Hey Guys (Meaning anyone amazing enough to read this)!!! This story is about Giles version of what happened during the seven seasons of BTVS, and it is a BuffyXGiles fic. Right now I'm doing every episode, but there are a lot of those, obviously, so I might not do that the whole time. At first, it's going to be just like the series, but from Giles' POV. It will change in chapter 11-ish. So here is episode one... Welcome to the Hellmouth.

Also, I do not own anything, it all belongs to Joss Whedon and all the other amazing people who made BTVS possible!!! Also, most, if not all, of the dialogue is from the show itself.

In Every Generation there is a Chosen One. She Alone Will Stand Against the Vampires, the Demons and the Forces of Darkness. She is the Slayer.

Rupert Giles walked down the oh-so-familiar halls of Sunnydale High with a distracted expression on his face. The noise of the packed and crowded hallways fell on deaf ears, and the jostling around him went unnoticed. Inside, he was bouncing with excitement, although Exterior-Giles would never allow such emotion to show, and would never allow himself to act in such a mundane and childish way.

The Slayer was coming here. Today. He could hardly believe his luck. While others had pined away for years for the chance to work with the slayer, whoever she was at the time, he, Rupert Giles, the one who had always been buried in the Watcher Diaries of the past, was the one who had been chosen. How could he face this monumental task? And what would she be like?

Giles pictured the Slayer in his mind. She would be tall, and strong. Probably with black hair, dark, determined eyes, and with a stoic, blank expression that came from years of rigid training. But aside from appearances, she would have excellent marks in school, probably at the top of her grade. Like him, she would know several different languages, and everything there was to know about every demon, vampire and prophecy that had ever been written about. She would be obedient and a hard worker, who always did what she was supposed to do. She would be perfect.

Giles grinned to himself, thinking of all the wonderful things they could accomplish. With him there to guide her mind and her activities, they might even be able to rid Sunnydale of its plaque of evil once and for all...someday.

Giles's thoughts jerked back to the present when he realized he was passing Principal Flutie's office. He may as well step in now and ask the man if the new student had arrived. Halting in his furious pace towards the library, he turned towards the door and raised a fist to knock on the fogged-glass window of the office.

Just then, he heard voices coming from the inside, Flutie's voice and that of a young female, probably a student. Maybe this was her? Though he was not usually one to eavesdrop, he found himself staying where he was, and pressing an ear to the door.

The girl was speaking. Her voice was a bit soft, a bit more girly then Giles had expected. But then again, he didn't even know if this was her. And even if it was, who was he to judge someone by their voice?

"I know my transcripts are a little...colourful."

So this was her. As far as he knew, Buffy Summers was the only new student at the school, and no one else would need to discuss transcripts with the principal. But what did she mean by 'colourful'?

Flutie spoke. "Hey... We're not caring about that. Do you think 'colourful' is the word? Not 'dismal'?

Dismal???

The girl muttered something Giles couldn't hear, and when Flutie replied, his voice was incredulous.

"You burned down the gym."

"I did, I really did, but... You're not seeing the big picture here, I mean, that gym was full of vampi... asbestos."

Was there anyway that the Slayer was this careless? Because there was no doubts in his mind that this was the Slayer. Perhaps Flutie wouldn't notice her slip-up, but Giles certainly did. How could his perfect Slayer be so obvious as to burn down an entire gym? Surely there was a better, and more subtle, solution. And then to make a mistake like that, almost telling someone about the vampires... That kind of mistake, if it was paid too much attention to, could be fatal to the entire system the Slayers and Watchers had set up over the centuries.

Flutie spoke again. "Buffy, don't worry. Any other school they might say 'watch your step', or 'we'll be watching you'... But, that's just not the way here. We want to service your needs, and help you to respect our needs. And if your needs and our needs don't mesh...

Something slapped down against the table, as if the principal had slammed his hand down. The noise startled Giles, and he realized that he had no business eavesdropping on the conversation. Turning away, he continued his dignified almost-sprint to the library. Careless Slayer or no, he had a lot of work to do in preparation.

