Jenny Gibbons was standing staring at a sign. It wasn't a large sign, maybe medium sized, and it was more of a poster than a sign proper, pasted on the wall of her workplace. It was for the Card Shark, and it featured some of the best acts; dancing girls, Effie, a new kids area, and, of course, Allie Meers. It was an older poster, clearly, because Zoe wasn't on it, but it didn't matter much to Jenny. She stared at Allie's face, and then ran her hand up to her own, remembering they looked damn near identical now. She wondered if she could convince Allie to come see Domino again. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to her side to see her boss, Peter Lorde, standing there.

"It's spooky, isn't it?" he asked, "I really should take that thing down. You know how it is, you put up promotional banners and then forget about them because they just fade into the background."

"I don't think you should remove it," Jenny said softly, "I think it's nice."

"Well, it's ancient, it's advertising a casino that hadn't been built when it was printed," Peter said, "it would just make sense to put up something a bit more...current."

"It isn't ancient...it's a time capsule. It's a glimpse into a different moment in time that creates a sense of nostalgia. That's something people like," Jenny said, surprising Peter as she added, smirking slightly, "some people like magic."

                                                                            ***

"It's weird seeing children in a casino," Claire said, pulling the hood of her sweatshirt up a bit more over her face, adjusting the sunglasses on her face, "it's one of the few places one doesn't expect to see children. Surrounded by alcohol, gambling, all sorts of debauchery."

Allie glanced over at her and snickered, making Claire make a face at her.

"You look like the unibomber," Allie said.

"Thank you so much for your comfort," Claire replied, "I was way more inventive when it came to killing people. What are we even doing here, Meers? First you tell me you don't wanna stroll into a casino vault with me, and then you bring me here anyway. What's your plan?"

"We're meeting someone," Allie said.

The women rounded the corner and headed to one of the small restaurants tucked away in the back, near the bar. Allie and Claire continued further in, until they found a table in the very very back, where an old man was sitting in a button down shirt, a jacket and a polka dot bowtie. As the women sat down across from him, he looked up from his breakfast plate and smiled at them, reaching for his napkin and wiping his mouth daintily.

"Hello ladies," he said.

"Hi Mr. Magic," Allie said, "this is my friend, Claire."

That word...'friend'...it made Claire feel weird. Were they friends? Were they actual genuine friends? Or were they simply friends by proximity, because they both just happened to be in similar situations and willing to work with one another in order to get out of their respective crimes? To Claire, the only actual friend she'd ever had was Rachel St. Sebastian, and even that was...well, it often felt so one sided so much of the time, and that bothered her. but she always opted not to bring it up as a means of keeping the peace. So, to hear Allie call her her friend, that made Claire feel weird, but...also happy. Very very happy.

"I recognize you from the TV," Rufus said.

"So much for the disguise," Claire replied, taking the sunglasses off and adding, "do you want an autograph?

"Why is she here, Allie?" Rufus asked, cupping his hands on the table as Allie snatched some hashbrown flakes from his plate and dumped them into her mouth.

"Because," she said while chewing, "she demanded to be here, and a lot of this is partially her fault, so. Beyond that, she's had extreme practice at getting things in and out of walls."

"Yes, mostly people, if I recall the news correctly," Rufus said.

"People, items, semantics get nobody anywhere," Claire replied, shrugging, "now, let's discuss how to rob this son of a bitch."

                                                                            ***

Zoe swallowed and curled her fingers into a ball, knocking on the apartment door. After a moment of no answer, she knocked again, and this time the door opened a bit, revealing a face peaking out at her. The eyes rolled and the door unlatched, fully opening, revealing Salem Shaw standing there.

"What are you doing back here?" he asked, opening the door a bit more and allowing her to enter. She followed him into the apartment.

"I need your help," Zoe said, "or, well, we need your help. Don't worry, it's nothing ridiculous, we just need you to do one small thing for us. If you wanna get back at Raymond, then this is the way to do it."

"After what I already told you guys why would you even assume I'd want to risk that?" Salem asked, walking into the kitchen and grabbing a glass from a nearby cabinet, then running it under the sink faucet, gathering water to drink; after he finished, he added, "I mean, the guy is literally a personified death threat. He even gets wind I'm involved, and it's curtains for me, not to be dramatic."

"Well, you are a magician, dramatization is part of the job," Zoe remarked, making him smile; Zoe smiled back, then added, "...Rufus is involved."

This got Salem's attention. He put the glass down loudly on the counter and looked her dead in the eye as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"You just say what I think you said? Rufus Heck is involved in this little plan?" he asked.

"He is," Zoe said, nodding, "and I'm sure he'd like to see you again. That's why I'm here, cause Allie's with him right now, discussing the plan. We've got a whole little team, another magician, an architect who helped build the vault under the new casino, a serial killer-"

Salem gave her the weirdest look and Zoe shook her head.

"Don't ask," she said, "it's all a very long, convoluted story. My point is that we're essentially pulling a magic heist here, and Salem, we need you. But all we need you for is the simplest of things. You aren't coming into the vault. You aren't breaking any law. Nobody will even know you're a part of it."

