03x22 - Tomorrow

[bunniefuu]

Angel: "Previously on Angel:"

Angel morphs into vamp face and baby Connor calms and smiles at him.

Cordy to Fred: "Angel's feelings are the only ones I care about."

Groo overhears and turns away.

Cordy: "I got dosed with demon DNA for that man."

Skip turning her into a demon. Cordy lighting up like a Christmas tree in "The Price"

Lorne: "Wesley's taking the baby away - for good."

Wes gets his throat slashed by Justine. Justine runs off with Connor.

Holtz pushes Justine aside and jumps through the rift with the baby in his arms.

Justine: "Daniel!"

Sahjhan: "What you are looking into is the Quor-toth."

Connor drops through the rift in the lobby and levels his stake launcher at Angel.

Connor: "Hi dad."

Angel: "You're not alone."

Connor: "I know."

Angel pushes Holtz up against the wall: "You stole my son!"

Holtz: "I kept your son alive."

Fred: "What do you think he'll do?"

Gunn: "Angel will deal with Holtz in his own way."

Justine: "I can't."

Holtz: "You said you'd do anything for me."

Crying, Justine stabs Holtz in the neck with the awl.

Hyperion, night, Groo walks into the lobby carrying a tray decorated with greens and two glass-mugs on it.

Cordy: "Hi. What you got there?"

Groo sets the tray down: "Well, I know you had grave concern for Angel's welfare, so I made some Mock-Na."

Cordy: "Oh. Mock-Na. Which is..?"

Groo: "A soothing brew to relieve tension."

Cordy: "Ah. Kind of looks like muddy water."

Groo: "Yes! (Picks up a mug and smells it) The mud gives it body and flavor. Of course there is no Plockweed in this dimension, so I made due with creeping fig and sour cress in the garden. Though it is not true Mock-Na, it is very close to the real thing."

Cordy smiling brightly: "So it's mock Mock-Na."

Groo offers her a mug: "Please."

Cordy takes it with a smile at him and takes a tiny sip.

Cordy: "Well, that's, ah... I mean, I can feel the tension draining already. (Hands the mug back to Groo.) And a little sediment going down the wrong... (Coughs a little then smiles at him brightly) Hmm, tasty."

Groo: "And might I further relieve you by at first gently then more rapidly rubbing your Schlug-Tee?"

Cordy looks at the grin on his face.

Cordy: "Ah, I don't really... uhm. Maybe later at home."

Sees Groo's smile melt away and steps up close to him.

Cordy whispering: "I don't feel comfortable doing *it* in the office, Groo."

Groo: "Doing 'it?'"

Cordy: "Sex."

Groo: "Oh, you wish to have sex?"

Cordy, throwing a quick look around: "What? No! Shh!"

Groo: "I was proposing a massage of your Schlug-Tee, your tense neck muscle, but - it is always an honor to make sex with you. (Smiles then leans closer and whispers) Later,at home. I understand perfectly."

Cordy stares straight ahead: "Angel."

Groo pulls back with a sigh: "Is not who I am, princess."

Cordy: "I know. He's back."

Cordy walks past Groo out into the lobby where Angel stands.

Cordy: "You didn't happen to hear..."

Angel: "Hear what?"

Cordy: "Good. So, how did it go?"

Angel: "I found Holtz."

Cordy: "And?"

Angel: "I didn't k*ll him."

Cordy: "Maybe you're growing as a person. What did you do?"

Angel: "We talked."

Cordy: "About Connor-ah, Steven."

Angel: "Yeah. Did he - come home?"

Cordy: "No, he's still out with Gunn and Fred. You - said home."

Angel: "Yeah. It's a long story, but Holtz wants what's best for him."

Cordy: "And what's best for him is living here with us?"

Angel smiles just a bit and Cordy throws her arms around him, pulling him into a hug.

Cordy: "That's great! Oh, my god, I'm so happy for you."

Cordy pulls back and she and Angel smile at each other, while Groo leans against the counter, sipping Mock-Na, watching them.

Groo: "Yes. It is a happy time."

Connor is holding Holtz' body cradled against him, crying.

Justine: "This didn't have to happen. Your father was gonna leave. He just wanted to talk to Angelus."

Connor: "Leave?"

Justine: "Angelus won. He could have just walked away."

Connor: "It's my fault. (Justine looks at Connor) He'll pay."

Justine: "I'll help you k*ll him."

Connor: "No."

