Mary jumped in front of Connor and held a piece of plastic directly in front of his face. "Ta-da!"

Connor squinted and pulled back. "What is that?"

"Sara's identification."

Connor plucked it from her fingers. "Ya stole her ID. Whatever for?"

"Read what it says."

Connor rolled his eyes. "Sara Fiona Gabriel. Messena, New York." He kept reading. "Sex, female; obviously." He looked at Mary. "Just what am I reading this for? I already know all this."

"Keep going."

"Hair, blond; eyes, brown; height, five foot eight; weight, 135 pounds. Born June fifth 1977… okay that I didn't know. And that's…"

"Two days from now." Mary took the card back. "On Wednesday it's her birthday. She'll be twenty four. Makes me wonder what she is doing dating a geezer like you."

"I'm only four years older than her Mary. Yer just jealous cause yer the youngin' of the group." Connor tussled her hair. "Yer only twenty twenty two. That makes Murph six years older than ya. And ya call me old."

"Whatever. You're twins."

"Aye, but as far as age gaps go yer the one dating the old man."

Mary punched him lightly on the arm. "So what are you going to do?"

"What do ya mean?"

"For her birthday. You have to do something."

"Yer meddling, ya know how Sara feels about that."

"As far as Sara is concerned I do nothing but meddle even when I'm not. I just want her to have fun on her birthday."

Connor wrapped an around Mary's shoulder. "I get that, really I do. But I didn't even know when her birthday was. She never told me. And I think it is because her birthday holds unpleasant memories. Her ma died on her ninth birthday."

"So help her build new ones." Mary slapped the Id card against his chest. "You are her boyfriend. Make her birthday something good to remember as well."

Connor had to admit Mary was right. Sara had made so much progress; this was just another way to keep it going. "I can tell by the look on yer face ya've already got an idea of what to do."

"Do I ever." Mary's face broke into a large grin. "So this is what I'm thinking…"

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"Murphy where are we going?" Sara was getting pulled along behind him. He had showed up at the bookstore on her lunch break and had convinced her boss to somehow let her have the rest of the day off. When Sara had asked what was going on he had told her that Mary was having him run some errands. And one of the things he had to pick up was her. He had then taken her to lunch before heading to his next "errand." And Sara was confused.

"I told ya, to get a haircut."

"But you don't need a haircut, and even if you did why am I here?"

Murphy stopped and Sara almost ran into him. He turned around and faced her. "I'm not the one getting a haircut. Ya are."

"Me, but…"

"And don't say ya don't want one. We all know ya do." He started walking again.

"Okay fine. But why are you taking me?"

"Mary asked me to take ya. So I'm taking ya."

Sara frowned. It wasn't like Murphy to do much of anything when asked. You usually had to force or coherence him into doing it. And as for something like this, she could imagine Mary taking her. But Murphy? And where was Mary, and Connor for that matter. She hadn't seen or heard from either of them all morning. And yesterday she had barley seen them at all. Something was up. But she had no idea what.

"Here we go." Murphy stopped and pulled open the door.

Sara just stood on the sidewalk and gaped. This wasn't just a place to get your haircut. It was an all out salon. "Um Murphy, I think this is a little much for just a haircut."

"This is where Mary said to take ya."

"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure this is way out of my price range."

Murphy sighed and took her by the arm. "Just come on. If I don't do this right Mary will 'ave my hide."

"What?"

Inside Murphy walked up the receptionist. "I have an appointment for one o'clock."

The attractive brunette arched a delicate eyebrow and raked her eyes over Murphy. "You do?"

Murphy realized what she thought. "It's not fer me," he turned and pointed at Sara. "It's for her. My girlfriend made the appointment yesterday. It's about the…" He stopped, glanced at Sara, who frowned at him, and then leaned forward to whisper something into the woman's ear.

"Oh, that's right." The woman's face lit up in understanding while Sara's looked more confused by the second. The women stepped from behind the counter and approached Sara. "Well lets get started shall we?"

Sara gave her a wary eye. "With what?"

"Sara it will be fine."

Sara glared at Murphy as she was led away toward the back. "Murphy! What is going on?"

And then she disappeared behind the partition. Murphy groaned and rubbed his hand across his face. Why was he the one in charge of this again?

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Murphy shifted in the pink armchair he was sitting in and stared at the clock on the wall. It had been nearly an hour and half since he had seen Sara. Mary hadn't said anything about it taking so long. Fuck, if he had known it was going to take this long he would have said no to this. But that was probably why she didn't tell him.

