Starring: David Boreanaz as Angel, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia Chase, Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, and J. August Richards as Charles Gunn

Guest starring: Christian Kane as Lindsey McDonald, Andy Hallett as The Host, Sam Anderson as Holland Manners, Jim Piddock as the valet, Julie Benz as Darla

Original air date: November 28, 2000

Story by: David Greenwalt
Teleplay by: Douglas Petrie and Tim Minear
Directed by: Bruce Seth Green

Cordelia and Wesley are in the Hyperion lobby standing outside the door to the basement. Cordy and Wes are trying to figure out what Angel is doing in the basement and if they should check on Angel. Angel hasn’t been talkative lately and Wes believes it’s because Angel is distraught over Darla while Cordy thinks Angel isn’t distraught, he’s obsessed. Cordy asks Wes if he and Angel talked about Darla and Wes tells Cordy that he did - Wes and Angel talked about tea because that’s how men in England talk about their problems. When Cordy and Wes hear Angel coming up the stairs from the basement the two of them dash over to the desk and try to look busy. Angel comes into the lobby with an armload of laundry fresh from the dryer. Both Wes and Cordy tell Angel that they are happy that Angel’s getting on with life and leaving his obsession with Darla behind him. Angel apologizes to both Cordy and Wes about the grief he caused them over Darla. Angel explains that he now understands that Darla may never want Angel’s help but when and if Darla comes by Angel will help her. In the meantime Angel will just have to be patient and hope. Wes is obviously proud that his tea-talk with Angel did the trick, until Gunn bursts into the lobby with a file on Darla. Angel asked Gunn to track down Darla and Gunn’s contacts finally paid off. When Wes asks Angel why Angel lied to them Angel tells Cordy and Wes he lied because he figured they would nag. Gunn tells Angel that Darla’s been living in a very seedy motel and that probably means that Darla is no longer taking money from Wolfram & Hart. Angel figures that Wolfram & Hart will probably be looking for Darla and wants to find Darla first. As Gunn and Angel leave the hotel Cordelia yells to Angel that she is not going to ‘enable’ Angel’s addition. Wes just can’t understand why his conversation about tea with Angel didn’t do the trick.

In her motel room Darla is sitting in front of a mirror and removes a crucifix necklace then puts on some very, very red lipstick. When Darla gets a good look at herself with the lipstick on she becomes distraught and wipes the lipstick off. Just then there’s a knock at the door and Lindsey enters - the motel manager unlocked the door for him. Lindsey tells Darla that she was pretty hard to find.

Lindsey and Darla are in Lindsey’s office at Wolfram & Hart with a security guard standing conspicuously close at hand. Lindsey thanks Darla for coming in, but Darla didn’t think she really had a choice in the matter. Holland Manners enters the office and assures Darla that she did. Darla asks Holland why she was brought in, if Wolfram & Hart wants Darla to go back to Angel and try to turn him again. Both Holland and Lindsey assure Darla that their meeting isn’t about Angel, it’s about Darla. Holland tells Darla that she isn’t a prisoner at Wolfram & Hart but that she is Wolfram & Hart’s moral responsibility, then hands Darla a large file. Darla is confused but takes the file and looks through it. Holland explains that immediately after Darla was resurrected the contents of the file were initiated. Dara is very upset at what she sees in the file. Holland tells Darla that the firm is fully prepared to procede as Darla sees fit.

At Darla’s motel room Gunn and Angel arrive to find the room empty, although Angel can smell that Darla was in the room relatively recently.

France, 1765: Angelus and Darla come riding into a barn on one horse. The horse is apparently exhausted and can carry them no further, despite the lynch mob pursuing Angelus and Darla. Angelus secures the barn and wonders about the man leading the lynch mob - Holtz. Angelus speculates that Holtz is no mere mortal but Darla assures Angelus that Holtz is just a human vampire hunter. And, according to Darla, Holtz can easily track Angelus and Darla with the string of dead waiters Angelus and Darla have left behind. Darla suggests that she and Angelus while away the next few hours having sex and Angelus is very tempted. As Angelus bends down towards Darla a flaming spear narrowly misses Angelus’s head.

