The Night Remembers - Part 12
By Jill
"Well," Giles pulled his glasses off his nose and looked at the faces
assembled in his living room. It was more than just a colorful bunch of
young - or not so young - people and, well, non-people. But all of them had
more or less helped to save the world on a quite regular basis throughout
the past years.
Granted some of them - those who weren't actually quite people or had only
recently joined the human ranks - had done some severe damage in their days,
but at the moment they belonged to this team of fearless people who were
risking their lives on a daily basis, unknown to the rest of the world or
for that without any badges of honor.
The mother who was driving her kids to school wasn't aware she wouldn't be
doing this if it wasn't for Buffy's heroic deeds, and the Slayer wouldn't
have been able to do all without the love and support of her family and
friends. So in one way or another each of them had played their part in
their save-the-world business, had suffered, lost friends and family, and
still went on doing what had to be done.
Yes, Giles thought, he was - without a doubt - proud of each one of them.
His eyes fell on Angel who was standing behind the chair Buffy had occupied,
one shoulder leaning against the wall, his gaze unreadable, his eyes dark
pools, he was guarded most of the time and the watcher guessed that maybe
Buffy had been the only one he'd really allowed to look behind this guard -
at least sometimes.
The ensouled vampire was one of the most interesting people Giles had met in
his days, he had been a trusted ally, a dangerous enemy and was now - with
his friends in L.A. - dedicated to the same cause as Buffy. To fight the
good fight. Dark as some parts of his personality might be, he was a warrior
of the light.
"I asked you to come tonight," Giles began, looking at each of the people in
his room, one after one, "because of two things. The first is strictly
business. As you may have realized or as I told you, the number of vampires
has drastically increased in Sunnydale over the last few weeks.
"At the beginning I thought it was due to Buffy's... death," his voice
faltered slightly, but he instantly caught himself. "But that hasn't changed
since she's back on active duty. I think by now the vampire-grapevines
should have informed everybody that the Slayer is back and with Angel by her
side, she should be a serious threat to all of them.
"Yet the numbers aren't decreasing," he stopped and looked at them again.
Then he put his glasses back on. "As we know, any serious change around the
hell mouth always means trouble. Unfortunately I haven't figured out so far,
what it could mean, but I've already conferred with Wesley about this and at
the moment we are researching several possibilities."
"In a nutshell, you have no idea what might be standing at our door?"
Buffy reached for her orange juice and gave her watcher an expectant gaze.
"Er... yes, I think that is the short version. But there is no doubt, that
something is coming," Giles replied, his expression concerned.
"I've gotta agree with the watcher," Spike, who was occupying one of the
bar-stools, leaning his elbows on the counter. Little Bit had informed him
about today's meeting - none of the others had bothered - and so he'd left
his self-chosen exile and his nice, empty crypt to join the ranks again.
Well, actually, if he was honest, the crypt wasn't that nice. It was cold
and wet and most of all, lonely. "The vamps are getting cockier around here.
Met one tonight that had a serious death-wish."
"That's number eight," Buffy turned slightly in her chair to exchange a
glance with Angel, before she looked at Giles again. "We dusted six at the
cemeteries and then on our way here, another one attacked us. But they
weren't really dangerous. Some of them could have newly-made tagged on them,
because they were so stupid. The first almost begged to be dusted, Angel
just had to rise the stake and the vamp ran straight into it."
Buffy sipped from her drink, and studied the face of her watcher. On her way
to his apartment she had fiercely pushed all private problems in a far
corner of her mind, determined not to let anyone see how shaken she was by
the things that had occurred between Angel and her in the cemetery. Still
she had the feeling everyone would be able to read her thoughts the moment
they looked at her. Like, 'hey I just kissed the man of my dreams, but he
won't give us a chance.'
The man in question, or rather the vampire, of course, - **darn, the man** -
had no such problems. His face was an impassive mask, none of his emotions
visible on his features.
"There might be another aspect," Angel said thoughtful from his spot at the
wall. It was the first time he spoke and everyone turned to look at him. His
face was serious. "I talked to Gunn yesterday. Gunn is a friend of mine who
works with us in L.A.," he explained.
"Charles Gunn," Cordelia piped. "He and a bunch of friends are hunting
vampires as well."
