The Ladies Who Lunch

[st_clare]

At least Las Vegas boasted one place where she could get tea, because she hated coffee.

Julianna stirred one judicious spoonful of sugar into the hot liquid, looked for a table. It wasn't too hot outside, but she'd rather sit inside with the air conditoning. It was going to take some time to get used to this heat. The Watcher finally noticed some seats being vacated, and she waited while an employee bussed the table and cleared away cups and plates.

Gregory's daughter. She'd known he had a child, of course, if only because she'd seen the pictures. He'd never talked about the girl's mother, and she'd never asked because she got the feeling that it was a sore point for him. Besides, it wasn't as if they'd known one another well. Sex didn't mean they'd had a connection, it just meant that they'd found each other's bodies compatible.

How much could she tell the girl? The Council was secretive for a reason, and she'd been in their employ for too long to take that lightly, especially with this new assignment just beginning. It wasn't as if Holiday would be able to do anything about the situation, so what purpose did it serve to tell her the truth?

Closure.

Julianna knew all about closure, of course. It had taken her months to find it when Allison died, and even now she felt the guilt if not the grief. Maybe she could help, maybe she couldn't. She would, however, proceed with caution.

Comments

[holiday_pirner]

The taxi bumped over a pot hole before pulling to a jerky halt in front of the coffee shop. Holly counted out a few bills and handed them to the driver before swinging open her door. The brunette remembered her handbag when the car started forward, just grabbing it in time and huffily slamming the yellow door shut.

She entered the little shop, coffee and pastry smells permeating the artificially cool air. Her stomach rumbled, and Holly made a beeline to the counter, ordering up a strong tea and warm croissant. Turning around with the items in her hands, she spotted an older woman sitting by her lonesome.

"Ms. St.Clare?" A nervous, hopeful smile played over Holly's lips. She definitely looked like a St.Clare.

[st_clare]

The Englishwoman was in mid-sip when she heard the young voice, and she looked up with a polite if reserved smile. The cup rattled a little on the saucer when she put it down, and her expression changed into one of careful sympathy. She'd never been married or had children because she believed that any fool could tie their lives permanently to someone else's, and she'd chosen first academics and then her career instead of wedlock and motherhood. But this was a child, and likely still a child in pain.

"Holiday. I'm so sorry. I didn't know your father very well or for very long, but he was a good, decent soul. I see you found the place without trouble. You must have an easier time of navigation than I do in a strange city. Please, sit."

She'd gotten what passed for a scone in the States, and she took a bite while the girl situated herself. Perhaps this wouldn't be too arduous after all.

[holiday_pirner]

She had a lot of people apologizing to her over the last six months, and each time, "thank you" had lost its meaning. Instead, Holly nodded, setting the steaming cup and pastry on the table and helping herself to a seat.

"Not really. I'm useless with maps, but a concierge at the hotel helped me with a taxi." She stirred sugar and cream into her tea, wiping her spoon on a napkin. Holly hated drips.

The brunette watched the milk swirl in her cup for a moment before meeting Julianna's eye. "You know, I keep having these outlandish ideas about what dad did. The secret police, or maybe he was a spy."

She smiled sadly. "It wouldn't be as simple as that, though, would it?"

[st_clare]

"No, it really wouldn't."

Then again, being a Watcher wasn't unlike doing undercover work, and Julianna suspected that MI-6 was privy to some of their tactics. God knew she lived a double life in situations like these, even if many of her closer acquaintance knew she belonged to the Council. Would the lie be close enough to the truth to satisfy Holiday?

"We are a bit like the secret police," the older woman said slowly, fiddling idly with the spoon she'd used to stir her tea. "Do you know about the American organizations the Masonic Lodge? It's a very exclusive society, and if you're a member you don't really talk about it with others. Even with family."

She took a sip of tea, which she'd been allowing to cool, then coughed diplomatically. The Council frowned on those who told tales out of school, and she already had one failure under her belt. She wished Mother was still alive and available to give counsel. She'd been a Watcher too and could have advised her.

But she couldn't look at that young face and lie without making her conscience restless. She might not be sentimental, but she lived life on her terms for the most part. And it wasn't as if they could do anything to her except sack her. And that was only if they found out.

"Do you know what a vampire is?"

[holiday_pirner]

She broke off a piece of croissant, chewing it slowly while watching a stream of colorful characters walking past the cafe.

Holly shifted in her seat, looking back at the older woman. "Yes, I have, but...family should come first. He could have trusted me. Maybe not when I was little, but I was around him a lot when I started university."

She bit her lip to quell the frustrating pricking behind her eyes. Holly wasn't given to crying easily, but she often teared up when she was angry. And she hated to admit it, but she was angry at her dead father.

Julianna's next question made her forget all about that, though. "Excuse me, what? You mean like Dracula?" Was she trying to steer Holly off course?

[st_clare]

Dracula. Of course. Well, at least they could start with something that was vaguely familiar.