"Then what the hell am I doing there?" Salem asked, and Zoe grinned.

"We need you to do what you do best," she said, "we need you to do magic."

                                                                               ***

"Money was always an object to me," Claire said, picking at her teeth with a toothpick from the table, "I mean, I recognize it's value, but it was always just a thing. I mean think about it, it has, inherently, no worth. It's just paper. Metal. We, human beings, gave it the value. We assigned value to it. It, by itself, has none. Therefore it's meaningless in the grand scheme of things. So sure, I recognize that it's a necessity for survival, only because we've deemed it so, but it is just a thing, like any other thing."

"Are people just a thing to you too?" Rufus asked, and Claire shrugged.

"Some people," she said, "and I recognize that isn't the answer anyone wants to hear, but it's the truth. Those closest to me, like Allie, are not. They are important. But ordinary everyday citizens passing by on the street, people with whom I'll never share a connection to, sure, why should I care about them? If they aren't directly involved in my life, then what purpose do they get from my empathy? It's stupid. It's all stupid."

Rufus smirked and nodded, as Allie continued to eat the burger she'd ordered.

"You know," Rufus said, "before I decided to do magic as a calling, I was studying finances. Insurance. Things of that sort. After I was barred from doing magic, I went back to that interest, because the law of money has always intrigued me. You want to know something interesting? Casinos don't care if you rob them. They're insured. If you try to rob them, they're supposed to help you along with a smile and a nod and get you out of there as fast as possible. But chips...chips are different. Chips are not insured. In fact, chips have been collectibles for as long as anyone can remember, so while they are owned by the casino and not legal tender outside of the building, obviously, there is a chip collector club that meets yearly in Vegas to buy, sell and trade them."

Allie and Claire exchanged a look, confused as to where Rufus was going with this, but they stayed quiet and let him continue. He cleared his throat, took a long sip of coffee and continued.

"Because collecting chips is different than using them as currency. They aren't purchased to be used as a means of currency, but for hobby. And the thing is, since chips cost a fraction of their face value to produce, casinos love when players collect 'em, cause then they don't have to redeem them for cash, meaning they make a big profit on them, especially at the higher denominations. So imagine this, if you will..."

He leaned back in his seat and exhaled.

"You have a guy who's donating funds from his business to the governor of the state to help him run his campaign and do his work. This guy also happens to own a casino, which is where the money is coming from. But why isn't it traceable? Because it isn't cash. At least, not cash they have to mark on. Tony is funding Raymond's work with casino chips. As I said, he doesn't have to redeem them, so he makes big profit. Now the question is...where are all these chips?"

Allie and Claire waited a moment, and then said in unison.

"...the vault..."

"Bingo," Rufus said, snapping his fingers and pointing at them, "which is why it's imperative we get in there and get this information back to your law enforcement buddies."

"Goddamn," Allie said, leaning back in her side of the booth now, "...imagine how much money that would be."

"And here's the kicker, typically, the only casinos where the chips are interchangeable are those owned by the same company. For instance, if you have chips from Caesars Palace, they'll accept them at Paris, Bally's, Planet Hollywood, or any of the other Caesars properties. So you could steal or 'collect' a lot of chips from one, take them to another casino owned by the same company and exchange them there. They won't be playable, but but they will accept them. It's a whole fucked up system, honestly," Rufus said.

While Claire and Rufus discussed this, Allie simply sat and thought. Thought about what that vast amount of wealth could do for a person. She could start an entirely new life. She could leave Vegas once and for all and be happy somewhere else. She could maybe buy back Domino and take off to wherever she wanted to go.

And all she had to do was rob a casino blind.

                                                                                 ***

Zoe had had a long day.

In addition to the practice she'd put in, she'd also run a handful of errands, gathering new supplies and props, as well as doing wardrobe check up, and then of course her meeting with Salem Shaw. All she wanted to do now was get home to Molly's and relax. She knew Molly would be at Benny's and that, more often than not these days, she wound up having the house to herself as a result, something she wasn't about to complain about. As she kicked off her shoes and tossed her jacket on the couch, she was surprised when she entered the kitchen and found Effie standing over the stove, finishing cooking. Zoe stopped in the doorway as Effie turned to face her, smiling warmly.

"Welcome home," Effie said.

"What is all this?" Zoe asked, half laughing out of nervousness, "does Molly know you're here?"

"No I broke in, of course she knows I'm here!" Effie said, the both of them laughing now as Effie approached Zoe, put her arms over her shoulders and kissed her, then added, "I wanted to do something special for you. I know lately stuff has been crazy, and...and you've been so stressed out and anytime we do see eachother I can see it in your eyes, how exhausted you are. So I wanted to take care of you tonight."

Zoe wanted to cry. She never thought she deserved to be treated with such reverence, with such admiration, adoration. She didn't think she did even now, and yet here Effie was, giving her her all and then some. Zoe pushed her face into Effie's neck and Effie ran her fingers through her hair.

"You're alright, I got you, you're home and safe with me," Effie whispered.

