"Fredless"
In the lobby of the hotel, Wes is complaining about Cordelia's grouping of weapons. Wes starts to remind her of the purpose of doing an inventory.
Gunn doesn't think they need the reminder.
Wes says it wasn't his idea to do this.
Cordelia knows it was Angel's. He isn't happy that the weapons cabinet is "different" but she wonders who the boss is.
Fred asks what time it is.
Cordelia walks over to where Fred is sitting on the floor, working on something. She answers that it's three minutes later than the last time Fred asked.
Fred apologizes. She thinks the more you think about time, the slower time passes.
Cordelia tells her he'll be back when he gets back.
Fred wonders if Angel and the "girl with the goofy name" will be getting back together now that she's alive.
Wes answers that's a tough question but he thinks the safe answer is, "no, not a chance, never, no way, not in a million years and nuh-uh."
Fred doesn't understand that since Wes had told her that Angel loved this girl and of course she figures this girl would love him back because he's "strong and wonderful and he listens when you talk ..." She doesn't understand why it wouldn't work.
Cordelia walks to the center of the lobby and offers to explain as she does a breathy, overacted mocking version of Buffy. She feigns tears, doing a "I know I'm a Slayer and you're a vampire and it will never work but --" routine.
Wesley decides to join in and offers his equally mocking version of Angel, saying that Gypsy curse thing keeps him from seeing the truth sometimes. He loves her so much, "sometimes I forget to brood!"
Cordelia continues just because she sent him to hell once, doesn't mean they can't be friends.
Gunn laughs.
Fred looks on, not sure what to make of this performance.
Wes grabs Cordelia and offers they could be more than just friends.
Cordelia feigns resistance.
Wes grabs her and pulls her to him, inviting her to "kiss me."
Cordelia responds with an inviting "bite me."
Wes dips Cordelia and buries his face in her neck.
Angel enters the lobby and suggests, "Why don't you both bite me."
Fred is thrilled to see him.
Gunn asks how things went.
Angel offers Wes and Cordelia pretty much summed it up. He doesn't want to discuss it.
Cordelia says they're his friends. It's not healthy to keep things in, he should talk about it. Besides, if he doesn't she's going to die of curiosity.
Angel couldn't care less about satisfying Cordelia's curiosity.
Fred says she wasn't curious at all.
Cordelia tells her to shut up.
Angel says ice cream sounds good. He invites Fred to accompany him to get some.
She's thrilled to accept the offer.
As he's leaving, Cordelia, apparently forgetting the sensitivity of vamp hearing, quietly laments they'll never know what happened with Angel and Buffy.
Angel calls back to her, "that's right."
Angel and Fred are trekking through the sewer tunnel, Fred enjoying an ice cream cone. Fred is excited about the demon at the ice cream shop that jumped out of the freezer. Angel protected her. She likes that and she's enjoying tracking it down in the sewers because they're "dark and oppressive". It feels like home to her. She thinks it might be a good place to build a condo. She wonders if maybe the demon just wanted ice cream.
Angel explains it isn't likely. It's a Durslar beast, they usually stay in the sewers, not venturing above ground. He continues scanning the sewer tunnel.
Fred thinks life in the sewers is more exciting than her life. She feels she's "boring."
Angel assures her that's not a word he'd use to describe her.
Fred figures maybe "'nutty, stuck in her room mooching off Angel Fred" is a better description. She wonders how everyone puts up with her. She stops her rambling and points out some colored crystals she notices on the wall of the tunnel.
A loud roar gets their attention. Fred assures Angel it wasn't her.
He explains they're probably close to the Durslar's lair, she should go back to the hotel, he'll take care of it.
Fred wonders if maybe they shouldn't call Wesley and get some help.
Angel says Durslar's are loud but not all that dangerous, he can handle it. He asks if she can find her way back to the hotel alone.
Fred knows the distance and direction, she's sure she can make it back.
Angel heads deeper into the tunnel as Fred turns back the other way. She asks if he's sure he doesn't need her.
He assures her he'll be fine.
She bids him an exuberant "bye" and heads back down the tunnel.
As she turns the corner at the end of the tunnel, she calls back one more time to make sure Angel is okay.
Once again, he assures her he is, not noticing something is behind him in the tunnel.
Wes, Gunn and Cordelia are continuing with the weapons inventory. As Wes notes one particular spear he fondly recalls using once, in his days as a Rogue Demon Hunter, to attack what he thought was a "small rodentious demon". He adds that the poodle's owners weren't amused.
Gunn asks Cordelia if she could hurry up and get a vision.
Cordelia isn't anxious to have one, reminding him, yet again, they're painful. She walks away and starts yelling "ow" as Wes and Gunn rush to her, thinking she's having a vision. It's not a vision, she just walked into something that Fred had left on the floor. Cordelia wishes Fred would put her toys away when she finishes with them.
Wes and Gunn admire the object, wondering what it is exactly. Wes thinks it could be a "spring loaded decapitation device."
Cordelia offers that it could be a toaster, hard to tell with Fred.
A couple enters the lobby, asking if they've found Angel Investigations. Wes confirms they have and asks if they can help.
The man hopes so. He introduces himself, Roger, and his wife, Trish. Roger apologizes for interrupting but they need to talk.
Wes invites them into his office.
Wes introduces himself along with Gunn and Cordelia as they all enter his office. He asks how they can help.
Trish tells him their daughter is missing.
Cordelia asks if she was "kidnapped by evil fiends."
Trish says they don't know.
Wes asks if their daughter was into demon worship.
Roger assures Wes she wouldn't be.
Gunn offers that a vampire could be responsible. They're hard to find in a city the size of LA, but they're detectives, they can find anybody.
Roger explains that they'd already hired a detective.
Wes figures he must not have had any luck finding her.
Roger answers that the detective told them their daughter was staying there at the hotel.
Trish tells them their daughter's name is Winifred Burkle, she's known as Fred.
Wes, Gunn and Cordy all look at each other.
Fred comes up into the lobby from the tunnel entrance in the basement. She sees her parents in Wesley's office with the others and runs upstairs.
Mr. and Mrs. Burkle ask the others if they know Fred, if she's okay.
Wes assures them she's fine, she's currently out with one of their "associates."
Cordelia is quick to offer their associate isn't an "evil fiend or a vampire" because there aren't any such things. It's just slang they use in the detective business.
Roger wants to know what's happened to his daughter, she's been gone five years. He wonders if she's been at the hotel all that time.
Wes clarifies t they've only known Fred for a few months. He starts to tell them where they found her, but stops mid-sentence, not quite sure how to explain that.
Cordelia finishes his sentence, they found her in -- a depressed state.
Trish wonders what Fred was depressed about.
Wes explains that she had recently relocated and was finding adjustment difficult. He changes the subject and asks how they found her.
Trish answers that they got a letter from Fred a month earlier.
Her husband offers that there was no return address but Fred had told them she was fine and they shouldn't come looking for her.
Trish says after five years of not knowing what had happened to their daughter, they couldn't just let it go.
Gunn is impressed they were able to track her down using only a letter with no return address. He offers that they could do that too, though he doesn't sound too confident.
Angel heads into the office, holding up the decapitated head of the Durslar. He starts to relay the details of the battle but stops when he realizes they have company.
Everyone looks a bit uncomfortable. Cordy says it's nice he brought a prop from his movie. She's making this up as she goes along, telling the Burkles that Angel makes "monster movies." She introduces Angel to Fred's "very normal parents."