"As I said," Angel continued, shooting the brunette a glance and barely
suppressing a grin when he saw her making a face, "I talked to him
yesterday. And he said that they hadn't encountered a vampire for three
nights. They came across some demons, but all of them were peaceful. I
didn't pay attention to it at first, but thinking about it now..." he
trailed off giving Giles a pointed look.
"So what you're saying," Xander gazed at the vampire he had hated for so
long, "is that there might be some kind of invasion of vampires? Now, that's
just great. Why don't they make some nice shiny neon signs saying 'come to
the hell mouth for your vacation, blood to the limit and lots of fun'."
"But we already know that vampires are attracted to the hell mouth," Willow
tilted her head and looked at Giles, "I mean they're always coming with all
the concentrated energy and stuff."
"Yes, that's correct," the watcher stood up and went for one of his
bookshelves, "but that doesn't explain what's happening now. There has to be
an explanation." He found the book he'd been looking for and returned to his
seat, "I've researched the Codex and all other material we have about
prophecies, Wesley's has done the same." He frowned for a moment and gazed
at Angel, "It seems that your selection of books is even better than mine."
He slightly shook his head, pushing the disturbing thought that a vampire
was better equipped than he was, aside. Angel was 250 years old after all
and for this had time to collect things. Still it wasn't all comfortable
thinking that a vampire was in possession of such delicate material like the
Roll of Aberijan. Angel had a soul, but when he had managed to gain access
to things like that, there was no reason a soulless demon couldn't do it as
well.
"Anyways. The result is, there is no prophecy we could find to explain
what's happening..."
"Thank God for that," Xander said and felt the others wholeheartedly agreed.
"Still," Giles shot him a stern glance, "that doesn't bode well."
"Just that we have no idea what we're going against," Buffy leaned back in
her chair. "Why doesn't that make me feel better?"
"Dawn?" Angel pushed himself off of the wall and looked at the slayer's
sister who had been uncommonly quiet the whole evening. Now she looked down
at her lap, not willing to meet the other's eyes. Buffy's head jerked around
at the mention of her sister's name. "Dawnie?" she asked. "What's the
matter?"
"Nothing," the girl mumbled, still not looking up.
"You can tell us," Angel said softly, stopping in front of her chair, then
crouching down beside her. "What's the matter?"
"Well... I..." she frowned and bit her lower lip, cursing the way she'd been
brought into the world. "I... I just thought, what if... they're coming for
me again?"
"For you?" Xander straightened on the sofa.
"Why would you think that?" the dark-haired vampire inquired.
She shrugged, her eyes still cast downward, "Glory did. And then Buffy..."
she trailed off and Angel could see a tear falling on her hands that were
tightly entwined in her lap, the knuckles white.
"No," he said quietly, "I don't think so. Glory was the only one interested
in 'the key'. She could use it to gain access to her dimension. I don't see
why any vampire would be in need of that kind of power. But even if they
were," he reached out and covered her small hands with one of his large,
"we're all here with you and we make sure nobody's going to hurt you ... or
Buffy."
"You can't promise that," she replied hoarsely.
He breathed deeply, "No, I can't," he said honestly and from the corner of
his eye he saw Buffy smile, "But we'll do our very best. If it's necessary
I'll call my friends from L.A." When she finally looked up, her cheeks
streaked with tears, he smiled at her, "And you know how the vampires fear
Wesley."
Something between a sob and a laugh escaped her throat. "Oh Angel," she
smiled, "I'm so glad you're here," she told him and then wrapped her arms
around his neck. "Just having you here makes me feel so much better."
He held her close for a moment, "I'm glad to hear that," he whispered.
Pulling back he glanced at his grand-childe, "And then there's still Spike.
He might be..." Angel grinned when he saw the expression on the blond
vampire's face," ... a little bit... how do I say it..."
"I've got a bloody chip," Spike growled, "just say it the way it is. Those
stupid soldier boys disabled me, but that doesn't mean I can't beat some
evil vampires," he said, emphasizing the word 'evil' as a reference to the
conversation he and his grand-sire had recently had in the crypt.
Angel grinned, "You heard him," he said to Dawn, taking her chin between
thumb and forefinger. "Whatever comes our way, we're going to face it.
Okay?"
She nodded, now smiling as well, "Okay," her voice was much firmer now.
Buffy reached out and put a hand on her sister's knee and the two girls
smiled at each other. Then Angel got up from his position beside Dawn and
his eyes went to Giles, "You said there were two thing?"
