Giles listened as Sidney apologized for the third time. "I really am sorry, Rupert. I should have realized that Eddie might have tried something like this." The former Watcher kept glancing at the Library floor as he talked. "I should have known that he would provoke a fight."

Giles put up a hand to stop his friend. "Now, Sidney, I don't hold you responsible for what happened, and there is no need for you to apologize."

Sidney looked past his friend, shook his head and then returned attention to the Watcher. "Yes there is. I shouldn't have let Eddie go off by himself. I knew he would get into some kind of trouble, I just never thought he would this," Sidney waved his hands toward the disheveled Library.

"Sidney, please, we have more important things to discuss then Eddie's sick sense of humor," Giles said as he looked over at Eddie, who had regained consciousness and was now in deep discussion with Xander. The male Slayer seemed to be showing Xander something that Giles couldn't see.

Sidney smiled slightly and nodded. "You're right." Then his smile got bigger, "For the first time in awhile Rupert, you're right."

Giles raised his eyebrows in amusement. "When was the last time I was wrong?" he asked.

"May 14, 1976. You tried to convince me that a vampire couldn't be killed a bullet," Sidney answered.

Giles stood straighter. "I still say they can't."

"I believe that Eddie would have a different opinion," Sidney said as he nodded toward the two boys sitting outside the office. "To quote Eddie, ' You put enough bullets into anything, that thing ain't going to get up,' end quote."

Both men turned to observe as Eddie demonstrated the proper way to hold a Model-27 Glock to a watching Xander. "Did he have that gun since he entered the Library?" Giles asked as Eddie proceeded to show Xander his quick draw.

Sidney nodded. "Yes, he did."

Giles didn't respond immediately. He continued to watch as Eddie demonstrated to Xander, various ways to pull a gun free from its holster. He could have killed Buffy, Giles suddenly realized. That thought made him look at the boy more closely. At first glance, Eddie looked pretty much like most teenage boys. But past his confident smile, through his dark hair, Giles felt something beneath the surface that made the hairs on the back of his neck and arms quiver. The feeling made Giles think of a kind of black sun that needed to release its dark energy or explode violently. It fed of Eddie's emotions. Anger, sadness, despair: all theses feelings were the fuel that kept it burning. Giles took an involuntary step back as he figured out what it was. "Giles?" Sidney asked behind him. "Eddie wouldn't have used the gun on Buffy, if that's what you're thinking.."

Giles turned to face his old friend, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes. "Why did you bring a Necromancer to Sunnydale?" he asked as he looked up. "We have enough problems with the Hellmouth as it is, we don't need people who sell their souls for black magic here as well."



"Now hold on a moment Rupert. Eddie didn't sell his soul to for anything!" Sidney said, a red flush of anger entering his face.

The Watcher's face darkened with anger of it own. "But you don't deny that the boy is a Necromancer. You know almost better then anyone what they have to do to become one!"

"You're right! I, better then anyone, know what Necromancers have to do to get their powers." The former Watcher replied heatedly. "But I tell you that Eddie hasn't sold his soul for his powers. He was born with them!"

Giles stared at Sidney, stunned. "Y-you mean that boy is a natural Necromancer?"

"That's right. As far as I can tell, Eddie is a natural Necromancer." Sidney's voice was now back to its normal pitch.

Giles paused to look at Eddie before replying. "You realize how rare natural Necromancers are." Giles said it as a statement, not a question.

Sidney nodded. "There have been, what, perhaps 20 natural Necromancers in the last 1000 years? Now you realize why I have taken him under my wing."

Giles leaned against his desk. "Yes, quite right," he murmured, a dozen thoughts racing through his head. "Has he reached his full potential yet?" he finally asked.

"No, not yet," the light-haired man replied." But he has been making incredible progress. These past few months have been the most productive. Eddie managed to take break the control of a Reanimator's hold on 10 zombies for about 15 minutes, long enough so that he could destroy them." As he said this he walked over to the window that looked out into the Library, his voice getting quieter with each step.

"Really?" the Watcher said. "That's quite impressive. He should be of tremendous help in this situation. The research that I've done so far informed me that zombies could only be destroyed by fire. I've been hesitant about letting Buffy go around setting fire to things that can run away, but if Eddie can take control of them.." When Giles realized that he didn't have his friend's full attention, he got off the desk and walked over to him. "What is it?"