Angel lowers the Durslar head and ponders the notion of Fred having parents.
Fred is up in her room, frantically scrubbing the walls, trying to wipe away the writing that covers them. She gives up on that and starts gathering her things.
In Wesley's office, Angel tells the Burkles it's nice to meet them.
Roger points out that the head Angel is holding is dripping onto the floor.
Angel looks at it, laughs, assures them it's fake, just a prop, as he swings it around. He swings it behind himself, glass is heard shattering.
Wesley's expression says this isn't going well.
Angel tries vainly to make small talk with the Burkles.
Gunn asks if there really was no return address on the envelope.
Roger asks Angel if he knows when Fred will be returning.
Angel answers he sent her back to the hotel just before he picked up the "prop" so he figures she should be in her room.
Everyone enters Fred's room, it's empty. Mrs. Burkle notices the writing all over the walls. She wonders what it is, she thinks it looks "crazy."
Her husband quietly says to her that they might have to call them in sooner than they'd planned.
Across the room, Cordy whispers to Gunn and Wes, asking when Fred last left the hotel alone.
Gunn answers she never has.
Roger tells Angel they want their daughter back.
Wes quietly wonders what Fred is running from as the three of them stare at the Burkles.
Fred is equipped with a backpack, walking the night time streets in a rundown part of town. She stops to look around, scared.
Cordelia, Wes, Angel and Gunn are in Wesley's office. The Burkles are sitting on the poof couch in the lobby. Cordy looks out the door at them, she thinks something isn't right with those two but she doesn't know what.
Wes assumes Fred returned while they were all in the office, saw her parents and took off.
Angel doesn't figure that's a good sign.
Gunn can't picture Fred sneaking out to mail a letter.
Cordelia doesn't think that sounds reasonable either considering Fred can't seem to tie her shoes without her "hero" around.
Wes thinks maybe it's a trick to get them close to her, perhaps the Burkles want them to think Fred was the one who made first contact.
Angel points out that if the letter is real, then Fred told them not to try to find her and there must be a reason for that.
Cordelia notes Fred had never mentioned her family.
Angel wonders where they should start looking for Fred.
Gunn offers checking out all the taco stands. That idea isn't met with much enthusiasm. He says he was just kidding, sort of.
Angel urges them to think of something, asking what they know about Fred.
Wesley's expression says they really don't know much.
Gunn reminds them he knew about the tacos.
Angel remembers she seemed comfortable in the sewer tunnels, it felt familiar to her, reminiscent of the cave she lived in for so long. He'll go back down into the tunnels, see if she's there.
Wes suggests he'll check out the library where she worked, perhaps there are still some colleagues of hers there who might know something.
Cordelia asks what they're going to do with the Burkles. She doesn't figure it would be good for them to be sitting in the lobby if Fred came back. She stares at them from the office doorway, they stare back. Cordelia retreats into the office.
Roger asks his wife if it's time yet. She responds, "not yet."
Wes and the others come out of the office, into the lobby. Wes explains they're going to search some places Fred might be, he asks if they'd like to come along.
Roger wonders if it wouldn't make more sense to split up and cover more ground.
Angel says he's going to check with some of his "industry contacts" so it will be the five of them, he'll be doing his searching on his own.
Mrs. Burkle doesn't like the sound of "industry contacts." She asks if he thinks Fred is making movies.
Angel gets what she means and assures her that's not the case. His contacts just have good connections, maybe they can give him some information.
Wes suggests they get out and start looking.
Angel heads out in the opposite direction, reminding Wes to call him if he comes up with anything.
At Caritas, Lorne, dressed in pajamas and an open robe, ambles into the bar in response to a persistent knocking. He's lamenting the visitor's interrupting his enjoyment of "Judge Judy". He buzzes the visitor in, it's Fred.
Lorne isn't in a good mood as he stands in the midst of his bar, which is still trashed from the events of the night Gunn's old gang paid a visit ("That Old Gang of Mine"). He greets Fred then tries to brush her off.
Fred runs in, following him. She starts shouting "row, row, row your boat!"
Lorne turns and tells her to tone it down, her panic is a little tough to take in his current state of mind.
Fred apologizes, it's just that something bad has happened.
Lorne looks around at his trashed bar and notes he wouldn't have any idea what that was like.
Fred looks at the damage, wondering if there was another "massacre".
Lorne assures her there was "just the one." He figures that was more than enough.
Fred wonders why the place is still a mess.
Lorne doesn't think she's there to discuss his interior design. He sits down at a table and asks her what he can do for her.
Fred joins him at the table and tells him she needs money, she doesn't want to talk about the reasons but she'll sing if she has to. She starts once again with "row, row, row your boat".
Lorne tells her she doesn't have to sing, her aura is shouting loudly enough as it is. He knows she's in a bad place, that she thought she could run away from them and get free but the monsters found her. He knows why she's running and asks if she knows her problem.
Fred figures she's not strong enough to face what scares her.
Lorne disagrees, telling her she didn't run far enough.
Angel is searching the sewer tunnel, calling out for Fred. He assures her that whatever is going on with her parents, they can help her with that. Something is stalking him in the tunnel.
Wes, Cordy, Gunn and the Burkles are at the library. Mrs. Burkle wonders if Fred came there a lot.
Cordy says it's the first place she saw Fred.
Mrs. Burkle remembers Fred loved spending time at the library back home, she used to pick her up once she finished her rounds.
Cordelia lights up at that, figuring Mrs. Burkle is a doctor. She assumes that's why Fred is so smart.
Mrs. Burkle clarifies, she drives a school bus.
Cordelia deflates at that, offering that she's never actually been in one, but she's sure they're nice.
Mr. Burkle asks exactly what Fred's job is with the agency. He doesn't really understand why a physicist is working for a detective agency.
Cordelia says Fred has changed.
Mr. Burkle wonders who's responsible for that.
Wes and Gunn approach, Wes saying they've checked out the various floors of the library but didn't find any sign of Fred.
Roger asks what they'll do next.
Wes says he'd like to talk privately with his associates for a minute.
Wes, Gunn and Cordelia walk away from the Burkles to talk.
Gunn didn't figure they were going to find Fred at the library.
Wes thinks if Gunn knows her so well, he could just tell them where to find her then.
Gunn responds that his taco stand searching idea doesn't sound so bad now.
Cordelia suggests they stop arguing and focus on the matter at hand. She's sure there's something fishy about the Burkles.
Wes wonders what they should do next as he ponders where Fred would go for guidance.
In the sewer tunnel, Angel calls out to Fred, assuring her there's nothing to be afraid of. His cell phone rings, startling him. He gets the news Wes, Gunn and Cordy didn't find Fred at the library, but they think they know where she might be. Angel figures that sounds right as well, he'll meet them there. He turns and heads out of the tunnel as something follows.
Everyone is now at Caritas. Lorne remarks on the small gathering. He wonders why Gunn didn't bring his other friends along since they really know how to party.
Gunn looks uncomfortable. He offers to wait outside.
Lorne, still a bit bitter, thinks that sounds like a good idea.
Gunn leaves.
Mrs. Burkle asks what type of place Caritas is.
Lorne asks if she likes it, explaining he was going for a "Dresden-after-the-bombing" kind of look. He walks away from the group.
Mr. Burkle asks Angel if this guy wearing a bathrobe, makeup and phony horns is one of Angel's "industry contacts."
Lorne assures him his horns aren't phony and offers that he doesn't wear makeup -- except for a little eyeliner.
