Email: to list or voracitys@hotmail.com
Rating: NC17
Pairing: Xander/Oz, Willow/Other, Diana Tregade/Andre (implied)
Fandom: Xover: Buffy/Mercades Lackey _Jinx High_ Series.
Archive: I leave it up to Peja, and we've talked so it's all good now.
Warning: het and slash sex involved/implied. Angst, long (I don't do short, sorry)
Disclaimer: Not mine, none of them, though I wouldn't mind taking a few of them with me, my dorm room is really small at the moment. I know not exactly who owns any of these people, besides Ms. Lackey, who of course owns her original characters and some guys in suits own Buffy et al.
Note: Answer to BigBuck's challenge to merge Buffy and Diana Tregade from Jinx High.
Setting: Somewhere after Oz turns fuzzy, but before the illicit smoochies and Buffy leaves. Angelus is here though, for a while.

Summary: Giles leaves on vacation and things start to go to Hell, literally for one person.

Giles paced in front of the meeting table in the library, eyes closed as he muttered to himself.

"Sorry" Willow said as she walked in, taking her usual seat. "Snyder got me."

Since she was the last one, Giles turned to look at his students. "I'm taking a leave of absence," he held up a hand to stop Buffy's comment. "I've called upon a friend to take my place during the month I'll be gone. I expect you to treat Diana with the same respect you do me, or more actually. During this time, she will train Buffy and Willow both, and work with Xander to keep everything else running smoothly."

Everyone looked over as the library door opened and a petite brunette woman walked in. Jeans and a scooped necked leotard under a blazer, long blight brown braid down her back, and a big smile was what they saw first.

"Rupert," she said, hugging him. She stepped back. "No Gods, right?" He shook his head with a small smile, the first in days. "Good, now go regain your sanity." She waited until he had picked up his bag and left to turn on the five students looking at her. "Okay, truth here. I'm Di, you guys drove Giles insane, and he's called on me to help. He's told me about each of you so I plan on sitting down individually to get to know you better."

She put her briefcase on the table, smiling now. "I'm a Witch, and a Guardian. That means I have to help if asked, but I don't have to put up with attitudes." She looked directly at Cordelia, who she had pegged for the egotistical one of the group immediately. "Are we clear?" she asked with a small smile. The former May Queen nodded. "Good."

Willow hesitantly raised her hand. "Can you teach me too?" she asked. "Instead of just Buffy?"

"Most definitely, that's one reason I was asked. I'm also a fourth degree blackbelt, know something about weapons, and I'm a writer."

"Like horror?" Buffy asked, her brow wrinkled.

"No, like romances," Xander said. "My mom reads all her stuff." She smiled at him. "So, problem of the day, if we're here for that too?"

"Too quiet," Buffy said. "No slayage necessary for three days."

"I'll get the prophecy books, Xander, get the Chronicles," Willow said, heading for the office.

Di sat down to watch the other three. Cordelia examined her nails, Buffy picked hers, and Oz pulled out a book on werewolves. "Not helping?"

"I suck at research," Buffy said with a small shrug. "Giles told me yesterday if I touched the Chronicles again, he'd break my hand."

Oz pulled out another book, sliding it across the table without looking up from his book. "Find the underlined reference for me? I need to look it up." He knew she made a face. "If it works, you won't have to watch me." He shifted to get more comfortable as the pages started to turn.

Xander and Willow made it back to the table together, sitting across from each other to do the real work. "Hand me one," Di said. She accepted the book from Xander, watching as he got another one from the cage. "What are we looking for?"

"When we have a lull," Willow explained, "it usually means we have a major meeting to open the Hellmouth or just a build-up to future badness." Oz nodded, patting her arm. "So I guess look for anything that would be that."

Xander sat back down. "This is almost a meeting build-up though. They're here but not feeding? Smells of snacking over battle plans to me." Buffy snorted. "What? The Master was the last one." He dodged the punch to his arm but not the stomp to his foot. "Sorry." He got up, switching tables.

Buffy caught Di's glare and shrugged. "We don't talk about that one. I turn freaky and evil." She handed the book back to Oz. "That one?" He looked then nodded. "I'll go see if he has it back there somewhere." She headed back into the stacks.

Di watched as Cordelia got up, yawning. "Tell me if there's any real work to be done." With that, she left.

Xander cleared his throat. "Is the second Wednesday of April once a century close enough?" He walked back over, putting the book down so Willow could read it. "Or has this gone by?"