After a moment, Zoe pulled away and sat down at the kitchen table, wiping her eyes on her arm, breathing hard from crying. Things had been so difficult and weird lately, and she didn't know how to escape it. She wanted to tell Effie everything, but she knew if she did...if she did, she'd likely lose her. What they were doing was bordering on criminal, which was ironic given the police were directly involved in working with them.

"Listen," Effie said, "I didn't just come here to make you dinner."

Zoe looked up and watched her carefully as Effie pulled up a chair and sat in front of her.

"I mean, yeah, I wanted to do that too, but there's something else," Effie continued, "something I wanna talk to you about. Do you ever think about leaving Vegas?"

"I...I don't know, why?"

"Because I've been given an offer to headline a sitcom," Effie said, "they want me to write it, produce it, be in it, the whole shebang, and to do that more effectively, I'd have to go to LA, and...and I want you to come with me. It won't be until I finish my residency here, I do have a contract with Tony and they don't have the timeslot yet anyway, so it won't be for another year at least but...but if you were interested-"

"You seriously see yourself being with me by the time that option becomes a reality?" Zoe asked, sounding broken, hurting Effie's heart. Effie reached out and took one of Zoe's hands in her own, rubbing the back of it with her thumb.

"I seriously see myself being with you forever," Effie whispered, "and that...that isn't something I've ever said to any other girl, so I know it's serious."

Zoe lit up a bit, feeling more secure. She always waited for the other shoe to drop, having been abandoned by so many people. That was, she figured, why she and Allie were so stuck like glue to one another. Neither one wanted to go through that kind of loss again, even if the relationship they had was toxic as hell. Effie reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a small box.

"And, like," she added, "not just as my girlfriend. But as my wife. If...if you're interested in that."

Effie opened the box and revealed a beautiful small diamond ring, causing Zoe's eyes to widen in shock.

"I want to marry you," Effie said, "and I know this might come out of the blue, but...no relationship I've ever had has been so easy and normal. You're wonderful, spectacular, and dammit, someone needs to spend their life making you happy and I'm gonna do that myself, so, if you want to-"

Zoe didn't even speak to respond. Instead she just kissed Effie again, the both of them laughing, as Effie slid the ring on her finger. Zoe had performed a lot of magic tricks in her day, but getting someone to want to marry her? That was by far the greatest feat she'd accomplished yet.

                                                                              ***

Allie walked to her suite door and pulled her keys from her coat pocket. It had been exhausting, dealing with Claire, and the meeting with Rufus, but everything was slowly falling into place. Soon enough they'd be in the vault, and they'd clear themselves of any wrongdoing, turning Tony and Raymond over to the proper authorities. She sighed as she put the key into the door lock, and then heard someone standing nearby. She turned to see Jenny in a long waisted black raincoat with large gold buttons standing nearby, hands in the coats pockets.

"God you really need to stop showing up like that, it's creepy," Allie said, "what are you doing here now?"

Allie opened the door and headed inside, Jenny following right behind her, shutting the door as she entered.

"At work today, my boss told me he wanted to remove a poster featuring you, from when the new casino was being built," Jenny said, "and I had to convince him not to."

"Why the fuck would you care about something as trivial as that?" Allie asked, heading to the beer and grabbing a soda from inside, popping it open and drinking it as Jenny leaned against the wall, folding her arms.

"Because in some weird way it felt like giving up a part of myself," Jenny said.

"You look exactly like me now and I gotta admit it's very unsettling," Allie said, "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm all for flattery and whatnot, but...god it's hard talking to you. Seeing you. Looking in your face and knowing it's mine. It's so goddamned jarring."

Jenny nodded, smiling slightly. Allie pulled out another soda and tossed it to her. Jenny caught it, opened it and started drinking. Together they walked to the couch and sat down on it, both drinking, sitting in silence. After a few minutes, Jenny exhaled.

"Where's Nick?" she asked.

"....he's not really around much," Allie said, "I don't know. We haven't broken up but things are always complicated between us. Sometimes it feels like he only wants to be with me if I'm a specific way and, like, if he can't love the bad parts of me, then why should I give him the good ones, you know? Complicated."

Jenny nodded, listening, sipping on her soda can. Allie finished hers, crumpled it and tossed the can onto the floor. She then shifted and leaned against Jenny, putting her head on her shoulder and shutting her eyes.

"I'm just gonna lay here for a bit," she said quietly, "it's been a long day."

"You want me to stay?" Jenny asked.

"You can," Allie whispered, yawning, already passing out, "it's kind of nice to know there's a good version of me out there."

Jenny smiled and held her hand, squeezing gently. And so they sat together, and Allie fell asleep on her, and Jenny thought back to her discussion with her boss. How much she wanted to keep that poster around. A poster from a better time. She wanted to be here, to help and to listen, to be, as Allie had put it, the 'good' version of her. The one who cared enough to keep you from doing the bad things she wanted to do. To keep her from falling back into her vices. She wanted to protect her because, from what she saw, nobody else was even doing a remotely decent job of it.

How so badly she craved to keep just a little bit of magic left in the world.