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Part 2

The "good night's sleep" had utterly failed to materialize. When, the last time Giles woke up, his mind still busily turning over all the facts at his disposal and failing to come up with anything resembling a good solution to the problem, he saw that it was almost dawn, he decided that he might as well give up on getting any rest.

He was meant to be speaking to a group of the senior Watcher trainees that morning, anyway, young men and women within the final year of their training, and he hadn't actually taken any time in the past few days to prepare. Not that he ever did prepare much; he'd done this a few times already, and he tended to send the instructor off to find him- or herself a cup of tea, close the door, and let the students ask him questions for the rest of the hour.

Even if the students didn't learn anything much from him--he had his doubts, sometimes--it gave him a better idea of who they were, and which of them he'd trust with an equally-inexperienced Slayer in a year or two.

The talk didn't go all that badly, all things considered, though he did spend a good portion of the time fielding questions about the patrols he'd established. There were only so many times he could say, "It's a training exercise," before he became convinced they could all tell he was lying.

He'd stopped off at the girls' dormitory, where Mrs. Cheever--he knew perfectly well that she had a first name, but she'd put the fear of God into him when he'd been a small boy and she'd been one of his father's colleagues, and he wasn't about to dare to use it--delivered her report on the patrols, down to the teams that took far too long to cover their assigned territory and should probably be separated "for their own good." That had been her segue into her usual criticisms of her counterpart in the other dormitory; Giles had spent at least fifteen minutes reassuring her that she was, in fact, Mr. Adams' superior, and that he'd certainly read through any formal written complaints that she cared to make, before escaping to his office.

Perhaps Andrew would have brought in breakfast again, he thought, as he went down the steps of the dormitory, just in time to see a police car pulling out of the drive. Good Lord.

There was no reason to expect the worst; the police had been around once because one of the Slayers had been shoplifting in the village, and another time because a handful of the students had slipped out after curfew, got their hands on several bottles of cheap alcohol, and made a nuisance of themselves. Some of the time, his job was very like the headmaster of any school in the world, he thought.

On the other hand, he wouldn't know if it was something serious or not until he asked. Giles crossed the courtyard at a brisk walk, balancing his need to get back to the office quickly to find out what had happened and the need not to arouse too much curiosity among the students who were on their way to their next classes.

"Andrew," he called as he walked down the short hallway leading to their offices, "did I just see the police leaving here?"

The response from Andrew's office was an incoherent wail, and Giles pushed the door open to find Andrew with his head down on a pile of papers. "Andrew," he repeated, "what did the police want?"

Andrew looked up, and Giles realized in surprise that his eyes were red and unusually bright. "Someone called in about an hour ago to report a car wreck," he said. "The, um, the driver of the car was killed. They couldn't find anything in the car to tell them who to notify, so they called the rental agency--"

"Gregory," Giles said, as it clicked into place. "Dear God." He and Xander had argued and bickered and tried to keep things quiet to avoid a panic, and as a result, a good man had been killed.

Giles tried to remind himself that he had called Gregory the morning before and had warned him, but it didn't do anything to prevent the onslaught of guilt that was building in his chest. "Andrew, I--do you have any more details?"

He needed to find Xander, needed to let him know what had happened.

"No, they just--they just said he was dead. They gave me this," Andrew whispered, voice broken, and pointed at a sheet of paper on his desk.

Giles needed to think fast, figure out who to call to prevent this from happening again. First things first: "Is anyone else due back from the field today?"

Andrew just blinked at him, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Andrew, I need you to focus, please." Giles put a hand on Andrew's shoulder, and squeezed softly.

The young man shook his head. "No, no one else's due back today. Just--just him. And it's my fault, I shouldn't have--"

"Oh for God's sake," he snapped, "it isn't your fault." It was nobody's fault but his own. He should have listened to Xander more carefully. "It isn't your fault," he repeated, more calmly this time, reminding himself that Andrew was on the verge of breaking down, and he didn't need to be yelled at.

"I told him, I said, I wanted--" With a wail, Andrew bolted from the office, and Giles heard the door of the bathroom close soon after.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, took the police report from Andrew's desk, and walked out into the hallway. It was only a preliminary findings report, nothing too conclusive, but it held all the information Giles needed to confirm Xander's theory. Alan Gregory, male, age twenty-seven, already dead when the paramedics had arrived on the scene. The driver's side of the car was completely destroyed; the causes of the wreck were unknown, pending investigation.

Giles didn't find Xander in the study, nor the dining room or the kitchen, so he climbed the stairs two at a time, the report held in his hand. He knocked on Xander's door, and went in when a muffled "Yeah," answered him.

"I'm sorry," Giles said immediately, when he made eye contact with Xander. "I should--"

"Oh God, something happened, didn't it?" Xander swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, reaching for his pants.

"It's Gregory."

Jeans held in one hand, Xander faced Giles, gaping. "No, you can't be serious."

"Unfortunately, I am," Giles said, sighing. "Here, see for yourself." He gave Xander the report and sat on the bed, taking his head in his hands. "I should have taken you much more seriously, Xander; I am so very sorry." He was so distressed, it never actually occurred to him that Xander was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts, until Xander sat down beside him and touched his hand. Then he was all too aware of Xander's skin, close enough to touch. He pushed those thoughts away; it was neither the time nor the place for this. "I should have warned him not to come back alone, but I didn't think of it at all, I--you were right."

"I was--I was right?" Xander sounded distraught, the opposite of how he'd sounded the last time Giles had told him that. "God, Giles."

"We need to think fast, Xander, I don't know when the next Watcher is due back from the field. Andrew has the schedule, but I doubt he's going to be much use today. I need to warn the entire Council."

"Wait," Xander stood, pulled on his pants, and reached for a shirt. "Rumors are going to start soon. I mean, some of the kids and the faculty members must have seen the police car, and Andrew can't keep his mouth shut, and I'm pretty sure at least a couple of people were expecting Gregory back today and they're going to notice when he doesn't, but--if I'm right, if my conspiracy theory is right, sending out a big Bat-signal is just going to make them know we're onto them, and they're going to lie low." Xander passed the shirt over his head, frowning. "Before we tell anyone what's going on, we need to figure out a way to catch them."

"We need to determine who 'they' are, first," Giles pointed out. "I agree with you; the attacks have been aimed at the Watchers. But we don't know who's behind them. Even if we assume that Dawn's report was correct and the demons are intelligent, someone must be directing or controlling them. I could imagine them attacking the Slayers on their own, but if they're focusing on Watchers..."

"Or hiring them," Xander suggested. "I mean, they don't like humans, but maybe if there was something they were getting in exchange?"

"Such as?"

"I have no idea," Xander admitted. "What do demons want?" He shrugged. "That doesn't matter. The reason it's important is that it broadens our list of suspects." He got up, getting a pair of socks out of the dresser and then coming back to sit next to Giles to put them on.

Giles frowned, about to ask Xander what he meant when it suddenly made sense. "Because if they're being controlled, we're almost certainly dealing with someone with a relatively high level of magical training, but if they're hired mercenaries, the only thing he would need is money, or some other asset to offer the demons." He sighed. "And we're going to have to assume that's a possibility, because we can't afford to rule anything out."

"So right now, the only thing we're sure of is that it isn't either of us," Xander said. "And I know, that's exaggerating a little; I don't think Andrew had anything to do with this."

"Mrs. Cheever may think I'm a young upstart with no sense of tradition, but I still trust her implicitly," Giles added.

"Okay, that's four of us," Xander said. "And we can't keep this a secret any more, because I'd bet you five bucks that the police car pulling up is already the talk of the school. We're going to have to tell them about Gregory, at least."

"At the moment," Giles said, "I plan to tell them that he was killed in an automobile accident, and leave out any details. That should satisfy their curiosity without making whoever's responsible suspicious."

"That won't work for long," Xander said. "I mean, they have to know what we're doing. They knew Gregory was coming back today, and when his flight would get in...." He frowned. "Do you think your office is bugged?"

That had never occurred to Giles. "I've no idea," he said. "That's beyond my area of expertise. I suppose we could search."

Xander sighed. "I wouldn't even know what to look for." Then, looking up, he added, "Andrew might, though."

Giles thought about the state he'd left Andrew in. "I don't know that he'll be much help. He was rather... distraught after talking to the police."

"It's worth a try, anyway." Now fully dressed, Xander got up, all of yesterday's tension between the two of them apparently forgotten. "So what's our plan? You tell the school about Gregory, I'll see what can be done to get Andrew calmed down and at least semi-helpful, and then... what? We try to figure out how they're finding out where people are going to be. That's not common knowledge, is it?"

"Not unless the Watchers who were attacked have told them," Giles said. "That might have been possible in some of the earlier attacks, but Gregory... well, he wasn't the sort to socialize much."

"Okay, then they're getting the information from somewhere. And if we know how, maybe we'll know who?"

Giles nodded, feeling a little relieved that he and Xander seemed to be able to work together again. "That's what I was thinking. But if we haven't made any progress in the next twenty-four hours, I'm going to have to tell the rest of the Council about this. I can't keep them unaware that they're in danger."

"Then we're just going to have to solve this in twenty-four hours."


***


They'd definitely need twenty-four hours, Xander thought. After Giles had gone to take care of telling everyone about Gregory, Xander had gone downstairs to find Andrew. He'd really thought he had the easy job.

But apparently not.

"Andrew?" Xander called out, after stepping into the empty office. A short wail answered him from behind the desk, and he peeked over to find Andrew huddled against the wall. "Hey, you okay?"

Andrew shook his head and looked up, eyes red-rimmed and filled with tears.

With a sigh, Xander sat down by Andrew's side, squished between the desk and the chair. "Hey," he said again, trying to sound comforting and forget that they were on a deadline and didn't have time to deal with this. He hadn't even realized Andrew had known Gregory all that well; Xander hadn't been around much, and it wasn't like he and Andrew talked about anything really personal most of the time. It wasn't a secret, though, that Andrew really liked Gregory, and it wasn't like Xander didn't know what Andrew-with-a-crush looked like. He should have been expecting this.

"I told him," Andrew whispered, sniffling. "On the phone, yesterday, I told him he had two options, and he could come back today or the day after tomorrow, and I--I said I missed him. So he--he grabbed the night flight."

"God, Andrew," Xander wrapped an arm around Andrew's shoulder and pulled him closer. "It's not your fault."

"How can you say that? You don't know--"

"No, maybe not," Xander interrupted him. "Maybe I don't know, but Andrew, even if Gregory had come home two days from now, he would have been killed anyway."

"You can't know that," Andrew said vehemently, but when he looked at Xander, he was frowning.

Xander let out a sigh, and shook his head. "Unfortunately, I can." He looked away from Andrew. No, it wasn't Andrew's fault, it was Xander's for avoiding Giles all day yesterday and not being more certain of himself, and it was Giles' for not listening to him at all in the first place. "You know how my car was attacked, and then Gregory's was? Giles and I have been working on trying to figure out what that demon was, and... we're pretty sure that's what killed him this morning too."

"No," Andrew said miserably. "It was a car wreck, he'd just made it back to Bangkok, and if he'd waited to come back until tomorrow, he wouldn't have been so tired...."

Xander kept his arm around Andrew's shoulders, but he raised his voice. "Listen to me. This was not your fault. It wasn't an ordinary car wreck. Someone murdered Gregory, and unless that someone was you--" Xander winced as Andrew sobbed loudly. "No, I know it wasn't you, Andrew, seriously. So it wasn't your fault."

Andrew looked up at him again, face still streaked with tears. "But murder? Who would want to kill him? He was--" He started crying again, and Xander decided that he definitely had a worse job than Giles.

"I know," Xander said. "But Giles and I are sure that's what happened." He took a deep breath. "And we need your help to catch the people behind it." He wasn't sure Andrew would be all that much help, considering the state he was in, but keeping Andrew busy would at least stop him from curling up on the floor and crying.

At least, Xander hoped so, because no matter what Giles told the rest of the school, there was no way anyone would believe him given the way Andrew was acting.

"What can I do?" Andrew said, sitting up straighter and wiping his eyes, though he was still sniffling.

"Who knew that--look, can we get up off the floor now?" Xander said. When Andrew nodded, he got up, helping Andrew to his feet and pulling the desk chair out so Andrew could sit down. Xander closed and locked the door to Andrew's office, to make certain they wouldn't be interrupted, and then came back to perch on the edge of Andrew's desk.

"Who knew that Gregory was coming back today?" Xander asked once he was settled.

Andrew shook his head. "Nobody. I mean, I did, of course, and he did, and you and Mr. Giles, but I didn't tell anyone else."

"Giles and I didn't, either," Xander said. "At least, I know I didn't, and I'm pretty sure Giles didn't mention it to anybody. So unless Gregory told someone--" Something occurred to Xander, and he frowned. "Do we use a travel agent?"

"No, I got his ticket online, from the airline. And even if someone had intercepted the data, his ticket had an open return date. They wouldn't have known when he was coming back, just the airline."

"Someone might have overheard him when he made his flight arrangements," Xander said, "but they'd have been in Thailand with him. Why fly all the way back to London to kill him when you could do it before he left?"

Andrew shook his head. "Nobody knew he was coming back," he repeated. "So how could someone have known where he'd be to kill him?"

"That's what I want you to tell me," Xander said. "I know you used to know a lot of weird technical stuff, right? Back when--back in Sunnydale," he finished, not really wanting to end with, "back when you were evil." He didn't give Andrew a chance to answer, just went on, "We think maybe Giles' office is bugged, or yours is. I know it'd be hard to do, with Giles living in the other half of the house, but it seemed like the simplest explanation."

"We're going to sweep the offices for bugs?" Andrew said, brightening a little. He still looked like he might break down again at any moment, but at least he wasn't huddled into a little ball under his desk.

Xander sighed. "Yeah, it looks like we're going to have to. But seriously, Andrew, no one else can know about this."

Andrew gave him a hurt look. "I know how to keep secrets."

He doubted that, but Xander decided arguing wouldn't be a good idea. "Not saying you don't, Andrew, just that people are going to have a lot of questions. And they'd come to you for answers, wouldn't they, if they thought Giles hadn't told them everything?"

"Everyone does know that Mr. Giles keeps me up-to-date on everything," Andrew agreed.

"And Giles is telling the school that this was just a car accident, because we don't want people to completely panic--and we really don't want whoever's responsible to know we're on to them. So if people have questions, you're going to have to tell them it was just an accident." Privately, Xander thought anybody who questioned Andrew about Gregory's death was likely to have to deal with a sobbing Andrew and probably wouldn't get any useful information out of him, but he had to make sure.

Andrew nodded, and Xander went on. "I'm going to help you check in here and in Giles' office for bugs, so if anyone asks, I'm doing some repair work as a favor to Giles, and I got you to help me." Enough people would have seen Xander doing small carpentry and repair jobs around the school on previous visits that it wouldn't be hard to believe. For bigger jobs, or when Xander wasn't around, Giles hired someone, but the less time outsiders spent around the school, the better.

"I can do that," Andrew insisted.

Xander certainly hoped so. "Okay, then. Let's get to work."

They started with Giles' office. Xander didn't know why, but that's where Andrew headed first. Maybe he just needed to get away from his own office for a while, and when Andrew managed to not curl up into a ball and cry at all for all the time it took them to turn Giles' office upside down, and then back to its original state, Xander was glad that's where they'd started. He didn't think they'd have had that result if they'd been in Andrew's office first.

By the time they were done, Giles was back, and watching them from where he stood, leaning against the closed door. "Anything?"

Andrew answered before Xander could. "No, nothing that looks even close to a listening device." He sounded a lot calmer than just an hour ago.

"All right," Giles sighed. "At least that means we can speak freely in here." He was going to add something when a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

Xander put the pile of papers he'd been putting in order back on Giles' desk, and he and Andrew sat down on the two chairs.

Giles opened the door. "May I help you?" he asked, frowning, when two students--a Slayer and a future Watcher--looked at him.

The teenage boy stood forward, looking so frightened that Xander felt a pang of sympathy for him. "We have something to tell you, sir," he said, stuttering slightly. "May we come in?" He looked quickly inside and seemed relieved to see only Xander and Andrew there. Apparently, they weren't as frightening as the rest of the faculty.

"Of course," Giles agreed, shooting Xander a worried look as he let the teenagers in and shut the door behind them. "I'm afraid I can't remember your names."

"I'm Camden Travers, sir," the boy said, and then waved at his friend. "This is Selena Cruz."

Xander groaned at the boy's name; he'd forgotten that Travers' grandson was actually attending the Academy, and from the look on Giles' face, so had he. At least that meant he probably wasn't as annoying as his grandfather.

"Yes," Giles nodded, letting as little of his surprise show in his expression as he could. "From El Salvador, isn't it?"

The girl nodded nervously, looking sideways at her companion. "Something--something happened last night, sir," she said, in a lilting accent. "We--we didn't want to be scolded, so we didn't say anything when we got back to Mrs. Cheever and Mr. Adams."

"With Mr. Gregory's death, we though--" Camden picked up, then stopped, looking down on the floor. He shook his head. "I mean, it's--it's not just an accident, is it? The little girl from Africa? I can't remember her name, I'm sorry."

"Niki," Xander supplied, more interested now than annoyed.

"Yes, she said they had been attacked, their car?"

Giles nodded, looking at Xander worriedly. "Go on," he said when Camden didn't continue.

It was Selena who picked up the tale. "We were patrolling last night, and we--we split up from our group. Lily and Gretchen took the right, and we took the left, and we--" She blushed furiously.

Xander sighed. This was getting back to being annoying. It was absolutely obvious that they had been doing everything but patrolling, just from the way they were standing close together and giving each other furtive looks.

