Meets and Chats
A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter.
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June 1, L.A., Evening
Three hours, a ton of Sandburgian obfuscation and one missed flight later found Jim and Blair in the surgical waiting room of Los Angeles County General, waiting for word on 'John Doe' (evidently, no identification had been found on the poor kid) with two of Los Angeles' finest. Technically, Jim and Blair really shouldn't have been there, but professional courtesy has its advantages. Eventually, a surgeon came out.
"The young man made it through surgery." The surgeon told them. "Whatever caused the wounds did not, fortunately, penetrate into the body cavity. He has a mild concussion, a badly sprained ankle, three cracked ribs and two cracked humerus, combined with a good deal of muscle and ligament damage."
"Like he'd been grabbed by someone really strong." Jim fairly growled the words.
"He'll need to be watched closely over the next twenty-four hours, but barring unexpected complications, he ought to make a full recovery."
That was good news. Now they just had to figure out who the heck the kid was and who had torn him to shreds like that. And why. And then Jim was hoping for a few minutes alone with the perp.
Within those three hours, it was clear the LA crew were getting nowhere. There was a trail of the kid's blood leading into an (apparently) abandoned house and down into the basement, where they found a chain and manacle wrapped around a support post. And not much else. No weapon, no prints, no nothing. Worse, the kid was still a John Doe, though hopefully once he came 'round, he'd be able to fill them in.
June 1, Hospital, Evening
Oh god. He hurt. Everywhere. The pain dragged Xander from the gentle cocoon of unconsciousness and he moaned in pain. He was afraid to open his eyes. Afraid he'd been caught by the Magilla Gang. But then the distinctive smell of a hospital percolated into his awareness and he breathed a deep sigh of relief ... only to make due mental note to not do that again anytime soon, because ow. Seriously. Just ... gah. Ouch. He peeled his eyes open and blinked a few times, staring at the tiled ceiling. A few moments later, a gray-haired man in a doctor's coat came into his peripheral vision.
"Ahhh, good to see you awake." The man said. "Can you tell me your name?"
Xander worked his mouth for a moment, only succeeding in a hoarse croak. The doctor offered him some ice chips and after he'd swallowed them down, Xander managed a hoarse. "'sander Harris."
"Sander?" The doctor repeated, sounding a bit confused.
"Xander." Xander said, managing it more clearly that time. "Xander Harris." He frowned. "'m not in Sunnydale, am I?" Hospitals were rather one-like-another, but something told him this wasn't Sunnydale General.
"Sunnydale? No, no you're not." The doctor said. "You're currently in Los Angeles County General." The doctor looked him over, then said. "If you feel up to it, the police have a few questions."
Oh, damn. That was bad. That was really, really, really bad. There was no way they'd buy that he'd been kidnapped by demons. He'd get a nice long-sleeved coat that tied in the back and an extended stay in a padded room. And some nice, fun psychotropics. Time to lie his ass off, clearly. Play the I-don't-remember card for all it was worth. "Ok."
Two men came in the room, and Xander spent the next fifteen minutes lying like a rug. Did he know who attacked him? Did he remember how he escaped? Did he remember how he got his injuries? Nope. Sorry. Can't remember a thing. Got koshed on the head and blacked out without seeing anyone (at least that part was entirely true). Part of him felt really bad for the cops. They were clearly not Sunnydale Specials, and not being able to solve this was clearly irking them. After they'd gotten all their questions answered, if not in the way they wanted, they left, and Xander collapsed into sleep.
He woke up sometime close to dark only to find two new guys in his room. One was tall, built like a truck, with military-short hair, and the other was quite a bit shorter with the sort of long, curly hair Xander was used to seeing on girls. They were ... quite amusing. Mr. Military was pretty much the poster boy for the armed services, and his buddy wouldn't have looked out of place at a hippie convention, and was probably a decade younger, to boot.
Jim watched the kid eye them and couldn't restrain a small grin. He didn't blame the kid for the bewildered look. He was far from the first to be confused by Blair, especially when paired with himself. They were very much an odd couple. "Hey there. How you doing?" He asked.
Xander peered at the guy for a moment before answering. "Well, I think my pinkie toenail on my right foot doesn't hurt, so I'm good." He rasped. "They send you to see if I remember anything yet?"
"No. We're not with the police department." Blair piped up. "Well, not with the LA department, anyway. We're the ones who found you. I'm Blair Sandburg, and he's Jim Ellison, Cascade PD."
