Chapter Eight: Accomodation

A/N: For Disclaimers, warnings see Chapt. 1

A Schism in Stars Hollow

A Father Goose Digression

Chapter Eight: Accomodation

"I beg your pardon?" Giles said.

"Rupert Giles," the man who'd introduced himself as Jaime said, "Buffy's Watcher and head of the New Watchers Council. The redhead in drag must be Willow Rosenburg. That must have been Harris himself sitting with you. He doesn't quite radiate nobility and heroism to the extent ol' Ed would have you believe, but if you're looking you can see the difference."

"And you were looking?"

"I've been expecting this for two or three years now. Not so much that you yourself would come, or Harris, but someone from the Council. But you were curious, weren't you? Who else is here? I haven't had a chance to check out the girls yet, I assume Faith if Harris is here. If the Red Witch came then…. Buffy?"

Giles nodded.

"The whole Scooby Gang. I'll be damned. Obviously you don't need that kind of firepower so I'm guessing they came mostly to look at the freaks and give Harris a hard time?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it quite that …"

"Crudely. No, probably not, but that would just be you being polite. Listen, no offense taken, not on my part anyway."

"Who else knows?"

"I don't know. I didn't tell anyone, and I'm not really in the inner circle, so they wouldn't have told me." Jaime rubbed his chin a moment, thinking, "Joe B., probably, though he may have been to busy politicking to notice. I assume Ms. Rosenburg magicked your invites, so the bean counters might not have picked up on it. We still have a little of the ask me no questions I'll tell you no lies mentality, and always some new faces… So, possibly no one else. Interesting isn't it, how people can be so arrogant and humble at the same time? They can talk about Harris like they know him intimately, and at the same time, it never occurs to them that he would even notice them, let alone be the guy in the seat behind them. Just like you guys never noticed us before cause you just couldn't believe anybody would be this stupid, huh?"

"What makes you different?"

The waitress brought their tea, said the steaks would be right out. Jaime thanked her.

"I came to this a little differently than most of the others. You might remember, Harvey acknowledged me, one of the 'guys they located'? I have to say it was the other way around, but that's neither here nor there."

Giles nodded, noncommittally.

"My parents were migrant farm workers," Jaime continued. "You live like that, you learn what's what. So I knew all about vamps and demons from an early age. The other thing I knew was that by the age of fifteen I had picked all the damn grapes and whathaveyou I ever wanted to. To make a long story short, I went into small time crime. Was one of a bunch of kids, doing burglaries, had a regular Fagin and everything… Then got too big for that… Well, I'd got to know some old grifters. Didn't meet any old armed robbers though, figured there was a lesson in that. I became what I guess you'd call a con man, a little of this, a little of that. I ain't that proud of it, but I ain't that ashamed, neither. I never took no little old ladies life savings. And most of those growers were a lot worse bastards than me anyday. Well, you live like that, sooner or later, shit happens." Jaime reached up, tapped himself in the left eye which Giles belatedly realized was glass.

"Pretty good, this one, ain't it? Can't hardly tell. I got a collection. I got one that glows red, can't wear it too long cause it gets hot, but it's damn effective, flip the ol' eyepatch up and give'em the redeye and even most demons and vamp's take a step back. I got one that's just bright green, with a tiny little black dot. I like to wear it playin' poker. I got one that's a moving spiral, like the hypnotist's use. Works too…."

"Anyway, pretty much the same thing happened to me that happened to Peckham. I was in this bar, kind of a neutral territory place. Vamps and demons came there to hire people to do daylight stuff, public stuff for them. Guys came there to hire demons and vamps for strongarm stuff... shit like that.

"This was before I got my eye collection so I was wearing a patch, and carrying a cane cause the same bastards that did my eye did my knee at the same time. So this one vamp freaks out when he sees me and splits. So I ask around, get the history on Sunnydale and Mr. Harris. So, I already know from experience that demons ain't that bright. Plus I got another connection to that world… So I already had my act going when I heard about these guys. I only joined the Society outta self-defense, so I could keep track of what they were up to."

The waitress came with the chicken-fried steaks.

"Thanks, hon," Jaime said. "There now, can't you just feel your arteries hardenin'? Gravy's on the side too. Touch of class, huh?"

Giles looked down at his fried and breaded cutlet, mashed potatoes and peas. With a steaming gravy boat, as Jaime noted, on the side.

"This is Wiener Schnitzel. Classic American food is Wiener Schnitzel with gravy?"

"Could be," Jaime said. "It is all about the gravy. And the meat's just there to hold the breading together."

"And people mock British cookery."

"Not me," Jaime answered, "I love a good vindaloo."

Giles glanced at him, saw the twinkle in Jaime's good eye and laughed.

