---

Angel is sitting in a chair in his room, sketching Darla's face. Wesley comes to the open doorway and peers inside.

Without looking toward the doorway, Angel asks what Wes wants.

Wes just wants to see if everything is okay.

Angel keeps sketching as he mumbles his response, "Fine."

Wes isn't quite so sure, "Oh, good. Good." He hesitates a moment, "You're certain?"

Angel continues sketching, "Uh-huh. Good night."

Wes bids Angel good night, but remains standing in the doorway, something Angel notices without looking, "You're still here."

Wes cautiously enters the room, "So, you're sure there's nothing on your mind? That is to say, nothing perhaps you'd like to, perhaps, share?" He looks over Angel's shoulder at the sketch pad.

Angel says no.

As Angel continues sketching, Wes looks at the floor and notices a mass of crumpled Darla sketches strewn about, "Really?"

Angel raises his eyes from the sketch pad and looks at the floor.

---

Lindsey walks into the place Darla is staying. A pale, barefoot Darla is slumped in the corner, curled up in a chair. The room is totally trashed. As he enters, the crunch of broken glass echoes under his feet. He pauses a moment in front of the shattered mirror.

Darla greets him, "Hello, Lindsey."

He walks over to her, kneels in front of her and notices her hands are cut up. As he examines the wounds, he gently asks if something happened.

She answers, "Oh God, yes. So many things. I remember them all. Which ones were you thinking of?"

Lindsey thinks it was too soon, they should have given her more time before sending her to Angel.

Darla reaches out and gently pushes the hair away from his face, "Lindsey. You never talk about yourself, Lindsey. Got a girlfriend? Boyfriend? Someone special?"

He tells her there isn't anyone as he tends to the cuts on her hands.

She muses, "No. No, there really isn't, is there? You can be with someone for 150 years .. think you know 'em. Still, it doesn't work out. Angelus. Oh, you should have seen us together."

Lindsey points out Angel was different then.

Darla agrees, "And so was I. Now do you know what we've become?"

Lindsey offers, "Enemies."

Darla says, "Oh no, much worse." She smiles as she looks at Lindsey, "Now we're soulmates." She starts laughing, a deranged sort of laugh.

Lindsey looks at her, concerned.

---

Virginia Colony, 1609

A ghostly pale and weakened Darla is on her deathbed, being bled by leeches. A man and two nuns attend to her. She asks for the shutters to be closed. She doesn't think it's right to die with the sun so bright. One of the women complies.

Someone else enters, a man cloaked as a priest in a hooded robe. The hood extends well beyond his face, concealing it. Though his face cannot be seen, his voice is familiar, "You'll not see it again. Before it sets, you will have left this life."

Darla thinks the man is a priest, she says she didn't ask for one, she wants to know who invited him.

The man answers, "You did. You cried out for me last night in your delirium."

Darla doesn't remember that, she asks if he knows what she is.

He answers as he steps into the room, "A woman of some property. No husband, no inheritance." He stops at the foot of the bed, "Yes, I know what you are."

Darla wants to be sure, "I'm a whore."

The man walks to the other side of the room, "Well yes, I know that too. You should have asked for a priest long ago, child. Your life may have been the better for it."

Darla counters, "And you should have paid me a visit before today, Father. Your life may have been more interesting because of it."

He keeps his head down, asking, "Are you prepared now to renounce Satan, and beg God his forgiveness?"

Darla answers weakly, "God never did anything for me."

He tells those present to leave the room, saying they can't save her life but he may be able to save her soul. They comply.

Darla reckons her soul is beyond saving, "Let the devil take me if he'll have me. Either way, I die."

The man walks toward her and pushes the hood back from his head, revealing the Master, "No, you will not die. You will be reborn."

Darla recognizes him, "I know you."

He takes her hand in his, "I came to you last night. I sang to you from that window."

She remembers now, "You're death?"

He denies that.

She asks who he is then.

He tells her he is her savior, "God never did anything for you ... but I will." He bares his fangs and leans into her neck. Darla gasps as he bites her.

---

Present day, Angel's office

Angel, Wes and Cordy are gathered in the office, Angel is sitting behind the desk. Wes and Cordy are sitting opposite him.

Cordelia reacts to something that's been said, "Am I the only one who thinks this is just a really bad idea?"

Angel doesn't want to sit around and wait for W&H to make their next move, he thinks it's time to do something.

Gunn steps up to the office doorway.

Cordy wants to know if this is going to involve kidnapping again.

Angel assures her they're just going to find Darla.

Cordy reminds him, "This would be the same woman that you didn't notice was in your bedroom, every night, for like, three weeks straight?"

Angel says that was different.

Cordy isn't buying it, "Different in the 'sitting-right-on-top-of-you' sense, yeah."

Wes agrees with Cordy, pointing out when they found Darla the last time it was because she wanted to be found. It's a different story finding her among the populace of L.A. if she wants to remain hidden.

Angel notes they're a detective agency, they investigate things, "It's what we're good at."

