Author's Note and Disclaimer in one: A brief character guide has been requested. I'm assuming I don't need to detail the Buffy or Angel characters, who were created by Joss Whedon.
Original characters: Dr. Lynette Vaughn: Faith's court-mandated psychiatrist. Bonita "Bonnie" Juarez:Warden of Faith's prison. Carla Fisk: Los Angeles ADA currently in charge of Faith/Daria's case. Maggie Silber: Faith/Daria's attorney, hired by Angel. Willard Jay Harbaugh (offscreen): Texas spree killer who murdered Daria's family and ten other people.
Daria characters, created by Glenn Eichler: Daria Morgendorffer: 20-year old cynic who is the base personality from which Faith Lehane split. Jake, Helen, Quinn: Daria's irascible but loving and clueless father, workaholic mother, and fashion-obsessed sister, all dead. Amy Barksdale: Daria's aunt, who bears a strong resemblance to her, physically and in personality. Rita Barksdale: Daria's other aunt, still offscreen and whose appearance in this fic will be brief.
By the way, did anyone notice what other TV family I quietly killed off in this fic?
X X X X X
Earlier, at the meeting:
"Mr. Angel," Carla Fisk said.
"Just Angel," Angel said.
"How did you get in the building?"
"I'm a private investigator," Angel said.
"Well, unless that gives you the power to mysteriously turn invisible, it doesn't explain much."
"Although," Amy Barksdale said, grinning slightly, "I could see how it would help."
"There's nothing mysterious about it," Angel said.
"Ah," Ms. Barksdale said. "So your powers of invisibility aren't mysterious in the least. Then could you teach me how? I'd be a big hit at parties. And that is, after all, my mission in life."
The ADA was growing more and more irritated, while Dr. Vaughn was clearly making a heroic effort not to burst out laughing. Maggie Silber's expression was unreadable.
Carla Fisk said tightly, "Let me rephrase: How did you get past security?"
Angel shrugged. "I didn't." Before the ADA could erupt in anger, Angel said, "I'll tell you how I got into the building after the meeting's done. I promise."
"I suppose that's the best I can do. Now. Dr. Vaughn. You were about to give us your report on what you learned from your last session with Daria Morgendorffer."
"Yes. As I said, I'd never hypnotized the Daria persona before. What I learned when I did . . ." And she went on to tell everyone exactly what she'd discovered about why and how Daria Morgendorffer had become Faith Lehane. How Daria had come home and found her father and sister dead. How Harbaugh had shot Helen Morgendorffer after forcing her and Daria to play a game of rock, paper, scissors. And how she'd fainted and woken up staring at Harbaugh's graffiti on the wall, written in her mother's blood. "HAVE FAITH."
It was astonishing and horrifying. And by the end of it, Angel understood Faith and the demons that had been driving her long before she'd ever encountered any actual demons.
Angel noticed that even though Carla Fisk had obviously heard the story before, she was listening as closely as everyone else.
When Dr. Vaughn was done, Angel spoke first. "Harbaugh's on death row, right?"
"Right," Carla Fisk said.
"Any chance of him getting out?"
"He's on death row in Texas."
"Sorry," Angel said. "Stupid question."
Amy Barksdale was still trying to recover. "That's good to know," she said, finally. "It means I won't have to kill him myself." Then, her eyes narrowing, she said, "Because on the off chance the Texas justice system or the Supreme Court screws up royally and Willard Jay Harbaugh gets back out on the streets, his life span will be measured out in minutes."
"And that's if I don't get to him first," Angel said. Here, at least, was something he and Amy Barksdale agreed on.
Carla Fisk said, "I'll take those to be an understandable emotional reaction, and not actual death threats, which as an officer of the court I would be obliged to report to the police."
"Take it however you like," Amy said.
"I . . . appreciate the information," Maggie Silber said, trying to restore at least a facade of formality to the situation. "It certainly gives a lot of weight to the idea that Faith Lehane was not responsible for her actions and needs mental help, not incarceration."
"You're partly right," the ADA said. "It's concrete proof that Daria Morgendorffer bears no responsibility for the crimes she committed as Faith Lehane. Dr. Vaughn has made it clear that neither the Faith nor Daria personas are, in her opinion, legally insane. It is the official judgment of this DA's office that Faith Lehane still poses a danger to society -- we will stipulate to her good behavior since entering jail, and her apparently sincere desire for redemption --"
"That's good," Angel said sarcastically. "She turned herself in and confessed and you're willing to stipulate that her desire is sincere. Thank you for making that concession. It must have been hard for you."
