Disclaimer: I don't own, if I did, I would have lots and lots of money with working computers and Connor would not be a malnourished prairie dog with monkey pox.

Faith sat outside, breathing in the stale Californian air. It wasn't exactly fresh, but it was better than sitting in a cell all day, so she didn't complain. She didn't complain period, never did, and probably never would. It was a test of her will, just like staying in prison was. Oh, she could break out any time she wanted. Knock a few of the prison guards out and she would be a free woman. But no, she had to stay, she had strong resolve, and she would keep it that way.

"Hey, Faith," a guard came up; it was Freddie, the one who actually treated the female inmates with respect. He was well liked by all of the prisoners; sometimes he would deliver mail or send mail out for them. Faith wished she had something to send out, but whom would she send it to? Buffy? She heard B was dead. Angel sometimes sent a post card or something, but he was never one for writing.

"Freddie," Faith looked up, acknowledging him.

"Your lawyer's here. Wants to talk to you," he reported.

Faith blinked. Lawyer? The state appointed one of course, but the guy didn't even care, he had other clients, paying clients, to pay much attention to her. Besides, she had pled guilty. Other than that, the only lawyers who had ever visited her were the Wolfram Hart cronies. She had told them that the next time she saw the two leeches; well things wouldn't be pretty.

"Here you go Faith," Freddie said as he showed her to Counsel Room 1A. She flashed him a genuine smile as she walked in.

Faith surveyed the room and stopped when she caught sight of the person sitting at the table. "You," she hissed. "I thought I told you I wouldn't have any part of your schemes."

Lindsey McDonald looked up at the dark haired Slayer. "No scheme," he said honestly.

She looked at him for a moment before sitting down. "Talk to me."


"Now 'Bit," Spike turned his attention away from the freckled girl and to the girl who was under his care. "Why'd you run off without so much as a note?"
 

Dawn flushed, "Oops?"

"And you!" Spike turned and faced Mercedes, "Running about California with an innocent girl!"

Dark gray eyes narrowed, "I didn't ask her to come," seethed Mercedes.

At the same time, Dawn cried, "I'm not innocent!" Everyone gave her a sideways glance. "Okay, maybe I am," she admitted. But you didn't have to announce it to the entire world!"

"This is all very silly you know," Kieran remarked as she walked towards the little group.  "It was very stupid of you to leave home without a note. Next time do so," she said to Dawn. She then turned to Spike; "She's a teenage girl. We think irrationally. Deal."

She stepped back and watched them.

"When did you get so smart?" Angel asked.

Kieran shrugged, "I dunno, it could possibly between Oklahoma and LA, or Vegas. I dunno." She turned to Giles. "You're a Watcher, right?" she asked.

He nodded as he took off his glasses and cleaned them, "Yes, yes I am. How did you know?"

She grinned. "I dunno you have the air of tweed wearing and sexual frustration. Did they teach that at the Watcher School of yours?"

Giles looked at the grinning teenage girl. "It's the Academy. And what did they teach us?" he asked. This girl was remind him very much of Buffy when he first met her. He then felt a pang for his dead slayer, but he wouldn't dwell on that, Buffy wouldn't want him to.

"Cleaning your glasses and wearing tweed and general sexual frustration. Or is that just the British?" Kieran cocked her head slightly to the side in question.

"First of all, I'm English. And second of all, that is not true," he stood there for a moment. "Where is your watcher?"

She chuckled. "Who, Johnny Boy? I got rid of him."

Giles furrowed his brow. There was only one watcher who could go by John when he was there. Giles remembered him as an uptight fellow, extremely traditional with his teachings and training. Somehow he thought that the pair weren't exactly compatible. "You don't mean Jonathan Olmstead, do you?"

She nodded, "Yup. Old Johnny Boy thought it was best to drag me away from home, not that I didn't mind that, but he was just an old stiff you know? He had this air about him, lots of sexual frustration; it was like he had taken a vow of celibacy. You guys actually haven't taken one, have you?"

Giles looked at her. Now he really felt like he was back with Buffy in her high school days. "No I haven't."

"Oh, okay. Cool. Wanna train?" Kieran asked.

Giles was taken aback by the bluntness of the teenage girl. "Lead the way."


Esther yawned as she went throughout her regular nightly rituals. She finished by changing into a pair of white star on blue background pajamas. Her hair hung loose about her shoulders as she crawled into bed. Esther clicked the final light out before she found a comfortable spot and slipped off into walk into subconscious.

Esther walked into the Hyperion Hotel, the fact that her thesis was due in December weighed heavily on her mind, and it was June already. Damn she needed to get working on that.

"Esther!" Cordelia spotted her. "Come on! It's your day! First, second, and last! Well we don't want to keep everyone waiting. I mean your family has flown in, as has Wesley's. Don't want to keep them waiting, do we?" the former cheerleader didn't even let her answer before she pulled the very confused woman up the stairs.

"My family's here?" Esther paled. It was not like she hated her family, but they didn't exactly approve of what she was doing. Meaning they didn't like her starting a family as soon as she graduated college. They thought she was corrupting her younger sister, as if her younger sister needed corrupting. Then she caught sight of it. The chuppa, why was it there?

"Of course! You aren't getting cold feet are you?" Cordelia looked at Esther. "First, second, last, and it will be done."

