Summary: This is an ongoing AU from Xander being Wolf-possessed, not Hyena possessed, and I've kept as much of the original dialogue as possible, where circumstances are the same as 'canon.'
Noon, November 1st, 1997
Sunnydale High School was far more crowded than it normally was during the week. Mayor Wilkins and a small group of military officers entered the School Library to find Xander Harris shaking hands with one of the local parish priests who seemed to e leaving with the last of the emergency supplies.
"Well, Alexander, I must say, you were a far better choice than I knew when we commissioned you to the Police Department," Richard Wilkins III beamed as he led the others over. A few students looked on in surprise at the free revelation of what had been rumored, "Alexander Harris, I'd like you to meet General Chamberlain of the Sunnydale Armory, and his aide, Lt. Riley Finn. Gentlemen, this is the rising young star of our law enforcement efforts, who uncovered that nasty cult business, and the very sad serial killing goings-on last month. Though I must admit, while I didn't expect his leadership skills to involve disaster relief management, Sunnydale's grateful to have one of its own contribute so much." Xander blushed at the unexpected praise, but his recent memories, as well as his Force-sensitivity, made him uneasy in the presence of the Mayor. Sitting atop the Hell Mouth, he discounted it for now, and shook the men's proffered hands.
"Thanks, sir," Xander responded, "It was lucky we'd just gotten back when everything went wild, so the kids are pretty much safe, if getting over a scary night and overcrowded sparse conditions. It was just a matter of getting the club presidents and team captains together so they could pass on instructions to their members and those standing within hearing distance."
"You're too modest, Alexander, I've heard from parents how you and your friends thwarted a bunch of gang-bangers from causing mischief like they did at the utility companies," the Mayor sniffed, "Though why those LA types insist on driving up the coast to cause trouble I don't know."
'Um, sir," Xander demurred, and included the military men in his question, "Does your presence here mean we can turn over the work to the military and catch up on some sleep?"
"'fraid not, son," the general interjected, "But as one of two quiet centers in Sunnydale all night, I wanted to see the people that made it so. I overheard a few of the kids you have working for you say all you had left were four hours fuel and enough food to get through breakfast tomorrow?"
"I believe so," Xander replied, getting nods from Cordelia and Jenny, "But I'm hoping to be able to let people start heading home once we get word that the water's up and running in town, and not just rely on our pumps here.:
"Well, in about an hour, we should have the utility substations operational, and will be getting the line men out to restore what they can," Wilkins responded, then turned to the general, "And in two hours? I believe the general said he'll have enough personnel volunteering traffic duty during the daylight hours so that folks will be able to drive home and stay there until tomorrow."
"Cool, I know that will help a lot of the families feel better," Xander said, "Any chance of getting any loan of water containers so people can fill up and go home without having to worry too much about coming back and forth at night when it won't be safe?"
"Sirs, If I may?" interrupted Lt. Finn, receiving a nod "We were originally going to disperse between various churches, but finding that half of our needs are being addressed here, we have three trucks with supplies, including disposable five-gallon containers, on the way now, maybe two thousand of them, plus dry foods. We could ask Officer Harris and his people to prepare the refugees, and if they do not have confirmed home loss, the steady outflow from this site would serve us in preventing traffic congestion, and allow primary dispersal of aid?"
"Good thinking, Finn," the general nodded, "Mayor? Sounds like a good plan, and as we impose curfew at dusk, most of my men can base out of here and the University, assure those that are still compelled to remain here, that they aren't forgotten."
"Excellent, then," the Mayor smiled, turning to Xander, "Alexander, I'm officially naming you and your uncle as co-liaisons with the general's people for the next few days, and are specifically charged with the school and law enforcement here." The mayor noticed Xander about to protest, as did the others, "Now, I want you to understand that between your uncle's police and soldiering experience, and your apparent management skills, I have confidence that we'll get through this. Let your uncle deal with the troublemakers; you deal with results. Understood?" Xander nodded, looking pained, "Excellent."
"Lt. Finn," General Chamberlain directed, "You will remain here until the primary dispersal is through, then begin setting up a security perimeter for tonight. As of dusk, the curfew will be in effect and until an hour after dawn tomorrow, you'll assume control of things here." He turned to Xander, "And it'll let some of these folks catch some shut eye before they get back to work tomorrow."
"Ah, that reminds me, Alexander," the Mayor spoke up, "Please designate ten official helpers, as they'll receive some small recompense for helping out." He turned with the general to leave, reaching out with his hand to shake, "You're doing an excellent job, thank you again."
