Heartthrob

Previously on Angel:

Cordy: "I have a roommate. It's cool. I never see him."

Wesley: "Cordy's been sucked into the portal."

Cordy: "They made me their ruler."

Fred: "Handsome man - saved me from the monsters."

Darla: "He's here."

Lindsey: "Angel."

Darla: "I'd love to see that boy."

Angel and Darla making out.

Angel: "Get dressed and get out. Because the next time I see you, I will have to kill you."

Hyperion, day.

Fred peaks around the corner of the corridor overlooking the lobby, hears Cordy's voice and quickly disappears again.

Cordy: "I can understand people who drink too much. I understand people who put a little note on the parking meter that says it's broken when it's not. I don't understand people who worship demons."

Cordy, Gunn and Wesley come walking across the courtyard, carrying weapons and looking slightly disheveled.

Gunn: "Yeah. Especially Lu-rite demons. The stink on that thing... If you're a prince of the underworld, bro, take a Jacuzzi every once in a while."

Wesley: "It's sad. The only way some people can find a purpose in life is by becoming obsessed with demons. By the way, Gunn, technically that wasn't a Lu-rite. It was a Mu-rite, a sub-species of the Lu-rite. The male sports a small, tell-tale fin just behind the third shoulder."

Gunn: "So glad to know we're not the sad people obsessed with demons."

Wesley: "We have to be a little obsessed. We're detectives that specialize in these things."

Cordy: "And we're not sad."

Wesley: "No. No, we're a happy and rambunctious lot if I ever saw one. (Gunn looks at Wes) Not going to humor me even a little, are you?"

Cordy: "Hu-uh."

Wesley: "I realize we sacrifice a great deal of our - social lives. But we have to. Our work demands it."

Gunn: "True. I mean, who has time for love when you're out there doing it with the demons? (Wes glances in his direction) Didn't that come out sad and wrong? - I need to get out more. Speaking of: anyone talked to Fred lately?"

Cordy: "Not talked. Glimpsed. She pokes her head out of her room every once in a while."

Wesley: "Nice girl."

Cordy: "Nice, but not making the giant strides towards mental health. She's been hibernating up there for three months now."

Wesley: "Ever since Angel went away. She's become quite attached to him."

Gunn: "Angel groupie. I get that. He rescued her from Pylea."

Cordy: "I miss Pylea."

Wesley: "I would think you might. You were there a week, they made you queen. Fred was there for five years. She was a slave, a runaway, they nearly chopped her head off. All those years she spent hiding out alone in that cave."

Gunn: "She survived. Girl's strong."

Cordy: "The girl's trading one cave for another. How strong is that?"

Wesley: "When Angel comes back..."

Gunn: "When *is* he coming back anyway?"

Cordy: "As soon as he works through his grief a little."

Gunn: "A little? Buff..."

Cordy: Don't! Say the 'B' word."

Gunn: "The 'B' word was the love of his life, and he's,.what? 250? That isn't a short life. That grief work is gonna take more than a vacation in Sri Lanka."

Wesley: "It isn't a vacation. It's a spiritual retreat at a monastery."

Gunn: "Hmm. Angel and a bunch of monks in the middle of nowhere. There's a party! He should have got hammered and went to Vegas just like I told him."

Wesley: "He doesn't need a lap dance. He needs some peace and quiet to work through this."

Cut to Angel, dressed in white robes, fighting against armed, red robbed monks in the hall of the monastery (doing a very cool back flip up onto a balcony at one point).

The big double doors of the monastery open. Angel steps out to find some men wearing gray waiting outside.

Man (speaking Tibetan): "What happened?"

Angel (answering in Tibetan): "Demon monks. I should've gone to Vegas."

The man cocks his head as Angel walks past, then looks in through the open doors to see at least ten red robbed bodies littering the floor.

Intro

Hyperion, day, Cordy walks in carrying two big mousetraps.

Cordy: "So, whose turn is it to set the traps?"

Wesley and Gunn point at each other: "His."

Cordy: "You guys amaze me. You'll fight hell-beasts, but you're scared of rats."

Gunn: "Man, I hate rats. With their little beady eyes..."

Wesley: "...and their beady teeth."

Gunn: "And their little tails all woosh, woosh."

Cordy walks towards the basement door

Cordy: "Well, aren't you two just the biggest scardies I ever saw..."

Cordy drops the traps with a scream as the door suddenly opens just as she reaches it.

Angel is standing there with a little smile on his face.

Cordy gives him a hug.

Cordy: "You're back."

Gunn and Wes come over, both starting to smile.

Cordy: "You guys, he's back!"

Cordy pulls Angel after her into the lobby.

Angel: "Wesley."

Wesley: "Welcome home."