"Oh," the watcher seemed a bit startled at the abrupt change of subjects,
but he nodded, "Yes, indeed there was another thing we need to talk about."
When he saw he had everyone's attention, he continued, "This might come as a
shock to some of you, but the Watcher's Council has contacted me. You all
know that I had my problems with the organization, and I still doubt that
all the things they believe and do are right and honorable, but on the other
hand I've also learned that it isn't enough to just criticize, you have to
try and change things.
"So far, I didn't see a chance to do that, but now the opportunity has
occurred. To make a long story short, they have offered me a seat in the
Council. It's not just some position, but that of the vice-president. I
think it has a lot to do with Buffy's success as a slayer that has seem to
woken up them up and are willing to discuss their ancient rules about
calling and training slayers as well as the point that The Slayer has to
work entirely on her own."
He looked at Buffy and saw her watching him intensely, "To finish this long
speech, I want to tell you that I'm considering to accept their offer."
Silence settled over the room for several seconds, then everyone was talking
at once.
"Bloody Hell..."
"Giles? You really want to leave us, but..."
"Hey, G-man, longing for good old England..."
"Buffy?" the watcher looked at his slayer, the girl closest to a child, he'd
never had. "What about you?" he asked ignoring all the others.
"I... uh..." she bit her lower lip much in the same way, her sister had done
just before. "It's a great opportunity, I guess," she said evasively. "Would
I... I mean, who would be my watcher then?" The blond didn't like the idea
of him leaving. She didn't remember him from the time before her memory
loss, but she'd grown fond of him over the weeks and Willow had assured her
that she and Giles had been sharing some sort of
father-daughter-relationship in the past.
"I've already thought about it," Giles replied gently, "and come to the
conclusion, that it wouldn't make sense to install someone completely
unfamiliar to you. I know that at the moment that makes no sense, but I'd
rather see someone helping you who is already familiar with the special...
problems around here.
"I've talked to the Council about that, and we agreed that *if* I should
accept their offer, Wesley should be offered his former position as your
watcher. I also talked to him about that subject and he is willing to help.
I know you both had your differences at the beginning, although you don't
remember it. But I've seen personally that he has changed a lot and that
working with Angel in L.A. has made him much more open-minded. So I think he
would be the right choice."
He looked over Buffy's head and caught Angel's eyes, "I also know that
Wesley is an important part of your agency and helps a lot with research.
But I don't see a problem in this. As Buffy's watcher research would still
be his main task and there is no reason why he can't do that from L.A. as
well. Again, he is willing to do that and for the time being I believe it to
be the best possible solution."
"I have no problem with that," Angel smiled at Giles, "If Wesley wants to be
Buffy's watcher, I'm happy for him."
"Oh, he's going to love that," Cordelia chirped, "Books are his life,
although I have to say that he's improved his fighting skills."
"You mean he doesn't scream like a girl anymore?" Xander asked with a grin.
"Only sometimes," the brunette shot back. "But seriously, Giles is right.
He's changed a lot. I think you'd like him now." She paused for a moment,
then added, "We do."
She shared a very private smile with Angel at that and the vampire nodded,
"As I said, I have no problem with that. But I'd say that Buffy should have
a say in this. A slayer like her shouldn't just get any watcher she doesn't
agree with," he rounded the blonde's chair and looked down at her.
Her head came up and their eyes met, "I... I'm not sure what to say. The
problem is that I'm still missing a lot of things, but... Do you think he
would be a good watcher for me?"
"Yes," he replied honestly. "I think he would be the best choice, if Giles
won't be available any longer."
She looked at him for several more moments, then nodded and turned to Giles,
"Okay then, I agree with Wesley. That's his name, right?"
"Yes. Buffy, I know you don't like the idea at the moment," the watcher
smiled at her. "And I'm not leaving tonight or tomorrow. My decision isn't
even final yet. So there's enough time to get used to it. And maybe," his
smile grew, "you'll get your memories back long before then."
The slayer nodded again, knowing that there wasn't a lot she could say.
Giles seemed to be excited about the possibilities to be a member of the
Council and she trusted Angel. When he said that Wesley was the right
choice, she was sure he was. Besides, if Wesley was her watcher and he was
still working in L.A. then there was always a reason to drop by and see
Angel.
... to be continued
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