Shut The Fuck Up, Dawnie!
The alarm sounded at 6:30am that morning. Buffy jumped out of bed with a start as the 80s station blasted out Run DMC's King of Rock. Tara had gotten up earlier and was making breakfast downstairs. On an ordinary day, the smell of hot cereal would make Buffy hungry.
The shower felt good, but nothing could take her mind off of what she had to do. She wished the soap washing down the drain was her problems. That, or she wished it was the blood of Warren, slowly draining out of his limp, lifeless body. Tie him up, put a little hole in his wrist and watch the fun begin. Maybe she would take Anya up on her offer. It wasn't like he could use his dick that well anyway.
Drying off and walking into her bedroom, Buffy stood sideways naked in front of the mirror. She tried to make her belly pop out some, which wasn't much, considering her tiny frame. When she wondered why she was doing this, and realized how silly she looked, she dressed quickly and ran downstairs for breakfast.
"I didn't know if you can eat or not, Buffy, but I did make you some Cream of Wheat. We can always save it for later."
Buffy still hadn't really shaken herself from her shocked stupor yet. Tara held her close.
"Buffy?"
"Yeah, Tara?"
"You know, if you're having second thoughts, it isn't too late to cancel."
"Thanks, Tara, but I have to do this."
"I'll call the cab, then."
The cab ride over passed by the new Six Flags Over Sunnydale amusement park, one which the gang had planned on going to sometime during the summer. Tara was quiet the whole way over, waiting for Buffy to speak, for fear that she'd say something inappropriate. The desire to say something that was helpful was pushed out of her mind by fear.
Buffy was sitting on the other side of the back seat, no seat belt. Fear gripped her, the protestors, the way Dawn and Willow had been so cold to her this week.
"So, how was your..."
"Fine, good. Leave me alone. I have a headache and your voice is making it worse."
Buffy thought she'd have come around by now, but no such luck. She didn't think she could take much more of that. And Willow hadn't even made it around to see her since she had first told Willow her plan. And since she had started to screen her phone calls, no luck with getting through that way either.
Thankfully the others were not so harsh. Maybe the week in Sin City, with the palm trees, the legalized gambling and shows with half naked women, tigers and flaming homosexuals in way too tight pants had the calming effect they needed.
"All I'm asking is, was it really necessary for him to sniff your crotch?"
"Anya! He was a tiger! And he'd not even have done that had G-man there not knocked my cologne off the dresser before we went out."
"It's okay, Anya," Giles gave one of his sighs while wiping off his glasses, "I don't think you have to worry about Xander having any feelings for the tiger."
The only problem with Anya was trying to keep her from running to Warren's house right that minute and exacting her gory style of revenge. According to a small article in the back of Thursday's Sunnydale Press, the week had been a good one for vengeance. It seems that three different dealers in three different casinos were found sans genitals (including one 60 year old female dealer whose implants were found amongst the bloody mush that was once her breasts) and sans brain stem.
Xander had actually asked for her forgiveness for the weird way he had acted on the phone. Buffy could tell by the way he was acting that it was uncomfortable for him to be around her. What shocked Buffy the most was that he didn't even try to grope her butt when they embraced after the apology. "Mmmmmm, Buffy butt" he'd say, goosing her. Buffy usually would laugh it off and playfully hit his shoulder, even if it did bother her.
Giles gave his usual silent, leading type of support. Between him and Tara, she was feeling good again. Giles kept a lot of emotions hidden, but did offer any financial support he could for this procedure, or even to help raise the kid if she chose that. It seemed Ripper was quite the craps player. That, or Anya cut him in on the (probably stolen) winnings found in the dealers' homes.
"Slut! Cunt! Whore! Dyke! Bitch! Murderer!"
Buffy could hear the protestors before they even arrived.
She had only been in church once in her life when she and Joyce visited family in Santa Monica. Though she was only eight at the time, she distinctly remembered a verse about only God having the right to judge people.
"Tara, I know what I'm doing is right, but I don't know. I'm not a bad person, am I?"
"God, no, sweetie. Don't let anybody tell you should feel bad. They should be thankful they never had to make decision like you're now facing."
Tara smiled at Buffy, gently stroking her hand. Tara's mind wandered to a previous time in her life. Her heart was filled with sadness, but before she could contemplate, the car stopped in front of clinic. She-Homer was there just like the last time.