Sidney stared out the window and into the Library, a puzzled look on his face. "Giles, why is your Slayer throwing books at Eddie?"



.-----.-----.



"You stole a rocket launcher from an army base! Excellent!" Eddie exclaimed.

Xander shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, all of humanity was in danger, and so you know."

Eddie laughed. "Very cool. I once had to hunt down a coven of witches in Northern Russia who had taken an army base as their headquarters. They had cast a spell on the base that caused the soldiers to be their slaves. So there I am, crawling through the dark, trying to keep the soldiers from shooting me and the witches from turning me into a frog or something." The male Slayer told Xander, who had picked up the unloaded Glock and was feeling its weight for the 5th time. "It was intense!"

Xander looked over at Eddie, smiling. "Yeah? What did you do?"

This time it was Eddie that shrugged. "Oh, I had Sid cause a distraction by blowing up a few trucks. All the guards went running over to chase him, I got in took care of business and got out."

"What do you mean, 'took care of business'?" Xander asked as he pretended to shoot at a bookcase.

"Well, I set fire to the barracks that the coven was hauled up in, and then shot them as they came out." Eddie replied as he looked over at Sidney and Giles through the office window. They seemed to be arguing.

"You just shot them? Just like that?" Xander asked, his voice a little strained.

Eddie turned back to Xander, who was looking at him but still aiming the Glock at the bookcase. "Yeah, just like that. You know, you're holding the gun wrong."

Xander looked at the gun that he was holding with both hands, his arms fully extenend. "How?"

The young Necromancer got up from his seat and took the handgun away from Xander. "The way you're holding it may be good for target practice, but it's no good when some dead guy is running straight at you, trying to rip your head off."

Eddie assumed the posture that Xander had taken. "When you're like this, you're gonna have a hell of a time turning around to get at anything behind you. Plus, when you lock your both your arms the way you did and wrap both hands around handle, the kick from the gun is going to throw your aim off for the next shot." Eddie mimicked trying to turn around and take shot with the gun, his arms moving up as he pretended to shoot the gun.

"Really? How do you hold it?" Xander asked, very interested.



Eddie moved his left hand to the butt of the handgun, while his right was wrapped around the handle. "You see how my left arm is slightly bent? That way I can steady the gun quickly after a shoot, without messing up my aim too bad." He mimed the kick of the gun, his arms moving back instead of up." Plus, if there's some iggdy-ook coming up behind me at the same time." He dropped his left hand and brought his hand around, twisting his body sidewise. "This also makes you a smaller target."

Xander had watched the demonstration with interest. "Wow, you really know your stuff."

Eddie shrugged as he placed the unloaded gun into the holster on his back. "Learned most of it while on the job." He quickly drew the gun from its holster and aimed it at the main doors with one hand. "Sid taught me the same posture that you were doing. I just learned that it's impractical in real life."

Eddie kept doing his quick draw as he watched the 2 older men in the office. It seemed to youth that they had finished whatever brief argument they had had, and were now talking normally. They were probably arguing about me, Eddie thought as he turned away from the window.only to see Buffy and Willow enter the Library.

As soon as she saw the gun pointed at them, Buffy pushed Willow out of harms way and onto the floor. She quickly jumped over the reception desk and whipped a hard cover edition of Homer's The Odessy at Eddie's head. Eddie lowered his gun and moved sidewise to avoid the flying epic. Next, Buffy threw a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo that hit the male Slayer on the bridge of his nose. "Owww!" Eddie exclaimed after the airborne classic hit him.

While Eddie was cradling his nose, Buffy leaped over the desk and pounced on him, knocking them both to the floor. "Buffy! What do you think your doing?" Giles said as he and Sidney came running out of his office.

"Uh, hitting the bad man?" she said as she saw the serious look on her Watchers face.

"Get off him this instant!" Giles said as he looked down at her.

Buffy looked down at Eddie, who was still holding his noes. He smiled.

"Before you start on the lectures, he was pointing a gun at me and Willow when we came in." The Slayer said as she got off the Necromancer. "Ask Willow!"

