Angel woke up with a splitting headache. His vision was fuzzy, but after a few blinks he could see his surroundings. Willow and Buffy were at the left side of the bed. Wesley, Kate, and Gunn were at the right. Spike, Faith, and Nina stood on the other side of the room. "What happened?" Angel asked, touching his pounding head.
"The Wolf tried to enact the curse." Wesley explained "Willow was able to break the curse's hold on you and Harmony because the Wolf can't use her magic to bolster the curse while we're in here. She'll keep looking for a way to implement the curse in a way that will affect you, but we've got bigger problems on our hands."
"What do you mean?" Angel asked "What happened? Is Conner okay?" If he'd hurt Conner under the Wolf's influence Angel would never forgive himself.
"Conner's fine." Willow assured Angel "It's just that the Wolf had a kind a kind of back-up plan for her curse not working. There's a spell over the abbey and it's not dark magic, and the power sustaining it isn't her own. So we're having trouble breaking it."
"What is it?" How bad could the spell be if it didn't involve dark magic?
"Truth-dammit!-spell," Spike said from the other side of the room. "Not even twenty bloody minutes, this spell is bollocks! I can't even be silent for twenty minutes!"
"We're all disappointed about that, believe me Spike." Kate said
"I bloody well have to now don't I?" Spike asked
"A truth spell?" Angel asked "You mean nobody can lie?"
"Or stay silent for very long." Buffy said
Angel thought about the people he knew who were staying in this abbey. He thought about their dark secrets, their sordid histories. He realized this might just be the most effective method the Wolf could use to split them up. She was going to let them tear themselves apart instead of expending her own energies. Angel sat up, increasing the pain in his head. "Listen guys, I'm sure things will be said that will offend people, upset them. We just need to remember why we are here. We're all allies, so try not to take anything too personally."
"Don't worry Angel," Willow said "We've dealt with secret-revealing spells before, musical ones in fact. We can totally handle this." She gave the vamp a reassuring smile.
Angel felt relief. In that moment they all heard a blood-curling scream from another part of the abbey. "Looks like we're not the ones who need the speech." Faith said
…
Anne screamed as Teresa used her claws to slash four long furrows in Conner's face. "In the c-cold and th-the dark!" Her teeth chattered as though she were in a walk-in freezer. "Dirty little boy does bad things!" She poked his neck. "Zz-zz," She made electricity sound effects.
Conner grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands from two tiny holes in his neck where her claws had broken his skin. He was as gentle as possible, remembering how he was partially responsible for her getting shot, he felt they were even now. He found himself unable to withhold his thoughts, they just came tumbling out. "He murdered people for hundreds of years!"
"Daddy loved you wicked ungrateful boy. Zz-zz," Conner kept a tight grip on Teresa.
Anne was relieved when Angel burst into the room. "Conner, are you all right?" He shouted, horror overcame him when he saw his son's bloody face. "Did she do that to you?"
"I was adjusting her restraints and she broke free." Anne said "I'm sorry, please don't be angry with me. I know I'm incompetent, but it was an accident." Where had that come from?
Teresa broke free by allowing herself to fall to the floor, the full weight of her body yanking her wrists from Conner's hands. She scrambled to her feet in front of Angel. "You killed me handsome man, brought me to the house of slaughter."
Angel grasped Teresa's shoulders and moved her out of his line of sight. He looked at Fred, still sitting on the bed, unaware of the events that transpired around her. "Fred?"
Teresa stabbed Angel in the gut with her claws. "This wound is mortal."
"Aren't they all?" Wesley spoke up from the hall
Angel grabbed Teresa's hand and removed her red-stained claws from his gut. "Could someone please take care of the insane person with weapons for fingers?" Buffy and Faith grabbed Teresa and forced her back into bed, retying her restraints.
"It's not Fred." Wesley said "When Illyria was screaming during the spell we cast somehow her thoughts and memories were absorbed by Teresa. It drove her insane."
Angel touched the bloody hole in his side. "I see that." He approached his son. "Are you okay?" Angel felt every one of his son's wounds tenfold.
"Not really," Conner said "I see you're not evil again anymore."
"Right, you're mad at me again." Angel hadn't meant to say that. "You should make a chart, so I can plan my day around it." This truth spell thing was going to suck.
"Go to hell." Conner started to go.