"Okay, Jaime," Giles said. "You've found me. Asserted your independence. Put on the charm. What do you want?"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Try to get one with her leaning over," Dustin said.

Boys, Vanessa thought. This is a superhero we're talking about. Faith the Dragonslayer. Faith, slayer of vampires, killer of demons, Faith who'd overcome her dark past to become a world-travelling scourge of evil. And all they want is a good view of her tits.

Jules included, though he tried to hide it. She couldn't decide whether it was worse to be an out and out disgusting perv like Dustin, or a sneak like Jules. It was kinda cute, though, she thought, the way Jules blushed when she caught him staring down her shirt.

In deference to many of the members' criminal pasts, photography was generally discouraged at XLHDS meetings. Oh, a few corner snapshots with friends were fine, but taking pictures of main events was banned, so the three investigators had had to be discreet. And inventive, during the lookalike contest they'd sat at a table in the back and concealed the camera in a potato chip sack. Now with the buffet lunch in full swing they'd put the camera in Jules' back pack and were taking turns walking by Faith's table and taking a couple shots while pretending to dig in the pack for something, or tying a shoe.

Vanessa was struggling with a niggling doubt. It had to be her, right? Who could look more like Faith than Faith? It was just that…. she had expected Faith to stand out more, somehow.

There was something different about her. She did seem more… confident than the average 'Faith.' And the way from time to time she would look around and kind of shake her head and grin, whisper something to one of her companions. It was liked she was… amused. That would be right, Vanessa thought, the real Faith would certainly find the wannabees funny.

And looking at Faith's lunch companions… the guy sitting on her right, he didn't exactly jump out at her but he did seem rugged enough to be the real Harris. And he had that same kind of confident, relaxed quality. And Faith did seem familiar with him, leaning her head on his shoulder one time, poking him playfully another. Still if Vanessa had had to guess she would have said the grumpy looking woman on the man's other side was his girlfriend, just something in the body language...

And the 'Xander' in the pale blue shirt sitting on Faith's left… well, gay.

Of course, that would be funny. Her parents would freak. They pretended to be all open-minded and stuff, but she knew her father would get all funny about wearing the eye patch if it turned out Harris was gay. And as for Faith, Vanessa knew full well as a result of enduring a number of her mother's rants that there was certain faction among the 'Faith's' who insisted Faith was lesbian, that Harris was just her Watcher.

"Yeah, well," her father would say, "we know what that's all about, don't we?"

Vanessa thought the whole thing was stupid. 'She kills monsters with a sword,' she wanted to say, 'She rides a badass bike and saves the world. She's cool. Who cares who she sleeps with?'

Lunch was breaking up then, the rugged guy and the grouchy woman went off one way, Faith went off with the blonde 'Faith' whose brunette wig kept slipping, the redheaded woman dressed like a Xander and … her girlfriend, judging by the handholding. Okay, okay, whatever, Vanessa thought. I just want to see if Faith will let me hold her sword and tell me what it's like to dust a vamp for real.

I just want to ask her if its still possible I might be a potential, I'm just fourteen, there's time yet…

The three investigators followed the foursome outside and saw them make a beeline for the potting shed and disappear inside.

That's weird, Vanessa thought. "Anyone got cigarettes?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?" Dustin said.

"That gives us a reason to be out by the shed there, if they catch us they'll think we were just sneakin' a smoke."

"Yeah," Dustin agreed, "And we can maybe just by accident look in the window. Maybe they'll all be making out or something…. Ouch! Don't hit me. I ain't letting you have a cigarette if you hit me."

"Oh shut up, big baby. And come on." With elaborate nonchalance the three walked across the lawn, circled the shed and came up behind it, sat down with their backs to the wall and, Vanessa at least, listened hard, her ear pressed back against the thin wall., She heard a soft, almost babyish voice say,

"Oh no, Kaitlyn, you did fine, this is just… unusual. Her soul…it's not sick. It's divided. I think she sold it. On the installment plan."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lorelai had it down to a science… well, actually it was a trick she'd picked up from Rory in her Dean avoidance phase… but she'd worked out her own details. She crossed the square and paused on the sidewalk right in front of the bench with the cracked third slat in the backrest. If she turned then and held up her wrist like she was looking at her watch she could peer into Luke's and see if Nicole was there. If she was, then Lorelai could shake her head as if she just didn't have time for coffee and she could turn back. And if she wasn't, well, then Luke's would be Luke's again despite the stupid new Nicole-inspired menus and she could go in.

There was, Lorelai was pleased to observe, a notable absence of impeccably dressed female lawyers who were all wrong for Luke in the diner. Not that it was any of her business except that of course it was because Luke was her friend, and of course it was her business if her friend was making a terrible mistake. And it was her business as … as a businessperson. Star's Hollow was a big part of the Independence Inn's appeal and Luke's was a big part of Stars Hollow, and if there was any chance this Nicole person was going to affect Luke's than actually it was Lorelai's duty too….