*****

A couple of hours later, Giles was still fumbling to find everything. He had made sure that the cage in the back was well stocked with weapons, all of which were well organized, first by the year it was invented and then by quality. He had taken several very important books down from their shelves and placed them in a neat stack in his office. But now he couldn't find the most important book, the book that had everything. A Slayer would expect her Watcher to have such a thing...

Suddenly, Giles heard the library door open and frowned to himself as he continued to hunt through the books he had stored in the cage. Who could possibly be entering the library? He couldn't even remember the last time a student had willingly...

"Hello, is anybody here?"

Giles tensed and turned away from the stack of books. That voice... it was the new girl. He paused for a moment. So much for being ready when the Slayer got here. He straightened his tweed jacket and feathered his hand through his dark brown hair, wishing he had a comb.... Then he rolled his eyes at his own foolishness. Looks could not impress the Slayer. Knowledge would, though, and he had plenty of that.

Giles moved out from the cage and moved towards the front of the library. He managed to get a good look at the girl before she spotted him. She was petite, with dark blonde hair that lay loose around her shoulders. She wore a white shirt, with a short brown skirt and brown knee-high boots. A bag was slung over one shoulder. She did not look like the Slayer he had imagined, but just as he expected a Slayer not to judge her Watcher on appearance, she would expect the same from him.

She was leaning over the counter, reading a paper that Giles had foolishly left out. In it was an article about some local boys that had gone missing. Giles suspected demonic involvement, so he had circled it in red. If anyone other then the Slayer had found it, what would they have thought?

Because he had reached the girl and she did not seem to notice him, he tapped her on the shoulder. She gasped, startled, and spun around.

"Oh! Anybody's here."

Did that sentence even make any sense, Giles wondered? And since when was it so easy to sneak up on a Slayer? Then he blinked, astonished, as he realized how pretty the Slayer was. Her heart shaped was tilted up towards his, and her large green eyes blinked up at him like those of a startled kitten.

"Can I help you?" Giles asked, refusing to let such thoughts linger.

"I was looking for some, well, books. I'm new."

He frowned to himself. They had told the girl, right? That she would have a new Watcher? "Miss Summers?" He asked, checking.

"Good call! Guess I'm the only new kid, huh?" She smiled up at him and Giles was annoyed to find himself momentarily dazzled.

"I'm Mr. Giles. The librarian. I was told you were coming."

The name did not seem to ring any bells. As Giles circled the desk with the intention of stashing away the paper, he spotted something and stopped mid-step, reaching for it happily. Buffy was saying something, but he didn't even hear the girl as he triumphantly pulled out the book he had been looking for.

"I know what you're after!"

He slammed it down onto the counter with more force then he had intended to, and looked at the Slayer's face, waiting for her reaction.

Buffy's eyes wandered over the faded cover of the book, and scanned the word written across its cover. "Vampyr". Instead of smiling or looking excited, the girl paled and her suddenly uneasy gaze flashed to his.

"That's not what I'm looking for."

Giles was shocked to hear her voice tremble.

"Are you sure?" He insisted, inching the book closer to her in case she hadn't seen it properly.

"I'm way sure."

The poor girl looked terrified. Giles felt a flush of embarrassment stain his cheeks. What if he had been wrong? What if someone had mixed up the names, mixed up... something? Anything?

"My mistake." He muttered.

Slowly, he put the book back under the counter.

"So what is it you said..."

The girl was gone.

******

Buffy Summers had to struggle to conceal her mounting terror. Two classes later and she was still petrified about what had occurred in the library. There was no way she was doing that again. They couldn't force her, right? There was no way they could force her...

Her scattering thoughts settled on the Librarian. He had been cute, in a sort of nerdish way, and probably at least 20 years older then her. Still, that was relatively young for a Watcher, in her experience. Part of her felt bad for making him believe she wasn't the Slayer. He looked so embarrassed and disappointed. But maybe a little relieved too. After all, who would want a Slayer like her? And even if she had upset him... she had done worse things in the name of her "calling".

