Another court day started, with a very tired Capri Monroe presiding. Donna didn't have to be empathic to see how worn out Capri looked, that made her feel worse than ever about the night before.

She sighed and settled back into her seat to listen as things got underway. From what Madonna had just announced, it didn't look like they'd get around to her today...today was going to be all about Brett Halden and his connection to Tompkins (through Tompkins' sister, who'd been Brett's mother, so Donna understood from the previous session).

This wasn't any easier for Donna to get through than the last session had been. Even though she wasn't called, just hearing about how Tompkins had treated his sister...she knew Nathan was a snob already, but this...!

But, eventually, the session was over. Then it was dinner with her mother, though Donna didn't know how she got through that.

All too soon, it was 7 PM, and Donna left the room she shared with her mother to meet Capri at the courtroom. Though she was still nervous about what was going to happen now.

It was just after 7 pm meanwhile, when Donna walked back into the courtroom, which was now empty except for Capri. Oddly enough, Capri didn't seem to notice Donna was there--a moment later, Donna saw why. Capri'd fallen asleep right there at the bench.

Donna heard laughing from outside, then thought she recognized some of the voices. She glanced quickly back to Capri, who was still dozing, then walked over and opened the door. "What's so funny?" she asked in a whisper. "And shhh...she's sleeping." jabbing a finger back towards the bench.

"I scared the heck out of Ameh." NT replied through muffled giggles.

"Yeah, now I know why Ariel calls her the 'teepee creeper'. She'd put a cat to shame the way she can creep up behind ya."

"Don't I know it." Ariel laughed softly. Then, looking into the court room, "Oh my goodness, I hope she didn't spend the whole day in that position or she'll be cramped. Wait a moment." Then Ariel walked inside, to come out a few minutes later, smiling reassuringly at the others. "Come on in, everybody," Ariel said, and Donna followed Ameh and NT into the courtroom.

"Is she OK?" NT asked.

"Yeah, thanks; I'm jus' tired." Capri responded.

"Have you eaten?" Ariel asked.

"Yeah, but that was hours ago. Didn't really 'ave the time right now an' dunno what I want."

"Oh I hate when that happens. You're sleepy and hungry but you don't know what you want." NT said.

"ya got it." Capri said. "well, is everybody all 'ere?"

"Yup!" Ameh called as she and Donna came in behind Ariel and NT.

"OK," Capri began as she straightened her position and smoothed her hair. "Let's get this show on the road."

Donna bit her lip. "All right..." she swallowed. "What do you need me to do?"

"Nothin jus' yet," Capri replied, "But if you'll jus' watch an' get a feel o' what we're doin an' then we'll see what can be done 'bout yer magic immunity." Then, looking at Ariel and NT, she said, "OK you two, why don'tcha try doin somethin magic to each other."

NT looked worried.

"It's alright, NT," Capri said, "Jus' a little thing, ya can turn 'er right back ta normal in a few moments. Now, on the count o' three...one...two...three!"

Ariel tried to turn NT into a different appearance but of course it had no effect, NT was completely immune. NT's magic did work however, and Ariel was turned into another NT. The real NT in the meantime had turned herself invisible, not knowing what else to do. Donna could detect that Ariel was not immune while NT was and the only one who could turn NT into anything else was NT herself.

"OK, change back now." Capri said, and instantly, Ariel was back to her natural form, and NT was standing a few feet away.

"Now, can either of you two try to change your immunity?"

"Believe me, I've tried, but I don't remember a time when I could resist other magic." Ariel replied.

"And I can't change either. See, I'm trying right now and...Go ahead, try and turn me into something."

Capri tried. Nothing happened. "Right. OK, Ameh, you can resist magic a bit can't ya?"

"I'm not exactly sure. I know I sure couldn't when...Well, go ahead, Capri, I'm ready."

Capri tried to do some magic on Ameh.

"Yeah, I can feel you're trying to do something, did it work?" Ameh asked.

"Nope, yer still you. How about now?"

"I don't feel anything."

"OK, I just fixed it so ya can't detect me tryin somethin on ya."

"Wow. Did it work?"

"Nope."

"OK, try again. I'll tone the resistance down."

Capri tried again and in a moment it had worked. Ameh was 6 feet tall.

"Holy crap."

"OK, I'm gonna try ta keep ya that height an' you try gettin yerself back ta normal."

The two struggled magically for a while, then Capri relaxed, and Ameh restored herself to her normal stature of somewhere under 5 feet.

