A/N: Many of Lorne's lines are from the episode "Spin the Bottle" in season four. They belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc. While we're at it, I don't own any of these characters. Well, I did create Alexa and Melody. Maybe I own them a little.

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TEASER

INT. TATTERED ROOM

GUNN and MELODY are seated on the floor, Melody hesitantly nursing a wound on Gunn's head that seemed to have come when CONNOR dropped him on the floor. This is the scene we never saw from the last episode.

MELODY
It doesn't look as bad as I thought it did. Just a bit bruised.

GUNN
I didn't even know it was there.

MELODY
Yeah, well. Keeping an eye out for bruises is a keen talent of mine.

Gunn turned to look at Melody, but saw by the flush in her cheeks and the forced neutral expression that it was something she hadn't meant to let slip. He decided that if she didn't want to tell, he wouldn't ask.

GUNN
So how long have you been here?

MELODY
I don't know. The days… don't really pass here. Connor mentioned that for every hour that passes there, a day passes here. God, I didn't think anyone was coming for me.

GUNN
That's not the Connor I know. The Connor I know was adamant about getting you back.

MELODY
Aw, really?
(off Gunn's look)
Er… the Connor we know is calm and well-adjusted because of the new life he was given, but the Connor you don't remember would probably be similar to this kid. This is another dimension. You were a vampire here. Connor's a mass murderer here. It's just the way it goes.

GUNN
So what happens when he comes back?

MELODY
There's really nothing we can do.

GUNN
Sure. Hit him over the head with a heavy object…

MELODY
Tried it. He just gets mad. Smacks you across the room and takes away the food privileges.

GUNN
You're joking.

MELODY
I don't joke. My sense of humour, along with my courage and common sense, abandoned me days ago.

GUNN
Well, don't take this the wrong way, but I fought demons for years. I think I could take him.

MELODY
No, you couldn't. He fought demons in Quor'toth for years. He's got super-strength and super… everything. Do you think you could take Angel down?

GUNN
If I had to.

MELODY
No. You couldn't. Just like you can't take his son down.

GUNN
I'm guessing your optimism bummed a ride with your sense of humour, too.

MELODY
I'm not joking, Charles. We're screwed. I meant it when I said it. We're stuck here. Outside it's apocalyptic. Even if we did manage to get out, we'd die within hours. We're free to move within this room, but step into the hallway and Connor will hit us; jump out the window and somehow survive the impact, and some kind of demon will eat us within minutes.

VOICE (O.C.)
There is one other option.

The camera shows Connor at the door, looking slightly menacing… with his neck brace. Gunn stands up with a smile on his face.

GUNN
Man, am I glad to see you.

CONNOR
Back at you. Hey, here's your shoe. It came off when I grabbed onto it. I ended up in the next room over and was worried I'd ended up in the wrong dimension before I heard… well, my voice.

GUNN
(looking down at his feet)
You know, I didn't even notice it was missing.

CONNOR
You guys all right?

GUNN
Kinda disoriented, pretty weirded out, but otherwise all right.

CONNOR
(to Melody)
What about you?

Melody just shakes her head and looks at the floor. Connor brings her chin up with his finger and looks her in the eye.

CONNOR (cont'd)
I'm going to get us out of here, all right? I've got a plan.

MELODY
Unless your plan involves tying up the other Connor and finding out the secret of how he travels between dimensions, I don't think you'll get very far.

Connor smiles and brings a small vial of an emerald green liquid out of his pocket. He backs slowly out of the room and into the hallway. Melody and Gunn follow, incredulous.

INT. HALLWAY

CONNOR
All we have to do is find a hot spot, say a few words and swallow some of this stuff, and we should be able to get back home. Or possibly to a dimension where everyone sang opera, but he said that happened only once, and that he'd sneezed in the middle of incanting.

GUNN
Geez, what'd you do to make him talk so easily?

CONNOR
He's me. I know his weaknesses, because they're mine. Of course, it pained me on the inside to do what I did, but it had to be done. Now come on. My memory of this place is kinda foggy, especially since I already exist here, so Gunn, you'll have to help me out a little.