Then Buffy noticed that she had wandered outside the school building. On one of the benches outside sat the same girl Buffy had seen Cordelia tease earlier at the water fountains. What had Cordelia said? Something about knowing your losers. But Willow looked nice enough to her, and after everything that had gone down at her old school, Buffy knew what it was like to feel like an outcast. So she walked over.

"Hi! Willow, right?"

Willow looked up, startled, and then smiled shyly. "Why? I mean... Hi! Did you want me to move?"

Buffy fought the urge to laugh. "Why don't we start with, 'Hi, I'm Buffy,' and then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favour." Buffy sat down next to Willow. "It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while."

First, Willow's smile broadened. Then it faded, and she looked a little sceptical. "But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?"

"I can't do both?"

Willow grinned. "Not legally."

The two girls began to chat, and Buffy felt, for the first time since she had been kicked out her old school, that she might actually fit in here. Have friends. Willow even agreed to help her catch up in school work, which sounded great until Willow suggested they meet in the library to study.

"Or not. Or we could meet someplace quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins." Buffy stammered.

"Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool."

"He's new?" That would make some sense, she supposed. If he was supposed to be her Watcher, it was no big thing for him to get himself a position at her school. Watchers in the past had done more outrageous things to ensure they were close to their Slayers.

"Yeah, he just started. He was a curator at some British museum, or, or The British Museum, I'm not sure. But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies, and am I the single dullest person alive?"

Buffy laughed, forcing thoughts of the librarian away for the time being. "Not at all."

Suddenly, two guys showed up. One, Buffy recognized as the boy who had helped her pick up her things in the hall.... Xander was his name? He jumped up on the while behind him, while his friend, whom Buffy didn't know, moved to stand in front of them, dumping his bag carelessly on the ground.

"Hey!" The second boy said.

"You guys busy?" Xander asked, "Are we interrupting? We're interrupting."

Buffy and Willow said hello to the newcomers, then Willow made the introductions, introducing the second guy as Jesse.

"Oh, me and Buffy go waaay back, old friends, very close." Said Xander, "Then there's that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people, but now here we are, like old times, I'm quite moved."

Jesse grinned. "Is it me, or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?"

Xander looked sheepish, and seemed to sigh inwardly. "No, it's not you."

"Well, it's nice to meet you guys, I think." Buffy said uncertainly, and then froze in horror when Xander hopped down from the wall, rummaged in his bag, and pulled out her stake. Jesse said something about welcoming her, but Buffy could only stare at the stake in Xander's hand. How could she be so careless... already....

"And to return this." Xander said, adding his input to whatever Jesse had said. "The only thing I can

think is that you're building a really little fence.

He handed it over and Buffy snatched it from his fingers, hugging it protectively against her for a moment. "No, um, actually it was for self-defence. Everyone has them in L.A. Pepper spray is just so passé."

Her new friends were easily convinced, and as they started talking about her life in L.A, and the boredom found in small towns like Sunnydale, Buffy found herself relaxing once more. That was, until Cordelia showed up.

"Are these guys bothering you?" She sneered, looking at Xander, Jesse and Willow with distain.

"No." Buffy assured her, lifting her chin slightly. She could hang out with whoever she wanted to, after all. Willow ruined this proud gesture by instantly assuring Cordelia.

"She's not hanging out with us."

Buffy felt like slapping her forehead. Instead she watched as Jesse cozied up next to Cordelia and tried to get her attention.

"Oh, please!" Cordelia snapped at him, and then turned to Buffy. "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym was cancelled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker."

"What?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker!" Cordelia insisted, seeming both proud that she was the first to deliver the news and disgusted at what she was saying.

"Dead." Buffy felt a cold feeling inside her. Not again.

"Totally dead. Way dead."

Xander rolled his eyes. "It's not just a little dead, then?"

Buffy ignored their bantering. "How did he die?"

"I don't know."

"Well, were there any marks?"

"Morbid much! I didn't ask!"

Of course not. Buffy stood, snatching her bag up off the bench. "Um, I gotta book. I'll, I'll see you guys

later."

And she hurried away.