Giles picked up on it too, because he shook his head. "You were both distracted, I assume?"

Camden and Selena nodded. "We're sorry, sir," Camden breathed. "We swear it won't happen again, we've learnt our lesson."

"Of course it won't happen again," Giles said. Xander thought he sounded a little harsh, but the situation was kind of desperate, and they didn't really need to be dealing with two disobedient teenagers right now. "I'll have you both separated in the future. Now, please, go on."

Camden squeezed Selena's arm comfortingly, and then turned back to Giles. "We stopped against a tree, and we were distracted when we heard a sound behind us." His voice was a lot more steady now, business-like. He might be shy when it came to personal stuff, but he had a good head on his shoulders, Xander thought. In spite of who he was related to, he might actually make an okay Watcher one of these days. "Selena saw it, the demon."

"It was green, about this tall," she supplied, extending her arm as high over her head as it could go. "It had claws and--" She stopped when Andrew jumped to his feet and walked out of the office.

Giles and Xander looked at each other, frowning, but didn't have time to even think about why Andrew had bolted like that before he came back, closed the door behind himself, and handed a sheet of paper to the two teenager. "Did it look like this?" Andrew asked, and it suddenly made sense. With the number of copies of that sketch he'd ended up with the other day when he'd battled with the copy machine, Andrew would have at least one lying around close by.

"Good thinking, Andrew," Giles said, impressed. Andrew smiled at him, just a little smug, and sat back.

"Yes!" Selena and Camden both said. "This is exactly what it looked like," Camden continued, handing Giles the sketch. "It came after me."

"I told him to run and get Lily and Gretchen, but the demon followed him, not me."

Xander stood, anxious. "You're sure that it followed him? It saw you," he said, pointing at Selena, "but followed him?"

"Yes, I'm certain. It barely even glanced at me."

"It's like it dismissed her entirely," Camden added. "Selena managed to knock it out, but we were so scared, we ran back to the dorms and…" He shrugged.

"Didn't tell anyone," Giles finished for them. When both of them nodded, Giles went on. "We're going to have to take disciplinary actions, but not right now. I'm willing to give you both some leniency if you promise not to tell anyone about this for the foreseeable future. Nobody, and I repeat," he said, pushing each word, "nobody must know about this."

"We promise, sir," Camden said, solemnly. "We won't tell anyone."

"I'll contact Mrs. Cheever and Mr. Adams, and have them put Camden on another patrol team. And I'll expect both of you to be on your best behavior from now on. I've heard that you've been sneaking around the girls' dormitories for a while now," he added, looking sternly at Camden, and the boy blushed. "No more of that. You have plenty of opportunity to see Miss Cruz during your classes and your free time, without breaking school rules."

Xander was pretty sure Giles or Mrs. Cheever didn't know who the stalker-kid had been, or they'd have done something about it before now, but it was obvious just from the way Camden looked down that it had been him. And come to think of it, he did look a lot like that kid Xander had seen in the bushes that first night.

"Yes, sir."

Giles sent Selena right back to class, but asked Camden to stay. "Can you show us where the demon attacked you?"

"Yeah," the boy answered. "I don't think I'm going to forget that any time soon."

"Probably not," Xander said, tapping Camden's shoulder.

"All right," Giles stood up, giving Andrew back the sketch. "Can you keep looking for what we talked about earlier?"

"Yes, I can do that," Andrew replied, nodding. Now that the distraction was over, Xander could see Andrew slowly going back into his funk. "I'll look in my office, and give you a call if I find anything."

"That will do." Giles turned to Xander. "We'll go look around with Camden, and see if the demon left us any clue as to where it comes from."

"Sure." Xander grabbed his jacket and followed Giles out.

***


The demon hadn't left much in the way of tracks, unfortunately. Not that Xander had been expecting it to; they hadn't had much luck so far in finding out what was going on, and there was no reason for him to expect that to change.

The grass had been walked on, certainly, but having several teenagers traipse across it would have done the damage. One large demon could have, as well, but neither of them was inclined to take that as evidence of anything.

"I don't think we're going to find anything," Giles said, echoing Xander's own thoughts. Then, turning to Camden, he asked, "Which direction did the demon come from?"

"I'm not quite sure, sir," he said, not meeting Giles' eyes. "We were over there," he went on, pointing at an oak tree, "and the demon came from that way." That wasn't all that helpful, as "that way" was toward the wooded area next to the school grounds. Even a wild guess as to where the demon might have come from would have led them there.

Giles sighed. "And you can't be any more specific, I suppose." He wasn't even trying to hide how annoyed he was with the kid.

"N-no, sir," the boy stammered. "I didn't see it until it was right there."

Xander shook his head, snickering. "Yeah, I believe you." Selena was pretty, and he remembered enough of when he'd had a crush on Buffy to know that it was kind of hard to pay attention to anything else. Still, there was that grown-up voice in his head that kept saying Camden should have known better and paid attention; they'd been on patrol, after all.

Then again, even if what had happened to his grandfather--and parents, too, if Xander remembered right--ought to have convinced Camden, at least, to take things seriously, they'd never had to deal with actual demons on school grounds before, contrary to what Xander's high school years had been like. He sighed, looking off into the distance at the woods. "Yeah, I think we won't get anything more from here. Even if we tried to follow footprints, which the demon wasn't helpful enough to leave, he's probably long gone by now."

"I agree," Giles said. "As much as I'd like to search the woods to find its hiding place, we lack the manpower to do it fast enough. We should head back." He looked at Camden, the stern look back on his face. "You'll head back to class, and no more of those late-night escapades."

Camden gulped and shook his head. "No, sir."

"Good. Run along then."

Camden nodded and took off at a brisk pace. Without a word, Giles and Xander followed him back to the school grounds, keeping an eye on him until he was back into the building.

"I'd rather no more students were attacked," Giles declared, breaking the silence.

"I hear you," Xander agreed. "What we need is a plan." His stomach growled, and he looked at his watch.

"What we need first, apparently, is food," Giles countered, smiling. "Let's grab something from the kitchen before meeting with Andrew. I'm sure he'll be glad for something to eat."

Xander shook his head, but followed Giles back to the house. "I don't think he'll be able to eat. Did you know he and Gregory were close? I mean, I knew he had a crush on the guy, that was more than obvious, and let's just say that I was very happy that he'd stopped, you know, following me around, but--I had no idea they were that close."

"Neither did I," Giles said thoughtfully. "I must admit to being absolutely clueless about Andrew's love life--and, in general, grateful about that."

Xander nodded, and fell silent, not wanting to linger on the thoughts of love and death. He'd put the past behind him, but sometimes things happened that brought those thoughts forward again.

And for some reason, his mind kept going to the same thought: What if it had been Giles?

He really didn't want to play that game right now. He glanced at Giles and sighed silently. Wrong time, wrong place, and Xander was taken with the urge to touch Giles just to make sure he really was there.

What the hell was wrong with him lately? This whole demon thing was getting to him. And the kissing hadn't helped. They really needed to get this over with so he could go away and get Giles out of his head. If that was even possible.

It'd been worrying him less when he and Andrew had been searching Giles' office, so maybe that was the solution, for him as well as Andrew. If he kept busy, his mind would stay on the task at hand, and he wouldn't be thinking about all the things that could happen to Giles if they didn't stop this, soon.

So he'd go back to the house, get something to eat, and then help Andrew search for the bug they probably wouldn't find. Maybe they should bring Willow in on this, he thought; after all, there was a chance that whoever was doing this was using magic, and he and Andrew might not find a magical listening device. If nothing turned up in Andrew's office, then maybe he'd suggest it to Giles.

And if Willow had to come here, then that would be another distraction from thinking about Giles.

When they neared the house, the door opened, and Andrew came out, a manila envelope tucked under his arm. "I was just coming to look for you," he said, holding the envelope out to Giles. "I'm sorry, I got the mail right before the police came, and I--" He shook his head. "I must have forgotten," he finished, his voice very small. He'd been crying again, Xander was sure, and it made Xander even more uncomfortable to think about himself being in Andrew's position.

"That's understandable," Giles said gently, taking the envelope. "It's been an extraordinarily stressful day, and not getting my post on time is hardly--" He broke off, looking at the envelope, and then tore it open.

Inside was another, smaller, brown envelope, and Xander recognized the return address label on it--or at least, he recognized the Council's letterhead on it. Giles handed him the envelope as he unfolded the sheet of paper that had slid from the outer envelope along with it; Xander looked down to see that the return address on it was the London office, and it was addressed to Giles, with "Confidential" and "Urgent" written on it in neat block letters.

"It's from Bishop," Giles said. "Her husband found the envelope in her handbag." He sighed. "He apologizes, he says, for having taken a day to notice it and post it to us."

Xander shook his head. "Like he didn't have more important things on his mind," he said. "But--you think these are Bishop's notes?" He was already tearing open the envelope, figuring that under the circumstances, Giles wasn't likely to mind.

There were just a few pages in the envelope. Xander picked up the top one. "Dear Mr. Giles," he started to read. "I fear my findings might not be what Mr. York wishes them to be. He has demanded that I falsify my report before his return, which I cannot possibly agree to. I send these translations by courier, because I fear I might not have the time to do much more before he returns." Xander looked up at Giles, shocked. "York." He had been right. His totally unbelievable and insane conspiracy theory was right, and York was behind Mrs. Bishop's attack.

"Not here. Let's get back inside," Giles said swiftly, opening the door and waiting until they were all three in Giles' office, the door safely closed behind them before he spoke again. "You were right, Xander." He picked up the letter from Xander's hands and scanned it rapidly. "She felt she was in danger," he summed up. "She didn't finish the translation, but she sent what she could before York's return."

"But Mr. York wouldn't hurt Mrs. Bishop," Andrew chimed in. He looked confused, and Xander didn't blame him.

"It's a long story, Andrew," Xander said, slumping down on a chair. "I had this insane conspiracy theory where York, or someone York reports to, sent those demons to kill Watchers who were loyal to Giles." He groaned, banging his head on the back of the chair. "I was right."

"We still don't know who is orchestrating this thing," Giles added. He took the rest of the documents out of the envelope and quickly scanned them. "At least now we can assume Dawn's research was right."

Xander picked up the papers and looked at them while Giles explained the situation to Andrew as quickly as he could--which meant Xander probably had ten or fifteen minutes to read through this, because Giles and "quick explanation" didn't really work well together. "So we know that the demons who lost the religious war," Xander said eventually, not even caring that he was interrupting Giles in the middle of his speech. "Those are the demons for hire. We can totally not care about the other half of the species, because they're more peaceful than Switzerland. So someone from the Council had to hire the mean ones to do their dirty work, right?"

Giles was pacing the room now, glasses in one hand and the letter in the other. "Possibly, but I still can't believe--"

"I can," Andrew countered sharply. "I see things you don't, Mr. Giles, and one of those things is that there are a lot of people from the old Council who don't like you or what you're doing here. And they're a lot unhappier than I think you realize."

"Right, so someone hired the demons, and we have to figure out who." Xander crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at both Giles and Andrew. "But how?"

"If Mr. York was trying to stop Mrs. Bishop from sending you those notes," Andrew said, "doesn't that mean we already know who?"

Giles shook his head. "Not necessarily," he said. "He's never shown enough initiative to be behind something like this." Xander had to agree. York might be a key part of the conspiracy, but he wasn't the one who'd started it all. York was the evil-henchman kind of guy, in Xander's opinion.

"I bet York wouldn't be hard to find," Xander said.

"No, I doubt he would be," Giles said, "but I'm also certain he already has a story prepared to cover all of this."

"We could interrogate him," Andrew said. Xander had to admit, he could see Andrew's point. Given everything that had happened, tying somebody to a chair and punching them in the face was tempting.

"It might work," Giles said, "but it would work much better if we could demonstrate to York that we already know something about the plan. If he thinks he has nothing to lose by cooperating with us, then he might be more willing to talk." He sighed. "It would have been helpful if one of the Slayers had managed to capture the demon that came on school grounds last night."

"It'll come back, won't it?" Andrew said.

"Probably not," Xander chimed in. "Now that it knows we have Slayers patrolling the school grounds in bigger numbers, I doubt it'll come back."

"And I'm not going to put the students at any more risk than they already are," Giles said firmly.

"I could lure one of them out of hiding," Xander said. "I could go on leave for a couple of days, rent another car and drive somewhere. Somebody could follow me with a car full of Slayers," he added. "I'm not feeling self-sacrificing."

"No," Giles said, immediately and very definitely. "It's far too risky. If the Slayers lost track of you even for an instant--"

"I can't take a Slayer with me, though," Xander argued, "because if they suspect at all that we're onto them, they'll guess that we're expecting trouble."

Giles frowned, staring off into the middle distance for several seconds. "We need a situation with a Watcher we trust absolutely, and some excuse for him or her to be traveling with a Slayer bodyguard."

"There aren't any Watchers due to come in from the field soon," Andrew volunteered.

Sighing, Giles said, "No. I didn't think so."

"Willow?" Xander suggested. "We can definitely trust her, and it wouldn't look suspicious for her to bring Kennedy with her."

"That's a thought," Giles said, just as Andrew shook his head.

"I printed out that e-mail for you last week," he said. "Willow's gone off to study with some local shaman for a few days. No phone, no e-mail, no anything at all."

Xander sighed. Willow was out and there wasn't any other Watcher they could really trust with this. Buffy was automatically out, on account of being the only Slayer everyone on the Council was intimidated by, no matter where their allegiance was. And then there was Dawn. "Hey, York already thinks we've been testing Dawn's research skills, doesn't he?"

Giles frowned. "He knows we've been testing someone's research skills, not that it's Dawn's specifically."

"Okay, but--this is probably an insane idea, but it'd give us a reason to let York know someone's coming. What about bringing Dawn in on it? We already have the excuse all picked out with that whole 'pet project' thing, and we'd need someone to take Bishop's place while she's in the hospital, because York can't do all the work on his own."

"And even though it's earlier than we'd anticipated hiring her, it couldn't come at a more opportune moment." Giles smiled. "That is a brilliant idea."

"Buffy can come with her, too; it wouldn't even look suspicious," Andrew added.

"We need to leave that part out of it, though, when we talk to York, because if he knows Buffy's coming, he won't do anything." Xander grabbed the phone; one word from Giles and he'd be dialing Italy. "It's a double score, because we know York won't like the idea of working with someone so young, especially Dawn, so we'll be pissing him off as well as making sure he reports that information to whoever's on top of this."

"All right," Giles said. "We need to make sure Buffy knows not to kill the demon; we need to be able to interrogate it. I'll need a little more information from Dawn before you hang up, Xander, so remember to pass her to me. Andrew?" When Andrew looked up and nodded, Giles continued, "I'll need you back in your office and looking for that bug. We still need to find out who the mole is."

"Sure thing, Captain." It was said without as much conviction as it had the first time Xander heard it, and he stopped in the middle of dialing to watch Andrew leave the room, head held down and eyes still red and swollen.

"When this is over? We need to have a memorial service for Gregory or something, and Andrew will need a few days off."

"I had already thought of that," Giles replied, sighing. "I don't know how it will help, though."

Xander shrugged. "It probably won't, but it's something."

"I suppose." He gathered all the papers from the coffee table. "Call Dawn now."

"Yes, Boss," Xander said, smiling and picking up the phone again. "Hey, kiddo!" he said when Dawn picked up.

"Xander! How are you?"

"I'm--I guess I'm okay. Not dead."

"Not being dead is a good thing," she said, although her tone had gone from bouncy to worried. "What's going on?"

"Remember that demon we had you research? We need your help." It took him about three minutes to explain the situation to Dawn, and just one more before she agreed to play bait. "We'll be close by, so nothing's going to happen to you."

"I know, you wouldn't ask me to do this if you thought I'd be in danger. You forget that I know how overprotective you guys are." She laughed. "Want me to ask Buffy? She just came home."

"No, I think it's best if Giles talked to her. I think she'd panic if you or I tried to explain it to her."

"Yeah, probably."

"Here, I'll give him the phone. He wanted to talk to you, too."

"Okay. See you soon."

"You bet." Xander nodded to Giles and handed him the phone. His stomach was growling again, so he decided Giles could argue with Buffy in private. "I'll be in the other room, raiding the refrigerator."

Giles had been right the other night; there wasn't a lot of food in the house, but Xander found the bread and the leftover chicken from the dinner Giles had made. and got to work making sandwiches. Once they were piled up on a plate, he went back to looking for something to go with them. "Aha," he announced to himself, reaching into a cupboard to pull something out, "we have achieved..." He frowned at the package. "Roast chicken flavored potato chips. Leave it to the English to ruin perfectly good junk food." He stuffed the package back in the cupboard.

He gave up on finding anything to go with the sandwiches, figuring Giles had had enough time to convince Buffy that Dawn would be perfectly safe, and picked up the plate of food.

"Yes, all right," Giles was saying. "Andrew will give you the details once he's arranged the flight." He was silent for a moment, listening, and then he sounded a little less businesslike as he said, "It will be good to see you, as well." Another pause, and then he said his goodbyes and hung up the phone.

"They're coming," Xander said.

"Yes, although Buffy makes no promises about the demon's survival should it succeed in putting a single scratch on Dawn." He smiled. "I had no difficulty in agreeing to that."

"That's fair," Xander said, handing Giles a sandwich and sitting down on the far end of the couch. "I'd be very happy to kill its ass in that case too."

"Yes, I agree," Giles said. "I hope--" He was interrupted when Andrew came back into the room, eyes still bright red.

"Sorry, I was--" He looked over his shoulder and shrugged. "I haven't finished checking my office, but..."

