Fiction- FaGC05- Solution Found

Title: For A Good Cause

Chapter Title: Solution Found

Author: Restive Nature

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to BtVS. They belong to Whedon & Mutant Enemy. Nor do I own any rights to other shows represented through the rest of this fictions. All shows belong to their respective owners. No infringement is intended and this fiction is for private enjoyment only.

Rating: Various, up to R

Chapter Rating: PG

Genre: Crossover

Type: BtVS/ Various

Pairing: Various

Summary: When threatened by an old foe not their own, how else can the combined forces of the Scoobies and the Fang Gang respond? By having an auction!

Spoilers/ Time line: This is post series for both Buffy and Angel. Other shows and will be discussed within each chapter that it pertains to.

Feedback: Always welcome!

Distribution: Ask first please.

A/N: This is a response to the Twisting the Hellmouth “The Bachelor/ Bachelorette Challenge.

For A Good Cause

Chapter Five

Solution Found

As to be expected, there was the usual outcry of protest and demands at Xander's announcement. Still leaning over the table, he had waited for it and was pausing in his explanations for everyone to get it out of their systems. Once the voices began to taper off, he turned to glance over his shoulder. “Let's shut the door,” he decided and quickly matched action to words before returning to his former position. “If we want to keep this quiet, like we said, then we don't want every Sally, Jane and Spot to over hear it, right?”

There was puzzlement on everyone's faces until Giles chuckled and shook his head. “You're mixing up your children's reading instuction syllabi Xander,” he informed the young man who straightened up and shrugged.

“Well, I know better than to-!” he began but then waved the thought away. “Never mind. Okay, I want you all to listen to me before you freak out. It's just an idea and I don't have all the details worked out. But it seems to me like we have to do something, a lot of somethings actually. And this idea, even if it seems bad or... or...” his face scrunched up as he tried to search for the appropriate word that fit.

“I'm hearing a lot of words,” Buffy grumbled, “but no idea yet. What is it Xander?”

“Okay,” Xander nodded once and reached up to straighten the patch over his missing eye. It seemed as if he had developed some nervous twitches himself. “First of all, we have this problem with the genie thing. Second, we need to find some money, mass amounts of money to buy and repair a place that's going to be big enough to house the number of Slayers and Watchers that will train and work here. We also need to have some sort of income to keep it running. Because, let's face it Buff, my job, Willow's student loans and the few jobs you tried were just barely enough to run that little house in Sunnydale.” He said it as kindly as possible, but the point was still there.

Yet Buffy still nodded tiredly in acknowledgment. “And even if all the Slayers and Watchers that would be here, were able to hold down at least part time jobs, it just gets too problematic and it's not enough for the needs we'll have,” she added. She remembered well enough, the projected budget that Willow and Giles had created. Both from then and the ideas for now.

“Okay, so this idea,” Xander rubbed his hands together and pulled the closest chair to him, seating himself once more. “It occurs to me that we have to raise the funds. And we've all seen those shows-!”

“I am not joining a reality show to win cash and or prizes!” Kennedy interrupted hotly. “I'd much rather ask Daddy for the money than do that kind of crap.”

“Like you're so sure you'd win,” Dawn snorted from her seat further down as Kennedy's eyes flashed.

“Not the type of show I was talking about,” Xander interrupted loudly, to quell the imminent argument. The others, he noted, were waiting semi patiently for him to continue. “I'm talking about fund raisers. You know, those auction things? Like on public access? But instead of auctioning off a bunch of fancy junk that we don't have, we'd be auctioning off... ourselves.”

And then the flurry of disgust and protests broke out again. This time it took Giles banging his fisted hand down upon the table to quiet them all. He removed his glasses, letting them dangle from his other hand as he regarded Xander across the table. “Xander, while I admire your enthusiasm to find a solution, I feel I should remind you that we want to keep this problem private and within this immediate circle. To propose a public slave auction... well it's not only demeaning, but unfeasible. The funds required to even-!”

“But it's not!” Xander protested, stilling the other man's retort and the rumblings from the others as well. “Look,” he offered glancing around the table at all of them. “I'm not saying we announce what happened to us. I'm saying we have a charity fund raiser to get the school up and running. They have these things all the time, or, well, at least I think they do. The kind where rich people bid on like, younger members of their select little groups to do odd jobs around the house. Manual labor at their houses or clubs or in their neighborhoods. Or has Caddyshack lied to me?” He directed that to Kennedy, as the most affluently placed member of the group, since she came from money. She was nodding slowly.

“They do that sort of stuff at my dad's country club,” she allowed. “And at my boarding school. And my mom's sorority alumni did it once.”

