"Everybody doesn't! She's Virginia to most people. But I've known her since third grade, so we have silly nicknames for each other."

"Cute," laughs Bella. "You think she'll want to be in on my administration?"

"I can't imagine that she wouldn't!"

"All right. What time zone is she in? I figured warning you was important enough to wake you up even if it was the middle of the night for you, but she can probably wait till morning if it is not daytime where she lives."

"She is also in New York! I will tell her all about your burgeoning empire tomorrow."

"Anybody else I should meet?"

"Not urgently. I don't know who you need to meet until I know what you need, you know?"

"Staff size among Bells varies. Golden has the most, which I think is some combination of nepotism and the fact having a lot of employees was the only way to have access to a lot of magic before she imported her mint. I'm probably going to want ambassador-types? There's a lot of demons to deal with; pentagons will do languages but I'm not necessarily a very diplomatic person."

"Ambassador types," she says. "Got it."

"Have any wishes you don't want to make the coins for yourself that shouldn't wait till the next time I have a new batch?"

"Nah, I think I'm good, thanks."

"Okay. I'm going to go confront my murderer. Brainphone me whenever."

"...Sure, okay."

Sherlock is sitting alone on the couch.

She flops onto the couch, and onto him. "Hi," she murmurs.

He wraps her up in a hug and kisses the top of her head. "Hello, love."

"It turns out the new Slayer is very bright and also an alt of Stella's personnel officer. So I'm apparently going to wind up with a similar hiring arrangement and tomorrow morning I'm going to meet her best friend. The Watchers aren't going to find her. I talked to Arthur, too. He didn't have a lot to say."

"I don't imagine he did, no."

"Turning is a - subtractive process, right? Psychologically speaking. Traits are removed, not - added."

"It varies. Ethical inhibitions are removed; everything else... shifts, sometimes."

"I didn't think it was just my ethical inhibitions that kept me from - what happened. It isn't appealing the way that - that breaking Arthur Mallory's jaw just because he hurt me and I could, is. Or I thought so but she came from somewhere and until I know where I can't dig her out of my brain and set her on metaphorical fire."

"Some theories have it that one's soul is actually replaced by a demon during the transformation, in which case it might have come from somewhere other than you."

"Maybe. I don't know. I feel awful. And I'm doing that thing where I make it about me feeling awful, again. Are you okay, is there anything I can do, can I help you...?"

"I don't know," he says. "I really don't know."

Hugs. Hugs always help, right?

Hugs are a positive contribution in this case.

"If you want to - not, for a while, however much of a while, that's fine, which should go without saying but apparently to some little part of my brain it doesn't so I want that understood."

"Dear Juliet," he murmurs, snuggling back. "I do love you."

"I love you," she sighs. "And I want you to be happy and to get things that you want and not things that you don't want. And I don't see how anything about that is an ethical inhibition. It should just be wrapped up in loving you. Shouldn't it? I don't know which parts are soul-parts."

"That is all wrapped up in loving someone for me," he says. "And not in any part of my soul. But sometimes vampires do find that for whatever reason their mortal affections don't carry. Perhaps the actual boundaries of the soul's effect on the brain differ case by case."

"You may tell them," says Sherlock.

"But would you rather I wasn't specific? They'll listen to me if I just tell them that something worse than the alternative-as-we-knew-it happened. They won't like it but they'll listen to me. Golden won't tell if I ask her not to. They might be able to guess a short list, but not the exact thing."

"A list with what elements, I wonder. No, you may be specific."

"If she'd killed or tortured somebody, that would also be bad. If she'd... actually the mere fact that she had a serious personality change, any serious personality change, might do it. I was hoping I'd turn out like you. With maybe a different wardrobe and having to do more of my ethical process by thinking instead of feeling, nothing big."

"My best hypothesis at this moment," says Sherlock, "is that part of the reason I am such an outlier is because so much of my identity was deliberately constructed. That and luck."

"I deliberately edit myself. I guess that's not the same thing as building myself from scratch."

"Apparently not. For one thing, I don't honestly believe I could do what I did again."

"What did you do, exactly?"

"Studied the books obsessively, learned everything I thought I might need to know, modified my accent and speech patterns, and somewhere along the way began to think of myself as Sherlock Holmes instead of as no one."

"I don't think I could do that. Even if I thought it would be a really good idea to be someone other than Bella. I don't think I could want to. I mean, I could probably learn an accent if I tried, that sort of thing, but it'd wind up being cosmetic on me."

"I wanted to."

"I love you too."

"How'd you pick Sherlock Holmes?"

"Of all available candidates, he seemed the most learnable."

"Really, how's that?"

"The details of his methods are often pure fiction, but the basic principles are sound."

"Is it too late and/or too soon to offer you Arthur Mallory's head on a plate?"

"Both of those things," says Bella.

He laughs. "All right, then."

