Nurture

Prologue

1 INT. MAURY’S SHOP— NIGHT 1

A strangled cry escapes FAITH’s lips as ANGELUS sinks his fangs into her neck and begins to drink.

Suddenly Angelus pushes Faith away and falls backward gasping.

ANGELUS

What… did you do?

Faith stares at him, holding her ravaged neck.

CUT TO:

Earlier.

Faith strides forward and shoots at Angelus with the trank gun. He ducks aside and the shot misses, then kicks Faith backward into a stack of boxes.

WESLEY chambers a round in his shotgun and opens fire. Again, Angelus’ demonic reflexes allow him to evade the gunfire.

While Angelus is distracted with Wesley, Faith slides her pant leg up and removes a hypodermic syringe strapped to her leg.

ANGELUS

(o.s.)

You gotta do better than that, Wes! Come on! I’ll give you one more. Strike three!

She quickly plunges the needle into her arm and injects herself with the drug.. Orpheus

4

BACK TO SCENE

Angelus grabs onto the scaffolding and tries to haul himself up but the

drug is too powerful. He collapses back to floor, barely conscious.

ANGELUS

You… you sp… you spiked…

Behind Faith, Wesley tumbles off the scaffolding and crashes to the floor.

He pushes himself up and looks over at Faith.

WESLEY

You all right?

A hint of a smile plays across Faith’s face.

FAITH

Kicked his ass.

Then her eyes roll up into her head and she falls over unconscious.

Opening credit sequence.

Act I

2 INT. HYPERION HOTEL— LOBBY— NIGHT 2

The lobby is quiet. FRED sits at the counter, reading an old book on magick. Suddenly, the door slams open and GUNN enters, dragging an unconscious Angelus and calling out frantically.

GUNN

Connor!

FRED

Oh, my god! Angelus…

GUNN

Pick up your trank gun. I don’t know how much time we have. Connor!

Fred grabs the pistol and hurries around the counter to where Gunn has dumped Angelus on the lobby floor. His hands and feet are bound with rope.

FRED

What happened?

GUNN

Wes called. I went.

He grabs the gun from Fred and cocks it, aiming it at Angelus.

FRED

Where is he? Where’s Faith?

LORNE wanders out into the lobby to see what the fuss is about.

LORNE

Well, what is all the— oh! Angelus! He’s in the hotel!

GUNN

(to Fred)

Get me the steel shackles.

Fred runs back into the office as Lorne stands over Angelus, amazed.

LORNE

Oh, but maybe we’re already aware of that.

GUNN

All I had was rope in the truck.

CONNOR appears on the upper balcony and looks down.

CONNOR

What’s going on?

GUNN

Get down here, now! (to Fred) The leg irons, too.

Connor sees Angelus on the floor and dashes down the stairs.

CONNOR

She found him.

LORNE

Wesley and Faith… where are they?

The door slams open and Wesley enters, carrying Faith in his arms. She’s

out cold, a large blood-soaked bandage pressed to her neck.

WESLEY

(re: Angelus)

Get him downstairs..

CONNOR

What happened to Faith?

WESLEY

She captured Angelus.

FRED

God, what did he do to her?

WESLEY

Gunn…

GUNN

We got it.

LORNE

She looks not well.

CONNOR

She gonna be—

GUNN

Wake up, kid. I need you here.

He hands Connor the shackles and pulls him away from Faith.

WESLEY(to Fred)

Help me with her.

CUT TO:

3 INT. HYPERION HOTEL— CONTINUOUS— NIGHT 3

Accompanied by Lorne and Fred, Wesley carries Faith through the hotel

into one of the rooms and puts her down on the bed..

CUT TO:

4 INT. HYPERION HOTEL— BASEMENT— NIGHT 4

Connor opens the cage door and Gunn drags Angelus inside. They strip

the ropes from his wrists and start fastening the shackles and leg irons.

CUT TO:

5 INT. HYPERION HOTEL— FAITH’S ROOM— NIGHT 5

Lorne checks Faith’s pupils then notices the needle track on her arm. 

He looks up at Wesley, realisation dawning.

Fred enters with a bowl of hot water and fresh bandages. She carefully

removes the cloth from Faith’s neck and looks at the ragged bite marks

beneath. After a moment’s hesitation, she wets a fresh towel and starts to clean the wound.

CUT TO:

6 INT. HYPERION HOTEL— BASEMENT— NIGHT 6

Angelus is firmly secured. Connor leans over him and grimaces.

CONNOR

He fed from her. There’s blood on his breath.

Angelus suddenly jerks in his chains and Connor and Gunn leap backward, Gunn holding his trank pistol at the ready. Angelus mumbles, delirious, but remains unconscious.

ANGELUS (weak)

I’ll kill you… kill… you…

CUT TO:

7 INT. HYPERION HOTEL— FAITH’S ROOM— NIGHT 7

Faith tosses and turns, muttering in her sleep as well.

FAITH

…scratch you out…

FRED

She’s not making any sense.

LORNE (to Wesley)

And speaking of sense, have you been on permanent sabbatical from yours? 

Tell me you did not shoot that girl full of junk and then feed her to Angelus.

WESLEY

It was her choice. Faith knew the risks..

LORNE (angry)

Oh, she couldn’t!

Fred turns around and shushes him. He lowers his voice, 

chagrined but still angry with Wesley.

LORNE

Wesley, I know what that drug does to people. Especially when they super-size the dosage to make sure they really get the job done. And you damn well know it, too.