Time Frame: A decade or so after both BtVS & AtS finales.

Rating: T-Mature (cuz Faith still curses like a sailor)

This story contains several gay relationships, consider yourselves forewarned.

Pairings: as of the moment B/F, Wes/Ill are planned, more may eventually follow.

Legalities: All B:tVS characters are that of the Mighty Whedon and his glorious intellect. This work is meant only in celebration and nothing ulterior.


Chapter 3 - Corporate Restructuring

The truth is a complicated thing, and the consequences from them, dangerous. The world hides the truth away in the deepest and darkest places, and those who eventually discover them, discover burden. He who increases knowledge increases sorrow, reads the Bible, this is most relevant with the knowledge of truths.

When Jacob Turner, watcher of the Council, discovered the truth of things, that the world was older than he knew, he became childishly excited and did not truly process the scope of his discovery. The horrors he experienced working with the New Watcher's Council was a rude awakening to how vicious, how uncaring and dangerous the world actually was and despite all the terrors the darkness had to offer, Jacob gazed into the eyes of malevolence incarnate and stared it down. He had killed an Old One, one of the most powerful demons in existence. He was a hero that day. Afterwards, he decided that his place with the Council was in libraries and doing research, well away from the front lines of the Council's endless war. Xander Harris, in an effort to show Jacob a new side of a watcher's duty, insisted that he come along a mission to gather a recently discovered potential. He wanted to show Jacob that some field work could be simple affairs. The trip should be easy plus air travel, Xander told Jacob at the start of it all, but the world likes to make liars of us all.

The two were kidnapped at gunpoint by Baron Kriminel within the hour they sent off Marie, their discovered potential slayer, on a plane out of Haiti, and now they were tied to a metal post with wild and presumably hungry animals headed their way. The small pack of hyenas eyed and sniffed the pile of raw liver at the two watcher's feet. As scared as Jacob was, Xander seemed pleased. So pleased that the older watcher could not stop laughing at the sight of the African animals. His laughter was near maniacal and Jacob tugged at the bonds around his wrists harder. The yipping beasts padded towards the watchers and the ropes only got tighter. The Baron's armed men watched, surrounding the two captives, ensuring they could not escape.

Baron Krimenel lit a cigar in celebration and just as flame lit paper and tobacco, just as man and beast's laugh matched in pitch, a deep green flashed across Xander's single eye, and residual primal magicks flared to life.

The hyenas lunged. To Jacob's surprise, the portion of the ropes that bound the watchers to the metal post were shredded by their sharp fangs. Other hyenas had turned and attacked Baron Kriminel's men who fired their AK-47s in panicked defense. The loud staccato of gunfire rang through the air as men started screaming and hyena growled and barked. A man's throat was ripped clear out, falling to the ground only to be torn apart by more hyenas amid the blood spray. The Baron, in his loud clothes, was chased around the Colosseum replica comically by a pair of his newly acquired pets.

"Jake, let'im get your wrists too!" Xander indicated to the hyena chewing at the restraints that held his wrists. The younger watcher fell to his knees his roped hands held out to one of the animals, as though begging for his freedom. The hyena obliged tearing through the ropes.

"How are you doing this?" Jacob asked wide-eyed at Xander over the screaming, the growling, and the gunfire.

"Call it one of the little perks from growing up on a Hellmouth, kid." A hard grin came from Xander as their binds were chewed free.

The watcher gave the hyena a scratch on the back of its head and the dog-like animal gave Xander a dopey face in return. The two watchers kept crouched, when Xander spotted a fallen AK, they half duck-walked and half crawled towards the weapon. The one-eyed watcher grabbed the gun and blew off the sand on it's side. Xander motioned for his junior co-worker to check the body that was besides the automatic weapon as he made a quick inspection of the weapon.

Jacob grimaced and gulped, but survival outweighed propriety. His large soft hands rifled through the dead man's clothes, he was quick but was still wary of getting blood on his clothes. A heavy black revolver was found, it felt comfortable in his grip, he had trained with revolvers under Buffy Summers herself, though it was a rarity that he ever had to actually use one. The sporadic gunfire behind him made him twitch as he conducted his grim task. A further search and bullets were found, the younger watcher pocketed them and nodded to his superior. They shuffled off towards the double door that lead to the only visible exit with Xander keeping the found rifle trained on the chaos of semi-wild animals attacking armed men, Jacob cocked and readied the pistol in his hand. The dopey hyena followed behind.

