Buffy grumbled to herself as she made her way through the crowded halls. She hated Mondays. Why did they get two whole days to do whatever and then get slammed back into one stupid routine or another? Why'd she need school anyway? It wasn't like there was a job out there with her name on it while she was bizarro girl, she who stalks the night and spends way too much time in cemeteries. Well, at least she had her friends to make high school less of a hell dimension of its own. Where were they this morning anyway?
The library seemed the logical place to start looking. With all the time they spent there, you'd think they read for fun! She came to the library doors and pushed them open. Willow and Xander weren't there, but Giles was talking with the watcher she'd seen at his house yesterday. Look at him getting his Kirk on.
Woah, way too much time listening to Xander's Star Trek rants.
"Hiya Giles," Buffy said as she walked over. "Morning, Elise."
"Good morning, Buffy." Giles answered as Elise waved.
"So what's the what?" Buffy asked. "Is this business trip, or do you have a serious warped sense of what makes a good vacation spot?"
"Neither," Elise answered with a laugh. "My husband and I are moving here."
"I know I'm not so good at playing by the rules, but do they really think I need two watchers?"
"While Mrs. Andrews has brought us some important information from the council," Giles answered as he closed the book he was holding and walked into his office. "Mr. and Mrs. Andrews' move is unconnected to council business." He laid the book on his desk and came back out to the counter.
She knew Giles was trying to be reassuring. He was using his "there, there" voice. She didn't trust that voice.
"So are you semiretired or something?" she asked. "Cause I didn't think the council let you watchery types wonder off without a slayer or potential to, you know, watch."
"Slayers and potentials aren't the only metahumans the council keeps tabs on," Elise answered. She pushed away from the counter and gestured for Buffy to take a seat.
Why not? Buffy thought and plopped down in one of the chairs.
"A meta what now?"
Elise sat. "Metahuman: more than human. Like being a slayer doesn't make you inhuman, but you're not exactly a regular old plain jane."
"Okay, gotcha." Well, kinda, maybe, sort of.
"They have a splinter group that doesn't actively concern itself with slayers and demons," Elise said. "They're more like historians, and others help teach young men and women to become the type of watchers you've come to know. My husband works for the splinter group, and I've done a little work for both."
"So you're here because of this splinter group?" Buffy asked.
"Yes."
"Are these other guys dangerous?" she asked. "I'm not gonna have to slay any of them am I?"
"No," Giles answered.
"Like any other groups of humans, some are good, some not so much," Elise explained. "They're a self-policing group."
"I think I like your group better," said Buffy, suddenly feeling much better. "None of this, 'You'll do what we said because we ordered you,' crap I keep gettin' from his bunch." She glanced over at Giles to find him giving her a halfhearted glare. She grinned back.
"So I'm guessing one of 'em's moved to town."
"Two actually," Giles answered. Elise's jaw clenched, and Buffy glanced over to see Giles smirking. What was that about?
"Wow, so what should I expect if I run into one, so I don't make with the slayage on accident," she asked. "Cause that would be totally embarrassing."
"Ooh, what's embarrassing, Bufster?"
She turned to see Xander and Willow just inside the doors. She'd been so distracted by Giles and Elise, she didn't notice them enter. Mondays.
"Accidental smack down."
"Ouch," Xander answered the same time Willow said, "Yikes."
"They're Immortals," Elise answered.
"Oh, yeah. That clears it up. I mean how many never aging creatures can there be?" Xander snarked.
"And who's she?" Willow asked.
"I beg your pardon," Elise answered and stood, extending her hand to the other teens. "My name is Elise Andrews, a new resident watcher. You must be Xander and Willow."
"Nice to meet you, Miss Andrews," Willow answered as she shook Elise's hand.
"Likewise." Elise shook Xander's hand as well, pointedly ignoring the way he was pretty much drooling all over himself. "As I was explaining, my husband and I are here with a council splinter group to watch and record the actions of a couple Immortals, not immortal demons, but humans who have a … difficult time staying dead."
Buffy's breathing sped up, and the room started spinning. No! No. No. No. No. No.
"After your…incident…with the master last year, Buffy, there was some concern you might be an Immortal yourself."
She didn't know how it was possible, but the room started spinning faster. Her heart was pounding so hard, it was difficult to hear anything but its beating. Elise laid her hand over Buffy's just as everything was starting to go black. It wasn't much, but it was enough to pull her back from passing out.
"But I can tell you now, you're not," Elise said gently. Oh thank God! "You're not even a potential."
"How do you know?" Buffy asked.
"There are ways of checking," Elise answered. The bell rang. "And on that note, it's time for class."
"Let's meet here after school, please children," Giles called from the stacks. "Mrs. Andrews here has brought us some information we need to research." Buffy shared a groan and put upon look with Xander before they rolled their eyes at Willow's excitement. She sure did love her research.
"Mrs. Andrews, a word with you please," Buffy heard before the library doors closed.
"What is it, Rupert?" Elise asked though she suspected she already knew the answer. She kept her back to him, unable to meet his eyes as she waited for the inevitable.
"You have to tell them."
She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could and sighed. "Why?"
"Even with your new identities, it's only a matter of time until either you or Adam is challenged," he reasoned, his voice slow and soft. "Buffy and the others will find out one way or another. If they find you or him in the middle of a quickening, they'll become suspicious of your motives."
"They will, or you will, Rupert?" She turned toward him then and regarded him with sadness.
"I'll admit to anger when I found you hadn't trusted me enough to tell me back then, but I understand why," he answered. "I know these children, Lizzie. They don't take being lied to well."
Her heart clinched hearing the old endearment. Odd how reconnecting with an old flame could hurt as much thirty years later as it did the day the relationship ended.
"And I suppose they know all about Eyghon?"
Elise immediately regretted the barb when she saw Rupert's stricken expression. She might as well have slapped him.
"I'll think about it."
