Lindsey McDonald was more excited than he'd been in a long time. Tonight was going to be very special. His favorite ballet was being performed by his favorite company, and, especially with the addition of the two guest stars, it was cast exactly to his dreams. Maybe it was a risk coming back to L.A. to see it, but it was a risk worth taking. He had rented a tuxedo for the evening and, he had to admit, looked very elegant.

First of all, before the ballet, he would treat himself to a meal at Giovanni's. He hadn't been there since he left L.A., and he missed it. He had gone there every Thursday night before he left. Now that he had his hand back, he'd order his favorite linguine, which had been just too hard for him to eat with one hand.

As he walked into the door, Antonia saw him come in and ran up to give him a hug. "Mamma! Lindsey is here!" Mamma Lucia came bustling out of the kitchen and enveloped Lindsey in a huge hug.

"You're too skinny, Lindsey. You miss my food. Come, sit." She led him to his favorite table and, without asking, set a plate of antipasto in front of him. "Vino?"

Lindsey shook his head. "I don't drink any more. Not at all."

"Not even vino?" As he shook his head, Mamma went off muttering to herself, but she sent Antonia back with salad, garlic bread, and iced tea.

"Penne, Lindsey?"

"Not any more, Antonia. Linguine." He held up his hand.

"Oh, my God, Lindsey. You got a transplant. Wow." She took his hand and felt it to make sure it was real. "Linguine right away."

After he had feasted on the food set in front of him, he refused dessert but accepted a cup of coffee. Then he drew out his credit card. "Not tonight, Lindsey. Tonight you are our guest. But no tiramisu?"

"I'll be back after the ballet for dessert, Mamma. I promise." He kissed her cheek and went out to hail a cab, leaving a $50 bill on the table.

"I wish he had a nice girl to bring here," Mamma whispered to Antonia, who nodded.

Lindsey had an excellent seat for the ballet. He had managed to keep his subscription, even though he didn't think it was safe to go as a general rule. But tonight was special, and he was glad he had his guaranteed seat. A few minutes before the curtain a beautiful young woman with long dark hair, wearing a red dress, took the seat next to his. She appeared to be alone. The seat next to hers was empty. She picked up her program and looked through it quizzically, shaking her head.

"First time at the ballet?"

"Second. I saw Giselle with the Blinnikoff ballet, and I loved it."

"Well, this will overwhelm you. It's very different from Giselle, and American Ballet Theatre is very different from the Blinnikoff. First of all, that was a romantic ballet, and this one is classical."

"What's the difference?"

"Length of tutus, for one thing. They all wore knee-length or ankle length skirts in Giselle. There are a lot of the short tutus in this one, when they're not in saris, that is. And there's real corps de ballet work. The Entrance of the Shades is amazing."

She looked down at her program. "Is this a good cast?"

"The best. Julie Kent may be their best ballerina, and she's dancing Nikiya, the Bayadere. That's a temple dancer. Ethan Stiefel, who dances Solor, is also a very up and coming star. Then, of course, Victor Barbee is the High Brahmin. He's absolutely the best character dancer in the world, as far as I'm concerned. He's a fantastic actor. The guest stars are the best part: Darcey Bussell from the Royal Ballet is Gamzatti, the evil princess. Just wait till you see her. She's magnificent. And Johan Renvall will be dancing the Bronze Idol." He was surprised to see the seat next to hers was still empty. "Where's your escort?"

"My boy friend had to work." Cordelia had had a vision that called for Gunn to help Wes and Angel fight some demons, but Gunn had insisted that Fred still go to the ballet.

"I see." Lindsey looked at her. She was very lovely, and there was something familiar about her. She looked a lot like his dead sister Elaine. No, even more than that, she resembled a picture he had seen of Great Aunt Maeve when she was a young girl.

"I think they'll be starting in a few minutes. The music is great; Ludwig Minkus is the composer. He was never as famous as Tchaikovsky, nor as prolific, but he did write three great ballets: this one, Don Quixote, and Paquita. All of them were choreographed by Marius Petipa, who demanded great virtuosity from his dancers. Wait till you see what they do—especially Gamzatti. She has a very demanding solo."

She smiled a shy, pretty smile. "What else should I know?"

"The High Brahmin is evil. Gamzatti, her maid Aya, and the Rajah are evil. Solor is conflicted between his love for Nikiya and his ambition, which he can achieve by marrying the princess. But he'll pay for it." Just like me, he thought. And Gamzatti and her father have always reminded me of Lilah and Holland.

The lights darkened and the overture began. Fred squirmed in her seat with anticipation. It reminded him of the way Winnie had squirmed in her seat when he was about to read to her. Before the welfare people took her away, that is.