By the grace of God go I...
Dawn sat in front of Willow's laptop downloading pictures off of an anti-abortion web page. The doctored files of stillborn fetuses, passed off to be aborted ones, engrossed and empowered her.
"Wow, Willow. Buffy is really going to freak out when she sees what she's caused!"
"Be sure to put them up where Tara can see them!"
"I still can't believe she supports Buffy on this! I thought she liked us better than Blondie McSlut."
"Don't worry, Dawnie. I have something that will fix them both!"
Willow was busy looking through her black magic books. The reanimation spell was worth missing today's Mr. Ed re-run.
"You think it's gonna work?"
"Dawn, please! Well, I hope so anyway. If I can raise Buffy from the dead..."
"You can bring back her aborted fetus too!"
"Murdered dead baby, Dawn. Not aborted fetus. It is alive just as you or I."
"Right, Willow, sorry. Boy, I can't wait until Buffy sees that!"
"She'll always regret what she did today, hahaha." Willows eyes began to glow a burning red.
Dawn readied her pictures and stapler. She had to get home in the next 30 minutes, and 30 minutes exactly, or else Tara might start to wonder where she was. Too early and she'd be found out fo skipping school. Mrs Brown never let out her biology class early for anything, not even when JFK was assassinated her first year teaching.
"You're doing the right thing, Dawn. Don't let them make you feel bad about making them cry. Remember, it takes two people to make you feel bad about yourself."
"That's the plan! I especially want to hurt Tara. I thought that bitch loved me!"
"She hurt me, Dawn. She hurt me bad. Always going on about how I shouldn't use dark magic. 'It's wrong to manipulate people, Willow.' Bitch. But now she's helped Buffy hurt somebody else, and I can't stand by and let her get away with it. Make her cry really hard and I just might get you that $300 leather jacket you've been hinting at."
"You mean it?"
"Uh huh, yup, sure do! Besides, I can use magic to disable the security system, so it isn't like it's gonna set me back any."
Dawn laughed, giving Willow one last hug before she was out the door.
"Dawnie! Don't forget your book bag!"
"Oh yeah, dumb me, heh heh."
Dawn came in quickly through the front door, almost to suggest that she was trying to avoid Tara.
"How was school, sweetie?"
"Oh fine, whatever. How's the baby killer holding out?"
"Dawn, I told you to let Buffy be. She needs her rest."
"She can sleep? How can she live with herself? She must be inhuman!"
"Dawn, calm down! I understand you're upset, but try to understand."
"No, Tara! YOU don't understand! And neither does Buffy."
Dawn ran to her room.
"No, Dawn, wait!"
The door slammed hard enough to rattle the picture in the hallway. Dawn turned up her radio as loud as it would go. The people in Stockton could probably hear the Dr. Laura show barreling out of the small box.
"Dawn, what are you doing? Turn that down!"
"I'm trying to wake up the baby killer!"
Tara turned off the radio and removed it from her room.
"Dawn, please. I'm taking this away for now. You're really pushing me."
Meanwhile, across town....
Willow waited at the back door of the clinic. A nurse snuck out for a smoke break and Willow took her chance.
"Nighty night, Miss Murder."
Willow swung the bag carrying her herbs and candles into the back of the nurse's head. Stealing her key, she snuck her way into the clinic.
The clinic's hallways weren't the way she'd envisioned it. Rather than a dark, dungeony place with blood splattered walls. It looked very white and barren, almost oddly inviting in that doctor's office kind of way. The realization made her even more repulsed than before.
"The killing factory looks like Dr. Shuldiner's office?! Will they stop at nothing to further their cause?"
Leaning against the back door, she readied herself for the task at hand. "Okay Willow," she began, whispering to herself in a voice that still carried, "just remember what Buffy did. And how Tara stopped loving you so much, that she took the wrong side of this issue you feel so strongly about. You can do this. The Goddess is with you."
The thought of searching through the rooms made Willow nervous. What if she happened on a procedure already in progress? What if somebody realized that she wasn't supposed to be there, and called the cops?
"C'mon now Rosenberg," she began again in a whisper. "You can do this, just think about how much like Faith you are." Thinking to herself for a second. "Ewww! Oh god, no! That's horrible. Oh, wait! You're like Faith with a purpose!" she shouted gleefully, covering her mouth, hoping nobody around heard her.
