Chapter One

Disclaimer: Joss owns all. And Spiderman kicks butt, but that has nothing to do with anything, now does it? The point- Emma owns nothing and Joss owns everything

"Whack him again," Xander said as Cordelia smacked Giles with one of the library books.

"Wake up time," the cheerleader commanded in a harsh tone of voice. "There are people here in need of books."

Giles awoke and instantly held his hand up to prevent Cordelia from hitting him again. "Come again," he said. "Couldn't hear you with all the whacking."

"There are people here for books," Cordelia repeated as she pointed at the two people on the other side of the counter, a boy and a girl. The boy she recognized as Jonathan, the underclassman who she had briefly "dated" but their dates only consisted of him getting her coffee at the Bronze. But the girl was a mystery to her and she intended to keep it that way.

"And why would they want books?" Giles asked. "Computers are the only way to go, where information is not bound to books where only a handful of people can get to them."

"Ok, he is Giles, right?" Xander asked as he looked over at Buffy's Watcher as if he had grown an extra head or was wearing a giant bunny suit or something.

Jenny nodded as she sat up, adjusting her skirt as she did such. "It's Rupert. Why who'd you think he was?"

"It's just he's just not acting like--" Xander began before Cordelia interrupted him.

"You put him up to this!" she scolded the techno pagan. "You put some sort of computer curse on him, made him obsessed with them!"

"And why would I do that?" Jenny asked in shock. "I don't have that kind of power and even if I did, computers are the devil. Learning is supposed to smell like something and computers don't smell."

"Ok, you are Miss Calendar, right?" Xander asked as he gave her the same look he had been giving the computer-loving Giles.

Jenny nodded slightly. "And if you'll excuse me, I have something to look up. Cross-referencing to find...something," she mumbled as she headed into Giles's office.

"I'll probably find it much faster on these Web pages!" Giles called after Jenny almost as if he were challenging her before he sat down in front of the computer and started up the Internet.

"Um, ok, maybe we'll come back later," Jonathan began as he placed the books down on the counter and began heading out.

Xander sighed as he watched them go before turning back to Cordelia. "Wanna go to a closet and make out?" he whispered curiously.

A small smile snuck its way onto Cordelia's face as she began following Xander out of the library. "You bet," she whispered as she ran out ahead of him, to reduce their chances of getting revealed as a couple.

Jenny frowned nervously as she stood outside Giles's apartment. She had changed her clothes into something more suitable, a gray skirt coming to a little below her knees and a light blue shirt. Her shoes were also a more sensible brown loafers.

She stood impatiently as she wondered what exactly she should say to him. "I would really enjoy getting another chance for us to, perhaps, go out and eat something together, maybe"

At that moment the door opened and out came her Rupert. He had changed his clothes since she had last seen him and was now sporting a black pair of pants and a dark green shirt. "Yes?" he asked.

"I was wondering, if maybe, you might, if you're not too busy" Jenny began, already feeling like quite an idiot.

"Look, I'm about to go for dinner," Rupert told her. "You could join me and then tell me whatever you're trying to get out here."

Jenny smiled. "I'd like that" she said with a smile.

"And then the couch said that the cheerleaders to have more charisma," Cordelia prattled as the four Scoobies went out patrolling. "You think I have charisma, right? I mean, I have charisma coming out of my bottom!"

"Cordelia, shut up," Buffy commanded harshly as she looked around the graveyard. "I think I heard something."

Willow shook her head as she listened closely. Ever since she had staked her first vampire back with Spike's spell to restore Drusilla's health, she had been eager to do more patrolling and kill more things. "Sorry, Buff," she said honestly.

Buffy sighed as she placed her stake back inside the inner pocket in the leather coat Angel had given her months ago. "No, I'm sorry...I guess I'm just not feeling like myself."

"You and Giles alike," Cordelia mumbled.

"What?" Buffy and Willow asked as they turned around to face Cordelia and Xander.

"You didn't tell them?" Cordelia asked in shock as she turned to Xander.

Xander looked sheepishly over at Cordelia before turning back to Buffy and Willow, both of whom had their arms folded as they were waiting to find out what Xander did not tell them. "Uh, right. Before fifth period, Cordelia and I went into the library--"

"For books! For that history report!" Cordelia injected quickly.

Xander nodded once again. "Yea, for books. Anyway, while we were in there we saw Giles and Jenny. They were originally unconscious, but, uh, Cordelia woke Giles up and Jenny soon followed."

"So you think they were attacked?" Buffy asked, her fear for her Watcher obvious in her voice.

"Possibly," Xander answered quickly. "But that's not the point."

"It's not?" Buffy asked dubiously.

Xander nodded. "When they were awake, they were...different."

"Different?" Willow asked inquisitively as she looked at Xander. "Different how?"

"Different as in Giles was loving computers and the web while Jenny was all for books and cross referencing," Xander finished.

Buffy shook her head emphatically in denial. "No, no, that is not happening!"

"Actually, it is," Cordelia pointed out.

"It's too weird, there has to be an explanation for this," Willow argued. "Something

Hellmouth-y!" she added.

Buffy frowned. "Most likely, it is," she said with a nod. "But who would want to do something like that and how would they do it?" She turned back to Xander and Cordelia. "Was there anything else next to either one of them?"

Cordelia bit her lower lip slightly as she tried to remember anything that might have been there. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "There was something...Looked like tacky child's jewelry," she exclaimed.

"Split in two and kind of a bright blue color?" Buffy asked curiously.

"Something like that," Cordelia said with a shrug. "Why?"

Buffy sighed as she began heading for Weatherly Park. "I think I know where we can start looking for who did this," she said, her voice filled with determination and whatnot as she left, the other three following close behind.