He'd obviously been crying, Xander had no doubt of that. He patted the couch, and Andrew sat down. "Come on, Andrew, you have to eat. You're an important part of our plan, we need you."

Andrew looked up at him, and blinked. "Really? I mean, you're not just saying that to get me to eat, are you?"

Xander shook his head, looking over at Giles for confirmation. "No, we really need you right now. We have to get Dawn and Buffy a flight without anyone finding out that Buffy's coming too."

"Okay," Andrew agreed, picking up a sandwich and biting into it.

Giles and Xander looked at each other over his head. "We need to call York," Giles said. He picked up the phone again, but put it down beside him instead of dialing. "Andrew, I'll need you to keep looking for that bug, or anything else that could be a clue to who is responsible for leaking the information."

Andrew nodded, swallowing before he answered. "Okay, Captain, I can do that as soon as I've booked the flight and called Buffy, I guess."

"You shouldn't do that in your office, though," Xander said quickly. "Just in case the bug's there, or whoever the spy is turns up while you're doing it. I'll get my laptop when I'm done eating so you can get stuff done in here."

"Good idea." Andrew took another bite.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, and then, done, Giles stood up with the phone and his plate in hand. "I'll call York right now. Perhaps I should have him come to the school to set up the meeting with his new--" He grinned, and Xander thought he looked just a little like an evil mastermind. It wasn't a bad look on Giles at all. "--colleague."

York wouldn't like that thought much, Xander knew; he couldn't wait to see York's face when that meeting happened.

***



Giles put his plate down in the sink, and then dialed the London office from memory. "Hello Theresa," he said to the receptionist who answered. "May I speak to Mr. York, please? Thank you." He waited while the call was put through. "York, I'm glad that you're still in the office, I've something I need to ask you."

"Oh, hello, Mr. Giles," York said, sounding none too pleased. "What can I do for you?"

"It's in relation to Mrs. Bishop's accident."

"You don't quit, do you? I've told you all I know about it."

"Oh, I'm aware of that," Giles said, trying to keep himself from sounding too angry. York couldn't know that they were on to him. "I was simply thinking that it's a lot of work to manage all the research on your own. I've been evaluating a prospective researcher's skills, as you know, and I've decided to hire her while Mrs. Bishop recovers."

"Hire her?" York repeated. "Couldn't you transfer someone?"

"You know as well as I do that we're short-handed."

"One of the older students, then. It would be a good experience for them. There's no need to keep bringing in outsiders."

"Miss Summers is hardly an outsider."

"Summers? Surely--Mr. Giles, the point is to read the books, not kill them, and while what happened to Mrs. Bishop is terrible, I don't think there's enough danger for you to bring a Slayer in as my assistant."

"Not Buffy," Giles said. "Her sister, Dawn. I'm hiring her as your research assistant on a temporary basis; once she finishes her education, I believe she'll make a fine Watcher."

"She's not a Watcher," York argued.

"Neither are the students here, and you were willing to accept one of them as your assistant."

"They're at least being trained!"

Now Giles could let his anger come through in his voice. "If Dawn accepts the position, she'll come here for training during her school breaks until she finishes university. A final year of training here, followed by supervised field work, and she'll be as well-prepared as any new Watcher can be. And, at the moment, she'll be filling in for Mrs. Bishop, assuming she accepts the offer. It will be, as you say, a good experience for her."

He could envision York's face going red with anger and frustration. "And I'll be saddled with an assistant who doesn't know anything!"

Giles struggled to keep a reasonable tone in his voice as he replied. "As I'm quite certain you won't take my word for it, you're welcome to see for yourself how well-trained she is. When she arrives, I'll give you the opportunity to evaluate her research skills."

"And if she isn't up to par?"

"Then of course I won't expect you to accept her as your assistant," Giles said smoothly. "She'll remain here, working with me."

"I suppose I'll have to meet her then," York grumbled.

"As a matter of fact, she's flying in tomorrow, and I'd like you to meet her as soon as possible. Perhaps you might come here to meet with her?" Giles asked, although he knew full well York wouldn't agree unless Giles made it sound final.

"Tomorrow? It won't be possible, I'm afraid," York answered.

"Of course. I apologize for the short notice. I'll see you in my office the day after tomorrow," Giles said, tone inviting no arguments.

"I suppose I have no choice in the matter." York grunted. "I'll see you, and your Miss Summers, in two days. Although, I must say again how unnecessary this is, Mr. Giles."

Giles shook his head. "I'm sure you'll find Dawn has all the qualities needed to be your research assistant. I look forward to the interview. Good day, Mr. York." He hung up the phone, not giving York the time to argue further.

Xander stuck his head through the doorway a moment later. "If you have a problem with eavesdropping, we can pretend I wasn't listening," he said.

Giles looked up, giving him a slight smile. "If York is involved--" Xander opened his mouth to speak, and Giles held up his hand, silencing him. "No, I really don't have any doubts about that by now, but I'm a firm believer in giving the man enough rope to hang himself. If York is involved in this, there's no way he'll fail to act now that I've just, from his point of view, insulted him--quite apart from the fact that, if this is, as Andrew thinks, directed at me, or at least at the way I'm running the Council...."

"They'll definitely go after Dawn," Xander said. "They'll think that if they attack Dawn, that might be the thing to make you quit." He shook his head. "They so don't know you."

"Apparently not," Giles agreed. "York knows that Dawn should be arriving tomorrow, though not precisely when." Then he frowned. "If Andrew is making the travel arrangements using your computer, how will they know when to expect her?"

"I'm pretty sure his office isn't bugged. I mean, we didn't find anything in your office, and if I were planting just one bug, it'd be there." Xander sighed, then lowered his voice. "I'm kind of leaning toward Andrew being our leak."

"Andrew has become a great deal more reliable lately," Giles said. He hadn't forgotten how they'd become acquainted with Andrew in the first place, but it did seem that Andrew had rather decisively thrown his lot in with the Council.

"I don't mean like that," Xander said. "I mean, okay, I could have thought that a couple of days ago, but I don't know if Andrew would have planned an attack on Gregory. And I'm sure he couldn't fake being this upset."

"Then what do you mean?"

"Andrew talks," Xander said. "There are people in and out of his office all day, and he talks to all of them. If one of them is involved in this, they'd know everything we're doing." He grinned at Giles. "Considering that you don't even read your own e-mail, they'd know what you were doing before you do."

Giles sighed, but smiled back. "I supposed you might be right," he said. "I don't like the idea of Andrew being our leak, but it sounds logical."

"Yeah, I don't like it either, and I don't think it's intentional, but--it's possible." Xander walked in further into the room and leaned against the counter.

Giles did the same, crossing his arms over his chest. It was a bit strange how the tension between them had vanished the moment they'd had something else to think about. Giles tried his best to remember who he saw most coming in and out of Andrew's office, but he was drawing a blank.

"Whoever it is that's getting the information is probably someone that's in and out of here a lot," Xander continued. "Someone Andrew would see so often that he would think they're completely trustworthy."

"The staff are in and out of the office all day," Giles thought out loud, frowning.

"It has to be someone who would have ties to the old Council--"

"Not necessarily," Giles countered. "Although, perhaps you're right on this as well, since someone new might be interested in the old way things were run, but I doubt they'd be accepted by whoever is running this..." He frowned again. "Marjorie Garner--she teaches history; I don't know that you've met her--was in Andrew's office two days ago when I mentioned that Gregory would need a flight home." He was trying to remember exactly what he'd said. He was certain he hadn't mentioned a specific timeframe. "I wouldn't jump to conclusions, but it would be a fairly good example of how careless I too have been."

"But if she's not a Watcher--"

Giles shook his head. "All the teachers here have some connection to the Council--if they aren't Watchers themselves, they tend to be the children or spouses--or widows, in many cases--of Watchers. Mrs. Garner had retired from active duty to raise her children, but she's been a Watcher for over twenty years."

Xander sighed. "So I guess this could be another 'we can't be sure' with a side of 'strongly suspect'."

Giles chuckled. "Yes, that's certainly one way to put it." He sobered up quickly. "At this time, though, we don't need to prove who the mole is, simply make certain that no more information is leaked out for the foreseeable future. If our plan works, this should be resolved in the next few days."

"I'm really hoping you didn't just jinx us right there." Xander pushed away from the counter, and stretched. "I guess we keep an eye on Garner and make sure Andrew doesn't leak the Buffy information. Then all there is left to do is wait."

Giles nodded. Waiting would be the hardest part, he imagined. Trying to go on with their work without letting on how worried they were. Perhaps he should try to talk to Xander as well.

He sighed. This wasn't a conversation he wanted to have, but they did need to clear the air between them. "I owe you an apology for that discussion earlier," he began.

Xander shook his head. "I'm not saying I'm thrilled you didn't take me seriously, but the important thing is that we stop these attacks."

"Not--well, yes, for that, in part, but not completely. I meant for--for the way I ended the conversation. It was... inappropriate," he concluded, wishing for a better way to phrase it.

"Inappropriate," Xander repeated dully. "Yeah, I get it." He shrugged, not meeting Giles' eyes. "Don't worry about it." And with that, the awkwardness seemed to return between them.

Giles shook his head. "Inappropriate," he clarified, "in the sense that I should never have attempted to use kissing you as a means to end an argument."

"So why did you?" Xander asked, a little more animation in his tone now. "I mean, 'shut up, Xander,' has always worked okay for you before without the added lip action."

That was where it all became complicated, and Giles took a moment to choose his words carefully. "I don't know," he confessed. "At least, I don't know why I chose to do it then, or under those circumstances."

Xander looked up at him, frowning. "So... what? You're trying to tell me you'd rather have done it some other time?"

"Well, yes," Giles said, surprised that Xander was even asking. After the past few days, after Giles had kissed him, whatever the circumstances, surely Xander couldn't be unaware that Giles had wanted to?

"I--uh," Xander said, dumbfounded. "I had no idea." He looked as if he wished he could reply to that, but he just stood there.

Giles sighed and looked down. "I wish it had happened under other circumstances, unless it wouldn't have been welcome," he said, eyes drifting back up to Xander's face.

"I don't know," Xander replied, shaking his head. "I don't know if it would have been welcome, because all I can think of right now is that you used it to shut me up." He sighed. "Can we just--forget it happened that way? I don't know if I can, but I'd like to try."

Giles frowned, unsure if he was following Xander or not. "I'm not sure I understand."

Xander stepped forward, and took a deep breath. "I'm saying that maybe you should try again, another time, when you're not annoyed at me, or--or when you're not using kissing as a way to make me stop saying stuff you don't want to hear."

"Xander, that's not--" Giles tried to explain.

"I think you're missing the point here," Xander said firmly, interrupting him. "I don't care why you did it, but one day, when we're not in the middle of a huge conspiracy that's aimed at you, and when I'm not talking your ear off--then, and, you know, only then, do it again." He shrugged, looking away. "I don't know how I feel about it right now, because, I just--I can't think about it without remembering that you did it the first time because you were annoyed with me. But if you really want to find out whether or not it'd be welcome... do it again later."

A bit stunned, Giles nodded. "Of course," he said softly. "I understand." He didn't, not completely, but he could grasp the main idea. Xander wanted him to kiss him again. Not here, not now, and possibly not for a few more days, but once things had settled down, perhaps...

Xander shrugged again. "I'm not a hundred percent sure I understand," he said. "But... yeah, I mean, it's forgiven, I'm not going to hate you for doing it or anything, but as far as doing it again... if it's going to happen at all, it needs to be some other time. Some time when I can be sure you're not doing it for any reason other than that you want to."

"Yes, of course," Giles repeated, wishing again that he hadn't given in to that impulse to kiss Xander.

"Okay," Xander said, finally looking up at him again and giving him a slight smile. "And, uh, don't take this the wrong way," he began, "but I'm going to be hanging out with the girls until about time for Operation Buffy Kicks Demon Ass. Not," he added quickly before Giles could speak, "because I'm avoiding you, but just because I don't know how much longer I'll be here after this is all over, or when I'll be back, and I want to make sure they're settled in here and doing okay before I leave."

Giles wanted to argue, wanted, selfishly, to point out that he didn't know how much more time they would be spending together before he left, as well, but he couldn't actually fault Xander for being a good Watcher. He smiled. "I think they'd appreciate that," he said, just as he heard Andrew's voice from the next room.

"Should I come back later to make those arrangements for Dawn?" Andrew called, and Giles shook his head.

It was time for them to get back to work.

***


Dawn was going to be fine.

Xander knew that. She had Buffy with her, and there was no way Buffy was going to let a demon get past her to her little sister. And Dawn knew what to expect, so she wouldn't be taken by surprise. Besides that, there were four of the older Slayers from the school stationed at the airport--three secretly, and Julia--the girl who'd done the sketch of the demon for them--who Giles thought was a reliable driver, meeting them at baggage claim.

Dawn would be in the car with not one, but two Slayers, and Xander, Catherine, and Océane were waiting for a call from Julia so they could pull onto the road and follow them back to the school. There was another group of Slayers stationed a couple of miles from the school, too, in case there was trouble there, and Giles was waiting at the school.

Even if most of the Slayers still thought this was some kind of training exercise--the girls who did have some idea what was going on had been encouraged not to talk about it--Dawn was as well-protected as she could possibly be.

His cell phone rang then, and Catherine answered it for him; Xander had given her the phone, feeling more comfortable if he helped Océane keep an eye out for trouble. Giles had tried to tell him that if the demons were targeting Watchers, he'd be putting himself at risk, but it wasn't like Xander didn't know that. It wasn't like Giles wouldn't have been out here himself if he hadn't been responsible for a whole school full of kids, either.

"Hello?" Catherine listened carefully for a moment or two, and then said, "All right. I'll tell Mr. Harris. Thank you." She snapped his phone shut and handed it to him. "They've got the car. It's a blue Volkswagen, and they're going out to the car park now. They should be here in a quarter of an hour, maybe twenty minutes."

"Thanks, Catherine." Xander took a deep breath, turning to look at both girls. "Ready?"

"Yep," Catherine replied, holding her sword in her hand. Océane only gave a short nod, keeping her eyes on the road.

Xander took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Just a few more minutes, and then the fun would start. He just hoped York, or anybody from that side, hadn't been told about the Slayers they'd pulled out of class for this. Everybody had been told it was a training exercise, but Xander had this voice in his head telling him it was very easy to make the connection between the exercise and Dawn's arrival, and that someone with half a brain would know it wasn't just a coincidence.

They probably wouldn't have time to react and call the attack back, though, even if they did make the connection.

"They are here," Océane said, pointing at a blue car on the road.

With a nod, Xander turned the key in the ignition. He waited until the car had passed them before pulling onto the road behind them. "Okay, then, let's get this party started."

Following a car on a busy highway looked a lot easier in the movies than it actually was, it turned out. At least Xander could keep an eye on the sticker from the rental-car company, so he didn't get confused by any similar-looking cars. Then he started to worry. They weren't that far from Heathrow. Lots of people would have rented cars. Lots of people would be driving little blue rental cars.

He'd just about worked himself into freaking out that he'd screwed up and put Dawn in danger when he realized that he could see Dawn in the back seat of that particular car. She turned around then, even, and he got a glimpse of her face as she studied the traffic behind them before Buffy turned around as well, tugging Dawn's arm until she settled back into her seat. Probably a good move; they didn't want anyone to think she was expecting to be followed.

Not that Xander was expecting trouble yet. Too much traffic, too many people around. No, he was pretty sure York and the rest of that side would wait until they got closer to the school, on one of the roads that was mostly deserted during the day. Right now, all he had to do was make sure he didn't lose the car in traffic.

When they hit the quieter roads, though, Xander asked the girls to keep an eye out for trouble, and he kept close to the rental car.

"You should let them go ahead," Catherine said, putting a hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry? I'm not about to let them out of my sight," he argued, and then he frowned. Maybe she had a point.

"The demon won't come out if it thinks there's more people out here than just Dawn," Catherine explained.

"Catherine is right," Océane said, hand clenching and unclenching on her sword. She kept her eyes on the road, and this was the first time she'd talked since telling them the car was there.

Xander slowed down the car and stopped on the side of the road, nodding. "You're probably right." He waited until the rental car had almost disappeared from view to get back on the road. Apart from them, there was nobody around. Xander tapped the steering wheel anxiously with the tips of his fingers, and bit his lip. "This is not nerve-wracking at all. Nope."

Catherine gave a light chuckle and shook her head. "There!" she yelled, pointing at the road ahead of them.

Xander's heartbeat quickened at the panic in her tone, and he blinked. At first, he couldn't see it, but then--"Dammit!" He pushed on the accelerator and heard the girls pick up their weapons. The demon had come out of the woods and was running towards the blue car. Xander was pretty sure the girls in there hadn't seen it yet, because they weren't slowing down or stopping, and it wouldn't be long before the demon reached the car.

In the rear-view mirror, Xander could see Catherine covering her face; he heard the blue car's tires squeal as Julia apparently noticed the demon and slammed on the brakes. Holding his breath, he watched as it skidded off the road onto the grass, only daring to breathe again when he saw it come to a stop with everyone in it apparently unharmed.

Both the front doors opened, and Buffy and Julia both came out of the car, weapons raised. Xander pulled up a few yards behind them, turning to look at the girls. "Your job," he reminded them, "is to get Dawn back here." They nodded, but he went on. "That's your only job," he said firmly. "Let Buffy and Julia handle the demon; they've been training longer. You two just get Dawn and get her back here." He hated sending them out like this, but he needed to stay behind the wheel, keeping the engine running and his foot on the brake so that they could pull away the second Dawn and the girls were safely in the car.

"We know," Catherine said, and the two of them got out.

