---

A flash of lightning, a clap of thunder, Angel bolts upright in bed. Darla is asleep beside him. He stumbles out onto the balcony and falls to his hands and knees, reacting in apparent pain.

Darla wakes up, smiles, wraps the sheet around herself and heads for the balcony.

She finds Angel, still on his hands and knees. She tells him not to fight it, the pain won't last long. She's still smiling. She assures him she knows what it's like, she felt the same, it will pass.

Angel manages to get to his feet. Darla suggests they make a kill, the blood will wash away the memory of the soul. She raises her hand to touch his face. He stops her, gently taking her wrist and stares at her. Darla wants to know what's going on. Angel tells her she saved him. Darla smiles, still not getting it. She keeps smiling while she informs him she had intended to kill him when she came to his place but she didn't have to because he gave himself to her. She calls him Angelus, still not realizing that's not who she's facing.

Angel tells her he gave her everything, then tells her he's sorry. Darla doesn't see any need for apologies. Angel tells her he is sorry, as he takes her hand and pulls it up to touch the side of his face. He tells her he's sorry again as Darla begins to get the picture. He tells her he's sorry he couldn't save her, as she had saved him.

Darla pulls her hand away from him, realizing his soul is still intact. She runs back into the bedroom, not understanding how what had happened could have happened yet Angel's soul remains. She wants to know why. She asks if it wasn't "good"? Angel doesn't say anything. Darla doesn't believe that it was anything but perfect. She's been around 400 years and she used to do this professionally, she knows perfect. She grabs him and suggests they try again.

Angel tells her no, they're finished. Darla wants to know why. She didn't have to trick him, he wanted her. He confirms that he did and "it was perfect, perfect despair" and she was the reason. He tells her she was always the reason, since she was the one that made him. He thought if he could save her he could save himself. He realizes now he was wrong, and when he failed, she saved him and he thanks her for that. Darla isn't particularly happy with this revelation. Angel tells her there's nothing he can do for her now, he can't even hate her.

Darla yells that he made her trust him, he made her believe. Her words register in Angel's memory as echoing Kate's words on the answering machine. He tells Darla they're finished, to let herself out, as he prepares to head out.

Darla grabs a piece of sharp wood from the broken bedroom door (which was smashed when Angel threw her through it at the end of "Reprise") and goes after him with it. He stops her and tells her he owes her so he's returning the favor. He won't kill her this time but the next time he sees her, he will.

---

Angel arrives at Kate's apartment, calls to her while pounding on the door. Inside, Kate is lying on the floor unconscious, a bottle of booze and a pill bottle and pills laying on the floor next to her.

Angel kicks the door in and rushes into the apartment. He calls her name, gets no response. He takes her into the shower, turns on the water and holds her up until she awakes, coughing.

---

Later, Kate pulls herself together then tells Angel, "Thanks, now get out."

---

Lindsey arrives at his place, Darla is there standing at the window, looking out over the night lights of the city. Lindsey asks where she's been, he's been trying to reach her. He walks over to her and closes the curtain. He suggests she not stand by the window, it's not safe. There was an emergency meeting at W&H. After the events at the ritual, the order is that Darla is to be staked on sight.

Darla walks away from him, across the room, and sits in the chair. She's fingering the Band of Blacknil. Lindsey tells her she should have told him what she had planned, he might have been able to talk her out of it, or help her. Things are complicated for them now. Darla agrees that things are definitely complicated.

Lindsey suggests it would be wise for her to clear her things out of his living room and move them into the bedroom. It would be safer for both of them. Lindsey notices her attention is focused on the ring. He asks her what's wrong as he takes it from her. He looks at it, recognizes it and demands to know where she got it.

Darla notes that it makes no difference, the ring doesn't work anyway. Lindsey informs her that after Angel stole it, they did a disenchantment ceremony on it at W&H, it took half the meeting to complete. He wants to know how Darla came into possession of the ring.

She tells him it was her "payment." Lindsey wants to know what she's talking about, even though his expression says he has a pretty good idea. Darla wonders what he thinks she's talking about. He insists he doesn't know. He wants to know what happened. Darla tells him nothing happened, "nothing at all."