Wes introduces Fred's parents to Lorne, pointedly telling him they're visiting "from the country."
Roger sarcastically says Lorne will have to forgive them being "hicks", they don't see a lot of guys in Texas wearing eyeliner.
Cordelia chimes in Lorne was just kidding, he just got back from working on a movie, he and Angel work together. She looks to Lorne to confirm her story. He doesn't.
Angel pulls Lorne aside, asking to talk with him a minute.
Mrs. Burkle tells Wes and Cordy she doesn't think they're very effective investigators. She knows they haven't a clue where to find Fred.
Mr. Burkle wonders if perhaps they do know where she is, they just don't want her parents to know.
Off in the corner of the bar, Angel offers his sympathies to Lorne on the condition of the place but right now the important thing is finding Fred. They need his assistance.
Lorne reminds Angel he's not a "vending machine" there to solve their problems every time something comes up. His heart is currently broken and nobody ever seems to care what's going on with him. He goes on, saying that everyone who comes into the place is concerned only with themselves. He figures he's important too.
Angel's been eyeing Lorne as he's been rambling. He knows Lorne knows where Fred is.
Lorne tries to deflect the conversation, wondering just how pimentos get stuffed into olives, pondering the possibilities.
Angel's look says he's not buying the attempt to change the topic of conversation.
Lorne finally gives in and tells Angel Fred doesn't want to see her parents. He doesn't see why they should insist on forcing a confrontation if they don't have to.
Angel knows whatever is going on, it won't be over until it's dealt with. They found her this time, they'll find her again. He figures it's best to deal with it now, where she has friends who can protect her. He asks Lorne to please tell him where they can find Fred. He lets him know he understands he's not a machine.
Lorne agrees but tells him to play it carefully because it's going to "get messy."
At the bus station, Fred is sitting next to a homeless man, talking to herself. She's working on convincing herself she can do this, doesn't matter that she has no friends, money or a job. She starts calculating the value of pi.
The homeless guy isn't all that comfortable with the woman talking to herself and gets up to leave.
She calls after him as he walks away that she was just trying to relax. She tries to assure him she's not dangerous.
Something is stalking Fred at the bus station as she continues talking to herself. She's thinking she could go to Vegas, learn to play blackjack. After calculating pi, counting cards should be a piece of cake.
Wes, Cordy, Gunn, Angel and the Burkles enter the bus station. Mrs. Burkle sees her daughter. Fred starts to run away, stops middle of the station, confused and upset.
Her parents approach her, trying to reassure her of who they are.
Fred doesn't believe they are who they say they are because they don't know.
Mr. Burkle tries reassuring her again that they are her parents.
Fred doesn't want to hear that, she doesn't think they can be who they say.
Mrs. Burkle asks if Fred recognizes them.
Fred starts to cry and ramble, saying she was lost for five years, alone, they weren't there. She says she got lost and terrible things happened to her.
Her parents are trying to understand.
Fred continues, saying it was just a story, it wasn't real, but if they're here and they see her then it wasn't a story, it was real. She's ashamed they can see what was made of her, she didn't mean to get lost.
Mrs. Burkle assures her none of that matters, they'll make it okay as she embraces Fred who breaks down.
Mr. Burkle joins in comforting her, telling her it's okay now, she's safe with them.
A giant bug demon jumps down into the center of the bus station.
Mr. Burkle wonders if that's something from the movies.
Cordelia answers it isn't, it's something that's going to kill them.
Angel tells everybody to get outside.
Wes isn't sure.
Angel says he can handle it.
The others get out of the station.
As they run out of the bus station, Roger Burkle asks what that was.
Cordelia shouts they left all their weapons at the hotel.
Gunn reminds her Angel said he could handle it.
Angel comes crashing through the glass doors of the bus station, rolling to a stop at the feet of the gang. The bug demon follows him out. Angel morphs into vamp face.
Wes suggests they check the truck, see if they left any weapons in it.
As they all run for the truck, leaving Angel behind to stall the demon, Roger asks what happened to Angel's face.
Wes explains on the run he's a vampire but he's got a soul and he'll explain it all if they don't die first.
As the others run ahead to the truck, Wes picks up a bag of golf clubs stacked with luggage waiting to be loaded onto a bus. He calls to Cordelia as he opens the bag.
Angel and the bug demon are going at it, Angel getting the worst of it. Gunn arrives with a bow and arrow and fires it at the demon.
Wes and Cordy start beating on it with golf clubs.
Gunn grabs one from the bag and joins the fray.
A golf club comes flying out of the battle, sliding to a stop at Fred's feet.
Bug demon throws Angel against a bus. When he gets up, he finds himself impaled through the shoulders by bug demon's sharp forelegs.
Fred beans it with the golf club.
The demon shoves her several feet to the ground.
Mr. Burkle doesn't take kindly to his daughter being treated that way as he picks up a metal trash can and slams the bug demon in the head with it.
The demon is momentarily stunned, allowing Angel to grab it from behind.
Mr. Burkle rushes to his daughter and notices her arm is bleeding. He helps her up.
Bug demon manages to throw Angel off and tosses him against a bus. As it stalks towards Angel, another bus comes barreling down on it, splattering it.
The bus comes to a stop, the front end covered in bug demon guts. The doors open, Mrs. Burkle steps out from behind the wheel. As the others approach, she excitedly asks if she did it.
Back at the hotel, Cordelia is putting a bandage on Fred's arm.
Mrs. Burkle asks if she does this often.
Cordy admits it comes along with the job.
Mr. Burkle takes note of the Durslar's head which is still laying in the lobby and wonders if that was a demon.
Cordelia answers Angel said it was a Durslar, he and Fred tracked it in the sewer.
Fred reaches out and touches some colored crystals she's noticed on the decapitated head.
Mr. Burkle is very impressed his daughter knows how to track such things.
Fred admits she was really just there for the ice cream.
Mrs. Burkle would prefer the severed head wasn't there, it gives her the creeps.
Gunn comes in and picks up the head, finding it odd that Mrs. Burkle has no qualms about splattering a giant bug with a bus but is bothered by a "paper mache head." He sets it down on the desk.
Angel points out the head isn't a prop.
Gunn departs to find some bleach.
Wes and Angel look on as Fred and her parents do some bonding. Angel admits he pictured this turning out differently.
Wes notes the Burkles look happy.
Cordelia finishes bandaging Fred's arm and announces she's ready for Angel who anxiously takes Fred's place, ready to get his shoulder patched up.
At the desk, Wes asks Fred how things feel for her.
She starts to answer how she feels emotionally, then realizes that's not what he was asking as she looks at her arm and offers it feels like something tried to tear it off and Angel saved her.
Mrs. Burkle notes Angel seems to do that a lot.
Fred explains that's what Angel does, he's the "champion", Wes is the "brains", Gunn's the "muscle" and Cordelia is the "heart." She ponders her place in the scheme of things, but doesn't think she has one.
Mr. Burkle tells them he and his wife were wondering at one point when to call the cops on what turned out to be "superheroes."
Angel says he' s not a hero.
Gunn smiles, offering that he isn't, he's more like a "blood sucking fiend."
Mr. Burkle doesn't care about any of that. All that matters to him is that Angel saved his daughter.
Angel says he wouldn't have had to do that if Fred hadn't whacked the demon with a golf club.
Mr. Burkle admired the golf stroke, reminded of one he saw in a tournament in 1963.
Angel is familiar with the tournament as he and Mr. Burkle have a golf memory bonding moment.
