Misunderstandings and Mysteries
A/N: Disclaimer's in the first chapter. I have based Cascade's stats on Seattle's, since it was a stand-in for Seattle in the show anyway. Given Sunnydale exists to feed the Hellmouth and demons, forcing people to go there to get information makes sense, hence the scarcity of information on the internet.
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June 7-9, Cascade
It didn't take long on the train for Xander to realize he had a very real problem. At the hospital, he'd been able to deflect Jim and Blair (mostly Blair) with questions about Jim or Cascade. He'd been able to keep the details of his life pretty well quiet, other than his being friends with Willow and Buffy. They knew next to nothing.
And therein lay the problem. Blair was every bit as curious as Willow was, and probably more. And even if Jim wasn't dying of curiosity, he did have an interest in finding out about Xander. And there was only so long he'd be able to concentrate on the Pre-Buffy years before they wanted to know about her and Giles. Worst thing was, Blair hadn't said a word yet. Xander knew, however, his grace period was more or less over. He could see it in Blair's expression.
"Thinking laying down again would be a good idea." Xander said, grateful for the fact that his body was really not up to extended stays in the land of horizontalness, even if it usually irked him. Ok, it normally annoyed the hell out of him. He kind of hated this. Ok, more than kind of, and the quicker he was back to normal, the better. Jim helped him back into the sleeping car and he sprawled on the narrow bed with a grateful sigh.
"It'll get better, Xander." Jim said, evidently having spotted Xander's less than happy expression.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. In the meantime, it royally sucks." Xander said with a grimace.
"Yeah, I know. Been there, burned the T-shirt." Jim said.
Xander gave an amused snort. "And that is so a good reason for me to never sign up. I really don't need to get torn to bits on a regular basis." And yeah, that was irony, given how he's spent most of the last year. Sheeze.
"Kind of attached to being all in one piece, huh?"
"You could say that." Boy, could he ever, Xander thought. And again with the irony. And Jim giving him a funny look. "I mean, I got nothing against anybody that signs up ... it's a job that's got to be done, you know? It's just not my idea of a good time." His idea of a 'good time' ran to dusting as many vamps as humanly possible while still staying in one piece. Ok, so, mostly hiding behind Buffy while she did the dusting, but hey. Oh, and annoying the life ... err, unlife ... out of Angel while simultaneously being weirded out by the whole souled-vamp thing, because whoah. Bullying him into doing the right thing also rated high on the amusement meter, though thinking of that made him give a slightly irritated snort both for Angel and for Giles, but Angel got most of it, because talk about patheticsville. Giles at least tried, and pretty much had to be stopped via a conk to the head. Angel had just essentially curled up in a corner and started the funeral early. Gah.
""I'll check on you in a couple of hours." Jim told Xander. Xander nodded and faked sleep. Jim headed back out to Blair. "Definitely hiding something. He's faking wanting to sleep to avoid us."
"Man, Jim, this is driving me nuts. What the hell's going on?" Blair said, sounding slightly exasperated, intensely curious, and more than a bit frustrated.
"Dunno, Chief, but I intend to find out when we get back to Cascade. See what Simon can dig up on the lot of them."
"Yeah, yeah. It's just ... "
"Driving you crazy?" Jim finished, with no small amount of amusement.
"Yeah, it is. Something's going on and I want to know what."
"Might be covering for abuse." Jim practically growled. "As bad as Jessica was ... "
Blair grimaced. "Yeah, that could be part of the problem, but it doesn't answer why he's not ... " Blair trailed off and his eyes went wide as an idea occurred to him. "Oh shit. Jim ... what if the people that grabbed him were buddies of Jessica or her husband?"
Jim's expression went murderous. "If they were, I'm going to do some Army interrogation practice on them."
And that would be code for 'break their bones and generally make them wish they'd never been born, Jim Ellison style'. Blair thought. Having seen glimpses of the vicious, ruthless Ranger and Sentinel that hid under the grumpy cop, Blair did not envy anyone that earned Jim's wrath.
