Disclaimer:Rupert Giles, Jenny Calendar, and Quentin Traversbelong to Joss Whedon, I just take extensive liberties with them. The other characters are mine. No one makes any money from this.

Trust

Chapter One
Meeting in a Dark Alley

1985- London, England

Rupert Giles was walking home from the Watcher's Council the on the night of his thirtieth birthday. No one knew that it was his birthday, because he hadn't told anyone about it. It made him feel old.

Lately he was just feeling generally out-of sorts. He used to think that he was pretty happy with his life, working at the museum during the day and at the Council at night. It seemed like an eternity had passed since he returned to the Council, in his early twenties, after years of rebelling against it. Those had been dangerous years.

Don't think about that, it's in the past. Nothing to be done.

At first he had thrown himself into his work just to forget about what happened, and as a way of making up for the mistakes he made. Then he gradually found himself enjoying it, even if he still felt an occasional pang of surprise at how uptight some of the other Watchers were. Although, that had been happening less and less.

I suppose I'm becoming one of them.

He smiled ruefully to himself. Now he was thirty, walking home to an empty apartment. Looking at his life, it suddenly seemed to be going nowhere, that he had reached a dead end. He suppressed any feeling of restlessness; he had no right to feel restless, it just made him do mad things. Still…

I just wish something would change.

It was then that he saw her, exiting a nightclub across the street with a young man. Giles stopped and watched them; the man gave him an uneasy feeling. They walked into an alleyway, and Giles' suspicions were confirmed when, a moment later, he heard a strangled cry.

He ran across the street into the alley to see the vampire leaning over the girl, about to bite. Without hesitation, Giles pulled a wooden stake out of his jacket pocket and plunged it through the vampire's heart.
The vampire turned to dust, revealing the girl it had been hunched over, who was pale and wide-eyed with fear.

"You should get home," Giles said calmly, replacing his stake.

Most girls, under the circumstance, would have taken his advice and run off. This one acted as though he hadn't said anything at all.

"Who are you?" she asked curiously, speaking with an American accent.

Giles was taken off guard. "It-it doesn't matter. You just get somewhere safe."

"No, who are you?" she persisted, "How did you know that was a vampire?"

He looked at her suspiciously. "What do you know about vampires?"

"Probably not as much as you do. I didn't recognize that one." She looked him over. "Are you a Watcher?"

Giles' jaw dropped. "How… what…?"

"You couldn't fit the part more if you had a neon sign over you head." The corners of her lips were now creeping up into a wry smile.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"I'm Jenny."

"Jenny?"

"Just Jenny, yes."

"How do you know about-"

"Do we have to talk here?"

Giles realized that a dark alley probably wasn't the best place to question the girl. "Come with me."

He chose a nearby all-night coffee shop/diner for their interview. He ordered a tea and offered to get the girl Jenny something too. When she ordered fish and chips, soup, a bread roll, a large coffee, and two doughnuts, Giles was about to protest; however, looking at her in the harsh light of the diner, he realized that she probably didn't eat regularly, and kept silent.

They sat in a booth by the near the back. Giles didn't say anything at first, and instead watched her as she ate, taking in her appearance for the first time. She really was quite striking looking, with thick black hair and large dark eyes. She looked almost exotic, although she couldn't have been any older than twenty, and her outfit – a black vinyl mini-skirt, skimpy halter top and heavy make-up- cheapened her look.

It was Jenny who spoke first. "I never met anyone else who knows about vampires and magic and
stuff before," she remarked conversationally.

"Well, generally we try to keep it a secret." Giles cast his eyes around, making sure that no one heard her.

"Oh, sorry," she said, lowering her voice.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"It's kinda my thing." She shrugged. "I'm into the occult."

That response worried Giles. "Most people who are into the occult' don't realize how serious it is. They don't even believe in half the things that are out there."

"Well I do. I know what it's about."

He had a feeling Jenny wasn't telling him something. "And you're not a witch?"

"No."

"How did you learn about these things then?"

She shrugged.

"I'm not going to turn you into the Council if you tell me."

"I'm nothing, okay? I just have a recreational interest," she said, her attention abnormally focused on her soup.

"Why are you here?" he said, changing his angle of interrogation.

"Cuz you saved my life and wanted to know how I got in on your secret."

"I mean, why are you in London?" he said, not without a hint of exasperation.

"I live here."

"But you obviously weren't born here."

"I got sick of American life."

"So you came to England?"

"Well, I didn't want to learn another language, and Canada is kinda boring."

"And your family was alright with this?"

"What does my family have to do with anything?" she replied, and Giles was surprised at her angry tone. He had clearly hit a nerve.

"I'm sorry. You just seem somewhat young to be moving to another country."

"I'm twenty-four," she said defensively.

He couldn't keep himself from smiling. "No you're not."

"No one ever believes me, but I am!"

She was getting upset. Giles didn't want to push it. "If you say so." He took a sip of tea. "So, you're not currently involved in anything supernatural?"

"You sound disappointed," she said, a faint smile creeping up her lips again.

"Well, er, you know, professional interest, and all."

"Mm." She leaned forward over the table conspiratorially. "Although, if you had anything supernatural for me to get involved in, I'm open."

Giles blinked, taken aback. "I… I think not."

She leaned back again. "Suite yourself. Anyways, am I ever going to learn the name of the man to whom I owe my life?"

He relaxed a bit. "It's Rupert Giles."

They talked at the coffee shop for about an hour. Jenny said that she had been in England for about a month, and that she worked at a dance studio, as an instructor. Giles told her about his job at the museum, where he worked as assistant curator. They talked about life in London. Giles made a few attempts at asking her what it was like where she was from, but she seemed to want to avoid the subject altogether. Finally, Jenny finished her meal.

"Seeing as it's so dark out," she said, "and the streets, as they are, filled with vampires and other desperate characters, would you mind seeing a young girl to her door?"

"Not at all."

Jenny's apartment was in a run-down part of town. Giles would not have been surprised if he saw a bombed-out shell of a building that had been left since the blitz.

"Are you safe living here?" he asked, as she stood outside her door, searching for her keys, and it crossed his mind that he felt disproportionately concerned about her, considering they had met only a couple of hours ago.

"Nothing's happened to me yet." Her reply did nothing to assuage Giles' worries.

She found her keys, and unlocked her door. But before she entered her apartment, Jenny turned to him, and in a tone of unexpected sincerity said, "Thank you, for everything."

Giles shrugged sheepishly.

She continued, "I guess you could probably tell that I wasn't being completely honest about everything tonight. I'm not going to be. But I want you to know, whatever impression I gave, I really do appreciate what you've done."

Giles was speechless for a moment. "I-I-I c-couldn't have acted differently-

"Still, thank you." And she disappeared into her apartment.

Giles stood in front of the door, puzzled, until it occurred to him that standing around in such a neighbourhood late at night was probably not the safest pastime.

One doesn't often meet girls like that. He thought as he made his way home. I wonder what she's got herself involved in. I hope it's nothing dangerous, she really is far too young… living on her own in that part of town… when I was that age… Still, she seems fairly capable of handling herself. She's certainly not lacking in confidence. Just so long as she doesn't run across any more vampires…

In truth , Giles was beginning to feel strangely fond of her already. In fact, he might have felt a new sense of emptiness for having left her, had it not been for the odd notion that he had not seen the last of Jenny.