“See!” Xander pointed out triumphantly. “No one has to say a word about being under a spell. We just offer up our services as laborers to the community at large. They pay, we perform, voila, spell is broken. Right?”

“I'm not sure it's so simple Xander,” Giles sighed. “While the idea has merit, the money it would cost to put on a gala affair of that magnitude-!”

“Who says it needs to be huge?” Dawn interrupted. The idea Xander had presented them with was intriguing.

“There's a reason the saying 'it takes money to make money'' exists Dawnie,” Buffy supplied. “It's better than my idea to rob a Swiss Bank, at least,” she chuckled, though her closest friends knew she was only partially joking about that. “If we want the big bucks, we'd have to attract the attention of the big buckaroos.”

“Yes, but charity,” Dawn retorted excitedly. “There's all sorts of places that we could apply to for help, isn't there. I mean, we are starting a school. That's got to count for something,” she added a little helplessly.

“That's true,” Willow groaned, “but it would take a lot of time and paperwork, phone calls... and there's no guarantees...”

Xander listened intently, his brain seeming to go into overdrive as it rarely did. This problem, broken down, taking the magic spell out of the equation, it seemed a reparable solution. “Okay, hang on,” he broke in to still the murmurs, staring down at the table as his brainstorming continued. “Wills, you said that you were working on a combination spell to put on our buildings, right? The one to keep out people that meant us harm.”

“Well, it's going to do more than that, but yeah,” she nodded slowly. “Xander, I don't-!”

“Can you... does it matter how big the place is?” he wondered aloud and she shook her head in the negative. “Okay, so that would take care of that,” he announced and then turned his face back to Giles. “We know that there are all sorts of people out there willing to support charities. We just need to find them. People that really need our help. Not just an afternoon of hauling garbage out of the garage.”

“That would be ideal,” Giles snorted softly, seeming to follow the younger man's thoughts. There was a small knock that kept the others from wondering aloud what the two were thinking of and then Andrew was poking his head in.

“Snacks,” he announced quietly and when there were accepting nods, he opened the door wide to hold it open for the several girls he had recruited to help. Slayers, all of them, they carried in the goodies that Andrew had prepared. “There's food and... oh, here's Sandra with the drinks. There's coffee, hot water and tea and also some juice. I- oh, forgot the cups, sorry, be right back!” He waited until Sandra was completely past him before dashing back down the stairs.

The girls set the trays down and Sandra stepped back. “Andrew gave us a bunch to eat downstairs, so we're gonna... yeah,” there was an oddness and a trembling in her voice as her eyes as well as the other girl's, darted around the room. Landing mostly on Angel and his friends before taking off again, like they really didn't want to get caught and earn one of Illyria's already lamented and marked of viciousness, tongue lashings. After belated thanks that chased the girls out of the room, the door was almost closed, but opened again to reveal Andrew carrying two large bags. One of Styrofoam cups and the other plastic drinking glasses. He held them up, giving the others a wry grin.

“Can't break these if they drop, huh?” he explained with a slightly sick smile. He set them on the table and then resumed the chair he had been in earlier. “So what did I miss?”

“Just a lot of... talk,” Dawn muttered as she reached for a roll. There were utensils also on the new platters, along with condiments. Andrew, to give him his due had really thought this through the second time around. Faith quickly walked Andrew through Xander's idea as the young man nodded, most traces of bumbling gone from his eyes as he seemed to dissect the idea.

“I think,” Buffy announced suddenly, perking up a little, “that your idea is good Xander.” She glanced around at the others. “That last one. I mean,” she clarified. “Wouldn't that just screw up the Djinn's mojo if we were to perform like... public service type of things, instead of letting people's selfishness dictate what we do?”

“Probably,” Willow agreed, pausing from nibbling on the cracker that she had chosen. “It was intended as a punishment, slavery,” she mused. “It would actually be really good for our karma to turn it back around on him.”

“The bigger the good deed, the better,” Dawn chuckled and then her eyes went wide as she turned to stare at Angel. Just as he began to fidget under her gaze, she then turned to Giles.

“What is it Dawn?” the older man asked calmly right before she half squealed and then waved her hands erratically.

“Wolfram and Hart!” she announced as the others all winced. She shook her head quickly. “And- and, the Watcher's Council. And Angel's investigation team. They were all a group, focused on helping the good guys, or the bad, too. But they can't be the only ones. That's who we go to.”

“Go to for what?” Spike demanded, slightly miffed as he'd searched the platters, to find that Andrew had not included blood for him, or even for Angel. He seemed to content himself with some of the chips that had been provided, turning his nose up at the dip.