Esther looked back. "What will be done?" she was close to stomping her foot, but Cordelia didn't even give her a chance to do that, she was already pulling the older woman along and up the stairs.

"You're getting cold feet. Don't. Everything is set up. Now let's go. Tara wanted to do any last minute touches that needed to be done before your make-up." Cordelia pulled Esther into a side room where clusters of girls congregated. There were the people she met in LA as well as her sister and her cousins.

"You're late!" her younger sister remarked, smirking. "Jewish standard time has struck again." Esther shot the teen a dirty look as she rushed past.

"Angel went to pick up the flowers and that wine Mani-what-sit. He'll be back in the next twenty minutes or so. He better be anyway. Lindsey and Jay are covering the cake. Did you know they had it charged to Wolfram and Hart's account and by the top bakery in the city as well? Actually all the food was," Cordelia told her all of this as Esther stepped into her dress. Faith was already zipping up Cordelia. Tara was on her knees, touching up Esther's hem.

"Is it all Kosher?" Dawn asked, worried that someone would walk out on this special event. That's all Esther needed.

"Yes," Kieran said from the other side of the room. "I was there when they placed the order."

"So does that mean I'll be getting my sausage pizza somewhere else?" Esther's sister called out. Everyone ignored her.

"So Cheerleader, how is the little bun in the oven doing?' Faith asked.

Cordelia glared at her flat stomach. "This little miracle has Angel out at dawn finding a deli that would make a Bologna sandwich with whole wheat bread and Mayo with pickles. And I had to filch a few strawberries from the kitchen. Then two hours ago I saw it all again. The bun in the oven is more like a pain in the ass."

"Breathe Cordy," Tara laughed from her position on the floor.

Everything was a blur after that, until she was downstairs, in a very fairy tale dress, and Esther found herself shaking and nervous. Why, she didn't know. Her brothers Ethan and Elijah were holding two corners of the canopy while Gunn and Angel held the other two. Again everything seem to speed up until she found herself saying, "First, second, last and it will be done." Wesley repeated the same two lines and they kissed. Esther was tickled to find that he was a very nice kisser, at least in her dreams he was.


Esther woke up with a start. "Oh dear," she muttered into the darkness, disrupting her napping cat.


Faith looked at Lindsey, "So what's the news?" she asked.

He sighed and sat across from her. "It's going to be hard. Parole is your best bet, but the DA's office might shoot it down. The appeals court wouldn't work because you pled guilty."

"Parole board huh?" Faith sat back and looked at Lindsey McDonald, her lawyer. "I heard they're tough. Especially depending on the crime you did."

Lindsey nodded; he had heard as much from when he had been a practicing lawyer in LA. "Well then, we ought to figure out what to say to them, won't we?"


The morning dawned gray and blustery as the newscaster on the television cheerfully that there would be thunderstorms in the afternoon. Esther sighed as she collected her things for the day. It looked as if she would be bringing the umbrella along today.

As she walked into the office, she found it extremely normal. And there was no Cordelia bustling towards her. Esther sighed in relief, although she did look around to double check that there was no white canopy.

"Ah, Esther," Wesley said as he walked out of the office. For the first time Esther noticed how his glasses sat on his nose at an angle and how some strands of hair stuck up comically. She also noticed how kissable his lips looked. She blinked, making the thought disappear as fast as it had come.

"Hello Wesley," Esther smiled as she mentally told her quivering heart to be still.

"Are you ready to get to work?" Wesley asked.

She nodded. Work was good; it would keep her mind off of more confusing things. Like Wesley. Not that Wesley was bad or anything; she was just confused about him. And it was all do to that stupid dream from the night before. What with her kissing him and all. But it had been a very nice dream once you looked back on it. There were people there she liked, and she was in that fairy tale dress she always wanted. "Be still my quaking heart," she murmured to herself.

"Excuse me, did you say something?" Wesley asked, looking up from the printed copy of the translation.

"Erm, nothing," Esther said, sitting opposite from him. "Lovely weather we're having."

"Oh yes, lovely," Wesley agreed as the sound of rain hitting the window added to the background noise, "if you like rainy days."

"Oh, of course. You're right," Esther said, a faint blush touching her cheeks. Who was she kidding, she didn't know what she was going, and she was acting like an idiot.

"Esther," Wesley started, startling her slightly. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, of course, why wouldn't it be?" Esther answered hastily. He raised an eyebrow, making Esther re-evaluate her decision to tell him about her dream. Right now it seemed sort of important. Maybe she would just leave a few details out. He really didn't need to know about the whole kissing part. "Well, last night, I had a dream…"

Author's Note: Sorry for not updating, but I updated on the day I wanted to. Yay for me! But there's bad news, first my computer has something that's corrupted, so it's not booting correctly. There is good news though, since I'm going to be away at camp (and writing the whole time) you won't miss me too much. Which brings me to my next point, for the next three weeks or so I will not be online at all. The horror. So no updates from me, unless my father can figure away for me to have wireless internet in the next 24 hours. I may be able to check my mail once or twice, but that's it. So send in those reviews and make me happy, please?

Oh and Imazdi, if you don't like this chapter, I'll scream. If you don't review, well I'll kick your butt to Timbucktu. *smiles* Thanks!