Lindsey continues to press, he wants to know exactly what happened. Darla wonders if it's details he's after. Lindsey tells her that's exactly what he wants. He wants to know everything. He needs to know what Angel did to her.

---

There's a persistent buzzing of the doorbell at Caritas, as the Host shuffles in his bathrobe to the bar to press the button that opens the door. Angel walks in.

The Host pours a drink at the bar as Angel sits at a table. Angel muses that he probably should have killed Darla. The Host figures it doesn't matter as he returns to the table. He notes that Angel has turned a corner, that's what matters and it's about time.

Angel still isn't sure what happened. The Host tells him it's a "moment of clarity" that makes one realize how far they've fallen.

Angel isn't sure he knows how to get back. The Host tells him the point is to go to a new place. Angel doesn't know if he can do that either. He admits he's done questionable things.

The Host knows what he's referring to. He informs Angel that he didn't kill the lawyers. What happened was what was meant to happen, with or without his involvement. The Powers tried to work it so it would be without, but they didn't get much help from him on that.

Angel wonders why they didn't just tell him to stay away if that's what they wanted. The Host points out that it's not likely he would have listened. He says that they did try to get him away from it, more than once. Angel figures they could have been more clear in what they wanted. The Host points out that the attitude Angel is displaying is what got him into trouble in the first place.

Angel asks how he's supposed to fix things, what The Powers want him to do. The Host reminds him that he isn't his link to The Powers, he severed that when he fired his staff. He thinks that's going to be the toughest thing for Angel to fix, if it's even fixable. He says it depends.

Angel figures he means it depends on whether they'll talk to him.

The Host clarifies that it depends on whether or not they survive the night and at the moment, the odds aren't in their favor.

---

Cordelia arrives at the Sharp house, which is dark, no sign of activity. She walks up to the door, which is partially open, and knocks. She calls out as she enters the house. She continues calling out, hoping to get someone's attention. She walks into the kitchen and sees the Sharps, dead on the floor.

She gets a vision and falls to the floor. In the vision, she sees a Skilosh demon coming at her. She recovers quickly, gets up and starts to head out, only to find her way blocked by a Skilosh demon, rushing toward her.

Cordelia wakes up and finds herself sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. She starts to get up when she sees the demon along with friends, looking at her. The demon says the humans destroyed their "spawn". He intends for Cordelia to lead the others to them.

Cordelia isn't sure what he's talking about. The Skilosh says "three are responsible, three must pay." Cordy still isn't getting it. The demon turns his back to her to speak to the others. Cordelia notices a third eye in the back of his head and finally puts the pieces together. They want vengeance for the destruction of their "spawn" which occurred when Cordelia, Wes and Gunn removed the third eye from the head of the Sharp's daughter.

The demon tells Cordelia they know where Wesley is, they want to know where to find Gunn.

---

Wesley is in his apartment, still in the wheelchair. From outside, through the window, a demon watches with the eye in the back of its head.

Wes hears noises, clattering sounds and a loud bang. He looks toward the window and sees a Skilosh outside, ducking beneath it.

Wes heads for the closet, wheels his chair into it and tries to get up to reach something on the overhead shelf. He realizes he can't stand and stretch to reach it, so grabs a broom in the closet and uses the handle to extend his reach from the wheelchair. He pulls a shotgun and some shells off the top closet shelf.

He quickly loads the gun and wheels back into the living room, his back to the door, the noises still getting his attention.

Suddenly, the door bursts open. Wesley spins around to see Angel standing on the outside of the threshold. Angel frantically tells him to invite him in. He's never been there before, he needs to be invited. Wesley starts to point out that Angel never showed any interest in visiting when Angel cuts him off, pointing out the Skilosh demons breaking through the window. Wesley invites him in.

Angel rushes past Wes and takes on the demons, carrying on a running conversation with Wes at the same time. He asks what kind of demons they are. Wesley tells him. Angel asks him how he kills them. Wes says there are several ways as one of the demons grabs Angel and slams him into the wall. Angel urges Wes to come with one of the several, quickly.

One of the demons grabs Wes by the throat as he yells to Angel that hacking it to pieces will do it. Angel grabs a small battle ax from its mounting on the wall and chops up one of the demons with it. Another rushes Wes, who blows it to pieces with the shotgun.