“People that really need help,” Dawn explained, waving her hand to Angel. “Wasn't that what you guys were about? Working there? Helping the helpless?”

“We were,” Angel nodded, “but I don't think that was the scope they're talking about here,” he gestured back and forth between Giles and Xander.

“But that's okay,” Dawn went on excitedly. “We can't be the only ones. There have to be people, like all over the world, fighting the good fight. Not just Slayers.”

“Well, yes, I imagine there are,” Giles nodded. “But any record of it, or them, that the Watcher's Council had, would have been lost in the- the explosion,” he reminded her.

“I know,” Dawn nodded. “But just because the building is gone, doesn't mean the mission is. People should know that.”

There was agreement from most of those present in the room. It was just the idea of going about trying to accomplish it at the scope Dawn and Xander were imagining it at, that was daunting. But slowly, ideas of where to start came pouring out. And the excitement grew. And then Angel, who had been sitting back, quietly contemplating, leaned froward in his seat.

“Lorne,” was all he said. It was enough to quiet the group for a moment before Spike groaned and then chuckled.

“That's brilliant,” the bleached blond Vampire announced. “And surprising,” he grinned wolfishly. “Because as I recall, the demon don't want nothin' to do with you no more.”

“I know that Spike,” Angel growled back tiredly. “But I don't think he would deny the rest of us the help. And it would give him his heart's desire, without the strings this time.”

“What are they talking about?” Buffy demanded, turning to her best friend. Willow gently patted her friend's hand.

“Lorne,” she announced. “He's that empath demon I told you about. The one that reads people when they sing- oh!” She suddenly sat up a little as she seemed to realize what Angel had been getting at. “He could be the entertainment. And he could read people so that we could really help the people that needed it!”

“Exactly,” Angel nodded, relief flashing across his face that it wasn't just the other Vampire that he despised that was understanding him. “Although he'd probably enjoy being emcee for the whole proceedings. And having him appear as an encore engagement from his Vegas days might bring in people.” Willow was nodding slowly at his pronouncements. “He's uh, got green skin and red horns,” he explained for the others that had not met the empath demon that had helped through his years in Los Angeles.

With that explanation to placate the others, talk began to grow again before Giles decided to intervene once more. “As all well and good as this sounds,” he barked impatiently, “need I remind you all that research needs to be done before anything else. We need to know exactly what this curse entails for all of us. We don't have time to go running about all willy nilly planning balls and entertainment and God knows what else. We're in danger here, of people using us for their own purposes, their own greed. Now I know that I have often-!”

“Giles!” surprisingly, it was Dawn that called him out. She glared up at him. “Would you just shut up. No one said we weren't gonna research.”

Giles, his jaw working tensely as he stared down at the girl that he had somewhatly come to regard as a daughter, well, he would have expected this from Buffy, Willow or even the Vampires. But never had she put herself forward like that, to him. But as expected, Buffy leaned into their sphere.

“I think, Giles, that what Dawn is trying to say, is that we have several things we can do here,” she intervened verbally. Trying to quell the brewing stress that they all felt. “But the thing is, I think,” and here she glanced around at the others, “that even if we find a solution for this, with the research, I think I still wanna do this. Xander's right, we need to find the money somewhere. And just because we might not be compelled by a spell to help out, doesn't mean that we can't. Right?”

“Exactly,” Willow beamed at her friend. “I mean, if we can figure out the logistics to help someone that really needs it, and the logistics of putting on an event...” she trailed off slightly and shrugged one shoulder. “It just sounds like a good idea.”

“There's nothing in the books that says we can't do both, right? I mean, of course we'll search,” Xander added. “Nobody's going to force you to do anything you don't want Giles.”

“Well that's a relief,” Giles sighed and then leaned back in his seat and regarded the rest of the group. At last he seemed to come to a decision. “All right. If this is what you want. You do realize that it will mean just as much work as the research. And I must insist that come first.”

“It will,” Willow nodded, some color seeming to return to her face. “It's just, it's always good to have a plan B. We've never really... done that before, have we?” she glanced around at the others. There were a few chuckles. “Well look at that, we're evolving.”

“Yay on us,” Faith chuckled weakly. “So how we gonna do this?”

And there started again, the plans to divide the teams to their strengths. Willow and Giles obviously along with Dawn would work on researching. Kennedy, by stint of her knowledge of charities through her family affiliations would start scouting on professional set ups that might help them. Angel and Spike would work to track down Lorne to see if they could secure his help, as well as reaching out to others that might need the kind of help that they could provide.

And Xander, well as usual, he got stuck with playtime with his hammer. But some times, that was just the way he liked it.

Chapter Six- Settling The Matter