Fred quietly says she wants to go home. She doesn't feel she has a place there. She knows if Angel hadn't gotten her out of the way, the bug demon would have killed her. She thinks she should go home where it's safe, where there are no monsters. She's afraid her parents may be disappointed.
Her parents assure her that's not the case at all, they'd love to have her home. They all embrace.
Gunn thinks Fred will probably be happier at home.
Wes quietly agrees.
Fred is in her room at the Hyperion. The door is open, but Angel knocks anyway.
Fred makes a point of inviting him in.
He tells her that's only required the first time.
Fred knows this. She just thought since she's going home, this would be her last chance to invite him anywhere unless he pays a visit to Texas.
Angel smiles and offers the option of her building that condo in the sewer. There's a brief silence between them before he asks her how she's doing.
Fred admits to feeling nervous, but also thankful, excited and sad.
Angel figures she's covered everything. He looks around at the walls, covered in writing, and asks if she'll remember it all.
Fred says it's a story as she looks at the walls and relates the tale of a girl being lost, far from home and alone, living in a cave, trying to find a way to escape but never finding the way. She goes on, the girl almost lost all hope until one day she was saved by a handsome man on horseback who took her back to his castle. She thinks that would be the end of a fairy tale, a "Happily Ever After" but it wasn't. When the handsome man brought her back to his castle, he left again and though the girl didn't mean to, when she was in that castle, she built another cave for herself, hoping he would rescue her again. But she knows he can't save her this time.
In the lobby, Mrs. Burkle is telling Cordelia that her husband has always liked the "Alien" movies, all that slime and disgusting stuff, he can't get enough of it. She remembers he fell asleep during the last installment of that series though. She just has a hard time believing all this stuff is real.
Cordy doesn't know about aliens, but demons and alternate dimensions she does know.
Mrs. Burkle is relieved that Fred is returning home. She thinks that line of work is too dangerous for her.
Gunn and Mr. Burkle haul out the object Fred was working on at the beginning of the ep. Mr. Burkle is proud his daughter made it.
Wes offers that they think it's a weapon of some kind, possibly inspired by medieval catapult design.
Mr. Burkle says perhaps it's a toaster.
Wes concedes that's possible.
Angel and Fred come down the stairs into the lobby.
Mrs. Burkle asks her if she's got everything but she hopes she's leaving the shirt with the bug guts on it behind.
Fred hasn't decided. She thought she might take it with her as is, sort of a souvenir.
Fred gives Gunn, then Wes and finally Cordelia a good-bye hug. Cordelia whispers to her that she's almost a little jealous.
Fred thanks Angel for everything he's done for her.
He hands her the suitcase and quietly tells her good-bye.
Fred leaves the hotel with her parents as the others look on.
In the cab, Roger says Fred's room back home is exactly the way she left it except for the guy who's living there but his rental is up at the end of the month.
Fred is a bit stunned they rented out her room.
Roger says they hadn't heard anything from her in four years.
Fred reminds them she wasn't exactly on a vacation.
Fred opens her bag and takes out the shirt with the bug guts on it. She starts to say she's going to miss her friends when she notices something on the shirt. She tells the driver to turn the cab around immediately.
At the hotel, Cordelia wonders if it's wrong to miss Fred's parents because she does.
Angel doesn't see anything wrong in that, they're nice people.
Cordy starts to say they weren't just nice, they were -- Gunn finishes that thought with, "parents."
Wes quietly notes they love and support Fred instead of grinding her down, constantly berating and scornful ..." Wes is clearly lost in his own memories for a moment. The others just look at him. He stops that thought.
Cordelia thinks it's nice that Fred has a chance to lead a normal life now. She loves the guys, LA and the job, but regrets that things are never "normal."
Off to the side, the severed head of the Durslar begins showing signs of movement just under the skin.
Angel notes he'll miss Fred, she was a "nice, quiet kind of crazy", he finds that soothing.
Gunn points out she was pretty handy with a golf club as well.
Cordelia says she's happy Fred is gone. It will be nice not to have to worry about "Crazy Taco Lady" anymore.
Angel thinks Fred will return for a visit some time.
Cordy anxiously asks if he really thinks so.
The movement continues under the skin of the severed head. A bug demon is just outside of the hotel door.
Cordelia gets up, preparing to go home and relax. She walks into the lobby just in time to see the bug demon enter from the doorway. She screams and runs back into the office.
Gunn notes they hit it with a bus, he can't believe it survived that.
Angel doesn't think it's the same demon.
At this point, they all notice there are others outside of the hotel.
Cordelia figures they're about to die.
Angel suggests they grab some weapons as he rolls over the top of the desk and takes on the bug demon.
Wes and Gunn arm themselves with weapons from the cabinet and head into the fray.
Angel finds himself on his back on the floor, about to be impaled by the bug's forelegs. He shouts out, asking who's helping him.
Fred answers that she is, as she and her parents rush into the hotel. Fred steps down on the lever of the weapon she was working on earlier, sending an ax flying through the air which splits the severed head in two. A bunch of bugs start crawling out of it.
The bug demon stops fighting, retrieves the pieces of the head and leaves the hotel.
Gunn notes the thing Fred was working on wasn't a toaster after all.
Angel asks her how she knew what to do.
Fred explains that she saw the same crystals on the Durslar head that she noticed on the wall of the sewer tunnel. She thought they came from the Durslar, but then she noticed the same thing on her shirt. She realized it was some sort of bug residue, that the bug must have laid its eggs in the Durslar's head which is probably why it exhibited the uncharacteristic behavior of coming above ground. She points out everything would have been fine except Angel killed the Durslar then brought the head back to the hotel which meant the bug demon had to track him down to find its young.
Wes notes their killing of the one at the bus station led to the hive coming to reclaim their young. He congratulates Fred on figuring that out.
Mr. and Mrs. Burkle smile proudly.
Gunn thinks the weapon Fred made was pretty cool too.
Fred offers that was a product of her pondering someone having to fight without their arms. She knows they'd bleed to death fairly quickly, but at least with the weapon operated by the foot lever, they could take the bad guy down with them.
Angel adds his congratulations.
Fred offers that she's just had a revelation about her place in life.
Mr. Burkle asks what that's about.
Fred tells her parents she could go home with them and pretend the previous five years didn't happen, maybe even pretend she could have a normal life, but she isn't normal anymore. Though she's missed them terribly, she feels she's found her place, she belongs there. She looks at the others and says that's unless they don't think she does.
Wes offers to put it to a vote, all in favor say 'aye'. Wes answers 'aye' and tells Fred it's unanimous, even though nobody else said anything. Everyone else just smiles.
Fred tells her parents this is her life now. Her mother starts to cry saying they'd sort of hoped she wouldn't figure that out.
Mr. Burkle says they'll have to stick around for a while just to get reacquainted and to make sure she's positive about the choice she's made.
Fred offers her father a hug. She's confident she knows where she'll be.
In Fred's room at the hotel, everyone is taking part in painting over the walls, including Mr. and Mrs. Burkle.
Angel and Roger discuss their belief Spiro Agnew was a demon of some sort.
Wes and Gunn argue about the proper way to apply paint until Mrs. Burkle steps in to get the 'boys' to stop arguing.
Cordy comes in with pizza, asking Fred if she wants some.
Fred says there's something she wants to finish painting a particular section first.
She looks at a drawing on the wall, a rendering of her and Angel on horseback in Pylea, and paints over it.