Xander didn't know where to look; he didn't want to look at any of it. The demon smashed through the rear window of the car; he saw Dawn rapidly slide to the other side of the car and then emerge, crouching down behind the car, as Buffy attacked the demon, hacking at it with her sword but hampered by her need to keep the thing alive.

Catherine and Océane made for Dawn's side of the car, keeping their weapons ready, as Julia moved to the demon's other side, keeping it trapped between the two Slayers. Then he saw Dawn come out from behind the car, Catherine and Océane on either side of her, flanking her protectively. Dawn, he saw, was holding a dagger; Xander wondered how much she'd had to argue with Buffy before her sister had let her arm herself. He was glad she had, though; it might not be much, but it could buy her a second or two, long enough for one of the Slayers to get to her if things went wrong.

And then, horrified, he watched as the demon pushed Julia aside, lunging for Dawn; Océane slashed at it with her sword, but was knocked away as well, her weapon falling to the ground. Xander could see her sleeve turning red with blood and felt sick. What was he doing? She was a kid.

Julia was back on her feet now, driving the demon toward the road again, and Catherine and Dawn started running for the car. As soon as Dawn was inside, Catherine turned back, running to help Océane to the car.

"You okay, Dawn?" Xander asked, not looking away from the two girls making their way back to the car.

"I'm good," Dawn said, just as Océane slid into the back seat, her hand clamped over her injured arm. Catherine followed, slamming the door shut.

Xander didn't drive off yet, not wanting to leave Buffy and Julia battling the thing even though he was pretty sure the demon wouldn't put up much of a fight once Dawn was gone. Besides, two Slayers against one demon put the odds firmly on the Slayers' side.

"I could help them," Catherine said from the back seat.

"No, you could not," Xander said, worry making his voice sharper than he would have liked. "Help Ocean."

Dawn was already on the job, using the dagger she'd been carrying to cut the sleeve of Océane's blouse open. "It's not too bad," she reported. "There's a lot of blood, but it looks pretty shallow."

Océane seemed preoccupied, looking outside the car, past the fight still going on. "My sword," she began, gesturing with her good arm toward the sword still lying on the ground. "It belongs to the school."

"Screw the sword," Xander said, knowing Giles would probably give him hell for sounding that unprofessional in front of the girls. He didn't care. "We'll come back for it later," he added, as Buffy turned around to look at them.

"We're fine," she shouted. "Get Dawn out of here, now!"

As the demon began lumbering toward their car, taking advantage of Buffy's momentary distraction, Xander decided that she was right; now was the time to floor it. "Hold on tight," he warned the girls, swerving around the demon and speeding off down the road.

He'd just gotten far enough away that he'd decided to follow the speed limit again when his phone rang. He picked it up and tossed it back to Catherine. "You're on phone duty again," Xander said. "I don't think I need to be distracted."

Catherine caught the phone and answered it. "This is Mr. Harris' phone," she said, listening for a moment. Then, sounding more animated, she said, "Good! No, no, she will be fine," glancing over at Océane, who was holding the sweater from her school uniform against her injured arm. "I'll tell him. Thank you." She clicked the phone shut, beaming. "Miss Summers--"

"Buffy," Xander corrected her. "She's not going to let you call her 'Miss Summers.'"

Catherine continued, unperturbed. "She says to tell you that they have the demon, and will be bringing it back to the school as soon as Mr. Giles sends someone to pick them up. It's too big for the car."

"Great," Xander said, his heartbeat beginning to slow down to normal again.

They were back on school grounds soon, and Xander parked the car close to Giles' home. Giles and Andrew were already hurrying down the steps when Xander got out of the car, and opened the door for Océane and Dawn to get out. "Did Buffy call you?" he asked Giles.

He nodded. "She told me that one of the girls was hurt?" Then, when he saw Océane, he frowned. "Is she all right?"

"Just a scratch!" Dawn replied, walking over to them and pulling Giles into a hug. "It might need a few stitches, but she'll be okay."

Giles nodded at that, although Xander could tell he was worried. "Is anyone else injured?" he asked.

"Not as far as I know; Buffy didn't mention anything on the phone, so I don't think so," Xander said, still unable to relax. It had gone down too fast, after twenty-four hours of pent up anxiety, and he was finding it very hard to let go of it. He really, seriously, wanted to touch Giles right now. Bad idea.

"Should I go get Buffy?" Andrew asked, coming over to them as Océane and Dawn walked inside.

"I'd rather you didn't go alone," Giles began.

Catherine interrupted him. "I'll go with him."

Xander shook his head. "Better not."

"I know how to fight," she argued, crossing her arms. "Miss Summers--"

"Buffy."

She rolled her eyes at him, and turned to Giles instead. "Miss Summers and Julia are there, so we'll be fine."

Giles shook his head. "I'd rather send a retrieval team."

Xander didn't think that was a good idea, at all. "You'd have to let them know what was going on, and what if--" He stopped himself, looking at Catherine and then shaking his head. He couldn't really say what he'd meant, which was that there was a good chance anyone they'd contact for this could let the information slip to someone they didn't want to know, and that would be bad, but he was sure Giles understood. "Andrew and Catherine can do this, it's just a twenty-minute drive each way, and I don't think there're any more demons lurking."

"I hate to say it, but you're right about the retrieval team," Giles said. He dug into his pocket for a key and handed it to Andrew. "Be careful, please."

"Sure thing, Captain."

"Ocean's sword," Xander said. "She was upset about leaving it behind--"

"I'll get it," Catherine said, and she and Andrew hurried away.

Giles sighed. "I truly despise this situation."

"Yeah, I hear you." Now that they were alone, Xander couldn't stop himself from reaching out and touching Giles' arm. Thankfully, Giles didn't say anything about it, and Xander squeezed. "We should--" he said, then cleared his throat. "We should go inside, make sure Ocean's okay."

Giles smiled, shaking his head. "When this is behind us--"

"I know, we need to talk."

"We do, but that wasn't what I was going to say," Giles admitted, brushing his fingers against Xander's wrist.

Xander blushed, although he couldn't tell whether it was from Giles' words, or from his touch. Probably both. "Okay--what was it?"

"I know we've talked about this before," Giles said. "But I think you should give serious thought to language lessons."

Xander frowned at him. "Where did that come from?"

Giles sighed. "Her name is Océane."

"That's what I've been saying," he said, still frowning. "Or at least, trying to say."

"Which is why I think you should take at least some basic language classes," Giles said. "It would help you to communicate with Slayers like Océane, and since you're frequently in western Africa, French might--"

"I took French in high school," he pointed out. "Two years. And I passed both of them."

"Your junior year," Giles said, "I'm well aware you had a substitute for the entire second semester because the school couldn't find a replacement on short notice."

"Yeah," Xander said. "That was great. Um, not the part where Buffy had to stake our real teacher, but the part where we mostly watched movies." He paused. "And okay, you might have a point about the French."

Giles nodded. "We'll talk about it further once this is all settled."

Great. School. Xander had thought he was completely done with that. But if Giles was going to keep bringing it up--well, Xander knew that hints from your boss were more than just helpful suggestions, and no matter what Giles' fingers on his wrist were doing to Xander's heart rate, Giles was still his boss. "I'm not going to be in class with Niki," Xander warned him.

"Nkiruka," Giles said, "is already in the intermediate level language classes."

Oh, that was going to be fun when she found out.

"Of course," Giles continued, "it would also be possible for you to get a tutor instead of attending classes."

"Really?" That sounded a little bit better. It would be kind of humiliating to have to attend classes with the kids--who weren't really kids, but were at least younger than Xander was. "I think that would be a better idea, actually, you know, for my credibility? They--well, I'm supposed to be a Watcher, and if I'm studying with them... isn't that weird?"

"Perhaps, at least in the sense that the younger students, especially, don't need to start seeing you as a peer." Giles started walking towards the front door, and held it open for Xander. "Do you want me to find you one? A tutor, I mean."

"I think we should go with your first idea, and wait till this whole thing has blown over," Xander replied, walking past Giles and into the house. "I don't even know how long I'll be in England after that."

Giles nodded thoughtfully, following Xander into the kitchen where Dawn was already patching up Océane. "How is it?"

"Not too bad," Dawn said, nose scrunched up in concentration. "It stopped bleeding, so we don't need to get any professional help, I don't think."

Océane seemed a little pale when she looked at Xander. "Is it okay? She can do the--the thing?"

"Stitches?" Xander asked, pulling a chair and sitting closer to Océane's and taking her hand in his. "Yeah, don't worry, she has plenty of experience patching us all up."

"We all do," Dawn added, still very intent on what she was doing.

"When she's done," Giles said, softly. "You should go lie down. I don't think you lost too much blood, but it's always a good idea to keep your strength up."

"And with the Slayer constitution, you'll be better in no time." Xander grinned, happy when it made her smile.

"Okay," Océane said, nodding.

Dawn sighed, and straightened up. "There, done. You should be fine, trooper."

Xander chuckled and looked at Giles with a smile. Giles was bringing over a glass of water and handing it to Océane, who took it, hands still shaking a bit. Xander knew she had fought demons before; Catherine had talked about at least one time when they'd gone training/hunting together, but this must have been different just from Océane's reaction. The size of the demon itself was kind of impressive, and Xander was pretty sure that their Watcher wouldn't have let them train by hunting demons that size. At least, not yet. "Go rest now, okay?"

Giles nodded. "Dawn, would you help Océane back to the dormitories? You and Buffy will stay here, of course, but I'd appreciate it if you'd walk Océane back and get her settled."

"Actually," Dawn said, "I was kind of planning on checking if they had a spare bed for me there." She grinned. "If I'm going to be coming here for training, I might as well get used to it."

"You just don't want to have to share a room with Buffy," Xander said. While there were a lot of bedrooms in Giles' house, most of them had been made into storage space or offices long before Giles ever moved in, and Giles had converted all the remaining ground-floor rooms when he'd started using the house as the main Council offices. There were only three rooms still furnished as bedrooms, and with Xander staying in one, Buffy and Dawn would have to stay in the other.

"Nobody should have to look at my sister first thing in the morning," Dawn said, still grinning at him. "So maybe it's both. But that's okay, right, Giles?"

Giles nodded. "I believe there'll be room for you," he said. Xander kind of hoped there was. They'd need Buffy around to help them try to question the demon, and he'd feel a lot better about Dawn knowing she was in a dorm packed full of Slayers.

It took Buffy and the others close to an hour to get back. Then there was the slight problem of finding a room for that huge thing they brought with them. Andrew was the one to find a solution to that problem when he pointed out that they did have a perfectly acceptable basement they could use. No one ever went down there because it was, well, creepy, but that worked for keeping a demon.

The demon was out cold, and Giles pointed out that it might be a while before it gained consciousness again, so everyone made their way back into the study, except Julia, who got the first watch.

"Where's Dawn?" Buffy asked.

Xander closed the door when he realized that Andrew and Catherine weren't following them. "At the dorms," he replied, slumping down on the couch next to Giles. "She took Ocean there and said she'd see if they had an empty bed for her to sleep in, so I guess she's settling in for now." Then he frowned. "We didn't tell you when you got in?"

"No," she smiled, sitting down on the chair closest to them and patting Xander's hand. "But it's okay, we had something else on our minds. I just thought she was waiting inside."

Giles nodded. "Mrs. Cheever will make sure she's settled all right. I don't think we'll get anything out of that demon for a few more hours." He leaned his elbows on his knees. "She'll be back."

The door opened slowly and they all turned to it. "Mr. Wells said he's going to try to cook something for us to eat," Catherine said, popping her head in the doorway. "I'll help him."

Xander was waiting for Giles to say something, but Giles stayed quiet, and looked at him instead. Which is when Xander realized Catherine was actually looking at him and not Giles. "Oh, uh, okay, no problem." Catherine gave a short nod, and left, closing the door again behind her.

"Mr. Wells?" Buffy asked, trying not to laugh too hard.

"It's a Giles thing." Xander shrugged. Buffy's laugh was contagious, and he found himself chuckling with her.

"A Giles thing?" Giles frowned, turning to Xander with a little smile on his lips. "I simply think all the students need to be respectful."

"But it's... it's Andrew." Buffy kept chuckling for a moment, making both Giles and Xander smile, and then finally sobered up. "Nah, I get why you want them to use the Mr. thing. It's just weird to hear him called 'Mr.' anything."

"I don't know," Xander said. "He's actually doing a pretty good job, especially with how upset he is."

"Upset?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, he and Gregory--they were kinda close. It really hit him hard."

"I'm impressed that he's been able to keep it together today, actually," Giles added, pinching his nose. "He was quite a mess yesterday."

Xander nodded. "That's probably why he's cooking. As long as he keeps moving and doing stuff, he won't be thinking about it, and he won't break down."

Buffy slumped back against the chair. "Mmm, makes sense. So... what do we do now?"

"We wait," Giles said, sighing. "While the demon's unconscious, there's not a lot we can do."

"And after that?" she said. "Because I'm telling you, I don't really think it speaks English."

"Its masters, or employers, must have some way of communicating with it," Giles said. "Either it speaks some other human language, or it speaks a demonic language common enough that someone on the Council speaks it."

"Someone we can't trust," Xander pointed out. "That's not a lot of help."

Giles shook his head. "I think we may be all right," he said. "Ruth Cheever's fluency in human languages is only due to her field assignments when she was younger. Her actual specialty was in demonic languages."

"And we can trust her?" Buffy said.

Xander nodded. "Yeah. We're pretty sure she's one of the good guys. If she has a problem with Giles, she'd probably just smack his hand with a ruler and send him to bed without supper." At Buffy's raised eyebrow, he went on, "You've met her. She's in charge of the girls' dorm? Kind of scary, especially if you're a sixteen-year-old Slayer or Watcherette breaking curfew, but we trust her."

"That's good." Buffy sat up straighter and grabbed one of the books they'd been researching in and had left on the table. "So we keep busy until he wakes up again."

"Yep, I guess that's the plan," Xander said, and he groaned, rubbing the skin under his eye. "Maybe a nap would be a good thing."

Giles chuckled and shook his head. "I'll give Mrs. Cheever a call and have her meet us here as soon as she can. Dawn should be back by then, I imagine."

"Good plan," Xander agreed, putting his feet on the couch and lying down as soon as Giles was up. "Let us know how that goes."

With another shake of his head, Giles smiled at Xander, and left.

"What's up with you and Giles?" Buffy asked. When Xander looked up, she still had her nose in the book, and she didn't look like she was actually waiting for him to answer.

He lay back against the arm of the couch, and put his arm over his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," she said. "It's not that you're acting weirder than usual or anything, but there's like, uh, some kind of tension or something. Figured you had a fight or something."

"A fight," Xander repeated, trying to figure out whether he should agree or not. It was kind of true, but he thought whatever had happened between him and Giles was a lot more complicated than that. "No," he decided finally. "We didn't. There's just... you know, tension. Because of people getting killed, and demons on campus, and stuff."

Buffy gave him a slight smile. "Because that's totally unlike anything either of you has had to deal with before."

She had a point. "Yeah, but Giles is responsible for everybody, this time. It leads to stress." He smiled back at her.

"So everything's okay?"

"Yeah," Xander lied. "Apart from the Watcher-killing demon in the basement, and the thing where half the Council is apparently staging a coup and me being responsible for a tiny little Slayer, everything's great." Or, well, it would be, anyway, once all of this was over and they had a chance to think. And the tension that had sprung up between him and Giles was, well. Xander knew exactly what it was, but they could get all of that straightened out after nobody was trying to kill them.

"Okay," Buffy said, in a voice that made it pretty clear she didn't actually believe him.

"You know," Xander said, deciding it was time to change the subject, "I was going to try to get you and Dawn over here for a visit while I was here, anyway."

"You could have just asked," she said, smiling again. "Or, you know--here's a crazy thought--you could have taken some time off and come to see us in Rome."

Xander shook his head. "I wanted to spend a couple of weeks at home," he said. Then, realizing what he'd just said, he added, "Um, here, I mean. Which is about as close to 'home' as I get, home being a hole in the ground. I don't stay in one place long enough to feel at home in Africa."

She looked at him again, nodding. "So this is home," she said.

Hadn't he just been wondering about that? It looked like he'd just answered his own question. "Yeah," he said. "I guess it is."

"That's good. Rome is--it's not home, but it could be, you know."

Xander nodded.

There was a silence for a moment, and then Buffy said: "When do I get to meet that tiny Slayer of yours anyway? Niki, right?"

"Probably very soon," Xander said with a smile. "She's never been very far from Catherine since we picked her and Ocean up in Johannesburg, so as soon as Niki hears that we're back, she'll show up." Especially since she'd want to know everything that had happened, in detail.

***


Xander didn't really sleep, but for the next half-hour, he kept his eyes closed, trying to relax. He could hear Buffy turning the pages of the book she was reading, and the sound of Andrew and Catherine in the kitchen talking. Giles came back after a while and chatted with Buffy. And then Xander didn't remember what happened for the next few minutes, but when he opened his eye, the voices in the kitchen were louder, and Buffy was gone. He blinked and turned to Giles. "Was I sleeping?"

"I don't know," Giles replied, putting down the papers he'd been reading, and smiling at him. "Were you?"

Xander groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Very funny. But okay, that was a stupid question."

Giles laughed. "Perhaps. Dinner should be ready. Dawn has just shown up, and I'm pretty certain that's Niki," he said, nodding at the window where they could see someone running towards the house.

"Okay, I'll go open the door for her." Xander stood and stretched. He probably had needed that nap. He could feel Giles watching him as he left the room. Heart beating fast, he walked swiftly to the front door, and opened it before Niki could knock. "Hey you."

