I tried my hardest to listen to Gideon's speech but I couldn't focus on anything with Salvatore sitting so close. My senses were going haywire. Chanel was draping herself all over him but his eyes were on me.

The little of Gideon's speech I did hear was beautiful. He was a wonderful speaker. He was extremely passionate about the topic and that made me slightly uneasy. Could Gideon have been abused as a child? Was that the secret he thought would make me run for the hills?

I couldn't bear to think about that. It made me think murderous thoughts towards whoever the perpetrator could be. I turned my lethal thoughts back to Salvatore and how I was going to deal with him.

Suddenly, everyone was standing and applauding. Gideon's speech was over and I'd missed a good chunk of it. I felt awful but I shook my thoughts away and stood as well.

Gideon walked down from the stage, shaking hands along the way. When he got back to our table, he pulled me in a tight hug and kissed my forehead. More camera flashes.

"What's wrong?" he whispered into my ear. "You looked so distracted the entire time I was speaking."

"You'll figure it out when we sit."

He pulled away from me and we did just that.

Gideon scowled when he saw Salvatore. He grabbed my hand under the table and entwined our fingers. It was extremely comforting.

Salvatore wasn't paying any attention to us though. He was too busy schmoozing with the Carlyle's.

"What's the plan, Buffy?" Dawn whispered.

I took a deep breath. "We're going to play it cool. We can't really do anything here anyway…too public." I whispered back.

Waiters were coming around now, bringing wine and the first course of our dinner.

"Now now ladies," Salvatore started, in his thick Italian accent, "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's impolite to whisper amongst a group? Some members might think it's about them."

"I don't think you'd want to hear what our mother would be saying right about now, Sal." Dawn replied, calmly.

"I'm sure she was a very…elegant…woman." Salvatore replied. "She did raise the both of you by herself and you've both turned into such…exemplary young women."

The way he said it…it was an obvious dig. I could feel the flames rising up my face. I squeezed Gideon's hand a little harder than I meant to. To his credit though, he didn't even flinch.

I glanced over at Dawn and it was very evident that she felt the same.

More than likely feeling a little awkward, Rose Carlyle spoke.

"I take it that you're all acquainted then?"

"Elizabeth and I used to be lovers." Salvatore said simply. He looked directly at Gideon as he said it, trying to shock him, I assumed. When Gideon didn't respond to his bating, he continued on. "Dawn is her sister and these people over here are their friends. Mr. Cross and I were business partners until just a few days ago, when he sold his share of Brugetti Fashion."

"You owned a share of Brugetti Fashion? Why would you ever sell that? Brugetti is number one in designer fashion!" Chanel asked.

"Bottom line, I am no longer interested in the fashion world." Gideon answered, simply.

I knew then and there that he'd done it for me. I was deeply touched.

"Yes, I'm sure that's it." Salvatore said, staring at me. He knew the real reason Gideon had done it too.

"So. Sal." Xander said, as he chewed on his salad. "We were just talking this morning about one of our old friends, Ethan. Remember him?"

I reminded myself to hug Xander later. I was having a very hard time containing the laugh that was trying to escape. I tried covering with a cough but it came out as this weird gargling sound.

"Did you swallow your wine wrong, sweetheart?" Gideon asked, smiling.

I nodded. Salvatore scowled.

"I do not know who you are speaking of, no."

"Sure you do." I said, once I got my voice under control. "Skinny British guy, about this tall? Around Giles's age? Really obsessed with magic? Extremely annoying?"

"You must have me confused with one of your many, many other companions, amore mio."

Gideon squeezed my hand tighter and I knew it was meant to keep him from flying across the table. I squeezed back.

"Did you just call my sister a whore?" Dawn shrieked. She stood and threw her napkin on the table.

"Dawnie, calm down. It's okay. They're just words. Extremely untrue words from someone that's very bitter." I said. "Sit down before you cause a scene."

She took a deep breath and smoothed the bottom of her short, poufy, ballerina pink dress before sitting back down.

"My apologies."

"Graciously accepted." Salvatore said with a smirk.

"They weren't meant for you, asshole."