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| Written by: Mere Smith | Original Air Date: October 22, 2001 |
In the lobby of the hotel, Wes is complaining about Cordelia's grouping of weapons. Wes starts to remind her of the purpose of doing an inventory.
Gunn doesn't think they need the reminder.
Wes says it wasn't his idea to do this.
Cordelia knows it was Angel's. He isn't happy that the weapons cabinet is "different" but she wonders who the boss is.
Fred asks what time it is.
Cordelia walks over to where Fred is sitting on the floor, working on something. She answers that it's three minutes later than the last time Fred asked.
Fred apologizes. She thinks the more you think about time, the slower time passes.
Cordelia tells her he'll be back when he gets back.
Fred wonders if Angel and the "girl with the goofy name" will be getting back together now that she's alive.
Wes answers that's a tough question but he thinks the safe answer is, "no, not a chance, never, no way, not in a million years and nuh-uh."
Fred doesn't understand that since Wes had told her that Angel loved this girl and of course she figures this girl would love him back because he's "strong and wonderful and he listens when you talk ..." She doesn't understand why it wouldn't work.
Cordelia walks to the center of the lobby and offers to explain as she does a breathy, overacted mocking version of Buffy. She feigns tears, doing a "I know I'm a Slayer and you're a vampire and it will never work but --" routine.
Wesley decides to join in and offers his equally mocking version of Angel, saying that Gypsy curse thing keeps him from seeing the truth sometimes. He loves her so much, "sometimes I forget to brood!"
Cordelia continues just because she sent him to hell once, doesn't mean they can't be friends.
Gunn laughs.
Fred looks on, not sure what to make of this performance.
Wes grabs Cordelia and offers they could be more than just friends.
Cordelia feigns resistance.
Wes grabs her and pulls her to him, inviting her to "kiss me."
Cordelia responds with an inviting "bite me."
Wes dips Cordelia and buries his face in her neck.
Angel enters the lobby and suggests, "Why don't you both bite me."
Fred is thrilled to see him.
Gunn asks how things went.
Angel offers Wes and Cordelia pretty much summed it up. He doesn't want to discuss it.
Cordelia says they're his friends. It's not healthy to keep things in, he should talk about it. Besides, if he doesn't she's going to die of curiosity.
Angel couldn't care less about satisfying Cordelia's curiosity.
Fred says she wasn't curious at all.
Cordelia tells her to shut up.
Angel says ice cream sounds good. He invites Fred to accompany him to get some.
She's thrilled to accept the offer.
As he's leaving, Cordelia, apparently forgetting the sensitivity of vamp hearing, quietly laments they'll never know what happened with Angel and Buffy.
Angel calls back to her, "that's right."
Angel and Fred are trekking through the sewer tunnel, Fred enjoying an ice cream cone. Fred is excited about the demon at the ice cream shop that jumped out of the freezer. Angel protected her. She likes that and she's enjoying tracking it down in the sewers because they're "dark and oppressive". It feels like home to her. She thinks it might be a good place to build a condo. She wonders if maybe the demon just wanted ice cream.
Angel explains it isn't likely. It's a Durslar beast, they usually stay in the sewers, not venturing above ground. He continues scanning the sewer tunnel.
Fred thinks life in the sewers is more exciting than her life. She feels she's "boring."
Angel assures her that's not a word he'd use to describe her.
Fred figures maybe "'nutty, stuck in her room mooching off Angel Fred" is a better description. She wonders how everyone puts up with her. She stops her rambling and points out some colored crystals she notices on the wall of the tunnel.
A loud roar gets their attention. Fred assures Angel it wasn't her.
He explains they're probably close to the Durslar's lair, she should go back to the hotel, he'll take care of it.
Fred wonders if maybe they shouldn't call Wesley and get some help.
Angel says Durslar's are loud but not all that dangerous, he can handle it. He asks if she can find her way back to the hotel alone.
Fred knows the distance and direction, she's sure she can make it back.
Angel heads deeper into the tunnel as Fred turns back the other way. She asks if he's sure he doesn't need her.
He assures her he'll be fine.
She bids him an exuberant "bye" and heads back down the tunnel.
As she turns the corner at the end of the tunnel, she calls back one more time to make sure Angel is okay.
Once again, he assures her he is, not noticing something is behind him in the tunnel.
Wes, Gunn and Cordelia are continuing with the weapons inventory. As Wes notes one particular spear he fondly recalls using once, in his days as a Rogue Demon Hunter, to attack what he thought was a "small rodentious demon". He adds that the poodle's owners weren't amused.
Gunn asks Cordelia if she could hurry up and get a vision.
Cordelia isn't anxious to have one, reminding him, yet again, they're painful. She walks away and starts yelling "ow" as Wes and Gunn rush to her, thinking she's having a vision. It's not a vision, she just walked into something that Fred had left on the floor. Cordelia wishes Fred would put her toys away when she finishes with them.
Wes and Gunn admire the object, wondering what it is exactly. Wes thinks it could be a "spring loaded decapitation device."
Cordelia offers that it could be a toaster, hard to tell with Fred.
A couple enters the lobby, asking if they've found Angel Investigations. Wes confirms they have and asks if they can help.
The man hopes so. He introduces himself, Roger, and his wife, Trish. Roger apologizes for interrupting but they need to talk.
Wes invites them into his office.
Wes introduces himself along with Gunn and Cordelia as they all enter his office. He asks how they can help.
Trish tells him their daughter is missing.
Cordelia asks if she was "kidnapped by evil fiends."
Trish says they don't know.
Wes asks if their daughter was into demon worship.
Roger assures Wes she wouldn't be.
Gunn offers that a vampire could be responsible. They're hard to find in a city the size of LA, but they're detectives, they can find anybody.
Roger explains that they'd already hired a detective.
Wes figures he must not have had any luck finding her.
Roger answers that the detective told them their daughter was staying there at the hotel.
Trish tells them their daughter's name is Winifred Burkle, she's known as Fred.
Wes, Gunn and Cordy all look at each other.
Fred comes up into the lobby from the tunnel entrance in the basement. She sees her parents in Wesley's office with the others and runs upstairs.
Mr. and Mrs. Burkle ask the others if they know Fred, if she's okay.
Wes assures them she's fine, she's currently out with one of their "associates."
Cordelia is quick to offer their associate isn't an "evil fiend or a vampire" because there aren't any such things. It's just slang they use in the detective business.
Roger wants to know what's happened to his daughter, she's been gone five years. He wonders if she's been at the hotel all that time.
Wes clarifies t they've only known Fred for a few months. He starts to tell them where they found her, but stops mid-sentence, not quite sure how to explain that.
Cordelia finishes his sentence, they found her in -- a depressed state.
Trish wonders what Fred was depressed about.
Wes explains that she had recently relocated and was finding adjustment difficult. He changes the subject and asks how they found her.
Trish answers that they got a letter from Fred a month earlier.
Her husband offers that there was no return address but Fred had told them she was fine and they shouldn't come looking for her.
Trish says after five years of not knowing what had happened to their daughter, they couldn't just let it go.
Gunn is impressed they were able to track her down using only a letter with no return address. He offers that they could do that too, though he doesn't sound too confident.
Angel heads into the office, holding up the decapitated head of the Durslar. He starts to relay the details of the battle but stops when he realizes they have company.
Everyone looks a bit uncomfortable. Cordy says it's nice he brought a prop from his movie. She's making this up as she goes along, telling the Burkles that Angel makes "monster movies." She introduces Angel to Fred's "very normal parents."