Justine: "You don't wanna k*ll him? After what he did? What do you wanna do?"

Connor looks up into the camera, face grim.

Intro

Hyperion, night, Angel opens the door to one of the rooms and turns on the light.

Angel: "This one might work better. He'd have southern exposure. Not too close to my room. I don't want him to feel like I'm - hovering."

Cordy watches from the door with a smile as Angel walks around straightening up the room.

Angel: "But not too far. I wanna keep an eye. - What do you think?"

Cordy: "I think it's just as good as the last five we looked at. It's not about the room it's about Connor... (sighs) I still can't get used to calling him Steven."

Angel sitting on the bed: "Neither can I. It's what Holtz... it's what he wants to go by."

Cordy: "Okay, Steven, Connor, whatever. But, it's about your son living here, getting to know his father."

Angel: "I don't even own a TV. (Gets up) He's gonna wanna watch TV. Not too much, I mean, after homework and chores. He's gonna need clothes, weekly allowance... What's good nowadays? Fifty cents, a dollar?"

Cordy: "Yeah. If you're Tom Sawyer painting the fence."

Angel drops back down on the bed: "See? I'm so out of touch. (Sighs) He's gonna hate me."

Cordy comes to sit next to him: "No, he's not. He's gonna love you."

Angel: "How do you know?"

Cordy: "Because you're you."

Angel: "Me. A vampire."

Cordy: "You, a vampire."

Angel: "Who drinks blood, keeps to the shadows, and is older than everybody he knows put together."

Cordy: "You're all those things, plus tight with a buck. But none of that matters."

Angel: "Why not?"

Cordy: "Because you have the biggest and best heart of anyone I've ever known. He's a smart kid. He'll figure it out. It's gonna be alright."

Angel looks at her and she gives him a smile.

Angel: "You really..."

Cordy: "Aren't I? (Laughs) Feeling better, or do you need to keep looking at rooms?"

Angel: "Both."

Lorne from the open door: "Hey, he can have mine."

Cordy: "What do you mean?"

Lorne: "Leaving - on the midnight train to Georgia. Actually it's the nine eighteen flight to Vegas tomorrow, but where is the poetry in that?"

Angel: "Is this because of Connor? - Steven."

Lorne: "This is because of me. A buddy of mine has a club just off the strip, and he needs a singer and a seer. I could maybe do a little good."

Cordy: "Well, what about rebuilding your club here?"

Lorne: "That's a great idea, pixie-cat. Except every time I do, you all seem to destroy it."

Cordy: "It was only - three times."

Lorne: "You know, I got the big love here, and I'm grateful for the hospitality, but it's - it's time to move on."

Angel stepping closer: "But some of this is because of..."

Lorne: "The not so little nipper? I'm not gonna lie. Kid's in the mix. Clearly not loving the demon kind. And-and I know it's the way he was raised, and I loved that little baby - I just wouldn't, ah..."

Cordy: "What?"

Lorne: "Turn my back on him any time soon."

Night, a pickup truck pulls into a deserted meadow and comes to a stop under some trees. Justine and Connor get out and walk around to the back of the truck.

Connor: "No white cliffs?"

Justine: "Not in this neck of the woods. Sorry. Still looks like where he came from though."

Connor: "Eng-land? Maybe it's like the ranch."

Justine: "The ranch?"

Connor: "Where I was supposed to grow up - in Utah."

Justine, smiles: "He told you about that? That was our dream."

Connor: "He always told it, before sleep. Him and me, where no one else could ever find us."

Justine swallows, no longer smiling: "Yeah. We should - we need to bury him."

Connor: "No."

He opens the back of the truck, throws a tarp aside, and lifts a blanket to reveal Holtz' body.

Justine picking up a shovel: "I'll do it."

Connor: "No. He was bitten by the beast. He may rise again."

Justine looks at the two neck wounds and we get flashbacks of her k*lling Holtz.

Holtz: "You said you'd do anything for me."

Justine puts the shovel down.

Connor leaning over Holtz: "I will do as you taught me. I will cling to the good - and I will lay waste to the evil. (He leans down to kiss Holtz' brow) Sleep now, father - and forgive me."

Connor throws Holtz' body onto the ground and picks up a sledgehammer (?). Connor swings and we hear a crunching noise as Justine turns her head away.

Lilah walks through a dingy, half-empty bar to a table where Wesley sits staring at the beer and sh*t glasses on the table in front of him.

Lilah: "Mind if I join you?"

