Over the next few days, Buffy continued figuring out what 'normal patrols' with Jem and Ash would be like – where they would start, areas to cover, and how long would be a good patrol. She explained to them a bit about basic vampire killing, while admitting that beheading and fire were both good tactics that worked on most nasties. Joyce kept trying to calm down about her little girl out chasing monsters. And Phillip Mooreland was looking through his books and other sources for that scaly dog, and clues about what sort of person or monster might have such a beast.
He'd quite agreed that such a creature, which he said would be one of three possible types of demonic beast, was of no more than animal intelligence. That such a beast being well-fed indicated it was under someone's control and guidance. That where there was a demon-dog being let into rooms, there was someone with vicious plans opening doors. He'd identified the types of demon-dog, with dreadful sounding names, and explained that they were most often used as guards and fast moving assassins by minor mages.
That had prompted a whole night of unhappy questions and answers. Magic, spells, artifacts, and the known limits of the whole batch. Magic spells to call things up from beyond, and how to send those things back. Which had led to more denials of being the Goblin King or having goblin minions. Joyce was starting to suspect that Dawn kept making the comments just to see him get flustered and deny the whole thing.
The down side was that the particular type of demon dog that he'd concluded was the most likely to be the one attacking, based on the description he'd been given wasn't vulnerable to fire. The scales would make slicing and stabbing more difficult, but not impossible. Blunt force or precision attacks with a very sharp blade were the best bet, as they didn't have access to a skilled mage to send the beast home, or any easily portable powerful sources of cold.
Joyce was quite amused at the way Dawn kept teasing Phillip about goblin minions. They were starting to think that they might want to introduce Phillip to Jem and Ash, just to make reports and researching easier. The fact that the pair of them would probably join in on the teasing him about goblin minions would only make it more amusing to the ladies Summers.
All in all, Joyce thought that Phillip was doing quite well with their group. He did ask a good deal more question than either she or Emma, and some of them were things that wouldn't have occurred to her. Joyce wouldn't have ever considered that it could make a difference if a large scaly demon had red or yellow scales. According to Phillip, it made a very big difference – the yellow ones were highly venomous, while the red ones would only leave you feeling wobbly and with blurry or doubled vision. Not that wobbly and vision problems was a good thing, but it was s good deal better than convulsions, vomiting, and death within a maximum of ten minutes.
That was the sort of thing that made a Watcher useful.
Joyce hadn't been sure when they'd brought him in. She'd been worried, partly because of Claybourne and partly from all of the stress and fear that Buffy had been carrying around. Words like duty and destiny and dead before eighteen, and complaints about knowing more ways that people could get mauled to death than the whole family had sets of shoes. A rather sleepless night had resulted in Joyce learning that the family – herself, Emma, Dawn and Buffy – totaled one hundred and thirteen pairs of shoes. That was a lot of ugly ways to die. She had also spent a few minutes rather half-heartedly blaming Emma for pointing her towards this fabulous shoe store, and having her assistant take Buffy there for 'retail therapy'. Twice.
That afternoon Buffy came home from school, still complaining about a quiz in French and a report assigned for History. Apparently, there had been more than a few questions about French geography on the quiz, and Buffy didn't think that was quite fair.
"Why wouldn't the questions be in French for a French quiz? It helps them check your reading ability as well as how much attention you were paying to cities and crops," Joyce smiled at her daughter. "And do remember that France is on metric."
"Stupid metric. Why can't they use feet and inches like the rest of the world?" Buffy grumbled.
"Most of the world uses metric," Joyce pointed out. "America is just stubborn."
"I guess we're good at that," Buffy managed a grin. "But I think I did bad on the quiz."
"Back in California, this is when I'd be asking you what could be so important that you couldn't study, you'd make a few bad excuses to hide your patrols, I'd assume that you were trying to cover up parties and a boyfriend that I wouldn't like, and I'd move on to grounding you," Joyce sighed. "In some ways, I worried a lot less when I thought you were sneaking out with boys and parties. Other times I think I worried more."
"How could you be worrying less now than you did before?" Buffy blinked, her nose wrinkling. "That doesn't even make sense – oh, hunting monsters with a pointy stick? Much better, do carry on…"
"It doesn't sound the same without Phillip's accent," Joyce commented.
"I guess not. And speaking of him, I want him to meet Jem and Ash. Then he can ask them the bazillion questions about all the baddies," Buffy gave a half grin. "And I still don't know how that can be an improvement."