Cordy doesn't agree, "It's what we suck at. Let's face it, unless there's a website called 'www.oh-by-the-way-we-have-Darla-stashed-here.com', we're out of luck."

Wes suppresses a smile, admitting it won't be easy.

Cordy jumps to her feet and looks at Wes, "Before, he said he could smell her." She turns to face Angel, "How about, we cruise around with the top down and you take big whiffs?"

Angel offers a vacant look in response to that brilliant idea. Wes looks away, saying nothing.

Cordy breaks the silence, curtly clarifying, "Well, we'll wait until the sun sets, obviously."

Gunn speaks up from his position in the doorway, observing it seems logical a big firm like W&H would have to have accommodations for "out-of-towners."

Wes explains, in a slightly condescending tone, "Out-of-towners? It's not as though they flew her in from Miami." Gunn rolls his eyes, Wes continues, "She was raised from the very depths of hell by an ancient, and very dangerous, ritual." ("To Shanshu in L.A.").

Gunn is undeterred, "Yeah, and they still gotta put her up someplace, don't they? That's an expense." As everyone stares at him he adds, "You telling me these lawyers haven't figured out a way to write that off?"

Cordelia offers to start looking through W&H's real estate holdings.

Wes gets to his feet, suggesting they check through all of it, beyond primary holdings.

As Wes and Cordy head out of the office, Angel calls after them, "She'd want something with a view." He mutters to himself, "Darla always loved something with a view."

---

1760, the Master's Lair

The Master is seated and has been introduced by Darla to Angelus, who is standing before him. He's pleased as he takes her hand, looks at Angelus then smiles at her, "Angelus. The Latinate for Angel. It's marvelous."

Darla smiles as she looks over a finely dressed Angelus, "His name would already be legend in his home village, had he left anyone alive there to tell the tale."

The Master is glad Darla had a nice trip.

Darla confirms she did, "On the way back we cut a bloody swath through South Wales and northern England." She revels in the memory, "He was magnificent."

Angelus offers, "Yorkshiremen. Tough as leather."

The Master laughs.

Angelus joins him in laughter briefly, then turns serious, "So, Darla here tells me you're some sort of master."

Darla clarifies, "The Master. He commands our order."

The Master informs him it's the "Order of Aurelius. We are the select. The elite."

Angelus looks around, unimpressed, "And you live in the sewers, do ya?"

The Master releases Darla's hand and gets to his feet, patiently explaining, "We lurk below giving tribute to the Old Ones, awaiting that promised day when we will arise." He adds, melodramatically, "Arise and lay waste to the world above!" He raises his arms and looks upward.

Angelus takes the wind out of the Master's sails, "Why would you want to do that?"

The Master looks at him, confused, "Huh?"

Angelus fills him in, "Well, I mean, have you been above lately? It's quite nice. Me, I could never live in a rat-infested stink hole like this." He walks past the Master and turns, pats the Master's shoulder, "Pardon me for saying so but I gotta have meself a proper bed or I'm a terror." He walks toward Darla, "Isn't that right, love?"

Darla tries to excuse his behavior, "He's young."

Angelus continues, moving closer to Darla, "And this one. Down and goose feathers and the finest silks and linens ... and the view. She's always gotta have the view."

Darla smiles as Angelus moves close to her, standing behind her. He puts his arms around her waist, "Don't you, my lamb?"

Darla tries to defend his behavior, "We fed very recently. The blood is still hot in his veins."

Angelus pulls her close to his own body as he heatedly mutters into her hear, "You noticed that, did you?"

As things are heating up between the two of them, the Master informs him they stalk the world to feed and to make others like themselves, but they don't live among humans.

Angelus chuckles, "I'll be honest. You really couldn't with that face, now could you?"

Darla breaks his embrace and slaps his chest, chiding his insolence, "Angelus!"

Angelus laughs and sits himself down in the Master's chair, "It's not stuck like that now is it?" He casually inhales a bit of snuff pinched between his fingers.

A concerned Darla informs Angelus, "The Master has grown past the curse of human features."

Angelus relaxes in the chair, leaning backward to look at the Master who is now standing behind him, "I'm not gonna get a bat nose like that, now am I?"

The Master isn't amused, "Very few vampires are cunning enough to have lived as long as I have, which you now demonstrate." He picks Angelus up with one hand and tosses him across the room.

Darla looks on, concerned, as Angelus laughs.

He gets up, "Naples. You and me, Darla. What do ya say?"

The Master backhands him again.

He gets up again and addresses Darla, "This is no place for you, bowing to the likes of him."

The Master thinks Angelus needs to learn to show respect as he hits him again, once again knocking him down.

Angelus remains on his knees, continuing to ignore the Master as he tells Darla, "You belong by my side, out in the world. Feeding as we like. Taking what we need. I'll give you that view you crave, Darla. I'll give you everything."

The Master punches him again, knocking him onto his back.

A bloodied Angelus coughs and laughs as he rolls over onto his side and looks up at Darla, "Tell the truth. Whose face do you want to look on for eternity? His, or mine?"

