"Hullo?"

"Bella?" Tamara tries very hard to keep her voice steady. It manages to quaver nonetheless. "I seem to have a bit of a stalker problem."

"Uh, okay, do you want to talk to my dad? I told you he's the chief of police, right?"

"...A vampiric ex-husband stalker problem."

"Oh! Okay. I can tell you where I got my ultraviolet porch lights? I can sleep over at your house, maybe?"

"Yes and thank you to the first. Maybe to the second. I don't worry about the house, it's a vampire, but- maybe an eye on Kevin?"

"I mean - keep him indoors at night, obviously. What's the vampire doing that tips you off?"

"But nobody staked the contents of the morgue," says Bella. "Right. Does he know you're a Watcher or was this relationship before you got into Watching, will he know that a teenage girl you hang out with is likely to be the Slayer...?"

"What does he look like? Do the pranks indicate that he's managing to move around during the day in some way? They haven't been strictly centered around your house..." Bella shakes her head and relays where she got the ultraviolet porch lights. "Oh, also, you can borrow Prom Ghost if you want, but you have to look after her anchor."

"Once or twice they were during the day. Mostly at night or in the evening. I don't think we're looking at the Gem of Amara or some such. Prom Ghost- would that help? If she saw him, what could she do except yell? She's still insubstantial, yes?"

"She can also be invisible, so she could warn you without him knowing he'd been spotted," says Bella. "Substantiality is connected to her emotional state - she doesn't normally get angry enough to turn solid, but it's possible she could get pissed off at a vampire who was after you, especially if you get along. You do have to leave the TV on for her, though, she doesn't sleep - mute with closed captions is fine. She'll watch anything with shirtless actors, American Idol, Saturday Night Live, and cooking shows."

Tamara snorts at this description of viewing preferences. "Well, I won't say no to the extra alarm system. Wouldn't say no to much, right now. Not with Kevin to worry about."

"Minnie's a sweetie," says Bella. "I'll bring her over now if you want."

"Just... tell her I apologize in advance if I seem... short. I'm rather unsettled at the moment."

Tamara opens the door and waves. She doesn't invite them in. She doesn't say anything at all, in fact. She's being extra careful.

Tamara has to take a second to think through what Bella means by 'worst case', but nods once she's parsed it. "I can't think of a reason I would need the stone myself. Might as well be safe."

"Okay. Go - stand in a bathroom or something and I'll find a place to stash it."

"I'll be in Kevin's room," she says instead. She's too polite to say that she'd rather not have a stranger in Kevin's room, ghost or no. Tamara takes the opportunity to put Kevin to bed.

Tamara has a number of pictures; she keeps them around the house for Kevin's sake. She retrieves one and offers it to Bella. "That's one of my newer ones," she says. "He shouldn't have changed much, except for... the obvious."

"Keep the windows closed, too, there's things that are not actively on fire which could be thrown in through an open one. Penciling crosses yes or no?"

"Yes. Yes to... most things. If you need to make decisions and I'm not here, assume permission. It's not just me here, I have Kevin."

"Right. I'd suggest you and Kevin haring off somewhere else while I try to track the guy down, but perhaps he's a great detective, and here you're within shouting distance of the Slayer, so. Is there any risk that Kevin will recognize him and be talked into inviting him into the house?"

"He's been told his father is dead. Which, as far as I'm concerned, he still is. I warned him about a 'bad man who looks like his father', but the risk exists, if Charli- Charles is persuasive enough."

"That's my dad's name, slightly awkward... anyway. I'll get you a holy water gun. If something happens to you but Kevin's okay where does he go?"

"Talk to the Council, I suppose. My sister might be able to take him, or maybe Charles' parents. Ideally he'd stay near you or the Council until someone tracks down that... thing. Moving halfway across the world didn't help the first time."

"I might be able to get Charlie - my dad Charlie - to finagle keeping him in my house as protective custody... I'll look out for him, anyway. Any idea why you're being stalked now, why it's becoming obvious now instead of a while ago?"

"My dad's name is Charlie and I call him that and it's going to be hard for me to remind myself to call him Dad when he's not around being disgruntled about the use of his first name," Bella reminds her. "Okay, that works. I will try very hard to prevent it from coming to that but I had to ask. Okay... when and why do you leave the house during the day?"