Wes: "On many levels and with great intensity."

Wes pours a sh*t into his beer.

Lilah sits down: "How's your throat? Need a lozenge? Life's something, huh? One day you're a pivotal figure in the big battle, next thing you know, you're thrown out on your lonesome. No one even cares what you think any more. Well - I care."

Wes: "You care."

Lilah: "As one human being to another. (Smiles and raises an eyebrow at Wes) Just kidding. I care that your great big brain is going to waste. Correct me if I'm wrong, isn't Angel Jr. a thing without precedent in human history?"

Wes: "You're wrong. (Takes a sip of his beer) Mesopotamian, Greek, Hindi, Celtic myth, the bible, even Darwin, all support the coming of something that wasn't possible before."

Lilah: "Okay. - The impossible is here. But what does it mean? Is it the herald of a new age, better things to come or - the mass-destruction of everything we hold dear?"

Wes staring straight ahead: "Yes. Every child born carries into the world the possibility of salvation - or slaughter."

Lilah: "And one born to two vampires carries it in spades. Now, my people will be rooting - for slaughter. And your people... sorry - your *former* people, they won't know what to do if things turn sour."

Wes looks down: "No."

Lilah: "So, if the kid's the next Stalin, do you k*ll him? You can't! He's Angel's son. But on the other hand, if you just watch while he up and kills Angel or somebody else - that cure girl from Texas, say? - Wow, times like this? Glad I don't have a conscience."

Wes: "I think you should leave now."

Lilah puts a hand up to her throat: "What was it like? When she cut you?"

Wes grabs her by the throat: "You terribly anxious to find out?"

Connor and Justine stand and watch Holtz' body within the flames of the pyre they have built.

Groo is lying on the settee in the lobby. Gunn and Fred hurry in from outside.

Gunn: "Nobody's here."

Fred: "Good."

Gunn: "Bad. We got to find Angel and tell him we screwed up. (Fred looks at him) Okay, get your point."

Fred: "Where is everybody?"

Groo gets up: "I'm here. - Cordelia and Angel are upstairs trying out bedrooms. (Gunn and Fred stare, then look at each other) For Angel's son."

Fred, Gunn: "Oh."

They hear voices from upstairs.

Cordy and Angel walk down the hall together.

Cordy: "I'm not telling your sixteen year old boy that."

Angel: "Well, someone has to make sure he knows the facts of life. My track record with the whole man/woman thing isn't, you know... I don't wanna use the words 'tragic farce' but..."

They turn to walk down the stairs into the lobby.

Cordy: "Why not? You're still telling him."

Angel: "You could help fill in the blanks. He's gonna have questions. Like, what do you do with a woman's Schlug-Tee again?"

Cordy gasps: "You and your vampire hearing! Next time you eavesdrop I'm gonna..."

Takes a hold of his ear and whispers into it as the other watch.

Angel: "Easy there, sailor! You use that kind of language at home?"

Angel walks over to Gunn and Fred.

Angel: "Where is he?"

Fred: "Ah..."

Gunn: "He ran away. He overheard us saying you were going to Holtz."

Angel: "Then that's where he went."

Fred: "We were just there. We didn't see either of them."

Angel sighs: "All he's gonna find is an empty room. He won't know what's happened."

Gunn: "What's happened?"

Cordy: "Holtz left. He wants Steven to live here with Angel."

Fred: "That's good! - As long as we find him and tell him before..."

Groo: "He's here."

Cordy: "How can we tell him before..."

Their heads turns as the door opens and Connor walks in.

Cordy: "Oh."

Angel takes a few steps closer to Connor, who has stopped at the top of the landing.

Angel: "Hey. - You all right?"

Connor: "I went to see my... - He wasn't there."

Angel: "Yeah. I'm sorry. He's - he left, Steven. - He gave me this letter to give to you."

Angel hands him Holtz' letter and Connor reads it.

Connor: "He says my place is here now - with you."

Angel: "It wouldn't have to be forever. Maybe just - give it a try for a while."

Connor after a b*at: "Okay. - We'll give it a try."

Break

Connor sits in the sun shining on his bed, rereading Holtz' letter. There is a knock on the door.

Angel: "It's me."

Angel opens the door.

Angel: "Can I come in?"

Connor looks over his shoulder at the door but stays silent. Angel picks up a bookcase and carries into the room.

Angel: "I brought you a bookcase and some of my favorite books when I was your age. (Sets the bookcase down) So - can I get you some breakfast? Are you hungry?"