Finally, taking a deep breath, Willow took her first step down the hallway. She looked left and right, making sure to avoid doctor offices while not missing any small examination rooms.
"Murdered dead baby pail, murdered dead baby pail, where is that thing?" she muttered to herself, looking through the rooms for any large vats in the corner.
Last night, Willow and Anya had had a conversation in Willow's apartment that still made her bitter.
"Anya! I want to be a vengeance demon too!"
"Great! Want to help me make Warren limper than a wet noodle?"
"No! I want to be a vengeance demon for murdered dead babies!"
"Huh?"
"You know, a vengeance demon for murdered dead babies!"
"For what?"
"Murdered dead babies! Well, Buffy calls them aborted fetuses..."
"Oh, big problem there, Willow."
"But why? They need avenged too!"
"But if they're dead, how are they going to call on you?"
"But Anya! They need to be avenged!"
"Well, it might be more fun if you just made the father in question limp."
"No! It can't be! Maybe I should be a vengeance demon for scorned wannabe vengeance demons!"
"Feh, join the club. I'm not exactly in the inner circle anymore myself."
"Aha! There they are!" Willow finally found what she was looking for. But now that she did, would she be happy?
She lifted up the lid to see a bucket filled to the brim with what looked like tiny scraps of pink that smelled like rotten sausage.
"Ewwww! Ewwwww! So wrong! They sent the dears through a paper shredder after they cut them out with a machete!"
Willow looked around the room for a pair of rubber gloves. "I gotta find Buffy's child, but how?"
Then it hit her, "OH, silly me! The spell, of course!"
Willow drew a circle on the floor, arranging her candles, one red for survival, one black for shapeshifting. She lit the red one first, enjoying the mulberry smell it made. The black one gave off a stronger scent that she couldn't quite place. Rumor has it the company that created it went out of business after it was found out they used human fat in production.
Willow sat in the middle of her circle, facing the murdered dead baby pail, and began her prayer.
Hear me Demeter!
I call you forth to bring justice to a crime
The one they call the Slayer is of a weak mind
She committed a murder today but doesn't care
Let the murdered dead baby follow her everywhere!
Let the murdered child become whole again
Let the murdered child appear before me, out of the pail.
Come to me, oh little one, that you might be avenged
Willow's eyes grew the size as saucers as the room went about 20 degrees colder than it was before. Willow shivered, wishing she had worn a bra. "Oh no, now everybody can see my nips!"
The spirit of Demeter slowly floated into the room, right above the murdered dead baby pail.
"What is it that you ask of me?"
"Oh, hi, I'm Willow, heh. Somebody important was murdered today, and I have to get vengeance for them."
"Why was I called here?"
"The victim is in the garbage pail you're hovering over."
"Did you kill this victim?"
"NO! What? Me? NO! It was Buffy, you know, the Slayer? She's a little slut, she got knocked up, but went and murdered the poor thing rather than bringing it to term!"
"Why are you doing this to her?"
"Well, I thought it would be a good lesson to teach her. You know, she probably won't do this again if her murdered dead baby comes back to attack her!"
The spirit floated, not saying anything for a few minutes, in quiet contemplation.
"Hi! Demeter? You forgot about me! HELLO?"
The spirit continued to hover, not paying any mind to the babbling redhead on the floor below her.
"You are dealing with powerful forces. Have you any idea what could result of this abuse of power?"
"Well, I think I could make an unrepentant baby killer crack like an egg. I can just see her now, in a little ball on the floor, crying her eyes out, having a mental break down, me above her laughing my ass off, pointing my finger at her."
Willow started to laugh, which aroused the ire of Demeter.
"Silence, you fool! I'm beginning to think you don't know what you're doing. But I'll give you another chance. Tell me one good reason why you should have your spell come to life."
"Um, becuase all babies are precious, and deserve a chance at life?"
Demeter was silent again for a moment, all the while Willow beamed her sparkly green eyes and big cheese eating grin up at the floating diety.
"You've done well my daughter. I am glad to see you care about children. The one who was in utero in Buffy Summers shall now come to you. Take care of him and never let him out of your sight."
"Will do, thanks!"
"And, just to let you know, you will not be able to use him to harm Buffy. Are you so stupid to think I could not see your intentions? He's yours now." With that and a laugh, Demeter vanished into thin air.
