Thank you, sir, but fix it really quick

Oh my goodness, you guys. The apocalypse may be upon us: Sydney's iPod is not working. She doesn't know it yet, which is why I'm able to make a joke about it now, because tomorrow morning the hysterics will begin. I was able to save all the information this evening, in the couple minutes that the phone was behaving itself. I've made an appointment tomorrow morning with the Genius Bar, so here's hoping that they'll be able to make heads or tails of it. But really, she will be most ... displeased ... to discover this in the morning.
Right now, I feel like the damn thing has bricked out on me, and is a lost cause. Which means my options are such: buy her a new one (which I won't do because she'll get my old phone when I get my 6); pay to have this one cleaned off and then rebuild it (which I hope isn't too terribly expensive because that's my preference); or get a new screen for the shattered 4 that she had before and broke (which is a solid Plan B).
I've now attempted to restore it four times, and every time, it stops before it's done and let's me know, via a happy word bubble, that this phone can not be restored. I swear, I'll be hearing about this at 6 tomorrow morning, and that's going to suck right out loud.