16THE FAMILY THAT SLAYS TOGETHER
BOOK 1: HOME BASE
by
LYLE FRANCIS PADILLA
(AKA "MadTom")
CHAPTER 11
The next Monday, Virtual Platform Nine and Three Quarters was up and running, and Willow and Dawn had reassured Giles that every phone call and E-Mail originating from the lodge would appear to come from Colindale in London. The unused, soon-to-be-occupied rooms in the lodge were already furnished for the most part, but there were still a few items that were ordered and delivered. Owing largely to Giles' technophobia, Dawn found herself busy in Buffy's new office above the bedroom level, printing out hard copies of the personal information on each Slayer who was with them, and placing them in file folders. When finished, she carried the stack of files across the hall to Giles' new office.
As she placed the files in a filing cabinet, she glanced over to Giles' desk and then did a double-take: he was sitting at his desk, almost motionless with his hand resting on his phone receiver in its cradle, and his face had a blank stare and was several shades whiter than normal.
"Giles?" she asked as she stepped through the door. "You all right?"
Giles blinked and turned toward her. "Oh! Yes, Dawn," he said absently. "Thank you."
"You look like someone who's just seen a ghost," she said, then added with a chuckle, "which, considering who you are, means it has to be something way, way scarier than that!"
"As a matter of fact..." he nodded. "Please close the door, Dawn."
She did so. "What is it?"
"I just tried ringing up Wesley Wyndam-Pryce at the number to Angel Investigations," he said. "Thought I'd ask him if he'd be interested in participating in the new Council. And to ask for his father's number in England to ask if he might be interested in coming out of retirement."
Dawn frowned. "Something's happened to Wesley?"
"I'm afraid something's happened to all of Angel Investigations. When I dialed the number, the call was forwarded to the offices of Wolfram and Hart."
Dawn gulped. "The evilest of the evil law firms took over Angel Investigations? Or wiped them out?"
"Even stranger than that! I actually got through to Wyndam-Pryce, or at least to someone who sounds exactly like him. And he tells me that Angel is now the CEO of the Los Angeles office of Wolfram and Hart, and that the rest of Angel Investigations is now essentially their Board of Directors!"
"God! How unbelievably weird is that? Does that mean Angel and his whole crew have all turned evil?"
"I honestly don't know what to make of it, Dawn," Giles said. "I didn't ask him about participating in the Council, of course. But I did get his parents' phone number... Let's not tell Buffy or the others yet. Not until I talk to Wyndam-Pryce Senior and see what he makes of it."
The physical healing was nearly complete, but Robin Wood had felt totally abandoned during the week and a half since Faith had bolted from his hospital room with the most cursory of explanations. He'd had no visitors other than the one occasion with Deputy Warden Stan Eberly that same day since then, and no phone calls. Over his life, and particularly just before his mother's death when she'd told him "The mission is what matters", he'd learned to develop a mask and an emotional wall to hide his hurt. He'd sharpened that skill over his admittedly short career as a teacher and school administrator. But now he had gone over ten days of no contact with Faith, or even from Giles or the Summers sisters, and had the knowledge that Faith was an escaped convict with a deputy warden presumably hot on her trail. Behind that mask, Robin Wood had quickly reverted to the abandoned and hurt four year old boy who'd lost his mother even before Spike had taken her life in the New York subway.
The day before he was to be discharged, he was feeling totally lost. The arrival that morning of a small FedEx package containing a disposable cell phone and a debit card buoyed his spirits momentarily, but they sank after a quick realization that he had no idea what number to call to reach anybody, or what the PIN for the debit card was, and sank deeper each passing hour that the cell phone ring tone remained silent. When it finally sounded just before dinner time, he almost jumped out of bed as he reached for it.
"Hello?"
"Robin? Giles here!"
He caught his breath, quickly hiding his excitement at finally hearing from someone. "Giles! Have you heard from Faith?"
"I'm afraid that's not a matter for discussion," Giles replied without expression in his voice. "We must disavow any knowledge of anybody named Faith."
Robin's heart sank again. "I see."
"Listen, we have a new assignment for you now that you're being discharged."
"Headmaster of the new academy like we discussed?" Robin asked hopefully.
"Actually, no. Buffy and Dawn's grandmother, who is a retired teacher and assistant principal, will be taking on that responsibility. Your other experiences in our line of work are needed elsewhere."
"Where?"
"Can't discuss that over the phone. Listen carefully. The debit card we sent with the phone has twenty thousand dollars in the account to help you get started, then your salary as a Watcher will be deposited to that account directly." Giles gave the PIN number, then continued. "When you get discharged, make your way to the Whispering Waves motel in Oxnard. There will be a room, prepaid, in your name. You'll receive further instructions there."
"That's it?" Robin couldn't hide the incense and hurt in his voice.
"For now," Giles replied. "You'll be met at your final destination and have the means to communicate with me by more secure means if you have any questions. Sorry to be so short with you, old fellow, but things will be much clearer later." He heard Giles hang up before he could get another word in.
