Connor and Wood walk down the street.

"Have you ever had any training?," Robin asks.

"My father taught me about vampires. I mean, my, ugh, the guy who raised me. He was a vampire hunter. Before I was born."

"Mine too," Wood responds with a smile.

"Your dad?"

"The man who raised me."

"Was he . . . English?" Robin's eyes open wide in astonishment.

"Yes. Yours?"

"Uh-huh."

"Was he a Watcher?"

"He'd watch me fight."

"I mean, was he affiliated with the Watcher's Council?"

"No. He never mentioned anything like that. I think he worked on his own. Like you."

"I don't plan to always work alone. There's someone I'd like you to meet. Later. Not now. She hasn't actually met the real me yet." Good news for Connor, since being "introduced" to Buffy would be awkward, to put it mildly.

"I don't live here. Just thought you should know that."

"Lucky you. It's smart to live away from the Hellmouth."

"Things are pretty tough in Los Angeles. Hellmouth or not."

"Los Angeles. That's a long way to travel."

"I have my reasons." Best not to go into those. "You should call me if you need help. Wait. I don't have a phone."

"Is there any way I could leave a message? With someone you know who does have a phone. Because with what's about to go down here, we all the help we can get."

"Ask around. People tend to remember me." Wood opens a door. "This where you live?"

"No. But it's a good place to train. Or to, retreat. If things get tough." Connor peers his head in. His jaw drops and his eyes bulge.

"Wow," he says with a smile as he walks around and looks at all the crosses on the walls. "It's beautiful. I wish my father could be here to see it." Either one. Holtz would love it. And Angel would be in such pain. Connor considers doing something similar to his place. But one vampire at a time. "I gotta get to work."

"Good luck."

"If things go right, I won't need it." Connor leaves. Wood looks at him and smiles. He really likes this lad. If only he knew Connor was trying to slay the vampire who killed his mother. Then Wood might love him.

Mommy directs Connor to Xander's apartment. Why the First wants Connor to intercept him here is not readily apparent. Connor sneaks into the building and slowly creeps up the stairs. When he reaches Xander's door, he hears a punch. It's Spike knocking Xander out. Spike opens the door, and gets clocked by a right hook. "Connor! How's Sunnydale treating you?" Connor lands a left uppercut to Spike's stomach and a right hook to his ribs. "What's the matter? Isn't it Kill Angel Night?" Connor lands a left jab to Spike's nose. "I'm trying to do good."

"Liar." He tries a right hook. Spike blocks it and pushes Connor down half a flight of stairs. Connor stands up on the landing and leaps up towards Spike, who sends him back down with a right kick to the chest. Spike hops down to Connor's level and takes a right hook. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out handcuffs.

"Where'd I get these? And what have I been doing at night?" He ducks under a left hook, slaps the cuffs on Connor's left wrist and ties it to the railing. "You don't understand. You're out of you depth on this one, boy." With that, Spike goes down the stairs, leaving Connor behind. He struggles mightily, and after thirty seconds breaks the chain and frees himself. He immediately runs into Xander's apartment and finds a man passed out on the floor.

"Wake up. Wake up." He lightly slaps Xander's face twice. Then a hard slap with his left hand. This does the trick.

"Ow!! Who are you?"

"Did he bite you?"

Xander checks his neck. "No. Who are you?"

"You need ice." Connor finds the kitchen, gets the ice, wraps a towel around it and puts it to the bruise Spike's punch made. "He's gone. I tried to kill him, but he tied me up."

"Hey. Those are my cuffs. Which I used for entirely, wholesome purposes." Connor doesn't quite get what he's getting at. "How did you break free? Those are strong cuffs."

"I'm stronger. Did you invite him in?"

"Last week. It's a long story."

"Here. Sit down." Connor helps Xander to his couch. "You're safe. I'll find him, and I'll kill him."

"Kill? Oh, what the Hell. Knock yourself out. Or, rather, knock him out." Xander stands up. "Hold on. Let me get the key." He undoes the cuff on Connor's left wrist. "Who are you?," he asks for a third time.

"I save people from vampires."

