Connor is introduced in the episode "Lullaby," when Darla sacrifices herself to give birth to him, by staking herself in the heart.
Admitting that creating life with Angel was the only good thing they ever did together, Darla makes sure Angel will relay that to their child before she stakes herself through the heart, sacrificing her life so their baby, Connor, can be born.
(This becomes a pretty common theme for Dawn. In Season 6 her first kiss is with a vampire named Justin, but at least she stakes him herself).
Too much was at stake, and for herself she would not have taken the risk.
The highest hopes she seems to have for their planned lunch are that Edmund won't find her foolish, or dull: "Too much was at stake and, for herself, she would not have taken the risk".
"Everything is at stake," she corrects herself, "everything".
But perhaps she didn't understand the principle at stake: she had reinvented herself just as brashly.
A more coherent piece than "Imperceptible," it was also more willfully provocative, Parks's attempt to stake a claim for herself within the discourse of race and gender studies.
To survive, to escape one hideous moment, she had to raise the stakes and commit herself to the next, giving the unhelpful impression that she longed for it herself.
Derrell Teat, 63, a wastewater coordinator, recently found herself staking out a McDonald's.
