Author's Note: The echo wouldn't know that.

Disclaimer: Buffy, Wesley, Angel, Cordelia and Faith belong to Joss Whedon. Daria Morgendorffer belongs to Glenn Eichler. Lynette Vaughn, Carla Fisk, and Kal Endicott are mine.

X X X X X

Wesley couldn't have been more startled had Angel descended into the Hyperion lobby dancing the can-can while dressed like Carmen Miranda. They let people into the secret that the supernatural existed only under extreme provocation; he couldn't imagine what provocation Dr. Vaughn might have provided to get Angel to make the revelation. So, while Cordelia and the good doctor busied themselves with small talk, he pulled Angel aside.

"I assume you have a good reason for this?" he asked.

"She isn't stupid, Wes. This morning Daria, in a fit of rage, started pounding her cell walls so hard that she was beginning to damage them. Dr. Vaughn had already figured out that 'a fit of adrenaline' -- the fairly inventive excuse Daria came up with -- couldn't possible be right, and pointed out that she'd shared a monumental secret with me and that I owed her one in return."

"You could have told her no."

Angel shook his head. "That wouldn't have been fair. And remember, she was more than halfway there already."

"I wouldn't say she was that far along," Wesley said. "Still, there's no way of putting that mushroom cloud back in that nice shiny uranium sphere, as Dr. Asimov once said. What'd done is done. So. Did you show her your vampiric face?"

"Yes. And you'll notice she did not react by frantically throwing open the door and running screaming out into the street. She still has a lot to learn, but she understands this and she seems willing to do so."

"Well, since you make so free with our secrets --"

Angel grinned. "Nice try, Wes. This was an exchange between me and the doctor. You can still try to persuade her to tell you, but I'm still not going to."

"Is there anything I shouldn't talk about?"

"Faith's backstory. That's still not ours to give, except for the fact of her actually being a vampire slayer. In any event, she doesn't seem interested in hearing our thrilling exploits, but the nuts and bolts of the supernatural. We might want to liven it up with anecdotes now and then, but otherwise? I'd think whatever she wants to know, we tell her."

Wesley said, "I suppose I could continue to make an issue about this, but at this juncture that would seem churlish."

"Are you ready, then?" Wesley nodded his head, and they rejoined Cordelia and Dr. Vaughn. "Well then," he said. "A primer of supernatural beasts. Dr. Vaughn, tell me: what would you like to learn about first?"

The psychiatrist said, "Since a lot of this seems to be based around vampires, I'd say that seems like a good place to start. First off, Angel's already made it clear that the only time I should try to fight one is when I have no choice. Even given my black belt."

"Well, if your back is to the wall, that should be something of a help," Wesley said. "Just remember, if that situation ever should arise, that vampires are both stronger and more durable than humans and fight accordingly. In general, though, Angel is correct. Running is the safest option."

"So what else do I need to know?"

"The first thing, I suppose, is that while vampires resemble the people they once were, they are not those people and cannot be trusted. This is because a demon now inhabits their body . . . "

X X X X X

Buffy was there waiting for her. "Hey there. Ready for some more training in how to kick vampire ass?"

Daria shrugged. "Why not?"

"I notice Faith isn't joining us. Did your wonderful plan not work?" Buffy asked this with such an air of mock innocence that Daria could tell she knew damn well that Daria's plan had failed.

"No. It didn't work. Thanks ever so much for noticing. Also, since we're pointing out the obvious, I'd like to add that I have brown hair and that you are extremely annoying."

"I am, aren't I?' Buffy said.

Ignoring her, Daria said, "I ended up having to deal with Faith's emotions without the benefits of actually being Faith."

"Faith had emotions?" Buffy asked skeptically.

"Ha. Ha. Rage, anguish, pain, at a level I've never even come close to dealing with/"

"Rage. That I believe."

"I thought we'd agreed that there wouldn't be any more gratuitous shots at Faith," Daria said.

"Who says they're gratuitous?" Buffy asked. "I say they're well-deserved and long overdue." Daria just glared at her. "Right. Still not in the mood to hear talk like that. So, anything interesting happen today?"

"What, you mean apart from me spending three hours trying to take my cell apart brick by brick?"

The humor left Buffy's face. "Tell me you're kidding." Daria said she wasn't. "Damn. What the hell kind of excuse did you use?"

"Adrenaline fit."

"Not bad. Still, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I was thinking, cell wall or people's skulls."

Buffy said, "Right. So, did they buy it?"

"They seemed to. Dr. Vaughn might have been a bit suspicious, but that's about it."

"Okay," Buffy said. "Anyway, I did mean apart from that."

Daria gave her the five-subjective-minute summary of her day. When she was done, Buffy frowned and said, "Sucks your aunt doing that to you without getting your consent."

Daria said, "You told me Faith was gone and that I just had to deal with it."

"I did. She is. That doesn't mean I think your aunt's being especially nice about the whole thing. I'm lucky to have a mom who supports me, even if I don't pay as much attention to her as I should."

"Anyway. There's still nothing I can do about it. So we may as well get back to the part where you beat the daylights out of me and tell me it's for my good."

"Oh, it is," Buffy said with a wicked grin. "Anyway, even if you don't have the instincts, you have the strength. And when you have the time to rely on Faith's muscle memory, that's great. When you don't --" she stopped. "Well. Vampires are the commonest critter you're going to have to deal with. So let's start by teaching you the best ways to fight one of them."

Daria interrupted. "Faith got around to telling me this much. Something wooden through the heart -- it's easiest when it's sharp. Sunlight. Fire. Beheading. They can't drown, they can't starve, and shooting them might hurt them or slow them but isn't going to kill them. Holy water burns them, but it won't kill them unless you push them into a swimming pool full of it. Crosses repel them. No other religious symbol does. It also doesn't matter how devout you are, which is a good thing, because I'm as atheistic as they come. Garlic, she wasn't too sure about."