******

How could he have made such a stupid mistake? Him, Rupert Giles, possibly the most intelligent and well-read Watcher of the times. How could he ever have thought that girl was the Slayer? She was the cheerleader type, the lip gloss and short skirt type. Not the strong, stoic Slayer type. Giles shoved a book onto a shelf and moved on down the isle, muttering to himself about the faulty system.

"Okay, what's the sitch?"

Giles jerked with surprise and spun around, looking for the source of the voice, although he recognized it instantly. "Sorry?"

Then he saw Buffy stalking through the library towards the stacks where he was standing.

"You heard about the dead guy, right?" She snapped, "The dead guy in the locker?"

Giles moved into the outer part of the library and blinked at her in confusion. "Yes...."

Buffy dropped her things on a table and came to stand almost toe to toe with him.

"'Cause, it's the weirdest thing. He's got two little, little holes in his neck, and all his blood's been drained. Isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going, ooo?"

It was her! This was the Slayer! But he focused on her words. "I was afraid of this." He muttered.

Well, I wasn't!" The girl seemed to be spitting mad, and Giles only barely managed to stop himself from backing away. "It's my first day! I was afraid that I was gonna be behind in all my classes, that I wouldn't make any friends, that I would have last month's hair. I didn't think there'd be vampires on campus. And I don't care."

Giles frowned at her. A Slayer, not caring? So he pointed out the obvious. "Then why are you here?"

Buffy flushed, and started to stammer. "To tell you that... I don't care which... I don't, and... have now told you, so... bye.

She started to leave, but Giles spoke before she could. He had to keep her here, had to convince her of her duty. He told himself it had nothing to do with that confused, almost haunted look in her eyes...

"Is he, w-will he rise again?" The question was the first that came into his mind, but it did stop her.

She turned back to face him. "Who?"

"The boy."

"No. He's just dead."

"Can you be sure?"

Any Slayer would know how to tell if a victim had been turned. It would be obvious. Buffy seemed to be thinking along the same lines. She rolled those expressive eyes of hers and said,

"To make you a vampire they have to suck your blood. And then you have to suck their blood. It's like a whole big sucking thing. Mostly they're just gonna kill you." Then she frowned. "Why am I still talking to you?"

As she turned and went down the stairs, Giles hurried over to the railing.

"You really have no idea what's going on, do you?" He said, starting to feel annoyed, "You think its coincidence, your being here? That boy was just the beginning."

"Oh, why can't you people just leave me alone?" He searched her gaze and was relieved to see only anger reflecting back at him.

"Because you are the Slayer." He moved down the stairs towards her. "Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires..."

"...with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil blah, blah, blah... I've

heard it, okay?"

Giles stopped and stared at her, baffled. "I really don't understand this attitude. You, you've accepted

your duty, you, you've slain vampires before..."

"Yeah, and I've both been there and done that, and I'm moving on."

Giles scowled to himself and tried to remember that, Slayer or no, this girl was only about 16 years old. Maybe she could not be expected to have the same level of maturity normally demanded of a Slayer.

"What do you know about this town?" He asked, swiftly changing tactics. He walked into his office to grab the stack of books he had pulled out before.

"It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?"

"Dig a bit in the history of this place. You'll find a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences. Now, I believe this whole area is a center of mystical energy." He re entered the room. "That things gravitate towards it that, that, that you might not find elsewhere."

"Like vampires."

Giles started to stack the books into Buffy's arms. "Like zombies, werewolves, incubi, succubi, everything you've ever dreaded was under your bed, but told yourself couldn't be by the

light of day. They're all real!"

"What? You, like, sent away for the Time-Life series?"

"Ah, we- well -yes." He couldn't believe he was stammering like a schoolboy. He never stammered. What was it about this girl that made him so damned nervous?

"Did you get the free phone?"

"The calendar."

"Cool." Then she seemed to snap out of it, and pushed the books back towards him. "But, okay, first of all, I'm a Vampire Slayer. And secondly, I'm retired. Hey, I know! Why don't you kill 'em?

Retired?? "I-I'm a Watcher, I-I haven't the skill..." He had more skill then this girl would expect from a bookish man his age, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

" Oh, come on, stake through the heart, a little sunlight... It's like falling off a log."