GUNN
Why? What would I know about it?

CONNOR
What, you don't recognize it? Well, understandable, I guess, what with being half-destroyed and everything… we're in the Hyperion. Now, he gave me an address that we have to track down, so—

Connor turns the corner to walk down another hall, but stops dead in his tracks. Melody nearly runs into him, stepping on Gunn's foot behind her to prevent it, but he doesn't seem to notice either. They're all too busy noticing that most of this side of the hotel had been ripped out, and now there is a large, scaly dragon shrieking at them from a five-foot distance. This is the last thing we see as we approach the

END OF TEASER

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ACT ONE

INT. DIMLY LIT CLUB

A woman with long, curly, brown hair opens the door from the outside and steps in, holding it open for someone else. We can't see their face; they're wearing a trench coat and a lovely hat. The woman, AGGIE, smiles grimly and puts her hands in her pockets as though nervous.

AGGIE
Here it is.
(glancing expectantly at the trenchcoated person)
I know it's not a lot, but… you didn't ask me for anything fancy.

The figure sighs and brings a gloved hand up to take off his hat. A particularly green fellow with red horns and a sad face scans the club carefully.

LORNE
No, Aggs, it's… perfect. Too much, almost.

AGGIE
And your aura matches your enthusiastic tone.

LORNE
(shaking his head, looking down)
I'm sorry. I appreciate your trying, doll, but… I'm afraid I'm not exactly in a Hosting mood.

AGGIE
And I'm sensing that you have to get back into it if you want to move on from this.

LORNE
Maybe I'm not supposed to. I killed a man and then left my friends, the only true friends I've ever had, present company excluded, to die. Friends who saved my life on more than one occasion.

AGGIE
Friends who asked you to die for their cause.

LORNE
It was our cause. It was… Fred's cause.

AGGIE
You shouldn't be expected to die just because Fred did.

LORNE
Oh, Aggs. The truth is that I did die with Fred. She was my…
(trailing off)

AGGIE
It feels like that, but you had a life before these people entered into it. For years you hosted your own club, and you abandoned it for them. But that chapter of your life has passed. It's time to get back on your feet.

LORNE
(quietly)
Things have changed.

AGGIE
Yeah. You met amazing people who changed your life forever, and you're stronger for it. Even since the last time you came to me, you're stronger.
(sighing)
Come on, Lorne. It's breaking my heart to see you like this.

LORNE
I'm sorry.

AGGIE
Don't be.

LORNE
It's that… ever since that shaman brought the memories back of the little nipper, I can't help but feel a little more doom-and-gloomy than usual.

AGGIE
I noticed. But nothing about that was your fault either.

LORNE
I don't blame myself; there's no reason I should.

AGGIE
Lorne, I'm psychic. I happen to know for a fact that you do blame yourself. Now, the bar's open. I want you to march up to that stage and get a feel for it. Sing a song. Tell a story. Talk to no one. Then go home and sleep on it. I can hold this place for you for a few days while you make your decision, but I really hope… well. Just think about it.

LORNE
(smiling grimly)
I will, Aggie. Thank you.

AGGIE
Think nothing of it, Lorne. You know where to find me.

She puts a hand on Lorne's shoulder, and then turns to move out of the club. Lorne stares at the stage for a while and sighs heavily. He wanders over to the bar on the right-hand side of the room and throws his trenchcoat on the counter. He pours himself a seabreeze and flicks on a couple of stage lights. He grabs an ashtray, pulls a cigarette out of the pack in the trenchcoat pocket, and wanders up to the piano. He sits on the bench, sheds his blue jacket, lights his cigarette and sighs again. Even after everything, being on stage still feels right. He stands, wanders over to the side of the stage, and picks up a microphone without turning it on.

LORNE
(muttering)
All right, Barbara. Don't fail me now.

He closes his eyes and brings the microphone up to his face. He imagines the piano line, and pretends there's an audience in front of him to perform to.

LORNE (cont'd)
(singing)

Memories… light the corner of my mind…

Light claps fill his ears, though they aren't really there. The camera starts to pan out, and suddenly the shots have siding. Someone seems to be watching these occurrences external to the location. Lorne's being watched.

