, sitting at her computer in the dining room.

"Including my friends."

"Dawny, I know how much it hurts to lose someone close to you."

"Thanks, but I don't think flaying kills vampires." Willow and Buffy are horrified.

"Dawn, that's not funny," Buffy scolds.

"It wasn't meant to be."

"We can't be sure Spike's behind this."

"Then why don't we play it safe? Kill him, and if the disappearances stop, then we know we got the right guy."

"Spike has changed."

"I know. He's killing again."

"Dawny, settle down," Willow prods.

"Shut up, Willow-y. How would you feel if it were your friends?" Dawn storms upstairs.

When Connor returns to his loft, Cordelia is there waiting for him. "Connor, can we talk?"

"Depends. What about?"

"Sit down." She touches his shoulder and leads him to then wooden chest at the end of the bed, where he sits down. "Your father loves you."

"Not enough," Connor ruefully replies, looking past Cordy at the wall.

"And you also love him." He scowls at her. "Otherwise, why would you be so upset about Buffy?"

"Because she's a soul stealing succubi."

"True. But, has she been a part of Angel's life at all since you were born? Has he ever spent time with her instead of with you?"

"He liked her more than mom."

"That's a very complicated issue. What matters is that you were upset when you feared that you weren't number one in Angel's book. You care what he thinks about you. If you hated him, you wouldn't care."

"Doesn't it bother you?"

"What it'?"

"Buffy."

"She's an it. I should take back those things I said about you being just like your father."

"It's okay that she matters more to him than you do?" Cordy gulps and takes a long pause.

"Connor, I want you to tell me where you heard the things you told Angel. Who told them to you?"

"My mom."

"Your mother is dead."

"I know. She died so I could live."

"Which means, among other things, that she can't be around to talk to you."

"Yes she can. She's always been with me. In Quor Toth, whenever I got scared, she told me things would be all right."

"So . . . She' told you what you wanted to hear. Did she ever tell you anything you didn't know, and couldn't have known?"

"Sometimes, she told me to be careful, because there was something dangerous nearby."

"It was a demon dimension. That's not exactly prophetic."

"She's never led me wrong. She's always looking out for me."

"But this is the first time she's told you any secrets about her and Angel?"

"She must have a reason. She always has a reason." Connor gets up and walks to the door.

"Wait!" Cordy grabs his arm.

"Why? You're safe." He removes her hand from his arms and leaves. She tries to follow, but he's much faster. After losing him, she rushes to Angel's.

"Relax Cordy. He couldn't have gone that far."

"Dead people are speaking to him. This is not good."

"How does he even know what she looks like?," Fred inquires.

"He could have seen her in dreams," Wesley proposes. "It's not out entirely surprising that a child of supernatural origin could have supernatural dreams."

"So she was his security blanket in Quor Toth," Cordy concedes. "That doesn't explain how she could give him the skinny on post-conception conversations."

"You figure that's the sorta thing a mother doesn't want her son to know about," Gunn quips. No one likes to hear a parent talk about sex.

"Unless Darla's been sent up from Hell to turn Connor against you. Again."

"Darla is not in Hell!," Angel snaps at Cordy. "Again."

"It could be an apparition spell, conjured by someone who wants to do you harm," Wes theorizes.

"Lindsey."

"Angel, why does it always have to be Lindsey?," Cordy asks.

"Whoever it is, whatever's going on, I'll find him. Once it gets dark."

"And until then?," Cordy wonders. "When he left, he had this look in his eyes, like he was a man on a mission."

"Maybe he was just going out for groceries. Cordy, go back to his place, in case he returns. In the mean time you guy's shouldn't worry. This is between Connor and me. And no one else."

"Use the tunnels. Come back with me." Cordy wants to be with Angel. A welcome change of heart. Angel eagerly obliges. Maybe his presence will calm her down. But it doesn't. She looks all over the room for clues about what Connor might be planning. She finds her yearbook next to the bed, and remembers seeing him look at it. She starts to flip through the pages. "Angel. Angel you need to see this."

"Something wrong?"

"Yes. You were. It's not just between father and son." She shows him Buffy's Senior Picture, with at least six knife thrusts through the face.

NEXT: Spike against Buffy. Connor against Spike. Dawn against Spike. Buffy against Connor. Dawn's best friends against Connor. Plus Angel, Cordy, Wood and other assorted characters. Let's just say things get complicated.