Chapter 35

"Lorne, I swear to God…"

"I hear you, Former Bossman, but I don't think you're hearing me. There's vampires and demons all over LA conspiring to capture you, we don't know who's in charge, and we've already got two people missing. If you come dashing back to LA you're putting all of us in danger by interrupting the rescue plans, and someone may get hurt protecting you. I don't have a lot of authority here, but technically the Council put me in charge of conducting the search and rescue, and I say you're a liability if you come back now."

The green demon shifted uneasily in his chair. He generally preferred the carrot to the stick when it came to management, but he knew Angel, Liam, and every other incarnation of his former boss well enough at this point to know being gentler wasn't going to work.

"Lorne, please, he's my son." Liam was embarrassed to find himself very near tears, especially because Merry was sitting right there with him, but he couldn't control the overwhelming sense of frustration and desire to do something about it. He'd never felt the need to burst into tears as a vampire, except for the day Connor was born, and he internally cursed his living body and the hormones that affected his emotions.

Lorne sighed. "I know how important Connor is to you, Liam. You've more than proven that you'll risk everyone and everything on the planet to save him. I'd never ask you to risk or abandon him. You need to understand that getting on a plane back to LA right now would be risking him. Ask yourself, Angelcakes, do you need him alive, or do you need to be the hero? Because it's very likely only one of those things is possible."

Liam sank back in his chair, the words finally starting to penetrate. "So, what, I just continue with this road trip, going to stupid appointments and trying to convince people not to sue me?"

"Unfortunately for your peace of mind, that's the most strategic thing you can do right now. I promise we'll keep you up to date. In turn, you let us know as soon as you get any more messages. That phone number you gave us will come in handy, we can use it to gather information on the kidnappers, so we're grateful to have it. I will not, however, be grateful to see your pretty face in LA before someone calls and tells you to come back."

"Wait a minute," Merry cut in. "How long do you expect us to be gone, now? And, where should we go once our hotel reservations run out? We have tonight here, tomorrow night in Fort Collins; then Sturgis, South Dakota; Jordan, Montana; Butte, Montana; and Spokane, Washington. You were supposed to tell us sometime before we got to Spokane where the next stop was, or if we should head back to LA."

Lorne sighed. "I understand your concern about the uncertainty, and I wish I had more to tell you now. Your current itinerary gives us a week to decide what happens next, and we're gonna take advantage of that. If we haven't been able to resolve the kidnapping situation before then, I may have some contacts in Seattle who can put you guys up indefinitely, so you won't be stuck in a hotel on your own dime for who knows how long."

"Indefinitely!" Merry yelped, making the men both wince. "What about Penny's wedding?"

"Well, I was working on that, until the second bridesmaid went and got herself kidnapped!" Lorne snapped, then sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to get a hold of himself. "Sorry, I'm sorry, Meredith. I apologize to both of you. I'm stressed out; I've got three balls in the air for the Slayers, not to mention trying to keep track of getting my own business off the ground. I'm being as understanding as I can, but part of me feels like the longer I'm on the phone with you, the more time I'm taking away from other things I could be doing. Like finding Connor, or calling Penny's florist, for example."

"Okay," Liam sighed, still sounding upset, but far less angry. "I'm gonna play this your way until we reach the end of our itinerary. But, Lorne, if you haven't made any progress in the next six days, I'm heading for LA, and you'd better have a plan for getting me there."

Lorne nodded, even though they couldn't see him. "I think that's fair. It's better than I was expecting, really, so thanks, Angel Eyes. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow with an update, okay? Maybe by then the Council will have something to contribute."

They signed off the call, and for a moment Merry and Liam just sat there, looking at one another. "Forgive me for being crass," Liam finally said, "but I'm too wired to go to sleep. I need a stiff drink, or maybe to get laid."

Merry blinked at him, then patted his shoulder. "Well, I'm not gonna sleep with you, but I'll definitely drink with you, and if you leave me at the bar to take someone up to your room, I won't say boo."

