Written by: Mere Smith
Directed by: Michael Grossman

Starring: David Boreanaz as Angel, Charisma Carpenter as Cordelia, Amy Acker as Fred, Alexis Denisof as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, J. August Richards as Gunn

Guest starring: Andy Hallet as Lorne, Patrick Breen as Nev, Max Baker as the Concierge, David Denman as Skip (the demon)

Original air date: January 14, 2002

Cordy is giving a very moving acceptance speech for receiving an award. She thanks her fans, her family, and we see that she’s clutching, not an award, but a scrub brush. Cordy, Fred, and Gunn are trying to clean up demon-residue (left when Angel dropped the hand grenade in the Hyperion lobby to escape from Holtz). Cordy goes into the bathroom to wash her hands so she can hold baby Connor. While she’s there she takes a couple of pills.

As Cordy comes out of the bathroom she finds that the AI gang has cake and presents for her birthday. After blowing out the candles on her cake Cordy nabs some snuggles with Connor but is faced with a dilemma: should she snuggle more with Connor or open her presents?? Hmmm. Suddenly she tells Angel “Take the baby. Take the baby!” Cordy is in the middle of a humongous vision that slams her into the glass doors of the weapons cabinet. Cordy sees a teenager being attacked by a 3-mouthed demon. As the rest of the team tries to rouse Cordy’s physical self, Cordy’s mental self wakes up, sees everyone crouching over her body, and worries that she is dead.

Two conversations happen simultaneously: Cordy’s trying to get the gang to hear about her vision that a girl in Receda is about to be attacked. It doesn’t look good for her - Lorne walks right through Cordy’s mental self and she sees shadows on the walls. In the meantime the gang discusses Cordy’s condition - she’s unconscious but still alive. Fred thinks that Cordy dropped a prescription bottle for Seltrax, a very strong medication for migraines. Gunn wants to take Cordy to a hospital but Angel and Wes don’t think that doctors will be able to help. Lorne confirms Angel’s and Wes’s suspicions that there are some very strong “woo woo” vibes in the room. The AI gang decides to look for a more mystical cure for Cordy’s condition.

Angel sends Gunn and Fred to Cordy’s place to look for clues and Wes hits the books. Meanwhile Cordy’s yelling at everyone that they should look for the girl in Receda. When Gunn and Fred arrive at Cordy’s apartment they are greeted by Phantom Dennis who throws some confetti and has decorated Cordy’s apartment. After Fred and Phantom Dennis are formally introduced, Gunn and Fred decide to fill Phantom Dennis in on Cordy’s situation and start to rifle through Cordy’s place.

Back at the hotel, Wes is researching info on astral planes. Cordy desperately tries to get Wes to hear her, then reads a little bit about astral projection over his shoulder before Wes turns the page of the book he’s reading.

At Cordy’s place Fred claims that things are “too normal” in Cordy’s place. Nobody takes a medication as strong as Seltrax without trying other meds first. Fred’s a little embarrassed that Gunn is wrist-deep in Cordy’s underwear drawer, but Gunn asks if Fred’s never hidden anything in her underwear drawer. Fred responds that for 5 years she never had . . . you get the idea. Fred suggests that Phantom Dennis might be protecting Cordy. Gunn asks Phantom Dennis to help them to help Cordy. Dennis slides out a huge box of meds, x-rays, and CAT scans out from underneath Cordy’s bed.

Back at the hotel Cordy’s physical self is resting in Angel’s apartment. Angel’s talking to Cordy’s body telling her how pissed he is that she hid her condition from him. Lorne tries to mind meld with Cordy, but he has to tell Angel that Cordy isn’t in her body. Angel is now supremely angry and demands that Lorne find a way that Angel can contact the Powers That Be to help revive Cordy. In the meantime Cordy’s trying to tell Angel about her vision but she can’t get through to him.

Angel continues to watch over Cordy but eventually falls asleep. The mental Cordy takes advantage of the opportunity and sits down in the same space Angel is in and takes control of his body. The Cordy-Angel writes the address from her vision on the wall but, before she can finish, the whispering shadow things bump her out of Angel’s body. Wes walks in and finds Angel on the floor. Angel explains that he dreamt that Cordy was trying to tell him something really important. Wes tells Angel that Fred’s analysis of Cordy’s CAT scans show “widespread neuroelectrical deterioration.” Wes and Angel both realize that Cordy’s dying.

Cordy says that she’s not ready to go, and the windy-shadowy-whispery thing comes back. Cordy prepares for the worst and a demon (Skip, from Season 3 Episode 2 “That Vision Thing”) materializes. Cordy wants to know what is going on and Skip’s ready to explain, but Cordy has to go with him. Cordy tries to negotiate the situation so that the AI gang knows about the vision, but Skip’s no messenger.