Xander signaled for Jacob to check farther down the hallway they entered as he shut and barred the doors behind him ensuring no escape from the men inside. Catching up to the other watcher, he got a distinct look from the junior watcher.

"What's with the eyes?" Xander asked with an almost Seinfeld tone and posture.

"It's just...I mean..." Jacob's voice, unsure about how to ask his question, faltered and paused. His eyes darted to the securely fastened door behind them.

"What, you mean that?" Xander threw a thumb over his shoulder noticing Jacobs eye-line. He started walking away and talking at once. "Don't worry, kid. Some of them will probably make it out just fine."

"I don't know, those hyenas looked like they had those guys on the ropes back there."

"I was talking about the hyenas, Jake." The stray hyena behind them yipped in agreement. Xander looked back with a grin at Jacob who raised his pistol in the one-eyed man's direction.

"Jeez, Jake, it was a joke!"

"DOWN!" Jacob yelled and as his fellow watcher hit the deck. The younger watcher aimed center mass and squeezed the trigger, the gun boomed in his ears and a man with an automatic rifle, farther down the hall, fell to the floor unmoving. Jacob froze at the sight of it.

"He was...I just...he was bringin' his gun up and I just..." Jacob stuttered as he spoke; he'd never killed anyone before. Xander stepped up to the younger man and placed rough, calloused hands on the junior watcher's shoulders.

"Why do you train with guns, Jake?" Xander asked solemnly, locking his single good eye on the younger watcher.

"In case I need to fire one." Jacob responded automatically.

"Did you need to fire a gun, Jake?"

"He was bringing his barrel up." Jacob explained, his words sounded hollow in his own ears. Pounding sounds and screaming came from down the hall, their distance allowing them to hear people banging on the locked door in the opposite direction down the hall. The younger watcher returned to himself but couldn't bring himself to move.

"We gotta go, Jake." Xander reminded hearing the screams from beyond the locked door, and after a moment, the two watchers ran. Despite himself, Jacob looked at the dead man's face as they passed it by.


Wendy had just dropped Buffy off to do another interview, and was now headed to Woodbury Elementary School. Nicky would be getting out soon. She glanced at her passenger seat, distracted by a cellphone was her usual partner for this task. Big black bushy kinky hair, barely tied back, allowed for a makeshift pillow for Jessie Miller. After earning her full slayer rank, one of the youngest in the new Council's history, Jessie worked a lot with Wendy. Short with olive skin and big bright brown eyes, she looked so young and eager, Wendy sometimes forgot this girl was almost a veteran in the Council's shadowy war. She the seventeen year old wore tight jeans, Chuck Taylor sneakers, and a light hoody sweater, Wendy was office appropriate but bright in her soft blue flat shoes, white blouse and pencil skirt. Despite their age difference, the two got on mostly well.

POP!

Jessie popped her bubblegum as she played video games on her smart phone, Wendy winced at the sound.

POP!

"Jessie!" Wendy exclaimed at her young partner, annoyed at the jarring noise of the candy.

"Sorry!" Jessie muffled as she chewed the excess gum back into her mouth. "I found a Game Boy Advance emulator for my phone and I've been playing Pokemon Sapphire non-stop! I get so into it I forget about the gum, sorry."

"No problem, but please try not to forget." Wendy reminded as she put her focus back on the road letting the teen's distracted babble act as white noise in her background.

"The controls are weird but I think I can configure them in the settings somewhere. It still beats last time when I downloaded the untranslated Japanese version, I couldn't figure anything out!" Jessie went on as Wendy turned into Woodland road, a busy street with cars lining the curbs and the school stood just beyond the grass lawn. Woodbury Elementary School was four storied and a whitewashed tower shot up to the heavens at the center of the red brick building.

From the torrent of children emerging from large double doors, a child was escorted towards Wendy's car. The young charge barely made four feet tall and had a bright blue book-bag on his back. Of the louder screeching of happy children leaving school, he was calm and collected as he was walked to the sedan. Jessie got out the door to say hello to little Nicky and his escort.

"Hey, Nicky! Hey Denise!" was the short slayer's jovial greeting. The young blonde slayer let Nicky's hand go and the child ran to Jessie with a laugh. When he was in arms length, the child was picked up and tossed into the air like a toddler to Nicky's giggling pleasure.

"Jessie, quit that! Someone might see!" The older slayer scolded her former squadmate lightly scratching a vicious scar on her arm, above the elbow.