"A Slayer slays, a Watcher..."

"Watches?"

"Yes. No!" Giles struggled not to laugh as he set the books down. Managing to keep a straight face even through their bantering, he said, "He, he trains her, he, he prepares her..." And there was that embarrassing stammering again. Hopefully she would think he always stammered when he spoke, not just around her.

"Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? For losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger

them? Go ahead! Prepare me."

For a moment, Giles could only stare at her. For all the girl's glib comments and attitude, there was so much pain and weariness in her eyes. She might be able to pretend that she was an airheaded teenage girl, but her eyes would always tell the truth. They were far too expressive to hide anything. Buffy breathed out, then turned away and left the library swiftly.

"Damn!" He muttered, and took off after her.

Neither of them saw Xander walk out from behind the stacks, a math book Willow had asked him to get clutched in his hand.

" What?"

******

Giles hurried down the hall after Buffy, trying to focus enough so that he could bully her into listening, instead of comforting her as some small, irrational part of him wanted to.

"It's getting worse!" He said.

Buffy sighed. "What's getting worse?"

He grabbed her arm, firmly but gently, and led her over towards the wall, out of the way.

" The influx of the undead, the... supernatural occurrences, it's been building for years." He insisted. He had to make her see how important this was. "There's a reason why you're here and a reason why it's now!

"Because now is the time my mom moved here." Buffy muttered.

She tried to walk around him, to escape, but he put out his arm, pinning her against the wall.

"Something's coming, something, something... something is, is gonna happen here. Soon!"

"Gee, can you vague that up for me?"

Giles lifted his eyes to the ceiling. Why couldn't the girl speak English? "The signs, as far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less."

"Oh, come on! This is Sunnydale! How bad an evil can there be here?"

Finally, Giles lifted his arm, letting her pass by him, which she did with a great amount of huffiness. The man sighed as he watched her go. He would not give up though. He had to make her see reason, make her understand and accept her calling once more. He could not blame her for being afraid, but no matter how cruel he might be for doing so, he had to force her to undertake the task once more. He had no other option. Besides, Buffy was the Slayer. Afraid or no, she would come to her senses sooner or later, with or without him. It was in her blood, and as soon as she saw danger for others she would do her best to protect them. Perhaps with a little help from him, though, it could be sooner rather then later.

******

Stupid Librarians!!! Stupid Watchers!!!

Buffy was almost stomping down the darkened street towards the Bronze, her thoughts buzzing like a hive of angry bees through her head. How dare this man make her feel guilty? Make her feel like, thanks to her, people were doing to die, deaths she could have prevented if only she picked up that stake once more and...

Never again.

Yes, maybe she had saved peoples lives. Maybe she had vanquished evil (well, only a little evil, and only for a little while, but still it was something). But so what? No one ever knew about it. Instead of thanking her and handing her some shiny medal, they kicked her out of school, shunned her. She and her mother had to leave L.A just to find a school that would accept her. And her poor mother had put up with so much. She thought back to the conversation she and her mother had before they left.

Oh, you're a good girl, Buffy, you just fell in with the wrong crowd. But that is all behind us now.

Yeah "wrong crowd" was right.

"It is. From now on I am only going to hang out with the living. I mean, lively. People."

Suddenly, Buffy realized she was being followed. Out of the corner of her eyes she caught a snatch of shifting shadow. A tree? But there was no wind. She moved a bit faster and was certain she heard soft, almost soundless footsteps. She began to walk a little bit faster, but not too obviously so. Then she turned, unexpectedly, down into an alley. She looked around swiftly for someplace to hide, finally spotting a metal bar above her. Leaping up easily, Buffy grabbed hold of it with both hands and kicked her feet up until she was practically doing a handstand on the bar.

A man entered into the alley below. A vampire, or just a normal creepy human? The man passed underneath the bar, and, without hesitation, Buffy leapt down and kicked him, hard, from behind. He toppled, and Buffy landed hard next to him, instantly pressing her foot into his chest to immobilize him.

The man looked like he was about to laugh at her, gazing up at her with sparkling dark eyes and twitching lips. "Is there a problem, ma'am?"

