Chapter 11

Elise had been trying very hard not to put her two cents into things as Penny and Tommy worked to suddenly uproot their lives in Arizona and figure out what to do next. She tried to just be helpful and compliant, and ignore the speculative looks they gave, where she could tell they were trying not to ask what she thought about their choices. She did put her foot down when Penny mentioned leaving her with the neighbor while they took a long weekend trip to LA to figure out wedding details. She had to, because she knew what was going to happen when they got to LA.

As Willow's travel plans were abruptly changed due to Buffy sensing a problem in Bath, and everyone scrambled around trying to help her, and Tommy started making plans to get them and William on a flight later that week, she finally had to speak up.

Catching Tommy just as he finished a call with the barristers in London he'd been working with on the estate paperwork, Elise delicately cleared her throat.

"Hey, sweet pea." Tommy smiled at her distractedly. "Need something?"

"Yes, Mr. Tommy. I need a plane ticket to Rio."

Tommy blinked and sat back in his chair, leveling his gaze on her as the girl took a seat across from him. "Okay, and why do you think you need to go to Rio?"

"Because Willow's going to be gone longer than she thinks, and you and Miss Penny are going to be too busy in England for me to go with you. I'll come back with Gretchen for the wedding, but it's going to be safer just now if I'm not in LA." She tried to stay calm and sound like this wasn't a big deal, but they both knew it was. She hated strangers, and going off all alone to a country where she didn't speak the language sounded like torture. But she was needed there, and at least she knew Tamara. Also, LA wasn't going to be calm for long, the absence of Wolfram & Hart from the dimension was already causing problems, and she didn't want to become a bargaining chip.

"Maybe Illyria can come with me?" She suggested hesitantly. She couldn't see anything about Illyria, but also didn't see how the demon King could help anything by staying here, and at least they would be another familiar face.

Tommy shook his head. "I'll talk to Penny, but you know she's not going to go for it."

"She has to." Elise declared. "Because if you don't get me a plane ticket I'll just have Willow teleport me, which would take a lot out of her, and no one wants that."

Tommy sighed. He was out of his depth. He was a lawyer, not a Council guy; he didn't know from demons and prophecies. He knew all about one particular vampire, and that was 90 percent of his supernatural knowledge. He had lived with Elise for years, though, and he knew what it meant when she insisted on something. "Are we wrong to move here, Pip? We're supposed to be your guardians, if we can't keep you safe here…"

Elise smiled, sensing capitulation. "No, you're right to be here, you're both needed. The fact that forces in LA make a seer very valuable, and a researcher and a lawyer very necessary to the Slayer, just means that you're needed here and I'm not. Think of it as sending me away to boarding school, if that helps."

Tommy snorted. It actually did help, the idea that they could send Elise away to school like any couple with an adopted daughter with special needs. It sounded so normal. As long as you ignored the fact that she was a seer and some bad guy was going to find her 'valuable'. "Okay, I give up. You've sold me, but I have no idea how to get Pen on board without telling her you had some kind of vision that LA's about to get dangerous again."

Her smile dimmed as Elise considered what to say. Miss Penny was overprotective, and loved her to bits, and could read her aura. How do you lie to someone who knows what's in your soul, and has more experience with people than you? "Do you think she'd believe that I feel like I need to give you guys some space to be newlyweds without a teenage daughter? That I don't want to go, but I think it's a good idea to at least be around other Wiccans?"

"So you want to leave before the wedding?" Tommy frowned. This sounded to him like Elise's first suggestion for leaving was a cover for the second, but he could wait to bring that up later. The poor kid had been through enough lately without him grilling her.

Elise shrugged. "It's not like you're going to be around much before then…"

"You think we're going to be in England for 6 weeks!?" Tommy's eyes bugged out. No way could they be gone so long, they had so much to do, and he had a case going to trial.

"Well, no, you're not leaving until next Monday, so more like 5 weeks." She sighed, not wanting to say anything about what would happen in Spain. "Don't mention that I know when you'll be flying out before Miss Penny comes in and tells you about the plane tickets, alright? I wasn't supposed to bring that up."