Wes catches Angel in a hug.

Gunn: "Hey, what's up man?"

Gunn greets Angel with a hug as well.

Cordy: "So, I hope you had a good retreat, all peaceful and meditate-y."

Angel: "Sure, until the monks turned out to be life-sucking Shur-hod demons."

Wesley: "Oh..."

Gunn: "Vegas."

Angel with a little laugh: "Yeah."

Cordy: "Well, the point is, you worked on things. It wasn't like a holiday, where you come back home to your friends, you know, with some small mementos of your trip..."

Angel: "Fishing for gifts?"

Cordy: "Yes!"

Angel hands her a small skull-like head with a tuft of dark hair on top.

Cordy: "Oh - a - small - human head!"

Angel pulls it out of her hand and tosses it to Gunn.

Gunn catches it: "Cool!"

Angel smiles and hands Cordy a necklace instead.

Cordy: "Oh! Oh, my gosh, it's gorgeous!"

Puts it around her neck.

Cordy, brightly: "And look how it brings out my breasts! (Gunn gives her a look) You know you were all thinking it! (To Angel) Thanks."

Angel hands Wes a sheathed dagger.

Wesley: "Uh! Sixteenth century! (Unsheathes it) Angel! Murshan Dynasty? (Angel nods as a grin spreads across Wes' face) I've always wanted one of these! I didn't think you... (Whips the dagger through the air) Oh, I can't wait to kill something with this! (To Cordy) Any visions brewing?"

Angel steps towards the stairs: "The place looks good. How's Fred?"

Cordy: "Good! She's (Taps Wes' chest to get the guy's attention and makes a cutting motion across her throat with her hand) doing well."

Angel: "Hasn't come out of her room yet, huh?"

Cordy: "Not what you'd call frequently. We, we sent up a lot of tacos."

Angel turns back towards them: "I'll settle in and check up on her. You guys can bring me up to date. - It's really good to see you guys."

Angel turns and walks up the stairs.

Gunn: "Thanks for the head, bro."

Wesley: "He seems better than when he left."

Cordy looks after Angel: "Uh-huh."

Fred is in her room adding the words listen, listen to the scrawls covering the walls.

Fred: "Listen. Listen. Listen."

Jumps at the knock on her door.

Fred: "Oh. Hi! How are you? I'm just fine. Doing real good here, no need to worry about me, but thanks for checking!"

Goes back to writing.

Angel: "It's me, Fred."

Fred: "Oh, Angel."

Fred hurriedly takes off her glasses and runs to open the door.

Fred with a big smile: "Hi! Hey! You're... Well, hi there!"

Reaches as if to hug Angel, but when he just keeps standing outside of her door she steps back again.

Fred: "It's good to... Did you have a nice... Oh, here, let me make some room!"

Hurries to take some stuff off one of the chairs.

Angel: "I can't come in."

Fred: "Of course not. You're worn from your trip. You go rest. We'll catch up later."

Fred begins to shut the door, not looking at Angel.

Angel: "Fred, I wanna talk to you, I just can't come in unless you..."

Fred, pulling the door back open: "I invite you. Instead of being rude! Oh, come in. Come in."

Angel walks in and looks at the writing covering the walls.

Fred: "It's just a smidge of vampire in you as far as I'm concerned, but the universe has rules. I'm a great believer in rules, and theorems, formulas..."

Angel: "I get that."

Fred: "Aphorisms leave me a little dry."

Angel: "How are you?"

Fred: "Yeah. - Good. - Everything's pretty much like when you, you know, went away on your trip."

Angel: "Sorry I left so suddenly. I just..."

Fred: "Hey, no, you had things you had to take care of. And it's not like I need a babysitter or... You're sticking around *now*, right?"

Angel: "Yeah, I am."

Fred: "Oh (lets out a short laugh) good!"

Angel reads the words on the wall behind Fred: "Listen, listen, listen... What are you listening for?"

Fred sits down on the arm of a chair, pulling her knees up.

Fred: "The click. - When it all comes together and makes sense. There's like a click in your brain and then you understand things again."

Angel: "Oh. What happens if you run out of wall space before you get the click?"

Fred, hugging her arms around her knees: "I don't know."

Angel: "Fred, I know you spent... (stops as he steps on some of the trash littering the floor, then moves a chair to sit across from Fred) five years in a place where humans could only be slaves or fugitives. I know that wasn't a picnic for you. But you're home now. You're safe. You can come out of your room. - I know that it's gonna take some time."

Fred gets up: "Time. I have a whole treatise on that. It seems to take a lot of it to do just about anything these days."

Fred starts to write on the wall.

Angel gets up and gently takes the marker out of her hand.

Angel: "Fred. Fred. You don't have to write absolutely everything down."