Connor: "Not really."

Angel: "We can go out. (Looks at the sun shining in through the window) I'd have to wear a Burka or something. Hey, you know, we'll stay in, hang out together, tonight we'll - do something special. You ever been to a movie?"

Connor puts the letter in the drawer of his nightstand.

Connor: "No."

Angel: "Oh, we'll go to an action movie. You'll love it. Anything else you wanna see or do - just say the word."

Connor stands up and turns to face Angel.

Connor: "There is one thing."

Angel: "What?"

Connor lunges for Angel, but Angel easily captures and deflects Connor's hands.

Connor: "I wanna know how you do that."

Angel: "Fight?"

They break apart.

Connor: "Yes."

Angel: "I think you got that down pretty good already."

Connor: "I wanna learn - to be like you."

Angel with the slightest smile: "Well, there might be a thing or two that I could show you."

Angel is training Connor down in the lobby with the help of Gunn and Fred, who are both wearing a seat cushion on their chest.

Angel: "Stake."

Angel tosses a stake and Connor catches it.

Angel: "Vampire!"

Gunn lunges at Connor and Connor 'stakes' him.

Angel: "Behind you! (Connor spins to 'stake' Fred) Civilian! Civilian! (Connor pulls his blow) Protect her, protect her!"

Angel comes in to exchange a flurry of quick blows with Connor while Fred helps Gunn back to his feet.

Angel: "Where is your balance? Where is your balance? Huh? You lose it (grabs a hold of Connor and pushes him over backwards so he rests awkwardly on Angel's arm) you lose. Don't worry, I got you. I got you. (Helps Connor back up) You're doing good, kid. You've got heart."

Fred raising her hand: "I wanna be the vampire!"

Gunn: "I wanna be in a hot tub."

Cordy: "I wanna know who's cleaning this stuff up."

Gunn points at Fred, who in turn points at Angel and Connor.

Angel: "Yeah. It has been a long day. (To Conner) Had enough?"

Connor: "No. I wanna learn."

Angel smiles: "Is this kid a chip off the old block or what, huh?"

Gives Connor a playful punch which Connor half ducks.

Cordy: "He's chippy."

Angel: "Hey, Cor, we're going to the movies tonight. You wanna come?"

Cordy: "Yeah! I mean, I'd like to, ah, I can't. Groo and I are supposed to - have some one on one time. So..."

Angel: "Oh. Right. You should do that. (Turns and points at Fred) Okay. Vampire."

Fred raises her hands like claws and lets out a growl.

Angel: "Vampire. You're not in 'Cats.'"

Fred pulls her hands in and lets out a small, questioning 'grr.'

Angel points at Gunn: "Innocent by-stander."

Gunn: "By-sitter."

Gunn drops down onto and overturned, stuffed chair.

Angel to Connor: "Close your eyes. Feel it. Where is the att*ck going to come from?"

Connor fends off Angel's blows with his eyes closed.

Angel: "Good. Good."

Cordy enters her apartment.

Cordy: "Hi, honey. It's me! And I got your favorites: Tuna and ice cream. How about tonight you try *not* mixing it together? (Drops her stuff on the table and turns to see Groo standing in the bedroom, wearing a brown leather jacket) Oh, there you are. Wow. You like nice!"

Groo slowly raises his head to look at her.

Cordy: "What's wrong?"

Groo: "I am. Wrong. For you."

Cordy: "What?"

Groo: "I am not the one you love. He is."

Cordy: "He is? Who he?"

Angel goes to answer a knock on his door.

Angel: "Yo. Hey! Lorne. Come on in."

Lorne: "Well, you're in a good mood."

Angel: "Yeah. I'm taking the kid to the movies. He's gonna love it."

Lorne: "Oh. No subtitles or dreary Leitmotive, all bloody action?"

Angel: "You bet."

Lorne: "Oh, he'll love you for it. Well, I thought, I'd stop by and say arrivederci, Angel-hair."

Angel after a b*at: "You're really going."

Lorne: "I'm really going."

Angel: "I'm sorry."

Lorne: "Don't be. (Holds out a CD) Here, I got you a little something to remember me by."

On the CD is a picture of Lorne, smiling while holding a microphone. Angel reads the title.

Angel: "Songs for the love - Lorne. Oh, I get it. Lovelorn, because your name is Lorne."