The door flew open behind Elise, startling Tommy. "I can't believe what the state of travel is in this country for the handicapped. It's an absolute horror show." Penny's rant wound down as she realized Elise was sitting there. "Hey kiddo, what's up? You're all upset."

Jezebel looked around her office, at her desk covered with papers and the side chair full of shopping bags, and tried not to panic. In the last month she'd rescinded her tenure application, and wasn't that just the worst, that the death knell to her chosen career outside the Council had been her choice. She was trying to stay convinced that the change didn't have to be forever, still working to write up finals for her students and finish her year on a high note, maintaining her good standing with the UC system. That way, if the whole Hyperion School thing fell through she could go back to being an adjunct and start the process over again.

She was also fumbling her way through the whole 'starting a school and becoming a Headmistress' thing. Wes had worked with her on the application to start a private school, and as Slayers and Watchers filtered in after the battle he'd been instrumental in figuring out who could help them make the Hyperion School a going concern, and who was best shipped off somewhere else, but two people couldn't manage all of it.

Some things had been easy to figure out. Tamara had no family, didn't even have a surname except her now-dead Watcher's. She had nothing to hold her in LA, and so had stayed only three days before shipping off to the Slayer Coven School in Rio, which was full of girls she could identify with and actual teachers.

Rosa Gonzales had headed back to Nevada after a week, planning to return once she'd closed up her house and her son's. She'd probably provide some den-mother services when she got back, but mostly she wanted to be with her family. Marta and David hadn't known what to do when they and their oldest son suddenly became stronger last year. Rosa knew Magics, but she'd had no idea about the family's Sineyan heritage, so all she'd been able to tell them was she also felt stronger, and there wasn't anything nefarious working on them from outside. They'd all been so thrilled to meet others like them that they'd jumped in with both feet, quitting their jobs and volunteering to help no matter what was needed.

Other situations had been more tricky. Barbara Thomas had been hired as a Math teacher, which was fortunate because none of the rest of those currently in LA were math people. Barbara was another 'unidentified Potential' like Marta. She was a teacher by trade, and knew basically nothing about the supernatural. She had family, but she wasn't close with them and hadn't felt comfortable talking about her sudden weird strength. Jezzie was helping her figure out a strategy for heading home to visit next month and bringing up the subject with her parents. It was especially important that she do so because she had two younger brothers, and who knew how powerful they'd be after they hit puberty.

Andrea Prichard-Barry had come on board as their chef on a temporary basis, on the understanding that she wanted to move back to England as soon as Buffy extracted her husband from his administrative limbo. Her brother Warren had a job in Palo Alto and wasn't Sineyan, but he had put them in touch with some of the local non-violent demons and half-breeds, so she and Merry could warn them about the Slayer presence they were building, and put out some feelers about who might be willing to work with them.

This week, Buffy was sending them some Council researcher from Rome who hadn't done a darn thing to help the Slayers while he'd been there. Jezzie hoped she could get some actual work out of the guy, like maybe he'd be able to teach History or Demonology or something. They were gonna be incredibly short staffed in September unless they figured something out fast. There weren't even enough teachers for the 20-odd students they currently planned to have, let alone if they ended up at capacity. With elementary through high-school aged students among the current population, even those teachers with the proper skills were going to be tested.

On top of all that, now there was Penny's wedding to re-plan. In less than 2 months. When Tommy was planning to go to England for at least a week right in the middle of all of it. Jezzie had already been part of the wedding party, so she'd helped Pen sort out a lot of details last year. The couple had left the food until the last minute, but the hall and church had long been booked, decorations ordered, and dresses bought.

The new venue would change most of what had previously been decided on as far as seating and decorations, and the food and flower vendors would have to be selected from scratch, not to mention a new photographer. They'd have to find a caterer willing to take the job, or find a way to get Andrea some good help if she was willing to do it. All the invitations needed to be sent again with the new location and instructions. And somehow within the next six weeks they had to have enough construction done that they could stop for almost a week and focus only on wedding events, with enough rooms for guests to sleep in.