"I have work, Kevin has school. We need to shop sometimes, or get deliveries if we can arrange it safely. That's all I can think of. I can tell the school Kevin has chicken pox, but work is less tolerant, and then I'd need someone to watch him." She doesn't know where to look, so she gestures vaguely. "Someone substantial, unfortunately."

"Once school's out for the year - and you could probably coast that far on chicken pox - I can bring you stuff, but I don't have a good way around your work requirements. Soph will babysit if you pay her, I'm probably better poised to be out looking for your ex. I'll have Soph look into spells for finding people, because I'm not exactly Batman here and I'm getting the impression that he's not going to make stupid mistakes."

"He was never stupid in life," Tamara agrees, rather glumly. Stupid would be easier. "Could you have Soph call me? We can discuss minutiae like times and rates."

"Yeah, will do. Pencil crosses, home to get water gun and tell Soph to call, then out looking for likely hidey-holes - if you do wind up sending Kevin to any more school maybe warn them that there could be attempts at unlawful custody seizure by a male relative, supply description. I can think of plenty of ways for a risk-tolerant vampire to get around during the day if they really wanted."

"I'll let them know. And, Bella? Thank you."

And then the phone rings.

"Hello?"

"Hey, little bird told me you're in the market for a babysitter?"

"The little bird didn't lie. Could you? Are you even done with school yet?"

"Nnnno, but I will be in a week and I could say I have mono."

"...in a week, then. There are other babysitters, I do not need to endanger your education. You must have exams, if nothing else."

"Okay. But in a week?"

"In a week. I work what I'm given to understand are fairly standard American work hours; if that's too much of your day, I can find someone to alternate with you?"

"I mean, if he's a total holy terror, it might get to be a bit much, but Bella doesn't describe him like that, so I could do other stuff. Can I bring you my DDR setup and wear him out playing it?"

"I haven't the foggiest notion what that is, but assuming it's as harmless as it sounds, by all means."

"It's a video game that you play by dancing!"

"If you can convince him to dance, by all means. And if possible, videotape."

"Will do. Okay, I don't want to totally wreck your bank account, here, and if it was just a couple of days of crisis I'd do it for free, but Bella's not sure how long it's gonna take before she can find the dude - and after she finds the dude are you still going to need a babysitter what with school being out?"

"By themselves, summers aren't an issue. I've found an affordable day care that Kevin likes well enough. But the day care doesn't count as a residence, and none of his minders know enough to be properly warned. I'd much rather the both of you were safely behind an invitation-only barrier."

"Right. Aaannd Bella thinks that a smart vampire will set the house on fire so I will get on learning how to make things be not on fire in case extinguishers don't cut it or require unsafe amounts of going outside."

"I have a couple of spells marked out for you, they'll be waiting when you get here. There's also a dousing potion Alli can make for emergencies, but it's very thorough and I really wouldn't use it unless you can swim."

"I can swim, I dunno if I can swim while keeping a little kid afloat. Thank you for doing my magic homework for me. Is there any other stuff I should know?"

"...of course. It's my job, after all, and you're doing me an enormous favor. It's the least I can do." She considers the swimming issue. "Kevin isn't a stellar swimmer, precisely, but he can certainly keep himself afloat under his own power. I'll talk to Alli about getting emergency potions. I'm afraid I can't think of anything else, but I'll let you know if it occurs to me."

"So he's not allergic to anything or afraid of plastic jewelry or - whatever? Okay. What are we paying me?"

"He likes cars...? Nothing unusual as far as I know. I admit I haven't a clue what American salaries are like. Say 'base wage' and leave it at that, whatever that is?"

"Minimum wage is - I think six-something? Six-fifty, six-seventy-five? If we assume the McDonald's that Meg works for pays minimum wage to teenagers, which I think we can assume."

"From what I know of McDonald's, that seems fair," Tamara agrees dryly. "I'll have it for you your first day. Just let me know what exact day that is when you have a moment, please?"

"Iiiiit's - we're off on Friday, so Friday."

"All right. I'll see you next Monday, then. Good luck on your exams. And thank you again for your help."

"You don't want me over Friday? I don't go to school on Friday, that's when we're over with. I think maybe AP exams happen then but I'm not in any AP courses."