The Master informs him, "Idiot, I made her." He laughs as Darla smiles and gazes longingly at Angelus. After a moment's silence, the Master realizes something. He addresses Darla without turning to look at her, "You're leaving with the stallion, aren't you?"

Darla walks over to Angelus and assists him to his feet. He puts his arm around her, they head out of the lair.

As they exit, a growling vamp minion blocks their way.

The Master tells him to let them pass.

The minion steps aside as they depart.

The Master doesn't think they'll last long, "I'll give it a century, tops."

---

Present day, Angel's office

Angel is reading from a book, "Anglo-Saxon derivation, meaning 'dear one.'" He looks up at Wes then back to the book, "It didn't come into common usage until more than a hundred years after she was born." He looks up from the book, thoughtful, "He must have given it to her." He closes the book and sets it down then looks at Wes, "I didn't even know her real name." He sits on the front edge of the desk and asks Wes if he's had any luck.

Wes says nothing yet, he's working on it.

A tired Angel rubs his eyes, convinced something will turn up.

Wes agrees, "Yes, that's my fear. Angel, you must admit your record when it comes to Darla has been spotty at best."

Angel says, "I killed her, Wesley, and she came back. They brought her back and now I need to know why. I mean, why like this? Why human?"

Wes has an idea, "Perhaps human was the only way Wolfram and Hart could bring her back and hope to control her with any degree of success. Angel, I don't suppose it occurred to you that this might be why they've brought her back. You have all your attention focused on finding this one woman."

Angel scoffs, asking if Wes thinks that's why W&H brought her back, to consume his attention.

Wesley concedes it's possible, "And if that's the case --"

Angel realizes what he's going to say, "It's working."

---

At W&H, Lindsey escorts Darla into his office. He asks if she's hungry. He lays down his jacket, picks up a remote and uses it to open the drapes then offers to get her a sandwich from the vending machine if she'd like.

Darla turns away from Lindsey and the sun now streaming through the windows.

Holland enters, he and Lindsey exchange greetings. He asks Darla how she's doing.

Darla says she's fine, it's good to see him.

Holland asks for a private word with Lindsey as he moves out into the hallway.

Lindsey assures Darla he won't be far as he steps out into the hall and closes the door behind him.

Holland questions Lindsey's decisions, "I thought we were very clear on this matter. Now that she's made contact, it's not prudent to have her on the premises."

Lindsey knows this, he just didn't feel comfortable leaving her alone, "I think there may be a problem, sir. She seems to be displaying a post-traumatic --"

Holland already knows, "She's cracking up."

Lindsey thinks that's overstating things a bit.

Holland isn't listening, "She's way ahead of schedule."

Lindsey doesn't know what's going on.

Holland continues, "We'll have to accelerate matters but I think we're ready." He cheerfully congratulates his employee, "Lindsey, you did the right thing. Good work." He slaps Lindsey on the arm and turns to leave as he tells him not to let her leave the building. He turns back, "Oh, and uh, letter openers, staple gun, even ball-point pens -- anything with a sharp edge. You may want to remove those sorts of items from your office, just in case."

Lindsey looks on, concerned, as a smiling Holland departs.

---

1880, London

Angelus and Darla are standing on a street corner, appreciating a recent kill. Dru is standing with her back to them. Darla looks down at the body of the young man in a sailor's uniform, "So beautiful. Not a blemish, not a freckle. Perhaps we should have preserved that beauty for eternity."

Angelus notes the man won't age now.

Darla says he'll rot, seems a waste.

Dru puts her hand to her mouth and muses, "When I bit into him, I could hear the ocean."

Angelus is amused while Darla barely hides her contempt, "Of course you could."

Dru continues rambling, "I'm full and warm, yet all alone."

Angelus reminds her she's not, "That's not true, precious. You've got us."

Dru keeps her back to them, "Not in the least. You won't even hurt me just a little bit."

Darla links her arm in Angelus', "All you have to do is ask."

Dru disagrees, "No. His head's too full of you, Grandmother."

Angelus chuckles at the "Grandmother" reference which Darla does not find amusing, "Stop calling me that." She slaps Angelus lightly across the chest for laughing. They start to walk away.

Dru joins them, "Don't be cross. I could be your mummy."

Angelus offers a suggestion, "Well, if you're lonely, Dru, why don't you make yourself a playmate?"

Dru is enthusiastic about that idea as she dreamily ponders the possibilities, "I could! I could pick the wisest and bravest knight in all the land and make him mine forever with a kiss."

An upset William (pre-vamp Spike) rushes out into the street and runs into Angelus. William stoops to pick up the papers the collision caused him to drop, keeping his eyes cast downward, "Watch where you're going!" He gets to his feet and hurriedly walks away.

Dru watches his departure admiringly.

Darla notices Dru's attention is elsewhere and offers, "Or you could just take the first drooling idiot that comes along." Darla and Angelus walk on as Dru stands transfixed, staring after William.

Angelus asks Darla if she thinks Dru will find a "good one."

Darla answers, "I found you."