"Aw, he loves it." Jessie gave Nicky another small toss and then put the laughing child down.

"Hi, Jess! Are my moms busy?" the small child asked in between his laughing.

"Yeah, they had to take care of stuff for the Council, so you're with Illyria for the afternoon." Jessie explained to the child.

The much shorter girl looked up to her former squad-leader, Denise had quit a few months after another squadmate of theirs had died. Wanting a break from active slaying was her excuse to be a position for an aide at the school opened, she jumped at it. Getting some prestige in guarding the Slayer's child wasn't something to ignore either.

"Hows the new gig? Jessie asked.

A shrug. "Nothin' crazy, I help kindergartners with finger painting." Denise answered, chuckling a little. "It's kind of relaxing actually, especially compared to squad work." she added.

"It seems good for you." Jessie told the other slayer with a smile.

With a hug and a wave the three parted and the car ride was continued. Wendy would deliver the child to Giles or Wesley and Illyria, in their care, Nicky would stay until one of his mothers came and got him.

In the lounging area of the second floor the Angel Investigations's Cleveland office, during one of many babbysittings, Nicky Summers-Lehane did his homework on the carpeted floor quietly while Illyria, God-King of the Primordium, with her azure skin revealed, read the owner's manual to her newly purchased motorcycle as she sat upon a large cushioned chair. The space was well furnished but sparsely decorated, reflecting British reservedness and demonic efficiency. The child looked up at the demon and became curious at the booklet in her hands.

"What are you reading Autie Leery?"

The primordial demoness answered seriously. "Your Uncle Wesley and I bought a motorcycle recently, I am learning of its workings now. A true warrior must understand their weapon thoroughly."

"How can a motorcycle be a weapon?" Nicky asked curiously.

"Anything thing is a weapon, child, even a shield can kill." The God-King declared. Nicky stopped and thought about that idea but ultimately returned to his maths. Illyria glanced at the digital clock on a side-table, she had enough time to cook.

"Nicholas." She addressed the small boy who looked up at the blue demon. "Would you like quesadillas?"

Nicky smiled and nodded.


Percy West was a hard-working, smart and humble man, cutbacks in his former accounting office did not take this into consideration. Percy West was a confident man, physically fit and educated, a man in his prime. After the self-entitlement was choked out of him, the former star basketball player learned to work hard academically as well as athletically. He earned almost a full scholarship to college and rode high on the success until a broken knee kept him off the courts. Despite losing the scholarship, Percy still graduated with an Accounting major and a minor in History. Afterwards, he got his CPA licence and married his college sweetheart.

His focus and determination kept him going despite the failures in his life; a dream crushing injury in college, extensive unemployment, a failed marriage, none of those things stopped Percy West from crawling forward to his eventual goal. Tall, good-looking, and charming, Percy would be a catch for any woman, as long as she didn't mind his sporadic income and bitchy ex-wife. Percy west was a fighter and a survivor, walking away from Sunnydale with all his limbs was no small task.

He sat alone in a small waiting room for his job interview, white walled and well decorated with landscape paintings, the florescent lights above shone a nearly harsh light. This was the thirteenth interview in the last three months; All signs normal, he thought ruefully.

Well dressed and well rehearsed, Percy was ready for this. Re-straightening his tie didn't make him feel any better and the drumming of his fingers against his slim briefcase was starting to sound annoying. Percy was nervous. It felt like he had been in this room, by himself, for an eternity. He checked his cellphone clock, seven minutes had passed.

At the edge of composure, Percy West was about to start sweating when a door opened up and a muscular, blonde, teen-aged girl stepped out.

"Mister West, they're ready for you now." At her words, Percy stood and gave the girl a casual smile.

"Thank you." He stepped up and at the door buttoned his suit-jacket. This was it, he was in. Turning off his smartphone, he exhaled and relaxed. He already had a phone interview and now he was having his first face-to-face with the department heads themselves. Between his good looks, his practiced charm, and well-polished circum vite, Percy made a hell of a first impression.

With a quiet but deep intake of breath, Percy entered a small office with a door at the opposite wall, the young girl moved to open it for Percy. After a step through, seeing what was beyond it, Percy nearly wet himself.

He was doomed.


"Willow!"

"Buffy!"

