Prologue~

Leather squeaked as Giles leaned back on the bench against the brick wall of the training room. It was one of the few places that had been truly theirs; even more than the library which had been "headquarters" or the central part of the shop where daily meetings had been held. In those places, the lot of them had been briefed and suited up for battle (among other things) and both had been a home away from home for each Scooby and their loved ones. But here was made a different home altogether- one where Slayer and her watcher could return to their most natural state. In this room, Buffy had gained the mental discipline and spiritual awareness which he had been so eager to guide and, in turn, Rupert had known the deep intensity of fulfilling his most sacred purpose- To watch his creature of the night sharpen like a knife at his instruction, to bend like the sturdy metal that she was and right herself, stronger than before. And, of course, there had been friendship as well, affections easily passed between them in that time, and, above all, complete trust.

And yet, no training or preparedness could have delivered victory over Buffy's last foe. In reality, it was the deep knowing of oneself which he had allowed her that enabled Buffy to give herself up completely to her destiny.

Giles lifted his head forward from where it leaned against brick and brought his eyes to rest on the hands folded in his lap. He untwined them and fingered the thick indentation on his left pinky. It had been two days now and Giles had searched high and low both the Magic Box and his condo for the ring which he had dutifully worn for the past three years.

He leaned back once more and stared vaguely at the ceiling as he vividly revisited the day he had first received it…

"Ooo! Packages." Buffy brightly exclaimed as she shot through the swinging double doors to approach the counter that separated her and her watcher. Both thumbs were hooked into the shoulder straps of her backpack and she paused for a moment at the stack of boxes that rested rather precariously at the far edge of the countertop.

"Hello Buffy." He greeted her with a brief yet warm smile and glanced once at the clock on the wall before darting his eyes back to the book in his hands, then back to Buffy once more. When she looked at him rather expectantly, he responded,

"Ah yes. New order just in. M- Mostly scholastic in nature."

"Oh." replied Buffy, any curiosity dissipating instantly. She turned to make for the large rectangular table at the center of the room when the seam of her backpack caught the jagged-edged cardboard of one of the boxes. Giles looked up with some alarm just in time to see his slayer's split second reflexes turn and catch the first box, then the second and then use her shoulder to carefully nudge the rest back into place. She straitened them out and looked to Giles before emphatically pushing them farther from the edge and up against the wall. Suddenly something seemed to catch her eye and she knelt to retrieve it off the floor.

"What's this one?" She asked casually, producing a puffy yellow envelope.

"Odd... I don't remember ordering any paperback editions" he replied, swiftly returning his glasses to his face and reaching for the object in Buffy's outstretched hand.

She watched Giles' brow furrow slightly.

"What?" she asked.

"It appears to be from the council."

Buffy's interest was once again peeked and she continued her previous direction, this time turning the corner to join her watcher behind the counter.

"Think it's a really tiny pair of binoculars to help you do your duty from a distance?" she mused as Giles reached for his letter opener and began tearing at the package, unresponsively.

"Or maybe a little ball of sunshine to take with me out on patrols… Cause, you know, that'd be pretty useful..."

She moved closer as Giles removed the contents, which included a three-folded piece of crème colored paper and another small, seal-encrusted envelope. As he began to read the document, which displayed the bold letterhead of The Official Watcher's Council of England, Buffy reached for the breached yellow packaging. She stuck her hand inside to see if anything else had gone unnoticed and then turned it upside-down and shook for good measure.

"Well I'll be damned." Giles almost whispered. Buffy's attention returned immediately to the document in question. He handed her the piece paper before she could ask, simultaneously reaching for the smaller envelope. It was no larger in dimensions than a pack of cigarettes with the thick red wax of the council's seal pressed into one side. Letter opener forgotten, he peeled open the little envelope and emptied the contents into his hand.

At the sound of the object sliding though paper and the faint thud as it made contact with Giles' palm, Buffy's confused expression looked up from the council's tortuous rhetoric and fixated on the ring Giles held out in front of him.

"Is it for me?" Buffy asked reluctantly, wearing an expression as if to say 'It may as well be a skull and crossbones for all I'll be wearing that gaudy thing in public.'

"It's for me." He replied.

He almost let out a bitter laugh but his features remained firm.

"Two years I've been your watcher… And you've survived it." He handed Buffy the ring and folded his hands in his lap.

"Weird." She exclaimed, taking it from him to examine closely.

"Yes Indeed," he replied, this time allowing himself the chuckle.

His "prize" for keeping the line of duty in tact. His claim to the heavyweight title of their undefeated champion. He scoffed at the show of sportsmanship. This was Buffy, not a job well done and as much as he felt responsible for her, she was much more to him than his "responsibility." It was all the more distasteful knowing what she would be forced to face in a few short weeks.

"It is a fixation of aspiration amongst watchers-to-be. Quite a fuss made over it, really. Trivial doesn't seem to do it justice now." He turned forward again with the intention of returning to his text.

"I think you should wear it."

Giles looked up at her somewhat bewildered.

"I mean, maybe a jumbo-sized check and a flamethrower would have been more practical but…" She handed him back the ring, "It is a big deal. And you're the reason I'm alive."

Giles' jaw clenched as he fought the lump in his throat.

…Just as he was doing now.

The loss of the ring, compounded with the conversation he'd had just moments ago with Buffy's hauntingly mechanical counterpart, only served to solidify what he had been loath to acknowledge of late. His work here was over.

*Please review for Chapter One.