Chapter two

A few days after her awakening Jesse walked beside Buffy through the Mall as she sucked noisily on her milkshake, taking in the new world, and talking…and talking and talking.

"Wow…" she rolled her eyes again at what a girl her own age was wearing, "I guess the Fashionocalypse happened while I was dead." She sucked more on the straw of her empty shake.

"Yeah…I guess." He sipped his coffee and tried to ignore how irritating the gurgling slurping sucking sound was. She had wanted to see the outside straight away.

"Not that I'm not grateful!" She reached hastily out a hand and rubbed his arm, then she looked away, "I…I was…about what happened with Angelus…uhm…and…well….Angel…I…"

"Huh?" He blinked in surprise, the memory of his anger and hurt at her betrayal briefly surfacing in his memory, like a distant whale blowing before sinking back into the ocean, "Oh…yeah…long time ago…well, for me." He shrugged,

"Oh…" she blushed, "Yeah…I guess for you it is…but, for me…what happened was…"

"Its OK." He smiled, and was surprised by her reaction.

"Its TOTALLY not OK…what…happened." She blinked, "Last night…last night TO ME…we talked and you…you said…"
"Buffy." Dropping his coffee into the trash he turned to face her, gripping her firmly on the forearms just below her elbow joint, "I don't want you to worry about it…its gone, I want you to think about getting yourself straight here…getting your life back together…we're cool, totally cool."

"We are?" large eyed she blinked away tears, "You forgive me? We're totally cool?"

"Totally!" he reassured her as she began to blubber, flinging her arms around him and hugging him tight, "Oh Jesse! You're the best boyfriend EVER!"

Without hesitating he gripped her tight, stiffening when he heard the girl who's clothes Buffy had been critical of loudly stage whisper to her friend "Eww…cradlesnatching..."

##

A little later they sat eating in the food court, holding hands while he filled Buffy in on a synopsis of the events of the last decades and she shoveled food into her mouth at a prodigious rate with her free limb. He resisted the urge to tell her to slow down before she got indigestion.

"So your like… a Boy Witch?" her eyes had widened at his description of a couple of the fights they had had when she had been...away.

He winced, "Nooooo…. A Boy Witch would be a warlock. I do,I DID, a few spells for the gang back in the day."

"Back in the day?" She half grinned at him, "Cute…older boyfriend talk."

"Oh…sorry. Didn't mean to sound condescending."

"No…I Like it." She nodded, "Makes you sound all experienced, worldly … James Bond like with a hint of Giles…" She frowned, "Where is Giles?"

"Oh." Jesse grimaced, wishing that they had had a chance to breif her before her super fast Slayer healing had made her want to be mobile again "I guess you never knew, before he shot you Angelus killed him."

"Giles is…dead?" her face fell and she really did begin to cry this time.

"Yeah…sorry about that. Should have told you." Jesse glanced around at the people who were noticing.

"Sorry about that?" she snapped, "Your 'SORRY' about forgetting to tell me my…best…my uhh…" she struggled to find a word for the man, "My…uhh..Giles…is DEAD." She began blubbering again and he looked at her , not sure if he should hug her or what. Her eyes widened suddenly as another thought came to her, "What about my Mom?"

"I…I uhh…I'm sorry." He felt suddenly out of his depth, way out, "I think it was a brain tumor or something…maybe…ten years ago?"

She gave a low moan, dropping her face to the table, eyes fixed millimeters from its glossy if dirty surface, after a long pause she asked, "My…dad?"

"I don't know…" he reached out his hands, resting them both on her shoulders and doing his best to give her comfort. He took one hand from her and reached into his pocket when his phone vibrated sharply, holding it over her shoulder as he checked the message.

COME BACK RIGHT . WILLOW

#####

He arrived to chaos, this office had about thirty people full time, technicians, doctors and lawyers, some actual Watchers like Willow and a number of thugs like the one who had picked him up from the airport. At least double that number of people were currently decamping from SUV's. He saw Willow talking to a heavy set bearded man he didn't recognize, she saw him and Buffy at the same time some of the new arrivals did.

"Whats happening?" Buffy asked, stiffening as a number of suited people approached.

"Just be cool Buffy…" Jesse said in a low, warning voice, "Take it easy and it should all be OK."

"Miss Summers?" A middle aged thin and dangerous looking Englishman in glasses asked her, making it quite clear he knew the answer anyway. He had an ugly scar that ran under his right eye, zizzaged down his cheek and the side of his neck before vanished into the impeccably white collar of his shirt.

"Who are you?" Buffy looked at him suspiciously, folding her arms across her chest.

"Wyndham-Price…Delighted to meet you. If you would just…" He smiled, indicating that she should come into the building with him, "We can get this over with quick smart."

"Get WHAT over with?" Jesse asked, stepping forwards to interspaced himself a little between them.

"The examination…serious events have transpired here. Serious, ahh, events that require us to take stock of the situation." He raised an eyebrow at Jesse's expression, "However, for Miss Summers, at this time, its mainly a medical examination."

"What about Willow?"

"Ahh… well, that remains to be seen…" He smiled blandly, "The council will make every effort to ascertain exactly what has transpired here." Behind him a young woman walked up, she wore a loose fitting track suit, brown hair cropped short and hard green eyes studying the two of them, especially Buffy.

"I don't think Buffy wants-" Jesse stepped forwards, this time standing directly between them, the girl was already moving, a shift of weight that was almost imperceptible as she readied herself for violence.