"Unfortunately, while it makes a bit of sense." Jim continued. Victims sometimes refused to speak when they knew their attackers, or knew that the attack had been 'called in' by someone they knew. The fear of worse happening was very real, and happened often enough that while keeping their silence annoyed Jim to no end, he understood the mentality that encouraged it. "But not all the pieces fit. Take and terrorize? Yeah. Kill? Especially the way it was attempted, not so much. Those were no knife wounds, Chief. They looked more they'd been done by claws. Damn big ones, too. And it doesn't answer what the other three are hiding, unless they all know about the abuse and are hiding it." Jim sighed. "But even that doesn't explain Willow freaking out about Xander seeing a hyena." It just did not add up. And it was frustrating the holy hell out of Jim.
It was also baffling Blair. There were so many inconsistencies. So much unspoken subtext. He mentally reviewed what he'd seen, mulling it over for the umpteenth time, trying to make sense of the clues with what little context they had. Unfortunately, he just couldn't. There was too much missing.
Despite not being tired when he'd 'run for cover' Xander did fall asleep. His strength and stamina were nil, and combined with the rocking of the train, it took all of about five minutes for him to fall asleep.
Xander never did get to see much of the scenery on the ride. He spent most of it sleeping. Eventually, the train stopped in Seattle, and from there it was an hour's ride to Cascade in another van. Given that seat belts were still a huge no, Xander got a very cockeyed and limited look at Cascade from flat on his back on the seat. Mostly a lot of rooftops. It was rather depressing that he ended up sleeping almost an entire day after arriving, he was so worn out by the travel.
The loft was fair-sized but a touch on the crowded side with the addition of the futon for him to sleep (and sit) on. Fortunately, it was a straight, fairly short shot to the can. Xander eyed the distance off and decided he just might be able to make the distance under his own power sometime next year, at this rate. It also had a very odd-couple feel to it. Most of the main room was very plain and utilitarian, but there was stuff here and there, mostly little things, that just didn't match the rest that was probably from Blair, given what he'd said about moving in after his old place blew up. And if that wasn't a Sunnydale-style story, Xander didn't know what it was. Oh, he was fairly sure demons were not involved, but an apartment blowing up was the sort of thing you expected to hear in good old Sunnydale.
One of the first things that Xander noticed, once he was awake enough, was that Cascade 'felt' different than Sunnydale ever had. Even before he'd known the truth, the 'dale had been a dangerous place. Only the foolhardy or the stupid went out after dark, even if they didn't know exactly why. The town 'felt' dangerous, for lack of a better way to put it. Cascade, on the other hand, well, didn't. Oh, Xander was sure it was no utopia, but it didn't reek of danger and violence. If he needed any more proof of the place being a demon-free zone, the fact they had four cemeteries more than Sunnydale for a population about ten times larger than Sunnydale's kind of sold it. And was very reassuring, though it would make obtaining necessary goodies trickier. And he was betting none of the schools had obituary columns in their papers. Wait ... why was he worrying about getting necessary goodies again? He was so not going to be able to fight off a dustbunny, nevermind a vamp or demon in the condition he was in! Xander shook his head at himself.
Jim was putting things in boxes (which made Xander feel bad, because he knew they were moving to accommodate him) while Blair was puttering around in the kitchen making something that was making Xander's stomach snarl like he hadn't eaten in months.
"Man, Blair, whatever that is, it smells really good." Xander said, which made Blair laugh for some reason.
"Man, finally. Someone who appreciates good cooking." Blair said.
"Watch it, Chief, or I'll make you eat WonderBurgers for a month." Jim shot back.
"Oh, no way man. Those things are heart attacks on greasy buns." Blair complained.
Xander cocked his head slightly. "You guys have a Doublemeat Palace around here?"
"No." Jim told him.
"This WonderBurger place any good?"
"Yeah." Jim said with a grin.
"Definitely going to have to give them a try later then. I can't go too long without my greasy, fatty goodness. Or my sugary goodness." Xander said.
"Oh man. He is definitely your kid Jim. Same eating habits. You're both going to eat yourselves into early graves." Blair complained.
