3.7 Parent's Night

Quotes

PeanutGalleryChase: Aww! It's so cute, I'm gonna get hives ..."

Stefan: "What can I say? A Frenchman knows the way to a girl's heart."

Stefan: "Contrary to what everyone believes, Rachel and I can go three days without ... well."
Chase: "Dude, I'm her roommate. You really expect me to buy that?"

Chase: "I'm rude to everybody, mom, you know that."

Chase [on going to the caves -- again]: "One of these days, one of these things is going to live in a skyscraper penthouse, and it's going to be great."

Chase [before submerging the map]: "If this blows it up, I'm, um, really sorry."

Gabe: "Well, they had to all gather together and get in the plane. The grandfather looked a little slow."

Rachel and Chase's apartment is humming with excitement as Rachel prepares for her mother's visit. Darla finally arrives and the two greet with lots of hugs and smooches and cookie-baking. Shortly thereafter Stefan shows up to drive the pair of Wiccan lovelies to a party at the Boyd-Townsend manor – Deaver's parents are also in town this weekend, as his father is applying for a Math professorship at Phillipi (Deaver is NOT excited about the possibility). With both his folks and Rachel's mom in town (her father is off on business), it seemed like a fine night for a party.

Stefan glides through the initial interview with Rachel's mother, kissing hands and smiling charmingly while fielding her questions with his usual European flair. He even eats Rachel's cookies without wincing (though he can't quite hide his relief when he takes a bite and realizes Darla had a hand in them). Darla is refreshingly frank and is absolutely thrilled that her daughter has found someone special.

Deaver's place is all spruced up for the occasion, and there appears to be more thought behind the decor than there has been previously (most likely Bethany Caldwell's doing). His parents are there and are eager to meet his friends. His mother is as reserved as his father is talkative.

Some folks are sociable and others not so much. Jade and Gabe hang on the back porch. Rive wanders off, uncomfortable with the parental scene, and explores parts of the house she's never seen before, as she is really only ever here for training purposes. Stefan weasels embarrassing Rachel stories out of her mom, and Chase chats up Deaver's parents with her brightest smile, telling them all about the "highlights" of McKennit that are sure to send his ultra-conservative mother home in fits.

As soon as she catches sight of Geoff, Chase goes to give him some hell for not telling her his big news: he and his advising professor from Berkeley has been given an award for their ongoing cancer research. There's going to be a big banquet in his honor the following evening, and Chase is dying to go and cheer him on. He seems quietly pleased by her enthusiasm and promises her a ticket, even though he hates the idea of all the pompous attention and stuff.

* * *

In the dark recesses of the house, Rive's cell phone rings. She answers, chagrined to learn it is her mother on the other end. Apparently her parents are in town and wish to speak with her. It is about Ray. The name makes Rive frost over, and she coldly agrees to meet her mother the following morning for breakfast at the Smythe Hotel (the poshest hotel in McKennit). She returns to the main room, give her confused friends an abrupt goodbye, and stalks out of the mansion.

* * *

Gabe walks Jade home after the party, somewhere around 3 AM. After leaving her at her door, he trudges back to his dorm alone. Opening the door to his room, he is immediately aware that he is not the only person there. Flipping on the light, Gabe comes face to face with ... his father, who is quietly reading a book. They exchange some stilted no-so-pleasantries (after all, Gabe's father essentially kicked him out), before his father gets to the point. He wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. It is about Gabe's mother ...

* * *

The next morning, Rive strides in to the lobby of the Smythe hotel, running purposefully late. She's dressed for offence, and scans the breakfast room for her cooly collected and immaculate mother ...

* * *

Chase is on break as she heads through one of the hospital waiting areas. She stops short when she spies a very familiar looking couple -- a redheaded woman and a gaunt dark-haired man. They are the same pair she saw at the coffee shop not long ago, and she feels certain she's seen them before then as well. She stops to ask if they've met, and introduces herself. They return the pleasantries, offer her some coffee, and introduce themselves as Marie Laidlaw and her brother, Zachary Whitfield. They are in town visiting family. Zach suddenly asks Chase if she knew Kevin Black. Chase answers guardedly, and Marie scolds Zach for bringing up that "disgrace to the family". Chase's phone rings and she quickly excuses herself from the pair.

