FRED: Listen. Listen. Listen.

(Jumps at the knock on her door.)

FRED: Oh. Hi! How are you? I'm just fine. Doing real good here, no need to worry about me, but thanks for checking!

ANGEL: It's me, Fred.

FRED: Oh, Angel.

(she runs to the door and opens it)

FRED: Hi! Hey! You're... Well, hi there! It's good to... Did you have a nice... Oh, here, let me make some room!

ANGEL: I can't come in.

FRED: Of course not. You're worn from your trip. You go rest. We'll catch up later.

ANGEL: Fred, I wanna talk to you, I just can't come in unless you...

FRED: I invite you. Instead of being rude! Oh, come in. Come in.

(Angel walks in and looks at the writing covering the walls.)

FRED: It's just a smidge of vampire in you as far as I'm concerned, but the universe has rules. I'm a great believer in rules, and theorems, formulas...

ANGEL: I get that.

FRED: Aphorisms leave me a little dry.

ANGEL: How are you?

FRED: Yeah. Good. Everything's pretty much like when you, you know, went away on your trip.

ANGEL: Sorry I left so suddenly. I just...

FRED: Hey, no, you had things you had to take care of. And it's not like I need a babysitter or... You're sticking around *now*, right?

ANGEL: Yeah, I am.

FRED: Oh (lets out a short laugh) good!

ANGEL: (reading) Listen, listen, listen... What are you listening for?

FRED: The click. When it all comes together and makes sense. There's like a click in your brain and then you understand things again.

ANGEL: Oh. What happens if you run out of wall space before you get the click?

FRED: I don't know.

ANGEL: Fred, I know you spent... five years in a place where humans could only be slaves or fugitives. I know that wasn't a picnic for you. But you're home now. You're safe. You can come out of your room. I know that it's gonna take some time.

FRED: Time. I have a whole treatise on that. It seems to take a lot of it to do just about anything these days.

(Fred starts to write on the wall. Angel gets up and gently takes the marker out of her hand.)

ANGEL: Fred. Fred. You don't have to write absolutely everything down.

FRED: Oh, right. (Laughs) God, I should write *that* down.

ANGEL: You just... come on... you just need to take some small steps. Hmm? Like, uhm, coming downstairs and hanging with us for a while. What do you say? There's nothing to be scared of. You're safe here in the hotel.

( We hear Cordy scream downstairs.)

ANGEL: Hold that thought!

• Angel & Fred

written by: David Greenwalt; modified from the shooting script to match telivised version by me. Full transcript at:
http://www.studiesinwords.de/a45heartthrob2.html