ACT TWO

INT. WESLEY'S OFFICE

Alexa, Gunn and Wesley continue to research. Gunn looks a little disheveled and Alexa looks a lot bored. Finally she pushes the book away from her.

ALEXA
This sucks. Can we get kidnapped again or something?

WESLEY & GUNN
(simultaneously)
No.

ALEXA
Aw, you guys are just grumpy because you were drugged last time.

GUNN
No, I'm grumpy because I've been reading this big ass book for the past seven hours.
(pushing his book away)
I'm a bigtime lawyer. I'm not supposed to be looking things up.
(off Alexa's look)
Or, I guess I am. But they could at least be legal facts instead of stuff we've been over a hundred times before.

WESLEY
We've never been over this before.

GUNN
(quietly)
I just meant that I have.

Wesley processes this for a few seconds, going through various facial expressions. Finally he opens his mouth, but his potential tirade as to what-were-you-doing-in-my-volumes-without-my-knowledge is interrupted by Angel.

ANGEL
Find anything?

ALEXA
Nope.

ANGEL
Nothing at all?

ALEXA
I've gone through the list of Old Ones, and there's no reference whatsoever to either a Liason or to Wolfram and Hart.

ANGEL
Wait.

GUNN
What?

ANGEL
The Old Ones came before everything. We didn't even know about them until a few months ago. Wolfram and Hart might be ageless, but it still came after the Old Ones.

GUNN
Actually I've always kinda thought that the Senior Partners were Old Ones.

ANGEL
The Liason… said something. That the Senior Partners were incarnates, or reincarnates or something.

WESLEY
The Old Ones don't reincarnate. They existed once, were immobilized and were moved.

ALEXA
Isn't that an oxy-moron?
(off his grumpy look)
Sorry.

WESLEY
Every Old One, with the exception of Illyria, is situated in the hole through the middle of the earth.

ANGEL
Maybe Wolfram and Hart is being run from there?

WESLEY
No. They're not conscious. Illyria had no recollection of the time that passed aside from some knowledge she acquired from prophecies of the time.

GUNN
Illyria was an exception though. Maybe there are others.

WESLEY
There aren't.

ANGEL
Wesley, maybe we should keep an open mind about…

WESLEY
It's not a matter of openmindedness. These are the facts. Illyria was a discrepancy…

ANGEL
Which means that there might be other discrepancies.

WESLEY
(standing angrily)
You're not understanding me.

GUNN
We're understanding you pretty well, Wes. It's you who doesn't seem too clear on what we're saying.

Wesley pauses, still looking furious but staring at Gunn expectedly, waiting for him to explain.

GUNN (cont'd)
There are millions upon millions of Old Ones in that holding chamber. The chances of Illyria being the only one not frozen in time are pretty slim. If she found a way to get out, whether it was foretold or not, some of the others probably have a way to get out, too.

WESLEY
I suppose next you're going to tell me that they were stuck in their frozen state for billions of years out of default and that there is something specific about this time that's waking them all up.

GUNN
The Senior Partners, if they are Old Ones, were never frozen. Some power found a way to stuff them in their crates and put them where they're supposed to be, but they never slept.

WESLEY
You're a lawyer, Charles. I'm an expert in mystical phenomenon.

GUNN
You're not the only one who cared for Fred. We all did whatever we could.

WESLEY
No. I did everything I could, while you traded her soul for a mental upgrade.

ANGEL
(holding Gunn back)
Hey! Now come on! You're getting sidetracked by something that's in the past. Let's focus on the present.

Angel pushes Gunn down onto the sofa he'd been sitting on earlier. Alexa's still sitting on the floor, glancing from face to face, while Angel stands angrily and waits for them to calm down.

ANGEL (cont'd)
Let's just drop this case altogether right now. The Liason can wait. Right now we have a poor girl on the medical floor who thinks she's hallucinating because she can see the dead.

WESLEY
How do we know she isn't hallucinating?

ANGELShe couldn't look at me because I flickered death. What do we know about the afterlife on this plain?

ALEXA
Ooh! Oh! I know! I know everything there is to know about the Valley of the Souls or otherwise.

ANGEL
Good. Do you know… why she would be seeing this?

ALEXA
Did she mention how they moved?

ANGEL
Yeah, actually… she said they were fragmented, or… jumpy was the word she used. She also said that they weren't here, but they were, and that they were also there, or something.

ALEXA
Hm. External to the time frame, maybe?

ANGEL
What do you mean?

ALEXA
If she's seeing them and they walk normally and seem as real as you or I, then she's probably been hit by a spell to reveal unresting souls or something. If she's seeing them they appear to move strangely when compared to people native to this time frame, then she's seeing something very different.

