Written By: Jeffrey Bell , Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain
Directed by: Michael Grossman

Cast: David Boreanaz, as Angel, Charisma Carpenter, as Cordelia Chase, Alexis Denisof, as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, Vincent Kartheiser, as Connor, J. August Richards, as Charles Gunn, Amy Acker, as Fred, Andy Hallett, as Lorne.

Guest Stars: Alexa Davalos, as Gwen Raiden, Dana Lee, as Mr. Morimoto.

In the hotel lobby, Angel, Wes, Fred and Gunn stand in shock as Cordelia comes down the stairs and reveals her pregnancy. She says she knows it’s a bit of shock, but no one is more shocked than her, “except maybe him,” she says looking over at Connor as he comes to stand next to her. Fred apologizes for being quiet, but she says it’s like Cordy says – she’s a little shocked. “Yeah, hasn’t it only been like – definitely shocked, “ says Gunn. Cordy starts walking around the room and Angel sits down on the sofa. She says she hasn’t been hiding or ashamed, but with the Beast, his Master, Faith, Willow and all that drama, she didn’t want to be a distraction. Just then, Lorne comes through the door, walks over to Cordelia and says there’s a mystical pregnancy right under his beak and he didn’t even have a tingle. He walks away and then Wes asks her how long she’s known. She tells him it was sometime after they brought forth Angelus and Gunn is surprised because it’s only been a couple of weeks and she looks like she’s eight months along. Wes reminds them that the last time Cordy was pregnant, she came to term overnight. Cordy says it was an evil demon thing before and this is different. Fred thinks they should try to find out what’s in there. Connor says they already know – it’s their baby. Gunn congratulates Angel, saying he’s going to have a grandspawn. Connor tells them they don’t know what it’s like. It’s scary because he’s going to have a child and all they can do is joke because they don’t like him. He tells Cordy they shouldn’t have told them and goes upstairs. She says she knows it’s hard for them to understand, but she’s connected to her sweet baby. She feels what it feels and she can’t explain it, but she senses it’s goodness – it’s love. She turns away from them, pulls up her shirt and watches the baby move inside her. She turns back and says they’ll see – her baby will be there soon and then they’ll all see.

Somewhere in LA, Gwen is meeting with a man in a trench coat. He’s nervous and she thinks he should stop acting shifty. He tells her the people she’s going up against are very powerful and they’ll kill her if she’s caught. She says she knows the risks, but she’s going in there and she isn’t coming out without Lisa. She reaches over and puts an envelope in his pocket and he hands her a packet of information – blueprints and etc. They continue to talk for a minute and he starts to hit on her, but a flash of lightening comes down from the sky and knocks Gwen away. The guy runs and she says not to worry – she’s fine.

Back at the hotel, Fred wonders if they were too harsh, but Wes assures her they weren’t. He says they were bound to skulk off to neutral corners. Gunn is pacing in front of them, talking about the history involved with what’s happening. Two vampires get together and for the only time in history, they have a kid – Connor. Then Connor grows up and hooks up with Cordelia, who is part demon and used to be a higher being, and quick as you can say easy bake oven, there’s a bun in hers. He doesn’t think they were being too harsh at all. Fred reminds them that the first time Connor tried to hit Angelus, the spell knocked him back. Wes says that means Connor is at least part demon. Fred thinks the baby might be growing so fast because it has two part demon parents. Gunn doesn’t think it will be too long before it will go pop and Lorne says that Angel should really be a part of this conversation. He walks out of his and let’s them know he heard what they were saying. He tells them he’s being thinking about the last few weeks and Angelus. Fred doesn’t believe he should feel bad about what Angelus did and he says he doesn’t. They all knew the risks, but some of them paid a higher price for it. He looks at Wes and tells him that Angelus didn’t kill Lilah – she was already dead. He says it’s no excuse for what Angelus did to her, but he’s sorry for Wes’ loss. He tells them they have two pressing matters – figuring out what’s going on with Cordy’s pregnancy and destroying the Beast’s Master. He wants Lorne to go talk to his sources and see what they know. Fred and Wes are to find out what they can about the pregnancy, while Gunn serves as a watchdog at the hotel. In the meantime, he’s going to try to piece together everything he knows about the Beast Master. Maybe something will – “strike you,” Gwen says as she walks through the door. She tells him he should be careful of what he wishes for and comes on into the hotel. Angel tells her they’re really swamped and it isn’t a great time for a social call. She says that’s not what she’s there for this time. There’s a girl who’s in trouble and she needs their help – actually just Gunn’s.

Upstairs, Connor is sitting alone in his room. Cordy comes in and says she’s been looking everywhere for him. She doesn’t want him to let what they say bother him and he says he doesn’t care what they say. She says if that were true, he wouldn’t be sitting there alone. He says what’s bothering him is her – nothing she told him makes any sense. All the stuff she said about Angelus and Willow led him to almost kill Angel. Cordy tells him that everything happens for a reason, even if it doesn’t always seem that way. Connor wants to know how she can say things like that and she tells him to think about how so many different moments led up to “this miracle”. “But sending me down to the basement. I had the stake. What was the reason for that,” he asks. She said she thought the baby was in danger and all of her instincts were telling her that killing Angelus would protect it. He says she was wrong. She tries to convince him that what’s important is that he was there when she needed him. Now she knows she can trust him. She tells him that she might ask him to do some things before the baby comes and she wants him to remember there is always a reason. “I’ll remember,” he says.

