Buffy yawned and stretched, knocking the ancient text from her lap onto the floor. Giles shot her a horrified glance and Buffy scrambled to pick up the book.
"I do wish you'd be more gentle with that volume," Giles sighed. "It is not exactly replaceable."
Buffy rolled her eyes in Willow's direction. Willow simply gave a little half-smile before returning her attention back to her laptop.
The three of them were enjoying the evening. Things were quiet in Sunnydale and the Slayer was relaxing on a rare night off. Riley was in LA at a convention on manic depression, so Buffy chose to spend the evening with her friends at Giles'. "Where is Xander?" she wondered out loud.
"He'll be here soon," Willow assured her.
"Giles, when are you going to get yourself a TV?" Buffy whined, looking around her former Watcher's cramped quarters.
"Why would I want to have one of those idiot boxes?" Giles questioned. He simply didn't understand the younger generation and their obsession with television. Whatever happened to the pleasure of reading a good book?
"At least you're finally realizing that the TV is the 'idiot box' and not the computer," Willow didn't look up from what she was doing when she spoke.
Buffy wrinkled her nose and opened up the book she had dropped. It was the Watcher's diary of Alexander Clumont, former Watcher of the Slayer known only as Rebekah. The book was fairly thin in comparison to the other diaries, Buffy noted. Apparently Rebekah hadn't lived very long, even in Slayer-years. Buffy cringed as she thought about her own mortality.
"Giles, has any Slayer died a not-harsh death before?" Buffy asked her mentor.
Giles looked up, startled at the question. His face looked grim as he thought about the answer. He could not lie to her. "Every slayer has died in battle. Some were immediate while others suffered a great deal before they finally succumbed."
Buffy's face went white. Willow left the computer to sit by her best friend. She grabbed Buffy's hand in an effort to comfort the poor girl.
"Just because it hasn't happened before does not mean you won't be the first," Willow assured her friend. At Buffy's raised eyebrows, Willow rushed, "Hey! It could happen…couldn't it?" she turned to Giles for reassurance.
But Willow only found herself staring at Giles' retreating form as he moved to the corner of the room. He began to look through his books until he found the one he was searching for. He pulled out a relatively thin book. It was old, as all of his books were, but obviously newer than most.
"If I do recall..." Giles began turning the pages. "Ah yes, here we go." Giles began to read from the book. Silently.
"So, do you plan to share with us here or are we playing mindreader now?" Buffy asked.
"What?" Giles replied, glancing at the girls on the couch. "Oh yes, of course." Buffy raised her eyebrows and waited impatiently for him to continue.
Finally, Giles explained the book's contents. "This here is the diary of Frederic Riggot. He was the Watcher of Elisa. She was the Slayer about 200 years ago. Apparently, she was not the Slayer for very long before she…"
"Died?" Buffy interrupted. Giles gave her a look of annoyance, but chose not to comment on her manners. It never seemed to work with this particular young lady anyway.
"No, she disappeared." Giles finished.
"Disappeared, how?" Willow questioned. "Disappeared as in 'hey I'm invisible' or disappeared poof?"
"Elisa went out on patrol one night to search for her brother who had turned up missing…"
"Aren't Slayers only children?" Buffy interrupted once again. Giles pushed his glasses up and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"There are a few instances where the Slayer has had siblings. Now may I please continue?" he responded. Buffy shrugged her shoulders in response. Giles took that as assent and continued.
"Where was I? Oh yes, Elisa went out patrolling to search for her brother but she never returned. She was supposed to check in with her Watcher that evening, but he never saw her again."
"What happened to her?" Willow squeaked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.
"No one knows for sure" was the reply. Willow breathed a sigh of relief. Then sat upright when the words meaning became clearer.
"Why not?"
"She was missing for six months before the Council declared her dead, but no body was ever found. A new Slayer was called and the cycle continued on as usual." Giles finished.
"And what about Elisa's brother? Was he ever found?" Buffy questioned. "It sounds like they were close."
"They were. Very close, in fact." The Watcher informed the two girls as he continued flipping through the pages of the old diary. "It's odd, but I cannot seem to find any mention of her brother's name. It says here that Elisa's parents died when she was young and that her brother raised her, though he was only a few years older than she was. But I can't find his name anywhere."
"This sounds like a job for NetGirl," Willow smiled and returned to her place in front of the computer.
Buffy turned to Giles, "Did Elisa have a last name?"
"Neal," was the reply.
"O.K. then," she said, looking at Willow. "See what you can find on Elisa Neal and her brother." Buffy was not sure why, but she had a gut feeling this was something she needed to know. And if there was one thing she had learned over the years, it was to trust her gut.