Although he was fascinated by the ballet, as usual, he occasionally glanced over at the girl next to him, thoroughly enjoying the amazement on her face. The music, with its Eastern flavor, was gorgeous. Lindsey made a mental note to check on the young male dancer who had the small but difficult role of the Head Fakir; he was quite good. In scene 2, he touched her arm to let her know that Gamzatti was entering. Darcy Bussell, dressed in a shining gold sari and a crown, was indeed gorgeous. There was one small but important difference between this and the Royal Ballet performance, which he had on videotape. When the distraught Nikiya, who had rejected Gamzatti's offer to pay her off for giving up Solor, grabbed a dagger and threatened Gamzatti, the princess did not cower in fear. Instead, she drew herself up and stared Nikiya down, daring this upstart of a temple dancer to harm her princess. That had struck Lindsey as the way she should behave. At the end of the act, the girl applauded with great enthusiasm. So did he, and now he could, as he had two hands again.

The next act was the betrothal ceremony of Solor and Gamzatti. When the grand pas de deux began, he touched her arm. "Watch this closely. It's amazing." And indeed Bussell and Stiefel were. Nikiya entered and did her sad dance until she was given a basket of flowers. As she danced happily, the snake concealed in the basket bit her. The girl gasped. As the dying Nikiya refused the High Brahmin's offer of the antidote, if she would be his, she shook her head and murmured, "No. Take it." And Lindsey saw tears in her eyes as Nikiya died and the princess led Solor off.

"May I buy you a glass of wine?" Lindsey asked her as the lights came up for the intermission.

"I'll take some water, please." She dug into her small evening bag and brought out some tissues to wipe away her tears. "It's over now, isn't it?"

"No, of course not. Why do you think that?"

"Well, she's dead. It must be over."

Lindsey smiled at this very unusual young lady. "I thought you said you had seen Giselle. I think of this as Giselle goes to India. There are a lot of similarities. She'll come back as a Shadow, just as Giselle came back as one of the Wilis."

"Oh. I didn't see the second act. We were busy then."

He wondered what she meant, but he didn't ask. At the refreshment table, he bought two bottles of water and, on impulse, bought her a brownie. She smiled sweetly as she offered him half. He shook his head. "By the way, I'm Lindsey." She gave him a strange look.

"I'm Fred. I once knew someone named Lindsey. It's an unusual name for a man."

"Tell me about it. You don't know what I went through in school with a girl's name. But it's spelled like a man's, with an E rather than an A. Are you Frederica?"

"No, Winifred."

That was his sister's name. "Did people ever call you Winnie the Pooh?"

"When I was very little. Then they stopped." Just then the bell rang. They dropped their bottles into the recycling container and their napkins in the trash and took their seats.

"Watch this entrance of the corps. It's amazing." And the music started softly. One by one 36 ballerinas came down a ramp, doing the same step except that every other one started off on a different foot. Fred's mouth was open in amazement. She sat spellbound through the Land of the Shades scene, which was an opium dream of Solor's. When Solor and his Nikiya danced together, she smiled. Then, at the end of the scene, when he woke and his princess came to take him to the wedding, she frowned. As the curtains closed, Gamzatti, a frown on her face, was advancing toward her reluctant groom. God, she reminds me of Lilah, Lindsey thought.

Lindsey touched her arm again as the curtains opened for the last scene. "Watch the Bronze Idol. This is a wonderful solo." And the great Johan Renvall was indeed a sight to watch, every visible inch of his skin covered with gold paint, as he leapt and spun during his fantastic dance. At the end, he was rewarded with a standing ovation. Soon the ballet came to its end with the destruction of the temple by the angry gods and the reunion in the kingdom of the shades of Nikiya and Solor. Fred was on her feet, applauding wildly. Lindsey was beside her, shouting "Bravo!" especially for Darcey Bussell.

As the house lights came up, Fred picked up her wrap. Lindsey took it from her and draped it gently around her shoulders. "May I offer you a ride home? And would you consider joining me for dessert? I assure you I'm quite harmless. And I'm aware that you have a boyfriend. I'd just enjoy your company, and Mamma Lucia is waiting to serve me the world's best tiramisu."

"I've never had tiramisu. I'll trust you. Do you have a car?"

"No, I flew in from out of town. We'll get a cab."

Soon they were in Giovanni's and a beaming Mamma was serving them huge portions of tiramisu and cups of her delicious espresso. Fred dug in and smiled. "You're right. This is fantastic." After she finished, she got a thoughtful look on her face. "You know, I think Wes had mentioned this place to me. He said the food was great and the cannolli especially was wonderful."

Wes? "Could you be talking about Wesley Wyndham-Pryce?"

"Yes, do you know him?"

"I brought him here once."

"Oh, you're a friend of his?"

"More of an acquaintance. Do you work with him?"