---

Present, the Hyperion

Angel is looking at a notepad in his hand as he stands in front of Cordy's desk, "And based on this, we think the search is over. The property's owned by Wolfram and Hart?"

Wes explains, "Annapolis Olive Oil Import/Export. A corporate client of Wolfram and Hart."

Angel doesn't think that's much to go on.

Cordelia, who is sitting behind her desk, notes, "It has a view."

Angel still doesn't think that's enough to be sure.

Cordy adds curtly, "And Berber carpeting."

Angel insists they need more concise information, he directs them to keep looking. He tosses the notepad onto Cordy's desk and heads for the back office.

Cordy calls after him, "And my sister is living in unit 319."

Angel keeps walking toward the office, "You don't have a sister."

Cordy disagrees, "Sure I do. My older, way older, like 400 years older, blonde sister, Darla. No last name. I've been desperately trying to find her because mom and dad are in the coma."

Angel comes out of the back office as Cordy continues, "Sue, the property manager, was very helpful." She looks at Wes and smiles, "She even cried."

Angel smiles, tears the top sheet off of the notepad and heads for the door, "Let's go."

Wes intercepts him, suggesting it would be better if Angel let Wes contact Gunn so he and Gunn could check out the address. He starts to take the sheet of paper out of Angel's hand, but Angel hangs onto it. Wes offers he and Gunn could do a reconnaissance then report back to Angel. They can all decide how to proceed from there, "as a team."

Angel retains his grip on one end of the paper containing the address as Wes continues holding onto the opposite end.

Cordy reckons that's a good idea, pointing out it's 1:00 in the afternoon and the address is in "Sun Valley."

Wes snatches the paper out of Angel's hand and heads out the lobby door.

Angel looks at Cordy, "Heh, sun."

She focuses on the paperwork on her desk, "Actually, I was thinking valley. I mean, why go there if you don't have to?"

---

A melancholy Darla is alone in Lindsey's office, staring out the window, seeming a little lost.

Lindsey comes in and calls her name.

She doesn't look at him, "Say that again?"

Lindsey realizes she's fragile, "I just, uh .. I said your name -- Darla."

She looks up a him, "It sounds so odd, doesn't it?"

Lindsey doesn't know what she means.

She answers, "It wasn't my name when I was human. The first time I was human, I mean."

Lindsey asks what her name was.

She goes back to looking out the window saying she doesn't remember, "I'm not her, whoever she was. I was Darla for so long, then I wasn't. I .. I wasn't anything. I just stopped. He killed me and I was done." She turns toward Lindsey, "But you brought me back."

Lindsey nods, "Yes."

A desperate Darla takes a few steps toward him, "What did you bring back, Lindsey? What am I? And did you bring back that girl whose name I can't remember? Or did you bring back something else? The other thing?"

Lindsey isn't sure, "Both ... Neither ... You're just you, whatever that is."

Darla wonders why he hasn't kissed her, "You've been dying for it, haven't you?"

Lindsey answers, "I didn't know if you wanted me to."

She doesn't see why that matters, "Do you think I ever hesitated when I wanted something? Life's too short. Believe me, I know. Four hundred years, and still too short."

Lindsey moves in, raises his hand and caresses her face then kisses her, she kisses back. She slowly breaks the kiss, "Mmmm. That's how humans get what they want. I remember that much."

Lindsey kisses her again then asks, "Do you like it?"

She says it's nice, "But it's not me you want to screw."

A puzzled Lindsey pulls back, "What?"

Darla continues, "It's him. You all think you can use me to get to Angel."

Lindsey admits the possibility, "Maybe." They kiss passionately as he pushes her down toward the desk.

As things heat up, Darla asks, "What am I?"

Lindsey isn't really interested in talking, "I don't know and I don't care."

Darla bites his neck, breaking the mood.

He quickly pulls away from her, holding his hand to his neck.

She asks, "Now do you care?"

He says no and moves toward her.

She stops him, "That's how vampires get what they want. What am I?"

He says her name.

She becomes more desperate, urgently seeking answers, "Is that it? Am I Darla?"

Lindsey answers, "Yes."

She suggests he be careful, "Darla would snap you in half. Is that who I am?" She pushes away from him and moves back to the window, slamming her hands against it.

Lindsey rubs his neck where she bit him. He tells her he understands what she's going through.

She turns back toward him, "No. Nobody understands. Nobody can understand." She starts to cry, "I can feel this body dying, Lindsey. I can feel it decaying moment by moment. It's being eaten away by this thing inside of it. It's a cancer, this soul."

---

Romania, 1898

A disheveled and confused Angelus is alone, wandering through the woods.

Darla is at the gypsy encampment, sounds of screaming and mayhem can be heard in the background. She's confronting one of the men, "You took him from me. You stole him away." She adds with disgust, "You gave him a soul."

The man tells her Angelus must suffer, "as all his victims have suffered."

Darla doesn't see that as justice, "Whatever pain he caused your daughter, was momentary. Over in an instant .." She ponders that briefly, "Or an hour. But what you've done to him will force him to suffer for the rest of eternity. Remove the filthy soul so my boy might return to me."