"Yeah, there's a problem." Buffy snapped, "Why are you following me?"

"I know what you're thinking. Don't worry, I don't bite."

Didn't bite? But if he guessed that she was expecting a vampire... or maybe it was just an expression. Perhaps he was only insisting he meant her no harm. Or maybe he was one of the Watcher's friends. Reluctantly, Buffy moved her foot, although she still held her fighters stance.

The man stood, instantly, in a fluid shift of muscles that would normally have had her mouth watering, if she wasn't so severely ticked off. "Truth is, I thought you'd be taller, or bigger muscles and all that. You're pretty spry, though." He reached up to rub at his probably aching neck.

"What do you want?" She was in no mood for games.

"The same thing you do."

With a sigh, Buffy dropped her fighter's stance. "Okay. What do I want?"

The man stepped forward. "To kill them. To kill them all."

God! Another one who wanted her to accept her duty again! This was definitely one of the Watcher's friends. Sheesh, why did he make others do the dirty work for him? And why wouldn't he give up? She put on a glib, careless voice.

"Sorry, that's incorrect. But you do get this lovely watch and a year's supply of Turtle Wax. What I want is to be left alone!"

Buffy whirled and started to stomp off. At first, she ignored the words he tossed after her. But when they actually got through to her brain she froze, turned, and started at him with wide eyes.

"Do you really think that's an option anymore? You're standing at the Mouth of Hell. And it's about to open."

Mouth of Hell? The Watcher hadn't said anything about that. Then the man reached into his leather jacket and pulled out a small box.

"Don't turn your back on this." He threw her the box, and Buffy caught it with ease. "You've gotta

be ready."

"What for?"

"For the Harvest."

"Who are you?"

"Let's just say... I'm a friend." The man startled to slink off into the night.

"Yeah, well, maybe I don't want a friend." Buffy muttered darkly, clutching her fist around the box in her hand.

The man turned back and Buffy was infuriated to see that dancing amusement in his eyes again. "I didn't say I was yours."

Damn it! He was the Watcher's friend! Damn that man and all his interference... Buffy noticed the box again and opened it to reveal a silver cross on a chain. She lifted it from its container, and then glanced after the man, who was long gone at this point. What had she gotten herself into?

******

All that Bloody racket.

Giles was at the Bronze, watching people on the floor below him bouncing along with the upbeat music that screeched through the speakers. The band that was playing looked like they were having almost as much fun, jumping around without even a hint of dignity.

Then he spotted her. Buffy had entered the Bronze at last and she looked... beautiful.

Giles scowled darkly to himself. For him to be thinking along such lines... It was wrong. He was a lot older then her, and her Watcher none the less. If this was going to work, he would have to get such thoughts out of his head permanently.

Below, Buffy is swaying slightly to the music, looking a little lost. Some guy across the room waved, and Buffy started to lift her hand before she realized the man was waving at someone else behind her. Her hand shot down, and she looked embarrassed. Then relief flashed across her face as she spotted someone, and moved across the room towards the bar. Willow was sitting there, sipping at what was probably the least-alcoholic drink besides water that the bar served.

The two girls chatted happily for a while, and Giles was pleased that despite Buffy's flippant attitude and apparent obsession with clothes, she seemed more inclined to hang out with people like Willow – intelligent, real people – then people like Cordelia, whose biggest worry was what shoes she was going to wear to school the next day.

Then Buffy looked up and spotted Giles leaning over the banister on the balcony above. Annoyance and a slight weariness moved across her features and then were gone. She smiled at Willow, excused herself, and began pushing her way through the crowd towards the stairs. Willow seemed to mutter something to herself, and stared thoughtfully down at her drink as Buffy wandered away.

"So, you like to party with the students. Isn't that kinda skanky?"

Buffy had appeared at the railing next to him.

"Oh, right, this is me having fun." Giles scoffed. "Watching... clown hair prance about is hardly my idea of a party. I'd much rather be at home with a cup of Bovril and a good book."

The girl rolled her eyes. "You need a personality, stat!"