Lorne: "Yeah, my publicist's idea. Her name is mud now but the tunes are good. And, ah, and that's not my real gift. This is: it's mutual."

The camera rushes around to change focus from Lorne to Angel and we hear a whooshing sound.

Lorne: "The way you feel about Cordelia is pretty much *exactly* how she feels about you."

Cordy: "I love Angel? What are you talking about? I - love... you know... us."

Groo just looks at her.

Lorne: "You two are so obviously connected."

Groo: "You finish each others...

Lorne: "...sentences. You laugh at the same..."

Groo: "...jests. When he grieves, when he is hurting..."

Lorne: "...her heart breaks for you."

Groo: "In my heart I have known the truth for some time. I've just been - struggling - to find the courage to do what is right."

Lorne: "Bubela, all I'm saying is: stay open. Connor's back. Your whole life is coming together. Sometimes things do work out. I got to skiddoo."

Angel: "Take good care of yourself - and keep in touch."

Lorne: "I'll drop you a line. Let you know where to send the gift basket."

Lorne waves over his shoulder as he walks towards the door.

Cordy: "I don't know what to say, Groo."

Groo: "Tell me I'm wrong. - That I should stay. - That you love only me."

Cordy blinks away tears but stays silent. Blend into Groo picking up his bags. Blend into Cordy just standing there. Blend into Groo walking to the door. Blend into Groo turning to look back at Cordy just standing there. Blend into Groo leaving. Blend into Cordy standing there.

A helicopter streaks by, launching some rockets and sh**ting its g*ns. The camera pulls back and we see that the explosions are taking place on the huge screen of a drive-in movie theater. Angel and Connor are sitting in the front of his convertible, Gunn and Fred are in the back.

Angel: "Pretty cool, huh?"

Connor staring at the screen: "Uh-huh."

Gunn: "You emptied the jumbo tub?"

Fred pushes the tub at Gunn: "Free refills."

Gunn: "I love this woman."

Angel: "Shh."

Gunn levers himself up out of the backseat and jumps out over the side of the car.

Fred handing him the tub: "Don't skimp on the butter."

Gunn walks off to refill the tub.

Connor jumps as an airplane apparently streaks right at them.

Angel: "Sorry. It's just make believe."

A real helicopter with a searchlight pointing down comes flying up over the edge of the movie screen.

Connor: "How'd they do that?"

Angel and Fred stare at the helicopter. Gunn stops and turns to stare as well. Some lines are lowered out of the side of the helicopter and three guys in nondescript combat uniforms start to rappel down them.

Break

The searchlight centers on Angel's car.

Angel to Fred: "Get down! (To Connor) Out!"

Angel and Connor jump out of the car as Gunn bowls down two of the Commandos.

In a van parked a little ways from Angel's car Linwood and Gavin are watching the fight on a couple of screens.

Linwood: "Tie me up, thr*aten me with sharp objects, but don't let me go. Chowder head!"

Gavin: "Kid's pretty good."

Linwood: "Oh, I can't wait to get my hands on him, cut him open, see what makes him tick."

Angel steps between Connor and two Commandos.

Angel to Connor: "Get back."

Connor pushing Angel aside: "No!"

Linwood: "He wants to protect his son."

Gavin: "We were counting on *that*."

Linwood: "What weren't you counting on?"

Angel: "Stay behind me."

Connor pushing Angel back: "No!"

Gavin: "The kid wanting to protect him so badly."

The fight continues. Gunn gets thrown over Angel's car. As the commando jumps up to follow, Fred, lying on the back seat, kicks him in the crotch.

Gunn: "Hey, thanks!"

Fred: "Welcome!"

A voice comes from the external speaker on the helicopter: "Abort! Abort! - Abort! Abort!"

The commandos melt away and the helicopter veers off.

On the screen in the van Linwood watches Angel walk straight at him and his eyes widen.

Linwood: "Drive! Drive!"

The driver jumps behind the wheel, but Angel rips the back doors of the van open before he can get the engine started.

Angel reaches in and pulls Linwood out.

Linwood: "Hey! Yeah, okay. Easy. Easy. Easy. Now we're even."

Angel: "Now you're dead."

Linwood: "What - you're gonna k*ll a human in front of your son, set an example?"

Gunn: "I vote yes!"

Angel: "You're not human."

Police sirens start to come closer.

Linwood: "We should probably both get out..."

Connor suddenly pushes Angel aside and takes a hold of Linwood.

Connor: "Stay away from my father."