"DAWN." I kicked her under the table.

"Ow! Sorry."

Rose and Benjamin shared a 'What in the hell was that about' look.

"Anyway, as we were saying, Ethan's just kind of…dropped off the map. He came here to visit Giles last week, before he got so ill, and we haven't seen him since." Xander continued.

"Oh, how sad! I hope nothing untoward has happened to him." Rose said.

"Have you contacted the police?" Benjamin asked.

"They're useless. I contacted a friend that runs a special branch of the military. He's real good at finding people." I said, staring straight at Salvatore. "Plus, we've been out looking for him ourselves as well."

"You should be careful, amore mio. The City is a dangerous place. I'm sure your lover wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you." he smirked again. The threat in his words was obvious.

"I'm always careful." I replied, smirking right back.

"Be more careful then. We wouldn't want anyone else to get hurt either." He flicked his eyes between Gideon and Dawn as he said it.

I squeezed Gideon's hand again and this time, he reacted. He coughed loudly.

The tension at the table was incredibly thick now. The Carlyle's looked extremely uncomfortable. "Oh, is that the time? We should be going now. We do have those other plans as well…" Rose said, standing.

"Other plans? Oh, yes. Those plans. Of course." Benjamin agreed, standing. "It was a pleasure to meet you all. Gideon, call me first thing Monday morning and we'll discuss that deal you were interested in. Chanel, darling, let's go."

"But, Daddy!"

"You can converse with Mr. Brugetti at a later time, darling. We must go now. Other plans, remember?"

Salvatore turned his attentions to Chanel.

"Until later, bella." he said, kissing her hand.

She giggled and I wanted to throw up.

They left and our table was quiet as the waiters came through to make way for the main course.

We ate in silence. I watched as Salvatore pushed his meat around the plate, staring at it with disgust.

"Gideon? Could you look at my neck? I think something bit me." I said, craning my neck in his direction.

He slipped his hand out of mine and ran his fingers over my bite marks.

I realized that I was going to have to explain them to him at some point but Salvatore's reaction was one-hundred percent worth it.

He swallowed. "Careful, amore mio. You're in dangerous territory. You're playing with fire."

I slipped my hand back in Gideon's and took a bite of my salmon.

"That's okay. I've got some water in my bag. A nice priest friend gave it to me."

He scowled.

"And," I continued. "If that doesn't work, I've got this friend, Mr. Pointy…"

"I could think of at least two places for Mr. Pointy." he said, interrupting me. "How are Angel and Spike anyway? I see that Angel and you are still going at it."

"They're wonderful. Never better." I said, ignoring his jab.

"Gideon, did you know that Angel was Buffy's first, well, first everything, correct? First love, first lover…though, that didn't quite have the outcome you planned, did it? And, Gideon, did you know that she and Spike also had quite the fling? I'm told it was purely sexual though. At least on her end. From what I remember, Spike catches feelings pretty quick. I know you probably never pegged the beauty as a user but alas…the past speaks for itself."

Gideon didn't respond. He just squeezed my hand tighter.

His quietness during the meal meant everything to me. It meant that he not only listened to what I said before we left, but he was respecting it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Ember starting to get a little…squirmy.

I turned my attention back to Salvatore and smiled.

"I think I've found the perfect place for Mr. Pointy. I'm actually looking at it right now. Or, maybe, this is a job for his girlfriend, Ms. Scythe? I don't know. What do you think?"

Salvatore just smiled that same damn stupid smile he'd been using all night.

"You've no idea how much I've missed you, amore mio."

"Stop calling me that. It makes me want to hurl."

"Are you sure you won't reconsider my offer?"

"The one where you want me to become a disgusting, despicable creature of the night? Yeah, no thanks. I'm good."

"You say that yet you can't seem to stay away from us. I'd keep my eye on her, if I were you, Gideon. She's got a thing for the dead."

Gideon and I squeezed each other's hands at the same time.

"Over a pile of ashes, Salvatore. Preferably yours."

He smirked and I had to latch onto Dawn's hand so I wouldn't throw my knife at him.