Things go from bad to worse; the voice on the other end of the phone is her mother. Apparently her parents are in town visiting one of her mother's clients. Chase knows exactly who the client is (an alumni vampire) and is very short with her mother when she asks if they can get together. She sees a pretty 40-something woman trying to get her attention and uses the excuse to get off the phone.

The woman apologizes for interrupting, and asks Chase if she can help her find someone -- Dr. Geoffrey VanGarren. One of the other staff members said she'd be likely to know where to find him. She looks at Chase curiously, and starts to ask a rather personal question, when Chase cuts her off with the "old friends" line. She smiles and introduces herself ... she's Geoff's mother ...

Chase can't hide her shock (Geoff's mother walked out when he was a few months old), and goes quickly to the nurses' station to "look at the schedule". She immediately calls Geoff, who is silent for a long moment before ordering Chase to tell the woman to go home. He abruptly hangs up. Chase goes back to the woman and apologetically tells her that Geoff will be in surgery all afternoon.

After Geoff's mom leaves, Chase calls Stefan to see if his folks just happen to be around as well. He tells her he hasn't heard from them since they raged at him over his inability to dust his brother's murderer, but all these coincidences definitely merit a meeting. They agree to convene at Chase and Rachel's apartment.

Chase is the first one there, and as she fishes for her keys, she overhears Rachel inside talking to her mother. They are discussing Rachel's "condition", and her mother is upset that she has been kept in the dark for so long. She asks Rachel to "call her when it gets worse". Chase interrupts at that point and one by one, the other scoobies arrive.

Once everyone has collected, Darla tells a curious story at Rachel's insistence. When her husband was preparing to go to China, Darla saw a metaphysical "rope" attached to him that seemed to be pulling him away from his destination. She "cut" it for good measure, and still isn't sure what it meant; the other "end" of the rope was much too far away for her to know where or who it was coming from. It appears to have developed over an extended period of time, which means the caster is either very powerful or not aware that the spell is being cast. Rachel expresses relief that Stefan's family appear to have escaped the magical pull, at least ...

The doorbell rings.

Chase answers it to find Stefan's extended family on the doorstep. She steps back and lets them in, where Stefan welcomes them and makes introductions, albeit unenthusiastically. They then embark on a heated conversation in rapid French, and Stefan makes his apologies to the group as he escorts his family out of the apartment, telling his friends to keep him posted on what they find out.

Discussion results in the group decided to invite the elder Dr. Deaver out for a tour of McKennit. When he arrives, one look from Darla is all the scoobies need to know that there is definitely a "rope" attached to him. They put him in the car and go off on their "tour", looking for the other end of the spell.

* * *

Stefan presents his family with all the details of the pact that Chase was forced to sign with Bannon, and the reasons he cannot attack Lilith. In the mood for honesty, he also confronts them with his bitterness over the experiments performed on him as a child that have led to his half-demon nature. Generally unsympathetic, his family returns to the subject of Lilith, and announces that they are here to finish the business for him.

* * *

The carful of scoobies and the unsuspecting Dr. Deaver senior winds their way erratically through town, eventually finding themselves on campus. He protests that he's already been given a tour of campus, but is dragged along anyway. He gets even more confused when they proceed to the freshman honors dorm.

Having pegged the place, Deaver cheerfully suggests that he take his dad on a tour of his laboratory. He ushers him off and the others enter the dorm, following the "rope" up to the second floor and an unremarkable standard-issue dorm room door. They knock, and a shy looking girl answers, startled to see so many people she's never met. She timidly introduces herself as Shelby. Chase tries to gently interrogate the girl about the magic spell, covens, and the like, but her bedside manner doesn't extend this far and she turns to Darla for help. Darla starts mothering the girl in a perfectly natural way, sitting down beside her on the bed.