Fred: "Oh, right. (Laughs) God, I should write *that* down."

Angel reaches out and helps down off the chair she was standing on.

Angel: "You just... come on... you just need to take some small steps. Hmm? (Pushes the glasses up on her nose with a slight smile) Like, uhm, coming downstairs (walks past her and opens the door) and hanging with us for a while. What do you say? There's nothing to be scared of. You're safe here in the hotel."

Angel slowly steps backwards out of Fred's room. We hear Cordy scream downstairs.

Angel: "Hold that thought!"

Angel runs downstairs where Cordy is having one dozy of a vision. Wes and Gunn come running as well from different parts of the hotel.

Angel and Gunn support Cordy in a sitting position between them.

Angel: "Easy. What is it? What did you see?"

Flashes of Cordy's vision.

Cordy: "A bunch of vampires - and - they're crashing a party. They're killing people."

Angel: "Where?"

Cordy: "Wilson College. Bonner Hall. (Wes and Gunn head for the doors) Room nine eighteen."

Angel yells after them: "Room nine eighteen!"

Cordy: "They're gonna take hostages. (More flashes) Watch out for the blonde. She's the worst!"

Angel: "Are you alright?"

Cordy: "Yeah. Fine. I'm fine. Go. Go!"

Angel hurries after the others. As soon as he's through the doors, Cordy collapses, sobbing from the pain.

Gunn, Angel and Wes enter a dorm room littered with bodies. Gunn picks up a flyer.

Gunn: "So much for inviting everyone.

Angel: "Some of them are still alive."

Wes into the phone sitting next to the door: "There's been an accident. We need two, maybe three ambulances. Wilson College, Bonner Hall, Room nine eighteen."

Angel looks around the room then walks over to the open window.

Angel: "They're heading east on sixth street. Take the car."

Gunn: "What are you gonna do?"

Angel vamps out as he turns to look at Gunn.

Gunn: "Oh."

Angel jumps out of the window, then runs along the roof tops.

Four vampires are sitting in a convertible, whooping as they drive down the street. A blond boy sits between the blonde vampire Cordy mentioned and the driver, his dark haired girl friend sits between the two vamps in the back.

Bobby: "Please."

Elisabeth: "Hmm?"

Bobby: "Please don't hurt her."

Elisabeth: "You love her? (Bobby nods) You'd do anything for her. (He nods again) What if - we just kill her and let you go? Hmm? (Bobby just stares at her) Come on now. Life's about making choices. - You or her, what's it gonna be?"

Bobby, after a long moment: "Her. - Take her. God, I..."

Elisabeth: "Gee. Bobby, you call that love? We get home (pets the side of his head) I'll show you what love is."

The girl in the back screams as Angel drops down onto the hood of the car and grabs the wheel, serving the car off the street into a building. Wes and Gunn bring Angel's convertible to a squealing stop behind it, and jump out, grabbing some weapons from the backseat.

Angel jumps off the hood, slugs the vamp sitting beside the girl then pulls the boy and his girlfriend up and lifts them out of the car.

Angel: "Run!"

Elisabeth slugs Angel and runs after the kids, only to find herself face to face with Wes and Gunn.

Elisabeth punches Gunn then turns back to hit Angel as he is beating up on two of the vamps while Wes takes on the third.

Gunn hits one of the vampire, distracting its attention from Angel, then quickly stakes it and throws the stake to Wes, who catches it and uses it to stake his vamp. Seeing this the third vamp runs while Angel grabs Elisabeth by the shirt, pulls her around to face him and stakes her as well.

Elisabeth stares at him: "Angelus?" then turns to dust.

Angel looks down at the heart-shaped locket left in his hand from pulling her around.

Break

Cordy stumbles into her dark bathroom, leans panting on the sink, and looks at herself in the mirror.

Bathroom door shuts and the light turns on.

Cordy: "Oh. Too bright, too bright!"

The main light turns back off and a small table lamp comes on instead.

Cordy with a sigh: "Oh, thank you, Dennis. - How'd I ever live without a ghost?"

Cordy opens the medicine cabinet and takes out a bottle of prescription pills.

The stopper drops into the drain of the bathtub and the water turns on."

Cordy: "Hot. Really hot. Please."

Cordy swallows three pills.

Cordy: "Ahh. These visions are killing me. They're getting worse every time."

Cordy steps over to the tub filled with bubbles and takes off her shirt. Her shirt drops, then floats up to hang itself over a hook.

Cordy is sinking back into the bubbles with a sigh. A loofa brush floats up in front of her face and Cordy leans forward.

Cordy: "Oh, Dennis, what'd I do without you?"

We hear a telephone ring.

Cordy: "No."