Connor throws Linwood into the back of the van.

Linwood: "I'm not your enemy. We can help you, Steven."

Connor after a b*at: "My name is Connor."

Gunn and Fred exchange a look and a smile.

Angel puts a hand on Connor's shoulder and Connor lets himself be lead away.

Gavin reach out to help Linwood up, but Linwood shrugs his hand off.

Angel: "Let's go home."

Cordy looks at a photograph of herself with Angel and Wes on either side.

Cordy: "I don't feel... And even if I did, it's impossible."

Cordy's voice: "It's ridiculous."

Cordy: "That's right. It's... (Looks up) Woah!"

In the window across from her is an apparition of herself, framed in white light.

Phantom Cordy: "Maybe on some level I've always known it's true."

Cordy: "I have? It is?"

Phantom Cordy: "I'm in love!"

Cordy: "I am? I am! - With Angel, right?"

Phantom Cordy: "With Angel!"

Cordy: "Just checking."

Phantom Cordy: "I'm scared. But I know it's right. I know somehow it's all gonna be alright."

Cordy: "It is? Really? (The apparition vanishes) Thanks for the tip."

The phone in the lobby is ringing just as Angel and the others walk in.

Angel: "I got it!"

Angel runs across the lobby, whistling.

Gunn: "He's whistling. I've never heard him whistle."

Fred: "He's happy."

Connor closes the door behind them all.

Angel to phone: "Angel Investigations. We can help you. I *know* we can!"

Cordy: "Hi. It's me."

Angel: "Hi! Cor. How are you?"

Cordy: "I'm good. You?"

Angel glances at Connor: "I'm pretty good."

Cordy: "Uhm, Angel, I sort of need to talk to you, in person."

Angel: "Is it something - bad?"

Cordy: "No! No, it's something good. I think. Well, it sort of depends on how *you* feel."

Angel: "About what?"

Cordy: "Well - about me."

Angel: "Oh."

Cordy: "Could you meet me tonight?"

Angel: "Tonight? Sure. Okay. Where?"

Cordy: "I've always loved Point Dume. There's a viewpoint. It's the first turn north of Kanan. Really pretty spot."

Angel as he writes down the directions: "Point Dume. Viewpoint. First turn, north Kanan. We'll meet there. - About an hour?"

Cordy: "Yes."

Angel: "Okay."

Cordy: "Okay."

Angel: "Yes."

Cordy: "Good. Okay then, we'll do that."

Angel slowly hangs up the phone.

Cordy hangs up the phone and looks around her room.

Cordy: "Oh, god, oh, god."

Angel slowly takes his hand away from the receiver and turns to find everyone looking at him.

Angel: "I've got to go out for a while, son."

Connor: "With Cordelia?"

Angel: "Yeah. - Will you be all right?"

Connor: "She's beautiful. And she cares about you. I like her."

Gunn and Fred exchange a look.

Angel: "I'm glad."

Connor: "It's good to see you happy, dad."

Angel turns away with a smile, humming a little tune.

Gunn: "*Now* he's humming."

Fred: "He's *really* happy."

Fred, still clutching her jumbo tub of popcorn, gets up from the couch and grabs the stake lying on the sofa table. She walks over to Angel and starts to poke him with the stake.

Fred: "But not perfectly happy, I hope!"

Angel: "No! Ouch!"

Fred holding up the stake: "Just checking."

Angel slowly walks out, no longer smiling or humming.

Wes, not wearing any clothes rises into the view of the camera.

Wes: "Hmm. You know that sinking feeling you sometimes get the morning after?"

Wes rolls off Lilah and lies down on his side of the bed.

Wes: "It arrived early."

Lilah stretching: "It's like a little death. Several, in fact."

Wes: "Get out."

Lilah roll out of bed with a little laugh: "What? No sweet kiss? No 'when can I see you again?' (Wes gives her a look) Watch the dirty looks. That's what got me going in the first place. (Lilah begins to pull on her clothes) I'll give you this: you sure know how to channel your rage, frustration, and hate. Always a bigger turn on than love."

Wes: "You still here?"

Lilah chucking: "I'm starting to like you, Wes. Don't go making more of this than it is. I'm not one of the doe-y eyed girls of Angel Investigations. - Don't be thinking about me when I'm gone."

Wes: "I wasn't thinking about you when you were here."

Lilah: "So - your former boss - has a soul - and you're losing yours. - Why, you're just new all over - aren't ya?"

