South Attic: Late Tuesday night - NFB

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

When Beka arrived back at the Attic by Beleportation after the super sekrit Scoobies JA officers' meeting, Callisto was already home, door shut and almost certainly not interested in talking.

She made enough noise to let Callisto know she'd arrived, on the off chance Callisto wanted to talk about Angelus, which, weirdly they'd never really done. All right, maybe it wasn't so weird. Still, not like she cared who else Fangs played with. She shrugged at Callisto's door, then sat down at the table to make a few calls.


First up, she checked the message on her comm. Mystique. Wanting to talk about 'recent events'. Hmm. She'd have to talk to Bel before telling her blue friend anything, but she could hear her out. So she called back and invited her to drop by the Attic soon.

Then she called Phoebe. Just to check in, since she had the strong feeling Bel hadn't stayed in the dorms when he'd left her. Not like him not to come in for a smoke or to want to talk about things. Which meant, probably, he had something to do he didn't want her to know about. She didn't let her mind wander too far down that track. It was maybe one of those things he was protecting her from. Or maybe it was Angelus. Either way, Bel would tell her if she needed to know.


Next came Tara. Because Tara would be fretting about Angelus. And Tara would be one of the few in Admin who wouldn't immediately assume he'd done it. Tara and Camulus. Of all the weird combinations sexy, but weird.



"Tara? Beka. Don't believe a word of it. He's not that stupid. Call me tomorrow if you're fretting. Even if you're not. Could use to talk to more people who won't be trying to lynch A."

Tara called right back. She didn't believe it either. Beka listened to her talk for a minute then responded:

"Agreed. More than that? Killing in Fandom, like this? Stupid. Angelus is many things. But he's neither careless, nor a fool.

The timing is wrong. There's no beauty to it. No excellence. It's not him.

And if for some reason it was? He had a reason.

Did I just hear you say 'when we clear his name'? If so... I love you."

Awesome. Tara wanted to help clear him.

"Of course we will. He's family. In a weird incesty vampire Bel's my brother and Angelus is Daddy and you're...I don't know what kind of way.

Did you call? I haven't wanted to. In case they're tracing my comm signal. I have a private cell...but I don't want him hurt because of me."

Uh oh. Now she'd gone and made Tara fretty.

"More than family? Oh. Wait. Well, yes. Not so much with the good family. Either you or me. He's family of choice, Tara. Just like you are.

Your job? I'm sure the school doesn't want you to help him.

Don't worry. If he didn't answer, there's nothing they can trace. Just your outgoing call. And his cell is hardly private information."

WTF? Powers? Prophecy?

"...

OK. You and I need to talk. Face to face. Schedule tomorrow? I need to know this."

Fortunately, Tara was free.

"9 am. The Perk?"

Hmm. Secrecy required.

"Gotcha. If we need no ears then my ship is probably best."

Directions?

"Lot 44. [ooc: which is entirely fictional but has been in Bek's bio from day one so feel free to pretend you know where it is.] Tara? I'm thinking Bel should maybe hear this too. You mind if I call and see if he wants to come along?"

Good.

"Done. Sweet dreams."


After she hung up with Tara, Beka called Bel and left him a message. Then she began doodling notes from Bel's to do list. There had to be things they could do. Bel had forbidden her to talk to Veronica, which, all things considering was very smart. Still it meant she couldn't try to find out what evidence there was.

If Lamb was as incompetent as Faith said, then she probably could break into the police station. The security couldn't possibly be as good as what she usually faced back home. Definitely not as good as the Museum, which she could almost break into. But what would she look for? She wouldn't even know where to begin. She wouldn't have long enough to search the whole place. Too bad they didn't have an insider.

Oh. Ohhhh. Mystique. Beka picked up her comm and left a pithy 'get in touch' message on Mystique's voicemail. She'd have to discuss the idea with Bel - how much was that going to annoy her and everyone else who was subjected to reading it a million times per post after awhile? - but no harm in getting a headstart on it. Angelus's unlife might depend on moving quickly.



Angelus. She could probably call on her private cell. It wasn't being traced because she'd used it all of three times that she could think of. Only a handful of people had the number. He probably wouldn't answer his cell anyhow, but...she didn't want him hurt because of her. Text. He could pick it up and message her back from anywhere if he wanted to, and not if he didn't.

After half an hour of trying to convince herself not to do it, she texted. Heroing 4U. Will cln^ mess Daddy. Alredy @ wk w/Bro. Call if U wan2. Beks. As soon as she'd hit send, she wished she hadn't.



But done was done. Like burnt toast, even.

Time to steal a pillow from Buffy and sleep.