Flashback to Marseilles, 1767, a bell is ringing the alarm and we can see the glow of a big fire lighting the side of the buildings at the end of the street.

Elisabeth and James are dancing down the street laughing, followed by a more sober Angelus and Darla.

Darla: "Young love."

Angelus: "Give it a century."

James: "A century? A mere hundred years?"

Elisabeth: "I would need a thousand just to sketch the perfect plane of your face."

James: "I would need ten thousand just to name the color of your eyes."

Angelus: "They're green, but take your time. In fact, don't. We have a ship to catch and Holtz may not be far behind."

James sighs.

Elisabeth: "You know neither poetry nor love, Angelus."

Darla: "He knows other things. Marvelously vile and ripping things. Didn't we eat a poet in Madrid?"

Angelus: "Troubadour."

James: "Everything's closed! Pity. I wanted to spend some of the counts gold on you."

Angelus: "We'll need it for the voyage."

Elisabeth: "The count DeLeon was a little rich for my blood. I'll be full for a week!"

Angelus: "The fire was excessive."

James: "Of course it was. We burned his villa to the ground!"

Elisabeth: "We left a mark, made a statement!"

Angelus: "Ah, a statement as in 'here, we are, Holz. Please, hunt us down.'"

James: "Ah, who cares about Holtz?"

Darla: "You would if you knew him. He's killed scores of us. Hunted Angelus and I across half of Europe. God, he follows us to Morocco, what then? The new world?"

James: "I say we stay and fight the bastard."

Angelus: "Yeah, but you're an idiot."

James: "I don't believe he's the most formidable vampire killer in the world. None lives to tell the tale and all. (leans closer) *You* lived to tell the tale."

Elisabeth to Darla: "I heard he trapped you both in a barn and *you* fled, leaving him to die."

James: "It's not true."

Angelus looking at Darla: "It's entirely true. She hit me with a shovel, wished me luck and rode off on our only horse."

Darla smiles up at Angelus, leaning in close to him: "Life is full of surprises."

Angelus: "Ah, life is boring. You're full of surprises."

Darla: "Of course when you finally did catch up with me in Vienna I had to pay for my sins, again and again."

Angelus: "Hmm, can you even begin to fathom the things that we did? Of course not. You're in love."

Darla and Angelus walk off. Angel turns back to see that Elisabeth is looking at a necklace in a shop window, James coming up behind her.

Angelus: "Let's not dawdle, children."

Elisabeth looking at the hear-shaped locket: "It's so pretty."

James: "No it's not."

Elisabeth: "James!"

James: "Not as pretty as it's going to be..."

James breaks the window and picks up the locket.

James: "When it's worn by the prettiest one of all."

James puts it around her neck.

Elisabeth: "I adore it. I'll *never* take it off!"

James swings her around then kisses her.

Some uniformed soldiers come up the street.

Angelus: "And this is what love gets you."

James laughs: "Elisabeth, you and Darla get to the ship, we'll join you there. (Gives her quick kiss) Let's give them a rout, what do you say Angelus?"

Angelus: "I'd say you're an idiot, but I'd just be repeating myself."

James: "Come on you bloody frogs! I broke the window and I'll break your skulls! (Laughs and turns to Angelus as Darla and Elisabeth disappear down the street) See, all you have to do is stand up to them. (To soldiers) What are you afraid of?"

Riders come galloping up and the soldiers disappear down the street.

Angelus: "Not us."

The riders pull up, some of them aiming crossbows. Guy with a beard and big Quaker-like hat looks at them.

Angelus: "Hope she treasures that locket."

Gunn: "Then what?"

Back in the present, Angel is locking at the locket, surrounded by Gunn, Wes and Cordy.

Angel: "Huh?"

Gunn: "What happened with Holtz?"

Angel: "Oh, that's another story."

Gunn: "We got time."

Wesley: "I'm not sure we do."

Cordy: "No, because James and Elisabeth had the big, forever love. If he's still around and he finds out who killed her..."

Wesley: "He's gonna want revenge."

Angel: "*If* he's still around and if they're still in love. That was a long time ago."

Cordy: "Yeah, two hundred plus years and the girl is still wearing the locket."

Wes turning to leave: "Gunn and I'll hit the streets, see what our sources can tell us."

Cordy: "Uh-huh. See? We have sources now."

Angel: "Oh, you're almost like real detectives now."

Gunn following Wes: "Hey!"

Angel: "Just kidding. You should probably check it out. - James really lived for that girl."

Cordy: "Yeah."

James and the escaped vampire watch from the shadows of a parking garage as Elisabeth's car is getting hooked up to a tow-truck.

Vamp: "We did everything we could, but they were... (sighs) He was too much for us."

James: "Angelus."

Vamp: "Yeah. One of our own hunting us down. It's sick!"