He was well enough to get to the elevator and down to the first floor, where there was an ATM. The debit card and password worked as expected, and he was able to find a new set of clothes in the hospital gift shop that fit him, to replace the ones that had been ruined when he was wounded or had been cut away in the emergency room; with the inflated gift shop prices and limited selection, he decided to wait until after he was discharged to buy any more clothing.
Although the hospital staff had been friendly throughout his stay, he felt no sorrow in leaving the next morning. But there was no great joy either; the cryptic phone call from Giles did nothing to brighten his outlook. He bade a warm and thankful goodbye to the floor nurses and his doctors, then quietly got into the cab that took him on the short drive to the neighboring town of Oxnard and the Whispering Waves motel.
It was a rather nondescript motel, old but clean and well-maintained, only three blocks from the beach. He went in the office where a plump, brassy-haired woman of about forty stepped out to the desk from a back room.
"Good morning," she smiled. "How can I help you?"
"Hello. My name's Robin Wood. I understand you have a prepaid room in my name?"
"Oh, yes, Mr. Wood," she replied cheerfully. "Xander Harris is an old friend of my brother's. He paid for the room in cash starting as soon as it became vacant on Monday. He came back last night, left a few things in the room for you. Told me to tell you to make sure you check the desk drawer." She handed him a room key. "You're in Room 23, to the right and around the corner as you go out the front door."
"Thank you."
The room itself was clean and nicely furnished, more up-to-date than the exterior. The "few things" that Xander had left were a matching soft-sided roller suitcase and handcarry bag which Robin opened to find filled with a complete new wardrobe and all other necessities for a permanent move or a long trip. He had to give credit to Xander, and presumably the Summers sisters, for closely matching his tastes in clothing.
He went to the desk drawer where he found a sealed plain manila envelope with his name printed on it. He opened it and found two items: an airline ticket folder for a one-way trip with two connections, departing Oxnard airport to Los Angeles leaving at 10:15 the next morning; Los Angeles to Chicago O'Hare; final leg O'Hare to Cleveland. The other item was a computer-printed note which read: "An airport limo will pick you up at 7:15 in the morning. -RG".
Cleveland wasn't a big surprise. While not mentioning the possibility of his being sent there, Giles and Buffy had earlier mentioned the existence of its Hellmouth and the need to eventually station a team of Slayers there. He wasn't too excited about Cleveland, but he was ready to move on. Sunnydale and its Hellmouth were finished, and so was his work there. It was a big letdown that he hadn't been given the chance to surprise Faith as he'd promised, but he couldn't fault her for that. And it was nothing new. It definitely wasn't the first time he'd tried to love a Slayer and ended up abandoned by her.
He spent the rest of the day along the beach, walking in short stretches before tiring out from his still healing wounds and resting on the nearest bench. After weeks in the hospital, lying on his back with nothing to do but watch TV, he definitely didn't need to do the same in a motel room. He treated himself to a good lunch, and later a good dinner with a couple of drinks, and slept fairly well considering the changes he was going through in his life. Surprisingly, even though the majority of evacuated former Sunnydale residents had ended up in the Ventura-Oxnard area, he didn't run into anyone he recognized, nor did anyone approach him despite his high-profile job and distinct appearance.
He was up early the next morning, had breakfast in the diner next door to the motel, and was back and waiting when the airport limousine driver knocked on the door right on time.
There were a few other passengers already on the van and a few more picked up on the way, and most of them were rather chatty. Robin kept his responses polite but short as the others tried to draw him into their conversation.
He made it through security with no problems, although he did have to go through the additional searches, presumably due to his one-way trip and probably because of short-notice booking as well; he was both surprised and relieved that he wasn't put on the No-Fly list; evidently Deputy Warden Eberly and the California Department of Corrections no longer considered him a suspected accomplice in Faith's escape and disappearance, or at least couldn't justify preventing him from leaving the state.
He was seated alone in his row on the short commuter flight to LAX, and the man in the next seat on the flight to O'Hare- the longest leg- was, thankfully, a business or lawyer type who spent the entire flight absorbed in some documents on his laptop, and Robin himself was able to lean back and listen to the smooth jazz channel on his headphones. It was dinnertime before he was to board at O'Hare for the last leg, so treated himself to another good dinner at one of the pricier restaurants at the O'Hare airport mall.
As he boarded the 737 for the flight to Cleveland, he found himself seated next to a woman in her sixties. When the plane leveled off at cruising altitude, she turned to him. "Is this your first time in Cleveland?"
"More or less," he smiled back politely. "I've passed through a few times, never really stayed there."
"I've lived there almost all my life. I'm on my way home from my granddaughter's wedding in Seattle."
"Oh, how nice," he nodded.
"Are you just visiting?"
None of your damned business, Lady! Robin contemplated just saying that, but he was still too much of a gentleman. "No, I'm starting a new job there."
"Oh, how nice!" the woman smiled. "What line of work are you in?"
"I was in educational administration," he said, then added, "But my new job is more along the lines of law enforcement."
"Do you have family in Cleveland?"