Lilah picks up her jacket and her bra and walks out of Wes' apartment.

Wes lies staring at the ceiling.

The camera pans from the rolling surf, up a short cliff to a sign reading Dume, and Angel's convertible pulling up beside it. Angel gets out, sighs, then checks the smell of his breath.

Cordy, driving down a crowded freeway, honks at the car in front of her then pulls all the way from the right, across the middle and into the left lane.

Cordy: "Slow poke! I'm late. I'm late. And it's not a date."

Cordy lifts a hand in front of her mouth to check her breath.

Angel walks up to the edge of the cliff and checks his watch. He sighs, checks his hair, then pulls out his cell phone. He flips it open and begins to dial, but the phone tips out of his hand and tumbles down the side of the cliff.

Angel looking after it: "I hate those things."

Cordy: "We're just gonna talk like two grown-up adults. I have some feelings. You may have some feelings. He may not even know I'm insane until he hears my feelings."

Suddenly Cordy begins to glow from the inside.

Cordy: "Oh, no! No, no, no! Not now!"

The camera shows Cordy's car, white light streaming out of its windows, pulling across traffic and over onto the left shoulder while everything around it slows and comes to a stop.

Cordy, no longer glowing, looks around her and sees that her fellow motorists are frozen in time.

Cordy: "Oh, sh..."

Angel, at the edge of the cliff, checks his watch again. He pulls out his keys and starts to walk back towards his car - only to see Connor walking up beside it.

Angel: "Connor."

Connor: "Dad."

Angel: "What are you doing here?"

Connor: "We're family. And I wanna show you how I feel about that."

With that Connor launches himself at Angel and they both tumble over the edge, down the side of the cliff and onto the beach below.

Break

Angel and Connor pick themselves back up off the sand.

Angel: "Connor. Connor."

Connor att*cks Angel, who fends off his blows.

Connor: "It's all about balance. You lose it (Tosses Angel onto the sand) you lose."

Cordy (dressed exactly like the earlier apparition of herself was) gets out of the car and walks over to look into the window of a car at a woman frozen in the act of fixing her lipstick.

Skip: "Don't be (Cordy jumps and gasps) frightened."

Cordy: "It's a little late for that!"

Skip: "Sorry. You remember me? I'm..."

Cordy: "Yeah. Skip. You tend to remember your demon guides. What is going on?"

Skip: "I think you know."

Cordy: "I'm dying."

Skip: "No. No, you're not - dying."

Cordy: "Not dying?"

Skip: "No."

Cordy punches him: "Say that part first!"

Skip: "Sorry. It's not the end. It's the beginning. You're a great warrior, Cordelia. The battle that we're all a part of is fought on many different planes and dimensions. You've outgrown this one. You've become - a higher being."

Cordy: "Me?"

Skip: "You. You took on the visions, and even when you could have traded them in for a happy, normal life, even when they were k*lling you, you wouldn't let them go. The big test came when the Powers made you part demon. They bet the farm on you. Power corrupts. And they gave you a lot of power."

Cordy: "The glowy thing."

Skip: "Which you used well - to fight evil, and heal Connor."

Cordy: "And only that one time as a night light. - Bad dreams. - Skip, I don't understand."

Skip: "I think you do."

Cordy: "It's ridiculous. - I'm just a somewhat normal girl - who - has visions, glows, and occasionally blows things up with her crazy new power. (Skip looks at her) I'm a higher being."

Skip: "Yes."

Cordy: "And when you say I've - outgrown this level, that sort of implies..."

Skip: "You're moving on to a new one."

Cordy: "Now I'm really scared."

Skip: "I know. But I also know you're ready."

Cordy: "Oh, no, I'm not."

Skip: "Ah, the universe begs to differ. And deep down inside, I think..."

Cordy: "Yes! All right? Stop saying I know! - Maybe I do know. *Maybe.* If given enough time, I might even get *used* to the idea, but - I don't have enough time, do I?"

Connor kicks Angel across the face.

Angel: "Easy. (Catches Connor from behind in a nelson) Talk to me! Talk to me, okay?"

Seeing that he can't get free Connor stops struggling.

Connor: "Okay."

Angel lets go of him. Connor pulls something out of his pocket, then turns and zaps Angel full in the face with a tazer. Angel flies back, landing in the surf.

Connor jumps on him and starts to slug him across the face. A wave rolls over them, and Angel uses it to roll on top of Connor. He holds Connor's face under the water for a moment then pulls him up.