"Please Conner wait, that wasn't me, it was the truth spell, there's one on the abbey."
Conner stopped, an odd expression taking over his face. "So I could ask you anything and you would have to tell the truth?" A wicked grin appeared.
"It works both ways, we'll both say things we don't want to." Angel warned
"I've got nothing to hide." Conner said
"We all have something to hide." Faith said "You'll say something private, that you'll never be able to remove from everyone's memories." She tried to placate the situation.
"Like you removed me from everyone's memories?" Conner asked his father "You wanted to pretend I never existed! You didn't want to have to face your mistakes!"
"I faced them every day and night! I dreamed about all the ways I could have prevented you from being taken from me! I never forgave myself for allowing you to be hurt!"
"But you forgave Wesley!" Conner accused
"And I forgave you." Angel said "I spent months at the bottom of the ocean starving to death without being able to die! I forgave you for that!" Angel shouted
"Gee thanks Dad!" Conner screamed sarcastically "That must have been awful! Forgive my lack of sympathy, I spent eighteen years in hell! I don't forgive you!"
"That wasn't your dad's fault." Wesley said "It was mine."
"Shut up Wesley." Conner said "I don't care about you."
"Do you want to chill out maybe?" Faith asked "This accomplishes nothing."
"Shut your mouth killer." Buffy said and then immediately clapped her hands over her mouth. "I have no idea- Faith that was the spell."
"It's cool B." Faith said evenly "The spell is getting to all of us."
"What a fucking double-standard." Conner said "Forgiveness for the bloodsucking vampire, forgiveness for the murderous slayer, what about me?"
"What about you, you big cry baby?" Gunn asked "Wah, wah, wah, my life is so hard."
Conner glared icily at the man "I don't give a damn what you think! I don't give a damn what any of you think! I don't care about you! I don't think you're heroes! I hate all of you!"
"How's that working out for you?" Kate asked "Does it feel nice?"
"Shut up whore!" Conner shouted
"Conner that's enough!" Angel insisted "I know the spell-"
"Screw you and your spell! I'm out of here!" Conner headed for the door.
"Conner where are you going?" Angel asked
"Away from you!"
"You can't go outside, it's too dangerous! The Wolf has power out there!" Conner didn't stop. Angel ran after him. "Conner please wait!"
Those who remained in the hall and room were stunned. "What a brat." Willow said
"Seriously," Buffy said "Can somebody say daddy issues?" She snorted with laughter.
"We'd know about that right B?" Faith said humorously and unintentionally "Between your fixation on your watcher and my demented relationship with the mayor we've got daddy issues covered. I used to wonder what you guys would do after training." The smile slipped from Faith's face when she realized what she said. "I did not mean to say that."
"Relax Faith." Buffy said "Do you think anything a slut like you says could get to me?"
"Buffy!" Willow was aghast.
"That was the spell." Buffy said, horrified "Faith I'm really sorry."
"No problem." Faith said "It's not your fault that you're just so much less desirable than me. I'm sure if you could get a guy that stick wouldn't be rammed so far up your ass."
"Enough!" Willow shouted. "Buffy move into my room and tell Kennedy I'm bunking with Faith. Faith head back to your room and you two stay away from each other."
"Fine by me." Buffy said and then seemed to snap out of a trance "Willow's right, just give me a few minutes to get my stuff from the room before you follow me."
"Right," Faith said "We should avoid each other until the spell is broken."
Buffy left and Willow let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, I'm going to work on a counter spell. Anne do you need help looking after Teresa?"
"I'll help her." Gunn said
"Right," Willow said "Now-"
"You had sex with Angel-Bloody hell!" Spike slammed his hand against his forehead.
"Yes, I had sex with Angel." Kate confessed "It's not a secret. I had hot, intense- I'm going to go be somewhere else." She walked away.
"Me to," Spike walked off in the opposite direction.
"I think I can head back to my room now." Faith left.
Willow found herself staring at a blond werewolf. "Are you okay? Nina, right?"
"I'm in love with your ex-boyfriend." She spoke listlessly and then sighed. "I guess none of us are going to have any secrets pretty soon huh?"
Willow's head was spinning. "I guess, you and Oz…"
"We're not speaking, well I'm not speaking to him. Anyway I'm in love with him and won't admit to myself I need him. If I need him he'll let me down again." Nina sighed again and trudged down the hall toward her room, looking beaten.
