Giles liked to play his guitar when he was in a somber mood. He used to play in bars back in England, but rarely had time to play amidst the "Glory" days. But now after Buffy's death he didn't have much to do and resorted to playing his guitar to pass the time. Nothing too serious. He had known some Neil Young material, but also played some Dave Matthew's Band. It helped him get away. Get away into his own world where the worst thing that could happen to him was the realization that the second he stopped playing he'd be back. He had trained her well. Maybe too well.
Giles had gotten up from playing to get himself something to drink. As he walked towards the kitchen, he couldn't stop thinking of her. The times they sat on the couch and had their all-important discussions on how to fight various enemies. The times they all sat around his table, researching and reading different books. It brought a tear to his eye. He shook his head. ** I've got to stop. She's gone. Let it go. Maybe they can bring her back. How? What will she be like? No, she's gone. You can't bring her back.** Giles' mind was overflowing with thoughts and hopes and denial. Finally, he reached the frig. When he opened the door, the frig light brought him back to the matter at hand. ** What to drink?** He thought, hesitated, and grabbed a beer. **Gotta stop hanging around that damn vampire!** Guzzling down about half the can, a thought crossed his mind, ** Where could Spike have gone?** The last time Giles had seen the vamp was the night of Buffy's death. He left abruptly after that. ** Eh, he'll be back.** At this precise moment all Giles cared about was finishing his beer and getting back to his heaven. He slowly walked over and slumped back into his chair, grabbing his guitar in the process. A couple of minutes into strumming some meaningless tune, the phone rang. It took about three rings for Giles to slip out of his heaven.
" Hello."
" Rupert, how are you doing?" The voice was familiar. Still, Giles had to analyze it for a second.
" Quentin, that you?"
" Of course, Rupert. I was just calling to find out how you were feeling."
" I'm feelin' better. I try not to think about it that much. Now drop the damn pity act and tell me what the hell you really want."
" Are you sitting down, Rupert?"
" Yes I'm bloody sitting down, now what is it?"
" Well, there's no easy way to tell you this."
" You're going to tell me anyhow, so what's the point in delaying it? Tell me." At this point Giles was fully out of his world and was about to take a deep plunge into the real one.
"You're being terminated."
**************
Downtown Sunnydale was pact. Nothing like Manhattan pact, but still pact. The streets were filled with cars, both parked and moving, but luckily for the two witches they preferred to walk. They could float by now, but didn't want the unnecessary attention. Besides, the streets were pact and not the sidewalks. They were out doing the shopping, with Willow leading the way, pointing out various shops where they could stop by next.
Dawn was supposed to be back at the Summers' house, but they knew that she probably wasn't. Willow and Tara had moved out of the dorm and now lived in the Summers' home. This way they could look after Dawn easier and they liked the extra space. A month into it and the whole "looking after Dawn" plan wasn't really working yet. They all felt too sorry for her, and couldn't really say no. They usually just told her to be careful. Dawn preferred the house to the Magic Shop. She said that she was sick of reading dumb spells and witchcraft stuff, and wanted to forget about all the demon stuff. She wanted to be ordinary. What Dawn needed was a person who could be there for her at the house to look after her and hang out with her. This person was yet to be found.
" Ooh, look at that pastry shop," Tara exclaimed, tapping willow lightly on the shoulder.
" You think Dawny would like some muffins?"
" I was leaning towards the donughts," Tara giggled.
" For who? You or her?"
" I don't know, maybe both...uh...me, I guess."
" Does my little kitten want some donughts?" Willow looked at Tara with a wide grin.
" Maybe, ooh, what about that cake there? That looks mighty tasteful."
" Hey, what do I look like, an ATM machine? I got a couple bucks left, but wait, I got a credit card. Do you think they take credit cards? I got American Express. Would they except it?" Once again Willow rambled on, but by now Tara had already began crossing the street towards the bakery.
" Don't worry, baby, I got enough money left," Tara's voice had trailed off as Willow hurried to catch up.
They ended up nearly clearing out the whole bakery figuring that they could just invite the rest of the gang over to help them get rid of some food if need be. They walked hand in hand down the sidewalk observing all the little shops that lined the street. What they did not observe was the kid on the bike behind them, who was snatching purses left and right. He had already collected about four and had set his eyes on their bags. He came up on Willow's side, the right side, and made a grab for the bags. He had a backpack strapped to his back in which he kept the purses. Steering with his right hand, he managed to grab a bag of donughts with his left, quickly slipping the bag around his wrist and placing it back on the bar.
"Hey!!" Willow yelled. " Come back here you creep!! That's not yours!! Give it back!"
"Will, forget it. It's just a bag of donughts. We got three more bags." Tara had just realized what had happened and was trying to tame her friend.
"No! That little brat will just keep on doing it to every defenseless person he sees! Well, I won't have it!" Willow looked the kid down, who by this time was already a couple of shops away. She dropped all her bags and, in a swift motion, raised her right hand, pointing it at the kid.
"Halt." Her voice was barely audible, but the damage was done.