The women squealed from across the empty hallway. After exiting the elevator for the fifth floor of the Council's main building, Buffy saw one of her best and oldest friends. both wore office appropriate clothes, though Willow leaned more towards a Victorian theme touched with Gothic and Gypsy with her long flowing skirt, bodice and half shawl, leaving Buffy looking like an everyday paper pusher in her light-gray pinstripe skirt-suit, even the tan, leather portfolio she carried had several office forms she needed to submit to HR at the end of her day cemented the corporate essence of her attire.

When the two spotted each other, the blonde and the red-head rushed past office, and conference room doors to hug one another.

"I haven't seen you since forever!" Willow expressed with a tightening of her hug.

"I know! What are you doing here? I thought you were in Florida talking with the coven."

"I was but things went south, no pun intended." Willow rolled her eyes. "I had to come up here to confer more with Giles and Wes on everything, then I was asked to fill in for an interview." the red-head pouted. Buffy knew what that meant, another position that need to be covered for whatever Council related reason, she hoped it wasn't because of a death.

"Is it for HR? I've been interviewing for them the last couple days." the blonde asked hopefully.

"Yeah! It is!" Willow answered happily. "We're gonna be doing it together! This is gonna be great! We're gonna be all cool and professional and stuff, asking serious professional interview questions like 'Where do you see yourself in five years?' and 'What do you feel like is your biggest flaw?' Willow imitated stiffly before she broke and returned to bouncing on her heels, excited at the prospect of working with one of her best-friends, which transferred over to Buffy who happily bounced and hugged the woman back, all grim inference of the task forgotten.

The giddy women finally separated and Buffy lead Willow to the designated conference room. They chatted as they walked down the gray carpeted office hallway, catching up on juicy gossip and meaty rumors. Mostly they spoke of the coven that Willow, herself, created.

"Now they want to go all isolationism on us since that thing a last month!"

"Willow..." Buffy began.

"Okay, I know! A lot of people died." Willow started the sentence loudly, then trailed off in the end, shame coloring her words. "So many people died." The witch added dejectedly.

"I heard Frank Dobbs is coming out of bed-rest now." Buffy offered, referring to a Coven brother she fought besides several times before, a common acquaintance that was hospitalized after an attack that hit their New York building.

"I'm glad, he's a decent guy. He's always been happy to help and I'm going to need it to keep the sisters from trying to leave. It's so unfair, I made the whole stupid coven in the first place and now it's turned into this thing I can't control, a...a TV without a remote!" Willow finished with a satisfied nod and pout. "And all that's show are those boring Lifetime movies with that lady from Doctor Quinn that I think is stupid." Buffy could not help but see the teenager she had met years ago in Sunnydale Highschool now with Willow as the red-head babbled her indignation.

"I'm sure that you can figure this all out, and you know me and Giles are in your corner no matter what." Buffy assured her friend with another hug as they stopped before a door.

"Thanks, Buffy." Willow said sincerely as she broke the hug. A small sigh and a thought occurred to Buffy.

"Hey, there's supposed to be three of us doing this, I wonder where the third is?" the blonde mused aloud to the shrug of her friend. They opened the door and the pair squealed in unison.

"Xander!" They rushed the one-eyed man seated at the head of the dark-brown, near room-length table surrounded with chairs, there was a single folder upon the surface before Xander, but it was ignored for the time being. Buffy near tore him from his position and lifted him into a hug, and finally lowered him to the floor, allowing Willow to join in on the embrace.

"Buff...sorta tight...can't..." The one-eyed man choked out. Xander was still in his usual jeans, boots and flannel shirt ensemble with his old brown jacket over it.

Buffy eased up on her bear-hug to give one of her best-friends a concerned look. "You and Jake are back from Haiti already? Everything turn out okay?" She asked as Xander regained his breath.

"A-okay." Xander lied giving Willow another little hug and easing back into his chair, breathing normally again. "Me and Jake got our potential on a plane, got into some hub-bub with the locals, figured that out and skedaddled."

"Nice to hear something turned out fine these days." Buffy sighed, feeling tired again. She sat besides her friend.

"Yeah, I feel like we've been on the defensive for so long that I've forgotten what a real win feels like." Willow asked taking a seat on Xander's left.

"Hey, things are not that bad." Xander soothed.

"Oh, come on Xander, it's kinda bad. Between the craziness in New York and the who knows how many now ambushes..." Buffy huffed, remembering to be frustrated and annoyed at the Council's current situation.

