A giant, sparkling, purple oyster shell rises from beneath the stage at Club Calypso. From her place behind the drums, Marianna watches the new hydraulic lift and bites her lip. She hopes it works correctly, since she trusted Dava, Alan, Neil, and Inda to install it. The shell reaches stage level without a problem, and opens slowly as Mari plays a soft roll on the drums.

From the audience, Brian watches semi-interestedly as he tosses back another beer. As the oyster shell reaches its fully-opened position, his eyes open wide and he leans forward in his seat.

Suki is sitting in the bottom of the shell, wearing a mermaid's tail on her bottom half, two shells on her top half, and a giant pink beach rose in her hair. She is holding a globe, covered in iridescent cloth to make it look like a pearl, but she sets it to the side as she lifts her arms above her head dramatically.

She breathes deeply, with the primary intent of flooding her lungs with oxygen- the shell was very stuffy underneath the stage. Breathing in also has an aesthetic effect, which causes Brian (among other men present) to lean forward, eyes bugging out of his head.

Marianna changes from a cymbal roll to a rock backbeat as she senses the audience reaction. Again she bites her lip, hoping she hasn't gone too far in her attempt at a novel performance. The male members of the audience have reacted as expected, but it is hard to tell how the women are reacting. With luck, the singing will be enough to distract them from disapproval of Suki's garb.

The first song of the set (it's an evening of oldies at the Club) is the Shoop Shoop song, better known as It's In His Kiss. Suki wails in her best Cher impression: o/If you wanna know if he loves you so, it's in his kisso/

o/That's where it is! Oh, yeah...o/ Marianna, Dream, and Doreen are singing backup tonight, Mari on drums, Dream and Doreen on keyboards. Lynette is playing bass, but she's been asked to please not sing. "Nothing against your voice, Lyn," Mari said during rehearsal, "but we only need three backups."

Second in the set is Why Do Fools Fall in Love?, and due to the swingy nature of the song, Mari flips her hair around in a semblance of joyous rapture while pounding on the drums. Pretty soon, there is enough hair twisted around the drumsticks and the drums themselves to prevent any sound from being produced. The song ends, sans drums, and Marianna takes a moment to disentangle her hair.

Suki takes the breather between songs to play up to the audience. She uses a fork, a la Disney's Little Mermaid, to comb through non-existent tangles in her hair. She seductively caresses the 'pearl,' and makes eyes at Brian and a few other men. I can't believe I'm doing this, I feel so silly! I hope I can keep from laughing, she thinks. I don't know how Marianna gets me to do these kinds of things... I wonder if Brian's enjoying this. Looks like he is, but there could be an intern under the table. I hope he wants to do something dirty after I'm finished here... Suki giggles to herself, tosses her hair, and mentally prepares herself for the next song.

Daniela, of course, has been dancing. She and Coli are twirling each other as neither has ever been twirled by a man. Daniela seems to have loosened up a bit, really enjoying herself for the first time since Pez's death. And Coli seems truly happy. They are goofing off under the disco ball, doing the Funky Chicken and (a variant) the Funky Monkey.

"Da funky monkey, do da funky monkey!" chants Dani's younger sister Pandora, then dissolves into giggles while rolling on the dance floor. Patrons and waitresses dodge her flying limbs, and Doreen makes a graceful leap over the insane girl. Just as the music, the crowd, and the chime of the cash register reach fever pitch, the worst possible thing happens.

A cop walks in.

Luckily, it is only Ex-Secret-Agent Deru, who is a regular at the Club when he is off-duty. Only a few, truly paranoid, truly criminal patrons leave. Deru (who is almost off-duty, but still in uniform) hovers at the edge of the dance floor, and waits for the song to end. Then, he approaches Daniela.

"What the hell is this?" she mutters under her breath as she clears her hair from her face. "Did all that head-banging give me hallucinations?"

"Dani," he greets her with a warm smile. "A word?"

She sighs heavily, but leads the way to the Queen's Booth. With a wave of her hand, all her usual hangers-on disappear onto the dance floor. Another wave, and one follower reappears momentarily, bearing a Bahama Mama and a club soda with a twist of lime. Daniela pushes her drink to the side and folds her hands beneath her chin, staring calmly, expectantly, at Deru.

He takes a small sip of his soda and clears his throat. "As much as I hate to bring up the past, Daniela, I specifically asked for this duty. Remember, if you will, the weeks following Pez DeSpencer's murder."