"I'm going to work on that spell." Willow said "Wes do you want to help?"
"I'd be delighted." Wesley said in the most uninfected voice imaginable.
Gunn watched the witch and the ghost leave and then looked at his formerly dead ex-girlfriend. Her blank stare indicated no comprehension. He looked at the crazy hybrid struggling against tight restraints. Finally he looked at his old friend who he had always admired. He looked at the woman who had devoted her life to helping kids nobody else cared about or even thought were worth noticing. He looked at the woman who had betrayed them. She was good, but she was corrupted. Gunn remembered Angel telling him he was a good man, which was why he would always feel guilty about Fred. He had already known he would never be able to forgive himself though, because he had never forgiven himself for Alonna either. He remembered telling Anne to forgive herself, she never would. He watched her. "I want you."
Anne turned away from the struggling demon. "I want you to."
"Later, do you want to make passionate love?"
"It's a date."
Well, this spell wasn't all bad.
…
Xander and Oz stared in horror at the chaos the abbey had dissolved into. "A little help over here!" They heard the demon named Lorne cry as he tried to separate two brawling young women. Xander rushed over and picked up one of the women, removing her from the fight.
"I'll kill you bitch!" The woman Lorne and Oz were holding back screamed
"Not before I kill you whore!" The woman clawing at Xander's arms responded
"Okay," Xander said "What are you guys even fighting about?"
"This bitch called me a slut!" Lorne and Oz's struggler said
"This femi-nazi probably slept with every guy here!" Xander's girl said
"You're just jealous that your repressed ass can't get any!"
"Because sluts like you walk around letting the guys look for free!"
"Is this argument about clothes?" Oz asked "That seems extreme."
"The truth spell is removing everyone's inhibitions." Lorne said "They say whatever they think and when it's negative the person they spoke to can't resist a hateful comeback and it dissolves into this." The woman he was holding back punched him in the face. "Ow!"
Xander dropped his girl when she kicked him in the nuts and the two women went at each other again. Two men rolled into the hall punching the snot out of each other. "I'll kill you asshole!" One said "The jaguars are going all the way this year!"
Lorne threw his hands in the air. "I give up." He started to walk away but stopped when he saw Angel dragging his bloody son down the hall. He stepped over the bodies of the violent abbey residents, apparently unaware that they were anything other than inanimate objects
"I hate you!" Conner said
"Yeah what else is new?" Angel asked
"I wish I'd never been born! I wish you'd never been born! I wish-"
"Conner!" Angel dropped the boy on the ground and grabbed the front of his shirt. He slammed the boy against the wall. "I love you son, but do me a favor and shut the hell up."
Lorne stared at the duo as Angel continued to drag his son away, going past them without comment. "Right then," Lorne faced Xander and Oz who had started their own shouting match.
"Girlfriend thief!" Oz shouted "You have no respect for the sanctity of a relationship!"
"You were such a terrible boyfriend you turned her into a lesbian!"
"Your ex-girlfriend moved to L.A. to get away from you!"
"Monster!"
"Loser!"
"You're a killer!"
"You're a useless mess Buffy keeps around to look at when she has low self-esteem. She sees you and thinks 'well at least I'm not one-eye Xander Harris, that guy is so lame' and then feels better about herself! How's your depth perception loser?" Xander punched Oz.
"Well you two look like you have some stuff to work through." Lorne said as he backed away down the hall "I'll just leave you to it."
Lorne needed to find Willow. He threw open a door and saw Gunn and Anne on the ground making the beast with two backs. He slammed the door shut and continued on his way where he saw Teresa wandering the hall giggling. "It's all so beautiful." She said "Honesty!"
Lorne grabbed her arm and led her back to the crazy-room. "I love you sweetheart, but we need to stow you somewhere until we find a cure for this nonsense." Lorne realized he wasn't immune either and had just confessed his feelings to their nutty psychic.
Lorne opened the door and Fred was lying on her bed curled in a ball. "Fred," Lorne said without much hope she would respond "Are you there Fredikins?"
Fred sat up, good sign. "Lorne," She said
"Hey you remembered!" Lorne couldn't hide his excitement.
"I know you." She smiled
"A coherent sentence, well I'll be damned. You really are getting better."