L.A., present day: Darla is talking with a vampire in a bar. The vampire appears to be a former geek and he’s very young - he was sired in 1992. Darla asks the vamp if he’d ever considered siring someone as a mate, someone to spend the lonely nights with. The vamp thinks Darla has no clue how the whole “vampire thing” works so Darla challenges the vamp to ‘teach her.’ The young vamp keeps coming up with excuses not to sire Darla but Darla comes up with counterargument after counterargument. Darla really wants to be sired again and she is willing to put up with the vamp geek as her sire. The two go to the alley and Darla has to explain to the vamp geek how to sire her. As the vamp geek bends towards Darla’s neck to bite her he’s dusted. It’s Angel trying to save Darla’s life. Darla, however, is not pleased. Angel tells Darla that if she becomes a vampire again he will hunt Darla down and stake her and he doesn’t want to kill her a second time. Darla stomps off to find another vampire to sire her since Angel won’t sire her. Angel stops Darla and tells her that she’s just used to being a vampire after 400 years, and that Darla should take some more time to adjust to being human. After all Darla’s only been human for a few months. But Darla tells Angel that she doesn’t have any more time, Darla’s dying and quickly. According to the medical files she read Darla’s got about 2 months left to live and she wants to become a vampire before it’s too late.

France, 1765: The barn Angelus and Darla are hiding in is starting to burn while the mob circles the barn outside. Darla starts to panic - she doesn’t want to die but she and Angelus can’t make it to the hills on foot before the sun rises. Angelus tells Darla they’ll go out in a blaze of glory, so to speak, by killing as many humans in the mob as they can before they are killed. Darla has another plan, though. Darla grabs a shovel, knocks Angelus to the ground, and mounts on their one and only horse. As Darla rides off she tells Angelus that she hopes he survives and, if he does, to meet her in Vienna.

L.A., present day: Angel brings Darla, who is carrying a suitcase, back to the Hyperion. Darla bluntly tells both Cordelia and Wesley that she is dying. Angel tells Wes and Cordy that Wolfram & Hart showed Darla some medical files that indicate that Darla has about 2 months left to live. Wes realizes that Angel thinks the medical files are some sort of trick. Angel doesn’t know what Wolfram & Hart’s goal is but believes that the medical information is some sort of mind game. Darla disagrees - she and Angelus played mind games on people for a very long time and this doesn’t feel like one. Cordy, however, points out that while Darla and Angelus were soulless, blood-sucking creatures of the night, Wolfram & Hart are lawyers. Angel agrees - he and Darla were amateurs at mind games compared to the lawyers at Wolfram & Hart. Angel asks Darla to give him a chance to prove that he’s right and that Wolfram & Hart are lying about Darla’s medical condition. Before Angel leaves the hotel he asks Cordy and Wes to watch Darla. Cordy immediately announces to Darla that she is a prisoner, mostly because Darla has had Angel tied up in knots. Wes and Cordy promise that if Darla makes a move towards the door both of them will hit Darla on the head with large, heavy objects. Darla is a little stunned by their announcement.

Lindsey is drinking alone in his apartment when Angel breaks the door in. Before Angel can finish threatening Lindsey, Lindsey invites Angel in which surprises Angel a bit. Angel walks over the Lindsey, grabs him by the throat, and forces Lindsey backwards on to the top of a bar. Before Angel can get out another threat Lindsey starts spilling information: the medical reports are accurate. Lindsey had many doctors check out Darla and all of them say the same thing. Darla is dying from a syphilitic heart condition, the same thing Darla was dying from in 1609 when The Master sired her (see AtS 2.7, “Darla”). Apparently when Wolfram & Hart mojoed Darla back from the grave (see AtS 1.22, “To Shanshu in L.A.”) her body picked up where it left off. And although syphilis can now be cured with some very cheap antibiotics you have to catch it in time, and it’s too late for Darla. Angel realizes that Lindsey didn’t believe the Wolfram & Hart doctors either so Angel asks Lindsey why he went to so many doctors. Lindsey tells Angel that he doesn’t want Darla to die any more than Angel does. Angel asks Lindsey if he loves Darla. Angel mocks Lindsey - Lindsey’s only known Darla for a few months while Angel knew her for 150 years. But Lindsey points out that Angel never really loved Darla and Angel agrees, because Angelus was incapable of love and, according to Angel, Lindsey is incapable of love, too. Lindsey tells Angel that he’d save Darla if he could, but Lindsey can’t. And, as twisted as it is, Angel can save Darla but won’t. Lindsey taunts Angel, trying to convince Angel to sire Darla. Angel wants to know what would happen next - how long does Lindsey think it might be before Darla hunts Lindsey down and makes him a snack. Angel is actually tempted by the thought of Lindsey being drained by a vampire, but Angel swears he’ll find another way to save Darla’s life.