"Yes, like Dracula," Julianna said with a slight nod. "Except not fictional. There's a lot of lore, and much of it is exaggerated in popular entertainment. But your father and I...your father and I were and are part of an organization dedicated to stamping them out."

She looked at Holiday closely, tried to gauge if the girl imagined she was a lunatic, then pointed at her. "He was also a researcher, and a damned fine one, but that wasn't his calling. He was a Watcher."

Well, she'd opened the can of worms now, or was that Pandora's box? How much had this unknown source of Holiday's told her to begin with? Probably nothing, just enough to make her curious. Julianna looked over her shoulder as if to make sure no Council operatives were bearing down on them.

"I don't know how he died, not in actuality," she cautioned the girl. "But we...there are lies that have to be told to avoid public scrutiny. No one would understand, they'd just panic."

[holiday_pirner]

Now Holly really did feel like crying. Had she traveled all the way to Las Vegas to meet someone completely touched in the head?

She took a long sip of tea, the hand holding the white china cup trembling just enough to be noticeable.

The brunette swallowed, took a bracing breath. Then she laughed. "My dad? Vampires? He wouldn't even watch Halloween with me on telly, said horror movies gave him the creeps."

Holly stared at her hands contemplatively. "The thing is, I want so badly to believe you. It would explain it all. Why he would keep it from me.

"But if it's true, that means...that means there are people, things, that want to suck my blood. Right?"

The coffee shop felt suddenly tiny, the walls crowding in on her. She was too warm. "Did he fight them?"

[st_clare]

"He wasn't a combatant, he was a scholar," the older woman said gravely. "We leave the fighting to others. It's all very complicated."

She'd frightened the girl, and probably unnecessarily. It was likely that Holiday would never see a vampire in her lifetime, and if she did she wouldn't even know it. Supposedly the older ones were able to practice self-control, that it was the fresh-risen ones that were the danger. Julianna wasn't sure she believed that.

"Listen, love," she said quietly, her voice dropping until it was a whisper. "I'm sure you think I'm mad, and there was a time in my life when I wouldn't have been able to disagree with you, but I wouldn't spin you a tale. I liked your father and he was...well, let's just say he liked me."

[holiday_pirner]

Holly thought of all the times he'd quickly stashed some papers he was working on. Of the hastily cancelled weekends, the ones where he was supposed to spend time with her.

Whistler had said Gregory had been trying to make the world a better place. But what about Holly's world? Wasn't she allowed to be selfish?

And then he had died, and maybe the story was real. But then there would always be another maybe in her head, just around the corner.

Something Julianna said seemed to seep into her inner thoughts. The corners of Holly's mouth twitched.

"Oh, my god. You and him. You had a - a thing, didn't you?"

Of course the younger woman was well aware that her father was, well, a man. He and her mother had been quite young when they had her, very early into their twenties. It would make sense that he had some...affairs after the divorce, but like any child, Holly refused to dwell on it.

No one likes to imagine their parents shagging, and if they did, they needed serious professional help.

[st_clare]

And damnation, she hadn't meant to say anything. She wasn't ashamed of anything, but she knew how to be discreet. There were clearly a lot of things Gregory hadn't shared with his daughter, and perhaps he hadn't wanted that particular detail to be shared either.

"It was very brief," Julianna said softly, and she refused to explain herself any further. Her feelings were her own, and anyway Gregory was dead. She had to deal with the living now.

"What exactly do you intend to do if you find out how your father was killed? There's no one to prosecute over this, not if my suspicions are correct. It isn't as if you can get justice for him."

[holiday_pirner]

"Fuck me," Holly muttered to herself, then blushed. "Erm, sorry. That's just...the first name I choose, and it's someone who...never mind."

She drained the contents of her cup to keep anymore nonsense from tumbling out of her mouth. When she was suitably sure she wouldn't be putting her foot in it, Holly let herself speak again.

"I have no idea. I just want to know." The brunette smiled sincerely. "He always told me I was too curious. I had to be in control, know everything, see everything. But then, he was the same way."

[st_clare]

Holiday's discomfiture drew a bit of amusement to Julianna's expression, and she raised one elegant eyebrow as she crossed her legs to settle back in the chair she occupied. "I'm not that old, dear."

She paused, considered her options. She spilled part of the secret, told the girl part of what she wanted to know, but now what? There was no path to a proper outcome here, not really. Still, Holiday could be hurt if she strayed into the realm of the supernatural. Watchers had a duty to train and guide Slayers. What was their duty to the normal world?

"I suppose I could help you," she said a little reluctantly. "How I have no idea, but it seems as if my employers have served to keep you in the dark for a long time. Perhaps it's simply guilt by association."

[holiday_pirner]

She was grateful, really. Julianna had no obligation to Holly, had every right to hang up on her when she rang the woman from her father's flat.

"You have helped," the brunette assured the older woman. "Considerably. And I think I do believe you."

Holly played with the fold on her napkin. "I'm going back to my hotel, think things over. As of yet, I have no idea where to go from here."

But I'll figure it out, she added to herself. She had to.