James: "How is this possible? The Angelus I knew..."

Vamp: "He's not the same. Gypsies cursed him with a soul a hundred years ago or so. He's got a business here in LA. He kills us for money."

James: "She's gone."

Vamp: "It was horrible. She was bringing you two ripe and rosy humans and he just - flew out of the sky and..."

James: "And you ran."

Vamp: "No, I fought - until I saw it was hopeless. I thought you'd want to know how it happened, who did it."

James: "And now I do."

Vamp: "You want to be alone."

James: "No. - I want to die."

James tosses the other vamp into a patch of sunlight, showing no reaction to the screams as he goes up in flames and dies.

Angel is looking at the pictures of James and Elisabeth in the locket.

Cordy, leaning on the counter at the other end of the lobby looks at him then turns back to the papers in front of her.

Angel, back still turned towards Cordy: "What?"

Cordy: "What?"

Angel: "What do you want to say?"

Cordy: "Ah, me? Nothing. What makes you think I wanna..."

Angel: "'cause I know you?"

Cordy: "Well, it's really - none of my business."

Angel: "And that always stops you."

Cordy steps closer: "Actually, it is my business, *our* business, because we're trying to do a job here, and what affects you affects me, and - anyway, I don't like to see you suffer more than you have to. I don't think you should blame yourself, or feel guilty for her death."

Angel: "I don't."

Cordy: "Good. Glad to hear it."

Angel: "I didn't even know who she was when I killed her."

Cordy: "Not her! - Angel..."

Angel after a beat: "Oh... (Closes the locket) you - you want to talk about..."

Cordy: "She was the love of your life and she died."

Angel sits down on the stairs, facing Cordy.

Cordy steps closer: "And - you weren't there when it happened. (Sits down next to him with a sigh) You couldn't help her fight. You couldn't save her. - You couldn't die with her."

Angel doesn't answer.

Cordy: "This is gonna be one of those talks where I do all the talking, isn't it? (Gets up) Well, I'm not gonna pry. It's not my style. (Turns back to face him) Okay, it's totally my style, but I can tell that I'm not getting anywhere right now. But you have to tell me one thing. You owe me this much. What the hell happened with Holtz"

Flashback to Holtz men surrounding James and Angelus in Marseilles.

Holtz steps up close to Angelus: "Where is she?"

Angelus: "How's your health there than, Holtz? Mine is grand, thanks for asking."

Holtz: "Where is she?"

Angelus aside to James: "He wants Darla. Bit of a thorn in his side. What she and I did to his family... Tasty lot, especially the little ones. Your wife, she kept repeating on us. Of course, you know, I repeated on her a few times myself."

Holtz hits Angelus across the chin as two men step up and grab a hold of Angelus arms, then pulls out a stake and holds it at Angelus throat.

Holtz: "There are worse things than death, Angelus. I can keep you alive for months, years, if I have a mind to. (Presses the point of the stake into Angelus chest) Now. You *are* going to tell me where she is."

Angelus: "Lord, yes, I'm gonna tell you. Who's arguing? I don't want to suffer needlessly. (Tilts his head towards James) She's with his lass."

James: "Shut your mouth, you bloody coward!"

Angelus: "Hey, he's in love. It's all very passionate and befuddlin'. Tell you what, how about I give you him and the women? - They're down at the docks."

James: "I'll kill you!"

James pulls Angelus free of the two humans and hits him. Holtz picks up a crossbow and aims it at the two fighting vampires.

Holtz: "Kill them!"

Bolts start flying. Angelus, crossbow bolt stuck through his shoulder jumps on a horse. James jumps up behind him.

Holtz: "Stop them! Stop them, they are getting away!"

More bolts fly as the two vampires ride away down the street.

Angelus pulls the horse up in an alley.

Angelus: "I think we lost them."

James pushes Angelus off the horse and slides forward into the saddle.

James: "I'd kill you where you lay if I didn't have to get to Elizabeth."

Angelus: "Excuse me, I'm laying here with numerous arrows in me, saving your life."

James: "I'll be sure to tell Darla the utter lack of concern you had for her."

James turns the horse around and rides off as Angelus pushes himself to his feet.

Angelus: "Buy her a hat. She loves hats. - Why are people always running off and leaving me? (Pulls an arrow out of his side) Am I a bad bloke? - I don't think so. Not once you get to know me. (Pulls the arrow out of his shoulder.) Oh. I really need a doctor."

Drops to the ground with a groan.

James bursts into a doctor's office, a frantic nurse at his heels.

Nurse: "Wait a minute! You can't go in there! He's sloughing!"

The doctor, sitting behind his desk, pulls some light brown gunk off his face.