He smiled wolfishly, the earlier anger and resignation fading from his face and posture as he practically jumped to his feet. "Alright, let's do this!"

Merry dragged herself out of her chair, shaking her head at his sudden eagerness. "Has anyone spoken to you about STD's? I know you haven't needed to pay attention to that for a while, but as a medical professional…"

Liam was checking his hair in the dresser mirror, and stopped to glare at her. "I wasn't in a coffin for all the years I was dead, you know? I've heard of AIDS and safe sex and stuff."

She smiled. "Good. Then I assume you have condoms? Best to have protection on hand, before you go pick up some random girl."

He blinked at her, then frowned. "Huh. Good point. It's the guy's responsibility, isn't it?"

"It doesn't have to be, but it's good not to assume." Her grin widened. "Fortunately for you, I forgot my toothpaste, so I was in the hotel convenience store earlier, and I know they have some in stock."

Liam smiled again. "You know, I'm really starting to appreciate you, Meredith."

She rolled her eyes, following him out the door. "Ugh, don't call me Meredith. My father called me Meredith."

Gunn, Barb, and Apple headed toward Jezebel's office, where Lorne had taken up residence as he tried to take over as much as he could. They'd gotten back to LA and immediately been pulled into the search for Connor and Jezebel, trying to figure out who was responsible for the kidnappings and follow up on leads about their location. It had been three days, and this was the first block when they all had some free time and could finally talk about what had happened in Texas. Not that Apple wanted to discuss it any more than she had on the drive home, but they insisted she talk to Lorne and Chas, in her Watcher's absence.

When they arrived to find the door open and Lorne and Chas wrapping up a phone call at 9:00 am, Gunn was a bit surprised. Lorne had never been a morning person, he'd figured Apple would be the first meeting of the day. "So, that's all we know at the moment. I have calls to make, and Joy and Carolyn are supposed to be doing recon on some demon bars, so we may get more intel later. I'll e-mail if we find anything big, otherwise I'll update on the call tonight." Lorne looked up and smiled wryly at the newcomers, waving them into the room.

"Sounds great, Lorne, and thank you for your work on this. I very much wish we had the resources to send you more assistance, but unfortunately we still have troubles here occupying senior personnel. I'm sure Charles and Luca are being as helpful as they can be, and we thank them also." Gunn didn't recognize the voice, but he could tell when someone was tired and used to being responsible for others.

"It's no trouble at all, Mr. Freeman. Honestly, just assigning someone to take over what Jezebel was doing for the Council has been a huge help. She was handling all that stuff on her own, so we wouldn't have even known to reassign it." Lorne shook his head, hoping he had Jezebel back soon so he could give her a good talking to about asking for help with things. "Anyway, my next meeting just arrived, so I'm going to get them some coffee and say hello."

Mr. Freeman chuckled. "Very well, please let everyone there know we're willing to help if it's needed."

Apple, practically vibrating with tension, snarked. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather be looking for my Watcher than sitting in a meeting."

"Ah, young Ms. Pratt." Chet's voice came through the phone. "You have my sympathies, having a family member in danger is never easy. Do try not to run yourself ragged, though. We have as many people on this as we can. The entire US operation of the Council of Slayers and Watchers is working to find out any information about what's going on in LA."

Chas waved frantically, probably sensing her rising irritation, but Apple ignored him. "Look, I don't know who you are, mister, but…"

"Hey there, Apple."

Apple blinked, trying to place the familiar voice that had cut off her tirade. "Umm, Amber?" Then she remembered Lorne saying Mr. Freeman. "I just yelled at Nick's dad, didn't I?" Chas raised his eyebrows as though to say 'I told you so', but she continued to ignore him.

"Yeah, but he'll give you a pass, on account of he knows you're as close to your Watcher as I was to mine." They could all hear the smile in Amber's voice. "Why don't you let Lorne say his goodbyes, yeah?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Mr. Freeman."