As he sped away the boy couldn't stop laughing. It was like taking candy from a baby. He had been doing it for quite some time. No one ever got a good look at the kid and he always wore a different attire. He was only sixteen, but he was a smart one. No one ever had a chance to give chase or even call the police for the kid quickly disappeared. Not this time. He never looked back, but he figured he was at least a couple hundred feet from his last victim. The young and defenseless girl looked pretty cute from behind, the boy had decided. Right now all that mattered was getting away, but he wouldn't. Suddenly, in the midst of pedaling, his bike stalled, screeching to a halt. The kid had no chance. In all his laughing he had accidentally let go of the bar with his left hand. When the bike stopped, he didn't. He went flying onto the hood of a parked car, where he lay sprawled out and bloodied.
" Wha...ouh...ooh shi..t....," the kid mumbled through the blood that was coming from his nose and entering his half-open mouth.
"Willow, oh my God!!" Tara cried. " What in the world did you do?!?!"
" I...I...d..don't know," Willow had answered, amazed herself at the scene that had just past. " Something just came over me. I didn't mean to hurt him. Just to stop him."
" Well you past with flying colors!" Tara quickly ran to the boy with Willow right by her side.
A million different things were running through Willow's mind as she ran up to the boy. ** What have I done? I'm not a bad person, I...I just tried to stop him. Why didn't I just let him go? Oh why?** By this time the whole street had literally stopped to stare at the unfolding scene. The boy struggled to get up under his own power, but finally did.
" Oh my God, are you okay? Please tell me you're okay!" Willow was already by the boy's side, trying to help him as much as possible.
" Hey, lay off man! I'm fine!" He swiped at his nose. " Just a little bloody nose!"
" I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Willow was almost in tears.
The boy looked up to see that the person that was comforting him was the same girl that he had just mugged moments ago.
" Listen, I should be the one apologizing, not you. I stole your bag. You didn't do a thing." Willow had only now realized that no one was aware of her powers and no one had realized that it was her that caused all this. No one except for Tara, who was now standing by her side, still astonished.
" Hey, you're not going to call the cops or anything, are you?" The boy was more worried about that than his injury.
" No, I'm not. But you have promise to never do it again."
" Oh, I promise. Don't worry, I'm through," the boy said sincerely.
" Oh yeah, I want my donughts back."
The donughts had miraculously survived the fall, unharmed. The boy quickly handed over the donughts. The girls weren't aware of what was stored in his backpack and he was in no hurry to show them. He had to keep something. He quickly walked to his fallen bike, lifted it up and hopped on.
" Remember, never again," Tara reminded him.
" Yeah."
The boy wiped his nose and sped off.
" I still can't believe, you did that."
" I know. I can't believe it either. We got work on controlling this stuff."
Tara had now loosened up again.
" Yes, we do. But first we eat."
" Oh yeah."
They both hurried back home, where Dawn would be waiting for them.
************
" Did you just say I was terminated?" Giles heard the words clearly, but just didn't believe it.
" I'm sorry, Rupert. But you have no Slayer to look after. You trained and taught her, yet she died under your watch."
Giles could not believe what he was hearing. He was no longer in his heaven or, for that matter, in the real world. He was in hell.
" I can't believe what I'm hearing."
" We know it wasn't your fault and we're not blaming you."
" Actually, it seems that's exactly what you're bloody doing!"
" Listen Rupert, there are other jobs available with us that don't include being a watcher."
" You just told me I was terminated."
" You're no longer a watcher, for you have no one to watch over. We still need you back here in England to help us figure out where to go from here. Maybe as a researcher."
" What about Faith?"
" Well, Faith has, or had, her own watcher. You know Mr. Price, don't you?"
" You mean Wesley. Yeah, he works for Angel now."
" Who?"
" Forget it."
" Well, Faith has been locked up in jail for the past couple months."
" What about the hellmouth?"
" That's what we need you for, Giles. We need you back here to help us figure out what to do. Maybe I was a bit harsh when I said you were terminated. We just have different plans for you."
Giles was shell-shocked. He had now gotten up from his chair and was pacing in circles.
" For how long?"
" I don't know. However long it takes. It could be a couple days to a couple months, the quicker we get this resolved the better."
" But I will be coming back?"
" We've yet to decide. It is your choice. You will get paid a good amount and it is for the good of the world."
" I can't. I just can't. I have to take care of Dawn an-"
" You mean the 'Key'?"
" The Key is a person and her name is Dawn."
" Doesn't she have parents? She was made to be the Slayer's sister."
" The Slayer's name was Buffy and her mom is dead."
" What about the father?"
" Eh, the bastard is somewhere in South America. We'll just say that he doesn't exist."
" Listen Rupert, I have to go. It's your choice. You know how to reach me. You've got till Monday to decide. We're already a month behind and can't afford to lose anymore time. If you don't answer us by Monday, you'll be terminated from the Council completely. Last time I checked you weren't exactly an American citizen, were you?"
" You bloody son of a bitch!"
" Yeah, I thought not. Keep in touch." And with that the conversation ended.
Giles hung up the phone, as tears stormed his face. He tried to hold back, but couldn't.
"Oh...God, w...what has happened?" Giles fell back into his chair and wept.