Just then, Rachel's cell rings and she steps out to answer. She comes back a few moments later, white-faced, to tell the gang that Stefan's family is Going Hunting. Leaving Darla with Shelby to help her unwork the accidental magic brought on by her homesickness, the rest of the gang takes off to regroup.

* * *

At a seedy wharfside bar, Stefan's family brutally interrogates and destroys vampires in their single-minded hunt for information. A lead at the bar leads them to a pharmacy on the other side of town, and the tip they "acquire" there takes them to Curra's ... and to Grundy.

At first the doormen won't let Stefan enter, but they relent and allow his family to pass as long as they leave their weapons at the door. They head straight for the little demon at the back table, who sees them coming and immediately tries to melt into the floor. They drag him outside and bully information out of him. His words tumble over one another as he stammers out directions to a vampire who lives in one of the caves outside McKennit. He then very humbly asks them to release him. They do, thank him politely ... and then run him through with a blade before turning on their heels and stalking away.

Continuing their single-minded quest, the de Regnier family follows Grundy's directions into the quiet forests that surround the town. As they prepare for battle outside the designated cave, Stefan's father notices that the sword his son has drawn isn't his family blade. Stefan gives them a brief explanation of Raveena and her sacrifices, and that he has elected to take up her sword in her honor. This causes some anger and there's more terse French.

Stefan takes his irritation with his family and races in to the cave, taking out his aggression on the hapless vampire therein. Stefan throws the man up against the wall, barks out his request, and the vampire waves a piece of parchment at him before dropping it to the ground. Stefan crushes the vampire bare-handed, much to his family's pride.

Picking up the paper, it appears to be a magical map that will be three-dimensional when activated. Stefan's family is anxious to keep going, but he tells them that he will need his friends' help with this, and tries again to convince them that the scoobies are more than worth their salt in a demon hunt. His family grudgingly agrees to return to Rachel's apartment to discuss the map further.

* * *

Everyone reconvenes at Rachel's and Chase's place. On further examination of the map, Deaver perceives it to be the most extensive map he has seen of the system of tunnels and caves that runs through and around McKennit. It clearly has to be magically activated. Reluctant to take the item anywhere near Bannon's library, the group heads over to the manor to use Deaver's resources instead. After a fast, whispered conversation with Stefan, Deaver does some "research" and convinces Stefan's relations that it will take a lot of time to discover the keys to the map. Since his Watcher-ness gives him instant credibility with them, they back off and take their leave, agreeing to wait to complete their revenge until the map has been unlocked.

Having bought some time, the scoobies examine the map further. Chase pulls out the alumni coin that Bannon gave to her and flips it around in her fingers - Charon the Ferryman on one side, and Cerberos the three-headed dog on the other. She recalls that the alumni's most common euphemism for becoming a member is "crossing the river with Charon". Hmm.

She tries dipping the map in river water, with no effect. Then they try blood, with Stefan slicing his palm open and letting the drops fall on the parchment. Wherever the blood lands, Gabe "sees" the map react, indicating that blood is a component of the spell but not all of it. It probably needs a verbal something as well -- most spells do. They try the alumni motto (which is also the Phillipi motto: De Nostro Praeterito Nortum Futura, or Our Future from Our Past). No dice. Including the coin in the mix does nothing, either. They figure it must be something that only alumni members or those close to them would have or know, but Chase can't think of anything else of note and no one else has moved in those circles.

Geoff looks at his watch and jumps up with a mild curse. He's about to miss his own award banquet. He hastily departs, and leaves tickets to the party on the table in case anyone feels like going. Since Deaver is being forced to attend by his department and Chase has already volunteered, they set the map aside in Deaver's care for the time being and go home to make pretty for the banquet instead.

* * *

Geoff's speech at the banquet goes pretty well, even though it is probably less formal than some would like. Simone is glowing beside him, completely in her element. She defers questions about whether or not she will run for Mayor next term, pointing out that this evening is about Dr. VanGarren. The food is good ... and the open bar is even better.