Wesley looks at the shotgun hole in the ceiling and expresses his hope that his upstairs neighbor isn't home. He looks at Angel, a smile on his face and obviously relieved but remembers quickly he's mad at him and returns to petulant face. He curtly asks Angel what he's doing there.

---

At Lindsey's, he's sitting on one end of the sofa, Darla on the other. Neither of them says anything. Lindsey's testy. He gets up, looks at Darla, then heads into the bedroom to change out of his business clothes. The man has a mission.

---

Angel and Wes are in Angel's car. Wesley shuts off his cell phone and notes that Cordelia isn't answering. Angel says she wasn't at home either. Wes wonders how he knew that. Angel tells him he stopped by Cordy's before he came to Wesley's.

Angel tries to make conversation but Wesley isn't interested. He gives Angel directions to get to the office. Angel tells him he knows where the office is. Wesley remembers now, Angel came in to steal a book.

The car hits a bump, leading Wes to grimace in pain. Angel tells him he'll try to avoid the bumps. Wes thinks that's a good idea. Angel tries to relate, saying he got wounded recently as well, with an antique sword. Wesley really isn't interested. Angel tells Wes to guess who stabbed him. Wes doesn't have to think on it, he figures it was Darla. Angel says that's true, the story of his recent epiphany is kind of funny.

Wes couldn't care a less and Angel sees it. He suggests Wesley tell him about the Skilosh demons. Wes starts giving him the background on the case of the girl with the third eye. Angel notices they kept the "Angel Investigations" name. Wesley notes they hadn't gotten around to changing it yet. Angel wants to know the rest of it.

Wes continues, saying he was able to diagnose the problem as infection by a Skilosh demon. Angel notes that Wes must have discovered that in his books. Wes confirms that's true. Angel tells Wes he's good at that, the research is hard but he makes it look easy.

Wes goes on to describe the Skilosh method of procreation is to inject its offspring into the head of a human host. The prime sign of the infection is the emergence of a third eye in the back of the host's head. After a suitable gestation period, if the situation isn't corrected, the full grown Skilosh emerges from the skull of the host. Angel points out that they saved the girl. Wesley agrees they did. Angel tells him they did something good. Wes seems surprised by the compliment. He thanks Angel. Angel tells him he's welcome.

---

At the Sharp's, the demons are conversing in their own language. One of them turns to Cordelia and tells her that two more have been killed. She thinks he's referring to Wesley and Gunn. The demon says "three must pay."

Cordelia now understands that it was two more of their kind that were killed. The demon looks at her and tells her that "one must rise". Two demons grab Cordelia and hold her while the other sticks out his spikey tongue, walks over to her and drives it into the back of her head.

---

At the office, Wesley looks out the front door as Angel comes into the main office area from the back and tells him that Cordelia isn't there. Wes figures that's bad news as he looks back out the front door and notes that the same truck has circled the building three times.

Angel thinks maybe Cordelia is just out with friends or on a date or something. Wes doesn't think that's likely. He points out that Angel doesn't really know her or he would know that she's not the same vacuous diva she was in Sunnydale. She's different and that's due to the visions that are intended to guide him. He points out that Angel can walk away from it, but Cordelia has no choice. She feels the needs of these people and feels compelled to help. That hasn't left her time for much of an outside life. Wes offers that Angel would have noticed if he'd had his head on his shoulders. Angel knows they need to find her.

Angel senses something. Wes tells him to turn the lights off, he fears the demons may have followed them to the office. Someone comes into the office, Angel turns the lights on. Wes asks Gunn what he's doing there. Gunn noticed the lights were on. Wes says he thought he'd left. Gunn points out that he left for awhile, didn't mean he wouldn't be back. He wonders if Wesley thinks he would abandon them the way Angel did.

Wes grins, he knows Gunn wouldn't abandon them. They do some locker room high five guy bonding silliness while Angel looks on, the outsider. Gunn asks Wesley what Angel is doing there. Angel says he was at Caritas, the Host told him his friends were in trouble.