Dru babbles in the background, "Angelus has gone away. Where is he?"

As the gypsy man turns toward her, Darla grabs him by the throat. She notes the camp and suggests Dru go and kill something.

Dru isn't so sure, "He shall be very cross if he finds we had a lovely mass slaughter without him."

Darla impatiently assures her Angelus will join them soon enough then instructs her to do what she's told.

Dru agrees and wanders off.

Darla turns her attention back to the gypsy man as she maintains her grip on his throat, "In that wagon is your family. Your wife and daughters will die tonight without my protection." She removes her hand from his throat and strokes the side of his face as she smiles, "But if you do as I say, your family can live."

Spike comes out of the wagon in vamp face, stained with blood, and burps loudly.

A disgusted Darla looks at him.

Spike asks, "What?"

Darla turns to the gypsy man and breaks his neck.

Dru babbles about the "pretty music", then sings "They cry out for mercy" as she does a little dance with Spike.

Darla tells them, "Show none", then walks away.

---

Present, Angel's office

Angel and Cordy are standing behind the lobby desk looking at a video tape as it plays on a camcorder display Cordy is holding. Wes is standing on the other side of the desk, Gunn is sitting in a chair in the lobby, eating a sandwich. Cordy notices the place looks like a wreck and asks if someone broke in.

Gunn admits he and Wes broke in.

Cordy looks at Gunn, "You guys did this? Real mature."

Wes clarifies, that's the condition the room was in when they arrived. They found no evidence of a forced entry. He thinks it appears Darla was responsible.

Angel looks at the video monitor, "She smashed all the mirrors."

Cordy asks why Darla would do that.

Angel thinks the answer is obvious.

Wes doesn't think anything is obvious.

Angel thinks he knows, "The weight of her soul, she's feeling it."

Wes doesn't see how they can be sure of that.

Angel is determined, "It makes sense. She was a vampire, now she has a soul."

Cordelia doesn't get the correlation, "So why don't you go around smashing mirrors?"

Angel answers, "Because I don't have to look at myself in them."

The phone rings, Cordy answers it.

Angel tells Wes that if Darla is in trouble, they have to find her. She needs help.

Wesley suggests that may be the case but perhaps it's a trap.

Cordy tries to get Angel's attention for the phone call.

He turns to her and tells her to take a message the turns his attention back to Wes. He asks if Wes thinks it's a setup.

Wes doesn't think they can discount the possibility.

Cordy tries again to get his attention, "Angel?"

A frustrated Angel turns back toward her, "Cordy, please. I'm talking." He turns his back to her.

Cordy goes back to the phone, speaking loudly, "Hi, Darla. He can't talk right now. He'll call you back once he's found you. Yeah, okay, bye."

Angel rushes to the phone when he hears Darla's name and grabs the receiver, "Darla?"

Darla answers, "My boy. My darling boy."

Angel asks where she is.

A distraught Darla answers, "Better question -- Where was I? I don't remember anything. It's a great big nothing. Could it be there's no hell?"

Angel assures her there is, "A few of them. I've been to one."

Darla goes on, "I told him no one could understand, but I was wrong, wasn't I? My boy knows."

Angel mutters, "Yeah, I know."

Darla reminds him, You said you'd give me everything. Do you remember that? I believed it then. I still do."

Angel assures her he'll do whatever he can.

She tells him, "It's been four centuries since I've had to be afraid of anything and now I'm sick with it."

Angel understands.

Lindsey is standing in the office doorway. As Darla says Angel's name, Lindsey asks her what she's doing.

She whispers into the phone, "Help me."

Lindsey approaches her, calmly telling her everything is okay, just hang up the phone.

Angel repeats Darla's name a few times as he hears through the phone line what's going on in the office.

Lindsey assures Darla it's okay, he just wants her to put the phone down.

A security guard comes in as Lindsey tries to deal with Darla. The guard wonders if Lindsey needs any help, Holland mentioned he might need some assistance.

Lindsey tells him to leave.

Darla says she needs to go to Angel as she clutches the phone receiver to her chest.

Lindsey doesn't want to hear it, "Don't say that."

Angel hears her heartbeat through the line.

Darla tells Lindsey Angel is the only one who can understand, he can help her.

Lindsey doesn't think so, "No, I can help you, too."

Darla disagrees, "No, no you can't. You don't have it in you, I'm sorry."

The security guard suggests they go to Holland's office.

Lindsey says he can handle it and tells him to leave.

The guard says Darla isn't leaving the building.

Lindsey yells at him to get out.

Darla hits Lindsey in the head with the phone. She runs for the door and struggles with the security guard who has drawn his gun.

A concerned Angel calls her name as he listens to the receiver, hearing the commotion and a shot fired.

---

In Lindsey's office at W&H, Holland is showing him a videotape of what transpired. The tape shows the security guard being shot dead, lying on the floor, Lindsey grabbing Darla and telling her she has to go with him as he takes her out of the office.