"Oh, so you're all done Thursday then? Thursday seemed an odd final day, but the advanced exams make sense. Friday it is."

"Okay, I'll be over that morning, Bella will probably drop me off."

"All right then, we'll see you on Friday."

"Hi, Kevin. You can call me Soph for short."

"Hi Soph."

Soph decides he will probably get used to her. She goes in, not verbally invited, and waves Bella off. She puts down the video game stuff but doesn't start setting it up yet.

"I brought some video game stuff. Do you want to see?"

"Okay." Then, after a manners-recollecting pause, "...please."

"I'm a good witch, if that's what you mean. But less pink."

"That's good!" he tells her sagely. "Then the wicked witch won't know it's you. You can be all sneaky."

"Yep. I dress up just like a regular person! Am I doing it right?"

Kevin regards her consideringly. "Well. It's a lot of bracelets," he says rather plaintively. "But I guess it's okay."

"I like 'em. It's too hard to pick which ones to wear."

"Are they magic bracelets?"

"Not yet. I can't do too much magic all at once. It's not safe. So I just do it sometimes, and I haven't gotten around to magicking my bracelets yet. What do you think a magic bracelet should do?"

"Fire!" Kevin says immediately. "Shoot beams of fire at people!"

"That might be a good idea! I know how to set things on fire with magic, but I don't have a bracelet that does it."

"It's in case I meet bad guys!"

"Fire is really good on bad guys!" Kevin agrees. "Like Jack-Jack!"

"The baby in the Incredibles?"

"Yep!" Kevin looks very pleased that Soph knows this. "The Incredibles was great!"

"Pixar does know how to make a movie."

Kevin, being uneducated in the ways of movie studios, just sort of looks at her blankly. "Yep," he says finally, not sounding at all confident in this answer.

"Pixar is the people who made the Incredibles."

"Oh!" Kevin is much more enlightened now. "Yes. They made a very good movie! When I get big, I wanna be Jack Jack."

"Even though Jack Jack is little?"

"I just haven't figured it out yet!"

"What've you tried?"

He frowns. "I just... think about it really hard? And ask my mum. I don't wanna be flown at a plane."

"Well, if you figure it out, let me know, it sounds very interesting."

And Bella's phone rings, at six in the morning.

Tamara is not very coherent at the moment. "Kevin's gone, someone broke in and took him, his window's open, I don't know how Charles did it, he can't get in, but Kevin's still gone-"

"Hired a goon, befriended a demon, something," says Bella. "Okay, I'm going to wake Soph and my dad, chug a Mountain Dew, and go looking. Anything else besides the open window to go on?"

"I'm going to send my dad to your house, he's a cop, he knows - cop things," says Bella. "He'll check it out and call me."

Tamara does manage a "thank you." Then mumbles something that is probably a goodbye and hangs up to wait for Charlie.

"Soph's halfway through a finding spell. One of Kevin's socks somehow wound up in her purse yesterday so she didn't have to make a separate trip."

Tamara is sitting at the table in the kitchen, trying very hard not to get in the way and systematically shredding paper towels into tiny, tiny pieces.

And the sock is being a sock.

The sock has now graduated to compass-sock.

"Where?" Tamara asks instantly. "Bella, please- it's Kevin-"

"It's - are you sure you want to be there?" Sound of doors opening and closing as the sisters pile into their car.

"It's better than sitting here not knowing!"

"All right, fine - the sock aimed at Walsh and Maple, but don't make yourself a target and distract the fighters, okay?"

"I won't get involved," Tamara agrees immediately. "I just need to- not sit here and wait. I'll meet you there."

"See you when I see you."

Bella and Soph are hanging out outside of the warehouse, their car parked down the street; Soph is casting something to refresh the spell on the sock and Bella's standing guard.

Tamara walks up as calmly as she can manage (which is not very calmly, but she's trying). "Hi," she says helplessly. "Anything I can do...? Have you... seen him? Them?"

The sock is returning to its compass-sock state.

"Not yet. Sock's waking up," says Soph. She puts it flat in the palm of her hand and waits for it to point its toes.

Compass-sock eventually determines that it would like to be pointed thataways. Thataways is definitely inside the warehouse.