At Gwen’s apartment, Gunn is looking through her collection of trinkets she’s brought back from her travels. Then she starts filling him in on the problem. It seems two companies were vying for a contract and she was hired by one of them to make sure the other’s company’s thing went bust. Then the other company decided to fight back and they kidnapped the daughter of the man who hired her. She show’s him a picture of the girl, Lisa, and then gives him all the information she has on the man who’s holding her. She tells him the man has promised to kill the girl if the other company doesn’t come clean on what they did. Gunn looks over the information and then she show’s him the blueprints of the house where they’re holding her. She looks up at Gunn and he’s smiling. She tells him he’s going to have to stop grinning like that or share the joke with the whole class. He says it’s nothing – he’s spent most of this year trapped in a supernatural soap opera so it feels good to be doing some good. He asks her how they’re going to break into the house and she says they’re going to walk in the front door.

A little later, the two of them step out of a limo in front of a mansion. They’re all dressed up and she asks him how he’s doing. He says he doesn’t think James Bond ever looked this fine and she agrees. Then they have to step through two different sets of security devices to get into the party. Despite Gwen’s problems with electricity, they make it through both of them. Thinking their safe, they walk in and Gwen hands over their invitation to have it scanned. An alarm starts going off and a group of men walk up and surround them. Gunn asks what the problem is and they say the electronic emblem on their invitation was altered. The men want them to come with them and Gunn says maybe this isn’t their night. Gwen says they have to make it their night because this is her one shot to do what she came to do. She starts to pull off her glove, but Gunn tells her to wait. He moves over and starts talking in Japanese to their host – the man who kidnapped the little girl. Gunn introduces himself and says they met at a benefit last year, but Mr. Marimoto doesn’t remember him. Gunn then gives him a gift to express their thanks for being invited into his home. It’s one of Gwen’s trinkets and she doesn’t look happy. Mr. Marimoto thanks them and walks away, which prompts the guards to ask them to come with them again. Gunn says just holding on a minute and Mr. Marimoto turns back and invites them into the room.

At AI, Fred and Wes are busy doing research on the pregnancy. She says all of the pregnancies they’ve researched all seem to be run of the mill demon stuff – nothing mystical about them. She moans and Wes tells her they’re just pictures. She says it’s the pictures in her mind that keep getting to her. She can’t stop thinking about Connor and Cordy – hiding up in that room and imagining what they do up there. It’s like being stuck in a bad movie and Wes says he imagines the reality is disturbing enough. Fred says that Connor is Angel’s son and wonders how he and Cordy got together. Wes feels they were probably as surprised as anyone, but they were both lost. He says things happen when you’re alienated from the people who care about you – you start to look other places. She turns away and says “Lilah”. He tells her they were fighting on opposite sides but it was the same war. Fred says, “but you hated her.” Wes just looks at her, prompting her to question whether he really did or not. He tells her it’s not always about holding hands.

Back at the party, Gwen and Gunn are making their way through the crowd. He apologizes for taking her tiger trinket, but she opens up her purse and show’s him that she got it back. They look over and see the little girl. Gunn is surprised because she isn’t tied up somewhere, but Gwen says it doesn’t matter – look at all the guards around her. She then decides to go get a closer look while Gunn stays behind and keeps an eye on Mr. Marimoto.

Meanwhile, Angel is sitting alone in his room at the hotel looking through some papers. “Come on in Cordelia,” he says and she walks in saying that never stops creeping her out. He says he’s kind of creeped out himself. She asks if they can not do this right now and he says it’s okay by him. He’s in the middle of something anyway. She asks if anything has come to mind, but he says not really. He tells her that to be honest, he’s almost pining for the hell-seeing days of The Beast. He says The Beast was just a flunky and Cordy asks him who did it if not The Beast. Angel says it was his Master. Cordy says, “I’m his Master,” which gives Angel a minute of pause. She then goes on to remind him of all the things that have happened (his soul being stolen, Manny being killed and etc.) and then sarcastically says that evil geniuses live for that flame of fire stuff. Angel tells her she doesn’t understand – this thing was inside his head and he’s heard him. Angel feels he’s insane enough to pull that kind of stuff. Cordelia asks him if he means diabolical when he says insane, but Angel tells her he means diluted and demented. He tells her about the voice and that he doesn’t even think he has a master plan – he’s just making it up as he goes along. He looks at Cordy and tells her not to worry – this guy will slip up sooner or later and when he does, he’s dead.