"No. I'm kind of starting a new life."
"That's a tough thing to do at any age."
"Yes, it is," he nodded noncommittally.
"Are you from Chicago?"
"No," Robin sighed. "Just caught a connection like you did."
"Where are you coming from, then?"
"Sunnydale, California."
"Oh!" The woman turned bright red. Robin leaned back, seeing that he had succeeded in shutting her up. He forced himself not to smile.
Everything that had happened so far was as Giles had said it would, so Robin had no reason to doubt that he would be met at the Cleveland airport. He briefly brought forward in his mind the thought that he'd kept in the back all along, the possibility that it might be Faith. Oh, who the hell am I kidding? Even if she hadn't gone into hiding and had stayed in contact with the new Council, there's no way Giles would allow us to stay together! As the hour-long flight landed and he found his way to Baggage Claim, he began searching the concourse for a familiar face. Presumably one of the Slayers. He finally saw the familiar face at the baggage carousel: Kennedy, the girl who fancied herself a Drill Sergeant to the other Potentials, and who was involved with Willow.
"Hi, Mr. Wood!" she smiled. "Welcome to Cleveland."
"Just Robin's fine," he smiled back as he shook her hand. "Good to see you, Kennedy." He paused. "Is Willow here too?"
"No, we're not together anymore. I'm solo."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
"I'm not!" she replied quickly. "It was time to move on."
"I see," he nodded. He decided it was too public a place to ask any more questions. He waited until he saw his roller suitcase come out on the carousel and picked it up, then remained quiet as he followed Kennedy to the parking garage where she led him to a white Chevy and opened the trunk.
He put his luggage in the trunk, seated himself and waited for her to pull out of the parking space before speaking again. "Kennedy, Giles was extremely cryptic in his instructions. What's the situation?"
"You know about the Hellmouth here, right?"
"Yes. Giles told me earlier that it hasn't quite been localized, but the manifestations are unmistakable."
"Well," Kennedy said, "you and I are the vanguard for covering this Hellmouth. Giles intends to send out one or two more Slayers to join us after they've been trained up."
"Sounds good. So what do we have for living accommodations?"
"We're renting a three bedroom house. Actually, the Council is renting the house for us. Not a bad neighborhood as far as Cleveland goes."
"That's good to know." He waited for her to pay for the parking and get on the highway, then asked hesitantly, "So, Kennedy, has anyone heard from Faith?"
"Well, the story is that she called Buffy and Giles right after you saw her last at the hospital. She said some deputy prison warden was hot on her trail and that she had to disappear for a while."
"And that's the last anyone's heard from her?"
"That's the story I got," she shrugged.
It would have been too much to get his hopes up over Faith, so he wasn't too let down. "So tell me more about this Hellmouth."
"Well, what Giles told me was that the old council was pretty sure it exists, but they could never pinpoint it beyond that it was probably close to the waterfront."
"That I already knew," he nodded.
"Well, that seems to be holding up," she continued. "I've been patrolling here for almost a week now and I've encountered and staked four vamps, all within five blocks of Lake Erie and most on the east side of town."
"Have you seen any other kind demons?"
"Nope."
"Something tells me we will," he nodded knowingly, "now that Sunnydale's gone."
"Bring 'em on!" Kennedy grinned.
"Ah, the recklessness of youth!" he laughed.
"I prefer to think of it as fearlessness."
They turned off the highway and into a residential neighborhood; despite the late hour, since Ohio was so much farther north than Southern California, it was still twilight, and Robin could see that it was a by no means affluent but still modest middle class neighborhood with small, older stand-alone houses on small lots. Most of the homes and yards were well kept. Kennedy pulled into the driveway of a plain white single-story rancher. "Home Sweet Home," she smiled.
She handed Robin the key after unlocking the front door. The house still had a "just moved in" look and had a bare minimum of older but serviceable furniture and appliances. She showed him the living room, dining room and kitchen, the briefly opened a door to the basement steps. "I was thinking we could turn it into a training room of sorts, the way Buffy had her basement back in Sunnydale."
"Sounds good to me."
Kennedy then led him down the hallway. "This is my room on the right here, bathroom's on the left, and your room's the one at the end of the hall."
"Good," he said. "It's been a long day. I think I'll turn in, if you don't mind."
"Fine. I'm going out on patrol in a while." Kennedy smiled as she added, "I think you'll find everything you need in the room."
He took his baggage down the hall, opened the door, and then froze with his jaw dropping open.
There she was, lying on her side on the bed in a black silk robe, her bare legs crossed demurely.
"Surprise!" Faith smiled, her eyes glistening with tears. She got up, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him tenderly and deeply.
And for the first time in his life, Robin Wood let down the wall of stoic toughness he'd been forced to put up all his life, and burst into tears. For the first time in his life, a Slayer that he loved had finally returned to him.
FEEDBACK/REVIEWS ARE INVITED. PLEASE KEEP 'EM COMING!
Once again, my apologies to anyone following this story for taking so long to update. This is the second-busiest time of the year at my job, always hectic and chaotic.
;-)