There's a door around back. It has one of those lock-and-chain contraptions keeping the doors shut.

Bella's shell knife will make short work of the chain. She does her best to keep it quiet.

Compass-sock feels quite strongly they should be investigating those stock rooms over there.

Bella stalks towards them, shell in one hand, stake in the other - indoors she's probably not going to get the freedom of range she needs for the crossbow to be her best option.

Soph, at her shoulder, holding the sock and some herbs, follows.

Tamara digs out her emergency stake from her purse and follows them, at her best guess for a non-interfering distance.

Bella chases Charles at a dead run.

Soph dithers. "Bella will be back with her shell knife in a second," she tells Kevin, "and then she can get the chain off you -" And then she goes after her sister.

Charles clearly had this planned out as an escape route. The way out back is full of old boxes, shipping containers, and all sorts of junk strewn about; he clearly knows his way through it, but it would be easy to lose sight of him in the chaos.

Tamara runs over to Kevin. "Kevin, sweetheart, you're here, I'm so sorry, I don't know how he got you, it'll be okay now-"

Kevin smiles at her sweetly. "It's okay, Mummy, you're here now."

Tamara breathes a sigh of relief. "Yes, sweetheart, I'm here." She kneels in front of him. "Hang on, let me see if I can get you loose-"

Tamara screams.

With a laugh, Kevin lunges for her throat-

Bella makes reasonable progress towards the exit, trying to copy his steps.

Charles isn't paying close attention behind him. That would interfere with the flat out sprint he has going. But the one time he does glance back, he mutters something insulting about Slayers who were supposed to be more inconvenienced by the debris.

There's a Tamara here, at least. She's still on the ground sobbing, and trying to nudge a scattering of dust into a more coherent pile.

"Ta-" Soph stops, leaning on the wall. "-mara," she finishes, almost inaudibly.

Tamara doesn't respond to Soph when she arrives. She's having trouble drawing breath already; it's sneaking up on her, the feeling from crying too hard and too long, and running out of air. She gently smooths the last of the dust into a tiny pile- so tiny- and stares at it helplessly. She reaches for it, and then draws her hand back. She- she's not sure what to do, now. Except cry, and see if she can still inhale, in this world that doesn't have her son.

And as he sails out the door, with a shriek, Charles goes up in flames.

Tamara shudders slightly when Soph puts her hand down, but doesn't object.

And Bella strides out the door and stands over Charles and watches to make sure he doesn't put himself out.

He tries, and he makes a scramble for the door. But he's too far away, and sunlight is efficient. Shortly, there is nothing left of him but dust.

"I - I can probably do it but I'll need to look something up."

At the reminder that they might leave, Tamara visibly tries to pull herself together. It doesn't work very well. But after a few gulps, she at least manages to choke out, "Soph, I- do you- a container?"

"Uh - Bella - back of the car the jar just dump it out it's fine -"

Tamara very, very carefully gathers the dust pile into the jar.

"Uh, no, but you could drive Tamara home and I could call Dad."

Tamara doesn't respond to their logistical questions. She finishes collecting her dust into the jar Soph gave her. She screws the cap on carefully, carefully. Still kneeling, looking down, she says quietly, brokenly, "Tell me you killed him."

"He's dead. Burned up. I stayed to make sure he didn't put himself out."

"Good." She doesn't say anything else. She's holding herself wrong, somehow, all stiffness and awkward and rigid angles. As though she might shatter at any second.

"Let's get you home," suggests Bella in a low voice.

Tamara nods jerkily, and manages to haul herself to her feet despite her unsteadiness. She wraps her jar carefully in her arms and- waits. Silently, with noiseless tears running down her cheeks.

Bella puts a hand on her elbow and leads Tamara to her own car. "Let me have the keys, I'll drive."

Bella drives. She doesn't try to talk to Tamara.

For the remainder of the car ride, Tamara tries futilely to dry her face, and holds tight to the container in her lap. Every so often she shudders, carefully readjusts it, and then shrinks back into herself.

"Okay. Call if you need anything. I'm so, so sorry I didn't find him in time."

That wasn't what Bella meant, but she's not going to argue the point. She goes around the car and opens Tamara's door for her and sees her inside. And then she jogs home.