In the meantime, Gwen and Gunn put their plan into action at the party. She heads to one side of the room to cause a distraction while Gunn goes to grab the girl. They both get into place and she knocks over a serving cart. Everyone turns to look at her and Gunn grabs Lisa. One of the security guys come over to Gwen and she tells him someone is trying to take that little girl. He takes off as Gunn carries her down the hall and into another room. He sits her down and tells her to hang in there because they’re almost out, but someone hits him from behind and he falls to the floor. He gets up, finds himself surrounded on all sides and begins to fight. He says he almost forgot how good it is to let off a little steam and before long, they’re all on the floor. Gunn tells the girl it’s time to get her out of there and take her home. She says she is home, but he tells her she isn’t – she’s been kidnapped. She tells him to get out of her house and says when her father finds out he tried to hurt her, he’s gonna kill him. An angry Gunn heads out and finds Gwen in another room breaking into the safe. He tells her he realizes now why she needed his help now and not Angel’s. She tells him that a security scan of a dead guy would’ve raised a few eyebrows. He complains about it, but she tells him it looked like he was having fun to her. He explains that he thought he was doing good and she says he was – just not the kind that involves saving the fairy princess from an evil king. Then she tells him the real story. She’s there to steal a Localized Ionic Sensory Activator (a.k.a. L.I.S.A.), which is used to regulate things like body temperature, chemistry and etc. Gunn goes to leave, but she tells him nothing has really changed. He’s still a good guy and Morimoto is still a bad one. She says they started this together and she wants to finish it the same way. He stays.

In Angel’s office, he’s busy trying to write down the things he remembers from Lilah’s book while Wes and Fred hover over him. Cordy comes in and asks what’s going on and they tell her. She asks if they think there was something in that book that they weren’t suppose to know about and Angel thinks there is. Wes says he recognizes the text and translates it. “I am not a bucket head,” he says and Angel gets frustrated. Wes says it’s a tricky language, but Angel’s going to try again. He begins to write again, but then he pauses and glares up at them. All three of them turn and leave.

Back with Gwen and Gunn, she finally gets the safe open by using her hand to fry the circuits. She pulls out what she needs from inside the safe and they turn to go, but Mr. Morimoto and his guards are standing in the doorway.

In the meantime, Wes, Fred and Cordy have made their way back into Angel’s office. He still trying to write down the language he remembers, but gets frustrated when the translation comes out all wrong again. He decides to get out of there for a while and goes to leave, but Lorne walks in and tells him he can’t leave until he tells them the joyous news. It seems a demon named Wanda sold him something to cleanse his muddled mind. The gang offers to help him perform the ritual, but he says he has to do it solo. He says it will be just him and his shadow secluded in a dark, dusty nowhere land and that by sunrise he’ll be all systems go again. “Then you’ll be able to read me,” Cordelia says and he replies, “no worries dumpling. Come morning, I will be a lean, mean belly-reading machine.

At Morimoto’s mansion, he steps in the room and tells Gwen to put it on the desk and step away. She refuses and he tells her he doesn’t think she knows what she’s up against as the men around him pull out their guns. Gunn wants her to leave it, but Gwen says she isn’t leaving without it. She says she needs it and screams “it’s mine” as electricity comes flowing out of her and into them. Gunn knocks her over to break the flow and tells her she lied to him as he pulls her up to her feet. He says she believes it will fit her and the two of them leave.

Elsewhere, Lorne enters an empty, dark building and begins setting up things for his ritual. Cordy, standing one floor above with a knife in her hand, quietly watches him as he begins to light the candles.

At Gwen’s apartment, Gunn tells her he has to give her credit for being stubborn. She says she knows what she wants. Gunn admits that he gets that or at least he used to, but things aren’t always so clear anymore. She said he seemed cleared when he was trying to save her. He says he’s just the muscle, but she tells him not to knock the muscle. They continue talking and he asks her if this is her version of a pep talk. She asks if he needs one and he says no. She’s glad because that isn’t her area of expertise. She asks him why he stays with the gang if they only see him as muscle. He stays because he’s a fighter. He asks if she loves being a thief. She says she’s a freak and being a thief makes her a part of something. He thinks she would’ve died for the activator they stole tonight and she says because it might let her be – not normal, but hold hands maybe. He asks her to show him how the activator works so she walks over to the bed and slips her dress down. She lies across the bed and Gunn puts the activator on her back, which causes little wires to come out of it and go into her back. He asks if she feels different and she says yes and then not so much. Gunn decides to test it by touching her back. He slides his hand down her back when nothing happens. He realizes then that if she couldn’t touch before that she’d never been intimate with anyone. She tells him she hasn’t and then thanks him for turning her off. They move in for a kiss, but then Gwen pulls away and tells him she isn’t sure if the device will hold. He says, “well, you’ve already killed me once. If it happens again, you know where my battery is.” They start kissing again.

Back in the warehouse, Lorne is still setting things up for his ritual. He puts the cloak on, pulls the cloak over his head and begins to sing. As he does, Cordy slowly makes her way down the stairs and walks toward him with the knife poised in her hand. The sound of switches being flipped and the lights coming on one by one startle her and she turns to find Angel standing behind her. “Angel,” she says, but he doesn’t say a word. She turns and starts to run the other way, but Wes is standing there with a gun. Then she sees Fred and realizes she’s surrounded. She turns back to face Angel then. Off to the side, Lorne pulls a Magic 8 ball and begins to shake it. “Has Cordy been a bad, bad girl,” he asks. Definitely.