"Oh well, hey little guy, you're sort of... red looking."
The now animated fetus sit in the corner motionless, looking like it was trying to move, but mostly like it was trying to decide what to do.
"Well, do you do a dance? You know, like the dancing baby screensaver? Oh! You could be the perfect weapon in our war on abortion! The dancing murdered dead baby screensaver would freak out the baby killers for sure!"
Willow was wondering how she was gona get him out. He was standing up, but couldn't actually walk.
"Hmmm, I know! I'll give you skin so I can carry you out!"
With a few magic words, Sabrina Jr made him look like a for real, normal baby.
"Oh wait, no! I can't do that! Buffy has to see him without the skin! It has to be exactly as he was when she murdered you!"
With a few more words, the baby's skin was ripped off. It started to scream, shake and convulse, running around the room frantically.
"Oh, sorry little guy! I didn't mean to do it. Hahaha."
Willow opened the door and it ran outside, right towards the front entrance.
"Oh well, I guess we'll get home some way."
Willow rushed after it.
Meanwhile, across town:
"Baby killer! Look at what you did! LOOK!"
Dawn was turning on the lights in Buffy's room, waving around the pictures she had printed out earlier.
"Pleaes Dawn, just leave me alone for today, we can talk about it tomorrow."
"No, Buffy! I don't think things can be that easy! LOOK! I even found her diary! It says she'd grow up to like flowers! To like flowers! You sadistic bitch! How could you murder somebody who likes flowers?"
"What's going on here? Dawn! Leave Buffy alone!"
"She murdered a baby! Here is what she did! A poor, helpless baby!"
"Please Dawn, just let me rest, we can talk about this tomorrow."
"No! She..."
"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Tara's shouting made Dawn back off somewhat. She stormed out of the room in an angry huff. Tara turned out the lights, tucking Buffy back in bed.
"How dare you tell me to leave her alone? She's my sister, I can say whatever I want to her! You're just... an outsider!"
Tara was visibly hurt by Dawn's words.
"Dawn! What the hell has gotten into you? You're treating Buffy horribly! I don't know what to say, or to even begin to understand why you're so mad."
"She murdered a baby, Tara. You helped her murder a baby. You gave comfort and aid to a baby murdering terrorist! Its blood is on your hands just as much as it is on Buffy's. But you're worse than her, because you're a coward and won't own up to it! You should have just put the machete up Buffy's womb, cut the poor creature into tiny pieces and sucked it out with the giant vacuum cleaner! You're nothing but a baby murderer, Tara!"
Just then Willow walked through the front door, dejected at the spell's failure.
"Hi Dawn, I'm sorry, but..." she stopped to listen to their fighting.
"Calm down, Dawn. Don't do this to me." Tara wiped a tear from her eye.
"Go on and cry, you goddamn baby killer! I hate you Tara! You make me want to vomit! You're such a blood thirsty bitch, I hope you die!"
"Shut the FUCK up, Dawnie!"
"Hey! Don't you dare talk to her that way, Tara!"
Tara sat down on the couch, wiping away another tear. Dawn was too shocked to say anything and sat down beside her.
"I never thought you would act this way, Dawn, even Willow, as judgemental as she was towards Buffy earlier, at least hasn't done anything past that. You should really take after her more."
"Well, actually, I was just here to deliver Dawn the bad news."
"Oh no! You mean it didn't work? Rum Tugg Tugger didn't work out?"
Willow shook her head no.
"What didn't work? Oh my god, please tell me you didn't."
"I called forth Demeter, and things were going well at first..."
"Oh god, please tell me you didn't do it, Willow."
"Well, the poor little guy got out of the murdered dead baby bucket, and was walking down the hallway. I was following it, so I could lead him over here."
"WILLOW!"
"What, Tara? It's just a spell, it wasn't like it was gonna hurt Buffy. Just make her feel bad to see what she had done firsthand."
"So what happened then?"
"Well, after he came to life, I was wondering how I was supposed to get him out of there. He had no skin! It would be too icky to pick him up, and it might hurt him. So... I did a spell to magically put skin on him. Then I thought better about it, Buffy had to see how he looked right out of the vacuum! So, I did another spell which more or less flayed off his flesh. Of course, that was a really bad idea. You never saw something run around so far and twitch so much. I felt HORRIBLE! I didn't know what to do, so I opened up the door and he ran for the exits. We had to leave somehow, so rther than stop him and be confused again, I just let him run."