Holland, who is standing in front of a seated Lindsey, hits the button on the remote control, stopping the tape. "You not only allowed her to escape, you facilitated it." He sits on the edge of the desk, his hands clasped on his lap.

Lindsey says things were confused.

Holland sarcastically notes, "Things are often confusing for you, aren't they Lindsey? Especially, it seems, when it comes to this woman. You've allowed yourself to be ruled by your emotions."

Lindsey asks about the security guard.

Holland answers, "The family's been notified. Police have a suspect in custody. It's handled." He gets up and heads for the office door, turning to address Lindsey, "You're off this project, Lindsey."

Lindsey calls after him, "I can find her."

Holland says it won't be necessary, "We picked her up two blocks from here."

Lindsey asks if she's safe.

Holland informs him he won't be discussing the matter with him further.

Lindsey gets up and moves toward Holland, "If you're thinking of handing this project --"

Holland cuts him off, "The situation has gone too far out of control. I'm terminating the project." He starts to leave.

An anxious Lindsey asks, "Terminating?"

Holland suggests Lindsey go home, get some sleep, they'll "start fresh tomorrow." He leaves the office.

Lindsey looks downward, concerned.

---

At the Hyperion, Angel is putting on his coat, preparing to search for Darla.

Gunn arrives and asks if Angel wants him to come along.

Angel appreciates the offer but this is something he needs to do alone.

Cordy hands him his car keys. He takes them and thanks her, then heads for the exit.

Wes calls after him.

Angel knows what Wes is going to say, "I know, Wesley. I could be walking into a trap. I get that."

Wes isn't so sure, "I'm not convinced you do."

Angel reminds him Darla asked for his help, he won't turn his back on her.

Wes agrees, "No, you shouldn't, not for one moment. You know better than anyone what she was."

Angel reminds Wes, "What we were. And I also know what she's goin' through. And unlike me, maybe she won't have to go through it alone."

Cordy reminds Angel he's not alone.

Wes offers, "You may be right. She may be experiencing all of this exactly as you did. But Angel, you yourself wandered for 100 years without ever seeking redemption."

Angel responds, "That's right. I sought her." He leaves.

---

China, 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion

Darla is inside a nicely appointed home. Fires rage and chaos reigns in the streets outside. She senses something.

A dirty, disheveled Angel grabs her from behind, putting his hands on her face, "You're so warm. You just fed."

She notes he found her.

Angel tells her it wasn't too difficult, "You could never resist a religious war, and you always talked about China. I just followed the bodies. You never used to be so careless."

Darla suggests perhaps she wanted to be found.

He asks about Spike and Dru.

She tells him they're around, "Probably out in the riots. Maybe starting a new one." She pulls a knife from a bundle she'd set down just prior to his grabbing her then wrenches herself loose from his grasp and pins him to the wall, the knife against his throat, "I should kill you right now."

He challenges her to do it, "Go ahead."

She wonders if this is why he came to her, "Too much of a coward to end your own existence? You want me to do it for you? Release that filthy soul?"

He answers calmly, "If you like."

She notes with disgust, "I can still smell it, you know. That's not all. You reek of vermin. Is that what you've been living off of?"

Angel goads her, grabbing her wrist and pressing the knife harder into his flesh, "C'mon, huh? This should be nothing for you. Go ahead, Darla! Make sure you cut clean to the bone. Put the blade in the wall."

She releases her grip and turns her back to him, "What do you want?"

He answers, "A second chance."

She doesn't understand what he's talking about.

Angel clarifies, "I want things to be like they were. You and me ... together." He walks cautiously toward her, "Darla, I miss the view."

She keeps her back to him, "It's impossible."

Angel disagrees, "It's not impossible."

She points out he still has a soul.

He reminds her he's still a vampire.

She turns to face him, "You're not. Look at you. I don't know what you are anymore."

Angel thinks she does, "You know what I am. You made me, Darla. I'm Angelus."

She answers sadly, "Not anymore."

He believes he can be, "Just give me a chance to prove it to you."

As he gets close to her, her resolve weakens as the sexual tension rises, "You almost make me believe you."

He tells her to believe it, "We can have the whirlwind back."

As the building heat between them intensifies, she looks into his eyes, "We can do this."

He agrees, "Yes, we can."

She mutters, "We can do anything."

He agrees as they fall into a passionate kiss.

---

Present day, the parking garage under W&H

Lindsey places a call on his cell phone as he walks to his car. As he's waiting for an answer, Angel comes up from behind him and wraps a cord that's dangling from the ceiling around Lindsey's neck. He demands to know where Darla is.

Lindsey starts to answer, "I was --"

Angel jerks the cord tight, pulling Lindsey up onto his toes, "Nope, you get just enough breath to tell me where she is. My advice? Don't waste it."

Lindsey holds his cell phone up so Angel can hear, it's Cordy's voice, "Angel Investigations. We help the helpless. How can we help you? Hello?"

Angel releases the pressure on the cord enough for Lindsey to talk, "I was trying to call you. They're gonna kill her. You gotta stop it. She needs you, please."