Fred grinned. "I'm Fred. Relative motion allows for two objects to move apart at faster than the speed of light. Plank length is the smallest possible unit."
Lorne was ecstatic. "I don't know what any of that means, but I've got a feeling you do."
"Three point one four one five nine two six five…" Fred stopped "Lorne,"
"Yeah sweetie, that's me." Lorne said "You remember me."
"Sing a song." She said
Lorne wanted to. He knew the spell was getting to him. He knew he needed to go find Willow, but all he wanted to do was sit here and talk to Fred. "What song?"
Fred frowned. "I don't remember." She looked at Lorne's cherry red eyes. "I don't know any of the songs or the faces. They're all pieces in here. Where's the whole?"
Lorne gripped her shoulders and looked into her shifting brown eyes. She looked like a scared bunny rabbit. "I'm going to go find it. You stay here and look after Teresa. I need you to do this job for me, it's very important. Do you understand?"
Fred shook her head no. "Well that's okay." Lorne patted her shoulder. "We'll find a way to fix you right up soon." He looked at Teresa. "Stay here."
"Who escapes from paradise?" Teresa asked "Who is expelled from Heaven?"
"Good girl," Lorne said, locking the door as he left
As he walked down the corridor he heard her call after him. "We don't get to pick!"
Lorne saw the slayer, he thought her name was Kennedy, fighting with Spike. "You're an evil beast!" She screamed "You don't deserve to be called a hero!"
"You're a spoiled brat! You're only in the inner circle because you're screwing one of the power trio! You know it and everyone else does to!"
"I know! But you're still a bad man!"
"I know!" Spike sat down hard on the ground, his back to the wall. "I know."
Kennedy sat down next to him. "I don't belong here any more than you do."
Lorne walked past them, perturbed. "He could never love me." He saw Kate ahead and heard her conversation with Nina. "Not that I could love him."
"It sucks to know I could never make him perfectly happy. He knew that, that's why he allowed himself to be with me." Nina said
Lorne opened the door to another room and was relieved to find Willow. He was less relieved to find Willow in a screaming match with Wesley.
"Chauvinist Pig!"
"Arrogant bitch!"
"Hateful traitor!"
"Selfish child!"
"Bumbling fool!"
"Thoughtless bore!"
"I'm somebody now! Who are you?!" Willow screamed in fury
"I'm a fading dead man! Everybody's probably better off without me anyway!"
"I'm too close to the dark powers! In a moment of weakness I could destroy everyone I love!" Willow began to cry. "I'm not worthy."
Wesley put his head in his hands. "I'm a wicked person. It would have been better for me to never have been born. I only made things worse. I destroyed the lives of the ones I love."
Willow began to weep. "Wesley,"
"Yes Willow," The crying ghost asked
"I think it's interesting that under the influence of the spell people initially attack each other and then turn their anger inward. It seems that we hate ourselves the most."
"It is a fascinating insight into the human condition that we might explore at length once we've cured our friends of the desire to rip into each other and themselves." Wesley said
"I think the spell you remembered might be useful if we could find a detailed enough reference to recreate it. I don't think these books will do it though." Willow was still crying, as was Wesley. Because of this the whole scene seemed surreal to Lorne.
"The books at Wolfram & Hart might be more useful."
Willow wiped her nose on her sleeve and rubbed her eyes, trying to stop the tears. "If you go in there looking for a way to stop the spell won't the Wolf figure out what you're doing and try to stop you? She might sever your connection to this plane of existence." Willow pulled her fingers down her face, trying to dispel the tears. "It's too big a risk."
"We can't just stay like this." Wesley said "We'll all lose our minds."
"If I try to recreate the spell just off of what you remember it could be disastrous. On the other hand, it might work. What do you think, can we do it with our combined knowledge?"
"I don't know." Wesley said "You are a very accomplished witch."
Willow blew her nose in her sleeve. "I think we have to try, oh and thank you."
"You're welcome. Let's get started before we start laying into each other again."
Lorne spoke up from the doorway. "Can I help?"
"Can you go check on Buffy?" Willow asked "Make sure she didn't go find Faith and they aren't- you know… killing each other?"
Lorne internally berated himself for opening his mouth. "Sure,"
…
"Traitor!" Buffy threw a lamp at her fellow slayer.