Then the roles were reversed as Ameh tried to spell Capri. Capri too, could change her resistance to being totally immune to completely vulnerable. When that was done, she said, "Now, how about you, Donna? We need to see if you got immunity an' if ya can change it an' all that."

Donna nodded. "But how do we find that out? I mean...if I had that, wouldn't it have kept Nathan and Christine from doing what they did?"

"Not if ya have it an' don't know it's there, an we already know yers ain't like NT's which she can't adjust an' it resists any magic automatically. If ya got the capability fer magic resistance/immunity yers ain't on an' ya gotta make it go on. I don't think most people comin inta their magic are automatically resistant like NT is An' it's possible Christine er Nate made damn sure ya wouldn't discover it an' be able ta use it. If they could cripple ya so ya couldn't transport I wouldn't be surprised if they did the same with this too."

"Damn straight." Ameh said. "There is a self test you can do first of all, when first working with magic it's best to experiment on yourself and your things anyway. Try to make yourself resistant so that you can't even do magic on yourself. If it works, you shouldn't be able to turn yourself into...whatever comes to mind. But I doubt Nate er Christine said anything about that or let you work your magic on your own, so we want to really help you now."

"You're right about that," Donna replied bitterly. "They both made me promise not to do anything without one of them there--they said I was still too young, too new at this, and there was a chance something could go wrong." She rolled her eyes.

"I can just see him doing that." Ariel said bitterly.

"Typical." Capri put in, trying to hold back so she wouldn't frighten Donna any more than she was already.

"No freakin kidding." Ameh said.

NT huffed but calmed herself, and spoke up next. "You can also try to make yourself resistant and have one of us try some magic on you. And I know Capri can even decide whose magic affects her and to what degree." Then she explained about the time Capri had let Nathan turn her into a mouse, but had returned to her original form and then fixed it so he couldn't do a thing to her.

"I heard about that too. That was the day you took away his magic, wasn't it?" Donna asked.

"Yes." NT replied.

"That was the maddest I'd ever seen Nathan." Donna said.

"I'll bet! It sure ruined his ego!" NT snorted.

"Well, for a few hours anyway, then he was probably already planning his revenge while still weakened and held in the house next door." Ariel said.

Donna sighed. "I'm sure he was."

"He'd 'afta have been mad fer longer than that if 'e spoke t'ya 'bout that, Donna, I only hope 'e didn't take 'is frustration out on ya." Capri looked tense.

The others realized what Capri was driving at and they too, reacted, Ameh flushing red, and Ariel turning pale. NT did both, first paling, then she felt her face becoming hot.

"He damn well better not have!" Ameh hissed.

Donna shuddered as she recalled, "First Christine was--I thought she was going to explode. I was afraid to even breathe too loudly around her that week." she sighed. "Then when she brought Nathan back..." she broke off, her face paling at that memory.

"Oh God." Ameh moaned. the others reacted with shudders and uneasy looks.

"Oh no." Ariel gasped.

"Oh sh|t!" Ameh hissed.

"Dammit!" Capri flared, then, reining herself in, she said "why didn't I jus' let NT an' Shawn kill the bastard?"

NT was beginning to storm, but when Ariel put a hand on her to make her subside, she couldn't stop the tears from starting to roll down her cheeks.

Donna bit her lip. There *had* been more. But she didn't want to upset everybody by saying just how. She closed her eyes for a moment, then sighed and opening them again shook her head. "Like I said, that was the maddest I'd ever seen him. Even Christine had a hard time getting him calmed down...and she usually could pretty easily."

"Yeah, I'm sure she could. Vile, disgusting animals, both of them." Ameh growled venomously.

"No doubt." NT put in, her tone sounding even more harsh because she was trying so hard not to all out blub.

"Sheah." That was Ariel.

"Match made in 'ell." Capri sneered.

"I'd agree there." Donna sighed.

Capri went on. "I'm sorry. "Shoulda insisted on escortin 'im outa that exposition concert m'self, An' if any of us'd known 'bout Christine we coulda saved ya a lotta this damn misery."

Donna went and put an arm around NT, but addressed Capri. "Please, don't feel bad, you didn't know about her, and at least you did what you could, and you have them both now."

"Yeah, but why do I get the feelin it's still 25 years too little an' too late."