LORNE (cont'd)
(singing)

Misty water-coloured memories… of the way we were.

Cut to:

INT. ANGEL'S OFFICE
ANGLE: Angel's face

Angel's the one watching Lorne on the Inter-dimensional, and rather solemnly at that. Lorne's tinny voice continues to fill the office, but Angel's attention is brought to someone knocking on the door. Angel looks up as he rolls up the scroll.

ANGEL
Wesley.

WESLEY
That sounded like Lorne.

ANGEL
It was. I was just…

WESLEY
Checking up on him?
(Angel nods)
How is he?

ANGEL
(hesitating)
He's fine. What's up?

WESLEY
It's what isn't up that's worrisome, actually. I know I'm supposed to "let it drop" or what have you—

ANGEL
Check your attitude at the door. I don't have time for it.

WESLEY
(opening and closing his mouth several times)
I'm simply expressing my concern at the inaction being taken with regard to the Liason.

ANGEL
It's being taken care of.

WESLEY
Is it now?

ANGEL
It is. Anything else?

WESLEY
That's it? That's all the explanation you're going to provide me?

ANGEL
I don't need to explain my actions.

WESLEY
And usually I agree with that, but lately you've taken to almost not rescuing your co-workers and breaking your son's neck. Now, there is a poor, helpless girl in the cellar awaiting your assistance. What have you done for her?

ANGEL
(leaning back)
Listen, Wesley—

WESLEY
I want a straight answer. We've known each other too long for anything else.

ANGEL
We need the Liason.

WESLEY
Beg pardon?

ANGEL
She has information we could use.

WESLEY
You're putting information before a girl's life?

ANGEL
Anya's in no danger.

WESLEY
(shocked)
You know that for a fact, do you?

ANGEL
Well, sure. I mean, her body's possibly being possessed by an Old One, but even after what happened to Fred, I'm not too worried.

WESLEY
…What… How dare…

ANGEL
I mean, that turned out okay, didn't it? Illyria almost won the battle in the alley for us. She's the only one who survived it, anyway.

Lorne's tinny voice continues to reach Angel's ears. He picks up the closed scroll and looks at it menacingly.

ANGEL (cont'd)
Well, Lorne's alive, but he chickened out and abandoned us. Now he's singing at a night club. How lame is that, right? Die for your friends versus singing at a night club. For no audience, no less! Lorne, my friend, you've gone downhill. Not far, mind you… you weren't much help in the first place.

LORNE (O.C.)
(distantly)
So I'm an idiot. What are you, perfect?

ANGEL
That's two in a row, bud.

WESLEY
(hesitantly)
Angelus?

ANGELUS
Gosh, everyone's so smart today.

WESLEY
What happened to you?

ANGELUS
(offhandedly)
I'm Junior Partner now. Souls get in the way. I had it removed. Now—
(pressing a button on the desk and vamping out; doors and windows lock)
—I believe that you and I have some business to attend—

His speech is interrupted by a swift wooden arrow to the chest. Angelus looks down momentarily and grins at Wesley, the shooter of said arrow, as he turns to dust. Cut to:

ANGLE: Angel's face

Angel's eyes open abruptly. He sits up quickly and looks about. It's nighttime; the overhead light are turned out. The Inter-dimensional remains unrolled on the desk. Lorne's voice continues to fill the office; Angel looks down at him on the scroll momentarily.

LORNE
(distantly)
Well, the fact is, I had every reason to believe that the spell would work. And it did… after a fashion.

Angel rubs his face with his hands and checks his watch. We don't see the time but it's apparently something ungodly. Leaving Lorne to chatter to his empty club and Angel's soon-to-be-empty office, Angel rises and walks stiffly from the room. Cut to:

INT. WOLFRAM AND HART LOBBY

No one here, either. It's dark. We follow Angel as he walks over to the elevator and presses the down button. He shoves his hands in his pockets and waits. It dings, the doors open and Angel steps in. As the doors close, we see Angel crouch down and knock on the hatch in the floor of the elevator three times. Cut to:

INT. WOLFRAM AND HART CELLAR

The Liason in Anya's body looks up and smirks as the elevator dings again and Angel walks out. Calmly, still with hands in pockets, the vampire approaches the cage containing the Liason.