"No trouble, Ms. Pratt. Lorne, Charles, we'll speak this evening. Amber will contact you with the time, and who else you may want to have participate."

"Yes, Chief. You two take care of yourselves." Lorne pressed the button to disconnect the call, and shaking his head he looked up at Apple. "I understand you've had a rough couple of days, Applejacks, but I can't imagine Bella would have approved of you jumping into a conversation like that, would she?"

Apple blushed. "No, sir, she definitely wouldn't." She fidgeted, waiting for him to yell or award her some type of penalty for misbehavior.

Lorne just shook his head and rose from his chair. "Should I call and ask for some pastries?"

Barb sighed. "Yeah, I think I'd rather snack while we do the debrief, then get some rest. It was a long night, and I assume it'll be another tonight."

Gunn nodded. "Same, basically."

Lorne glanced at Apple to get her opinion, but she was still standing where he'd left her, looking at her feet and ignoring Barb's attempts to coax her into taking a seat at the table. Chas volunteered to walk to the kitchen for breakfast pastries, as Lorne grabbed a coffee cup and started filling it from a carafe on a side table. With a quick glance at Gunn, Lorne bypassed the adults, bringing the coffee to Apple. "Here you go, sweetie, fix this how you like and take a seat. We have a lot to go through once Chas gets back."

Apple blinked up at him as she took the coffee, but didn't see anything to be wary of in his gaze, so she relaxed and took the cup back to the side table to load it with milk. She quietly took the seat next to Barb, and relaxed a bit more as Lorne and Gunn began chatting casually and Barb got up to get her own cup of coffee. By the time Chas returned, she'd been coaxed into responding to questions. "Yeah, sure's weird. I remember Willow saying something when we were prepping for the battle, 'bout how some people just aren't able to deal with the whole Slayer thing, and I wonder if my mom's one of those. She allays was…Strict, I guess? But she didn't use'ta be violent so much as militaristic. She was convinced force is the solution to certain problems, and control's best for others. She's like to have thrown control out the window since last year. Seems it got worse while I was gone. I don't know why Dad don't notice or care, but there ya go."

Lorne shook his head. "I've asked the Council to send someone to Texas to evaluate Vonda. It won't happen right away, since they've got so much going on, but it'll happen. So, that's part of the problem settled. The other part is the 'you' part, my little chickadee. You don't have to go back there, I want you to know that. As a matter of fact, most of us would prefer you not. We'll figure out how to make it work, but there are several options…"

Apple waved her hand. "Honestly, I'm more concerned 'bout my Watcher right now. We can figure out my custody later if we need to. I'm almost eighteen, I'm a registered student here, and Jezebel's my legal guardian, so findin' her will do just as much to help my legal situation as my peace of mind."

Lorne nodded his acknowledgement and Gunn jumped in with his questions. "Is there any other source we can connect with, who might be able to help with weird custody issues?"

"The Council…The Old Council…Made up the custody agreement for me." Apple said. "I guess it's pretty standard, that they do that. When they approach the family, Watchers are supposed to offer to take full responsibility for the child, by telling them it'll be safer for the family and the child will be better able to focus. That's like what happened with Tamara, or Elise. Then, if the parents won't give up full custody, there's negotiation. That's what happened with me, and Jezzie I guess. At first my parents let me train, but they wouldn't give up any custody at all, and the Council let Jezebel do an 'evaluation period' to figure out how to deal with my parents. Jezebel moved to where my family lived, put Laurie in school with me, and put us on an after-school training program." She took a deep breath.

"Then Jezzie realized Mom and I didn't get along so well, so she tried to figure out how to help defuse the tension, or improve our communication or whatever." She rolled her eyes. "She pissed Mom off somethin' fierce before she got the deal, ya know? Then she had the Council get involved, with lawyers an' all. That's when we moved to New York. The agreement is that for my mental health and wellbeing I had to be removed from my parents' care during the school year, so I could focus on my studies. Which covered both Slayer training and academics. Then for a portion of my summer vacation my parents can see me, as long as it doesn't impact my welfare."