Xander nearly choked on a laugh. Yeah. He was so not worried about eating himself into high cholesterol and dying of a heart attack. At least not a heart attack from that source, anyway. Heart attack from sheer fear was definitely still an option. "Hey, I'm a teenager." He complained. "There is no such thing as enough to eat."
That got a laugh out of both Jim and Blair. "Yeah, I definitely remember those days." Jim agreed. "You play any sports?"
"Does running and hiding from bullies count? 'cause otherwise, no. I'm not really into the sports thing." Xander said, making an apologetic face. "I'm not exactly the biggest brain in school, either, for that matter." Yeah. Only a matter of time before Jim tossed him back where he came from at this rate.
The next twenty-four hours had Xander half-convinced his father was gay. It hadn't been real obvious (especially to someone doped to the gills) at the hospital, but Jim and Blair were almost constantly in each other's space. Giving each other these looks that Xander couldn't quite interpret and really, he kinda didn't want to, or worse, touching. Oh, nothing that was a blatant PDA, but definitely more touchy-feely than any two other guys Xander had ever seen. Plus, that whole 'move in with me 'cause your place blew up' story was ... really thin. It really didn't help that it was the sort of thing that would happen to him. Neat. Got a good dad. Something normal! Except ... not. 'cause he's, you know, into guys. And the thought of that was more than a bit disconcerting.
The only thing that sounded any kind of false note was the fact that Blair most definitely had 'his' space. With a bed just for him. Granted, it was behind a curtain, but it was there. Not that Xander was going to actually ask. Oh no. That way lay badness, if he was wrong. Most straight guys answered 'are you gay' with a punch to the face, and given that Jim was an ex-Ranger and a cop ... yeah. That way lay much badness and a pulped Xander. Considering that he was already rather a bit pulped, Xander was going to opt for the not-asking option.
June 7-9 Sunnydale
Willow was very, very busy on her computer, digging up everything she could find on Blair Sandburg and Jim Ellison. So far, they both seemed to be really good people. Mr. Ellison'd been in the Army quite a while, made it to Captain, had a lot of decorations. He'd also evidently been double-crossed by a higher-up and his entire team killed in Peru, but he still managed to do what he and his team had been sent there to do. She found all sorts of articles about that. It'd been a really big deal, back in '88. Mr. Ellison also seemed to be the eldest son of a fairly well-to-do businessman. Blair Sandburg, she had discovered, was something of a perpetual student, and really really smart. He'd been in college (or on digs) since he was sixteen. Specialized in anthropology. Neither man was really at all remarkable in a bad way. It made her feel a good deal better. She'd tell Xander all about it when she headed up there next week.
June 3-9, Cascade PD
The search Rafe was doing for Jim (as a favor) did not return the same reassuring information. It returned yet more of a mystery. A British national who more or less defined the concept of 'overqualified' for his existing job, given that he'd been working with the British Museum at one point. What he was doing in Sunnydale as a librarian was anyone's guess. Similarly, Buffy Summers' history was less than comforting, at least the recent history.
What stressed Rafe out was that there was absolutely nothing about Willow or Xander anywhere on the 'net. Or much of anything about Sunnydale, for that matter. There was a very generic website that touted Sunnydale's pleasant weather and proximity to the ocean and generally encouraged people to come and check the place out, but there was no real, hard data. No census, nothing with any detail at all. Evidently, to find out what he wanted to know, he'd have to go to Sunnydale in person. And that was just plain odd. If Sunnydale was some dinky hick town of a couple thousand, he could understand it, but they boasted a population around 40 thousand, more than big enough to be noticed in official government tallies of various sorts.
So he didn't have much by way of comfort for Jim when Jim stopped by late in the day to check in at the precinct. Jim had glowered at the information Rafe had been able to dig up.
"So we've got a horrendously overqualified librarian, a major troublemaker teen girl, and a massive mystery in the persons of Willow and Xander, and Sunnydale in general? What the hell is going on?" This was just adding to the questions he had, and tempting him to just cut the bullshit, sit Xander down and demand answers, but doing that would completely screw up any chance he had at a halfway amiable relationship with the kid, even he knew that!