"Because fighting demons isn't likely to leave you in the emergency room from a drug overdose or trying to tell me that I'm going to become a grandmother before you've even graduated from high school," Joyce looked at her daughter with one raised eyebrow. "Or do you think that I've forgotten that football player with the grabby hands?"
"Ummm…" Buffy tried to look innocent, and looked closer to confused. "Okay, there were a few bad boyfriends back in LA."
"Which is why I worry about you picking up a bad one here," Joyce sighed.
"I guess I can see your point," Buffy admitted. Then, she grinned and asked, "How long do you think it'll take for Jem and Ash to start teasing Phillip about goblin minions?"
Joyce only laughed.
End part 39.
Joyce decided that she'd rather tell Emma about Buffy's desire to introduce the rest of her team to Phillip herself, rather than let her be surprised later. If Emma had a good reason to delay the introductions, then she could explain to all of them why not. Joyce suspected that Emma might have done at least a little snooping, not just with the investigator, but probably snooped a bit into his mind. The idea didn't bother her as much as it would if they weren't trusting this man with Buffy's life. Joyce couldn't help but wonder if it was a matter of ethical weakness that she felt invading his privacy was acceptable, or it if was a very strong desire to protect her daughter.
"Why are you questioning your ethics, darling?" Emma's question from the office suggested that she was more than ready for a break from whatever was on her computer.
"Regarding the fact that you've probably been peeking into Phillip's mind," Joyce clarified. "Considering the influence he has over Buffy's safety, I'm rather unconcerned with his right to privacy. Hence the doubts over my ethics."
"You worry too much. You have one of the strongest sets of ethics of anyone I know, and the only thing that I can imagine that would even make you think about crossing those lines would be a threat to one of your daughters." Emma left her chair, sauntering towards Joyce. Without the jacket, the white corset and skirt split up to her thigh made a very tempting picture.
Emma smiled at Joyce, "Thanks for the compliment. And no, there really isn't a way to wear a bra under one of these corsets."
"That doesn't help with the temptation," Joyce smiled.
"Why resist?" Emma leaned closer, her breath against Joyce's cheek. "Indulge a little… I promise that it'll be fun."
"Before you thoroughly distract me with your sensual ways and naughty ideas, Buffy wants to introduce the rest of her team to Phillip. I thought if you knew ahead of time then if there's a reason not to introduce them other than keeping secrets, you could share." Joyce took the single step that left her pressed against Emma. "And she thinks that they'll have fun teasing him about where his goblin minions might be as well."
Emma chuckled, "They probably will."
"As I said, do we have a reason to delay?" Joyce asked. "Other than your enjoyment of knowing things that someone else doesn't know?"
"Amusing as knowing a secret can be, I suppose we can introduce them. Then we can watch the teasing about goblin minions," Emma smirked. "Now about those tempting ideas of yours…"
Kissing her girlfriend, Joyce decided that giving in to temptation once in a while could be a very enjoyable thing. Especially when that temptation involved Emma.
Buffy had been delighted to have her mom and Emma's approval to introduce her back-up to Phillip. Joyce suspected that their dismay or outright disapproval might not have stopped her, but it did make things less tense if there was agreement. And she was glad that Buffy had stopped objecting quite so much about Emma being her girlfriend. That had given her more than a few headaches.
"Which of them do you think will start it?" Emma whispered.
Joyce smirked, confident that at least part of Emma's motives for permitting the introductions would be watching the newest round of tease the Watcher. "A good question. I have two prime suspects."
"Is one of them Buffy?" Emma suggested.
"No. Dawn or Jem. Buffy wants to watch the others tease him as a sign that it isn't just her," Joyce countered.
"And what if I'm right?" Emma purred.
Joyce let her mind picture a rather tempting scene involving Emma, a white silk scarf used as a blindfold, and a bowl of whipped cream. "I have a few ideas."
Emma smiled, her cheeks turning a faint pink. "Interesting. I'll hold you to that if I'm right. And if you are, we'll try that one with the chocolate sauce and the feather."
"Ohhh, you naughty woman," Joyce whispered.
Joyce tried to push the naughty images back as they walked towards the study where Buffy, Jem and Ash were supposed to be waiting. She wasn't surprised to see Dawn there as well, sitting on a table and kicking her feet while pretending to read a book.
"Time to see how this goes," Emma murmured.
End part 40.