Slats: Moments in Time
Snapshots from the Bridges universe
by Tassos
See Chapter 1 for story notes.
Thanks again to Kei for the beta.
August 2005
There was something soothing about doing the budget when there was money to spend. Household food – check. Gas and water – check and check. Salaries for him, Andrew, and Diana – check, check, and check. Xander couldn't help but grin at the nice chunk of change and the bonus Giles was giving them for getting through last year on a Home Depot salary.
The Council money had been well managed over the centuries and had been left untouched by the First. New income was generated from both interest and the various consulting firms that were fronts for the Council and did actually do business with the rest of the world who thought simply that they were a historical society preserving the world's myths and legends in excruciating detail. There were art galleries and museums and various other things in there that even Giles hadn't gotten to the bottom of yet. The poor man was understaffed and overworked which explained why he'd given Xander a ton of money and carte blanche to managing it for the North American Slayers. It was a daunting task.
When the phone rang, Andrew went to answer it. "It's your dad," he said upon returning and passing the handset to Xander.
"Jack!" Xander was happy to hear from him. Jack had missed last week's phone call and he'd been a little worried.
"Hey, kiddo," said Jack. "How you doing?"
"Great. How are you? I didn't hear from you last week."
"Oh, you know, it's been busy. A few snakes, a reenactment of The Little Shop of Horrors, a presidential visit. I almost quit my job."
Xander laughed. Jack had said that every time they'd talked since his promotion. If Xander thought that having an Air Force colonel for a dad was weird, it was doubly weird him being a general. "I'm assuming you didn't?"
"Someone has to pick out the bunting," was Jack's flip reply. "How are things in Girl Land?"
"Girls are all home now. Left yesterday," said Xander. "The house is all eerie and quiet. Dawn left two weeks ago with Buffy on their training tour of Europe."
"Training tour? That's not some weird bicycle thing is it?"
"No," Xander chuckled. "Buffy hasn't set up a home base yet – there wasn't any money last year – so she's been going slayer to slayer to give them the rundown and basic training. Dawn's gonna help with the language barrier thing and get in some sisterly bonding."
"I though Dawn was going to Oxford," said Jack.
"She is but she's putting it off a year so she can spend time with Buffy doing this first. Vi's going too but she's not leaving till next week. Then it's really going to be quiet around here."
"Just the three of you left?"
"Us and Ace," Xander grinned at Jack's annoyed huff. He hated the name Xander had picked for his puppy, though Xander had a feeling it was mostly for show.
"I got the last pictures you sent. Looks like he's happily chewing his way through everything in sight."
"You could have warned me," Xander retorted. He'd lost two shoes of different pairs and the handle of his favorite ax to Ace's teeth, and had the photographic evidence to prove it wasn't the Garg-whatsits Andrew was convinced had invaded.
"You know, I think I did," said Jack smugly. "I seem to recall telling you Ace would eat your room if you didn't clean it up."
"Okay, first of all, that hardly counts because how was I supposed to know you meant that literally? I've never had a dog before. Second of all, will you quit bitching about my room? It has a very easy organization system and cleaning it would jut mess that up."
"Your organizational system nearly killed me on the way to the bathroom."
"Just because you can't control your bladder in the middle of the night . . ."
"Oh shut up," said Jack but without much heat. Xander laughed. They'd been having this argument since Jack had visited. He'd stayed in Xander's new room – the old office – while Xander had temporarily moved back in with Andrew. "So what are you up to now that the girls are all leaving the nest?"
"Trying to figure out what to do with all the money Giles gave us," said Xander, glancing back at the table where the computer and official papers were spread out. "We have all these funds that used to go toward Watcher salaries that we want to put toward the slayers, but we don't want to just give them the money, especially if they're not active."
"What did Giles say?"
"To figure something out."
"What about some sort of trust fund? That way it would go to them, but they couldn't spend it for a while," Jack suggested.
"Willow was thinking of something like that," Xander nodded. "She was thinking an education allowance. They're dealing with a lot of poor kids in South and Central America who aren't even in school."
"Maybe for the girls here you could gear it more toward college? Or even the option of private schools for some of them. Get them out of the public system where it's bad."
Xander grabbed a pen and scribbled a note to himself. It was a good idea. Public education wasn't all it was cracked up to be, even in suburbia. "Jerry wants everyone to find a dojo and keep training too. I was thinking of allocating a bit for that."
"Keeping up with those skills is important," sighed Jack, and Xander knew just from that that he was thinking, they're kids. They shouldn't have to keep up with skills like those. It was another old argument, one of the first in fact, one that Xander had won. They didn't talk about it directly anymore.
Hearing Jack's weariness, Xander asked softly, "How's the team?" Jack never let on, but Xander knew taking over the base command had meant giving up something special.
"Oh, they're fine," said Jack with fondness and forced cheer.
"Well, say hi for me when you see them."
"I will."
"And Dad?"
"Yeah?
"They're still your friends, you know. You can still have them over for dinner." Xander could hear Jack rolling his eyes over the phone.
"Yes, mom. We'll have milk and cookies too, just as soon as we finish our homework."
Laughing, Xander fell into more easy banter, amazed again that he had this.