At the hotel Cordelia and Wes are talking about Darla while Darla sits in the garden. Cordy is worried that all of their lives are endangered by Darla’s presence in the hotel. Cordy suddenly sees Angel standing silently in the lobby. Wes asks Angel if he has any good news but Angel doesn’t answer Wes, Angel asks for a minute or two to talk alone with Darla. Angel slowly walks to the garden and even though Angel doesn’t say a word Darla knows that her medical reports are true. She’s dying. Angel tries to tell Darla that they’ll find another way to cure her but Darla doesn’t believe Angel. Darla once again asks Angel to sire her but Angel refuses, believing that Angel siring Darla is exactly what Wolfram & Hart wants to happen. Darla doesn’t care - she just doesn’t want to die. Suddenly Angel has a realization that someone might be able to help.

A little later Darla is singing in Caritas for The Host. The Host tells Angel that they may not be able to save Darla which is exactly what Angel doesn’t want to hear. After listening to Darla sing for awhile The Host tells Angel that sometimes things fall apart and they can’t be put back together. Angel tells The Host that he won’t let Darla die and that, as a human, Darla never really had a chance to live. The Host admits that there might be a quest that Angel can perform that might help Darla, but the quest might actually kill Angel. Angel tells The Host that Angel will take whatever he can get. The Host sends Angel to an address where Angel can find out “if he’s really ready to take the plunge.”

The address is an empty swimming pool. Darla tries to convince Angel not to ‘take the plunge’ but Angel reassures Darla that Angel has to take a leap of faith. Darla asks why Angel is going to jump into an empty swimming pool but Angel doesn’t give her an answer. Instead Angel tells Darla he’s either coming back with Darla’s cure or a crushed skull. Angel runs down the diving board, leaps head first into the empty pool, and passes through the bottom of the pool into a chamber. The valet tells Angel that Angel has faith but the next test is of valor. The valet introduces himself to Angel as someone who will be assisting Angel through the trials. Surprisingly Darla is also in the chamber. The valet explains that Darla is the collateral. There are three trials and if Angel doesn’t complete all of them Darla will immediately die. The valet mojos Darla to an antechamber to wait the outcome of Angel’s trials. Angel protests - Darla shouldn’t die if he can’t complete the trials but the valet tells Angel that, by entering the chamber, Angel has placed Darla’s life in the balance.

The valet tells Angel that there are three separate trials and the valet asks Angel to remove his shirt and shoes. As Angel removes his shirt, shoes, and socks, he asks the valet what the trials are. The valet tells Angel that Angel will have to discover the exact nature of the trials. Angel wants some information and manages to find out that the first trial is to walk through a doorway but there is a catch, which the valet won’t reveal. Angel asks the valet about the second and third trials and the valet replies that no one has survived the first trial ever before. The valet disappears and Angel’s first trial begins. The portcullis in the doorway rises and a yellow skinned demon steps through and starts swinging a massive chain with a hook on it at Angel.

Meanwhile Darla and the valet are in the antechamber. The valet is impressed that Angel has lasted for seventeen seconds (twice the duration of the other challengers). Darla only wants the trials to stop but the valet tells Darla that once the trials begin they cannot be stopped. Darla asks to see what is happening and the valet agrees, but not before reminding Darla that she did ask. The valet touches Darla’s forehead and Darla reels from what she sees. . . The yellow skinned demon is beating Angel relentlessly. Angel manages to stand up and runs away from the demon down a hall. The demon follows but doesn’t see Angel because Angel has braced himself against the walls of the hallway above the demon’s head. After the demon passes by Angel he drops down, hits the demon, and runs away. The demon chases Angel but Angel is ready. Angel grabs the demon’s sword and slices the demon in half at the waist. Angel tries to raise the portcullis to walk through thd oor but the demon simply reassembles himself and attacks Angel again. Again Angel cuts the demon in two, but this time uses the chains and hooks to hang the two halves of the demon on opposite walls of the chamber so that the demon can’t reassemble himself. The portcullis is raised and Angel walks through the doorway.