"If you weren't such a holier than thou stick in the mud maybe I wouldn't have betrayed you! You're such a paragon of virtue, how is anyone supposed to compare?!" Faith screamed
"I'm not perfect!" Buffy insisted "But I don't help demons ascend and eat an entire graduating class of teenagers! That's evil!" Buffy picked up a shard of porcelain and threw it.
"You screwed a man over to the dark side and he tried to suck the world into hell!"
"I fixed that!" Buffy hollered "You tried to take over my body and let the watcher's council kill me! Then you went to L.A. and cried to Angel about big bad Buffy!"
"That's not what happened!" Faith defended herself "You don't know me! I paid for my sins! I'm trying to make amends! You have no idea what it's like to be constantly seeking redemption for a crime that will never disappear! No matter how much good I do I'll always be a murderer! I don't have an excuse, I had a soul! I just-" Faith dropped to her knees. "Didn't use it," She looked up at Buffy with a tear stained face. "Oh God Buffy, I'll never be clean."
Buffy sat next to Faith and put her arms around her. "We're both dirty."
"You were in paradise." Faith said "You were good enough for heaven."
"A lot has happened since then." Buffy said "Besides, sins can be forgiven."
Faith rubbed her hands together. "The blood never comes off."
Buffy took Faith's hands and kissed each one. "It's okay." Buffy brought Faith's hands to her face. "It's okay, you're a good person. You redeemed yourself."
"You forgive me?" Faith asked tearfully
"I forgive you."
They heard footsteps and looked up. Harmony was standing in the doorway. She stomped her feet. "Nobody cares about me! Nobody cares about my problems! Oh don't worry about Harmony, she's just a vampire. Well vampires are people too you know, well not really. But I have feelings that nobody cares about. Why does nobody care about me?" Harmony sighed, utterly dejected and forlorn. "Do you guys care?"
Buffy and Faith shared a look. "No," Buffy said
"Not really," Faith agreed
"Not even a little bit?" Harmony asked
"Maybe," Buffy said "No, actually not." This truth spell was very effective. "I thought maybe for a second, but no… I just don't. Maybe because you were such a bitch in high school."
"That was like five years ago!" Harmony said "I'm a different person now."
"You're a vampire." Faith said
"It always comes back to that." Harmony said "Well you know what, I like being a vampire. I enjoy vampirism. I didn't choose this lifestyle, but I've chosen to embrace it. If you guys can't accept me for who I am I don't need you as friends!" Harmony stormed off.
Faith and Buffy exchanged a look as Lorne came running up. "Good, you're not killing each other." He said as he tried to catch his breath "Keep not doing that."
…
"I wish I could remember being a baby." Conner said as he lay on his back, staring at the ceiling from his bed. "I wish I could remember how much you all loved me."
"We still love you Conner." Angel said "Even if some of us are a little frustrated with you, we all still love you." Angel sat in a chair watching his son.
"Somehow I doubt Gunn and Wesley have warm fuzzy feelings for me right now."
"Love isn't about never being angry with somebody," Angel said "It's about being angry and loving them anyway. It's about letting go of that anger when the time comes."
"That's why you forgave Wesley for what he did to me?" Conner asked
"Partly," Angel said "Part of it was that, part of it was guilt, part of it was me being tired of being angry, and part of it was me admitting to myself that Wesley only did what he did because he loved you, loves both of us." Angel didn't want to say the next part, he cursed the truth spell with every fiber of his being. "But the largest part was knowing he might have been right, maybe I was a danger to you. Maybe Wolfram & Hart's plan would have worked. Maybe Wesley really did save your life." Angel watched Conner sit up slowly.
"By sending me to hell?" Conner asked
"That was Holtz's fault." Angel pointed out
"Yeah, a lot of stuff is huh?"
"Him and Sahjhan," Angel said "I really hate that guy."
"Yeah," Conner said "I'm glad I killed him."
"Me to," Angel said "Our lives would be so great if it weren't for that guy. You'd be learning to talk. So okay not that great," Angel smiled as Conner laughed at his joke.
"Is this how we cope with grief?" Conner asked "We learn to joke about it. We don't forget, we just let it become a part of our lives, something we accept?"
"Pretty much," Angel said "Life goes on, it always will."
"Unless the Wolf ends the world." Conner pointed out
"Well we're not going to let that happen." Angel said "Are we?"