"We already have one of those here. Eh, the more the merrier." He sits back down, too confused about Spike to inquire about this strange new arrival, who mysteriously and suddenly left without Xander noticing. He picks up the phone, telling Buffy Spike knocked him out, but omitting any mention of the young man who came to his aide.

"Should we attack Buffy?," Cordy asks Angel, shocking him. They are a half-hour from Sunnydale.

"No! Why would you?"

"Say that by the time we get there, she's beating him up, and about to kill him. We'd have to restrain her."

"And Connor."

"But Connor would quickly realize she's human, and back off. Buffy, meanwhile, would just pour it on."

"No she wouldn't. She'd try to reason with him."

"And maybe discover the truth. Which, let's face it, won't make her happy."

"Connor is the aggressor here!"

"Fine. Take her side."

Connor tracks Spike to the Bronze, just as he calls Buffy from outside. Once Spike starts walking away, Connor follows. "Hello handsome," Connor hears from behind. He turns around and sees Janice in tight blue jeans and a white belly shirt. He glances back at Spike, then looks at Janice again. "Something on your mind, cutie?" Kill Spike . . . or get lucky. Kill Spike . . . or get lucky. Spike could wait.

"Hey. What's your name?"

"Janice."

"I'm Connor."

"Haven't seen you around, Connor."

"I'm new in town."

"What do you think?"

"It's weird. But I've lived in weirder." Janice laughs.

"Cute and funny." She walks towards him. Connor blushes. His heart races. "Let's go inside. You know, have a date."

"A date." Connor's never had that before. "Sounds like fun." But there was still a killer roaming the streets. "I have to take care of something. But I'll be right back. I promise. Please don't go anywhere."

"I won't," Janice says as she walks away. She turns round. "I'll be in the balcony. Watching. And waiting." Connor watches her walk away. He'd made a friend, gotten a date, and the night was still young. Maybe Sunnydale wasn't so bad after all. All he had to do was dust Spike, and his night would be complete.

Knowing Sunnydale, Cordy and Angel first hit the Bronze. "The town looks exactly the same," she points out.

"Except for the school, which has a ponderous, modernist brutalism."

"That, and it's right on top of the Hellmouth."

"He's been here."

"Ooh. Aimee Mann! Let's go in."

"He's gone." Angel runs away.

"You sure?" He tosses the keys to her.

"I'll go on foot. Wait in the car. I'll call if I spot him."

"You just want me to sit in a parked car like a loser?," she huffs before walking back to the vehicle. It doesn't occur to her than Angel's never let her drive before, so this must be important. And so begins the convergence.

As Buffy walks towards the abandoned house Spike told her to meet him at, Kit passes by. "Kit!"

"Hey Buffy."

"You - you weren't in school today."

"Played hooky. Hung out with friends in Santa Barbara. You're not gonna tell?"

"Just, be careful," Buffy offers before continuing on her way. She doesn't have time to deal with Kit, who laughs gleefully as she walks away from her first encounter (as a vampire) with the Slayer

Connor comes by a different path, so he never sees Kit. What he does see is his mother. "Listen to me, son."

"I'm kind of in a hurry."

"Spike and Buffy. They've joined forces. They're together."

"The succubi." Darla smiles. It's so gratifying to knew her boy hates the Slayer.

"She's protecting him. You have to be careful."

"Don't worry. I thought ahead."

"Uh-oh," Fred announces.

"What's wrong?," Gunn asks.

"The taser. It's gone."

"You kept it?"

"It's a useful weapon. And it was in a locked drawer in the office."

"Connor can pick locks?"

"Looks more like he jimmied it with a crowbar or sometin'."

"Evidently, Connor knows he's in for a tough fight," Wes theorizes.

"We need to call Angel. Remember what Connor did the last time?"

"You think he's gonna toss Angel back in the ocean?," Gunn asks. "Along with this Buffy girl?"

"He doesn't have a boat," Wes points out. "Unless Justine's working with him again. Which I'm sure isn't case, seeing how she deceived him the last time."

"I meant he's gonna knock Angel out before killing Buffy," Fred explains.

"Oh," Gunn responds.