In the angechamber Darla is apparently in pain from what she’s seen of the trial. Darla accuses the valet of getting ‘his rocks off’ by watching people in pain but the valet assures Darla that he has no feeling, one way or the other, about how the trials end.

The portcullis has closed behind Angel. Angel can see down a hallway and the ceiling above the hall opens flooding the room with moonlight. The walls and floor of the hall are covered with stone crucifixes. Angel has to walk, barefoot, down the hall to a door at the other end.

In the antechamber Darla asks the valet why he doesn’t just kill Angel if that’s what he wants. The valet tells Darla that no one wants anything there and that ‘the journey is all.’

In the hallway Angel tries running down the hall but, because of his battle with the yellow skinned demon, Angel can’t run fast. Angel’s feet burn as he walks on the crucifixes and, as Angel falls, his chest, hands, arms, and face also burn. In the antechamber Darla can see and feel what Angel does. Angel finally makes it to the end of the hallway and tries to open the door there, but the door is locked. In the middle of the hall is a font filled with holy water with the key at the bottom. Angel runs back to the font, thrusts his hand into the font and retrieves the key screaming the whole time. Angel runs back to the door and uses the key to open it. The valet is impressed with Angel’s determination, as is Darla.

Angel walks through another hall when suddenly manacles latch around Angel’s wrists and ankles holding Angel spread-eagled in the hall. The valet congratulates Angel on making it thus far and reminds Angel that there is one more challenge. The valet turns around and looks at the wall Angel is facing. Hundreds of wooden stakes come through the wall. Angel figures out that the final trial is death. The valet explains that Darla cannot gain her life without Angel losing his. Angel asks the valet what he is waiting for and the valet patiently explains that he is waiting for Angel’s decision. Angel can die so that Darla can live *or* Angel can walk away and Darla dies immediately. Angel tells the valet it’s no deal. The valet asks Angel if the exchange of lives is worth it. After all, Angel has saved many people and can save many more, but Darla appears to be incapable of saving her own, miserable life. In the antechamber Darla cries as Angel thinks about the valet’s question. Angel tells the valet that he is fully prepared to give up his life so that Darla can live. The stakes explode from the wall toward Angel and, in the antechamber, Darla screams “no!”

Suddenly Angel is standing in front of Darla in the antechamber, clothed but still in pain from the trials. The valet congratulates Angel again and Angel insists that the valet pay up. The valet places his hands on Darla’s head and stops. The valet realizes that someone used supernatural powers to give Darla a second life which means the valet can’t help. The valet apologizes again and tells Angel that there is nothing that he can do. Darla is living her second chance. Angel goes ballistic and starts to toss the place. Suddenly two statues come alive and try to stop Angel, but Angel kills both of them. As Angel starts punching a stone pillar Darla walks over to him.

Back at Darla’s motel room Angel speculates that having a soul may make Darla different when he sires her. Darla stops him - she doesn’t want to become a vampire again. She felt the trials and how much Angel cared for Darla, more than anyone ever cared for Darla before. Angel wants to know how the Powers could dangle a second chance in front of Darla then take it away. Darla thinks that dying the way she should have in 1609 may be her second chance. Angel sits next to Darla and both of them are crying. Angel promises Darla that he won’t leave her, that every moment Darla has left Angel will be at her side. Angel hugs Darla when the door to the room breaks in. It’s four men in commando-like gear. They stun Angel then duct tape Angel’s hands behind his back. Lindsey strides in the room pretty pleased with himself. Lindsey asks Angel how Angel thought this would end then Lindsey introduces the ace up his sleeve - it’s Drusilla. As Angel watches Dru crosses the room, vamps out, and bites Darla. When Darla’s near death Dru slices open her chest and Darla drinks Dru’s blood.