"Hey, you don't have to tell me about New York. I saw it with my own eye," The watcher gave a point to his good single brown peeper, "but New York isn't the point. The point is," he paused and gave a look to his two best-friends, "the point is we got the potential. We got a scared young girl out of a bad situation and brought her to some place where she's being cared for, best of all, everyone got home safe." Xander reminded. "I say that is most definitely feels like real a win to me."

Buffy nodded, feeling better focusing on good news. "And we didn't lose any girls in New York either, or even the reservists we called in. Andrew told me it was handled as best as it could have been."

"See guys? Don't be so down on all of this, sure we're taking hits, but we're holding our ground. Our feet are planted and as soon as we figure this big bad out we'll take our first step forward. Trust our guys to scooby this all out." the one-eyed watcher assured the Slayer and the Red Witch. "And when we do..."

"Yeah, we got this." Willow gave a hard nod, her face filled with resolve. Then the face shifted to one of eager gossip. "Ooh, ooh! Did you hear that Andrew's dating Riley's little cousin?"

Buffy went bug-eyed and open-mouthed at the news. "No way! Riley? Finn? For how long?"

"I think almost a year now." Willow recalled.

"Oh, yeah, I met the guy and his family in New York, definitely Iowans." Xander added.

"That's crazy. I mean that's the longest he's ever been with someone and it's Riley's cousin. Does he know they're dating?" Buffy asked.

"He set them up." Xander revealed to the aww's of the two women.

"I guess there's good news all around after all." Willow admitted, happier than before.

"And then there's this thing." Xander said as he looked down on to the singular object on the table before him. The forgotten folder, related to their forgotten task. The three stared at the paper thing a moment wordlessly till Xander simply opened it and began reading the stapled forms within. Xander shot up bolt straight and looked to his two best friends.

"You will never guess who we are going to interview."

Willow leaned over and read from her chair, "Holy shit! It's Percy Fucking West!"

She was agape and pointing, almost jabbing her finger at the file looking to her friends. "He pushed me around when I tried to tutor him! He was my bully and my tutee!" she whined. Xander and Buffy paused unsure how to respond. "Tutee means someone that's tutored." Willow explained, still clearly upset. The other two made enlightened oh faces, and moved to comfort their friend.

"It's okay Wills, you've faced way worse, seeing Percy again is no big deal, right?" Xander soothed.

"And didn't vamp-you use him to break a pool table at the Bronze?" Buffy remembered. "So he's probably still terrified of you."

"And you're pretty much set up as a CEO of a multinational NGO and charity, and he's asking you for a job. I'm going to say you've got the power position between the two of you." Xander assured.

"But, but..." Willow stammered her objection. "He called me a nerd!" She finished obstinately.

"Will, it's okay, we've all moved on from the past. And we have to be professional about this." Buffy told the red-head as she started to flip through the file on her former schoolmate. "He seems to know his stuff, lots of past experience working in smaller firms, and a few years with a really big one."

"He was on a sports scholarship, how is he an accountant now?" Willow huffed as she began looking over the file with Buffy, both women leaning over the middle of the table, crowding Xander.

"People change Wills, you know that." the watcher answered and the witch only pouted with annoyance looking over the information on her past bully.

"We better send him in now," Buffy decided looking at her cellphone clock and then reaching for her leather portfolio.

She unzipped it and laid it on the table, opening like a book, within were forms and premade questions to use during the interview, several pens and a notepad. She started organizing the papers in front of her, gathering them up and straightening them to her liking. The other two only watched her. Buffy began arranging her pens and set three neatly besides the notepad, spacing them a finger's width away from from each other. Willow raised an eyebrow at this and Xander only smirked at their friend.

"What?" Buffy asked looking up, finally satisfied with the placement of all her materials.

Willow smiled, her previous anger forgotten, happy again being around her oldest friends. "I missed you guys." More awws came from Buffy and Xander and the Scoobies hugged again.

"Let's get started guys." Buffy reminded the two softly as she broke the embrace. and the three began reading the manila folder full of information on a former Sunnydaler.


Percy West stood before three faces he had not thought of since freshman year in college. Buffy Summers, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg all sat before him with expectant looks. He was speechless, he did not know what to do. He felt his palms begin sweating, one hand clutched on to his briefcase like a lifeline. He tried moving his mouth but his words vanished in his throat. It was useless, he had no chance. He remembered what he was to these three when in Sunnydale Highschool. He was a young dumb kid; a privileged, egotistical jock who made these three the victims of his immaturity. Now he was going to try to ask them for a job. And what the hell happened to Xander's eye?

