"Is the stuff in there gonna blow up or something, Red?" Faith eyed the envelope uneasily – Willow's solemn face didn't make her feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. In fact, she was glad she hadn't made it to the breakfast bar yet. Her stomach and throat burned from a sudden increase in acid.
The sour taste in her mouth continued to grow when Willow didn't laugh or even crack a smile at her attempt to joke. "Ah…the documents won't." Now Willow flashed a wide and patently false smile.
"But?" Faith knew there was one.
Blushing bright red and wiggling, Willow mumbled, "I'm afraid you might."
Faith carefully set the unopened packet on the table beside her. "Newsflash, Red. I was right there on the edge less than an hour ago." Meeting Willow's eyes, she didn't mention how close to disaster they'd all been outside the police station.
There was something…A flash of understanding in Willow's eyes. A sad droop to her lips. Willow already knew what Faith had hoped to keep hidden. "It's important, Faith. I wouldn't bring it up if it wasn't."
"Tell ya' what. We got Tweed and his tea-drinking mini-tweeds waiting for our call and a horde of hungry Juniors on their way here." Faith picked up the envelope and held it out to Willow. "Unless the shit in here is gonna help with that, you hang onto it until after the Scooby meeting."
Willow took the envelope back, clutching it against her chest. "It can wait – but not for long. Promise me you won't 'forget' or run off with Nicole to avoid taking a look at the information." Resolve Face hovered nearby. Faith saw Willow's face start to harden in the dreaded pattern.
No way was Faith messing with that. "Red, you got my word." She bit back a curse as soon as she made the vow. Her word didn't mean jack, and Willow would be the first to point that out. Rushing to correct her mistake, Faith tried again. "I'll sit right here for the meeting, Red. As soon as you hang up the computer, we'll go to the room and read the shit together."
A slender hand shot out. "Deal."
Slowly, Faith extended her own hand and shook Willow's. "Deal," she echoed softly. Willow didn't immediately release her hand, and Faith waited for a second before yanking a little. "You wanna let go?"
There was a second's hesitation before Willow dropped her hand. She started to say something when the door to the conference room sprang open and the rest of the Junior Slayers charged in.
"I better head them off at the pass," Faith murmured. She watched Willow intently, wondering what was going on. Before she had time to press for an explanation, Faith's enhanced hearing picked up several angry voices across the room. "I ain't much better at Spanish than Nic, but the minis ain't happy about something." Reluctantly turning away, she trotted over to the new group.
Chanise and Juanita were toe to toe. "Maybe you should let one of us drive next time. You almost got us killed!" Chanise growled.
Damn it. Faith lunged past a few gawkers and gripped the younger girls' shoulders. "Lock it down. Now!" she ordered. Chanise's muscles bunched, and Faith stopped merely holding and began digging her fingers into Chanise. "You want me to make you part of the wall, kid?"
"It would be better than making me ride with her again!" Chanise said loudly. "She can't drive. It was like she aimed for the sidewalk or the other cars. I thought getting Called meant dying at the hands of a demon or a vampire – not some bitch who can't tell the gas pedal from the brake!"
The situation was serious so Faith bit her lip to hold back her chuckle. "Look, Chan. Cars and Slayers don't mix. Have you seen B drive?" She knew none of the current group had, but her words got their attention. Buffy was Slayer Numero Uno. "Girl's got a death wish. People dive off the sidewalk when they see her comin', and she's had more fender benders than NASCAR."
"Yeah," Chanise grumbled. "I've heard that." Then she glared at Juanita. "I also know nobody let's her get behind the wheel."
Faith sighed. "We got bigger problems, Junior. You know what happened to Nic. Before I have to kick your ass, get some breakfast and sit down. Red's getting the big call set up. We should be having tea with the Tweeds in a few minutes." She waited long enough to make sure no one else was going to be a problem before trudging back across the room.
God, she was tired. Faith rubbed the back of her right hand over her burning eyes. They needed to get this over with. "Get Tweed on the line." Faith held up an apologetic hand as soon as the words popped out. "Sorry, Red. Didn't mean to go all Slayer on you."
"Looks like you might have had reason." Willow typed furiously on her laptop. "Are the girls going to settle down? We can do this in our room if having them here is a problem."
It was tempting. "No," Faith said reluctantly. "One of 'em may have an idea or something. Besides, if it was you…Would you sit down here stuffing your face while somebody else called the shots upstairs? They'll be OK once we get started. If any of 'em start any trouble, though, I'll sit on 'em".