Nurse: "Dr. Gregson, I tried to tell him!"

Doctor: "It's alright, Sandy. (Drops the gunk in a basket labeled for toxic waste) I go through this every month. Just like a woman. (Wipes off his hands and puts on his glasses) so. I gather this is a matter of some urgency."

James: "I need it."

Doctor: "It?"

James: "The cure."

Doctor: "You're aware of the price? It's a steep one."

James: "I've already paid it."

Doctor: "Alright then. Sandy, lets prepare the patient."

James is lying on an operating table with Dr. Gregson and Nurse Sandy standing over him.

Doctor: "Now, James, (lifts a scalpel) this shouldn't hurt (starts to slice into James chest) too much."

Break

Lorne is on stage singing "I left my heart in San Francisco" Gunn and Wes are standing over by the bar.

Gunn: "He said he had something?"

Wesley: "That's what he said."

Gunn: "When's he gonna show?"

Wesley: "Any time now."

An old demon wearing a knit wool jacket taps Gunn with his cane.

Demon: "You youngster wanna button it up? I'm trying to enjoy the show here. - See, that's real singing there. That's *real* music."

Gunn: "Okay, pops."

Demon: "What do you know?"

Lorne finishes the song just as Merl walks up to Gunn and Wes.

Merl: "I'm not dealing if the bloodsucker is around."

Wesley: "Angel's not here."

Merl: "Good. He's always beating me up, or hanging me upside down, and he never pays up like he's supposed to."

Wes pulls out some money and puts in on the bar in front of Merl.

Merl: "Jeez, if I could have made a living in Akron I never would have come back to this smog pit."

Gunn: "Tick, tock, Merl."

Merl: "Yeah, well, this thing took a little more leg work than I estimated. The price is gonna change."

Wesley: "Really?"

Merl: "Yeah."

Wesley: "Alright."

Wes picks up the top bill and puts it in his pocket.

Merl: "Hey!"

Wes keeps picking up one bill after another from the top of the stack, never taking his eyes off Merl.

Merl, grabs the money: "Hey, hey, hey! - This guy James you're looking for, he's alive, he's in town, and he knows what Angel did to his heartthrob. (Lorne had come up to them and is listening in as well) He's out for blood."

Gunn pulls out a cell phone and starts dialing.

Angel to phone: "Yeah, do that. I'll cover this end."

Cordy: "What's up?"

Angel hangs up the phone: "He's alive. Wes and Gunn are gonna track him down."

Cordy: "What if they can't?"

Angel: "Doesn't really matter. 'cause I know where he'll be headed."

Cordy: "Here. For you."

Angel opens the weapons cabinet: "I want you to go home while it's still light out and stay there."

Cordy crosses her arms: "No."

Angel: "Yes!"

Cordy: "Hm-mm."

Angel: "Where's my hurling ax? This is all different!"

Cordy: "I moved some things to the cellar while you where gone. (Angel turns to look at her) They were dust catchers!"

Angel: "Go home."

Cordy: "I'm sticking with you!"

Angel: "I appreciate your courage, but I don't wanna see you get hurt."

Cordy: "Well, I don't either! I go home, he'll come after me because I'm home alone. That's what they do, they come after you when you're alone. Oh, sure, Cordy, go home! Be a hostage with the torture and the fear and the tort..."

Angel: "Cordy! Will you, just once, do what I tell you without arguing about everything, okay? Hurling ax. Basement?"

Angel walks towards the basement doors with Cordy hurrying after him.

Cordy: "I'm not arguing! I just know I'd be a lot safer by your side rather than all alone at home."

Angel opens the basement door to find James standing on the other side of it.

James throws Angel back against the wall as Cordy runs back into the lobby.

James: "Why'd you do it?"

They exchange a few punches then James sends Angel flying into the lobby.

James: "Because I had something you could never have?"

Angel to Cordy peeking out from behind a pillar: "Get back!"

Angel and James go at it again.

Fred steps out onto the open hallway looking down into the lobby.

Fred: "Angel? - I thought I heard company. I came out of my room. Small steps - like you said."

Angel stops choking James to step back to where Fred can see him.

Angel: "Go back to your room and stay there!"

Fred turns to go: "Okay then."

James and Angel resume their fight.

Merl: "I don't know where he is now, but I know where he was earlier. Dr. Gregson's."

Gunn: "What kind of doctor is that?"

Lorne: "A demon kind. Slod demon."

Wesley: "Slod demon? What's he do?"

Lorne: "He's a collector."

The phone rings in the Hyperion's lobby, but Angel is too busy fighting to answer it.

Cordy picks up a fire extinguisher and hurls it at the back of James head.

Angel: "I told you to..."

Cordy picks up a stake and throws it: "Shut up and stake him!"