"Didja get me anything? Is there a box hiding in this house somewhere that you were going to give me except that our evening got derailed?"

"I did, and there is!"

Is "expectant snuggling" a thing? Because she does that.

"Shall I go get it?"

Bella smiles at him, sets the present on her lap, and tears into the wrapping paper.

"It's beautiful - what does it do?" asks Bella, reaching out towards it but not quite touching it lest she leave fingerprints.

"If you hold it in both hands and look into it, it will show you something that you will find useful to whatever degree you understand it. No guarantees about the understanding it part, which is why I was able to get it on eBay for a pittance."

"eBay?" giggles Bella. "There are working crystal balls on eBay? That's hilarious, how did you know it wasn't a fake? And the something - is it supposed to be past things, possible futures, present things, metaphors, some mix?"

"Any or all of the above. I traced its history, of course. And when it arrived it very helpfully showed me all the parts I couldn't verify for myself."

"Oh, that's nice of it. Hello, friendly crystal ball," she says, cupping it in her hands.

An image begins to form in its depths.

"Ooh, what fun," says Sherlock.

She giggles and sets the crystal ball down. "That's really neat. And it's not even redundant with mint powers; they're not so good at information. Thank you."

"I do try," he says brightly.

"I love you," she grins. "You're awesome."

He laughs and hugs her.

Hugs! Hugs hugs hugs hugs she likes hugs she loves Sherlock she can almost forget about what an insane day this has been.

Well in that case, they can just keep snuggling.

"Not sure," he says thoughtfully.

"Okay. I'll wish with caution on anything bigger than a square."

"Hmm," says Sherlock.

"Hmm?"

"Hmm," he repeats, frowning slightly.

"...Is something wrong? You did decide against having me read your mind..."

"Sorry," he says, "just trying to resolve a slight logical paradox."

"What is it?"

"I want to make coins, but I also... don't," he says. "I'm not sure why."

"...Do you want me to help you try to figure it out?"

"All right."

"Well," she says, "is it just about if I'm the one - helping? Shell Bell's Tony has an agony beam too. We could give this one the same thing."

"That does sound better," he says.

Bella's chin drops to her chest. "Then it's probably related somehow to the obvious thing," she says softly.

"Probably," he agrees. "Sorry, love."

"You don't have to - you have no reason to be sorry - not to me of all people." She sighs. "There's probably more detail to be had, but I don't know if you want to go digging for it or not."

"I think," he says, "that whatever my conscious opinions, some part of me is strongly disinclined to present any kind of vulnerability to anyone. But nothing in the world could make me stop trusting Tony." He shrugs.

"That makes sense."

"I'm so sorry. I don't know how to tell you how sorry I am. I don't know if that would even help."

"It does help that you're sorry," he says. "But I derive no great joy from watching you suffer over it."

Bella sighs, and forces herself to relax. "We can give Tony an agony beam. He can help you with minting. I don't have to be anywhere in the picture."

"I think that is a good practical solution."

And Sherlock snuggles her.

"I told her she couldn't argue me into it, and she shrugged and said 'oh, okay then' and tried force next. Some people are capable of astonishing levels of self-delusion but not, I don't think, quite that much."

"Unless she - no, I'm not going to rationalize for her. Okay. I will find another hypothesis."

"I do admire your capacity for self-analysis."

He quotes their entire conversation, short as it was, verbatim.

"I see," says Sherlock. "And what are you going to do with this information?"

"I'm not sure. It doesn't seem to add up to anything I can cut out and set on fire, does it."

"No. Although I suppose it will make your warning to the rest of them more informative."

"Yes. 'Don't turn into a Sunshine vampire. It will destroy your ability to make long-term plans and care about what happens to anyone besides yourself' is a little more specific than 'don't turn into a Sunshine vampire, just don't' would be."

"I suspect naming the verified consequence would also be quite motivating."

"Yes. It would."

He hugs her some more.

Oh, hugs, hugs are good.

Snuggly hugs.

Oh yay!

Awwwww.

She doesn't want to stop kissing him. That's what brainphones are for! [Where d'you want to watch the sunrise from?]

[Oh, anywhere, really. Somewhere out in the open. A mile above the town, since we can both fly,] he suggests whimsically.

[We can. I haven't even tried it yet.]

[Let's.]

Teleportation and hovering-by-default means not having to stop kissing just to get from where you are to a mile above Sunnydale!

Invisibility means you can totally make out a mile above Sunnydale without disturbing anyone excessively!

Yes. This is good. All very good.

It's so nice to have superpowers.

That was the whole idea, was it not?

It was! So they should stay up here for hours. Making out.

A brilliant plan. Sherlock supports it fully.

[Ooh. Look,] he says. [Sunrise.]

"I'm so pleased."

"Me too. I believe Shell Bell about torching working, but I'm not eager for any of the three of us to try it anytime soon."

"Indeed."