"Uncle Rory, I found out something very interesting investigating that cleaning company." Xander informed his Uncle a couple of weeks later.
"And what would that be?" He asked.
"Johnathan managed to get into their systems and got me a list of employees of the company. And yes, I know that's not legal given we didn't have a warrant, but I was able to do a check, not very in depth really because none of the websites that do those kinds of checks give out anything more than legally available information, addresses, phone numbers, stuff like that, but people post a lot of private information out on the web too apparently and if you know where to look, you can find it. And Johnathan knows where to look. So really the only illegal thing we did was hack the company's system and get their employee list. The rest came from legal websites. Anyway, the guy who wrote the article is a cousin of the wife half of the Athertons family that owns All Purpose Cleaners."
"That is interesting. Maybe he's trying to get someone to see there's a problem there."
"He could get in trouble with his family doing that."Jesse commented. "But what are the odds that a Grimm would connect the few vague hints in the paper to an Alpe?"
"He'd have to know there are Grimms around." Rory suggested.
"Sunnydale isn't far from Los Angeles, Uncle Rory and the Wesen rep, Mike Schilling, said both it and our family's reputation is known to the Wesen Council. Gunn's group didn't really know much about us, but they're street kids that formed a gang to protect their neighborhood against a vampire infestation. They've been doing it since Gunn himself was 12 and he's in his mid twenties. They'd heard some rumors, but they're so busy surviving, those rumors were unsubstantiated before we went to them for help in getting Buffy back. A journalist on the other hand, has resources and motivation to do some checking of his own."
"So maybe he does know there's a problem in his family and maybe family loyalty or fear is at war with doing the right thing." Rory speculated. "And he's using his paper to try to get some attention paid to it."
"And it is his paper, Uncle Rory. It's a solo online paper. I also know him and he's not Wesen."
"How do you know him?" Rory asked, curious.
"We went to school together. His name is Freddy Iverson."
"That's weird." Faith said, from where she'd been listening. "We ran into Freddy back when Jack O'Toole was a necromancered zombie. Both Rory and I decapitated a zombie in front of him and he fainted. We took him to the hospital and kinda figured he talked himself into believing it was all a dream or something since we never heard anything else about it."
"Instead he might have just gone looking for information." Xander considered the idea. "And than maybe he finds out something weird about the family his cousin is married into. Being a journalist, he prints it."
"Why not just come to us and tell us about it?" Rory asked.
"Because he's also deeply paranoid. He once wrote a bad review about Oz's band and hid for weeks afterwards whenever he saw Oz because he was sure he'd beat him up."
"Oz is the most mellow man imaginable." Faith pointed out wryly.
"Exactly my point. Freddy hides behind his paper to do things, he doesn't do them directly. And he worries excessively about blowback, but it doesn't stop him from doing it."
"Because he considers himself a journalist and therefore it's his duty to print the facts." Rory summed up. "It's not his duty to do anything about it, up to and including reporting his suspicions to an authority capable of doing something about it."
"I thinks there's some kind of journalist expression about reporting the news, not being part of the news." Xander shrugged. "He reports it to an authority and he's part of the news. Meanwhile, people die and he just keeps reporting it in his paper."
"He thinks he's being true to the ethics of his chosen profession while avoiding being true to greater humanity ethics." Rory said, disgusted. "Alright, I'll go talk to him, see what he actually does know and go from there. Good work, Xan."
"I've got homework, I'll see you later. Good luck, Uncle Rory."
Turns out there was a problem, the Athertons' half Alpe teenage son was having a severe reaction to his 'other' nature. He'd only begun woging less than a year before. One his family thought was limited to the normal teenage rebellions of acting out. Since the police believed the deaths were natural and none of the family had seen the online articles, they hadn't realized how bad a problem he was having. They were devastated by the knowledge that their son had killed people. Rory worked out a deal with them, locked up in a small psychiatric facility run by a Wesen and counseling monitored by the Council. Once deemed well enough for release though, one death and Rory would have no choice but to go after the boy. Since he was only 13 the Council was willing to agree and his family was desperate to get him help once they accepted the truth of what he was doing.
"I can't just kill a kid." Rory told them. "So please get him help, the last time I decided not to kill a teenager, I was also a teenager and he escalated. I had to kill him anyway. Some would say I should just do it, better safe than sorry, but I have to give you the chance to help him. Please don't make me regret it."
Fortunately for Rory's sake and maybe even his own sanity, the effort paid off.
A/N On Grimm Nick ended up having to arrest a child Wesen who when she began to woge experienced bursts of homicidal rage. He managed to get her incarcerated in a facility run by a female Lowen, Lion Wesen, who agreed to help her.