Angel lowers the Durslar head and ponders the notion of Fred having parents.
Fred is up in her room, frantically scrubbing the walls, trying to wipe away the writing that covers them. She gives up on that and starts gathering her things.
In Wesley's office, Angel tells the Burkles it's nice to meet them.
Roger points out that the head Angel is holding is dripping onto the floor.
Angel looks at it, laughs, assures them it's fake, just a prop, as he swings it around. He swings it behind himself, glass is heard shattering.
Wesley's expression says this isn't going well.
Angel tries vainly to make small talk with the Burkles.
Gunn asks if there really was no return address on the envelope.
Roger asks Angel if he knows when Fred will be returning.
Angel answers he sent her back to the hotel just before he picked up the "prop" so he figures she should be in her room.
Everyone enters Fred's room, it's empty. Mrs. Burkle notices the writing all over the walls. She wonders what it is, she thinks it looks "crazy."
Her husband quietly says to her that they might have to call them in sooner than they'd planned.
Across the room, Cordy whispers to Gunn and Wes, asking when Fred last left the hotel alone.
Gunn answers she never has.
Roger tells Angel they want their daughter back.
Wes quietly wonders what Fred is running from as the three of them stare at the Burkles.
Fred is equipped with a backpack, walking the night time streets in a rundown part of town. She stops to look around, scared.
Cordelia, Wes, Angel and Gunn are in Wesley's office. The Burkles are sitting on the poof couch in the lobby. Cordy looks out the door at them, she thinks something isn't right with those two but she doesn't know what.
Wes assumes Fred returned while they were all in the office, saw her parents and took off.
Angel doesn't figure that's a good sign.
Gunn can't picture Fred sneaking out to mail a letter.
Cordelia doesn't think that sounds reasonable either considering Fred can't seem to tie her shoes without her "hero" around.
Wes thinks maybe it's a trick to get them close to her, perhaps the Burkles want them to think Fred was the one who made first contact.
Angel points out that if the letter is real, then Fred told them not to try to find her and there must be a reason for that.
Cordelia notes Fred had never mentioned her family.
Angel wonders where they should start looking for Fred.
Gunn offers checking out all the taco stands. That idea isn't met with much enthusiasm. He says he was just kidding, sort of.
Angel urges them to think of something, asking what they know about Fred.
Wesley's expression says they really don't know much.
Gunn reminds them he knew about the tacos.
Angel remembers she seemed comfortable in the sewer tunnels, it felt familiar to her, reminiscent of the cave she lived in for so long. He'll go back down into the tunnels, see if she's there.
Wes suggests he'll check out the library where she worked, perhaps there are still some colleagues of hers there who might know something.
Cordelia asks what they're going to do with the Burkles. She doesn't figure it would be good for them to be sitting in the lobby if Fred came back. She stares at them from the office doorway, they stare back. Cordelia retreats into the office.
Roger asks his wife if it's time yet. She responds, "not yet."
Wes and the others come out of the office, into the lobby. Wes explains they're going to search some places Fred might be, he asks if they'd like to come along.
Roger wonders if it wouldn't make more sense to split up and cover more ground.
Angel says he's going to check with some of his "industry contacts" so it will be the five of them, he'll be doing his searching on his own.
Mrs. Burkle doesn't like the sound of "industry contacts." She asks if he thinks Fred is making movies.
Angel gets what she means and assures her that's not the case. His contacts just have good connections, maybe they can give him some information.
Wes suggests they get out and start looking.
Angel heads out in the opposite direction, reminding Wes to call him if he comes up with anything.
At Caritas, Lorne, dressed in pajamas and an open robe, ambles into the bar in response to a persistent knocking. He's lamenting the visitor's interrupting his enjoyment of "Judge Judy". He buzzes the visitor in, it's Fred.
Lorne isn't in a good mood as he stands in the midst of his bar, which is still trashed from the events of the night Gunn's old gang paid a visit ("That Old Gang of Mine"). He greets Fred then tries to brush her off.
Fred runs in, following him. She starts shouting "row, row, row your boat!"
Lorne turns and tells her to tone it down, her panic is a little tough to take in his current state of mind.
Fred apologizes, it's just that something bad has happened.
Lorne looks around at his trashed bar and notes he wouldn't have any idea what that was like.
Fred looks at the damage, wondering if there was another "massacre".
Lorne assures her there was "just the one." He figures that was more than enough.
Fred wonders why the place is still a mess.
Lorne doesn't think she's there to discuss his interior design. He sits down at a table and asks her what he can do for her.
Fred joins him at the table and tells him she needs money, she doesn't want to talk about the reasons but she'll sing if she has to. She starts once again with "row, row, row your boat".
Lorne tells her she doesn't have to sing, her aura is shouting loudly enough as it is. He knows she's in a bad place, that she thought she could run away from them and get free but the monsters found her. He knows why she's running and asks if she knows her problem.
Fred figures she's not strong enough to face what scares her.
Lorne disagrees, telling her she didn't run far enough.
Angel is searching the sewer tunnel, calling out for Fred. He assures her that whatever is going on with her parents, they can help her with that. Something is stalking him in the tunnel.
Wes, Cordy, Gunn and the Burkles are at the library. Mrs. Burkle wonders if Fred came there a lot.
Cordy says it's the first place she saw Fred.
Mrs. Burkle remembers Fred loved spending time at the library back home, she used to pick her up once she finished her rounds.
Cordelia lights up at that, figuring Mrs. Burkle is a doctor. She assumes that's why Fred is so smart.
Mrs. Burkle clarifies, she drives a school bus.
Cordelia deflates at that, offering that she's never actually been in one, but she's sure they're nice.
Mr. Burkle asks exactly what Fred's job is with the agency. He doesn't really understand why a physicist is working for a detective agency.
Cordelia says Fred has changed.
Mr. Burkle wonders who's responsible for that.
Wes and Gunn approach, Wes saying they've checked out the various floors of the library but didn't find any sign of Fred.
Roger asks what they'll do next.
Wes says he'd like to talk privately with his associates for a minute.
Wes, Gunn and Cordelia walk away from the Burkles to talk.
Gunn didn't figure they were going to find Fred at the library.
Wes thinks if Gunn knows her so well, he could just tell them where to find her then.
Gunn responds that his taco stand searching idea doesn't sound so bad now.
Cordelia suggests they stop arguing and focus on the matter at hand. She's sure there's something fishy about the Burkles.
Wes wonders what they should do next as he ponders where Fred would go for guidance.
In the sewer tunnel, Angel calls out to Fred, assuring her there's nothing to be afraid of. His cell phone rings, startling him. He gets the news Wes, Gunn and Cordy didn't find Fred at the library, but they think they know where she might be. Angel figures that sounds right as well, he'll meet them there. He turns and heads out of the tunnel as something follows.
Everyone is now at Caritas. Lorne remarks on the small gathering. He wonders why Gunn didn't bring his other friends along since they really know how to party.
Gunn looks uncomfortable. He offers to wait outside.
Lorne, still a bit bitter, thinks that sounds like a good idea.
Gunn leaves.
Mrs. Burkle asks what type of place Caritas is.
Lorne asks if she likes it, explaining he was going for a "Dresden-after-the-bombing" kind of look. He walks away from the group.
Mr. Burkle asks Angel if this guy wearing a bathrobe, makeup and phony horns is one of Angel's "industry contacts."
Lorne assures him his horns aren't phony and offers that he doesn't wear makeup -- except for a little eyeliner.