Jezzie was reaching the end of her rope, and wasn't sure what to do about it. The "Hyperion Staff" such as it was, was literally eight people, who were assigned specific roles, none of which had to do with event planning or guest wrangling, or looking for cheap florists in LA. She was mostly relying on her friends and their friends to do stuff, and no one had all the skills necessary to the tasks that needed doing. She felt guilty for dumping work on people, and it always felt like dumping work on them since they hadn't signed up to do any of these extra things. So Jezzie just tried to do as much as she could herself. She'd been working non-stop for over a month, and was starting to get stressed like she used to in Watcher training, and that led to unacceptable freak outs.

Taking a deep breath, Jezzie forced herself to start making a list of what needed to be done. Before she'd filled half the page, there was a knock on the door. "Come in." She called, hoping there wasn't another problem to solve about to walk through her door.

Lorne peeked his head through the opening. "Hey, toots, can I come in?"

Jezzie smiled, sighing in relief. "Yes, please. I could use a break."

"Were you looking for me, Bella? You should have called." Lorne frowned. He hadn't been around much the last few weeks, had she looked so tired the last time he saw her?

"No, not really. Just happy you don't have another frickin' problem for me to deal with. Lately it feels like everyone wants a piece of me, and all the problems are peas in my mattress, ya know?"

"Well, that doesn't sound good. What can I do to help?"

She shook her head. "Honestly, I have no idea. I'm so overwhelmed I'm not thinking straight. I was just starting a list of what needs to be done before July. I think once I have it all on paper it'll be easier to figure out how to arrange it all, or at least think of a way to delegate some of it."

Lorne smiled. "Well, I was a business owner. I'm very good with lists, and with delegating."

"I appreciate that, Lorne, but I can't ask you to do this for me. You're trying to get your life back, reopen your business. I can't be taking up all your time here." Jezebel frowned at her list, and jotted down, 'Bachelor/Bachelorette Party/s?'.

The green demon chuckled. "Wow, you and Angel have a few things in common, although your martyr complex is nowhere near as finely honed. Listen, Bella, I know you're the Major General around here, but you have a bunch of Lieutenants willing to serve. Use us. Also, I don't know why you thought I'd take over the organizing entirely. I don't know half of what needs doing around here. But, I'm sure that once we get a list together I can take a bunch of things off your hands." He reached across the desk and plucked the sheet of paper from in front of her.

"Okay, so you've got Construction Meetings on here, that can be divided between Wes and Chas, so that's off your plate. Hiring is all you, girly. You're the boss. But Chas and Barbara can probably screen candidates for you if they know what you're looking for. Day care/nursery school staff should really be under hiring, and we can rely on Rosa for now, there's no indication we're going to get swamped by a ton of littles. So that's done."

He perked up. "Ooh, wedding planning. When did this happen? Who's getting hitched?"

Jezebel sat back in her chair, and grabbed a fresh sheet of paper. "Penny and Tommy. They were supposed to get married in Arizona, but when Pen lost her job I offered her one. We're gonna need a librarian, and she's imminently qualified. So, now they want to move the wedding here…I don't know why the rush. If they were going to save money I'd understand it, but I think they're going to lose deposits backing out of the venue and hotel block. Not to mention how much more expensive flowers and catering are going to be here. I just hope none of the guests bought non-refundable plane tickets…"

Lorne held up a hand to cut her off. "Okay, this one is easy. I'm in the entertainment business, and I was planning to have to staff a club soon anyway. Congratulations, you've just hired a pro-bono wedding planner. I can take over the entire operation with one arm tied behind my back, including getting people some refunds they're not strictly entitled to, maybe. I may need a brigade of Watchers and Slayers to write envelopes when the new invitations are ready, but if I can find a printer with some free time I might not even need that. Just give me everything they have planned so far, and I'll be in touch with Penny on the details."

Jezebel shook her head. "Lorne, thank you, but I can't ask you…"

"You aren't asking, I'm offering." He frowned at her. "Do you have a free office around here? I'd love a place to collect myself and be available to everyone."

"Oh, sure." Jezebel shot out of her chair. "They're almost done remodeling the offices down the hall, and we have a few desks around I think. Sorry, the new furniture won't be here until a week from Friday."

"It's fine, beautiful, I can make due with a card table if it's only for a few weeks. I just need someplace quiet to make phone calls from and leave my stuff." And somewhere close to you, so I can keep you from running yourself ragged, he thought.