Xander's eyebrows headed for his hairline. "Really? Wow. Thanks for that. Thinking I definitely owe you one." He coughed a bit, winced as his abdomen informed him he was not to do that again, thank you very kindly, and then just made things worse by attempting to reach for the cup on the tray by his bed. Bad idea. Really, really bad. He inhaled through his teeth trying not to yell as pain shot from shoulder to fingertip at the movement. "Ohgodowww." He hissed.
Blair immediately shot to his feet and offered the cup. Xander sipped from the straw, giving Blair a somewhat embarrassed look. "Thanks. Do you know if they've called my folks?"
Jim grimaced. Oh, the cops had called all right. And gotten yelled at, then hung up on by Harris Sr. "Yeah."
Xander swallowed. "Look, I really hate to bug either of you, but ... I need to call my friend Willow. Mom won't think to call her, and she'll be in a full-blown panic by now."
Blair grabbed the hospital phone. "Not a problem, Xander. What's the number?"
Xander rattled it off, and Blair punched the numbers in for him and held the receiver so he could hear. The phone didn't even get to ring twice.
"Giles! Ohgod isthat you? Please tellme you've foundsomething!" Xander's heart twinged. Definitely a full-blown Willow-panic. From the sound of it, she had been crying, too. Though that wasn't all that surprising.
"Wills, it's me."
"XANDER! OHMYGOD WHEREARE YOUARE YOUALL RIGHT? WHATHAPPENED?" Xander jerked his head away from the phone at Willow's shriek, and noticed both Blair and Jim flinching at the volume.
"Wills. Wills, calm down, ok. Deep breaths." He waited until he heard her actually taking deep breaths before he continued. "Look, I'm in LA. Got attacked and dragged off, from what they're telling me."
"You're in the hospital?" Willow asked, voice wobbling like she was about to start crying again. At least she'd slowed down and wasn't shrieking at the top of her lungs.
"Yeah. Pretty banged up, too, from what they tell me. I've got no idea when I'll be home."
"You call every day, mister! And I'll get Giles to drive me up there in the morning! Buffy will be there too!" Willow insisted.
"You guys called her?" Xander asked, feeling guilty. He didn't comment on Willow's demand he call everyday, yet she said she'd be here in the morning.
"At lunchtime, when it was clear no one'd seen you."
Crap. Xander felt bad that this had messed up Buffy's time with her dad. He told Willow where he was and what room number, and after several reassurances, finally nodded to Blair to hang up. "Thanks for that." He said.
"No problem. You really weren't kidding about her being in a full-blown panic." Blair commented.
"We've been friends since we were toddlers." Xander told them. "Best friends, really." Well, them and ... but that was a wound that was still nowhere near healed. God, he missed Jesse.
Blair shot Jim a look, which Jim returned. No mention of his father and mother and when they'd be here, just a comment about his mother forgetting to call his friend. Combined with what the police had said the reaction to their call had been, it was beginning to paint a very not-pretty picture, but it was something that wasn't in their jurisdiction. Or even the LA group's.
"Well, they're not wanting us to hang around too long and tiring you out, so we'd better get going. Good to see you awake though, man." Blair said.
"Thanks. And thanks again for the save, both of you." Xander told them. Very shortly after they left, he was asleep again.
June 2, Hospital, late morning
Jim and Blair arrived as soon as visiting hours opened. At that, they crossed paths with two officers as they came out of Xander's room, evidently having spoken to him a second time. If the looks on their faces were anything to go by, Xander's memory was still a blank.
Xander was clearly slightly hopped up on pain meds this morning, as he grinned widely at Jim and Blair. "You came back! Not that I thought you wouldn't, because you said you would, and I totally don't think you're the kind of guys who go back on their word and I'm just really glad to see you and they kind of have me on the good drugs because I'm kinda babbling, you know?"
Jim couldn't help a laugh. "He's almost as bad as you are, Blair, when you get going."
"Hey, I do not babble. I speak at speed and with erudite enunciation." Blair protested.
"You babble, Chief." Jim said with a grin. Not frequently, but he did.
Blair gave a mock huff of annoyance, and Xander grinned more widely. Before anything else could be said, voices could be heard in the hallway, and seconds later the room got invaded. An older, graying man wearing tweed ... tweed of all things, in California no less, a short, blonde-haired girl and a taller redhead poured into the room. The redhead promptly burst into tears and started to fling herself at Xander, only to pull up as she realized how foolhardy that would be. The blonde got a look on her face like she dearly wanted to hurt something, and the older man's face blanked, but the eyes promised dire retribution on whoever had done this to Xander.