Carla Fisk shot him a dirty look. "As I was saying," she continued, "One year of good behavior is not enough time, in our opinion, to judge that she no longer poses this danger. Daria Morgendorffer, on the other hand, poses no threat at all and we believe that she should eventually be released."
"You can't release Daria without releasing Faith," Angel said.
"Of course we can," Dr. Vaughn said bitterly. "All we need to do is make sure that, when Daria's released, Faith's no longer there."
Amy Barksdale said, "I thought integration was the usual way to fix multiple personalities."
"In Dr. Vaughn's opinion," Carla Fisk said, "This isn't really practical in this case."
Sighing, Dr. Vaughn said, "Unfortunately, she's right. Faith and Daria's personalities are too different. They have very little in common, except for their intelligence and their tendency to keep people at arm's length. I don't believe they could be effectively combined." Dr. Vaughn clearly was not happy about any of this.
"And," Carla Fisk continued smoothly, "As we believe that Faith Lehane cannot be safely released, while Daria Morgendorffer can --"
"Somehow I doubt this is going to be a Solomon-like solution," Angel said.
"Split her in half?" the ADA said. "Well, I suppose in theory you could -- with Ms. Morgendorffer being free while Ms. Lehane had to stay in jail. But that's hardly practical." She shook her head. "No. As far as the DA's office is concerned the only real solution is to simply eliminate the Faith personality."
"No," Angel said, while noticing with horror that Amy Barksdale was shaking her head approvingly.
"Why not?" the ADA asked. "It's the ideal solution for everyone involved."
"Everyone except Faith," Angel said.
Amy Barksdale said, "Faith doesn't exist."
"Then who confessed to those crimes? Who's been in jail for the last fifteen months? Who was sobbing in my arms in that alley?" After a pause, Angel said, "You live through what I've lived through, what she's lived through, and then you tell me she doesn't exist."
"You live through what I did and tell me she does," Amy said.
"I've read your book, Ms. Barksdale," Angel said. "A friend of mine gave me a copy a couple of days ago after we first found out about this situation. It's powerful writing. You express your loss quite eloquently." After a second, he said, "One of the things you made the clearest is how much you regretted not having kept in closer touch with your sister and her family. How much you wish that your childhood animosity hadn't caused you to stay away from all of them. And how it brought you and your surviving sister closer together. I'm not joking when I say that I found that very moving."
"Thank you," Amy said, a bit confusedly.
"You're welcome. I mean every word. But here's the thing. You hadn't seen your niece for ten years when she disappeared. I've spent more time with Faith in the last two and a half years than you have with Daria in your entire life. Don't you dare say she doesn't exist. Faith exists. She walks, she talks, she breathes, she suffers."
"She kills people," Amy said. "She commits crimes."
"And she's paying for it," Angel said. "I'm not saying Faith hasn't done horrible things, or that Daria has. I'm just saying that in the four years she was Faith she earned the right to exist."
"Murderers get the death penalty," Amy said.
"Faith's actually already been sentenced for that," Angel said. "And you don't believe in the death penalty."
Amy chuckled humorlessly. "You read the book. Right. I shouldn't have even used that argument. It was stupid, and it was mean, and I should have known better. I'm sorry. And you're absolutely right, Angel. If Faith were anyone else who'd committed the crimes she did, I'd be absolutely opposed to her receiving the death penalty. Just like I would be anyone else who was actually alive. But she's not alive, Angel. She's a thief who's stolen my niece's body." Then she paused for a second. "You can't blame me for wanting my niece back, Angel. Yes, I didn't know her as well as I should have. That was my mistake. I love Daria. Maybe I should have shown it more back then, but it doesn't make it any less true now."
And the hell of it was, as near as Angel could tell, Amy Barksdale wasn't lying. She was the worst kind of 'enemy,' if enemy was even the right word. She was not only convinced she was right, she had the highest of motivations: genuine love of family. Angel couldn't hate her, or even really dislike her. She was a good person, all told.
That still didn't mean she was on the right side in this particular instance, though.