"The year of the third no-full-moon?" Willow snapped her fingers. "That could be about eclipses but that's not until next year. The science teacher remarked about it yesterday. Mark it for later study."

He nodded, going back to his reading, absently sitting down after putting a post-it note on the page. "Oh, hey, right below it." He handed it back over to Willow, who smiled.

"I'll get on demon chat tonight and lurk. Maybe I'll run into that guy Doyle again. He seems to know about those things."

"What?" Buffy asked as she walked down the stairs from the stacks. "Sorry, Oz, not back there." He nodded and shrugged.

"It's a prophecy of a new Master rising," Willow said, reading. "He should be gathering followers about now." Buffy shuddered. "Sorry, but it looks like he's the Pat Robertson of vamps."

Di shook her head with a muttered, "Scary thought." She looked up when she felt the stares. "Him being an eternal vampire is a fear-inducing thought for many people like me." They all went back to doing their own things. "Oh, and Buffy, I need to test you tonight to see what you can do."

"Sure, anytime before patrol." The blonde stretched. "I'm going to eat and nap before work. Later?"

"We'll be here," Willow assured without looking up.

"Maybe all night," Xander added.

"Can't ditch that paper," Oz told him, making the younger man groan. "It's not that bad. Interview her for it."

"Paper?" Di asked.

"English," Xander said. "I still have to do mine. I need to write a report about something I don't know about."

"Really good writing would be one of those," Willow said absently.

Di saw the hurt look flash across the dark eyes and vowed to help him. "I'd be happy to help, Xander, right?" He nodded. "I wanted to talk to you individually anyway so I know who does what when I start to have a problem so why don't we go into the office now and do both?"

He hopped up, grabbing his backpack and followed her in there, shutting the door. "You're not a big bug, are you?" he asked as he sat down, shaking his head at the laughter. "Hey, it happened. I have the nightmares to prove it after almost becoming a sacrificial snack."

She sat down hard. "It did?" He nodded, pulling out his papers. "Lady Bright," she swore softly, "Giles said strange but that would be beyond the normal limits of the word." He shook his head again. "No?" she asked weakly.

"Not really. Toward the top of the scale but not off it." She shuddered. "You could leave," he suggested quietly. "We'd understand." He rearranged his papers while she thought.

"I can't do that," she said equally quiet. "I have to help, it's the nature of my powers." He nodded, still not looking at her. "Why don't we get to the interview first? You can learn a lot by what questions someone asks." She tried to put him back at ease, and it seemed to work, but she saw the little signs that spoke of being uptight.

"Then you'll know a lot about the teacher," he said cheerfully. "She gave us a mandatory list." He handed it over so she could look at the questions.

Di frowned, getting deeper with each question. "You're sure this isn't Home Ec? All these questions are about my personal life." He shrugged as she looked up. "Okay, but I gotta warn you. You'll have to edit some of it. My boyfriend's a vamp." He shuddered, her stomach sinking. "What?" she asked hesitantly. "Problem for the group?" "No, so was Buffy's but he went soulless at the first moment's happiness so we're all being hunted right now."

Di leaned back in the desk chair. "Andre said that not all vampires are evil, most are like they were as humans."

"Um, word of advice, don't say that out there," he pointed toward the library. "Even if it's true, Sunnydale pulls the bad guys. Buffy does her job because she can see them as demons, not unliving people."

She nodded slightly. "I can understand that. Let's start this now so I can get back to my real job, okay? Let's see, I'm unmarried but I have a live in boyfriend, Andre. We've been together since the mid-eighties. We may never get married because I'm dragging my proverbial feet. I'm from Hartford, CT, and the surrounding areas. I went to Yale, where I double majored, on scholarships."

"Hometown girl does good?" Xander suggested, writing.

"Yup, that's me. I use my knowledge to help the Hartford P.D. look for serial killers sometimes, and the rest of the time I write."

"How often?"

"Every day, eight to ten hours a day." He gave her a stunned look. "Hey, I do three books a year at the least. I don't have time for vacations. Matter of fact, this was supposed to be one," she said wryly.

"Okay," Xander said slowly. "And you're here why?"

"To fill in for Giles while he's on vacation. I'm basically an unpaid temporary worker for the school board." He nodded, writing again. "I left Andre at home playing with our broken VCR, and in case I need something from there of course. While I'm here, I'm staying at Giles to save money."

He stood up. "I'll go write this and let you see it," Xander said, walking out to the computer.

She smiled at his back. "Nice try kid," she muttered. "You know all about me and I know nothing about you. Very wise. She got up to meet whomever was walking through the doors, surprised when it turned out to be a troll with a usual troll attitude. "May I help you?"