Buffy smiled, and this time the smile seemed genuine. "I like the swimming pool idea. Yours or Faith's?"

"Mine."

"Not bad. You may have more potential than you think. And for what it's worth, I'm not especially sure about the garlic either. Bottom line? Don't rely on hiding in an Italian restaurant."

Daria gave a Mona Lisa smile and said, "Darn. Well, there go my career plans."

Buffy chuckled, then said, "Anyway, Faith did a good job at telling you how to kill a vampire." After a second, "My job is to show you how to fight them."

X X X X X

The day, on balance, had gone better than Carla Fisk expected. Apart from Kendrick Talbot, no one made any extended attacks. Some reporters had asked a very similar question in a far more neutral tone, and she'd given them the respect Amy Barksdale had refused to give Kendrick Talbot. Not like Talbot deserved the respect he hadn't gotten.

On her way out the door, she asked the District Attorney if her appearance on Larry King Live could be the last thing she could do connected with the Morgendorffer case, at least today. The DA told her, "I think you've been punished enough for one day." Carla wasn't entirely sure he was kidding.

It was about 5 PM when she left the District Attorney's Office and drove down to the local NBC affiliate to prepare for her appearance. Kal Endicott was waiting when she got there. He seemed equal parts exhilarated and exhausted. "So," he said. "How's your day been, Ms. Fisk?"

She looked at him for a second, then had collapsed to the floor, laughing helplessly. When she was finally done, she told at the young reporter, "Thanks. I definitely needed that."

"Stressful, huh?"

"You have no idea," Carla said. "And I'm aware that your day hasn't been all lying on a featherbed either, but compared to mine, I'm sure you had it easy. I think I've talked to more people today than I have in the last twenty years. I'm not even counting the press conference. And it's hardly like I was stuck down in traffic court until three weeks ago."

"I think I have some idea," Endicott said. "So far I've managed to avoid making myself part of the story, but he only actual new reporting I've been able to do was when I talked to you. Beyond that, I think I've discussed the story and how I broke it with every TV and radio show across the country, from the Today Show to some drive time guy here in LA fifteen minutes ago."

"I've talked with the BBC and the Sydney Morning Herald."

"You got me beat there," Endicott admitted. "We do have something in common, though."

"What's that?" Carla said.

"I also had to put up with Kendrick Talbot thinking I was a dupe and a fool."

"Oh?" Carla asked. "And how did you handle him?"

"I hung up on him."

Carla laughed again. "Poor Kendrick. He's not getting love from anyone today."

"I find myself remarkably able to live with his disappointment," Endicott said.

"So can I."

Abruptly changing the subject, the reporter said, "So, do you know who else is going to be on the show with us?"

"I've been too busy answering the same dozen questions 45-50 times each. I was only able to spare five minutes to talk to the woman from CNN, and most of that was spent hashing out where I needed to go and when I needed to get there. I barely even remembered you were supposed to be on it with me. Why?"

"It's Dr. Alexander Pulaski."

Carla's eyebrows shot up so quickly she was amazed that she'd somehow prevented them from slamming into the ceiling. Dr. Alexander Pulaski, who had a medical degree in psychiatry, had gotten a lot of publicity recently by writing a book saying that ninety percent of psychiatric diagnoses were fake. Most of the people who allegedly had psychiatric disorders, he claimed, whether depression, anxiety, or anything worse, were either being deluded by their doctors or were lying to avoid responsibility for their actions. All they really needed was a good slap in the face. Multiple Personality Disorder, of course, was all lies and suggestibility.

Neither she nor Kal Endicott was remotely qualified to rebut him. They'd have to rely on Dr. Vaughn's reputation.

To her surprise, though, as the discussion played out, Dr. Pulaski didn't live up to his reputation. Kal Endicott explained the basic story and how he'd happened into it -- to his credit, he was modestly saying that it had been as much as luck as skill. It was only now that Carla learned that Angel, who Endicott had only vaguely alluded to in the article (and whose name he still wasn't revealing), had been the one who'd given the reporter a lot of his information.

Carla provided the official storyline, and all Dr. Pulaski could do was sputter that they'd all been duped.

Finally, Carla had had enough. "How many times have you examined her?" she demanded.

"I don't need to examine her," Dr. Pulaski said haughtily. "I already know she's lying, because there's no such thing as multiple personality disorder."

"Dr. Vaughn says otherwise."

"Dr. Vaughn doesn't know what she's talking about."

"Dr. Vaughn, a firm believer in psychiatry, has proven that more people were faking mental disorders in the last ten years working with the California penal system than you have in your entire life. Her career is dedicated to the topic. If she thinks that Daria Morgendorffer's disorder is real, after having talked with her over the course of a year, who the hell are you to say otherwise?"

"She's only doing this for the publicity," Dr. Pulaski said.

Kal Endicott said, "With all due respect, Dr. Pulaski, you're wrong. There wouldn't have been any publicity about this if I hadn't happened to be in the right place at the right time. The DA's office, Dr. Vaughn, the Barksdale sisters -- none of them came to me."

Dr. Pulaski sniffed and, once again addressing Carla, said, "So I presume you'll be happy once you've allowed a murderer back onto the streets."

"If I ever do that, I'll let you know exactly how it feels."

"Faith Lehane is a murderer," Larry King said. "That much can't be argued with."

""And I'm not arguing with it," Carla said. "I don't know how much clearer I can make this: When Daria Morgendorffer is released, she will be alone. Faith Lehane will never leave that prison."