"Your mental health and wellbeing. That's pretty specific." Barb patted the younger girl's hand. "Do you want to tell us why that is?"

Apple turned red. "Umm, not really." She took a deep breath. "I tried to kill myself, okay? An' please don't spread that around, I hate it when people think I'm sick. I'm fine, I was in a bad place then, but I got better."

"Oh, sweetie." Barb teared up. "I'm so sorry that happened to you."

Apple shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "My brain was playing tricks with me, and Mom's 'tough love' drill sergeant thing didn't help. She does this whole 'break you down to build you up' thing, 'cept nothing I ever did was good enough, so there was no buildin'. After a while, everything just got too hard, and it felt like nothing mattered." She took a sip of her coffee and a deep breath, trying to get some control over herself. "The doctor I saw in New York said likely the hormonal shift from the onset of puberty messed with my head even more. 'Til then, Dad and Jezzie and Laurie were able to build me up and keep me goin'. Then it just felt like too much, tryin'a find anything worth being there for." She shook her head. "The First almost got me the same way, ya know? Telling me everyone would be better off without me there. Maybe I really am sick, since it's happened twice."

Lorne shook his head. "I think you're a very tough little cookie who's made silk purses outta some serious sow's ears. If your brain's permanently unhealthy, you can take pills and see doctors for that, and it'll suck but you'll always have support from us. In the meantime I can promise you, nothing leaves this room unless you want it to. We all know you're not a danger to yourself or the other students right now, and that you're an asset to the team."

Barb, Chas, and Gunn all nodded. "I'll call the Council, see if I can get a copy of that agreement for your custody to make sure it's airtight." Gunn offered. "I can't imagine it doesn't have some kind of clause for a missing Watcher; seems Buffy and Faith both went through multiples. They've gotta have that covered, and I wanna know the specifics in case your parents show up here or try to lawyer up."

"I have a copy." Apple said. "Jezzie made sure I knew where she kept hers, and that I had my own. They're trained to make sure we know who to contact if something happens to them, the Watchers. Never really read it, but my copy has some number I'm supposed to call if she died or we got separated. She pointed that out when she handed it to me."

Lorne sighed. "Bless Jezebel's tendency to worry about everything. She's even made her own kidnapping easier to manage."

They all laughed, the tension easing, and Barb impulsively reached out and wrapped Apple in a hug. The wiry teen shuddered and squeezed back, almost too hard. Barb winced, acknowledging that Apple, though several inches shorter than her and generally smaller framed, was likely much stronger.

"It's gonna be okay, kiddo," Barb murmured, trying to be reassuring. "We're just taking precautions. More than likely, your mother's just gonna do her thing, get wrapped up in her dojo and patrol and think you're here living Slayer life." She shifted back and looked Apple in the eyes. "Thank you for telling us about what happened to you. I know how hard it is to talk about conflict with your parents, right? People think you're just whining about having to follow rules, they don't think you're being damaged unless you have bruises. I know how neglect can hurt. How having people who are supposed to care about you treat you like an object makes you feel."

Apple nodded. "It was like that sometimes, like I was an object. Mom's very own mini-warrior robot. I've been studying martial arts since I could walk, you know? I hate it. I'm good at it, and I was strong even 'fore the calling, but I'd 'bout take my arm off if it meant I didn' have to fight anymore. I thought when I got injured, that maybe I'd get lucky and be retired…" She shook her head. "That sounds terrible."

"No." Chas cut in. "It sounds like you've had years of people forcing you to live a life you didn't want, and now you have options and you want to take them. You should take them. You should get the life you want; that's what we're trying to do, give you girls options, make sure you have futures."

Apple met his eyes for a moment, then nodded and sipped her coffee, finally relaxing fully. She had other people to support her now, she wasn't gonna be abandoned with Jezebel missing. She felt like she could take a little break from worrying. At least for the moment.