"I must take my leave now. I think I've riled you up enough for one night…but you and I? We're not close to done, amore mio. I promise you, there will be fireworks."

With that, he left.

I waited until I saw him leave the dining room.

"Okay, Xander. Now."

He pressed on the earpiece that was hidden in his ear.

"Spike—he's coming out your way. Have Chanel slip the tracker on him. She wasn't able to get it during dinner."

Gideon turned in his seat and stared at me in amazement.

"Chanel, as in—"

"Chanel Carlyle? Yup."

"How—"

"She's one of us. One of me, actually. She's a slayer. I knew he would go for her. I don't know if you noticed or not but her and I look fairly similar. It was a no brainer. I just had her stalk him out at the night club I'd first seen him at. She flirted with him for a few days, said she was coming here tonight, spilled that she was sitting at a table with her parents and 'some company called ISC' and we were in. How could he resist?"

"It was all Buffy's idea, too. She really does get the best ideas when she's sleep deprived." Xander said.

"Do you have any idea just how amazing you are?" Gideon asked.

"Yes, but you can tell me anyway." I smiled.

"Gag me with a spoon."

"Oh shut up Dawn."

"We've got something, Buff." Willow said, pulling out the other half of the tracker from under the table.

She was silent for a few minutes as she watched.

"They are on Park Ave, heading south."

"We haven't been able to get where he is staying." I explained to Gideon. "Angel and Spike tried to follow him but he keeps finding clever ways of losing them."

"Just turned right onto W 14th St." Willow updated. "Now left onto 7th Ave South."

"This is ingenious." Gideon said, still in awe. "Any chance you'll quit this life and come work for me?"

"Fat chance." I smirked.

"Just turned left onto Spring St and stopped." Will said. "What hotels are around there?"

"There's a few but the one that comes to mind is The Trump SoHo." Gideon said.

"Oh yeah, that's swanky. He's definitely there. I'll text Chanel for confirmation." Dawn said, pulling out her phone.

"Let's suit up then." Xander said, standing.

"No. You're all staying. I'm suiting up." I said, standing as well.

"Like hell." Gideon said, pulling me back down.

"Excuse me?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "This is kind of my job. I need to go to work now."

"I know that." he said, taking a deep breath. "I just meant that you shouldn't go alone."

"Who said anything about going alone?" I smirked.

Forty minutes later and we were all back at ISC, Gideon included. I'd changed into a t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

The tracker was still showing Salvatore at his hotel.

"Angel and Spike, I know you're going to want to be in on this."

"Damn straight, pet. I've been waiting over a century to have a go at that bloody ponce."

"I'm with you, Buffy."

"Have we got any confirmation back from Chanel?" I asked Dawn.

"She texted that they were at the Trump SoHo, top floor penthouse. I haven't heard anything else from her in the last half hour though. I'm getting nervous, Buffy." Dawn replied.

"Okay so time is of the essence then. Wait a minute—where's Ember?"

"Liesel took her to the lockers to change like twenty minutes ago." Xander said.

"I know. That's my point. How long does it take to change? Xander, send Adele and, um, who's that Swedish girl? The one that I said kind of scares me?"

"Maresa?"

"Yeah, her. Send them down to the lockers."

"I've got a bad feeling, Buff…" Willow said.

"It's contagious. Why don't you and Xander go check on Phoebe and Lorlana? Something's definitely not right."

"Spike and I will go get Riley and Sam and get them ready to go." Angel said.

"Actually, with your guys' history, I'll go find them. You can go round up some weapons from the armory." Dawn said.

Gideon and I were left alone in my office.

"Can I just say how unbelievably hot you are when you're dishing out orders like that?"

"I'm good at this." I said, wrapping my arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I can tell. It's like you're at home."

"I kind of am. I've been doing this since I was fifteen. It's what I was born to do."

"You know, I never did get to dance with you tonight."

He started swaying us back and forth.

"I know. I was too busy dancing with my exes."

"You're going to be the death of me."

"You know," I said, changing the topic. "I was supposed to go back to London when I was done here and let Willow take over."

Sadness clouded his eyes. "Of course. You have a life there."

"Not really."

"Oh?"