Fred shows Angel the results of Cordy’s PET scans, and how the colors show the gradual deterioration of Cordy’s brain activity. A very abused and disheveled Lorne shows up - suit coat is torn, a horn is missing - after his visit with the PTB. Gunn wants to know who is responsible, but Lorne can’t tell him . . . literally. The PTB put a spell on Lorne so that, when he tries to talk about the PTB, he speaks gobbledy-gook. The PTB did, however, allow Lorne to write down the information so that Angel can give the PTB a piece of his mind.

Meanwhile, Skip has taken Cordy to a mall. The PTB thought a familiar location, the construct of a mall, might make Cordy feel more comfortable. Skip brought Cordy to the mall to give her a choice. He shows her the “cosmic whoops” when Doyle kissed Cordy and passed his visions on to her. Skip explained that humans aren’t strong enough to handle visions and that they will eventually kill Cordy.

Angel “drops in” on the PTB by literally falling through a ceiling. It’s a little confusing for Angel because the conduit speaks in both a male and female voice, but not always in concert. Angel wants the PTB to take the powers back.

In the mall, Skip explains to Cordy how her life would be different if her chance meeting with Angel at a party had never happened. If Cordy had not met Angel at the party but had met up with a powerful talent agent, Cordy would be a very successful, very rich actress. The PTB can “write over” history so that Cordy never met up with Angel, never received the visions, and became a very wealthy actress. But if Cordy doesn’t choose to re-write history she will die from the visions. Cordy is reluctant because she’s afraid Angel won’t have access to her visions. Skip takes her to see Angel and his conversation with the conduit. Unfortunately Cordy overhears Angel tell the conduit that Cordy is a rich girl from Sunnydale who isn’t strong enough to handle the visions. Cordy tells Skip to get her out of there and misses the end of Angel’s conversation. Angel tells the conduit that he’s more afraid of Cordy dying than she is, and asks the conduit what that means. Their answer? Love.

So the PTB re-write history and we see Cordy on the set of her show, “Cordy!” The crowd loves her. After her show she signs some autographs and has the nagging feeling that she’s forgotten something. She tries to figure out what it is she wants, and realizes it’s the Hyperion Hotel. Cordy immediately leaves for the hotel.

The interior of the hotel is bustling with people. The concierge leads Cordy up to the luxury suite but Cordy wants the room across the hall. When she gets inside hovers near one of the walls and starts ripping off the wallpaper. Underneath she finds “171 Oak” - the message that she had earlier written for Angel. Cordy goes to the address and finds a teenage girl, Cynthia. Cordy’s trying to figure out why she went to the address and asks Cynthia if everything is ok or if anything bad happened. Cynthia reveals that her dad left a couple months ago. Cynthia cast a spell to bring him back and she’s pretty sure she got everything right, even if she did spell Diet Coke on the spellbook and had to improvise. Just then the large, no-eyed, 3-mouthed demon from Cordy’s vision materializes in the middle of Cynthia’s pentagram. At that moment a one-armed Wes and Gunn burst through the door and slay the demon.

Cordy explains to Wes how she came to be at the house and Wes introduces Gunn. Gunn wants to know if Cordy and Wes had a “thing” back in Sunnydale, and both Cordy and Wes admit they’ve tried to repress their humiliating kiss. Gunn comments that “you three are the most deny-enest folks I’ve ever met.” Cordy wants to know who the 3rd person is. It’s Angel, but he’s changed. Turns out that Doyle passed the visions on to Angel and Angel didn’t cope well. Angel sometimes sends Wes and Gunn out to save people that Angel killed over 200 years ago. Wes tries to discourage Cordy from seeing Angel, but she persists. Angel is locked in a room with nothing but a mattress and some restraints. Angel is clearly mad and keeps mumbling to himself. Cordy tries to talk to Angel and ease his pain. Cordy is overwhelmed by the change in Angel and tries to comfort him with a kiss. Boom - the visions pass back to Cordy with that kiss. Cordy remembers everything and Skip, who has reappeared, is a little miffed that Cordy wants to keep the powers. She tells Skip to find a loophole that will allow her to keep the visions. Skip explains that the only way would be for Cordy to become part demon and tells her all the horrible things that will happen. Cordy tells Skip to demonize her.

Cordy wakes up screaming back in Angel’s apartments. Angel gives her a big hug, but Cordy breaks the hug to check for horns and a tail (checking for demon parts). Cordy tries to explain that the vision she had earlier had been taken care of, but they have to take care of the vision she’s having now. She describes a large demon attacking someone in a park and, to the surprise of the AI gang, Cordy is floating about 3 feet above the ground.-