LIASON
Well, well, well. Look who—

Her sentence is cut off due to a large and imposing hand grabbing her around the neck and lifting her off the floor. Angel remains very calm.

ANGEL
What will it take?

LIASON
(choking)
I may not need air, but Anya does.

ANGEL
(tightening his grip)
Answer me.

LIASON
Your death.

ANGEL
Wrong answer. Talk to the Partners. See what else it'll take.
(releasing Anya's throat)
I'll do anything.

LIASON
(rubbing her throat)
Then let me kill you.

ANGEL
Heard that version already. Growing pretty tired of it.

LIASON
(snickering)
You must be feeling so useless right now. You've tried everything, from eucalypsis to seeing if I'll jump from one entity to another. Nothing works. You're done.

ANGEL
What's your point?

LIASON
You really are ready to do anything.
(a beat)
Well, almost. Except endanger yourself or people you love. For now, anyway.

ANGEL
For now?

LIASON
You're losing your soul, bit by bit. The things you've been doing or not doing… you know it as much as I do. You're dreaming about killing your friends. Even friends already dead—Fred, Cordelia, the people you loved most—are victims in your dreams lately.
(a pause)
Except Wesley. He got the best of you tonight. Why?

ANGEL
Guess I got bored of the outcome.

LIASON
You see him as a rival, don't you? Everyone else is too pure. The girls were easiest; Gunn put up a bit of a fight, but not enough. Wesley's heartlessness is starting to match your own. He's more cunning, more paranoid, and more informed than you are; if you became Angelus again, you're worried he'd get the best of you. I wonder why Connor hasn't appeared in your dreams yet. Maybe even Angelus is afraid of the outcome.

ANGEL
(turning away)
Talk to the partners. See what it'll take.

LIASON
This is desperation at its finest, isn't it? You're willing to sell your soul in an attempt to save it.

ANGEL
I'm willing to sell my soul to save Anya's. There's a difference.

LIASON
(sarcastically)
Yeah. I'll bet that's your only inspiration.

Angel stops and stands on the landing in front of the elevator, without pressing a button or turning around.

ANGEL
So if the Senior Partners are reincarnates of something, do I get taken over when I get to the top?

LIASON
Can't tell the future. I leave that for the prophets.

ANGEL
So you don't know everything.

LIASON
Now, now. Let's not jump to conclusions. I just meant that it could go either way.

ANGEL
So not all the Senior Partners are reincarnates.

LIASON
Not all. It all depends on the deeds they do on their way down.

ANGEL
(turning around)
You mean on their way up?

The Liason opens her mouth and shuts it again. Anya's brow furrows. Angel smiles as he realizes she just made a mistake and steps into the elevator. Cut to:

INT. WOLFRAM AND HART LOBBY – MORNING

Connor, once again looking a little worse for the wear with the neck brace and the various gashes, is sitting on Melody's desk with a silly grin on his face. Melody sits behind him in her swivel chair looking tired and a bit beaten but otherwise all right; Gunn stands opposite Connor with his arm in a sling and a bandage on his head, grinning just as much as Connor. Various people crowd around them, including Alexa, fresh out of hospital and eager to hear about their adventure. Wesley is absent.

CONNOR
The dragon must have been like forty feet tall. We were on the fourth floor, as we later found out so yeah, he was tall.

EMPLOYEE #1
Did it breathe fire?

CONNOR
Not that we saw, but it's possible.

ALEXA
So what happened, already?

CONNOR
(grinning)
Well…

Cut to:

INT. HYPERION HALLWAY

CONNOR (cont'd)
(looking incredulously at the dragon)

Uhhhh… so anyone got any ideas?

GUNN
Nope.

MELODY
Running sounds like a good idea.

DRAGON
Roar!

CONNOR
I think I'm on board with that plan.

