"Willow Rosenberg? My name is Lydia Carter, I'm a Psychologist with the Watchers Council. Is now a good a time for us to talk?"
"Yeah sure, I guess. I've finished the drown proofing training Captain Howard recommended we all have and I could use a break. What did you want to talk about?"
"Your role in Buffy Summers' support team. She refers to you as her best friend and says you also help with research. Can you give me any details on how you fulfill those roles?"
"Giles had a problem with her having friends at all, but she was very determined to have friends and wanted to be friends with me. A few times she's told me that I'm a good listener and me listening helps her clear out her mental and emotional places, which makes it easier for her to handle things."
"It's a very important role, both as a best friend and as a member of any support team, but especially a Slayer's. So much of what we think and feel can affect how we perform our jobs and live our lives and bottling emotions up and not dealing with stresses causes damage. Having a sounding board helps with that."
"I know, my parents are psychologists too. They travel a lot and give lectures."
"Do you stay with relatives when they do that?"
"No, I'm a genius, I can take care of myself."
Lydia frowned in confusion, just being a genius didn't mean a teenager could take care of themselves. There were practical learned life skills that needed to be taught and it was a parent or guardians responsibility to teach them. "How long have they been leaving you on your own?"
"Since I was twelve." Willow answered. "Before that they left me with nannies, but they decided I was smart enough to take care of myself. I learned how to cook and keep the house clean and do laundry, none of it was hard. Cooking reminds me of chemistry."
"Do any of your friends know?"
"I mentioned it to Buffy once, but I don't think I ever mentioned it to any of the others. If I'd needed help I probably would have, but like I said, I'm a genius, it wasn't hard to figure out."
"Do you also pay the bills, the electricity, water, etc?"
"Those are paid automatically, I have my own income from some computer programs I wrote and I use that to buy food and clothes and stuff."
The more Lydia heard, the more alarm bells were going off and not because Willow Rosenberg's situation could affect her ability to provide emotional support for Buffy Summers, but because Willow herself could and likely was injured emotionally and mentally from her home situation. This would necessitate its own investigation. For Willow it was so normal that she never thought to mention it to any adult and the few adults involved, Joyce Summers and Charles Chase mostly, had their own families and situations to navigate. If they didn't know Willow's parents and she never discussed her home life, than it followed that they wouldn't have seen anything concerning. But Lydia was trained to ask the questions they weren't even aware of. For now she focused on the immediate task, gaining as much information as she could before doing anything else.
"Let's talk about how involved you are with Buffy and more recently, Faith's, work as Slayers."
"Johnathan, Ana and I would help Giles go through his books looking for information on whatever the situation being dealt with was and Johnathan and I both know computers. I use the computer quite a bit more than Johnathan though and I've used it to help with research."
"Besides writing your own computer programs, what else qualifies you to work with computers?"
"Jenny Calendar, the Computer Teacher at Sunnydale High School, I'm her assistant. Jenny's a techno pagan and helps out by monitoring online reports of supernatural activity and has an online coven. I'm not involved in Magic, Molly Cooper thought my personality wasn't suited for it, I could get into trouble too easily because I'd think I was too smart to get into trouble and I decided to follow her advice. But I do know computers and Ms. Calendar and I have worked on programs together to streamline tracking supernatural activity. We hope it will help us avoid trouble."
"We have a department working on similar programs, we have to keep up with the modern age after all." Lydia was wondering if recommending Willow for recruitment and training as a Research Watcher for that particular department was also something the Watchers should pursue. She'd mention the possibility in her report. As for Willow's family situation, that definitely necessitated investigation and would be the first thing Lydia recommended.
"Let's discuss ways you can be a supportive friend and team member." Lydia suggested. "And you expressing your own thoughts and feelings so you can keep your mental and emotional places cleaned out, shall we? You can't be a good friend and support if you're not healthy yourself."
Slowly Willow began to open up and talk and wondered why talking to someone she barely knew, a woman old enough to be her mother, felt so freeing. Maybe because unlike Sheila Rosenberg, Willow's mother, Lydia Carter didn't seem rigid and judgemental.