"OK." Buffy stepped past him, "Its OK Jesse…" she studied the man, glancing superciliously over at the girl, "But Jesse gets to leave."

"Ahh.." Price looked pained, "Well…we would PREFER if he were to-"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Jesse protested, stepping up beside her, "I'm as much part of this as she is."

"Jesse." Buffy put a hand on his shoulder.

"No way Buffy… look, you don't know these people."

"If we could take this inside…now?" Price asked, "Please?" he blew air irritatedly, glancing over his shoulder and shaking his head, "Sari…do you think you could go and fetch my case from the car? We don't need you right now…" His bland, expressionless face softened for a moment as he spoke to her and she gave a small half smile in return, relaxing and stepping back two steps. She didn't leave though, and Jesse got the feeling that were he or Buffy to approach the Watcher too fast things would get very bad, very quickly.

"Miss Summers…" The English man glanced around, looking uncomfortable, "We really should get-" Moving rapidly he body slammed her, taking her by surprise and she stumbled backwards and skidded onto her backside.

"What the H-" Jesses shout of anger was cut off when he saw that the spreading red spot on the Englishmans shirt.

"Oh," he made a coughing attempt at a laugh, "That's going to stain…" falling forwards as there was a puff of dust on the concrete of the parking lot right beside Buffy and a high pitched whizzing sound.

The people in the parking lot began to move fast, most running for the building, the girl, Prices Slayer as Jesse had guessed, was dragging her Watcher back into the building while Buffy was on her feet and pulling Jesse with her into the cover of the building. A couple of the Council thugs had drawn handguns which they were pointing around at nothing in particular…under gunned, he realized, no surprise since they didn't really DO firearms very well. It just wasn't their thing.

Once safely in the cover of the lobby Buffy didn't spare him a glance as she rushed back out the main entrance.

######

Sari the Vampire Slayer didn't speak much to those around her, even had English been her native tongue. She was laconic even in the German spoken in her home Canton of Switzerland.

She didn't like guns, but had no strong feelings against them. She just distrusted them in the manner of one who is used to having physical superiority over those around her and did not like the way they made others an equal threat to herself without a Slayers gifts or years of training.

She was, however, Swiss, and her brother had loved shooting. Firearms were no great mystery to her and after she lay Wesley down on the carpet of the lobby and closed his eyes gently with her fingertips she found her mind calmly running through the shooting positions the bullet could have come from. The building across the street seemed most likely to her.

With controlled power she turned, running down the hall to where she had seen a fire exit, kicking it open and bursting out into the alleyway. She didn't stop for a second, crossing the alley and pressing herself against the wall, crouching low and scanning the windows across the street…this industrial park was run down. The council building was the only one currently in use. Thinking only of her path she burst forth, crossing the gap between her building and the other with inhuman speed, Inhuman, slayer speed.

When she caught the sniper they was going to see just how inhuman she could be.

######

Jesse caught up with Willow in the lobby as the panicked people milled about. She bumped his arm, nodding her head sideways and heading for the hallway. He followed and they ducked into an office, Willow locking the door before turning to him and gripping his forearms with a hurried, panic stricken look upon her face.

"What's going on?" He asked her as she silently closed the door.

"The Council has suspended me…pending an investigation…pending them firing me. Not important now." She shrugged, blowing an irritated breath through pursed lips, "I knew they would."

"Who the hell is shooting?"

"They'll kill Buffy!" Willow said urgently, leaning towards him and speaking in a sharp voice "I don't have time to explain! You need to open the portal!"
"What Portal?" He was confused, feeling overwhelmed by this life that he had tried very hard to leave behind.

"The Portal! There's a feed back loop!" Willow gripped his arms urgently, "Jenny worked it out this morning! If we don't open it to bleed off the Tacheons it could cause a loop!"

"Whaaa…" he blinked, unsure what she was saying.

"Jenny realized it this morning….I called you but then the Council showed up…they know about the loop! They wont let me open the portal…the only other way to close it is to KILL Buffy!"

"Kill Buffy! I wont let…" He felt a wave of dark anger rise from his navel, through his chest and up into his throat. It should have scared him how easily the anger came back.

"You wont be able to! We need to close the loop! NOW Before they get to her!" Willow thrust the box containing the pendant into his hands. "You need to do it NOW!"

"Back to the night…." He reached in, grasping the cold stone in his hand and beginning to focus his will.

"No!" Willow slapped his arm urgently…pulling from her pocket a piece of paper with neat handwriting upon it, "Jenny worked it out…. Here!" She shoved a piece of crumpled paper into his hand and he read the scrawled date, frowning for a moment.

"I…" He was about to tell her that he didn't understand when the door handle was gently turned, making them both glance in its direction. The latch in the center of the knob was turned down to lock it. There was a very short pause then the handle was tried again, this time more forcefully and with a shake.

"Quickly!" Willow hissed and he obeyed, focusing his mind on the date, trying to see the past and feeling the aura of unreality around the stones edges fold and warp to his will. The portal formed beside him, less clearly then before, not as well defined and with an ugly swirling blackness.

"Thanks!" Willow smiled at him just as several things happened simultatiously….first the door flew open, propelled by the boot of a rather fat black man holding a telescoping baton, second a look of sad solemnity spread across Willows face and she backed into the portal, giving a half wave, and third Jesse realized the significance of the date on the paper.

He was just reaching out a hand towards Willow when real time seamed to kick in and two tiny darts dug into his clothes and 100,000 volts shocked the sudden understanding of betrayal right back out of his brain, along with consciousness.