Hello, Operator

[st_clare]

Bloody time zone differences. It was going on three a.m. over there. She'd tried to ring earlier, at a decent hour, but the line had been tied up. At least Edmund was a light sleeper, so she likely wouldn't be rousing him from a dead slumber.

Julianna had made trans-atlantic phone calls from America before, but only in an emergency. Did this count as an emergency, or was she just ringing him up to complain? She did have at least one legitimate question, so perhaps that would make him less likely to snarl at her. She knew he resented the fact that she'd been open about possibly taking a lover while over here, but there were worse things she could have done. Like lie about it.

The Watcher fiddled with the earring she'd removed in order to hold the receiver to her ear, listened to the phone ring. What if he'd gone out? If he wasn't home, this would have to wait until she'd come back from Searchlight. She needed to talk to someone, and he was the only one she trusted, if only because he'd stood by her when her charge was killed. It wasn't as if she didn't value his counsel, because she did.

"Pick up the buggered phone, Edmund, I know you're there."

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[birthright_npc]

At first, the sound of the bleating phone had intruded into his dream. Slowly, he understood the blasted thing really was ringing. Edmund had a gut feeling about who would be calling him at this hour. He quickly debated whether to answer it or not.

"All right, then. Who offended you this time?"

He sat up, giving a wide-mouthed yawn. Manners be damned. She had woken him, after all.

[st_clare]

"I'm not 'offended', Edmund, I'm angry."

All right, so that wasn't true. She was offended, offended down to the soles of her feet, but she didn't like him labeling her emotions. He was the closest friend she had who was also Council-employed, not to mention the only one she allowed to call her Jules, but there was a limit and she had reached it. When she saw Rhiannon again, things were going to be much different.

"It turns out there is a Slayer, and she's bloody awful," Julianna griped, sitting down on the bed to glare at the curtained window. "She refused to my face to comply with the check-in, and when I mentioned I'd report her over it she looked as if she wanted to spit on me. I'm afraid she's making me chase her down."

Despite her ire, the Englishwoman could feel herself being willing to calm down while speaking to him. He understood the pressures of being a Watcher, the expectations one was under. If she had known Rhiannon believed she had it easy, she would have laughed.

"Did I wake you? I tried to call earlier, but the line was engaged."

[birthright_npc]

He switched on his bedside lamp, the glow illuminating a small portion of his bedroom. "Ah, yes. But I had been wanting to hear from you. You're far too formal in your letters."

Edmund paused, then continued dryly, "And then I remember you're like that in person, as well."

He closed his hand around the glass of water he kept on his nightstand, took a drink, and wondered how to proceed.

"Jules. You know you'll always be at odds with the less...cooperative Slayers. That's to be expected. You are trained in a certain protocol, and they're entirely unconcerned with it."

Edmund stifled a sigh, and ran his fingers through rapidly graying hair. She had always been inquisitive, sometimes to his utter annoyance. Still, he couldn't begrudge her that.

"The line was busy because I was dealing with the Council all night."

[st_clare]

"Please don't make fun of me, not at this hour. I had a dreadful hangover yesterday morning, and I'm only now starting to recover from the effects of it. I'm too old to drink like that."

Despite the tartness in her voice, Edmund's presence, even over the phone, was more comforting than Julianna was really willing to admit. He was not only a friend, he was her most age-appropriate bed companion, and the only one who could talk her down. It was true she didn't need much emotional support, if only because she thought of herself as perfectly independent, but when she needed to call someone in the middle of the night, it was his number she dialed.

"She told me to screw myself," the Watcher said sullenly, twisting the phone cord around the fingers of her free hand. "I don't have to tolerate that, not from someone young enough to be my grand-daughter. If I had been more prepared, I'd have waited to reveal my identity until I knew her full name, but she caught me off guard."

She finally blew out a breath, tried to imagine herself in a calm place. "Never mind. I'll deal with it. I got a suggestion for somewhere to continue my search, and I'm going there as soon as I can rent a car. She told me I'll have to find her, and I can do that."

Did she have other news than to sulk long distance? This call was going to cost a fortune as it was. "Oh! You'll never believe who I had contact with. Do you remember Gregory Pirner? It seems as if his daughter found my name and number at his flat and gave me a ring. She...had questions."