A grimace answered her. "Good point." Willow's fingers stopped moving. "The call is all set. I'm just waiting for Giles to answer."
"Hope to fuck he's paying attention and not handing out them little sandwhiches." Faith sat down next to Willow and leaned her head back. "If he don't answer soon, I'm gonna be out for the count."
"Me, too." Willow's voice was garbled by a yawn. "You'd think after eight years of helping save the world, I'd be better at no sleep."
Chuckling, Faith forced herself to sit up again. "Don't think it works that way, Red. You're getting up there in years, and old people need more sleep. Kinda surprised you're doing this good. Think we've been up for almost twenty-four hours."
A beep from the computer interrupted their conversation.
"Giles is ready," Willow announced. Seconds later, an image flickered on the large projection screen on the front wall of the conference room.
***
"You're playing me, right? Ain't no way Old Lady McLaren gave up the goods." Fin leaned against his desk and frowned. "What really happened out there, Rookie?"
Chelsea bit back a smile. If he thought she was going to disagree with Olivia's version, he was sadly mistaken. "Well…" That didn't mean she wasn't going to tease a little. "Mrs. McLaren really wasn't happy to see us." Settling farther back in her chair, Chelsea propped her feet on her desk. "I remember this bat about to put a dent in my head."
She could feel Olivia watching her. Hell, she could feel all of them watching her.
"In the end, Liv talked her down. She was real smooth. Even called Mrs. McLaren 'ma'am.'" Chelsea finally smiled at Fin's loud groan. "You owe her the tickets, Fin."
"Can't believe I gotta tell my girl she can't go with me to the game." Fin sat down, and scowled. "You know how long it took me to find a guy willing to sell those to me?"
His comment almost made Chelsea feel bad about what she was planning to do. Almost. "Oh, Fin?"
He spun in his chair. "Yeah?"
"Maybe your girlfriend will feel better when she knows you won't be going, either." Chelsea met his eyes and winked. "After all, while Liv was busy getting that paperwork signed, I was the one about to get a Louisville Slugger insignia tattooed on my forehead. Liv owes me."
She never got to hear Olivia's response. The captain's door slammed open and then closed. "Did I miss a memo somewhere? One giving all my detectives the day off?" Cragen demanded as he joined the group. "I could have sworn we had a dozen open cases."
Everyone scrambled to belatedly look busy.
"Lake and I got the exhumation order, Captain. We dropped it off to Novak on the way back." Olivia stretched her hands over her head. "And we picked up a tail on the way over. Stolen – and they managed to get away."
Chelsea avoided looking across the desk at her partner. Instead, she shuffled some papers into a neater pile. "Friends of McLaren's maybe," Chelsea softly contributed. She really didn't think so; she simply wasn't ready to tell anyone except Munch the truth.
Olivia's stare burned into her. "I don't know…" She leaned forward and put her elbows on her desk. "It doesn't feel right. We have nothing on McLaren since the thing last night. No more bodies have turned up. I think it might be something else."
Things went from bad to worse. "What's on your mind, Liv?" Cragen asked.
There was no immediate response, and Chelsea slowly looked up. Olivia met her eyes and arched an eyebrow in a silent, The ball's in your court. She wasn't ready…Chelsea clenched her teeth. Her comfort level wasn't the most important thing. Keeping Olivia alive was. "It's not Liv, Captain. The tail…I think they were following me."
***
Giles' peered uncertainly at them from the wall. "Hello, girls. Are we ready to discuss what happened this morning?"
"Ain't much to say, Tweed," Faith was quick to say. She wasn't dragging Nicole through another rehash. Not with the rest of the Juniors in the room. "All you need to know is we stopped keeping tabs on Lake. She's on her own."
As she expected, the news didn't go over well. "You cannot leave her…"
"We can, and we did," Willow interrupted. She stood up and glared at the screen. "I hope everyone is paying attention. A lot's happened in the last few hours and the plans are changing – with or without your cooperation, Giles."
Faith covered her mouth with her hand to hide a grin. She wanted to wave her arms and cheer. When Willow got pissed, she didn't take shit from anybody – not even Giles. "Hey, kids," she called out. "Bring drinks and plates and get your asses in closer. We all have to be part of this talk." Maybe adding a few more people would calm the situation down. Then she remembered the standoff between Chanise and Juanita. Maybe not.