"Xander! Mrs. Cheever said you were back, and I saw Océane, what happened? I want to know, please! Did you kill the demon? Can I see it? Did Catherine--"

"Whoa, one question at a time." Then, realizing she'd just repeat all her questions on the doorstep, he added, "Just get in and let me close the door. Did Mrs. Cheever say you could come over?" He managed to get the door closed.

"Yes, she said Mr. Giles said it was okay and that I could come. She said I can even eat here, isn't that cool?"

"Awesome," Xander replied, leading her into the dining room.

"Oh my God," Buffy said, turning to them. "She really is tiny."

"Yep," Xander said proudly, patting Niki's head. "A mini-Slayer. I always wanted one of those."

"Hey!" Niki looked up at Xander and rolled her eyes. "I might be tiny, but I can--"

"I know you can, Niki, I'm just joking." He smiled at her, and she shook her head.

"You know," she said, turning to Buffy defiantly, "I am totally stronger than you are." Xander had to put his hand on his mouth to keep from laughing.

"Oh really?" Buffy asked, crouching down in front of her.

"Yes, really."

"I don't know, Niki," Xander said. "I think Buffy could best you in a fight."

"Oh!" Niki said, letting her hands fall away from her hips. "Buffy... that's you? Everyone talks about you at school!"

"Do they now?" Buffy took Niki's hand and pulled her over to the table so they could both sit down.

"Yeah," Xander said, following their example and sitting in the chair next to Niki--which apparently meant he was also sitting next to Giles. He seriously needed to be more careful about those things; he was having enough trouble not thinking about Giles as it was. "Apparently, you're some sort of legend for every Slayer at the Academy. If you don't show up more often, you're going to be like the Loch Ness monster. Everyone will talk about you, but no one will ever be really sure you exist."

Buffy laughed. "You'll have to show them pictures every now and then to prove I'm real."

"Or sell them to the Weekly World News, " he said, grinning at her. With Niki on his left and Buffy on the other side, it was easy for him to angle himself in that direction and--mostly--ignore Giles. He could still hear him, of course, talking to Dawn. It sounded like Giles was serious about wanting her to help out while Mrs. Bishop was out of commission; he was talking about her duties and the instructors he wanted her to talk to while she was in England.

Xander shifted a little more in his chair, turning back to Niki, who had started asking questions faster than Buffy could answer them.

"Do you have your own sword? I don't. I have to use the ones in the training rooms. Do you fight lots of demons? There was a demon in my house. I killed it with my mother's big knife, but if I had a sword it would have been easier. You think I'm big enough to have a sword, don't you?"

Xander looked up at Buffy, trying hard not to burst out laughing, both at Niki's constant stream of chatter and at the fact that Buffy looked like she was about to flee from the room. Luckily, the door to the kitchen swung open, and Catherine and Andrew came in. "Whoa," Xander said, waving a hand in front of Niki to get her attention when she didn't stop talking. "How about we let Buffy eat before you interrogate her?"

Niki frowned for a minute, and Xander thought he was about to be pouted at. Then she asked, "What's 'interrogate'?"

"Ask her a lot of questions," he said, just as, from the other side of her, Buffy said, "Torture me for information."

Xander laughed. "That, too."

They were halfway through the meal when there was a knock on the dining room door, and Mrs. Cheever walked in. Her mouth had that curve that Xander had started associating with her smiling, and she looked around. "Rupert, you said you needed my help."

"Yes, Mrs. Cheever, please, sit," Giles said, standing up and pulling out an empty chair for her. "Would you like something to eat or drink?"

"No, no," she replied, shaking her head. "I'm quite fine, thank you."

Everyone was quiet around the table, even Niki, and they were all looking at Giles and Mrs. Cheever. Giles cleared his throat as he sat back into his chair. "I'll cut right to the chase. We have a demon situation."

"I figured as much," Mrs. Cheever said. "I'm not going senile quite yet, and all those measures you've implemented in the past few days are suspicious, to say the least."

Xander put down his fork. "We had to," he said. He looked around the table at everyone. These were people he'd trust with his life. "There's a conspiracy, against Giles and well, all of us, but mostly Giles. And we need to get information about it out of the demon that's chained in the basement."

Mrs. Cheever looked at him, and blinked once. "Well, that was concise." She turned to Giles. "What kind of demon is it?"

This time, it was Dawn who answered. Xander was going to have to assume that what she said was the name from the report she'd given them, because it mostly sounded like she was choking on something.

"Dear God," Mrs. Cheever murmured, putting a hand in front of her mouth. "How on Earth did you manage to get your hands on one of those? I don't believe there's ever been any sightings of them in England."

"But you do know of them?" Giles asked, pushing his plate away. Xander did the same; he wasn't hungry anymore.

"Of course I do, I did some research on the peaceful tribes in northwestern Canada, several decades ago." She frowned slightly, and pushed her glasses up on her nose. "Their history is fascinating."

"Yes, it is," Dawn said. "I never realized that demons could--"

Before Dawn could get too much into the subject of the demons' history, Xander interrupted her. "I'm sure it's really interesting, but the one we have downstairs is definitely not peaceful."

"We have reason to believe it's part of the exiled clan that moved further north," Giles added.

"Yes, fascinating! When I did my research, we couldn't get anywhere near them," Mrs. Cheever said.

"We think it was either hired, or is being controlled by someone intent on seeing me fail." Giles took an even more serious tone, and Mrs. Cheever lost the look of childlike curiosity on her face.

"Both would be possible, from what I remember of their nature," she said. "I'd put my money on controlled, though, as they're quite--how should I say--impetuous and volatile. They could take whatever they are offered in exchange, and then disappear without doing the work, or kill their employer."

Xander nodded. "That makes a whole lot of sense, actually. But we need to talk to it."

"And that's where you come in," Giles added. "I imagine you're fluent in their language?"

"I wouldn't call myself fluent, but I imagine I can make myself understood, yes."

"Good," Buffy said, standing up and pushing her chair back. "I'll go downstairs to see Julia. It shouldn't be too long before it wakes up; it's been two hours already."

"All right," Giles agreed. "Bring Catherine with you; we'll clean up here."

"I wanna go too!" Niki jumped up from her chair. Xander had completely forgotten for a moment that she was there; he couldn't remember her ever being that quiet, unless she was sleeping. "I can beat it up, I know I can."

"Niki--" Xander started, but Buffy interrupted him.

"Let her come with, Xander, I'll keep an eye on her."

"Okay," he conceded. He didn't like it, but she did need to get some experience, and the demon was chained and there were three more Slayers around; she'd be fine.

And, he realized as Niki grabbed Buffy's hand and pulled her toward the door, calling for Catherine to hurry up, there was no way on earth he was keeping her upstairs without literally tying her to a chair, and that wouldn't work. He'd have to untie her eventually, and he did not like his chances against an annoyed little Slayer.

"Dawn," Giles suggested, "why don't you take Mrs. Cheever into the other room and show her the research you've put together? I'd like to see what she thinks of it." Which, Xander realized, was as much about Dawn as about the demon, and was a pretty smart move. If some of the other Watchers were impressed with Dawn's research skills, they'd be more in favor of her being trained as a Watcher.

It wasn't like Xander didn't know Giles was good at his job--no matter what the idiots who used to run things thought--but it was another thing entirely to watch him doing it. It made Xander wonder what the hell he was doing calling himself a Watcher. Watchers were like Giles, and Dawn, and Mrs. Cheever, and Alan Gregory. He was... well, he was good at finding Slayers, but that was about it. That didn't make him a Watcher.

Dawn nodded. "I'm sure there's more you can add," Dawn said, "but I couldn't find a lot of references." She led Mrs. Cheever through to the living room.

Before Giles or Andrew could speak, Xander got up from the table, starting to stack up plates. "That demon's going to wake up soon," he said to Giles, "and you're going to have to go downstairs anyway. Why don't I get the dishes?" He thought he managed a smile. "It's the least I can do. I mean, Andrew cooked, and you've got an interrogation to handle. I might as well make myself useful somehow."

Giles gave him a strange look, but nodded. "All right. Thank you, Xander."

"Hey, no problem," he said, turning to carry the plates into the kitchen.

To his surprise, Andrew followed him in, his hands full of silverware. "I'll help," he said.

Xander was about to argue when he remembered what they'd said earlier about Andrew needing to keep busy. "Sure. That'd be great," he lied.


***


Giles watched Xander and Andrew walk out of the room and sighed. He wasn't used to so many people in his home, anymore, and it was dizzying to have everyone talking at once during a meal. He was very thankful for the chance of a few minutes alone to sort out his thoughts.

Dawn seemed very excited by the prospect of working for the Council, something else he owed Xander, Giles thought. Xander had been right about many things, and Giles would have to thank him for that later, when all this was over. Perhaps then they would be able to talk things through.

Shaking his head to keep himself from thinking about what had happened between them the other day, Giles stood up. He would check up on Mrs. Cheever and Dawn, and then go downstairs; that would keep him busy for now.

When he went into the study, he found, to his slight surprise, that they were getting on well; Mrs. Cheever was nodding in approval as she read through Dawn's report, and Dawn sounded perfectly poised and confident as she answered her questions. It had been some time since he'd seen Dawn, and apparently he'd missed the stage where she'd become an adult overnight.

If she'd met with Mrs. Cheever's approval, then he didn't need to have any worries at all about how well she'd fit in with the other trainees, either. And perhaps she'd be interested in transferring her interest from ancient human languages to non-human ones; they had younger Watchers interested in learning Sumerian, but when Mrs. Cheever finally retired, they'd lose their expert in demonic tongues. They could get by, he supposed--enough of the current Watchers knew at least a bit of one or two languages--but Dawn's gift for languages would put her in the position to be a real asset to the Council in the next decade or so.

Yet another thing for him to make a note of for later.

He'd been noticed; Dawn looked up at him curiously, and Giles smiled. "Just checking in on you two," he said.

"Don't just stand there, Rupert" Mrs. Cheever told him--no, more accurately, scolded him. "Come over here and make yourself useful."

Dawn giggled, and Giles shot her a warning look. "I was only going to say--" she began.

Whatever she was going to say, however, Giles was to be mercifully spared, because he heard the clatter of footsteps running up the stairs and through the hallway, just a second before Nkiruka burst into the room.

"Mr. Giles, Buffy--"

"Miss Summers," Mrs. Cheever corrected her automatically.

"Yes, her," the girl agreed. "Buffy says the demon is starting to wake up." She paused, grinning. "It's very ugly. I didn't notice that when it attacked us before; I was too busy protecting Xander."

"Of course you were," Giles said. "Why don't you run to the kitchen and let Xander and Andrew know? We'll head downstairs."

"Okay!" She twirled around and left the room at a run.

Giles turned to Mrs. Cheever and Dawn, who were both standing up from the couch. "I'm not quite sure exactly how we'll proceed, but whatever happens, stay as far away from the demon as possible. Its claws alone are--"

"Rupert," Mrs. Cheever said, looking at him the same way she had, decades ago, when she'd been tutoring him in languages and he hadn't done his homework. "We know full well what we are up against here, probably better than you do. Now, shall we?"

With a nod, Giles led the way to the basement. The demon was definitely waking, if the groans it was making were any indication.

"How long are we going to have to wait for it to wake up?" Buffy said.

"You hit it pretty hard," Julia pointed out. "It could take a while."

"Maybe we should encourage it," Dawn said, looking around the room. "Giles, can you give me that glass of water?" she asked, pointing at the glass someone had probably brought down for Julia earlier.

Giles grabbed the glass and giving it to Dawn, who immediately threw it on the demon's head.

Its eyes opened fully and glowed brightly, and it stood, growling. "It's not happy," Mrs. Cheever said, just as Niki was bouncing down the stairs with a cheerful "I'm back!" and coming to stand close to Buffy.

Buffy whispered something to her that Giles couldn't hear, and the girl stepped back a few feet, taking a fighting stance.

Whatever Buffy had said, Giles hoped it kept Niki quiet while this was going on. "We can see that, Mrs. Cheever."

"No," she sighed, "that's what it just said. Rough translation would be 'this one is not happy.'"

"Well, neither is anyone else," Giles muttered. "It should be grateful it's only chained in the cellar, and not beheaded by the side of the road." That earned him another look, and he shook his head. "Ask it what it was doing," he said.

"Yes, thank you, Rupert," she said. "Can this be the last time today that I have to remind you that I know how to do my job?" She turned back to the demon, speaking quickly and listening to its reply.

"Well?" Giles demanded after a moment, when the demon paused.

"It wants to know why it should answer your questions."

Buffy answered that for him, raising the sword she was holding. "Tell it that it's the only way I'm even going to consider letting it live after it attacked my sister."

The response, through Mrs. Cheever, came quickly. "It was told there would be a vehicle coming down the road. In it would be a girl who would reek of Slayer--"

"Hey!" Dawn protested, glaring at the demon. "I don't reek of anything."

"There's no literal translation," Mrs. Cheever said. "Certain demon species are very sensitive to the presence of Slayers, magic users, and other supernaturally-aligned creatures; I expect it's a survival mechanism. As humans don't have that particular sense, we don't have a word for it. Your sister is a Slayer, so you've picked up some of that--we'll say 'aura,' if that sounds better to you--without actually being a Slayer, as have most of the Watchers here." When Dawn nodded her understanding, she went on, "That's what the demon was told to look for. A human girl who 'smelled' of Slayer, without actually being one."

"Bet it was surprised to find us," Buffy said.

To Giles' surprise, the demon responded without waiting for the translation. "It was," Mrs. Cheever confirmed. "It was told to expect a human man as her companion."

"Mr. Wells," Julia said. "He'd hired the car in his name."

"It understands English?" Giles asked.

"Apparently," Mrs. Cheever said tartly. She questioned the demon again for a moment, then said, "It understands some English, but it says it doesn't speak any. It may not be telling the truth, but as we're able to communicate with it regardless, I don't believe that's important."

"What were your orders?" Giles said, addressing the demon. Even if Mrs. Cheever had to translate some of it, perhaps speaking to the demon directly would predispose it to be more cooperative.

The answer wasn't at all unexpected, but hearing it delivered bluntly still chilled Giles. "It was to kill them," the translation came. "But there were many Slayers, and it lost the fight. It still doesn't quite understand how that happened," Mrs. Cheever added. "It's quite bewildered by the presence of multiple Slayers."

"Who gave the order?" Giles asked, deliberately choosing not to reply to the demon's comment.

The demon stared back at him, but didn't say a word.

Mrs. Cheever tried translating the question, but the demon didn't look at her or answer. "Well, I don't think it wants to answer that," she muttered just loud enough for Giles to hear.

"Seems not," he said. "Perhaps what it needs is a little incentive?"

Buffy raised her sword. "I'd be happy to help with that."

The demon grunted. "It says it's not afraid to die," Mrs. Cheever translated. The demon made a few more sounds. "It's prepared to make a deal with you, though."

"Oh, is it?" Giles snickered. "What does it want?"

"To be set free. If you let it go, it'll tell you who gave it the orders to kill," Mrs. Cheever said, as the demon talked.

Buffy put her sword against the demon's neck. "I don't think so."

After another comment from the demon, Mrs. Cheever repeated, "It isn't afraid to die. It wants only to return to its tribe. It..." She frowned. "It apparently wasn't a willing participant." After a few more exchanges with the demon, she turned to Giles. "Make no mistake; it doesn't feel any remorse for killing humans, any more than a human might for, oh, killing a fox that got among the chickens, or something of that nature. It sees us as a nuisance at best and a threat at worst. But it sounds as though it, and the other demons of its tribe that were involved, was being threatened."

Julia spoke up, her brow furrowed. "What could threaten a demon like that?" she said. "All right, us--" her gesture took in the other Slayers in the room-- "and maybe an army tank or something, but look at it. A whole tribe of them? What could a couple of normal people do to that?"

The demon spoke again, and Giles thought it sounded rather agitated. "Threaten its nesting grounds," Mrs. Cheever said. "I'm not absolutely certain of this species' life cycle--"

"It was in that book I had," Dawn said. "They lay eggs, and the book said that it takes around a year for the eggs to hatch, and there's only a hatching every ten years or so. So if someone wiped out the tribe's nesting grounds, it'd be ten years before there were any more baby demons. Which, if you're a demon, might not be a good thing."

Giles sighed. "Dawn, in your research, did you find anything at all about the tribe--even the human-hating offshoot--attacking humans without provocation?"

She shook her head. "That's one reason they stick to pretty remote territory. They don't like us, and they tend to kill people who get near their territory, but otherwise, they keep to themselves."

Giles considered this for a moment. "We might be able to strike a deal," he finally said.

"Giles!" Buffy interjected. "I don't want to sound heartless or anything, but, you know, demon. We don't strike deals with demons who go around killing people."

He turned to her, staring her down. "I suppose you'd rather have more casualties, then?"

"No, I think we need to get the information out of it without striking any kind of deal."

"I don't think you'll manage that," Mrs. Cheever said. "It won't respond to any kind of physical threat. It doesn't care about death. It only wants the nesting ground to be protected."

Buffy sighed, but relented, stepping back. Giles turned back to the demon. "A deal, then." He didn't like this situation, not at all, but if it was the only option, it would have to do. "We will release you--"

"Heck," Buffy interrupted him. "We'll give you a ride back to the Arctic Circle." When everyone's gaze turned back to her again, she shrugged. "No way I'm letting a demon loose anywhere near any kind of populated area. If you guys are serious about agreeing to this, we're going to make sure it doesn't get the chance to kill anyone on the way home."

"Agreed," Giles said. They did have the resources for that, after all. "We will release you back into your environment, but you have to give us the information we need for that to happen. We need names, places, means of communication. I want the full run down on whoever it is that is controlling you."