The Chase mansion was an interesting place as the couple awoke and removed themselves from each other's embrace. The stared deeply into the other's eyes, and smiled idiotically, the woman giggling and lunging back to kiss a man she really hadn't cared for in almost ten years. Two minutes later, gasping for air, the man laughed.
"Hey sugar lips, let a guy get some air," the man smiled, his eyes holding a fondness not there in a long time as he drew her head to his chest and held her close, "I'm not sure what happened last night, but I sure wouldn't mind a repeat performance. He smiled to her laugh against his chest. A few minutes later, nature called, and Cordelia's mother got up and made sure to add a little extra sway as she left the room. Mr. Chase smiled contentedly to himself, hands behind his head. For the first time, he looked around the room, and again, and realized that maybe not everything last night was started with 'spiked punch,' especially when his wife called him into the bathroom.
Gold, pretty much everything but he floor and a few linens in the huge master bedroom were gold, and he remembered how they'd gotten that way. They looked at each other, her now in a towel, and him drawing one around himself, and they started retracing their steps in reverse. Their bedroom, in which the furniture and the damaged floor (from where the golden door had fallen as he'd chased her into the room), a few hall furniture pieces and the door to Cordelia's room, Cordelia's bed and window frame, the ladder up to the roof from the back terrace.
"Oh my, Reginald," his wife blushed and purred with a catlike smile, "How many times last night?"
"Let's head downstairs," he smiled with a little embarrassment and no little male pride.
They found the front doors, and much of the entry, including supports as gold, the side tables, the couch in the parlor, the door frame into the dining room, the large table in the kitchen, the door frame leading to the family entertainment room, the coffee table, the large fake bearskin rug on the floor, the doors and frame outside, the Jacuzzi but not the water inside (though it seemed that gold that might have been water was in little gold dust flakes all over the bottom of the pool as well), the door frame to the pool house, the sauna, all six fake man-sized statues of Greek and Roman gods surrounding the pool, the counter of the bar, much of the sauna, several secluding bushes and a large beach blanket they found back there, and a few other items such as empty champagne and wine bottles, goblets and glasses, bowls of fruit, the two lions gracing the front portico, much of their limo interior and the railing and supports of the stairs themselves now that they looked up.
"Why didn't I turn to gold too?" Mrs. Chase asked.
"Probably because I was holding your hand as whatever that was changed us," the millionaire mused.
"I think we should pay those taxes if this really is gold, since we can afford it?" she told him, "Why tempt the fates after…last night?"
"Well," the man considered, at first thinking of refusing, but her last comment made too much sense, and if they could repeat the non-gold moments from last night, with a wife able to do the things they'd done, "it might be time to promote that Hank Summers fellow in the LA office, and head into semi-retirement." His wife blushed as she noticed him look at her and watched as his eyes glazed over.
"Mm, no arguments there," she smiled, then considered, "Reggie, where did the girls say they were staying last night? I don't see them here, or the staff."
"Well, we gave the staff the night off, though why they're not here's a very good question. Regan was going to a party with her other college friends, LA maybe, Cordelia was going to escort a bunch of kids or something, wasn't she?" He couldn't quite remember what his second-youngest was going to do, her being the most mature of his brood of daughters.
"Something about escorting kids, I think, but what about Alicia?" she replied, concerned about their middle daughter, who while independent, was not really sharp when it came to anything outside of catching a rich husband.
"I think she was tagging along with Regan's group, then maybe was going to stay with Clarisse or Deirdre in LA for the rest of the weekend."
"Oh, they should be safe then," his wife sighed, her emotions alive and all over the place in the wake of last night's 'reawakening.'
"Call them on their cell phones and check on them?"
"That ought to scare them," she laughed, then looked sad. Her husband, feeling the same way after years of monetary pursuit at the expense of all else, knew exactly what she meant.
"Well, call anyway, and who knows? Maybe we can still be there as parents for Cordelia."
"What if she thinks we're trying something?"
"Buy her a better car first? Give her a gold statue? I don't know, we raised heiresses, debutantes and young women of wealth, not ones that'll necessarily want or need feelings or support," he replied as they entered the kitchen, "But we can give it a try?"
"Yeah, alright…"
Cordelia's cell phone rang, a surprise since service had been either to busy or out of service before. She answered it.
"This is Cordelia."