Capri was quite obviously feeling discouraged, but Donna didn't know how to remedy that, so, she did the only thing she could think of, change the subject back to her magic. "So how do I find this...resistance, if I've got it?" she asked, while at the same time reaching into herself trying to do just that.

"Well, it ain't really a matter o' lookin fer it, just try an' resist. like this. I'm goin ta show ya so ya'll get a feel for what I'm doin'." Capri said. "Now I'm gonna make myself resistant an' get someone ta try doin some kinda magic on me. It's kinda like gettin yerself in a position where people can't fight ya. An' once ya know ya can resist, jus' adjust the level however ya want...If yers works that way. Ameh, go for it."

Ameh tried to put a spell on Capri, but it didn't take. "Nothing."

"OK, now I'm lettin down my guard a bit." and Donna felt a slight magic sensation through the link as Capri readjusted herself.

"Again, Ameh."

Ameh concentrated a moment and turned Capri into a little girl.

"Wow, what a cute little kid you were!" Ariel laughed.

NT too, laughed, and unable to help herself, she approached Capri and picked her up. Capri looked to be maybe two years old.

"NT!" Ariel laughed.

"Hey!" Capri exclaimed, and her voice had changed along with her appearance so that she sounded exactly as she would have as a child. "Down!"

NT hoisted Capri high in the air and brought her down fast, causing Capri to laugh, but NT didn't put her right down on the floor, instead, she lifted her up in the air again and repeated the procedure. Capri laughed some more and NT was giggling right along and nearly as hard. Before setting Capri down, NT took her and stepped away from the others. Then, she spun Capri around, causing the child to shriek with laughter. Then, she finally set Capri down in a sitting position on the floor, just in case she might be too dizzy to stand up.

Immediately, Capri, still laughing, turned herself back to normal. "NT you crazy kid." she said through a much more subdued adult laugh. Then, standing up, she went back to the others and reset her magic resistance. "OK, now that we've had a little fun, (grin) Donna, do ya think ya can try ta resist a spell?"

It took a few minutes before Donna could stop laughing, then she nodded. "I think I can see a little of what you did..." she tried to make that same feeling in herself. "OK, try something now."

"Well, I guess it's my turn to do the spell since I'm the only one who hasn't yet." Ariel said. then, she hummed and hawed a moment, and finally, "Oh, I got it."

Ariel could feel something trying to block her, but despite that there was a flare of magic.

And a moment later, Donna stood before them in a plain black dress with a white collar and a black veil trimmed in white. At her waist hung a string of beads from which hung a crucifix. She looked more like she'd just walked out of a convent than anything else.

Donna looked at Ariel. "Umm..."

"I don't think she has it," NT said sadly.

"Oh yes she does, or else my magic's way off, but it's overcompensating." To Donna, she said, "Well, it's an improvement to what I tried to do anyway."

"What were you trying to do, Ariel?" Ameh asked.

"Turn her into something she definitely isn't - a punk rocker." Ariel laughed. "Obviously it didn't work."

"Hmmmmm, let's see." Capri tried to use magic on Donna next. "I'm tryin' for a queen," she said. But a moment later, instead of the crowned, royally dressed person dripping with jewels, however, Donna's appearance changed to that of an abject poor person with tattered clothing and unkempt hair.. Capri restored her to normal, which resulted in no complications, and Donna stood there, looking like herself again.

"Ah-hah." Capri said. "Ya got it alright, but it's over reactin an' changin ya inta opposite o' what anybody tries on ya. Here, lemme 'elp ya with that." and Capri concentrated a moment. "There, now ya should be able ta hold yer own without it makin ya turn inta somethin else."

Donna tried to follow what Capri was doing. "I...yes, I think I see it now." she murmured. "OK, someone try something now and let's see."

"OK, my turn," Ameh said, and she tried to turn Donna into a monkey. It didn't take. "Great! You did it!"

"Right on." Capri smiled.

Ameh and Capri worked a little more with Donna, showing her how to adjust her magic protection so she coulld decide to or not to resist whoever she wanted, and they told her that if she needed some help or had questions, she could come to them with whatever concerned her.

As they were going out of the court room, Ameh suggested taking Donna and NT to the mall just for a treat.

NT's eyes lit up at this idea, and Ariel gave her permission. Ameh, Donna, and NT went on their way but they first stopped by Kendra's room to let her know what was up, and Donna said she would fill Kendra in on how the meeting went after she got back.

In the meantime, Ariel invited Capri to her place to talk, and she made sure Capri didn't leave without a good hot meal.