Note: Set during “With Human Blood and Human Tears”
Phone Calls by EstiRose
The phone rang. That wasn’t unusual, but it was long before opening hours at Joe’s.
Joe walked from the stage, where he’d been working on one of the lights, to the phone at the bar, cursing every ring. Whoever it was, he hoped would stay on long enough for him to answer the phone.
He picked it up, ready to yell at the person at the other end. “You better have a damned good reason,” he grumbled to the caller. “Hello?”
“Joe? Is this Joe Dawson?”
The connection was crummy. Either he needed the phone line looked at or his caller needed theirs checked. “Who is this? I can barely hear you.”
“This is Greer Lewis,” the caller responded, and Joe finally recognized the voice. “Sorry if the line’s bad…”
“It’s okay, I can hear you enough,” Joe said quickly. After all, he hadn’t heard from her in four years. At least she was still alive.
He’d always felt sympathetic for Greer, a lot of Watchers had. She’d been a hard worker in the field, and when she discovered she was Immortal, she’d left. A lot of people had admired her for that. Immortals didn’t belong in the Watchers, most thought. Good thing they didn’t know about Methos. They’d have fits, and he didn’t need them to have fits at the moment. Not that it wasn’t common sense to leave the Immortals out. After all, they weren’t supposed to even know about the Watchers, much less be joining them. They had started going through the recruiting procedures with a fine-toothed comb after Greer had left. They didn’t need any more Immortals-to-be in the Organization. Greer had been a mistake.
He wondered why she was calling. While her departure from Seattle had been amiable enough, she had been rather annoyed at both the Watchers and her fellow Immortals. Nobody blamed her. Joe tried to imagine what it would be like to spend years with the Organization and then find out that one was destined to be an Immortal.
“Joe?”
“Sorry. As I said, I can barely hear you,” Joe said, covering for his musings.
“I asked if you were okay?”
“Oh, yes. I’ve been through some rough spots, but I’ll be all right.”
He heard her laugh. She’d almost never laughed on her last visit to Seattle. “Watching can be like that, can’t it?”
“You have no idea,” Joe replied. Greer probably had no idea of the upheavals that had occurred in the past few years. “Is something wrong?”
Greer sounded sober. “Not with me. Joe, I need a favor from you.”
Joe nodded. “Are you hunting? Or being hunted?” he asked. He’d have to turn her down gently if that was the case. He was well aware of the dim view that many took of him.
“No, I’m not hunting, or being hunted, as far as I know,” Greer replied. “I have to find a Watcher, a friend of mine. It’s urgent.”
“I could try,” Joe said. It wasn’t a request that he would have had to respond to, but this was Greer, who had no doubt lost track of most of her former compatriots. He sighed with relief. He could probably fulfil this request with only a minor bending of his vows. “Who, and why?”
“Her name’s Lisa. Lisa Davis. She’s a friend of mine, I kind of lost track of her when she joined about three years ago. There’s a mutual friend of ours that’s in trouble, and I need her to talk to him.”
Joe nodded. It was, indeed, a reasonable request. “I’ll find her, but I’ll have to call her instead of giving you her number. You want me to give her your phone number?”
“No, just tell her that I was looking for her, and that a mutual friend is in trouble.”
“I will,” Joe said. He wondered who the friend was. He then wondered if Greer had gotten the young woman in the Watchers in the first place. It would be her style. And it would be someone to replace her. “You owe me one.”
Greer chuckled. “Indeed, I do.”
“Where are you, nowadays?” Joe could probably look it up, but he wanted to talk to her a little bit. Who knew how long before he got to talk to her again.
“Getting lazy, are you? London. England. I’ve nearly got citizenship.”
Joe whistled. “You’re calling me from London?” he asked. That explained the quality of the phone line.
“Joe, where else would I be calling from?” Greer asked. “This is home now.”
Joe grinned. “Yeah. Maybe I’ll drop by for a visit when I’m in Paris.”
“Who knows? I might be in,” Greer replied. “But, thanks again, Joe.”
“You’re welcome,” Joe replied.
The phone clicked on the other end. Joe sighed. There was a young woman to find and to call. With luck, he’d find her soon.
And then maybe he’d find Greer’s number. For next time he was in Paris.
It would be worth the call.