"And who knows," Julia added, approaching the demon and lowering her crossbow to her side. "Maybe if we manage to stop them fast enough, we may very well save your nest at the same time."

Mrs. Cheever started to translate when the demon stayed silent, but it interrupted her halfway. "It agrees. It is ready to give the information we need."

***


"I'm not avoiding the issue, Andrew," Xander said, drying his hands on a tea towel and wondering if it would kill Giles to actually get a dishwasher. "And the reason I'm not avoiding the issue," he went on as he tossed the towel over to Andrew, "is that there's nothing to avoid."

He could remember a time when Andrew actually believed... well, basically everything Xander told him, however stupid it was. That was a good time, he thought, as Andrew frowned and gave him a look that clearly told him that those days were long gone. "Time is precious, grasshopper," Andrew began, and Xander scowled.

"Stop with the Kung Fu crap," he muttered. Then, hearing noise in the other room, he went out, leaving Andrew to finish wiping off the splatters on the stove.

"Xander!" Niki must have been in heaven; she was holding both Buffy's and Catherine's hands, tugging them over to the couch to sit with her. "You missed everything!"

Xander frowned, turning toward Giles. He was deep in discussion with Mrs. Cheever and Dawn about something, but Xander didn't care right now. This was important enough to interrupt. "You let her go down there when the demon was awake?" he demanded.

Giles blinked, turning to look at him, but Xander didn't give him time to talk. "For God's sake, Giles, she's ten years old. Slayer or no Slayer, you've got no business putting her in that much danger!"

"The demon," Giles said, "was restrained. There were six other people in the room with them. Three of them were also Slayers." Giles' voice was quiet, but Xander could tell he'd gone too far.

He couldn’t stop himself from going farther. "I don't care if she's a Slayer," Xander said. "She's a little girl."

"And I'm the one--"

"Stop it!" Buffy yelled, jumping up and pushing her way in between them and glaring first at Giles, then at Xander. "I get your point," she said, more quietly. "But to demons? She's not a little girl. She's a Slayer. And that means that she has to at least know what she's up against. God, she had to kill a demon with her mom's kitchen knife, Xander; you can't keep her safe from everything." She smiled a little. "And if you try, she's just going to have to knock you unconscious to keep you out of the way, and you can ask Giles how much fun that is."

Xander opened his mouth to say something, then stopped himself. He knew Buffy was right. It was just that taking care of the girls he was responsible for had always been the one thing he knew he was good at, and the thought that something could have happened to Niki while he was washing dishes--

He shook his head, sighing. "You're right," he admitted. Then he took a deep breath and looked over at Giles. "I shouldn't have lost my cool like that. You know, since I have such a limited supply of it in the first place."

Giles' response was a tiny nod, but at least Xander thought that being fired was probably not imminent. As far as anything else went--he could apologize again later.

"Okay," he said. "Now that the entertainment portion of the evening is over, did you have any luck?"

"Yes, we did," Giles said, sitting down on a chair. "It's seen two people, one is its--handler, I supposed you'd call it. The demon could only describe him, but we're pretty certain we know who it is." He nodded at Mrs. Cheever.

"Peter Jones is a contemporary of mine whom I know speaks demonic languages in spades; I studied with him for years," she said, sighing. "And his being involved in this whole thing wouldn't surprise me at all."

"He is also quite close to Roger Wyndham-Pryce, who has been opposing my 'authority' since the beginning," Giles added, a grim look on his face.

"Wyndham-Pryce?" Xander frowned.

"Wesley's father, yes," Giles answered. "He makes Quentin Travers look like a progressive thinker, and he's made it clear that he resents the fact that neither he nor any of his cronies are running the Council now."

"That would be disastrous," Mrs. Cheever said, shaking her head. "He's quite opposed to the idea of having more than one slayer. I've heard rumors that he'd prefer to--no, I can't say it." She looked at the girls, who had all turned pale.

"Kill them all instead of find them all," Xander finished for her, a sick feeling in his stomach. He glanced over to make certain Niki hadn't been listening, then turned his attention back to Giles, who was rubbing his forehead. "So he's probably the one behind this, right?"

"Possibly," Giles replied. "Although we can't be certain until we get more information." He paused, then looked straight at Xander. "The other individual that the demon described matched Mrs. Garner's description, so your intuition there was right as well," he said, expression softer than it had been before. "Apparently, she has been feeding information to Peter, using the means we discussed yesterday."

So she'd been spying on them using Andrew. Xander sighed. "Great. Anything else?"

"Peter is very well versed in magic, and from what Mrs. Cheever and I have deduced, he used protection spells to make sure the demon wouldn't turn on him in any way. And he also used the threat of destroying the whole clan's nest."

Dawn picked up from there. "Apparently, they have like a failsafe system in place. If the demon turns against them, or leaves and doesn't complete the 'mission', they'll have the nest destroyed long before it can reach it again."

"So they're well organized," Xander said.

"Very." Giles stood up again, towering over them. "It's only a guess, but I'd say we're dealing with several layers of command. We simply need to get to the top of it. York is definitely a part of all this, as he's the only one who knew about Dawn, but Peter hates York, and vice versa, so I stand by what I first believed: York isn't the leader."

"I agree," Mrs. Cheever said. "Peter would never agree to work with Stephen York, so we must be dealing with two different branches here. And now that I think about it, Stephen and Roger Wyndham-Pryce were at school together."

Giles nodded. "So there's a connection there. In any case, York is due here tomorrow for an interview with Dawn," he added, taking off his glasses. "Buffy, I'd like you to be there. We'll need to get as much information out of him as we can, and as quickly as possible."

Buffy's expression turned almost gleeful. "A chance to beat up on the guy who ordered a hit on my sister? Oh yeah, I'm so there."

Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head. "We can probably corner him with the evidence without it turning into a bloodbath, you know."

"Yeah," Buffy answered, shrugging and smiling. "But I can still imagine tearing him apart, can't I?"

"And describe it to him in graphic detail," Xander said, smiling at her. "Sorry, Dawnie, but Buffy's not the only one in favor of damaging people who threaten you."

"All right," Giles said. "We're going to have to find someone to transport the demon back to the Arctic Circle, but I'd prefer to keep it here until the situation has been resolved."

"In the basement?" Xander said.

"Unless you'd prefer to invite it up for tea," Mrs. Cheever said.

"I'd prefer to use magic," Giles went on, just like they hadn't been talking, "considering that I'm not certain how we'd get the thing onto a plane. But since Willow's still incommunicado, we'll have to find someone else who's powerful enough to transport it."

"And someone we can trust to do it," Xander added. "Which, I guess, is a good reason to keep it here until we've figured out who we can trust, even if I don't like it."

"I don't like this situation any more than you do, Xander," Giles said. "But we have no other choice for the moment."

"Yeah, I know." Giles was right, and Xander knew it. He could already predict a night of very little sleep, but at least he wouldn't be the only one.

"Dawn, you, Catherine, and Nkiruka should head back to the dormitory with Mrs. Cheever. There isn't anymore any of you can do, and you, in particular, need a good night's sleep, or as close to it as you can get." Then Giles turned to Buffy. "The rest of us will be keeping watch on the demon. Julia should eat now, so you'll be first watch."

"All right," Buffy replied. "That sounds like a plan."

"Sounds good to me, too," Xander said, turning to the girls. "Niki, you know you can't talk about any of this with anyone, right? Same goes for you, Catherine."

Catherine nodded. "We know."

"Yes, Xander," Niki added. "I can so keep a secret."

"I know you can, I wasn't saying you couldn't. I just want to make sure you know how important this is. If word gets out--"

"Bad things will happen," she finished for him. "I understand stuff, you know, I'm not just a little girl." She was angry with him, very angry apparently, and scowling. Xander would never live that one down--he really had to remember not to underestimate her or her ego. A moment later, though, she was hugging him goodbye.

"I'm sorry, Niki," he told her, softly. He really was sorry for lashing out, even though he was still angry at Giles. They could have, at the very least, told him, so he could have been down there with them. Although, he had been the one to hide in the kitchen. And Buffy was right in the end.

"Come on, Niki," Catherine said. Xander could see them from the corner of his eye, ready to leave. "We'll be back in the morning."

"Okay," Niki said, pulling away and almost immediately grabbing Catherine's hand. She waved at Buffy, a wide smile on her lips, and the four of them left.

"All right, those of us who can, need to sleep; the rest of us..." Giles sighed.

"I don't think anyone's going to get any sleep tonight," Buffy said. She looked at Xander with a small smile. "Popcorn?"

"Movie night!" He bounced to his feet; that was a good idea, actually. They didn't have any more research to do at this point, and it would keep them distracted for a while. "Giles doesn't have a lot of stuff, but I think there are a couple upstairs in my room."

When Xander looked at him, Giles was smiling and shaking his head. "I'll let you set up the VCR and take care of the refreshments, then. Buffy--"

She interrupted him before he could finish his sentence. "I'll go 'relieve' Julia of her duties. She's probably starving."

"Good plan," Xander said. "There's a plate in the fridge for her; all she has to do is heat it up. Andrew took care of it." And he should probably go and check on Andrew, too, if he hadn't come back out to join the rest of them when Xander came back down.

He wasn't just being nice, either; with Buffy downstairs on demon duty, he wanted someone else to talk to. He barely knew Julia, and conversations with Giles were tricky right now.

Xander left the room quickly, heading upstairs. He'd picked up a couple of videos from time to time when he was going to be here for longer than a night or two, and Giles had let him keep them on the bookshelf in 'his' room. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep them occupied all night.


***


"There's no need for all of us to be in my office when York arrives," Giles said, but Buffy wasn't hearing any of it. Xander was finding it quite amusing to watch them shout at each other over the table. "Dawn and I will go on our own first."

"I want to be there, Giles," Buffy repeated for what seemed like the twentieth time or so; Xander had stopped counting after eight.

"Yes, I'm aware of that, and I do want Xander and yourself there as well when we get to the point of interrogating him, but--"

"Xander--"

"I agree with him, Buffy," Xander replied. "We'll stand back for a few minutes, and then we'll walk in there and corner him. We just really shouldn't put him on the defensive first thing, we need to--well, to corner him without him suspecting a thing."

"Come on, Buffy," Dawn added. "You know I won't be in any danger, and you can still describe to York how you plan to dismember him." She smiled and patted Buffy's forearm.

Xander had to admit, that was a very good thought. He grabbed his cup of coffee, and found himself smiling at Giles without really knowing why. He cleared his throat and looked away, but the look on Giles' face seemed to be imprinted on the back of his mind, and he couldn't shake it. Giles had looked--happy. Worried, yes, they all were, but still, there was happiness there too. Which kind of made sense, because Xander was feeling it too. Despite the situation, and the danger--they only had one demon; there could be a few more out there--it was good to have Buffy and Dawn here. This felt just a little bit more like home every day.

"Okay," Buffy finally said, drawing Xander away from his thoughts. "I'll hang out in Andrew's office with Xander; we'll give you ten minutes with York, and then we burst in, and kick his ass. Deal?"

Dawn shook Buffy's extended hand, giggling. "Deal. Now eat your toast before it gets cold."

Buffy rolled her eyes and took a bite.

Giles stood up suddenly, and looked out the window. "He's here. Early, I might add."

"Apparently," Xander said, pushing his chair back and putting his coffee down on the table. "Let's go. It's better if he doesn't see you, Buffy."

"Yeah, I agree," Buffy said, putting her toast back down into her plate. "Guess I'll just have to eat later."

"I hear ass-kicking is like swimming," Xander said. "You'd have to wait for an hour after you eat, anyway."

Okay, he really must have been missing her more than he'd thought, because he was even happy to get that exasperated look from her.

Giles glanced at his watch. "Give us twenty minutes instead," he said. "I don't want him to think anything unusual is going on, and normally, if he turned up this early, I'd make him wait." He smiled, but this time, it didn’t look at all pleasant. "And if his plans had come through, he'd certainly be expecting me to be rather... busy this morning."

If his plans had come through, Xander thought. That was a tactful way of saying, "If Dawn was dead." He looked over at Dawn, reassured at the sight of her gulping her coffee and brushing a crumb of toast off her shirt, perfectly safe.

"Twenty minutes it is," he said. "Come on, Buff." He led the way into Andrew's office; Andrew's job was to let York in, keep him busy until Giles was ready to see him, and then lock the doors so he couldn't get away when he realized he'd been caught.

It was probably a good thing that he wasn't there, really. Buffy might not have been very big, but a third person in the office would be too much of a crowd. He let Buffy take the chair, if only because that way he knew she wouldn't be pacing back and forth.

He sat on the edge of the desk; Buffy looked up at him and said, like she'd been reading his mind, "He got here early so he could gloat about killing Dawn."

Xander swallowed hard, nodding. "Yeah." Then he sighed. "We're going to get them, Buffy. They're going to stop. Dawn's safe--"

"And they tried to kill you, too, didn't they?" she interrupted him.

Even though he'd known that, he hadn't really thought about it like that before. "Yeah," he said again. "But I'm fine, too. And we're going to stop them."

"I know." She forced a smile. "Subject change. Tell me about Niki."

Okay, that seemed like a good way to kill twenty minutes--well, more like fifteen, now. "What do you want to know?"

"She really killed a demon with a kitchen knife?"

"Well, if by 'kitchen knife' you mean 'gigantic meat cleaver,' yeah. Right before I got there, some demon had realized there was a Slayer in the neighborhood...." He started in on the story the way Mr. and Mrs. Achebe had told it to him. It wasn't as exciting as Niki's version, but he was pretty sure it wasn't as exaggerated, either.


***


Giles had to admit that York was a good actor. His eyes had widened slightly when Andrew had finally shown him in and he'd seen Dawn sitting there, but there'd been nothing else to give away his surprise. He'd been stiffly polite to Dawn, just as Giles would have expected him to be, and had been far more interested in complaining about her lack of formal training than in assessing her actual abilities.

He let York go on for a few minutes before cutting him off. "As fascinating as this is," he said dryly, "it isn't really why I asked you to come down here this morning."

York frowned at him, his lips pressed into a tight, disapproving line. "I was under the impression that you wanted me to meet this assistant you're foisting onto me."

"Oh, come now, Stephen," Giles said, smirking a little when York scowled at the use of his first name. "You were under the impression that you'd arrive here to be told that this 'assistant I'm foisting onto you' had met with a tragic accident on her way here from the airport."

York straightened up in his seat, eyes cold, but giving nothing away. "First of all, do not presume the familiarity of using my first name. Whatever you may call yourself, I'm still old enough to be your father and you owe me respect, young man, not the other way around. I also have no bloody clue what you're on about."

Giles rolled his eyes at him, and crossed his arms over his chest. He gave Dawn a quick look, then turned back to York. "Oh, don't be daft. It just so happens that Miss Summers here is every bit as good at research as I've let on."

"And how is that?" York asked, face tight.

If looks could kill, both Giles and Dawn would be dead by now. "Well, this--how did you call it? Oh, yes--this 'pet project' of mine. I had Dawn on it as well. It turns out that you were wrong."

"I wasn't wrong. I'm never wrong." He didn't sound so sure of himself now, though. "How would you be able to verify the information, anyhow?"

"It was quite simple, actually," Giles replied. He nodded at Dawn.

"Yes, very easy," she said, grinning. "We have one of the demons locked up in the basement."

When that news sank in, York looked utterly terrified.

"To what purpose?" York bluffed. "To prove I'm past my prime? Force me into retirement? You'll have to work harder than that to convince me that I should leave the Council to people like you."

"To find out why it was attacking Watchers," Giles said. "But of course, you knew that already." He got up from behind his desk, coming around to stand in front of York--and conveniently, of course, preventing York from making a run for it. "Because of you and your associates, Alan Gregory is dead and Mrs. Bishop is seriously injured, and it's only by pure chance that they're the only ones.

"And you didn't stop there," Giles went on. "You sent one of those things onto the school grounds. A student--a child--could have been killed. And if one had, I assure you, we would not be sitting here having a chat right now." Dawn might have been killed. Xander might have been killed, and while they'd taken steps to protect Dawn, it was only by luck that Xander had had all three of the girls with him that day. Giles glared down at York, not trusting himself to say anything further.

"You're threatening me?" York demanded. "You have the nerve to threaten me, after what you've done to the Council?"

"I'm not threatening you," he said. "I'm explaining the facts in the matter." Then, without looking away from York, he said, "Dawn, would you let Buffy and Xander know that we're ready for them?" He gave York a cold smile. "Buffy, on the other hand, is quite protective of the sister you put in danger yesterday. I expect she'll be happy to threaten you. And--well, I wouldn't like to be on the wrong side of an infuriated Slayer, if I were you."

Buffy and Xander strode in almost immediately after Dawn opened the door.

Buffy came to stand in front of Giles' desk, leaning against it. "Just so you know, before we start, I have no problem beating up old, crippled men when they deserve it."

"This is ridiculous!" York growled, struggling to get up from his chair. "Don't you dare threaten me, young lady."

Buffy stepped forward until she was just inches away from York, forcing him back into his chair. "You ordered a hit on my sister, dumbass," she said. "Of course I dare!"

York looked fast from Buffy to Giles and back again.

"You have two choices, Mr. York," Giles said. "You either tell us what we want to know right now, or I'll let Buffy get it out of you." York paled visibly at that.

Buffy grinned, holding her hand out to Xander, who gave her her sword. "See, I even brought my tools."

"Dear God, you're quite mad," York tried again, but it was obvious that he knew he wouldn't be able to bluff his way out of this.