Conner shook his head. "No way dad,"
Angel couldn't contain his joy at hearing his son say those words, and not just because of the spell. He stood up and so did Conner. They embraced each other. "I love you Conner."
"I love you too dad." At that moment Angel was glad for the spell.
…
Harmony sat next to Xander, who was sporting a bloody broken nose. "Life sucks."
"It so does." Xander agreed
"I mean what is it about life that makes it suck so much?"
Xander passed Harmony the flask of bourbon he was drinking from. "You never get what you want. It's just a random string of events we have no control over. No matter what I do I'll never get everything I want. I can try really hard, but it's not gonna happen."
"So what do we do?" Harmony asked as she passed the flask back.
"Keep trying." Xander said
"What's the point?" Harmony asked
"That is the point." Xander finished off the flask.
"That's stupid." Harmony insisted
"Well I'm stupid."
"That's true you are." Harmony agreed "I always thought so, even in high school."
"And I thought you were a vapid bubble-brain." Xander said
"I've changed, but everybody thinks I'm still the same. No one will give me a chance to be anybody but what I was. It's like you have to do something really bad to get a chance at redemption around here. If you only do kind-of bad stuff nobody cares about you."
"That's really deep Harmony." Xander was surprised
"Yeah," Harmony said "Wanna go do nasty stuff to each other?"
Xander considered this. "Nah, I'm trying to stay away from demon women for a while."
"That's speciesism." Harmony said
"Sorry,"
"It's all right, it's nice to just sit here and talk to someone."
…
Willow looked around the room. "Did it work?"
"I'm a two foot tall pink lizard." Wesley said "Yeah, it worked."
"Unless there's something you want to tell me." Willow teased
Wesley smiled at her. "We should go check on everybody. Just because the spell is no longer active doesn't mean they might not still be suffering from the effects."
"Right," Willow said "Looks like we can put a check-mark in the good guy column."
"I don't think so." Wesley said "I think that spell did exactly what it was supposed to."
Willow headed for the hall and Wesley followed her. When they stepped outside and saw the people weeping on the floor Willow asked "What's that?"
"Distract us," Wesley said as they walked past Spike and Kennedy.
…
Drusilla looked at the abbey and chuckled. "Little girl's come home daddy, home to say hello, going to meet my brother. Going to see my lover."
She looked at the hundreds of vampires behind her that the pretty blond woman had ordered to follow her every command. They would obey, because the pretty blond woman had a hold, she could use it on her to, but didn't want to. She wanted the real Drusilla. Dru was glad, glad for the chance to be reunited with her family. "Then I make their heads go pop."
Drusilla enjoyed contemplating this image. "Burn it to the ground." She ordered the vampires behind her. They took off running, many of them carrying torches. One tripped and fell on his torch, bursting into flames. He was dust in moments. Drusilla clucked her tongue. "Bad boy makes himself all dusty, mummy's not here to sweep it up. Burn, burn, burn,"
Drusilla looked up at the special sky, there was no moon or sun. It was daytime, but the lights were out. "Such a nice day, surely daddy will come out and play." She looked at her pets running with fire. Inside the building there were people with warm blood for her to drink. Inside there was a special boy who would make a very special vampire, her brother. "Sunk his teeth into me he did, your daddy. He broke up our little family, but we'll be together again, without grandmother sadly. Me, you, daddy, and my lover. We can turn the slayers into lovers for you and daddy. Oh what a happy family we will be."
Drusilla began to walk slowly toward the holy place her family resided in. She would win it from them, take away the goodness inside. She would make the place one of wickedness. Once the walls were ash they would have nothing to hide behind. The innocents would bleed. The soldiers would fall. They would all be together again. They would all be happy, perfectly happy.
…
Deep in a hell dimension a black woman with orange eyes wearing an orange dress was lying on yellow grass. The sky was perfect blue, there wasn't a cloud in the sky because there was no water down here. The Ram hated water. The yellow sun beat directly into her undamageable eyes. Her tongue and lips were lime green, a slightly lighter shade than the green of her blood. Her kinky short hair made a crown around her head on the ground. The Ram spoke to her sister, knowing she could hear, could feel their connection. "Yes I feel them." She smiled as she felt the vampires running toward their enemies. "You're doing so well sister dear."