"She's not there, hon," Miss Patty said behind her. Lorelai spun around.

"What? Who's not where?"

"Oh, hon," Miss Patty smiled, "if you are going to stand out here pretending you're looking at your watch, you should at least wear a watch."

"Oh."

"Now come on, let's go remind Luke he has other options, and then I want you to tell me all about this convention of yours."

"What other options?"

"You're fooling nobody but yourself, dear," Miss Patty said, taking her arm and pulling her across the street into the diner.

Luke poured the coffee and set danishes before each of them. She felt a little better.

"How's your convention?" he asked.

"Weird," she answered. "I can't tell if they're just harmless Renfaire types or a real drink-the-koolaid cult. And these women keep looking at me…"

"Which women?" Miss Patty interrupted, "A redhead?"

"Yes, one of them, how did you know?"

"A little bird told me."

"Did Taylor send Kirk to spy on us again? I wouldn't mind except he scares the customers….except this time I think the customers might scare him. Or maybe slice him up and sink him in the lake. Anyway, they keep looking at me like I'm growing horns or something. I'm not, am I?"

"I don't know," Luke said, "Hold your hair back and I'll check."

"Luke!"

He grinned and retreated back behind the counter.

"That's not funny," Lorelai continued, "Is it Patty. Miss Patty, what are you doing…. I am not growing horns!"

"No, of course not, dear. No one said you were."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Giles dipped his toothbrush in his personal salt and baking soda mixture, and began brushing thoughtfully, running his mind back over the conversation with Jaime.

"I want three things," Jaime had said. "First, I'd be honored to meet the Scoobies. Secondly, I'd appreciate some warning as to what you plan to do about the Society. But most importantly, I want to you slay some vampires." He'd handed Giles manila envelope that contained a meticulously organized dossier on a family run winery in Napa valley. A family, it turned out as Giles' read, of vampires.

"In return for which I tell you every thing I know about the Society, and do whatever I can to help you…. Whatever you decide to do about it."

"You know," Giles had said, "This is all very nice, but slaying vampires is what we do. If you know we exist, we're not hard to find. We're in the yellow pages. All you had to do was call and give us the address."

Jaime had reached out and pointed to a page in the dossier.

"Ah," Giles had said. "Slay some, but not all the vampires. Your sister?"

"They took her when she was seventeen. They'd come through the camp like feudal lords, picking and choosing. They took her, used her, turned her. Now she works for them. She runs that place."

"We can't just let her loose."

"I know. I was thinking, some sort of house arrest. They…. trust me. They've had me handle some of their daylight business. I've had papers drawn up. A couple signatures, which frankly I can fake if necessary, and the winery is yours. Might not stand up if somebody sued… but nobody's gonna sue. The winery would pay for her keep, pigs blood, guards…She could earn her room and board running the winery. The figures are in there. They make good money. They make good wine, for that matter. … I could supervise if you let me, otherwise you could hire someone…. Like Harvey or Renee V., one of the decent ones. Or of course anyone you want… I know, I should have brought this to you years ago…but I was afraid that once you knew…. That would be that. You'd just kill them all. Her included."

"We may still."

"I know. But when I realized who you were…I knew this was my best chance. If I call the number in the yellow pages, that doesn't mean I get to speak to Rupert Giles, does it?"

"Not usually, no. I will discuss this with the others. I make no promises."

"That's all I can ask for. Just… she never had a chance."

"I understand," Giles had said. "I wish that made a difference. But it doesn't really. Satisfying as it sometimes is, we don't slay vampires as punishment. Just as prevention. They were all victims once. Tell me about Walt Peckham."

"What about him?"

"How did he die?"

"The demons were warned, Walt was told the time had changed, he went in a half hour early."

"Why?"

"He was crazy. Started to believe his own bullshit. He was getting people killed, he wanted to go out in a blaze glory, taking everybody else with him. He was stopped."

"Do you know who?"

"Yes. Who do you think it was?"

"Joseph B.?"

"Of course."

"And you?"

"No. I was one of those who'd figured it was over as soon as Harris hit Cleveland, I'd already moved on. But to be honest, I wouldn't have lifted a finger to prevent it. Dude was dangerous. To himself and others. The way they did it, he still died a bit of legend, no one actually got their fingers dirty. It could have been worse."

Giles washed his brush off, rinsed his mouth, gave his face a quick wipe with a cloth and went out into his room proper where the others were gathering for the pre-afternoon session meeting.

"We all here?" he asked, looking around.

"Except Xander and Faith," Willow answered.