Gunn looks at Angel, then looks at Wes and asks him again what Angel is doing there. Wes mockingly notes that Angel had "an epiphany". Gunn asks Wes why they're hiding in the office with the lights off. Wes tells him about the attack at the apartment, they thought they might have been followed to the office. Wes tells Gunn it was Skilosh demons. Gunn thought they solved that problem. Wes points out that they did, which is why he thinks they have a bigger one now.

Gunn asks where Cordelia is. Wes says they don't know, but she's not at the office. Gunn asks if they checked the pad. Angel says he stopped by her place on the way to Wesley's. Gunn indicates that he meant the message pad as he picks it up from the desk. Angel suggests he make a rubbing of the impression on the pad to retrieve the information. Gunn caustically points out that he just has to read the carbon. He notes there are directions on the pad. Wes asks to see it. Gunn shoves Angel out of the way and takes the pad to Wes.

Wes recognizes the address as the Sharp's. Gunn wonders if Cordelia would have gone there. Wes thinks that's likely and it's probably a trap. He instructs Gunn to get a powder from the desk. Angel asks if it makes sense that Cordelia would go there late at night without calling either of them. Gunn and Wes reply in synch that the Sharp's owed them money. They all know that would have gotten Cordelia to go there.

---

At the Sharp's, Cordelia wakes up and pulls herself up off of the floor. She notices the demon still there and realizes nobody knows where she went or will be looking for her. She also realizes that she sees the demon, who is standing directly behind her. She feels the back of her head and goes to a mirror on the wall. She turns and looks at herself with the eye in the back of her head.

---

Wes, Gunn and Angel are heading for the Sharp's. Angel keeps checking the side view mirror. Wes asks what he's looking at. Angel doesn't think it's important. Gunn asks Angel about this "epiphany", he wonders if it was like he just "woke up and bang!" Angel says it was actually the other way around.

Gunn mocks the idea, noting to Wes it's good to have one of those, they can be handy. He wonders when Angel thinks he might have another one. He figures the next time Angel sees one of the W&H attorneys, it will start all over again. Angel says it won't. Gunn warns that nothing better happen to Cordelia.

A Skilosh demon jumps on the back of the car, Gunn punches it out and knocks it onto the street.

Angel stops the car. Skilosh demons come rushing toward them. Wes suggests they should probably go. Angel gets out of the car, picks up an ax he has stashed inside and tells Gunn and Wes to go on ahead, he'll take care of this here or else they'll have to deal with it at the Sharp's. He tells Wes and Gunn he'll meet them there.

Gunn jumps behind the wheel and drives off. Angel approaches the Skilosh demons who suddenly stop and run the other way. Angel turns just in time to see a pickup truck barreling down on him. It runs him over. Lindsey is behind the wheel.

Angel gets up. Lindsey puts the truck in reverse and hits him again.

---

Gunn and Wes are outside the Sharp's. Gunn looks in through the window and sees Cordelia and the demons inside. Wes asks if Cordelia is alive. Gunn assures her she is, "her eyes are open ... all three of 'em." Gunn notes more demons entering the room. Wes figures the tribe is gathering which means the offspring is soon to be born. They have to hurry. He wonders where Angel is.

---

Lindsey hits Angel with the truck a few more times. Angel gets up and starts running. Lindsey runs him down and hits him again.

---

At the Sharp's, Gunn wonders how long they're supposed to wait for Angel. Wes says they shouldn't. They've been doing fine without him and for all they know he might have changed his mind again. Gunn agrees with that. He helps Wes to his feet. Gunn is ready to do what needs to be done. Wes points out that he can't stand up as he teeters backward. Gunn catches him and helps him back upright.

---

Lindsey hits Angel with the truck one more time, then stops and gets out, carrying a sledgehammer. Angel is crawling on his stomach in the street.

Lindsey wants Angel to tell him everything as he punctuates his demand by slamming Angel in the face with the sledgehammer. Lindsey wants to know everything Angel did with Darla. Angel starts to get up.