Angel: "I don't know what the hell is wrong with you but you're gonna talk..."

Connor slugs him across the face with the tazer. Angel drops to his knees, and Connor keeps zapping him until Angel lies facedown in the water, no longer moving. Pulling a flashlight from his back pocket, Connor turns it on and signals to a boat waiting off shore. The boat flashes a light in response and we see Justine steering the boat closer to shore.

Cordy: "No, of course not. Why would the Powers give me time to have the most important conversation of my life? I'm on my way to... (Skip just looks at her) I'm in love! With Angel."

Skip: "What you're being called to do - transcends love."

Cordy: "How is that fair? I can't leave without telling him! I won't. - He has to know how I feel! Why does this have to be now?"

Skip: "There is work to be done in the higher realms."

Cordy: "Can you at least tell Angel for me?"

Skip: "Sorry. Not allowed."

Cordy: "Then I'm not going. - How can they possibly do this to me now? - This is the last test, isn't it?"

Angel wakes to the sound of a screw-g*n. He is lying on his back inside a metal casket. Connor is tightening the screws on it. Thick steel cables are wrapped over Angel's ankles, thighs, abdomen and chest, confining his arms at his sides and holding him motionless.

Angel: "Connor. - Why are you doing this?"

Connor: "You m*rder*d my father."

Angel: "No. I didn't. I swear."

Justine: "He's lying."

Angel: "I'm not lying. And she knows it."

Connor: "You're the prince of lies."

Angel: "That's why you wouldn't let them k*ll me at the drive-in. So you could."

Connor: "k*lling is to good for you. You don't get to die. You get to live - forever."

Skip: "Cordelia."

Cordy turns to look at Skip and he taps his left wrist.

Cordy: "I ever come face-to-face with those Powers That Be, we are going to have a talk, a big talk."

Skip: "You're doing the right thing."

Cordy: "I'm scared. - But I know it's right. I know somehow it's all gonna be alright. (Sighs) What do I do?"

Skip: "Just say yes."

Cordy: "I already have."

Golden sparkles appear around Cordy as she starts to float up in a corridor of white light.

Connor is still tightening the screws on Angel's coffin.

Angel: "Some day you'll learn the truth - and you'll hate yourself. Don't. It's not your fault. (Justine looks over at Connor and Angel) I don't blame you."

Connor: "Liar!"

Angel: "Listen to me. I love you! Never forget that."

Connor and Justine go to pick up the lid of the coffin.

Angel: "Connor?! Connor, never forget that I'm your father and that I love you."

Justine and Connor start to lower the lid in place.

Angel: "Connor? Con..."

Angel's voice is cut off as the lid comes down. Connor looks down through the wire-mesh glass window at Angel's face, then he and Justine slide the two rods that lock the lid in place into their channels, and Justine welds them into place, while Connor keeps looking at Angel.

Justine looks at Connor. They move to one end of the coffin and push it off the back of the boat.

Connor and Justine watch as the casket floats for a moment, then one end dips down the casket sinks straight down leaving behind a small trail of bubbles.

Connor looks over at Justine, then back at the spot where the casket went down. The engine of the boat revs up. Connor stays at the stern, watching, as the boat pulls away into the night.

The camera focus on the shore beyond the boat then zips across the distance into LA.

Gunn walks down the steps to the lobby, cell phone in hand.

Fred: "Connor didn't want to come with us for a midnight snack? (Gunn just looks at her) It's okay. I'll just scrounge something up here."

Gunn: "He's not in his room. You - didn't see him?"

Fred: "No. He's gone? Again? Did you ask Lorne if... No, because Lorne doesn't live here anymore. Not used to that yet. - I'm sure Connor will... I'm sure it's nothing, but - we should probably get a hold of Cordelia or Angel."

Gunn: "Yeah, I've been trying. No one's answering."

Fred: "I don't like the sound of that."

The camera pulls up to show them standing all alone in the lobby.

Fred: "Where did everybody go?"

We get a sh*t of Skip watching Cordy rise up inside the cone of light. Then see the metal casket drifting deeper into the ocean. We get a dim glimpse of Angel's face through the window as the casket passes in front of the camera during its descent. Then a look of Cordy's smiling face as she passes in front of the camera to disappear above with a small flash of light. We see the top of the casket disappear into darkness, then hear a soft thud or swoosh (the coffin hitting bottom?)

BLACK OUT.