"They went off somewhere," Zoey said, "Xander told me to tell you they have their cells if you need them, but they were gonna skip the afternoon session. He said to tell you emergency slayer maintenance."

"Oh god," Dawn said, "she wasn't upset I won that stupid contest, was she? I wouldn't have made such a big deal if I'd thought it really bothered her…"

"I'm sure that wasn't it, Dawnie," Buffy said.

"Well, whatever," Willow said, "I'm sure Xan'll take care of it. We have another problem. I think the lady that runs the Inn here is in real trouble. And maybe not just her. We need to find that girl, and we need to talk to the local witch again. I thought Kait and I would go to the this town meeting, maybe a couple of you could come along?"

"Of course."

They agreed to meet again at five, Giles decided to wait until Xander was there to discuss his meeting with Jaime with the group, but he tapped Dawn's shoulder, asked her to stay a moment, gave her the dossier to read.

It worried him a little how much he was starting to rely on the young woman, as a sounding board, as the Watcher he sent to handle troubling situations. He wondered if it was fair, grooming her as he was to take over for him someday. But she'd never shown any real desire for a life outside the council and certainly living in Rome with Buffy she had the opportunity to escape if she wanted to.

Also, every once in a while on a dark three a.m. he worried if this wasn't some subtle plan of the monks', building in Dawn the facility for languages, the desire for responsibility, the beyond her years maturity that made her a natural for advancement in the council….. Over breakfast he would dismiss the wee hours musings as paranoia. Dismiss, but not quite forget.

She looked up from the dossier and said, reading his mind, "Bit of a gothic novel, isn't it? 'The Oenologist in the Basement. She didn't drink... wine.' I suppose it could work, though, if she's more Harmony than Angelus."

"Yes," Giles said, "I'm sure it could work. But..."

Dawn picked up the thought. "It's kind of a slippery slope, isn't it?"

Giles nodded. "At first glance, it makes perfect sense. We could certainly use the money. But in the long run, I don't know…"

"You know, the ironic thing about all this," Dawn said. "Faith told me once, that back when she and Xander first got together one of the first things he did was make her promise to stop holding up demon bars for money. Said he wanted to be sure he never owed Evil anything. This whole Xander Harris society is based on doing something Xander himself would never do."

"And yet it would be a shame to close down the charities…."

"Yeah. Exactly. What're we gonna do?"

"I don't know, Dawn. Listen to the debate this afternoon. Sleep on it. Ask ourselves, what would Xander do?. And then ask Xander and see if he agrees."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Gilmore girls were unhappy. They'd come downtown at five-thirty to get coffee and burgers in fortification for Taylor's six o'clock town meeting.

At first they had been amused, thinking of Taylor's inevitable apoplexy, by the line of motorcycles in front of Doose's and Lukes. Lorelai had disturbed her daughter by identifying the makes and models of each of the bikes.

"What, do you have secret stash of Cycle World under your bed?"

"What? I like motorcycles. The only reason we don't have one is the whole I'd be dead thing, which would kind of take the fun out of it."

They stopped being amused when they went into Luke's and found that it had been taken over by women in black leather, who had pushed tables together and seemed to be having some sort of union meeting, with fries. That was bad enough, but they overflowed the tables and lined the counter as well and Lorelai and Rory found themselves stuck in a corner table and waited on by a harried Lane, who explained hurriedly that Luke and Jess were afraid to come out from behind the counter.

"Wusses," Lane said, "Like I'm not getting my ass pinched here too."

"I'm beginning to see Taylor's point of view on this," Rory said, "that damn Gilmore woman needs to be more selective in her clientele."

And then another group came in, the fact that three of them were men seemed to stop the union meeting for a moment until the two men in matching blue shirts spoke,

"Carry on, ladies," one said, "we're on your side entirely," the other completed and there was a bit of laughter and the Norma Rae of the scene picked up where she left off,

"How dare they claim they're the ones taking all the risks….."

And then one of the women in the new group tripped and got her extensively beringed hand caught in Rory's hair. After much effusive apology they left, leaving Rory rubbing the side of her head checking for a bald spot and Lorelai's face scrunched up in suspicion.

"That same thing happened to me earlier today," she said. "either that woman is really clumsy or there's something going on here."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. But I bet my mother's behind it."

"Why? What would Grandma want with some our hair?"

"I don't know. Voodoo dolls?"

"You're paranoid. So she hired a group people to go to this convention and fall into us and steal our hair? Or you think she hired the whole convention just to fool us into… letting someone bump into us? That's crazy."

"Well, maybe, but answer me this, missy. Who else could it be?"

"Yes, but if Grandma wanted our hair all she would have to do is drug us at Friday night dinner and when our faces flopped in the salmon mousse she could take it then."

"Now who's paranoid?" Lorelai said.

-30-