"Yes, I'm alright, mother," she answered with a surprised and confused look, "Last night was rather strange. Uh-huh? Well, uh, yeah I did, how did you know? How about you and daddy? What! Wow. Yeah, I'm helping out with the emergency services at the school. You don't know? Is the generator working? It is? Turn on the television channels, a lot happened all over southern California, and Sunnydale was hit hard, too. Yeah, it probably tied in somehow. When am I coming home? Mm, later, I'm kinda in charge of logistics, somehow. What was daddy saying? I don't know how you could help. Maybe that, let me check with Xander. Yeah, him, he's in charge. The Mayor put him and his uncle in charge. Well he saved my life…Huh? That's good enough, are you two drinking? Sorry? Um, okay, I forgive you too. Let me check?" She turned in confusion to where Riley and Xander were talking.
"Xander!" she called out, catching his attention, "My parents want to know if you need a check or anything to pay for groceries from the stores for the kitchen here before they go bad? The groceries I mean. He talked it over with Riley, who nodded.
"That'd be great, Cor, there's the warehouse place over near Ventura, and the supermarket near the university. Riley says his trucks and others that stay with them can be authorized to lift whatever necessities they're willing to pay for, and give them a receipt for it all." She passed this on.
"They said start at the grocery store, that way you can use the bulk stuff and cold bin items here, and anybody who shows up on their way home can pick up one cart of food and drinks they don't need power for cooking or cooling."
"Cool, thank them for us, and if they could meet Lt. Finn at the store in twenty minutes, that would be great. And if you go, make Jenny stay here to handle it when it shows up."
"Right," she called back, and passed on what her parents couldn't hear. And apparently they were in semi-shock in watching the news as they'd waited. Then she was in for a big surprise, and nearly dropped the phone before turning back to Xander, "They also said that with what they have on hand, they can take in you and maybe nineteen others, Xander, for up to a week without overwhelming the house."
"That's great, Cor, you decide who to include, 'kay?"
"Got it," she replied, then looked at her English relative after hanging up, "So, you want to meet my folks?"
"I'd be delighted, Cordelia," the older Englishman smiled at her, "I haven't seen little Reggie since he was maybe six or seven."
The grocery store was surrounded by forty or fifty families as the military and thirty family vehicles pulled in front of the store that was closed off by the store manager, his late shift and four policemen. The Chases pulled up at the same time, using an old MG to navigate the chaos of traffic.
"Cordelia!" her parents cried out, surprising the girl by embracing her emotionally, then still being the Chases, got down to business.
"Daddy, this is Lt. Finn, he's in charge of the supply convoy and relief efforts this side of Sunnydale," Cordelia introduced the men, who shook hands, "And this is your Great Uncle David, we'll talk about why he's here later. Riley, this is my dad, Reginald, the guy with the checkbook, and my mother Margaret."
"Thank you, sir," the young soldier greeted loudly, "Is there a limit to what you're willing to help out with?"
"Food and stuff only, no booze, tobacco or non-essentials, a cart per family," the former Midas replied directly, "They pay for anything beyond that." He repeated this loudly to those outside, and made sure they agreed. When it was revealed that registers but not outside lines for ATMS worked, Chase assured everyone that that meant that he could cover them, and it would be up to the store to honor checks or plastic beyond that. They watched as people started heading in an orderly manner, a few people coming up and thanking the Chases as they greeted their long-lost relative.
"Daddy? Mother?" Cordelia asked, "Are you two alright?"
"Better than before last night, Princess," her father addressed her by a name he'd called her back when he played with her when she was little, "We seemed to have regained our priorities, which includes you." Cordelia began to tear up, causing her mother and father to hug their emoting daughter, reassuring her they did care and would try to be a family, though her father joked, "though we are still the Chases, not the Kendalls."
"Heaven forbid," her mother agreed, "I don't really feel like sleeping with every man along the coast that makes more than a…oops." She blushed as she caught her usual catty remarks, and looked apologetically at her new in-law. "Sorry Uncle David, old habit."
"Hey mom," Cordelia interrupted, then smirked a Cordelia smirk, "Apologize because you said it where anyone can hear it, not because it isn't true."
The rest of the day saw nearly two thousand Sunnydale families strip the store in an orderly manner of nearly a hundred and fifty dollars each on the Chase tab, and maybe half their regular shopping at the same time. Even the Mayor and his daughter showed up for a few hours to help keep things going, Cordelia (unsure of the Darla background) getting on famously as they quipped and catted about some of the people clearly not in need but taking advantage of the largesse.