"My life there consisted of hiding from Salvatore. Giles offered me this job three years ago and I turned it down because I was absolutely terrified of being out in the open."

"Because of him?"

"Yeah. As of yesterday, Giles was awake enough to where we could talk to him. He asked Willow and I to run ISC New York together. He doesn't want to leave London now that he's got Nerys. Uh, his girlfriend that is."

Gideon cleared his throat. "And what did you say this time?"

"We said yes." I smiled. "I was just waiting to tell you."

Gideon pulled me closer to him. His lips found mine in a matter of seconds. His kiss was softer than before. Sweeter.

"What are you doing to me?" he asked again, when we broke apart.

"I could ask the same thing."

"I hate to interrupt you lovebirds but we've got a problem. A big, old fashioned, Sunnydale problem." Xander said, walking back into my office.

"What did you find?"

"Phoebe and Lorlana are dead. Cell doors were wide open and I don't think it was Ember."

"Why?" I asked, knowing I wasn't going to like the answer.

"They were drained." Xander said, gravely.

"Willow?" I asked.

"She's in her office. She had to call Nerys."

"Okay. This is bad. Very, very bad. Xander, I want you and Dawn to stay with Willow. We do not need to deal with veiny Willow on top of everything else."

Xander nodded and walked out of the office.

"It has gone from bad to worse, I am afraid." Adele said, entering my office with Maresa in tow. "Liesel is dead as well. Her throat was cut."

"Okay that is worse. Especially because we know that was Ember. But…this makes a difference. Because now I'm officially pissed off." I said . I stalked over to a hidden closet and pulled out a weapons chest.

"What do you want us to do?" Maresa asked.

I pulled out a few stakes and tossed them to Adele and Maresa. I took out another one and handed it to Gideon.

"If we're going to do this, you should start carrying one of these with you at all times. Once through the heart and they'll go poof into dust. Also, beheading. But that works for just about anyone and anything…"

"I thought you didn't want me to fight." he said, curiously.

"I don't. Not at all. This is a….just incase. I meet a lot of enemies and since we're so public…I just want you to be safe when I'm not around."

I went back over to my desk and popped out a secret drawer underneath it. I pulled out the scythe.

"Me…I'm going to use this, I think. Sorry, Mr. Pointy. Maybe next time." I smiled. I felt the warm, fuzzy feeling she always gave me, spreading throughout my body.

"Are….are you talking to your weapons?" Gideon asked.

"And if I am?"

"It's kind of adorable." he smiled.

Riley and Sam came in with Angel and Spike. They were now all armed, having raided the armory.

"Angel and Spike, I want you with me. Riley, I want you to stay here with Xander, Dawn and Willow just incase Ember comes back. I doubt she will though but you never know. Sam, I want you to accompany Gideon back to his place. No arguing, Gideon. It's where you're going to be the safest. Adele and Maresa, grab a few more girls and go with them. I want three in the lobby and three inside mine, Xander & Willow's apartment. No one's to go in except us. Got it?"

"In the case of a shape shifter, like we are expecting Ember to be, how do we know it is one of us truly?" Adele asked.

"How about a password?" Sam suggested.

"Good idea." I said. "Boca del Infierno. That's how you'll know."

"You can take the girl out of Sunnydale but you can't take Sunnydale out of the girl." Spike said.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's get going. I want this finished tonight."

"Can we have a minute, Buffy?" Gideon asked.

"Yeah, sure."

"Come on guys. We'll go fill in the other three and then go wait downstairs." Sam said with a smile.

"I know this is your job and that you know what you're doing…just…just be safe, okay?"

However many days later and Gideon Cross concern was still just as swoon worthy.

"I'm coming over later, Gideon. I'm coming over later and we're going to have an impromptu date to make up for how shitty this first date of ours has turned out to be."

"You do know that it's going to be well after midnight, right?"

"Like you have plans tomorrow?"

"And if I did?"

"Cancel them." I said simply.

"As it happens, I don't. I'll text you my elevator code. Do I say 'good luck'?"

"Yeah, good luck works. See you later, Mr. Cross."

"Until then, Miss Summers."