"I'm not claiming otherwise," Angel said. "I have nothing against Daria Morgendorffer. She deserves a life of her own --"
"And," Carla Fisk said, "As far as the DA's office is concerned, the only way Daria Morgendorffer will get a life of her own is if she does it without Faith Lehane being part of her."
"I seriously doubt Faith will agree to being wiped out of existence," Angel said.
"Daria won't consent to it either," Dr. Vaughn said. "She and Faith are able to communicate in their dreams in some way. Daria agreed to resist any 'solution' to her problem that involves the loss of Faith."
"To me, that's a fair trade," Amy Barksdale said. "I get my niece back --"
"Your niece won't be too happy with you," Dr. Vaughn said.
"She's alive. She'll be free," Amy said. "And she'll be able to live her own life. That's the important thing. If making sure she has the opportunity to do those things costs me any chance of being close to her again, I'm willing to take that chance."
The highest motives. She wasn't even doing this for herself. Damn. It was a lot easier when you could simply despise your opponent.
"In any event, Daria and Faith's wishes probably aren't going to mean anything for a while after tomorrow," Carla Fisk said.
"Why not?" Maggie Silber said, her eyes narrowing.
"Because I've managed to get an emergency hearing with the district court tomorrow afternoon questioning Ms. Morgendorffer's competency to make her own decisions, using Dr. Vaughn's report as my basis."
That surprised Angel. "I got the impression you were opposed to this."
"I am," Dr. Vaughn said. "By the way, Carla, don't plan on calling me as a witness. I'll make a hostile one."
"The report should be enough," the ADA said. "Anyway, assuming this is granted -- well, the state was going to take guardianship, but Ms, Barksdale, if you want it --"
"I'll take it," she said. "It would horribly inconvenience my sister. Me, I'm a writer. Give me a laptop and easy access to the internet and a library and I'm good for a while."
Maggie Silber said, "You realize that I'm going to fight you on this -- up to and including getting the court to postpone the hearing. I hardly see what about this qualifies as an emergency, and nothing I've seen of either Faith Lehane or Daria Morgendorffer in any way indicates their incompetence."
"Except the fact that they're the same person," Carla Fisk said. "Look. The DA's office is determined to do this. We think it's best for Daria Morgendorffer and everyone. She gets out of jail; the Barksdale sisters get their niece back; and the DA's office gets to not release a dangerous criminal back onto the streets. Everybody wins."
"Everybody except Faith," Angel said. "Look. You're setting this up as a dichotomy, both of you," gesturing at Amy and Carla. "But it's not. It's not either Faith or Daria. It could be both."
Amy said, sympathetically, "You don't want to lose her either."
"No. I don't. I think she's earned the right to exist."
"I understand that now," Amy said. "I'm not sure what it is about Faith that's earned her this loyalty from you. There must be something more to her than the record indicates. And you seem like a good man."
"Thank you," Angel said, a bit confusedly.
Smiling slightly, Amy said, "You're welcome. I mean every word. But it is a dichotomy, now. You may think it's a false one, but if I want Daria back, Faith can't come with her. I'm sorry to do this, now. But a choice between a free and surly Daria or one stuck in jail for the next 20 years is no choice at all."
"I could get her out, eventually," Maggie Silber said.
"Key word: Eventually. Daria's suffered enough. I'm sorry, Angel, Maggie, Dr. Vaughn. Ms. Fisk, I'll be there. When's the hearing?"
"1:30 PM before Judge Knott."
"Lest ye be judged?" Amy said.
The ADA chuckled. "Get that out of your system now. The last person who said it to his face nearly went up on contempt charges."
Angel stood up. "Fascinating as this look into the quirks of our court officials are, it seems the decision has been made. Mrs. Silber, I'd appreciate it if you'd do whatever you could to fight this."
"I will," she said grimly.
"Will you still give me a ride back to my hotel?" Amy Barksdale said.
"Of course. I may not like what you're doing but I'm not going to be a complete bitch and strand you here."
As Angel turned to go, he caught Dr. Vaughn's eye.
Behind the defeat in the woman's eyes, there was something else. Determination.
Determination to do what, Angel wasn't sure. But he would bet that the road to declaring Faith incompetent was not going to be as smooth as Carla Fisk would have liked.
"Angel," Carla Fisk said. "You told me you'd tell me where the holes in our security were."
"Ms. Fisk," Angel said. "I may not like what you're doing, but I know one thing: I can run faster than you."
Then he left.