James intercepts the stake and attacks Angel with it.

Cordy: "Oops."

James trying to push the stake into Angel's chest: "You never loved anyone - or anything. Go to hell."

Cordy jumps on James back. James turns to send her flying across the lobby. Angel grabs a hold of the stake and buries it in James chest, then hurries over to help Cordy up.

Angel: "It's alright. It's alright. It's over."

Cordy looks over and sees that James, instead of dusting, is pulling the stake from his chest. Angel and Cordy stare as the wound closes in front of their eyes.

Cordy: "Ah, over in what sense?"

Break

Angel attacks James and kicks him out through the glass doors into the sunlight streaming down into the garden court, hurries back to Cordy.

Cordy points: "Ah, shouldn't he be on fire?"

Angel hustles her towards the basement: "Let's get out of here."

Cordy is following Angel down the ladder into the sewers.

Cordy: "My coat. It's stuck."

Angel: "Leave it."

Cordy slips out of it and hurries after Angel.

James drops down into the sewers after them.

Cordy and Angel come to a fork in the tunnels. Angel pushes Cordy towards one of them.

Angel: "Go that way."

Cordy: "Where are you gonna go?"

Angel: "Go!"

Cordy goes.

Angel slices his hand and splashes some of his hand some ways down the other tunnel then hurries after Cordy. Opens a door in the side of the tunnel.

Angel: "Cordy! This way. Hurry up!"

Angel pulls the door shut behind them.

James comes running up to the fork and sniffs the air, then runs down the tunnel Angel sprayed with his blood.

Cordy: "Alright, I've been doing this for a while. Don't stakes through the heart and sunshine kill you guys?"

Angel: "Sh! He seems to have become..."

Cordy: "...invincible?"

Angel: "Let's not exaggerate."

Cordy: "The ring of Amara, when you had that you were invincible. Does he have a ring?"

Angel: "No."

Cordy: "Hmm. - Did the Amara people make cufflinks or belt buckles?"

Angel: "There was only one."

Cordy: "And you had to smash it!"

Angel: "Why don't we recriminate later, okay?"

Cordy: "Yes."

Angel: "Now be quiet. I think he took the bait."

A deep rumbling sounds and the tunnel begins to shake.

Cordy throwing herself at Angel: "Earthquake!"

Angel: "Subway!"

Cordy lets go of him: "Okay, just subway."

Both of the jump and Cordy lets out a small scream as her cell phone suddenly rings.

Angel: "Jeez!"

Cordy fumbling with her phone: "Sorry, sorry, cell phone."

Wesley at Caritas: "Cordelia, is that you? Can you hear me?"

Cordy: "Huh? What? Say that again?"

Wesley: "There is something you have to know about James."

Cordy: "Oh. He's invincible, is he? He went to a what? Slog demon? What's that? (to Angel) some kind of doctor demon that collects rare organs. (To phone) Cut out his heart? (To Angel) Absolutely can not be killed. (To phone) Wait. What? - How long? Six what? What? Hello? (looks down at her phone) No signal. (closes it) Okay. The guy's invincible, but it only lasts for so long then he dies."

Angel: "How long?"

Cordy: "He said... I don't know. Six minutes, hours, weeks. (fumbles with her cell phone) I hate these. Come on, give me a signal!"

Angel: "That's good news. So all we have to do is, is wait him out."

Cordy: "Right. So we just wait here until we're sure."

With a big crash James burst through a door a ways down from them. Angel hurries Cordy back out into the tunnels.

Angel: "Cordy, up here!"

Angel and Cordy push through the people crowding the stairs to the subway platform just as a train pulls up.

James is coming down the 'up' escalator, pushing people out of his way.

Angel pulls Cordy through the open doors into the train. The doors close in front of James nose. As the train pulls out of the station Cordy, clinging to Angel's back sticks out her tongue at James.

Cordy: "What a creep."

James de-vamps as he watches the train pass by him, then jumps on the back of it.

Cordy: "Should we get off at the next station and double back? He won't expect that. Or should we stay put till the end of the line and put as much distance between us..."

Angel: "Shh!"

There is a clunking sound coming from the roof.

Cordy: "He couldn’t possibly..."

Angel pushes Cordy behind him just as James come bursting in through a window at the end of the compartment.

Angel: "Get back!"

James: "Well, this is a new twist in an old snake. - Is it possible you care about someone who isn't you?"

Angel glances back at Cordy: "Don't worry about her."

James: "But if you've changed. If you aren't the same man who screwed Darla and couldn't care less what happened to her..."

Angel: "Where did you hear... Oh. You mean back in the day. Right."

Cordy: "He has changed. A lot. He has a soul now and he cares about people."

James: "So you might feel something when I snap her neck."