Angel jerks the cord tight again, "You're a liar."

Lindsey insists it's the truth.

Angel asks where Darla is then relaxes the cord around Lindsey's neck.

Lindsey believes they'd take her to an abandoned bank building owned by W&H. He gives Angel the address, saying he's "pretty sure" that's where they'd have taken Darla.

Angel yanks the cord tight once more, pulling Lindsey back up onto his toes, "You're pretty sure."

Lindsey groans, struggling to talk, "I'm not exactly in the loop on this!"

Angel lets the cord slacken slightly so Lindsey can continue, "That's where they do that sorta stuff. It'll be underground where the vaults used to be."

Angel jerks the cord tightly one more time, "If this is a trick? Just know I'll be coming back for you." He pulls the cord off roughly, slamming Lindsey into the back end of his car.

Angel takes a parting shot, "Hell, I just might be coming back for you anyway." He leaves.

---

China, 1900

Angel is walking through the chaos of the streets, calling for Darla. Bodies lie in the streets, fires burn, people run screaming.

He enters what's left of a gutted structure where he finds a young couple with their young daughter, cowering. The mother is clutching a large white, handled basket. A baby's cry can be heard coming from within it.

A man rushes in and charges the family, brandishing a sword.

Angel grabs the man, disarms him and knocks him out. He turns back toward the family then backs out of the building, out onto the street where he hears Darla calling his name.

She comes up to him with a smile on her face, "The whirlwind, Angelus." She laughs and kisses him. She breaks the kiss and eagerly looks past him, toward the building where the family is hiding, "Hmmm. What's over here?"

Angel stops her from searching, "Nothing but bodies. Let's find something warm."

Darla likes that idea, "Yes, some missionaries. We'll drain the piety right out of them." She takes his hand and leads him back out into the chaos of the streets."

They come upon Dru and a bloody Spike. Darla asks where they've been.

Dru asks Spike if she can tell.

He doesn't reckon there's any need "to be humble."

As Dru and Spike smile, she proudly tells Angel and Darla, "My little Spike just killed himself a Slayer."

Angel looks uncomfortable.

Darla looks at Angel, "Did you hear that?"

Angel flatly offers, "Congratulations. I guess that makes you one of us."

Spike suggests he not be disappointed, "The way you tell it, one Slayer snuffs it, another one rises. I figure there's a new Chosen One getting all chosen as we speak."

Darla eyes Angel suspiciously as Spike continues, "I'll tell you what, when and if this new bird shows up, I'll give you first crack at her."

Dru moans as she takes a few steps past Angel, looking toward the building where Angel left the family, "I smell fear."

Angel knows full well what's got her attention as he says, "This whole place reeks of it."

As Spike steps up behind Dru and wraps his arms around her waist, she smiles and rubs against him, "It's intoxicating."

Angel suggests they move on, "Let's get outta here. This rebellion's starting to bore me." He walks away, in the opposite direction from where the family is hiding.

The others follow, catching up but remaining just a few steps behind Angel. Spike hops over a small barrel sitting upright in the middle of the street. He picks Dru up and carries her as they continue walking and kiss. The fires burn around them as people scream.

Darla keeps a wary eye on her boy as a voice-over of her saying, "Are you with me, Angel? Why aren't you with me?" leads into the present.

---

Present day, the parking garage of the vacant bank owned by W&H

The back door of a van is flung open, two guys in white coveralls toss Darla out onto the ground. They follow her out of the van.

A frightened Darla is still on the ground in a half-sitting position, trying to crawl away. One of the men raises a gun and aims it at her, "Sorry lady. It's just us."

---

1900, China

Angel walks into the house. He notices, with concern, a white, handled basket covered with a lace cloth, sitting on the table. The same white basket the young mother had been carrying her infant in when Angel found the family earlier in the gutted building.

Darla is sitting across the room. She asks accusingly, "Where have you been?"

He says her name.

She demands an answer to her question.

He answers, "Just out. Why?"

She asks, in a tone that's closer to a statement, "Feeding?"

He confirms that, "Yeah."

Darla is repulsed, "On vermin?"

Angel is getting a bit nervous as he answers rather unconvincingly, "No."

Darla isn't buying it, "Don't lie to me."

Angel reminds her, "I've killed men. You've seen it."

Darla gets to her feet and slowly walks toward him, coming to a stop on the opposite side of the table holding the basket, "Rapists and murders. Thieves and scoundrels. Did you think I wouldn't notice? Only evildoers. That's all you hunt now."

Angel looks away from her as she continues, "You swore to me. You said if I took you back, you'd prove yourself."

He says he will.

She's glad to hear it as she removes the lace covering the basket, revealing the infant inside, "Good. Now's your chance."

As Angel looks on nervously, Darla gazes at the baby, "I went back before dawn. They were still cowering there, praying to their God for salvation." She looks back at Angel, "They didn't know that their only savior was at the waterfront dining on rats."

Angel looks up at her as she warns him, "I won't be made a fool, Angelus. Not by you, not by anyone."