"In retreopsect, that was a really bad idea! This woman outside, the one who looks like Homer, accidentally stepped on him. It made an awful splatting sound, and I was too scared to see what happened to her after that. I just hit the road."
"I can't believe Demeter double crossed me. Well, actually, I tried to double cross her, but the almighty twat saw right through me. Damn, stupid bitca!"
Tara got up and almost let out a scream of rage.
"Sit down RIGHT NOW, Willow! God, I never thought I'd have to talk to you two like children, but I guess I do."
"Oh great, here she goes with a sermon!"
"Dawn! Please, just let me say what I need to say. This week has been tough on all of us, but toughest for Buffy. I know she did something stupid, and she knows that, but she took care of the way she felt was right. God knows I could never choose what she did, but she's my friend, and I have to stick with her."
"Oh please, don't try that crapola with me! You're probably just waiting to get pregnant, so you can go and try what Buffy did today."
"Please, Dawn. You don't know what you're saying."
"Sure I do, I know plenty what I'm saying, Tara. I'm not a kid, I know how babies are made. So when are you gonna take the trip to Boystown?"
"I don't mean that, Dawn! I just..."
Tara sat down in the chair, quietly looking at the floor.
"So that's it? That's all? We're done with the little sermon?"
"Shhhh, Dawn, I think Tara is gonna say something."
"Like you would care, Willow! Through this whole time, the only thing you two have been doing was throwing stones left and right. You were judging me and judging Buffy, but yet neither of you know what it's like. And if I'm wrong, and you have in the past, then that's even worse!"
"You don't know what it's like either, Tara."
"Stop it, Willow. I'm really not in the mood now."
"No! Tara! You know you've never been in that situation. You've never done anything to get in that situation, or... do you need Dawn to tell you how babies are made?"
"It's not really your business Willow, but you're forcing my hand."
"What isn't my business? What are you saying, Tara?"
Tara took a deep breath and steadied herself. "I've not told this story to anybody else, ever. I'm not good at talking, so I'll make this short and sweet."
Willow had a look of concern and dread in her eyes, Dawn still wore her teenage smirk.
"Back a few years ago, when my mother died, I did a lot of things I probably shouldn't have. I never was more sad or confused than I was then. I was ever the homebody previously, but then I was never at home. Everything there reminded me of her, and there were other things that I needed to do."
"I started going to the Bronze a lot. I never really had any friends or lovers to go with before, so it was something new to me. I never did any drugs or anything, but I was lonely and needed love. Other than a few make out sessions with this girl I knew in high school, I had no sexual contact. I didn't think anybody would want a frumpy girl like me."
Willow looked over at Dawn who was still smirking at Tara. Neither one knew what to say.
"Then I found him. It was kind of odd at first, I never had feelings for guys before, but something about him drew me in. I finally had the never to talk to him, and it seems he was in the same boat as I was. He was a shy bookworm like me, who recently lost both a sister to a car crash, and an aunt to cancer. He turned to drugs at first, and then when that didn't satisfy, he was looking for something else. I guess it was just the right place at the right time kind of thing. We fit each other like puzzle pieces, it was really amazing at first."
"Ewwwww, do you have to be so gynecologically explicit?"
"Dawn, I just meant that we were a perfect match. We dated for almost a month before we even had sex."
The look on Willow's face continued to get more and more freaked out.
"But after a while, our relationship was purely sexual. The only thing that mattered was our time together. It felt good and we made each other forget about the real world. Which included things like birth control and pregnancy."
"You five by five there, Red?" Dawn said in a really bad Bostonian accent.
Tara gave her a quizzical look.
"You know, Faith? She was from Boston, always with the stupid nicknames and five by five thing? Um, nevermind."
"We were stupid to think that time wouldn't catch up with us. One week I was late for my period, much like Buffy, and I went to the local Planned Parenthood clinic. Sure enough, I was pregnant. The shock hit me so hard, I didn't know what to say. I didn't call Brian for almost a week. Finally he came over to my house and told him the news. Needless to say, he was on me from the very start to abort it. To him, his idea was the only one that mattered, and it didn't matter my body was the one with life growing in it."