"There was a second option," Giles reminded him coolly. Now that Buffy was here, he went back to sit behind his desk. "We're well aware you weren't acting alone, and that you're hardly the mastermind behind this entire scheme. If you tell us what we want to know, I'm sure Buffy could be persuaded to leave you unharmed."

"Well," Buffy said. "Mostly, at least." She leaned forward, still smiling. "And the faster you talk, the nicer I'm going to feel like being."

"She's insane," York said, turning to Giles. "You're all insane!"

"We're not the ones trying to kill little girls," Xander said. "Sorry, Dawnie," he added, when Dawn frowned at him. "But Ocean could have been hurt a lot worse than she was, too." He turned back to York. "That makes you the crazy one, if you ask me."

"I'm dead anyway," York said.

"How do you figure that?" Giles asked. Perhaps Buffy had been a little too convincing.

"You can't exactly hand me over to the police. Do you expect me to think that you're going to just open the door and let me walk out?"

"No," Giles said. "But unlike you, I believe we can handle things without resorting to murder."

"What do you plan on doing with me, then, if not kill me?" York asked.

"Well, I can think of a few things," Giles replied with a calculating grin. "But I'd rather not go into the details just yet. Just tell us what you know, Mr. York, before Buffy loses her temper."

York looked from Giles to Buffy again, then looked back at Giles. "It seems you've left me with no choice," he said.

"That was the plan," Buffy agreed.

He sighed heavily. "What do you want to know?"


***


"Perhaps we should go over the details again," Giles said.

Xander gave him a look. "This is the part where I tell you, again, that you're worrying too much, right?" He grinned at Giles. Not that there weren't a dozen, or maybe even a hundred, things that could go wrong with their plan. Of course there were. But they'd planned, and re-planned, and everything was as well-organized as it could possibly be.

Yesterday, Buffy had taken York down to the basement--Xander was kind of disappointed that they'd actually put him in what used to be the wine cellar, and not locked him up with the demon--they'd spread the word, or at least, let the girls spread the word, that Dawn had been attacked and had narrowly escaped with her life.

Word had gotten out pretty well, like they'd known it would, and by dinnertime, Xander would have been willing to bet that there wasn't a person at the school who didn't know about the attack on Dawn. And he had to admit, Giles had been right to keep things as quiet as he could, before; the students and at least two-thirds of the teachers looked terrified, no matter how much Giles tried to reassure them that the situation was now under control.

Xander had found himself looking suspiciously at the teachers who weren't panicking. Some of them, they already knew were involved in the conspiracy; others-- well, they might not have been in on it, as such, but Xander would have been willing to bet that they knew something about it. Giles had noticed, too.

If they intended to cause trouble, he said, he'd deal with them after the meeting.

The meeting was why Giles had lent Xander one of his ties, which Xander kept tugging at uncomfortably. He'd never really been a tie-wearing guy, and it had been a while since he'd even owned one. But it was important, at least in Giles' opinion, to make this look like what it was pretending to be: a meeting of the full Council of Watchers, or at least everyone who could get there on short notice, during which Giles was going to address the current situation.

The word "resignation" hadn't been mentioned at all, not officially, but Andrew had been told to drop it into conversation whenever possible--to deny it completely, but make sure that everyone involved in the plot against Giles, and enough other people to make it look less suspicious, knew all about it. Giles wanted everyone to come in thinking that he was quitting, that York and the others had won.

The meeting was being held in the school auditorium; Andrew had gone in there this morning and come out with notes about how they should handle things. Xander guessed it really shouldn't have been all that surprising that Andrew was good at staging a dramatic moment. Giles would address the Council from the stage, Buffy at his right hand. Andrew had put Xander on Giles' left, which Xander thought made him look a lot more important than he actually was. Then again, he did want to be involved in this, so maybe it wasn't a bad idea.

Andrew stuck his head backstage, whispering, "Everybody's inside. What do I do now?"

"Wait five minutes just in case there are stragglers," Giles said. "Then close the doors, and alert the girls to be ready."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Andrew said, saluting. Xander still had no idea what was going on with that, but whatever it was, the face Giles made was always entertaining. "They're all there," Andrew added. "Mr. Wyndam-Pryce and Mr. Jones and everybody else on that list you gave me."

"Thank you, Andrew," Giles said, and Andrew went back out to wait. Then, turning to Xander and Buffy, he smiled tightly. "Ready?"

"I'm ready," Buffy said, and Xander nodded.

Giles took a deep breath and led them out on stage.

They'd agreed to give the girls plenty of time to get into position, so Giles started off just like this was a legitimate Council meeting; he summarized the situation so far, mentioned the details of the memorial service they'd hurriedly put together for Alan Gregory, and then went on at great length about how very seriously he was taking the problem.

Xander had plenty of time to check out the crowd. Dawn was there, in the front row, sitting between Andrew and Mrs. Cheever. He could see Mrs. Garner in the crowd, but he didn't know what most of the other people looked like. He found himself looking over everyone he didn't recognize, wondering which were the people who'd tried to have at least half-a-dozen people killed just to get Giles to quit his job.

"As we investigated," Giles said, "one thing became increasingly obvious." Xander tried not to look in Buffy's direction; Giles was starting to sound a lot like he had back when Xander had been in high school and Giles had felt the need to lecture them all about something. If he met Buffy's eyes, Xander was afraid that, as serious as this was, he still wasn't going to be able to keep a straight face.

He went back to watching the crowd, and Giles went on talking: "The attacks were directed not at our Slayers, but at the Watchers accompanying them. And the Watchers attacked were all, or nearly all, my staunchest supporters. I was forced to conclude that this was an attack directed at me, or rather, at my leadership of the Council."

Xander was pleased to notice that for all the people who looked a little smug at that, there were at least as many people looking completely horrified.

"I know that many of you have come here expecting to hear my resignation," Giles said, and Xander saw Buffy straighten up, preparing for trouble. He glanced over at Andrew, who was punching buttons on his cell phone; he was supposed to get in touch with Julia outside the auditorium. Buffy had been impressed enough with her in the past couple of days that she'd put Julia in charge of the Slayers standing guard, since Buffy wanted to stay close in case someone attacked Giles directly.

"I am afraid, however," Giles went on, "that's not the case. I have no intention of resigning; in fact, this situation has made it clear to me that the old guard cannot be allowed to regain control of the Council. We have made many mistakes in our past, but murder cannot, and will not, be one of them again." There was a lot of flinching, Xander noticed, at the term "murder," and Andrew bit his lip. Xander was glad to see Dawn patting him on the shoulder comfortingly; he knew that none of the rest of them had been all that good at comforting Andrew over the past couple of days.

"Due to the circumstances surrounding Alan Gregory's murder," Giles said, "there is nothing the police could do to punish those responsible." He paused for a moment, for effect, and then went on. "We are not the police. Thanks to statements given both by one of the demons summoned to attack Miss Dawn Summers, and by Stephen York, one of the conspirators, we were able to identify the people involved." He sighed. "They will be kept in Council custody until we are able to magically bind them for our protection--and for their own," he added.

That was probably true, Xander thought; after the attack on Dawn, Buffy would probably be glad of any excuse to go after them. So would he, for that matter. So would Giles.

But they'd gotten hold of Willow by phone last night, and she'd said that she could put a binding spell on them that ought to solve the problem. If Xander had understood her right, they wouldn't be able to do magic or to contact any of the others without Willow knowing about it, and they'd be easier to magically locate in case the Council ever lost track of them.

"Should they attempt to violate the binding," Giles said, "then we will take appropriate actions to ensure that they will pose no threat to us, to the Slayers in our care, or to innocent bystanders." Xander wished he could see Giles' face; his tone of voice was enough to let Xander know that this was the Giles that you really, really didn't want to argue with.

"The following people," Giles said, "conspired to gain control of the Watchers' Council, and are responsible for the death of Alan Gregory, among other crimes." He took a deep breath, and Xander wished there was some way he could be supportive other than just standing here like an idiot. "Roger Wyndam-Pryce," he began. "Peter Jones. Stephen York. Marjorie Garner...." There were a few other names on the list, and as Giles read them out, the Watchers in the crowd began looking around, murmuring to one another.

"This is ridiculous!" someone snapped. "Do you expect us to just stand here and--"

He broke off then, because the doors to the auditorium had opened to reveal several Slayers standing in every doorway.

"No, Roger," Giles said flatly. "I expect you to just sit there until I am finished, and then I expect you to go quietly with the Slayers."

Someone else--not Roger Wyndam-Pryce--jumped to his feet, making a run for the side doors. Xander looked in that direction, and realized then that one of the two Slayers on that door was much, much shorter than the other one.

"Niki?" he whispered to Buffy. "What's she doing there?"

Buffy shook her head. "I don't know. She wasn't supposed to be there."

Xander was guessing that the guy--it was Peter Jones, he learned, when Giles called after him to stop--was expecting to have an easier time getting past Niki than he would one of the older girls. Maybe he even thought she wasn't really a Slayer, since she was so young.

Whatever the reason, when he got close to the door, Xander heard Niki call out in a clear voice, "Stop right there."

He didn't stop, though, and Xander was pretty sure that he regretted that; if not right away, then when Niki knocked him flat on his back and stood there with one foot planted on his chest, looking around to see what she should do next.

"Thank you, Nkiruka," Giles said. "Perhaps you could accompany Mr. Jones back to his seat?"

"Yes, Mr. Giles," Niki replied proudly, taking her feet off Peter's chest. "Up," she said forcefully, glaring at the man.

Jones looked completely petrified as he scrambled to his feet, and Xander had to bite his lip hard enough to hurt to keep from laughing at the situation. Everyone in the auditorium was quiet, and had their heads turned to watch Jones being escorted to his seat by a girl so short she didn't even reach the man's chest.

"Do you see what you've done?" The silence was broken by Roger's outcry. He was standing up in the crowd, glaring at Giles. "You have children with power they cannot even begin to comprehend."

"And what do you propose I do with them, Roger? Kill them?" Giles asked, drawing the attention back to him.

"What you are doing is not what this Council stands for. The situation should have been dealt with a long time before now. I will not tolerate--"

"HEY!" Niki said loudly, cutting off whatever Roger was going to say. She had her hands on her hips , and she was walking towards Roger's row of seat, an angry look on her face. It was actually past "cute" at this point and going right into "whoa, scary." "I can kick your ass too, you know. You almost had my Watcher killed!"

"Your Watcher?" Roger repeated spitefully. "And who would that be? Xander Harris is far from being a Watcher."

"You're wrong," she shouted. "He is my Watcher, and he's the best out of all of you!"

Giles turned to Xander, and he nodded. He should probably stop her before she actually hurt someone. "Niki," Xander called out. "Why don't you come up here with us?"

She looked at him and nodded. Then she pulled on Roger's arm with what had to be enough strength to hurt, forcing him to get back into his seat. "Now, you sit down and let Mr. Giles talk, okay? Because I'm a lot stronger than you are, and I say so."

Some people in the assembly laughed at that, and when Xander looked around to see who they were, he found Mrs. Cheever looking at him with the biggest smile he'd ever seen on her face. She looked proud, and it made something in his chest swell. Maybe he wasn't all that bad at this after all. Although he definitely needed to have a talk with Niki about how being strong didn't mean you could boss people around. He'd wait until after this was all settled, though.

Niki climbed up the stairs to the stage and came to stand next to him. He squeezed her shoulder lightly and gave her a smile.

"To those of you who haven't yet met this young lady, her name is Nkiruka Achebe. She is from Nigeria, and she's only ten years old. The night before Mr. Harris found her, she had to kill a demon in her home, using her mother's kitchen knife," Giles said. "Demons don't care how old the girls are, or how much training they have. They will hunt them whether we do anything about it or not. And I, for one, would rather they have the means to protect themselves than leave them to what would undoubtedly be their death." He paused for a minute, and then held up the list of names again. "Now, if there are no more interruptions, let us continue."

Xander held on to Niki's hand to keep her from leaving the stage, but he hadn't needed to worry about it; the rest of the Council were far too stunned to make a scene, and Niki stood silently by his side for the rest of Giles' pronouncement.

When Giles had finished speaking, he nodded to Buffy, and she stepped forward, directing pairs of Slayers to come forward and escort the guilty parties to the unused classrooms they'd set up as cells until Willow arrived to deal with them. She'd chosen to fly, she said, because the spells she was going to use were complex, and she wanted to have all of her energy available for them. It made sense, but it did mean it would be a couple of days before things were completely settled.

"I want to help," Niki whispered loudly, starting forward, but Xander shook his head and held her hand tightly.

"Stay here with me, Niki."

"I can help!" she insisted. Xander sighed. He hated to have to resort to "because I said so" as an excuse, but she wasn't leaving him with much choice.

And then Buffy, thank God, turned to Niki and said, quietly, "I need you here. We need to make sure our Watchers are safe, okay?"

Niki nodded, returning to Xander's side.

They waited there until the last team of Slayers closed the door behind them, and then Giles spoke again. "I am aware that my actions may not be popular ones. If any of you feel that, after today, you can no longer work for the Council, early retirement will be arranged for anyone who contacts my assistant, Mr. Wells, within the week." Xander halfway expected people to get up and go over to Andrew right then, but no one moved.

"There will, of course," Giles continued, "need to be some reassignment of duties. While some of the participants in this conspiracy have retired from active duty, others held important positions within the Council. I'm holding off on assigning a new head of Research until we know whether or not Helen Bishop will be able to return to work, but many of you should expect to be called in to discuss your new positions during the next few days."

Xander happened to know that Giles hadn't had time to decide about any of that yet, but this made it look like he was totally on top of things. He'd definitely gotten good at this over the last couple of years.

Giles wrapped things up quickly, inviting those Watchers who'd traveled long distances--not many of them, with such short notice, but a few--to spend a few days at the school. They'd talked about that last night; Giles wanted them to spend time around the Slayers, to feel like they were part of this, even though they spent most of their time out in the field.

And then people started filing out of the auditorium, until there were only the seven of them there. Giles took a deep breath, shaking his head. "That went better than I had expected," he said.

"Did you see me stop that man?" Niki asked him, beaming proudly.

"Yes," Giles agreed. "I certainly did."

"And I made the other one sit down," she went on, still grinning. "He should not have said that about my Watcher."

"Well, you told him, kiddo," Xander said, ruffling her hair and grinning back at her. "Now, why don't you go with Mrs. Cheever? It's going to be time for dinner soon, and I bet she'd like some help."

"I want to have dinner with you and Buffy," she argued.

"Buffy's going to have dinner with you," Xander told her. "And I'll come by and see you later tonight, but there's some stuff I have to do right now, okay?"

"Okay," she said, with a dramatic sigh. She let Buffy lead her off the stage to join Dawn and Mrs. Cheever.

Xander jumped down from the stage as well, while Giles took the slower--but, he had to admit, probably more dignified--route of going down the steps. Andrew met them at the foot of the steps. "Should I go and check on the prisoners?" he asked, and Giles shook his head.

"No, Andrew," Giles said, "I'd rather do that myself, this time, though I'll need you to be responsible for making certain they're well taken care of." Andrew nodded, making notes on his clipboard, and Giles went on. "Remember, any time the doors are unlocked, I want at least two people present. They don't need to be Slayers, but I don't want anyone putting themselves at risk by going in there alone."

"Yes, sir," Andrew said. Then, quietly, he said, "Mr. Giles?"

"Yes?"

"What you said about Alan--I mean, about Mr. Gregory--when you announced the memorial service?" Andrew took a deep breath, and Xander could see that it was taking a lot of effort for him to hold himself together. "That was... I think he would have liked it. Thank you."

Giles smiled at Andrew. "Thank you," he said. "I'd meant to ask you later, but since you brought it up, would you be willing to say a few words at the service?"

Andrew swallowed hard, looking down at his clipboard for a minute. He didn't look up again before answering. "Yes, sir. I'd like that."

Giles looked more than a little uncomfortable; he cleared his throat and said, "We'll talk about it more later, shall we?" before starting toward the door.

"Hey, Andrew," Xander said, smiling. "Walk with me back to the house?"

Andrew nodded. "I can do that."

***


For the rest of the afternoon and early evening, Xander had considered himself on "Andrew duty." Not that it was a real chore--mostly, they hung out, watched one of the movies they hadn't gotten to the other night, that kind of thing. Xander just thought--well, if Andrew had been half as attached to Alan Gregory as they thought he'd been, it would be better for him not to be alone.

Xander knew all about how that went, so he had no problem volunteering.

Finally, though, Giles got back, and Andrew had gone to take a turn, with Buffy, at guarding their "guests."

"I should go help," Xander said, but Giles shook his head.

"We'll need you to take a turn tomorrow morning," he said. "Willow won't be getting in until tomorrow evening, so we'll need to keep them under guard until then--possibly even until the next morning, depending on how late she gets here." He smiled, slightly. "Though I will ask her to send our demon friend home as soon as she arrives. I think we'll all sleep better knowing he's back where he belongs."

"Definitely," Xander agreed. So, Andrew and Buffy were on guard duty and Dawn was in the dorms with the Slayers. That left... them. It had been a while since it had been just the two of them; Xander wasn't sure he was looking forward to it. He got to his feet, not looking at Giles. "Maybe I should go and--"

"Xander," Giles said quietly. "Please. Sit down."

"Giles, I don't--" Xander shook his head and sat down anyway. "I don't want to talk about, well, that." He was probably on the wrong track, assuming that's what Giles wanted to talk about, but there'd been something in Giles' tone of voice....

"I know," Giles said, sighing. "And that wasn't entirely what I'd been wanting to talk to you about, although it is a part of it."

"I just really think we should sleep on it, or something. Wait till Willow's done her thing, and everything's back to normal." Xander would probably be on the first plane back to Africa by then.