Wes introduces Fred's parents to Lorne, pointedly telling him they're visiting "from the country."
Roger sarcastically says Lorne will have to forgive them being "hicks", they don't see a lot of guys in Texas wearing eyeliner.
Cordelia chimes in Lorne was just kidding, he just got back from working on a movie, he and Angel work together. She looks to Lorne to confirm her story. He doesn't.
Angel pulls Lorne aside, asking to talk with him a minute.
Mrs. Burkle tells Wes and Cordy she doesn't think they're very effective investigators. She knows they haven't a clue where to find Fred.
Mr. Burkle wonders if perhaps they do know where she is, they just don't want her parents to know.
Off in the corner of the bar, Angel offers his sympathies to Lorne on the condition of the place but right now the important thing is finding Fred. They need his assistance.
Lorne reminds Angel he's not a "vending machine" there to solve their problems every time something comes up. His heart is currently broken and nobody ever seems to care what's going on with him. He goes on, saying that everyone who comes into the place is concerned only with themselves. He figures he's important too.
Angel's been eyeing Lorne as he's been rambling. He knows Lorne knows where Fred is.
Lorne tries to deflect the conversation, wondering just how pimentos get stuffed into olives, pondering the possibilities.
Angel's look says he's not buying the attempt to change the topic of conversation.
Lorne finally gives in and tells Angel Fred doesn't want to see her parents. He doesn't see why they should insist on forcing a confrontation if they don't have to.
Angel knows whatever is going on, it won't be over until it's dealt with. They found her this time, they'll find her again. He figures it's best to deal with it now, where she has friends who can protect her. He asks Lorne to please tell him where they can find Fred. He lets him know he understands he's not a machine.
Lorne agrees but tells him to play it carefully because it's going to "get messy."
At the bus station, Fred is sitting next to a homeless man, talking to herself. She's working on convincing herself she can do this, doesn't matter that she has no friends, money or a job. She starts calculating the value of pi.
The homeless guy isn't all that comfortable with the woman talking to herself and gets up to leave.
She calls after him as he walks away that she was just trying to relax. She tries to assure him she's not dangerous.
Something is stalking Fred at the bus station as she continues talking to herself. She's thinking she could go to Vegas, learn to play blackjack. After calculating pi, counting cards should be a piece of cake.
Wes, Cordy, Gunn, Angel and the Burkles enter the bus station. Mrs. Burkle sees her daughter. Fred starts to run away, stops middle of the station, confused and upset.
Her parents approach her, trying to reassure her of who they are.
Fred doesn't believe they are who they say they are because they don't know.
Mr. Burkle tries reassuring her again that they are her parents.
Fred doesn't want to hear that, she doesn't think they can be who they say.
Mrs. Burkle asks if Fred recognizes them.
Fred starts to cry and ramble, saying she was lost for five years, alone, they weren't there. She says she got lost and terrible things happened to her.
Her parents are trying to understand.
Fred continues, saying it was just a story, it wasn't real, but if they're here and they see her then it wasn't a story, it was real. She's ashamed they can see what was made of her, she didn't mean to get lost.
Mrs. Burkle assures her none of that matters, they'll make it okay as she embraces Fred who breaks down.
Mr. Burkle joins in comforting her, telling her it's okay now, she's safe with them.
A giant bug demon jumps down into the center of the bus station.
Mr. Burkle wonders if that's something from the movies.
Cordelia answers it isn't, it's something that's going to kill them.
Angel tells everybody to get outside.
Wes isn't sure.
Angel says he can handle it.
The others get out of the station.
As they run out of the bus station, Roger Burkle asks what that was.
Cordelia shouts they left all their weapons at the hotel.
Gunn reminds her Angel said he could handle it.
Angel comes crashing through the glass doors of the bus station, rolling to a stop at the feet of the gang. The bug demon follows him out. Angel morphs into vamp face.
Wes suggests they check the truck, see if they left any weapons in it.
As they all run for the truck, leaving Angel behind to stall the demon, Roger asks what happened to Angel's face.
Wes explains on the run he's a vampire but he's got a soul and he'll explain it all if they don't die first.
As the others run ahead to the truck, Wes picks up a bag of golf clubs stacked with luggage waiting to be loaded onto a bus. He calls to Cordelia as he opens the bag.
Angel and the bug demon are going at it, Angel getting the worst of it. Gunn arrives with a bow and arrow and fires it at the demon.
Wes and Cordy start beating on it with golf clubs.
Gunn grabs one from the bag and joins the fray.
A golf club comes flying out of the battle, sliding to a stop at Fred's feet.
Bug demon throws Angel against a bus. When he gets up, he finds himself impaled through the shoulders by bug demon's sharp forelegs.
Fred beans it with the golf club.
The demon shoves her several feet to the ground.
Mr. Burkle doesn't take kindly to his daughter being treated that way as he picks up a metal trash can and slams the bug demon in the head with it.
The demon is momentarily stunned, allowing Angel to grab it from behind.
Mr. Burkle rushes to his daughter and notices her arm is bleeding. He helps her up.
Bug demon manages to throw Angel off and tosses him against a bus. As it stalks towards Angel, another bus comes barreling down on it, splattering it.
The bus comes to a stop, the front end covered in bug demon guts. The doors open, Mrs. Burkle steps out from behind the wheel. As the others approach, she excitedly asks if she did it.
Back at the hotel, Cordelia is putting a bandage on Fred's arm.
Mrs. Burkle asks if she does this often.
Cordy admits it comes along with the job.
Mr. Burkle takes note of the Durslar's head which is still laying in the lobby and wonders if that was a demon.
Cordelia answers Angel said it was a Durslar, he and Fred tracked it in the sewer.
Fred reaches out and touches some colored crystals she's noticed on the decapitated head.
Mr. Burkle is very impressed his daughter knows how to track such things.
Fred admits she was really just there for the ice cream.
Mrs. Burkle would prefer the severed head wasn't there, it gives her the creeps.
Gunn comes in and picks up the head, finding it odd that Mrs. Burkle has no qualms about splattering a giant bug with a bus but is bothered by a "paper mache head." He sets it down on the desk.
Angel points out the head isn't a prop.
Gunn departs to find some bleach.
Wes and Angel look on as Fred and her parents do some bonding. Angel admits he pictured this turning out differently.
Wes notes the Burkles look happy.
Cordelia finishes bandaging Fred's arm and announces she's ready for Angel who anxiously takes Fred's place, ready to get his shoulder patched up.
At the desk, Wes asks Fred how things feel for her.
She starts to answer how she feels emotionally, then realizes that's not what he was asking as she looks at her arm and offers it feels like something tried to tear it off and Angel saved her.
Mrs. Burkle notes Angel seems to do that a lot.
Fred explains that's what Angel does, he's the "champion", Wes is the "brains", Gunn's the "muscle" and Cordelia is the "heart." She ponders her place in the scheme of things, but doesn't think she has one.
Mr. Burkle tells them he and his wife were wondering at one point when to call the cops on what turned out to be "superheroes."
Angel says he' s not a hero.
Gunn smiles, offering that he isn't, he's more like a "blood sucking fiend."
Mr. Burkle doesn't care about any of that. All that matters to him is that Angel saved his daughter.
Angel says he wouldn't have had to do that if Fred hadn't whacked the demon with a golf club.
Mr. Burkle admired the golf stroke, reminded of one he saw in a tournament in 1963.
Angel is familiar with the tournament as he and Mr. Burkle have a golf memory bonding moment.