She nodded. Now he had an idea what they might have been doing during the second act of Giselle. He had heard rumors about the Blinikoff Ballet's last performance. "Would you like to try the cannolli?" She nodded again, and he signaled to Antonia. This girl had a voracious appetite, and yet she was so slim. Where did she put it? Winnie had always had a great appetite and she loved sweets. As she picked up her fork, he glanced at the palm of her right hand. My God, it was there. When she laid her fork down, he took her hand. "This scar on your palm. You were walking around with your glass of milk and you fell. You cried, but not because of the pain. You cried because you broke your Winnie the Pooh glass and it was the only one you had."

She looked at him for a long time. "My brother somehow managed to get me another one."

"I asked the man at the store what I would have to do to buy one for my little sister. I would sweep the floor, stock shelves, whatever. He gave it to me. I didn't like to take charity, but it was for my little Pooh Bear."

Tears were running down Fred's face. "Lindsey? Is it you?"

"It's me, Pooh Bear." He stood and took her into his arms. And they both wept tears of joy.

Mamma and Antonia had been watching them out of the corners of their eyes, and when Lindsey & Fred hugged, they hustled over to them. "Lindsey! Are you engaged to this lovely young woman? Congratulations."

"Thanks, Mamma, but even in the most liberal societies, marrying your sister is still frowned upon. This is my sister Winifred. It's been almost 20 years since our family was split up by the Child Welfare people. I haven't seen her in all that time, and tonight, by some strange quirk of fate, we were sitting next to each other at the ballet."

Fred was smiling broadly. "I can't believe I've found my big brother Eeyore."

"Eeyore?" Mamma frowned. "Who is this Eeyore?"

"He's the sad donkey in the Winnie the Pooh books. Winnie called me that because I always looked so sad. We called her Winnie the Pooh, for obvious reasons."

"I'm so happy for you, Lindsey. Please sit and get reacquainted. Would you like more tiramisu?"

As Lindsey shook his head, Fred nodded. "I would, thank you."

They sat and talked for an hour until Mamma and Antonia finally were ready to close the restaurant. Fred told Lindsey about Pylea. He was aghast at the awful things that had happened to her. "So the Groosalug just came back and he's with his Princess Cordelia."

He shook his head. "So Cordelia is with him and you're with Gunn. Poor Wes." He looked at his watch. "I'd better get you back to the Hyperion." He left another $50 on the table and took a piece of paper from Antonia. He wrote his cell phone number and email address on it. "If you ever need me, call me or email me. I'll get to you as soon as I possibly can. I promise you, Pooh Bear."

"Are you going to come in? I'm sure you can spend the night. God knows there are enough rooms."

"I'm not exactly their favorite person there. Angel told me not to come back, and he put a COPS SUCK sign on the back of my truck. That got me stopped by the state troopers a couple of times." They had gone outside and signaled for a taxi. As he helped her into the back, he continued, "I'm sure they'll tell you stories about me. They're pretty accurate. I was really evil back then. Now I'm trying to change my life and atone for my sins. Someday I'll come back, but not yet."

Arriving at the Hyperion, he got out of the cab and helped her out. "Remember, Pooh, if you need me, I'll be there. After all, what are older brothers for but to protect their younger sisters?" He hugged her tight and then, taking his face in her hands, he kissed the tip of her nose, just as he had done when they were young.

"Please stay in touch, Lindsey."

"I'll call you, Pooh. I promise." He waited until she had entered the Hyperion, and then he got back into the cab and headed for the airport.

Six pairs of eyes were looking at her as she came in, a radiant smile on her face that was also streaked with tears. "Where have you been, Fred? The ballet's been over for hours." Gunn walked up to her while Angel, Cordelia, Wes, Groo, and Lorne looked on.

"Tonight was amazing. I'll tell you all tomorrow. For tonight I'd just like to be by myself if you don't mind." She turned and went up the stairs to her room. Her friends looked at each other quizzically.

The next day she did tell them about Lindsey and how they had met again after so many years. "It's amazing!" Wes was quite happy for her.

"You call him Eeyore!" Angel broke into hysterical laughter.

"Evil lawyer guy is Eeyore!" Gunn found it to be quite funny as well.

"He said you'd tell me stories about him, and that he had done some really terrible things. I believe he's trying to change. But I'll listen. He's still my brother, though."

"He risked his life to save three blind children," Wes said.

"And he helped me destroy a horrible place where people were being stored for their body parts," Angel added. "And, of course, he left Wolfram & Hart."

"And he sings & plays the guitar really well," Cordelia added. "He's your brother, so I, for one, won't say anything bad about him."

About two weeks later a large box decorated with Disney characters arrived at the Hyperion. "It must be something for Connor. I wonder who sent it? Maybe someone from Sunnydale."

"Sorry, Angel. This is addressed to Fred." Cordy handed the box to her.

Opening it, Fred found a large stuffed Eeyore with a card that said, "I love you, Pooh Bear." Fred hugged the donkey. "I love you too, Lindsey. I hope I'll see you soon."