"But Tara, you said you could never do what Buffy did!"
"Calm down, Dawn, let me finish this story. Once the shock wore off, I knew I could never get an abortion. It might sound like a cliche, but I felt it was a gift from the Goddess. Obviously Brian didn't and hit the road. I never have seen him around since then. Odd as it sounds, I never was more happy than I was then. I had no money, I had no job and my mom's death was still hanging over my head, but yet I felt totally at peace with the world and everything."
Tara smiled an awkward smile and wiped away another tear.
"I had names picked out and everything. I was really looking forward to this. I didn't know how I was going to make it, but if I had to give up my college dreams to raise this precious baby of mine, it was a sacrifice I was willing to make. But as with anything in life, nothing is certain."
Dawn, feeling bad for her friend, handed her a box of tissues and went to hug her.
"Something felt wrong. Almost 3 months in, something just felt wrong. I put off going to PP for a week, but finally I dragged myself in and then found out the news. It was horrible, I felt so dead and empty then. The people there were kind to me, they helped me through this with some counseling, but nothing really worked. All these dreams I had of raising a child, rocking to sleep at night, nursing it, watching it take its first steps, say its first words just vanished into thin air right before my eyes."
Dawn kissed Tara's forehead.
"Thanks, sweetie. I went off to college the next semester. I didn't do much, mainly went to class, came home, never really hung out with anybody. I tried the Wicca group one time, and though they treated me like shit, I did find one bright spot, the one and only thing that got me to come around."
Tara and Dawn both smiled over at Willow, who was almost frozen in her pose.
"You slept with a boy? I went down on you so many times, and you slept with a boy numerous times?"
"Sweetie, I love you, that doesn't matter, it's all in the past. I only want you now. This was way before we ever met."
"But you slept with a boy! You're contaminted down there! Couldn't you have at least slept with a few girls before me? Ewwwww, my tongue was the first to ever touch your contaminated quim!"
"Oh, believe me, there were others..."
"But... you... slept... with... a... boy. Bad dyke, Tara! Very bad dyke!"
"And Oz is what, exactly?"
Willow ran across the room and hugged Tara. "Oh honey, I'm sorry. I never meant to say that."
The three hugged there again.
"But what a minute, what exactly are you saying, Tara? What do you believe anyway?"
"That while I could never get an abortion myself, I can't push that belief on somebody else. Not everybody believes what I do, and not everybody is in the same boat I was. Given different circumstances, I might have done what Buffy did."
"So what you're saying is, we should give up your own opinions and just believe what everybody else does?" Dawn was confused as usual.
"Sweetie, no! Believe what you want to believe! What am saying is, it's okay to believe whatever it is you believe, just as long as you don't force your beliefs on everybody else, or treat them badly because they don't share your outlook. The world is too big a place for everybody to live by your rules, and there are shades of grey in every situation."
Dawn and Willow looked at each other and smiled.
"I'm glad we're not fighting anymore, Tara. I haven't slept a wink since we broke up. Does this mean we're back together again?"
"Absolultely! And I hope no hard feelings, Dawn?"
"Of course not! None at all."
"Good! You two scared me for a minute there. You were acting like those scary people on that one internet board you guys hang out on. I'm just glad they didn't rub off on you."
"No Tara, not at all! It's just something to pass the time."
Willow took a few more steps towards Buffy's door.
"Willow, what are you doing? Buffy needs her rest."
"I'm just gonna go in, say I'm sorry. Maybe heal her body, and of course, cleanse her mind of this nastiness today."
"Willow! No! I said no more magic, and certainly not that kind of magic."
"But you said to be more open! Accept other people's beliefs! You have to do that now! I believe it's okay to erase her memory, so you have to accept that and love me for it!"
"Willow! That is a horrible thing to say! This is totally different!"
"Yeah huh! She's right, WIllow, you know."
"No!!! It isn't different at all! I can't believe you guys are acting this way! This is horrible! I'm just... gonna leave you two here! Yup, that's right, I'm gone again!"
Willow stormed out the door.
"She'll be back, you know she can't live without us."
"I know, Dawnie. Now let me go check on Buffy, and then I'll get dinner started. Does cheeseburgers and french fries sound good to you?"
"Does Dawn Summers tolerate all peoples' opinions now?"
"I'll take that as a yes."