Fred quietly says she wants to go home. She doesn't feel she has a place there. She knows if Angel hadn't gotten her out of the way, the bug demon would have killed her. She thinks she should go home where it's safe, where there are no monsters. She's afraid her parents may be disappointed.
Her parents assure her that's not the case at all, they'd love to have her home. They all embrace.
Gunn thinks Fred will probably be happier at home.
Wes quietly agrees.
Fred is in her room at the Hyperion. The door is open, but Angel knocks anyway.
Fred makes a point of inviting him in.
He tells her that's only required the first time.
Fred knows this. She just thought since she's going home, this would be her last chance to invite him anywhere unless he pays a visit to Texas.
Angel smiles and offers the option of her building that condo in the sewer. There's a brief silence between them before he asks her how she's doing.
Fred admits to feeling nervous, but also thankful, excited and sad.
Angel figures she's covered everything. He looks around at the walls, covered in writing, and asks if she'll remember it all.
Fred says it's a story as she looks at the walls and relates the tale of a girl being lost, far from home and alone, living in a cave, trying to find a way to escape but never finding the way. She goes on, the girl almost lost all hope until one day she was saved by a handsome man on horseback who took her back to his castle. She thinks that would be the end of a fairy tale, a "Happily Ever After" but it wasn't. When the handsome man brought her back to his castle, he left again and though the girl didn't mean to, when she was in that castle, she built another cave for herself, hoping he would rescue her again. But she knows he can't save her this time.
In the lobby, Mrs. Burkle is telling Cordelia that her husband has always liked the "Alien" movies, all that slime and disgusting stuff, he can't get enough of it. She remembers he fell asleep during the last installment of that series though. She just has a hard time believing all this stuff is real.
Cordy doesn't know about aliens, but demons and alternate dimensions she does know.
Mrs. Burkle is relieved that Fred is returning home. She thinks that line of work is too dangerous for her.
Gunn and Mr. Burkle haul out the object Fred was working on at the beginning of the ep. Mr. Burkle is proud his daughter made it.
Wes offers that they think it's a weapon of some kind, possibly inspired by medieval catapult design.
Mr. Burkle says perhaps it's a toaster.
Wes concedes that's possible.
Angel and Fred come down the stairs into the lobby.
Mrs. Burkle asks her if she's got everything but she hopes she's leaving the shirt with the bug guts on it behind.
Fred hasn't decided. She thought she might take it with her as is, sort of a souvenir.
Fred gives Gunn, then Wes and finally Cordelia a good-bye hug. Cordelia whispers to her that she's almost a little jealous.
Fred thanks Angel for everything he's done for her.
He hands her the suitcase and quietly tells her good-bye.
Fred leaves the hotel with her parents as the others look on.
In the cab, Roger says Fred's room back home is exactly the way she left it except for the guy who's living there but his rental is up at the end of the month.
Fred is a bit stunned they rented out her room.
Roger says they hadn't heard anything from her in four years.
Fred reminds them she wasn't exactly on a vacation.
Fred opens her bag and takes out the shirt with the bug guts on it. She starts to say she's going to miss her friends when she notices something on the shirt. She tells the driver to turn the cab around immediately.
At the hotel, Cordelia wonders if it's wrong to miss Fred's parents because she does.
Angel doesn't see anything wrong in that, they're nice people.
Cordy starts to say they weren't just nice, they were -- Gunn finishes that thought with, "parents."
Wes quietly notes they love and support Fred instead of grinding her down, constantly berating and scornful ..." Wes is clearly lost in his own memories for a moment. The others just look at him. He stops that thought.
Cordelia thinks it's nice that Fred has a chance to lead a normal life now. She loves the guys, LA and the job, but regrets that things are never "normal."
Off to the side, the severed head of the Durslar begins showing signs of movement just under the skin.
Angel notes he'll miss Fred, she was a "nice, quiet kind of crazy", he finds that soothing.
Gunn points out she was pretty handy with a golf club as well.
Cordelia says she's happy Fred is gone. It will be nice not to have to worry about "Crazy Taco Lady" anymore.
Angel thinks Fred will return for a visit some time.
Cordy anxiously asks if he really thinks so.
The movement continues under the skin of the severed head. A bug demon is just outside of the hotel door.
Cordelia gets up, preparing to go home and relax. She walks into the lobby just in time to see the bug demon enter from the doorway. She screams and runs back into the office.
Gunn notes they hit it with a bus, he can't believe it survived that.
Angel doesn't think it's the same demon.
At this point, they all notice there are others outside of the hotel.
Cordelia figures they're about to die.
Angel suggests they grab some weapons as he rolls over the top of the desk and takes on the bug demon.
Wes and Gunn arm themselves with weapons from the cabinet and head into the fray.
Angel finds himself on his back on the floor, about to be impaled by the bug's forelegs. He shouts out, asking who's helping him.
Fred answers that she is, as she and her parents rush into the hotel. Fred steps down on the lever of the weapon she was working on earlier, sending an ax flying through the air which splits the severed head in two. A bunch of bugs start crawling out of it.
The bug demon stops fighting, retrieves the pieces of the head and leaves the hotel.
Gunn notes the thing Fred was working on wasn't a toaster after all.
Angel asks her how she knew what to do.
Fred explains that she saw the same crystals on the Durslar head that she noticed on the wall of the sewer tunnel. She thought they came from the Durslar, but then she noticed the same thing on her shirt. She realized it was some sort of bug residue, that the bug must have laid its eggs in the Durslar's head which is probably why it exhibited the uncharacteristic behavior of coming above ground. She points out everything would have been fine except Angel killed the Durslar then brought the head back to the hotel which meant the bug demon had to track him down to find its young.
Wes notes their killing of the one at the bus station led to the hive coming to reclaim their young. He congratulates Fred on figuring that out.
Mr. and Mrs. Burkle smile proudly.
Gunn thinks the weapon Fred made was pretty cool too.
Fred offers that was a product of her pondering someone having to fight without their arms. She knows they'd bleed to death fairly quickly, but at least with the weapon operated by the foot lever, they could take the bad guy down with them.
Angel adds his congratulations.
Fred offers that she's just had a revelation about her place in life.
Mr. Burkle asks what that's about.
Fred tells her parents she could go home with them and pretend the previous five years didn't happen, maybe even pretend she could have a normal life, but she isn't normal anymore. Though she's missed them terribly, she feels she's found her place, she belongs there. She looks at the others and says that's unless they don't think she does.
Wes offers to put it to a vote, all in favor say 'aye'. Wes answers 'aye' and tells Fred it's unanimous, even though nobody else said anything. Everyone else just smiles.
Fred tells her parents this is her life now. Her mother starts to cry saying they'd sort of hoped she wouldn't figure that out.
Mr. Burkle says they'll have to stick around for a while just to get reacquainted and to make sure she's positive about the choice she's made.
Fred offers her father a hug. She's confident she knows where she'll be.
In Fred's room at the hotel, everyone is taking part in painting over the walls, including Mr. and Mrs. Burkle.
Angel and Roger discuss their belief Spiro Agnew was a demon of some sort.
Wes and Gunn argue about the proper way to apply paint until Mrs. Burkle steps in to get the 'boys' to stop arguing.
Cordy comes in with pizza, asking Fred if she wants some.
Fred says there's something she wants to finish painting a particular section first.
She looks at a drawing on the wall, a rendering of her and Angel on horseback in Pylea, and paints over it.
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