"I won the contest again. We... sorta dated. I was prime suspect for a while, but then they decided it was accidental" -here she places extreme emphasis- "and I was acquitted."

"You can't be acquitted without a trial."

"I-" Daniela's eyes and mouth open wide as she realizes what Deru is telling her. "I'm going to be on trial now?! Why didn't we do this months ago?"

"The day you were scheduled for trial, Frogman was charged with a zillion things and his trial was forced through by Dava Jini and your sister. Your trial was postponed- then the war started, and everyone forgot until I started working through a huge backlog of paperwork."

Daniela attempts to regain her composure, but she is already looking to hurt Marianna. "When is my trial?"

"Next week- Friday morning."

"Coli! Come! We shall shop for a court date!" The couple flies out the door, and Deru takes his soda to the bar.

"Hi, Neil. Could you put this in a take-out cup for me?"

"Sure, Deru. Got stuck with the late shift again this week, huh? We've missed you," says Neil as he pours the drink from glass to paper cup. "You and Rain both- whatever's happened to him?"

"Oh, he doesn't like to go out if I'm working. He stays home and watches porn." Deru shrugs. "Not my bag, but if he enjoys it... I have one more mission this evening, so I'll take my leave now."

"See you next week?" asks Neil before turning to a customer at the bar. Deru smiles non-commitally and heads out the door. Neil looks at his customer, who has been sitting at the bar since Mari unlocked the doors at three this afternoon, and mentally tabulates how much she's drunk so far. "One more, miss? That'd make four."

"Nah," says Kiri Heyward. "After three beers, you stop enjoying 'em. I'll have... that guy over there." She gestures to Brian. "Does he have a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, the girl in the mermaid costume," replies Neil. "That girl is psycho, you don't want to touch her guy."

"Sure I do," she grins devilishly. "Hey, thanks for the beer. Marianna says I have a tab, so put them on it."

"I don't even know your name," he mutters as she walks toward Brian. "I'll just put it on Mari's tab for now, I guess."

o/Sunshine day-ee-ay, everybody's singing, sunshine day-ee-ay...o/ The Trenchcoats are doing their best Brady Bunch impression, and Dava catches the end of it as he walks into the Club. He sits at the bar and chats with Neil while the song ends, Suki and shell are returned to the underbelly of the stage, and the rest of the Trenchcoats take their bows. Marianna rushes out to meet him, stopping only to pull her hair into a ponytail (which, she thinks, I should have done before the set. Ah, well!).

"Hey, Dava. What have you been up to?" Mari slings an arm around his shoulders and sips at a tall glass of water Neil has set down for her.

"Well, your sister is going to trial soon."

"Aw, damn! She was never acquitted, was she?"

"Nope, and it's all our fault, too. We pushed through Frogman's trial instead. She's sort of mad at both of us- mostly you, because you're sisters- so I've gotten myself assigned to her case. And... I think you have information that could clear her." He looks at her, inviting her to volunteer some crucial information.

"Dava, have you been practicing your mind-reading?" Marianna teases. "Yes. I'd rather not discuss this in a public place, though."

"Of course. Tomorrow morning, my place?"

"Absolutely. Now, lovie, a dance?"

Dava half-bows to Marianna as he stands up and takes her hand. They glide out to the dance floor, and proceed to enjoy a long cheek-to-cheek dance. Well, not quite cheek-to-cheek, because Mari's stomach gets in the way...

Pollythene watches them from her juice bar, where she is chatting absentmindedly with Marina. A slight frown crosses her face, prompting Marina to ask, "Pol?"

"Oh, sorry. My mother is hanging around with the Wizard again."

Marina almost sighs, but hestitates in fear of Polly's reaction. "You know, you can't make them do something they don't want to do."

"Who?"

"Adults. My dad fell in love with that psychotic Karina chick... my mom fell in love with a frog... actually, you should be glad if your mom falls for Dava. He's a human, and a nice, decent one at that." She sips her pinata colada. "Count your blessings, sister."

"I can't help it, Marina. I just don't think they're right for each other." Pollythene decides then that the conversation doesn't interest her, and changes the subject to something that makes Marina uncomfortable. "So, how's your school schedule looking for next year?"

"Bite me, Trench."

"When, where, and how hard?"

"Nice to see we're back to our old selves..."