[birthright_npc]

"You know it's only because I'm fond of you." Edmund was just as forthcoming with his feelings as Julianna; that was to say, not very.

He rubbed at his eyes, then cradled the receiver between face and shoulder so he could open his leatherbound notebook. It was filled with hastily scrawled writing. Notes from his earlier phone calls.

"Gregory Pirner's? What did you, ah, tell her?"

[st_clare]

"Not very much. It seems as if she'd already spoken to someone previously, but I never inquired as to who. This someone was the one who informed her she was being lied to."

And I couldn't continue to do so, Julianna thought but didn't say. She had enough on her conscience as it was, especially now that she'd discovered at least the temporary will to do her job. Simply because she was adept at perpetuating falsehoods, that didn't mean she liked it.

"I believe she thinks there was a supernatural cause to his death," she said after a brief silence. "I know why the Council would cover that up, but she's both very inquisitive and very suspicious."

Something clicked in the back of the Watcher's brain, and she sat up from where she'd been reclining on the bed. "Edmund, what's going on?" Because she hemmed and hawed enough herself that she knew what stalling sounded like. "Is there something I need to know?"

[birthright_npc]

He stood up, sliding his feet into waiting slippers. The cord only stretched so far, but enough for him to see out of his bedroom window. Edmund lived near one of the Underground stations, and could see some younger people filing out, going home from yet another late night.

It made him feel impossibly old.

"I won't lie to you, Jules. I couldn't if I tried." He twitched his curtains shut.

"You mustn't speak to her again. Cut off contact. Completely." He knew she would ask why, but he didn't want to get her involved. It wouldn't be good for her, Edmund knew that.

It was quite difficult, protecting someone who believed they didn't need protecting.

[st_clare]

"Edmund DeVries, tell me what's going on this instant."

She'd been thinking of dozing off after hanging up, but the tone in the other Watcher's voice immediately had Julianna more alert. She'd worried about this, that she was putting Holiday in the line of fire by telling her anything at all. Just enough to get her killed. Just like Allison.

"She's here in Las Vegas as we speak. Bloody hell, I'm the one who asked her if she could travel. What's going on? I insist you tell me at once."

[birthright_npc]

He was overwhelmed by tiredness, nothing having to do with being woken in the middle of the night. It was time for the Band-Aid approach, he decided. Better to just get on with it.

"Gregory Pirner was killed by a human being, that part wasn't a lie." Edmund closed his eyes, running a hand over two-day beard growth.

"He was killed by a Slayer. It was a misunderstanding. The girl was scared. We don't believe she was in her right mind, she seemed to think our goal was to...experiment on her.

"He was doing his job. He knew the risks. We all do."

[st_clare]

"Please tell me you're joking."

Not that it was unheard of. There were accidents in the field all the time. Julianna knew it better than anyone, since Allison's death had been ruled an accident by the Council, which was why they'd absolved her of any wrongdoing or negligence.

But she'd suddenly vividly pictured Gregory, who she'd cared for in her own way, and Holiday, who was now without a father because of an act of paranoia. Like Edmund, the Watcher was suddenly very tired.

"She can't do anything about it, you know," she said wearily. "I told her as much myself. There is no justice and she can't revenge herself either. Who gave the order that she mustn't know?"

[birthright_npc]

Edmund gave a clipped, sarcastic laugh. The whole business was messier than it should have been. "Who do you think? But Julianna, you can't tell the girl. I have a bad feeling about all of this."

He couldn't quite place it, or rationalize it away. He wasn't afraid for himself, and Edmund didn't believe Gregory's daughter was in any danger from the Council, not while her grandmother still had breath in her body.

Still, if she began poking around in things that didn't concern her...There were other forces far more dangerous.

"I'm sorry, Jules."

[st_clare]

"So am I. You have no idea how much."

As if she didn't have enough on her plate. Holiday might not even notice if she didn't initiate any further contact, though. There was no reason for them to, not when she was about to assume her teaching position. At least the girl was done with university.

"All right, I'll be a good girl," she told Edmund. "I have work to do anyway, and ironically it's also trying to get someone to follow Council protocol. I'm hoping I don't have to resort to drastic methods. I don't care for the girl, but I already have enough on my conscience."