"Of course," Wes adds.

"Maybe Cordy can talk him out it. He still trusts her, right?"

Buffy leads a dazed and weary Spike down the street. Suddenly, she shakes when hit with a powerful electric shock, and falls to the ground. Connor, who attacked her from behind, looks at Spike, grins, knocks him down with a right hook and puts away the taser in his left hand. "What the bloody hell," Spike slurs.

"You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?," he First Evil alter ego says, looking down at Spike.

"He's killed twelve girls," Darla reports to Connor. "Sired most of them, so they could kill even more." Buffy stands up and shakes off the shock. Connor hears her, grabs his weapon, reaches back and shocks her again. She goes down with a mighty groan. "He is killing, and she's defending him so he can keep on killing."

"Is someone else there?," Spike asks as he climbs to his feet and senses a second hologram, though he can't see it. Connor nails him in the face with a left hook, then a right kick to the mouth.

"Don't let me down, son."

"I won't, mom."

"Mom?," Spike asks. And then it hits him. He ducks a right hook, blocks a left cross and grabs Connor's arms. "Someone is trying to trick you." Connor growls and throws Spike to his left.

"Everyone is trying to trick me! Including you." He runs over and kicks Spike twice in the ribs with his right foot. When he tries a left kick to Spike's head, Spike grabs Connor's foot. He does a back flip, and Spike stands up. Meanwhile, Buffy slowly recovers from her taserings and walks towards Connor, who drives Spike back into the wall. Spike pushes him away, then blocks a right hook. Connor ducks Spike's right hook and hits him in the chest with a left jab, followed by a right roundhouse kick to the head, followed by a right back flip kick. Spike slumps down, but Buffy grabs Connor's right arm. He knocks her away with a left cross to the face and runs at Spike, a stake now in his right hand. Before Spike can stand, Connor lands two left hooks and reaches his stake back. But as he stabs it forward, Buffy grabs his right arm and throws Connor to Spike's left, back down the street. He quickly gets up and charges as she calmy approaches, preempting his attack with a left hook kick. Connor stands and takes his taser in his left hand. Buffy backs away from his taser jab and knocks the weapon out of his hand with a right kick, followed by a left to his body, followed by a right roundhouse kick to the head. He goes down, and she stomps the taser to smithereens.

"Oh, I am going to enjoy this," Buffy tells Connor. She blocks his right hook and lands a right jab to his nose. She ducks his left hook and sends a left uppercut into his chin. She blocks a right hook kick, left jab and right hook before grabbing Connor and throwing him into the wall to her right. His body smashes into the concrete and plops on the asphalt. Connor stands, his nose bloodied, his lip swollen, his body bruised. "You just don't know when to give up." Buffy lands two left hooks to the face. Connor staggers back and awaits her next attack. When she approaches, he does a cartwheel to his right, climbs up the wall and spins round to try a leaping right hook kick. Buffy grabs his ankle and spins his body round, slamming his back into the pavement. "Had enough?" Connor slowly stands up, steadies himself, scowls at Buffy and runs away. She returns to Spike. "Are you all right?"

"It's not his fault." Buffy ignores that.

"We need to get you home."

"I have no home."

"You do now."

Angel arrives to the scene about two minutes later and calls Cordy. No sooner does he get off the phone with her than Fred calls him. "The taser." He looks at the broken electronics on the ground. "I think that's taken care of." He hangs up. When Cordy drives up, she finds Angel looking very nervous. "He was here. His scent's fresh. So is Buffy's. And Spike's."

"Oh God. They double-teamed him."

"We can't be sure. Spike's the one who coaxed Connor into coming here."

"I don't see any dust. Which means they didn't double-team Spike." Angel looks at a spot on the ground. "What is it?"

"My son's blood."

"Buffy hurt him," Cordy declares with anger.

"We don't know that. It could have been Spike. Anyway, they left in different directions. Buffy and Spike went east. Which is toward her house."

"Ewww. She's living with him?"

"Connor headed south. Back towards downtown."

"He's hurt, and bleeding, and all alone. Poor guy. We have to find him – before the demons do."