ANGEL
Yeah, she said… that I wasn't real. She knew that Michael and Melody were different from them, and that I was different from either of them.

ALEXA
Then we're delving into something a lot more serious. She might actually be able to see into the Valley of the Souls. Are there lots and lots, or just a few?

ANGEL
She didn't say, but I'd guess only a few. She kept glancing to her left, just past where I was standing. Sometimes she'd nod like they were telling her something and she understood despite her belief that they weren't real.

ALEXA
It sounds like she's only seeing the ones with certain characteristics or something. Some… indication that makes them all the same. The Valley of the Souls is… packed full. Souls walk through each other freely because there's no other way to get around. Especially in a place like Wolfram and Hart, she'd be seeing the dead everywhere, not just to her left.

ANGEL
What could be causing it?

ALEXA
That I don't know. It would probably have something to do with this dimension, which I know quite a bit less about. Hey… if you're planning on leaving the building to find out what's going on, can I come?

GUNN
She's been asking if we could get kidnapped again. This girl's looking for action.

ANGEL
I don't think I'll be leaving just yet, but if I do I'll probably need my expert nearby.

ALEXA
(grinning)
Okay. Cool.

ANGEL
Gunn, Wesley, do something else or go home. Emotions are running too high to get anything productive done about the Liason.

GUNN
Uh, Angel… where's home?

ANGEL
What do you mean?

GUNN
We had apartments in our old dimension, but I finally went home last night and my apartment building had been taken over by an upscale restaurant.

ANGEL
You're joking.

GUNN
Nah. I asked for apartment 4A and they gave me item 4A on the menu. It didn't seem bad until they told me it was ostrich and then charged me forty bucks for it.

WESLEY
I found the same thing, actually. Only my building had become a… demon brothel.

Gunn snickers. Angel raises an eyebrow.

ALEXA
I'm sure we've still got a couple spare apartments. They won't be penthouse or deluxe or anything, but they should be okay.
(bitterly)
Better than a cot in your office, anyway. I'll talk to Melody about it.

Alexa leaves the office. Angel sighs and turns to Wes and Gunn.

ANGEL
Listen. I know losing Fred was hard, but you have to stop letting it interfere with your work. This is a whole different case, but you're choosing to take it personally.

WESLEY
Are you suggesting we just forget about it?

ANGEL
See? That's exactly what I mean. I never even alluded to anything like that. What's with you today?

WESLEY
(bowing his head)
I could ask you the same question.

ANGEL
(pausing)
All right. Neither one of us is exactly ourselves today. But I'm not picking fights with people.

WESLEY
Today.

ANGEL
Okay, fine. Be angry. I don't need to be here for it.

INT. HALLWAY

Angel walks out from Wesley's office in a huff. Alexa's standing just out of sight from the office waiting for him.

ALEXA
I wanted to talk to you about something but it seemed too sensitive to bring up in front of them.

ANGEL
(angrily)
What is it?

ALEXA
Well, when did you become Mister Grumpy Pants?

ANGEL
(glaring)
Are you being Lorne? Stop being Lorne!

ALEXA
He's on your mind today. Can't help it. Occupational hazard. Anyway, what I'm wondering is why you're all referring to Illyria as "she".

ANGEL
Isn't Illyria a "she"?

ALEXA
Technically, Illyria's an "it".

INT. WOLFRAM AND HART LOBBY

ANGEL
(stopping in front of his office)
What difference does it make?

ALEXA
You all became attached to Illyria. You actually miss Illyria because you associated it with Fred. In your mind not as much, but in Gunn's and especially Wesley's, it's there. And you're proving it by calling it "her". It's only been a few days, Angelhair, but—

ANGEL
Stop reading me!

ALEXA
—you miss Illyria almost as much as you miss Lorne.

ANGEL
I've known Lorne for four years. I knew Illyria for four months. I didn't even like Illyria.

ALEXA
It fought by your side and wore Fred's face, and that was enough for all of you. You liked Illyria regardless.

ANGEL
(face set)
Find Melody and get the apartments set. I have work to do.
(turning and walking toward his office)

ALEXA
Angel.

He stops but doesn't turn around.

ALEXA (cont'd)
Stop panicking about Connor. He never panicked about you, and I think you owe it to him to take responsibility for your actions as calmly as possible.

He just keeps walking like he never heard.

INT. ANGEL'S OFFICE

Angel crashes in the chair behind his desk without looking and seems to brood for a couple seconds. Suddenly he frowns and looks around. All the blinds in his office are down, and he didn't put them that way. He sniffs the air, closes his eyes in apparent mortification, and swivels in the chair slowly.