Giles pointed at the crowd below them. "This is a perfect breeding ground for vampire activity. It's dark, it's crowded... Besides, I knew you were likely to show up, and I have to make you understand..."

Buffy interrupted. "That the Harvest is coming. I know, your friend told me."

"What did you say?"

"The Harvest. That mean something to you? 'Cause I'm drawing a blank."

"I'm not sure. Uh... W-who told you this?"

"This... guy. Dark, gorgeous in an annoying sort of way. I figured you two were buds." Buffy frowned to herself. If that man hadn't been the Watcher's friend, who was he? Why was he hanging around and helping her? It didn't make any sense. And just whose friend was he?

"No. The Harvest. Did he say anything else?"

"Something about the Mouth of Hell." Buffy muttered dismissively. "I really didn't like him!

Giles moved to stand a bit behind and to the side of Buffy, his hand on the bar next to her.

"Look at them, throwing themselves about, completely unaware of the danger that surrounds them."

A wistful tone entered Buffy's voice as she replied, "Lucky them."

"Or perhaps you're right. Perhaps there is no trouble coming, the signs could be wrong. It's not as though you've been having the nightmares."

Buffy was silent for a moment. Then she hurriedly said, "I didn't say I'd never slay another vampire. It's not like I have all these fluffy bunny feelings for them, I'm just not gonna get way extracurricular with it. You know, if I see one, sure I'll..."

Giles was the one to interrupt this time. "Will you be ready? There's so much you don't know about them, about your own powers. A vampire appears to be completely normal until the feed is upon them, only then do they reveal their true demonic visage."

"You're like a textbook with arms, I know this."

"The point is, a Slayer should be able to see them anyway. Without looking, without thinking. Can you tell me if there's a vampire in this building?"

"Maybe..."

"You should know." Giles chided gently, "You should know. Even through this mass and this... din, you should be able to sense them. Well, try! Reach out with your mind. You have to hone your senses, focus until the energy washes over you, until you, you feel every particle of..."

"There's one!"

"Where?"

"Right there, talking to that girl." She pointed and Giles followed her gaze to a couple that were chatting and swaying to the music.

"You don't know..."

"Oh, please! Look at his jacket. He's got the sleeves rolled up, and the shirt! Deal with that outfit for a moment."

Giles frowned at it. It did look different then what the others were wearing, but so what? "It's dated?"

"It's carbon dated. Trust me, only someone living underground for ten years would think that was still the look."

Giles sighed. "But you didn't hone."

Buffy wasn't listening. She was staring down at the girl with a look of dawning horror. "Oh, no."

"Isn't that..."

"Willow."

"What's she doing?" Giles couldn't remember if he had ever seen Willow with a boy, other then her friends Xander and Jesse.

"Seizing the moment!"

"What?"

But Buffy was only gone. As Giles watched her plough through the crowd on her way to rescue Willow, he wondered if he should follow her, show her that he was not as inept at fighting off vampires as she probably thought he was. But no. It was only one vampire and this would be good for her. If she knew that he could fight too, she would try and push all her responsibilities as the Slayer onto him. And saving Willow might make her realize how much she was needed.

Several moments later, Giles found Buffy again. She was cruising through the crowd, her eyes flashing around, a distracted look on her face.

"That was quick. Well done! I need to go to the library. This Harvest thing..."

"I didn't find them!"

Giles snatched Buffy's arm and turned her to face him.

"The vampire is not dead?"

"No, but my social life is on the critical list."

Reluctantly, Giles let go of her. "So, what do we do?"

"I'll take are of it!" She insisted.

"I-I-I need to come with you, yes?"

"Don't worry. One vampire I can handle."

And she was gone.

*****

A/N: Okay... that's the end of "Welcome to the Hellmouth", as far as Giles is concerned anyway. I realize I didn't change THAT much, but once Giles starts feeling more for Buffy, and their relationship develops, it will start being less and less like the show. Please review and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is welcomed! For instance, did I use too much of the script from Buffy? I wanted it to be as much like the episode as possible, but mostly from Giles POV with a bit of Buffy... let me know. I hope you liked it.