Cordy: "Well, it's not like he's losing sleep with the caring."

James: "Lucky me. Now I can kill the woman you love."

Angel: "No, you can't."

James: "Are you forgetting who's the invincible one here?"

Angel: "The woman I love - is dead."

James: "Who are you talking about?"

Cordy: "It happened about three months ago. We try not to say her name too much."

James: "*You* loved someone - with all your heart."

Angel: "Yeah."

James: "No you didn't. - Because if you had you wouldn't be standing here playing games with me. You wouldn't be able to - because once she died or some bastard killed her, it would have killed everything in you."

Angel: "I wouldn't be able to go on living."

James: "Don't worry, you won't. And she won't either."

James rips a seat loose and smashes it across Angel's face.

Cordy: "Angel!"

James hits Angel again sending sliding back towards Cordy and a male passenger standing by the door, leaning on a pair of crutches.

Angel: "Catch him!"

Cordy: "Catch who?"

Angel pulls the crutches from under the guys arms and Cordy barely keeps him from falling.

Angel flips to his feet and, one crutch under each arm, faces James.

Angel: "Come on!"

James attacks and Angel catches his arm with the crutches and uses their leverage to twist James around and press him up against the wall.

Angel: "How's that, invincible boy, huh? - Is that your idea of love, James, hmm? It's not real unless it kills, you?"

James, panting: "Yeah. What's yours? It's fun as long as it doesn't cost me anything? - You don't know what love is!"

Angel backs up, letting James free. James slides down the wall of the train and looks up at Angel.

James panting: "You think you won - just because you're still alive? - I lived. - You just existed."

Angel just stands there staring down at James until James suddenly turns to dust.

Cordy sees Angel coming down the steps of the Hyperion.

Cordy: "How's Fred?"

Angel: "She's alright, considering. We talked over what happened and I think she'll be coming out of her room any decade now."

Cordy: "And how about you?"

Angel: "I'm o..."

Cordy: "And don't say 'okay.' Angel, please. I know you. Ever since you've come back from your grief trip I can tell that something's not right. And, and *obviously* it's not. - Buffy's - dead, and I don't mean to diminish that. I miss her too. - I just wanna say - I know that James with all his Romeo and Juliet madness, opened up a lot of wounds for you, but you'll be okay."

Angel: "I am okay."

Cordy: "Then - what's the problem?"

Angel: "That I'm okay. That losing Buffy didn't kill me. That I could deal with it. - In all those years - no one ever mattered. Not like she did. - And now she's gone - forever."

Cordy: "And you're still here."

Angel: "Yeah. I just feel like I'm betraying her somehow."

Cordy: "No! If you were a loser, if you were some sick obsessed vampire, you'd go to a Snod demon, or whatever, and get your heart cut out. But you're not! You're a living, breathing... Well, living, anyway - good guy, whose still fighting and trying to help people, and that's not betraying her, that's honoring her."

Angel: "You think?"

Cordy: "I'm Cordelia. I don't think. I know. Okay?"

Cordy gives him a big grin, which draws a small smile in response.

Angel: "Okay."

Cordy: "So - can we get back to wor,k now?"

Angel: "Yeah. Sure. - There's work?"

The door opens and Gunn and Wes come striding in.

Wesley: "What do you know about Nester demons?"

Angel: "Well, they like to live in the walls of people's homes. They hatch several times a year - and don't you have to kill their queen or something?"

Gunn hands Cordy a dagger: "Yeah. And if you don't they infest again, worse than ever."

Cordy: "We killed a bunch of them in Hancock Park a couple of months ago."

Wesley: "I don't think we got the queen."

Angel accepts a knife and turns to go: "Well, lets go find out."

The four of them stride down the hall of the Hyperion.

Puerto Cabazas, Nicaragua, night, a big burly black guy comes into a cantina. He pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to someone waiting for him at the bar.

Guy: "Sorry it took so long. He's a very difficult shaman to find."

Darla accepts the paper and stuffs it into her shirt.

Darla: "You can go."

Guy pours a drink: "Oh, no, no, no, no, no. I thought - we'd have a drink - to celebrate."

Darla: "No. Thanks."

Guy: "Oh. Don't be so shy, little one. You get to know me, I'm a very nice man. How much can - one little drink hurt, huh?"

Darla: "Depends on who's doing the drinking."

Guy: "Hmm. I thought you might have a - surprise or two in you."

Darla: "Well, you know what they say..."

Darla vamps out and sinks her teeth into the side of the guys neck as he lets out a strangled scream, then drops him to the floor and picks up a slice of lemon and sucks on it.

Darla: "Life's full of surprises."

Darla gets up from the bar and we see that her belly is bulging, big and round.

BLACK OUT.