CONNOR
(stepping out from the shadows)
Hi, dad.

ANGEL
(a beat)
So how are you?

CONNOR
(ignoring Angel)
Are you going to explain yourself or what?

ANGEL
Do you want me to?

CONNOR
(blinking hard)
I don't even know how to be sarcastic to that!

ANGEL
It seemed like…

CONNOR
(angrily taking out a stake)
I swear to God, if you're about to say "it seemed like a good idea at the time", I'll kill you.

ANGEL
Go ahead.

CONNOR
Unfortunately I've got this pesky moral stance that prevents me from doing anything until you explain yourself.
(a beat. Angel says nothing)
Okay, so here's what happened from my perspective. I show up. We talk for like thirty seconds and suddenly you're punching me in the face. Next thing I know I wake up in hospital, pretty looped out on morphine because apparently some moron broke my neck. So I want an explanation. Ask to see you. You don't show up. Five days later you still haven't shown. Not only did you break my neck but you're too cowardly to even come down and own up or even see how I was. After all this, dad, I really think that the least that you owe me is an explanation.

Angel stares at Connor. Connor stares at Angel. They just stare for a while. A minute, at least.

ANGEL
To save the lives of my son and the woman I loved, I made a deal with the enemy. Cordelia lived for a while as a vegetable before dying, but you were given a new life. One with proper parents and no awareness of the world of demons. I saw you when you toasted your family and I was satisfied, so I took a job at Wolfram and Hart. I roped my friends into it. One of them died. No one, and I mean no one, has been the same since Fred died. Except Spike, but I'm not too sure he has actual feelings.

CONNOR
Either talk faster or get to the point.

ANGEL
So I got pissed off. I did something to justify Fred's death. In my selfish attempt to settle the score, I got you, my son, the person I sacrificed every moral bone in my body to give a better life to, killed. So we were back to square one. You were taken away from your family and stuck here, where the only person you know has a pretty epic history of killing people for fun. It wasn't about my sacrifices. It was about the ones you have to make, all because of me. By signing one piece of paper, I gave you exactly what I wanted for you and took it away all at once.

CONNOR
So you decided within thirty seconds of seeing me that I must have been so destroyed about it that I'd rather die.

ANGEL
Yeah.

CONNOR
I was happy, you big idiot! I greeted you with a smile and told you I didn't regret anything I did!

ANGEL
…Yeah, but…

CONNOR
So you took that as an indication that I was miserable and regretted everything?

ANGEL
…Kinda.

CONNOR
Kinda.
(sighing)
Look, Angel, I'm nineteen. I knew following you back to Wolfram and Hart was dangerous. I knew following you to the alley was really freaking dangerous, especially since the demons you were fighting were chasing me the entire way. I knew I'd probably die in that alley. I didn't expect to be killed again once I got over here.

ANGEL
You knew?

CONNOR
Nah. I just figured there was an afterlife of some kind where I wouldn't get killed a second time.

ANGEL
I am so, so sorry.

CONNOR
Yeah.

He lets the stake fall to the floor with a clatter. Angel closes his eyes in sorrow.

CONNOR (cont'd)
I'm not the same person you knew. Stop presuming you know me or what I want. I've barely seen you my whole life anyway, so I don't know where you get off making decisions for me.

ANGEL
I… I didn't mean it like…

CONNOR
I know. I'm just giving you a hard time about it. Something I'll probably be doing for a long time coming. Wait… are you… oh, quit with the waterworks already. I know you're sorry. Let's just… forget it.

ANGEL
I broke your neck.

CONNOR
Yeah, but if your heart was really in it, I'd be dead. Again.
(sighing)
Listen. I put you at the bottom of the ocean for three months and then let your friends believe I cared and you eventually got over it. I slept with your girl and got her pregnant and you still gave me a place to stay. Then I tried to blow her up when she was in a coma and you sacrificed what you believed in to give me a better life. So I'm pretty quick to forgive you at this point, especially since, as it turns out, when you broke my neck you thought it was what would be best for me.

ANGEL
I don't deserve your forgiveness.

CONNOR
Yeah, well. I disagree. I'm still pretty teed off about it, if that helps.

A beat followed by a very soft throat-clearing from the door to the office.

ALEXA
Hey… I know I'm interrupting and stuff but we have a situation here.

ANGEL
(pulling himself somewhat together)
What is it?

ALEXA
Um… we're pretty sure Melody's been kidnapped.

CONNOR
What? By whom?

ALEXA
Um… um… uh…

ANGEL
Alexa.

ALEXA
Uh… the cameras… um…
(sighing)
The cameras show Melody being nabbed from behind by… Connor.

END OF ACT TWO