GUNN
Me too.

The three of them turn and jog at a brisk but not excessively fast pace, since the dragon seems to be too busy roaring to notice that they're not there anymore.

CONNOR
There is another staircase down at the other end of this hall, right?

GUNN
Should be, if Scaly here didn't rip it out, too.

CONNOR
Only one way to find out I—

His sentence is interrupted by a tremendous ripping noise as the wall to the group's left is torn out by a great scaly claw. Connor grabs Melody and pulls her back against the far wall instinctively; Gunn stands where he is and watches as the dragon rears back again and roars. A slow grin spreads over Gunn's face as he realizes something.

GUNN
I think I just figured something out. You guys follow me as close as possible and look out for blows.

The trio runs along the tattered remains of the hallway the way they were going. The stomp-stomp-stomp of dragon footsteps outside follows them; Gunn suddenly stops and starts running back the other way. Confused, Connor and Melody follow. They all stop a short ways away and watch as the dragon claw goes through the wall where they had turned around. Melody turns around and gapes at Gunn, who grins under the attention.

MELODY
You…

GUNN
(proud)
The dragon's blind. It follows us by sense of smell. As long as we double back a lot, we'll have no trouble avoiding him.

MELODY
…are such a moron!

GUNN
Say what?

MELODY
That hallway was the only chance of getting to a staircase! Now we're trapped in a dead-end hallway with a huge dragon on our tails.

GUNN
Oh. …Damn. I guess that was a pretty stupid plan.

The dragon stomps over.

MELODY
So what do we do now?

CONNOR
(glancing about)
I guess we have to jump.

MELODY
Oh God. You're joking, right?

CONNOR
Not really. Here.
(handing Melody the vial of dimension-jumping juice)
I'll carry you off if you make sure this doesn't break.

MELODY
…Are you sure…

GUNN
Guys, I know I dug this grave myself, but we don't really have time to negotiate.

Melody nods at Connor, who picks her up swiftly and without difficulty. They stand where they are for a moment longer; just as the dragon looks like it's about to swipe, they run back to where they had originally met the scaly beast.

CONNOR
All right. On the count of three. Ready? One… two…

ANGEL (V. O.)
Connor.

Cut to:

INT. WOLFRAM AND HART LOBBY

Angel stands just outside his office looking stern. Connor stops his story and turns to regard his father.

CONNOR
Yeah?

ANGEL
Finish your story later. I've got some work for us to do.

The crowd protests, but somewhat passively. Turns out everyone's still scared of Angel.

ALEXA
But they just got to the… the good part…

ANGEL
I don't care. We have to find out how the Senior Partners originated. That might lead us to where they are now, which might lead us to how to get the Liason out. I need the earliest written record of Wolfram and Hart we can find.

GUNN
Sounds like a plan, but don't we need Wes for that?

ANGEL
Wesley's not here?

GUNN
Nope, and he's not in his office either.

ANGEL
(furrowing his brow)
Are you sure?

GUNN
The lights are out, the office is locked and we can't see him in there, so yeah, pretty sure.

Angel doesn't say anything but rather walks down the hall in the direction of Wesley's office. Gunn, Alexa, Melody and Connor exchange glances and follow him. The rest of the crowd disperses.

INT. HALLWAY

Angel peers in the window and tries the office door. It is indeed locked. The vampire sniffs the air suspiciously and turns to Connor.

ANGEL
Smell that?

CONNOR
Yeah, but it's faint. I thought it was just left over from when he was in there earlier and then left. Mostly it's covered up by the smell of scotch, but… yeah, he's in there all right.

Alarmed looks are exchanged throughout the small group. Angel breaks the handle on the door and storms into the office.

INT. WESLEY'S OFFICE

Angel walks quickly toward the desk and rushes forward when he spots an unconscious form. He turns the limp Wesley over and checks for a pulse on Wesley's neck. His fingers meet instead two bite marks. Angel lies Wesley on his back and checks for a pulse in his wrist this time.

ANGEL
Wes. Wesley.

The close up on Wesley's pale neck is the image we're left with.

END OF ACT ONE