This had to be a nightmare. There was no other explanation to it, this had to be some terrible dream. This had happened before, he stepped into a job interview and had to fist-fight Snyder, his high school principal. Sometimes when he dreamed he could hover in place, he attempted that and made an awkward small hop forward. Seeing this, the three watching him exchanged confused looks with each other and then looked back to Percy unsure how to address what he had done. Nothing happened and Percy simply stood in place, internally screaming in panic.

This was reality. The people he had bullied in his teens really were interviewing him for a job, this was actually happening. Percy was stuck in himself, and finally, it was Sunnydale Highschool's Class Protector herself that spoke up first.

"Hey, Percy. Have a seat." Buffy greeted her old classmate with a friendly smile.

That was all it took to shift Percy's mind back into place. This may be the most horrific situation he had even encountered during a job interview, but fear took a backseat to Percy in game mode. He had done this a thousand times before, gave the same speeches about his strengths and weaknesses, in countless other interviews. Offering solutions to hypotheticals given by those judging him have become near reflex. This would be no different, he would answer all their questions as well as he could and let his circum vitae show his decade of experiences in the accounting field. The countless times he had went on an infinitesimal job interviews before had prepared him for his moment, the moment all unemployed office workers of the world fear the most; the worst interview ever possible. But even that would not stop Percy West.

With a dramatic flare to unbuttoning his suit-jacket and taking a seat he gave the three other Sunnydale alums a dazzling smile. "Hey, guys. This is a real surprise seeing the three of you here."

Xander grinned and Percy saw the unmistakable King of Cretins from his past once again. "How've you been Percy? I mean, accountant? That's sort of a one-eighty since I heard of you last." A twinkle in Xander's single-eye reminded of Percy verbal sparring in hallways with Cordelia Chase, the only person that could match Queen C word for word.

Percy made a modest face, "Weirder things have happened; I mean, what's with you guys interviewing an accountant?" Xander smiled, amused at the turnaround and Percy smiled back. "I was told I'd be meeting with the department heads, and then I see you three, do you run Accounting or is this some kind of impromptu Razorbacks reunion?"

"We're going through some restructuring right now and had to fill in." Buffy answered, there was something mechanical in her tone, as though the phrase was said too often.

"What do you guys normally do for NWC Holdings?" Percy used the name for the subsidiary the Council used for it's more mundane elements, like logistics and food services, accounting as well.

"I take care of the IT, Buffy usually handles the academic side of things and Xander," Willow cast her oldest friend a fond smile and a side-ways glance, "well Xander's everywhere doing everything." The one-eyed man only shrugged modestly. The redhead suddenly took a colder, more professional tone as she turned to look back on the well-dressed man sitting before them.

"But we're stretched thin Percy, which is why you're here. The position you're interviewing for is Department Lead, which answers to the CFO, which answers to chairmen of the board, effectively us," both Xander and Buffy gave her pointed looks, "and three others." Willow added quickly. "What do you know of the organization?"

"I know the NWC does a lot of international charity work and in between the private schools and women's shelters you also do a lot of historical restoration and preservation, specifically antiquities. I can imagine your accounts payables system must be incredibly diverse." Willow smiled to herself remembering how the demons that ran Accounting last had said the same thing, but then she remembered to be angry at her former bully and the smile vanished and turned into an almost glare directed at Percy.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it." Willow half derided, Percy felt the chill from her comment, as did the two that sat besides her.

"Okay, I like to tackle the big things first, so I'll just ask the big question, Percy, can you handle this? I've read your file, your CV is great," Buffy stepped in, sensing the aggression from Willow. Percy beamed at her compliment, "but you've never had any experience tackling anything this large before." Buffy pointed out and Percy frowned.

The first killer of the interview reared it's ugly head. Experience necessary. "No, I have never lead an entire department before, but coming up against something big and ugly isn't going to stop me from rolling up my sleeves and figure out the first step." Percy declared. "I've lead teams before in high-school."

"This isn't high-school, Percy." Willow reminded coolly.

"No, it's not, but we learned a lot of things there didn't we?" Percy, countered, Xander made a small smile watching the man stand up for himself.

"Why do you say that?" Buffy asked, a little thrown off. Willow scowled at him, and Percy almost faltered but pressed on instead.