He tries to explain, "I didn't mean --"

She cuts him off, "While Spike -- Spike -- was out killing a Slayer, you were saving missionaries! From me."

He casts his eyes downward as he mutters, "I'm sorry."

She doesn't want to hear any more, "No. No more words." She steps back, looks at the baby then back to Angel, "Act."

---

Present day, the bank parking garage

The two W&H thugs have been joined by a third. Before they can finish Darla off, Angel pulls up in his car, stops it, leaps over the windshield, crosses the hood and takes on the minions. One of the guys has pulled Darla up from the ground. In the ensuing scuffle, she's thrown against the wall and knocked out.

Angel finishes off the W&H lackeys and goes to her. He touches the side of her face, "Darla?"

---

At W&H, Lindsey heads toward his office. Just before he walks in, he looks down the hall and sees Holland shaking hands with someone. He recognizes the guy as the security guard Darla supposedly killed during her escape.

After the security guard leaves, Holland notices Lindsey staring daggers in his direction, then going into his office.

Holland enters Lindsey's office and closes the door behind him.

Lindsey asks sarcastically, "Did you really notify his family?"

Holland says his name, "Lindsey --"

Lindsey continues, "You played me. You played her."

Holland says they had to make Lindsey believe it.

Lindsey wants to know why.

Holland answers, "Because she had to believe it. Because Angel has to. The crisis needed to be real."

Lindsey reckons Holland's plan will fail, "You think that now that you've driven her back to him that she's gonna give him that perfect moment of happiness? He's gonna come on our side? It won't happen. He's noble. He'll never take advantage of her. Not in this state. Not now."

Holland offers a bit of enlightenment, "Lindsey, you don't understand our friend at all. We know there's no prospect of physical intimacy here. So you needn't torture yourself."

Lindsey takes a few steps closer to Holland, "Then, what do you expect him to do?"

Holland answers, "What he will do. What he must do. Save her soul."

---

At the Hyperion, Darla is lying with her eyes closed on the sofa in the lobby. She's surrounded by Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn standing behind the sofa and Angel, kneeling on one knee in front of it, next to her.

Angel says she'll be all right.

Cordy thinks maybe they should call a doctor.

Darla moans as she wakes, "No doctors." Angel looks on, concerned.

She looks at Angel and smiles, "Angelus."

Cordy offers a curt correction, "Um .. sorry, I know you're concussion gal and all but around here it's Angel. Just Angel. Okay?"

Angel looks up at the others, "Guys, you mind? Just give us a minute."

They agree and leave the lobby.

Darla tells Angel, "I thought I was dead."

He tells her she isn't.

She admits, "I'm not sure how I feel about that."

Angel smiles, "I know what you mean."

She reaches out and rests her hand on his, "I'm so lucky to have someone who understands, who knows. That's something you never had, is it?"

He pauses a moment before answering, "It wasn't your fault."

Darla sits up, "No. No, but there's so much that is."

He assures her things will be okay.

She smiles, relieved, "I knew you'd help me. I knew if I could only get to you --" She chuckles, "Funny. That's why they brought me back. To get to you. Now I find I need you, just as I've always needed you."

He looks at her, not sure what to say.

Darla leans in toward him, a tinge of desperation in her voice, "You'll make the pain stop, won't you?"

He tells her it will take time.

She says, "It takes moments." She tips her head back, exposing her neck, and closes her eyes, "Do it. Now."

Angel is startled by her request as he gets to his feet, "What?"

She pleads with him as she gets up and grabs him, "Make me what I was again."

He says her name.

She gets angry, reminding him, "You said you'd help me."

He backs away from her stammering for words as she claws at him, "I will .. I want to .. but .. not like this."

Darla begs as she breaks down and begins to cry, "Turn me back. My God! I can't bear this pounding in my chest for another instant!"

Angel has his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her, "It's a gift. To feel that heartbeat ... to know really and for once that you're alive. You're human again, Darla. You know what that means?"

Darla knows, "Of course I do. It means pain and suffering and disease and death. I released you from this world once. I gave you eternal life. Now it's time for you to return the favor."

Angel is stunned. He swallows hard and steps back from her, "Favor? Is that what you think? You think you did me a favor? You damned me."

Darla reckons this is his chance to get even then, "Fine, fine. Then if it's such a punishment, take out your revenge, pay me back ... Please."

He answers her plea, his voice choked with emotion, "I can't."

A dejected Darla closes her eyes tightly.

---

China, 1900

Darla asks, "What do you mean you can't? You mean you won't."

Angel looks downward, admitting, "I can't seem to be what I'm not." He looks back up at her, "I'm sorry."

Darla isn't pleased, "You disgust me."

He grabs the baby, breaks through the window and takes off running.

---

Present day, the lobby of the Hyperion

Darla runs for the front door as Angel calls after her, "Darla, wait!"

She stops on the landing in front of the door and turns back to him, "No. Don't look for me again." She bolts out into the sun.

Angel looks on sadly as the door closes behind her.