Lindsey slams him in the head with the sledgehammer. He wants to know all of it. He slams Angel again. He's determined that Angel is going to tell him. Angel wants to know why. Lindsey wants to hear it from him. He raises the sledgehammer above his head and swings it full force into Angel's stomach. There's a crunch as the sledgehammer hits its target. Lindsey demands again to know what happened. Angel gets on his hands and knees and tries to get up. Lindsey slams him in the back, knocking him back down. Angel refuses to tell him what he wants to know. Lindsey slams him in the face.

Lindsey leaves Angel lying on his back in the street as he returns to his truck and retrieves a stake. Angel grabs him from behind and punches him in the face. As he beats the daylights out of him, he tells Lindsey he's sorry that Darla will never love him, he's sorry that Lindsey will have to live with that, he's sorry he didn't try harder to help when Lindsey came to him, he's sorry Lindsey made the wrong choice.

Each 'apology' is punctuated with a punch. He knocks Lindsey to the street. Lindsey reaches out for the stake laying in the street beside him.

Angel picks up the sledgehammer and brings it down full force on Lindsey's artificial hand, smashing it to bits. Angel tells Lindsey he should be glad Angel had an epiphany. He could have slammed his good hand. He kicks Lindsey one last time and takes his truck.

---

At the Sharp's, Cordelia sees Gunn and Wes come in, not realizing they've been caught until she sees two demons behind them, forcing them into the room.

---

Angel is headed for the Sharp's in Lindsey's truck.

---

At the Sharp's, the demon plans on planting more offspring as he sticks out his spikey tongue. Gunn wonders if it's going to hurt. Cordelia assures him it will.

Angel arrives at the Sharp's and drives Lindsey's truck through the wall, into the house. He gets out and takes on the demons while Wes gets his hands untied and frees Gunn and Cordelia. Wes pours some of the powder on the third eye in the back of Cordy's head, recites some Latin, the third eye disappears.

Angel has finished off the demons. He comes over to Cordelia, whose a bit dazed. She says hi. He asks if she's okay, she says she's not, her feelings were hurt. Wes and Gunn help her to her feet and out, leaving a battered and bloodied Angel standing behind, alone.

---

Lindsey arrives outside his apartment building to find his truck parked out front, a bit worse for wear. He removes a piece of paper that's been left on the broken windshield. It says simply, "Thanks."

Lindsey enters his apartment and calls for Darla, but the place is empty. He sees her things are gone from the living room. He goes into the bedroom and checks the closet, her clothes are gone from there as well.

---

Angel and Kate are sitting in the courtyard at the Hyperion. Kate feels foolish. Angel can relate. Kate says her life has been about being a cop, without that it's like nothing she does has any meaning.

Angel says it doesn't mean anything. In the grand scheme of things, nothing anyone does matters. There isn't a grand plan, a big win.

Kate thinks he seems to have accepted that pretty well.

Angel says he's worked it out. There's no end, "nothing we do matters because all that matter is what we do, that's all there is", what they do on any given day. He says he fought for too long for various reasons but never really understood it.

Kate asks if he does now.

He says he doesn't understand all of it, he just wants to help people who need it. He realizes that the smallest act of kindness has the most meaning, people shouldn't have to suffer.

Kate thinks Angel's had an epiphany.

He says he keeps trying to tell everyone that but nobody is listening. Kate believes it because she's alive. Angel starts to tell her she doesn't have to be a cop -- She tells Angel she's okay, she's not going to do anything like that again. She's grateful for the second chance. She didn't think Angel would come to help her but she got a break and she has faith that they're not alone. Angel asks her why. She replies, "because I never invited you in."

---

At the office, Cordelia answers the phone as Wes hands her a pad to take notes on. Angel walks in. Gunn comes out from the back room. Angel offers an apology. Wes, who is now out of the wheelchair and getting around with the aid of a cane, gets up and tells him that he, Cordelia and Gunn have discussed it but they're not ready -- Angel tells him it's okay, he doesn't want them to come back to work for him, he wants to work for them. Wes asks why. Angel says he thinks he can help. Cordelia wants to know how they can trust him. Angel says he'll have to earn it.

Cordelia gets a vision. She relates what she saw then wonders why she's not on the floor this time. Angel had caught her before she hit the floor even though he'd been standing on the other side of the room while Wes and Gunn were next to her. Cordelia suggests Angel do the driving as they all head out the door.