"I'm saying that playing point-guard for the Razorbacks in Sunnydale helped develop an understanding of leadership. I also learned to work hard and never ever underestimate people." He looked at Willow pointedly with his last sentence. Her face softened at that but she continued scowling. Percy then turned his eyes to Xander giving him a hard look. "At graduation I learned to take orders without question, to listen for the call and move forward when I'm told. You put me in charge of the spearmen that day."

The one-eyed man watcher remembered and nodded to the accountant who returned it solemnly, like a salute between two old soldiers.

"I know how to work on both sides of the team, to give out orders and to take them. I have the experience in almost all current accounting software, so any system you already have up will be at least familiar."

"You know all of them, Percy? That's a big claim." Willow challenged smugly.

"Anything that's relevant currently, from ACOMBA to Wynyard, my CV backs me up." Percy affirmed with conviction.

"I didn't see Netsuite on your list of experiences, and that covers a pretty large niche in NGO accounting." The redhead brought up, Xander and Buffy turned to each other with the same unspoken thought, When did Willow know anything about corporate accounting software?

"Netsuite is a dying brand that sold most of its system structure to Microsoft Dynamics, which I do have experience in." the accountant countered.

"Well, okay then." Willow breathed out, defeat in her tone but defiance in her eyes.

"It's better to be prepared for everything, you taught me that." Percy reminded Willow, who looked chastised but resentful despite.

"So this is good! This is great!" Xander declared jovially, breaking the tension with expertise. Using his outstretched hand to indicate to Percy, the Sunnydaler turned to his friends, "He's got experience, he's got know-how and he's got gumption, those are all pluses in my book. And he's a Sunnydaler, so he's got my vote! When does he start?" He finished by swishing his extended hand to a pointed finger above his head. The other two women rolled their eyes at him.

"I guess you're not in the office all that much." Percy assumed.

"What? How'd you guess, asides from everything about me?" Xander asked, his trademark smirk plastered on his face.

"This was just HR stuff, right? Even if you guys do okay me," Percy glanced at Willow, "there's the actual accounting people that I'll have to talk to also."

Buffy nodded at Percy's apt assessment. "There's a process for big positions like this, usually a long one. Sometimes up to five different interviews." She explained to her friend and Xander frowned.

"That sucks."

"That's corporate life." Percy smiled wryly. A sudden lull in the conversation stretched out for along few moments until Willow spoke up.

"So I guess that's where we are now, whether or not we okay you." Willow declared and the other two seemed to agree with her, Percy braced himself.

"You've got my vote." Buffy declared.

"Well that's two votes for you so I guess mine won't matter, "Willow started and Percy nodded respectfully, "but you've got my vote anyway."

Percy grinned widely. "Wow, usually I'm waiting for weeks for any kind of phone call just to find out I didn't get the job." their former classmate admitted.

"You haven't gotten the job yet, Percy." Buffy clarified.

"I know but, you know what I mean." the man muttered, rebuked.

"Yes, I did, but I needed to be clear," the small blonde spoke up, and sitting straighter, "I know nothing about the accounting side of things here but I am pretty good with people, and you've changed since I last saw you Percy, you're like a real person now. But I remember how you were and that you helped us despite. I'm giving you an okay because if we do hire you, there's already a lot of things we won't need to hold your hand for." Buffy gave him an examining look. "Before you agree to go further, because you're from Sunnydale, because you fought besides us in graduation, there's something you need to know..." Buffy began, Xander and Willow looked to her as though they were unsure of what she was doing.

"Do you guys still fight monsters and stuff?" Percy interrupted, a little unsure himself. All three looked surprised, Xander looked as though he was going to say something, but just grinned instead.

Buffy, taken aback and the tension she was purposely building deflated, slumped a little in her chair, "Aw, I was gonna do this whole thing." The petite blonde pouted as she waved her hand about tiredly.

"Yeah, Percy, we still fight monsters and stuff." Xander answered honestly. "Do you still want the job?"

"I need it." Percy stated simply, there was desperation in his voice, a pleading tone though he kept an almost stoic front.

Willow's eyes finally softened in realization, hearing Percy. "Percy, can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why did you hop when you walked into the door?"

"When I saw the three of you, I thought I was dreaming." Percy admitted, looking away with embarrassment. The other three looked to each other with amused grins.


A/N: I hate the ending of the chapter. It was a mother fucker to wade through, fitting Percy in was a real bitch. I hate the interview and want to rewrite it. please, i need your criticisms on it.