"Yeah, where's the person filling in for the Brit?" She smiled. "Oh, great, from one flake to another." He looked over her outfit. "We have a dress code," he started but she interrupted in that sweet, sensible tone of hers that had wrapped many a person around her little fingers.

"Yes, and if you paid me, I'd meet it." She smiled sweetly, turning him around. "Was there some reason for this impromptu visit? As you can see, he put all his helpers to work before he left and I was about to pull out my computer to start on my real job also so if there's nothing else, I'll see you at the staff meeting in the morning." All through her speech, she had walked him back to the doors, letting him out as she finished. She wiggled her fingers at him, watching his ears smoke as he stormed off. She turned to the sound of applause.

"And I bet you thought things like that only lived under bridges," Xander quipped.

Di laughed, sitting down at the meeting table and taking out her laptop so she could do some paying work.

Diana smiled as Xander walked back into the library after the dinner break she had called. She checked her watch, looking at him. "Didn't feel like eating?" she asked.

"Nope, not hungry yet. Grabbed an energy bar from Seven-Eleven." He sat down across from her, looking at her. "So, why are you really here?"

"Because Giles asked me to. With everything that's happened recently he's not had time to recuperate mentally. He and I have known each other for a few years, running in the same circles for a while, so he called on me to come take his place while he went to break down in peace."

"So, this is about Jenny?"

"Who?"

"Giles' girlfriend. Buffy's ex, the now bad vampire, killed her and put her in his bed to torment him. Fortunately, we've learned how to restrict his access to anyplace we live so you're safe."

She shook her head, tossing her braid back over her shoulder. "He didn't tell me about that, just that he desperately needed a break before he snapped and killed all of you in a fit of rage." Xander simply nodded. "You knew he had a temper?"

"Everyone has one and a breaking point, Giles' was just hidden deeper." He shrugged, leaning back. "So, what can I do for you? I'm a usual research person and appointed food-handler to the Scoobies. Just tell me and I will."

"You act very well for someone you age," she said with a faint smile. "Very good defensive shielding." She pulled out her wallet, tossing it at him. "You can call Hartford to check me out if you want, the number's on the back of the ID." He looked them over carefully, then slid the wallet back down the table. "Xander, I'm more than capable of handling all this. I've recently dealt with an Aztec God and a Witch using reciprocating immortality to stay young, rich, and popular. The average demon or vampire is nothing more than easy for me."

"We don't deal in average," he reminded her. "The Hellmouth pulls only the worst." He stood up. "I'm gonna go join Buffy on patrol. We'll be back later and Willow should be back in about ten minutes. She's the dependable one and the computer one. Oz is doing his own thing right now because of his problem, and Buffy, well she's the Slayer so you just have to make allowances." He walked out, sliding off into the night to go be with his friends.

Di's shoulder's slumped. "Rupert, you never told me I would be the ultimate outsider," she said. She closed the window of her word processing program, getting on the net to do some searching.

Willow leaned back from her plate of food. "That's a good sign though. And Giles, he trusted her. He called her in."

"I say we give her a chance," Oz said. He looked at Buffy. "And she may be a nice change from Giles. Maybe a softer edge to the task."

"I'll try," Buffy said, "but I won't instantly like her. She feels weird to me."

"Well, that could be her Guardian powers," Willow suggested. "It's like having an extra source to draw from when you absolutely need it, but only if you're protecting. If she's one then she's good. And I checked with some of the people online that are Wiccans, she's well known and highly respected. Matter of fact, she might even understand about you and Angel since her guy's a vamp too, but he's a nice one," she hurried on at the scowl.

"Andre," Xander said. "Looked him up earlier on the list Willow put online. He's about two hundred, good guy but not souled, never killed to feed. He's well respected and liked by the Gypsies and in New York for most of the eighties." He weathered Buffy's frown. "Hey, I checked so you don't have to. But she did say he's at home in Hartford."

"Which is a nice town," Willow added.

"She went to Yale," Oz noted, nudging Xander's report with his foot. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, she's a good woman," Xander said. "I can tell she's not here to harm us, she's not bad. When I left, she was doing the whole ‘I'm upset because I'm not welcome here' thing in front of her computer."

Buffy finished her juice. "Whatever, but I'm still not going to trust her until she proves me wrong."

"Wrong thinking," Oz told her. "She can only prove you wrong if she's bad."

Buffy nodded. "That's what I meant. She picked up her plate, leaning back in her chair to finish eating.

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