Not to mention he felt extremely out of place. Murphy was a guy's guy. Sure he liked his women looking attractive, but he himself wanted little to do with the process. He closed his eyes with a sigh and let his shoulders slump. He was so bored. All the magazines were about hair makeup and fashion, so not his thing, and he was getting some odd looks from the women around.

"Eh-hem."

Murphy opened his eyes. Sara was standing in front of him with a not to happy look on her face, hands on her hips and her foot tapping. Still Murphy felt his jaw drop. "Fuck." She looked amazing. Her hair had been cut to just below her shoulders and layered, and it had also been styled so that it framed her face in soft waves. And she was wearing makeup. Her face had a bright clear look to it. Murphy realized that she was wearing makeup.

"Murphy."

"Aye?"

"I have just endured an hour and a half of pampering. My hair isn't just cut, it's been styled. I got a facial and am now wearing makeup. I received a manicure, and a pedicure." Sara shook her hand in front of his face. "And no one would tell me why! I feel like a Barbie doll! Is there anything else that Mary has planned for me? Because if so, I'm not doing it."

"No, this was it. I can take ya home now." Murphy was still rather awestruck. Even though she was still in her jeans and blouse, her natural beauty was simply enhanced.

"Good, and wipe that stupid look off your face. Mary sees you looking at me like that and we'll both be dead." Sara turned on her heel and left the salon, letting the door slam behind her.

Murphy let out a low whistle as he stood to follow her. Damn she was feisty. Connor was going to have his hands full tonight. He couldn't help the grin that crossed his face.

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"You said we were going home."

"We are, but first I need to stop by and see Mary about something."

"Fine Murphy, you go see Mary. I'm going back to the apartment to fix what those women at the salon did to me." Sara began got walk.

"The fuck ya will." Murphy stepped in front of her. "yer not going anywhere until I see Mary."

"Murphy," Sara whined. "I feel very not like me at the moment. Not that I didn't mind being pampered today, but there is a difference between being pampered and feeling like I'm in someone else's skin."

"I don't see what the big deal is."

"Well Murphy you weren't the one just forced to undergo a makeover."

"Sara, if ya would just come up to Mary's apartment the sooner this will all make sense a whole lot sooner."

Sara looked up at the window for Mary's apartment and then down the street in the direction of hers. "You've got ten minuets. Then I'm leaving."

Murphy opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it. Besides, Mary was better adapted to deal with this whole thing. It was mostly her idea after all.

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Mary squealed when she saw Sara. "Oh my god you look fantastic!" She pulled her into a hug. "He's is going to die when he see you."

Murphy wandered into the kitchen to grab a beer. He had had enough of all the girl stuff.

Sara brushed Mary off. "Who's gonna die?"

"Connor. Duh."

"Wait, Connor was in on this whole forced makeover as well? What is wrong with you people? What the hell is going on?" Sara was rather distressed.

Mary didn't look so excited anymore. "Are you really that freaked out?"

"No, I'm just really confused. I'm not used to all this." Sara put her hands up. "I feel like a girl."

"Ya are a girl."

"Shut up Murphy, you know what I mean." Sara didn't even look at Murphy standing in the kitchen doorframe. "I probably wouldn't mind this so much if I at least knew the reason why?" She begged Mary with her eyes. "Please."

"Okay. But you have to promise not to get mad at me, because I meant well."

"What?"

"What's today?"

"Wednesday."

Mary shook her head. "I was thinking more specifically along the lines of the date."

"The date…? It's June fifth, but what does that have to do with all this?"

"Your birthday." Mary steeled herself for an onslaught of something. But nothing happened. She looked at Sara and relaxed ever so slightly.

"That's it? You made me go through all this because it's my birthday. Mary I appreciate the gesture but you could have just bought me a present."

"So your not mad?"

"No." Sara looked surprised. "Why would I be mad?"

"Because you never told us when your birthday was and the only way I found out was by 'borrowing' your wallet so I could get you ID. That and it isn't just your birthday, its, you know…"

Sara smiled. "Right, my mom. I can see why you'd think I'd be mad. I never told simply because i didn't want to make a big deal about it. But you could have just asked me."

"Told ya."

"Shut up Murphy."

Murphy mumbled something under his breath and went back into the kitchen.

"So," Sara put her hands on her hips. "Was this whole makeover my present?"

"It's part of it. At least the part from me and Murph."

"There's more?"

"Yeah." Mary grabbed Sara's hands. "Come on, I've got something to show you in the bedroom."

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Author's Note: My longest chapter yet. Still it is more of a filler to lead into the next chapter. Oh the things I have planned... Keep reading and reviewing. And if you have any ideas for the story i would love to hear them. Writing is just as much about knowing what your readers want as it is about writing what you want. Thanks again.