Giles sat down next to him on the couch, leaning forward slightly. "I won't have you running away from this," he said, softly.

He didn't need to say what 'this' was, just like Xander hadn't needed to explain what 'that' meant either. Xander didn't know what was freakier: that they could understand each other so well, or that he really liked that they could.

"Nkiruka was right, you know," Giles added, when Xander stayed silent.

Xander perked up at Niki's name, trying to figure out what she had to do with all this. "About what?"

"You are a Watcher, Xander, and a pretty damned good one at that."

"There are a lot of better ones around," Xander muttered, looking down at the floor.

"No, actually, there aren't," Giles said with conviction. "Niki's little stunt today made me realize something that I've known for a while, but couldn't quite articulate. You inspire confidence in the girls in your care. Niki is a prime example of that. She believes in her abilities, because you believe in her."

"I keep telling her she's too little to do things; how's that believing in her?" Xander said bitterly.

"You're protecting her, Xander," Giles argued. "She is young and vulnerable, but in the end, what matters is that you know she can be a great Slayer in time, and that makes her believe it as well. Catherine and Océane have also taken to you, and I don't believe they'd ever warmed up quite that much to their original Watcher. You believe in them, in their abilities, you spend time with them outside of training and classes, something I've rarely seen any of the other Watchers do. The girls trust you. And I think a good part of that is that you never let them forget that they are still young, and should act like teenagers, not like adults before their time." Giles put a hand on Xander's knee and squeezed it. "There aren't a lot of Watchers who understand that, Xander. It took me meeting Buffy and the rest of you to understand it myself. You do, and that makes you at least as good a Watcher as anyone else on this Council."

Xander shook his head, a little too stunned to actually find words. Honestly, he just didn't know what he could say to this. He didn't even know what to think.

"There will always be others who will criticize your involvement with the Council because of your lack of formal training, but that shouldn't discourage you or make you think you're less worthy of being here. What you lack in that department, you make up for with your knowledge of how things truly work out there. Buffy said it years ago, and it's still true: not many people have the field experience you have."

"Well," Xander said, voice a bit hoarse. "You do." He looked up at Giles and found him staring, a soft smile on his lips.

Giles leaned in, slowly, probably trying to give Xander as much time to pull away as he could. When their lips met this time, Xander knew exactly what was happening, and with just the slight pressure of Giles' mouth against his, he realized he wanted it to happen.

So he kissed Giles back.

This was what it was supposed to be like, he thought, bringing his hand up to cup the back of Giles' head, holding him close. This wasn't like the last time, when he'd been confused and they'd both been annoyed with one another.

This was why he'd been so angry with Giles before; this had been what he'd wanted all along. And it had been worth waiting for: Giles' hand in his hair, the slide of Giles' tongue against his, the chance to explore every inch of Giles' mouth, slowly and deliberately.

And if he thought too hard about how they almost hadn't gotten to have this because of what Giles had done earlier, he was just going to get annoyed again, so Xander stopped thinking and just went back to kissing.

They pulled back slowly. Xander licked his lips, heart beating fast in his chest. "See," he murmured, "this is what kissing should be like."

Giles gave a soft chuckle. "I couldn't agree more."

Xander sighed, although he couldn't keep a grin from spreading on his lips, and he looked away, shaking his head. "I--Look, I don't think we have the best timing ever, considering the situation, and, well, we probably should wait until everything's taken care of, and..." Xander lost his train of thought when Giles cupped his cheek.

"We can wait, Xander, I'm not planning on going anywhere," he said.

"Okay," Xander whispered. "I think I might need time." He really would need some time to put his thoughts in order, because the way he was shaking and his heart was beating fast--this could get serious. And that was all kinds of scary, because Xander hadn't thought he'd ever feel like that again about anybody, let alone about Giles.

That made Xander look at him, and damn, Giles looked sexy when he'd just been kissed, especially when Xander reminded himself that he had been the one to do the kissing. "I--I was thinking, I could--maybe, you know, if you want to have me hang around a little more--I could stay in England for a little while longer, after everything's taken care of."

"Of course," Giles replied, pulling back slightly, but still keeping a hand on Xander's shoulder.

Xander had done some thinking when Andrew had been around earlier. What Niki had said and done had led him to think that he probably should stay in England longer than just a few more days, and with Giles practically harassing him about French classes, it'd probably be an even better idea to get that done while he was here. Then Giles had come back, and he had to go all motivational-speech-guy on Xander, and that had made Xander think about things even more seriously.

"You--what you just said," Xander started nervously. "The thing about me being a good Watcher... do you really believe that? No," he said quickly before Giles could say a word. "No, I don't want you to say it just because you don't want to go back on your word or whatever, but seriously, do you really believe I'm a good Watcher?" He had a hard time believing it. He kept screwing up: getting to Niki a day late, getting them all almost killed after they'd been in England for less than two hours, not getting Océane's name right, not following the rules, and just--he didn't have a hint of a clue how to even be a Watcher in the first place.

"Yes," Giles answered firmly, looking Xander straight in the eye. "I really do believe you are a good Watcher, Xander."

"But I don't know half the things the other Watchers do. I can't communicate with almost half the Slayers on campus, I--"

"I'm not going to pretend that you have the education and the training usually required to become a Watcher, but you have experience that few people on the Council can ever begin to understand. You have had the training everyone who works for me should have."

Xander took a moment to let that sink in. Nope, still not believing it. Yet. "So, okay." He took a deep breath and let it out. "I could--I could stay in England for a few months, maybe take those French classes. The tutor offer is still on the table, right?"

"Yes, of course it is." Giles looked happy about that, and that made Xander smile and feel a little less nervous.

He'd been thinking he could probably use the time off, anyway. Train with the girls a bit more, make sure Niki did settle in okay, and that Océane and Catherine did too; he really liked those two as well. He figured language classes would be a good thing, in the end. It'd make getting to the Slayers easier once he got back to Africa. Océane might stop laughing at him, too, which was another bonus.

Maybe Xander would even start believing Giles someday. Start believing that he was a Watcher, not just a kid pretending to be one.

But, really, the nicest part about this plan was that Xander was starting to think it might involve a lot more Giles-kissing too. And he had a feeling he would like that. A lot.

"But there are still Slayers out there," Xander said. "And if I'm here for months at a time, who's going to go out looking for them?" There were Watchers--other Watchers, he guessed he meant--in Africa, but most of them were too old to travel much, or had a Slayer or two they were training for a while, girls like Catherine whose parents hadn't wanted to let them come all the way to England at first, or like Océane, who'd wanted to improve her English enough that she'd at least be able to make herself understood before she came here.

"We'll find someone," Giles said. "There'll be a group finishing their training next month, and if we paired them up, perhaps sent one of the better-trained Slayers with them as well, one of the girls who knows the area...."

Xander thought he'd better interrupt before Giles went into long-range planning mode. "Okay," he said. "That answers that question. But I'm... I'm not ready to say yes, yet. I mean, I'm not saying no, either. I just--remember when I said I needed some time to think?"

Giles blinked for a second, and Xander realized he'd been too late; at least half of Giles' brain had gone off to figuring out how to make things work. "Yes," he said. "Take all the time you need, Xander."

"I just... this is a lot to take in," he said. "I'm not running away, or anything; don't worry." He wondered if that was presuming too much--if Giles hadn't had that same feeling of teetering on the brink of something big and deep and serious. But Giles' smile looked relieved, and Xander thought maybe he had, after all. "But I'm going to go upstairs for the night, and then in the morning I'll take over guard duty. And once this is all over, then we can, um, talk. Again."

He got up, but then thought that maybe it'd be a good idea to make the "not saying no" part of what he said a little more clear for Giles. He bent down again, brushing a quick kiss over Giles' lips, and then turned back toward the door.

Giles grabbed his hand before he could get very far, tugged him closer, and kissed him again. "Good night, Xander," he whispered, pulling back and cupping Xander's cheek. "I do mean it when I say that you can take all the time you need."

Xander smiled and licked his lips. He could really get used to this whole kissing thing. "I know. 'Night."

He made it to the guest room, and collapsed on the bed. So much stuff to think about, and Xander had no idea where to start. He was pretty sure this was going to be a long, sleepless night.


***


Giles had meant it; Xander was welcome to take as much time as he wanted. That didn't mean that he didn't wish that it wouldn't take quite this much time.

It wasn't really Xander's fault. The evening after they'd had their talk, Willow had arrived; she'd sent the demon back home straight away, but had wanted to do the rest of her work after she'd had a good night's sleep. Giles wasn't quite certain how much sleep she'd actually been able to get, since this was the first time in quite some time that she, Buffy, and Xander had all been in the same place. He'd given them some space, letting them catch up without him getting in the way; he'd had plenty of work to do, anyway, as he thought it was imperative that he be seen to be completely on top of things at the moment.

She'd spent almost the entire next day working on the binding spells, but at dinner that night had been able to assure him that they'd been successful. "If they do magic, we'll know," she said, "and the same thing if they meet up with each other." Then she smiled, looking pleased with herself. "Except for the Garners. It took me a little while, but they can be around each other without raising the alarm." She'd spent the next morning writing up notes on the spells for the Council's records, and then she, Xander, Buffy, and Dawn had disappeared for the rest of the day.

And now it was two days later; things were slowly getting back to normal, but he still only saw Xander at meals, and those were crowded, noisy affairs.

Giles was almost done with the reassignment of the remaining Watchers. It had been relatively easy to fill in the empty posts, since there weren't many of them. Most of the old guard had been retired already, and while there were a number of teachers amongst them as well, several other Watchers had come by his office or phoned him to ask if they could be considered for one of the positions.

After the ordeal, the support of those remaining had been quite welcome. So far, no one had yet to resign on their own, and Giles took that as a sign that things would be back on track; perhaps even easier now that he knew everyone working for him was there because they wanted to be, and not simply out of a sense of duty.

He was signing the last of the paperwork for the day when there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

Andrew poked his head into the doorway. "There's a phone call on line two. It's the hospital, about Mrs. Bishop."

"Thank you, Andrew," Giles said, picking up the phone. "Rupert Giles speaking."

Five minutes later, Giles walked out of his office, locking the door behind him. He looked for Andrew, but the office was empty. Walking down the hallway, Giles heard voices coming from the study and opened the door to find Xander, Dawn, and Andrew sitting on the couch.

Andrew straightened up when he noticed Giles. "What did they say?" he asked.

Xander and Dawn were also looking at him expectantly, and so he decided not to make them wait. He stepped into the room. "Mrs. Bishop is awake. The doctors are expecting her to make a full recovery."

"Oh, thank God," Xander sighed, slumping against the back of the couch. "That's good news."

"I quite agree," Giles said, finally letting himself grin.

"She's going to wonder what the hell happened," Dawn mused, putting down the book she had on her lap.

"Yes, she's already begun asking questions." Giles sat down on the sofa with a groan. He'd managed to stay on top of things quite easily, but he was tired. "I was thinking of sending you to London," he said, looking at Dawn, "since you'll be working with her, it'll be a good opportunity for you to meet her and explain the situation."

"Oh, neat!" Dawn said, grinning. "The job's still on?"

"Of course," Giles replied, leaning forward. "I'm not going to go back on my words simply because of the situation. I still believe you'll make a wonderful addition to the Research department."

"And I can start studying soon, too?"

"If you'd like, yes." Her excitement was catching, and Giles found himself laughing when Dawn launched herself at him and gave him a hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you."

"Well, if I'd known you wanted to be a Watcher, I'd have offered before Buffy dragged you off to Rome," he admitted. He hadn't realized before how he'd missed having the lot of them around, but this situation had at least been good for something. Now, perhaps, they would visit more often. Giles could hope.

He glanced at Xander over Dawn's shoulder and smiled. "You should thank Xander. He's the one who brought your interest to my attention."

Next thing he knew, Dawn was squeezing Xander instead. "So, I don't have to go back to Rome with Buffy, do I?"

"I'd expect not, but you should discuss it with her first. Perhaps finish the school year."

"I could transfer," she argued, sitting back on the couch.

"That would also be a possibility. But do talk with your sister before deciding anything; she's still your legal guardian," Giles reminded her.

"I'll go do that now." Dawn leapt to her feet, and then grabbed Andrew's arm, dragging him with her without listening to his protests. "Come on, we have to find her now."

Giles watched them leave, shaking his head, and then turned to Xander. "It's wonderful to see her happy, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah, it is," Xander concurred, smiling. Then his expression turned sober. "Tomorrow's Gregory's memorial, right?"

"Yes, everything should be ready. Has Andrew spoken to you about it?"

"Not much. Just to say that he got his speech done. I have a feeling he had another good cry about it, too. God, this sucks."

Giles nodded slowly, sighing. "Loss is never an easy thing to deal with."

"He'll be fine, after a while, I guess," Xander murmured, as if trying to convince himself. "I don't think they were, you know, together, but from what Andrew said, there was something there anyway."

"I gathered as much," Giles said softly. "Although knowing Andrew as we do now, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that it was one-sided."

"And all in his head?" Xander smiled, but shook his head. "I don't think so." He leaned forward and looked at his hands as if they were absolutely fascinating.

Giles wanted to push Xander to talk, but he made himself stay silent, waiting. He'd promised Xander time, and time was what Xander would get, no matter how impatient Giles was starting to feel. He had the urge to reach out, take Xander's hands in his and--

He hadn't felt this way for anyone in a long time, and it was a shame that it taken Xander's accident, this conspiracy, to bring these feelings to the surface. Now that he was aware of them, though, Giles was having a hard time waiting.

"I've been thinking," Xander said hoarsely. "Actually, I talked with Willow." He shook his head, smiling. "She was, uh, surprised would be the word, I guess."

"I suppose she would be, yes," Giles whispered, holding his breath as he waited for Xander to keep going. He understood well now how others felt when it took him forever to get to the crux of the matter.

"Supportive, though, which she would be, being Willow."

Giles smiled, relaxing slightly. "It does sound like her."

"You know, you can stop being tense, you idiot," Xander blurted out, and Giles wasn't sure which of them he was talking to, but then Xander laughed, and he realized it was probably both. "I did tell you I wasn't running away from you," Xander continued fondly. Giles let out a shaky breath. "I just needed time to figure out if I really wanted to go back to school, and stay here for a while. Most of my thinking was about Watcher stuff, not... the other."

"And?"

"The short answer to the school part of the question is 'no.' 'No way in hell,' even," Xander replied, grinning. "The long answer is 'I should,' for a number of reasons that I don't really want to get into right now, unless you want me to list them all in alphabetical order or something." He paused. "And the rest of the answer about the staying here, well, as much as I'll miss Africa, and I really will, I--yes, I'd like to stay here. I even made a list of for and against and everything, and the 'for' column had a very compelling argument."

"Which was?"

Xander shook his head, looking at Giles fondly. "Two months," he said, still smiling. "I'm giving the French tutor two months to get me to say Ocean's name right. And for the rest... what's your opinion on dating? I was thinking we could go out Friday night. There's this movie I want to see, and you're going to hate it, but if you really want to try, well, this--" he waved back and forth at the two of them-- "you're going to have to get used to it, so why not start now?"

Giles smiled. "I think that sounds like a good idea."

"Good." Then, grinning, Xander said, "You can pick the restaurant we go to afterwards. Though I'm not so much being fair as just recognizing that you know the area better than I do."

"I'll make reservations," Giles said, "if you tell me what time the movie should let out."

Xander didn't answer him straight away, just looked at him with that same fond expression, until Giles smiled back and reached out for Xander's hand.


***


Epilogue: Six weeks later

"Don't look at me," Xander called, grinning. "If you want Catherine and Ocea--Océane--to treat you like a grownup, then that means you have to act like one even when it works out better for you to play the 'I'm just a little kid!' card." He noticed Océane beaming at him and nodding when he corrected his pronunciation her name. Well, the French lessons were doing him a little good, at least.

Niki glared at him, folding her arms, but finally she sighed heavily, picking up her wooden practice sword from where she'd flung it to the ground mid-temper tantrum. "Fine!" she muttered, turning back to Catherine. "I am going to beat you this time," she announced. Xander could understand her frustration, even if he wanted her to calm down; she'd been practicing with Catherine all afternoon, and hadn't managed to hang onto her weapon for more than a few minutes at a time. Catherine was older and stronger, not to mention more experienced, but Niki's determination had lasted even when her patience ran out.

"Not if you keep losing your temper," Catherine told her firmly. "Now, take a deep breath, count to ten, and we'll start over again."

"They're coming along well," a voice said from behind Xander. He turned around, looking up to see Rupert smiling down at him. "Catherine's form is excellent."

"That wasn't me," Xander said, "but yeah. I'm proud of her. Of all three of them," he added.

"You should be," Rupert said. "And of yourself as well."

Xander shrugged. "I don't do much," he said. And he didn't, really. He'd started taking groups of the girls out on patrol, and he made a point of keeping an eye on Catherine, Océane, and Niki's training, but he wasn't exactly teaching them anything.

"More than you'd think," Rupert said. That was a familiar argument; they'd been having it for the past couple of weeks. Someone--not Rupert, he insisted--had suggested that Xander stay on permanently, in charge of "practical field experience" for the students; Rupert thought it was a good idea, but Xander hadn't made up his mind just yet.

He wanted to stay. He just wasn't sure if it was because he thought it was the best thing for him to do, or because there were too many people here that he didn't want to leave.

Rupert settled down next to him on the grass, his arm slipping around Xander's waist--making Catherine and Océane look at one another and giggle, and Niki crow triumphantly when she took advantage of Catherine's distraction to disarm her--and Xander wondered if it really mattered why this was the right place for him to be, or if the only important thing was that it definitely was.

***


The End


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