Jim didn't blame them for their distress. Xander looked like shit. He still had the goose egg, was covered in bruises, and sporting two splints on his upper arms. And that was just what was visible above the covers. Under the covers and under the hospital gown was even worse, Jim knew.
The redhead eventually settled on petting Xander's hair with a shaky hand, tears streaking down her face, completely incapable of speech at the moment. The blonde took up position on the other side of the bed. The older gentleman approached himself and Blair.
"Who might you be?" The man wanted to know.
"Jim Ellison, and this is Blair Sandburg. We found Xander." Jim filled him in. "Who're you? And them?" He gestured to the two girls. He was guessing the redhead was Willow, but he could be wrong
The man's blank-faced expression finally shifted to relief and gratitude. "Our thanks." He said, sounding truly sincere. "My name is Rupert Giles. The redhead is Willow Rosenberg and the blonde is Buffy Summers."
Jim fought down a smirk at the blonde's name. "How do you know Xander?"
"I'm the school librarian. Xander is part of an after-school study group that meets in the library several nights a week. I've become rather fond of the young man." Giles told him. "Willow and Buffy are part of the group as well. Willow's parents aren't in town at this time, so when she appealed to me for a ride ... " Giles let it trail off, grateful that what he'd said was the truth ... just not the entire truth. After all, Xander, Willow and Buffy did study in their get-togethers. They just studied demons rather than school subjects. While the adults of Sunnydale might swallow a blatant lie, Giles was not fool enough to think those outside of the Hellmouth's influence would be so gullible, especially not someone who'd clearly been in the military at one point, as Jim had to have been, given his bearing. With persons like that, it was best to stick as closely to the truth as was humanly possible, lest the person get nosy and end up messily dead.
Over by the bed, Xander was quietly trying to reassure Willow and Buffy. "I'll be ok guys. I know it looks bad, but give me a few weeks and I'll be back on my feet."
Sadly, neither girl was exactly buying it. Willow just continued to sniffle and pet his hair while Buffy looked frighteningly close to murderous. "I ever catch who did this, they're going to wish they'd never been born." Buffy growled, eyeballing Jim and Blair as she spoke and clearly editing what she really wanted to say with the strangers in mind. Xander knew they'd be talking later, as soon as the guys left.
"Whoever they were, they're probably long gone. Me getting away would not have been of the good, you know? They'd think the cops would be after them pretty darn quick." Xander grimaced. "I just wish I could remember anything."
Over on the other side of the room, Jim fought down a reaction. If the sudden change in heartrate was anything to go by, Xander had just lied. About not remembering? Why? Had he known his attacker? Afraid of later retribution? It wouldn't be the first time such a thing happened, sadly, but ... christ. Whoever'd done this would be going in for attempted murder if he had anything to say about it, alongside kidnapping, assault and battery and whatever other charges could be thrown at them. Whoever they were, they'd not be getting out of jail for a very long time, if ever.
After a few minutes, Jim and Blair said their goodbyes and headed out. They'd gotten almost to the end of the hall when Jim heard the blonde ... Buffy ... say "So, what really happened?"
Jim immediately put on the brakes, holding a hand out to stop Blair from taking off.
"What is it, man?"
Jim ignored him as he listened intently.
"Got conked over the head. Woke up in a basement with three of these big crocodile-gorilla crosses arguing over who got the tastiest bits. At least, I think that's what they were doing. Couldn't understand anything they were saying, if you call grunting speech."
"I should ... " Buffy started.
"Buffy, whatever they were, they're long gone, and this isn't the 'dale. Finding three critters in LA is going to be a really tall order." Xander said. "And I don't want to interrupt your time with your dad anymore than I already have."
"Did they call your folks?" Willow wanted to know.
"Yeah. They got Tony."
Evidently, that was 'enough said', as there was no further commenting from Willow on that subject.
"Do you have any idea how long you're going to need to remain in the hospital?" Giles wanted to know.
"No idea."
The talk switched to more everyday topics from there, and Jim sighed as he tugged Blair out to their rent-a-car. "Kid's been lying to the cops. He knows who attacked him." Jim told Blair once they were in the car. He repeated what he'd heard Xander say.
Blair frowned as he thought it over. "That's ... an odd choice of words and descriptions, Jim." He pointed out.
Jim couldn't help but agree, although. "Could be him trying to pretend whoever did all that to him wasn't human. Some sort of dissociation or something." It happened, with victims.
Blair was nodding in agreement. "Yeah, it could be. Still a little odd."
"No argument there, Chief." Jim said.