"It's true," Willow put in from where Xander was helping her up off the floor. "He was pointing a gun at us. It's over there under the table," she said pointing.

Buffy quickly picked up the gun from where it had fallen. "See! Like I said, gun!"

"It's unloaded," Eddie said as he pulled himself up with help from the table. "Ask Xander."

"It's true," Xander said as he and Willow walked over to the group. "It was unloaded. The bullets are on the table," he said pointing.

Eddie calmly picked up the bullets. "See? Unloaded."

Giles walked over to both young people and took their respective evidence and inspected them. "Well, you're both apparently correct. But, it doesn't excuse either of you." He said finally. "You," he said turning to Eddie, "You should not have brought a gun into library in the first place, let alone started pointing it around at people." Now he turned to Buffy. "And you. You have to learn not jump into things without thinking."

Both Buffy and Eddie muttered "Whatever," under their breaths. They looked over at each other in surprise.

"Ah, excuse me," Sidney put in before Giles could reprimand them further. "But I don't think that we have been formally introduced. I'm Sidney Benson, and this," he said indicating his companion, "is Eddie Richmond. It's a pleasure to meet all of you." When Eddie didn't say anything, Sidney cleared his throat. "Isn't Eddie?"

Eddie, who was busy rubbing the bridge of his nose, looked up. "Oh, yeah! It's always a pleasure to almost have my nose broken twice before the sun goes down." He said sarcastically. "Nice to meet all of you."

A silence filled the Library as everyone just exchanged looks to one another. "Ah-hem." Giles said finally to Sidney. "Have the 2 of you found a place to stay yet?"

"Um, no, not yet," Sidney answered, relived that the silence had ended. "Actually, I was hoping that you might recommend a place."

Giles thought for a moment. "Well, if you don't mind sleeping on cots, I'd happy to have you stay with me."

Sidney turned to his protégé for his opinion. Eddie shrugged. "I don't care, I'll be spending most of the nights hunting anywise."

"Great, then it's settled." Giles said as he reached into his coat pocket, removing a set of keys. "Here is the key to my flat. I still have some work to do here, but Buffy and I can meet you after school and we can discuss a strategy." Giles removed a key from ring and handed it to Sidney.

Buffy raised her hand in protest. "Hello? Plans here! 'Our Lady Peace' is at the Bronze tonight! I cleared this with you, like last month!"

The Watcher's eyebrows lowered in disapproval. "Buffy, I think that this is a little more important then some concert that you won't ever remember a week from now."

"Let her go," Eddie said before Buffy could protest again. "I'll go hunting by myself. I don't like working with a partner anywise."

Now it was Sidney's turn to speak. "I don't think I want you out there alone. You don't know the town. You could get lost, or ambushed by zombies. Or vampires for that matter. This is the Hellmouth remember."

"Hey! I got an idea!" Willow announced, just as both Buffy and Eddie were about to speak. "Why doesn't Eddie come to the Bronze with us?" She suggested. "Then after, they could, you know, go do the hunt/patrol thing?" The both pairs of Slayers and Watchers looked at her. "It was just an idea." She said quietly.

"And a good one too!" Xander put in. "That way, everyone is equally happy." The boy saw the looks on Giles, Sidney, Buffy and Eddie's faces. "Or unhappy!" he rephrased.

The 2 Watchers turned around and discussed the matter between themselves for a few minuets. Finally they turned back to group. "Ok," Giles started. "Buffy, you can go to the Bronze, only if you and Eddie patrol afterwards."

"Eddie, you can only go hunting if Buffy accompanies you." Sidney finished.

Both Slayers were silent a moment. "Fine," Eddie said first. "I'll go with them to concert, then we hunt."

Buffy looked over at Willow and Xander. She really wanted to go with them, but the thought of Eddie coming too, made her pause before answering. I'll have to go patrol with him anywise, she thought. I might as well get to see 'Our Lady Peace' too. Plus, I don't want to leave Willow Oz-less with Xander and Cordelia, especially when things aren't in the comfort zone with Will and Xander. "Fine, we go to the Bronze, then we patrol."

Both Sidney and Giles nodded. "Fine then it's settled." Giles said.

Silence returned as no one said anything. "So, I guess we'll let you get back to work." Sidney said. "We have a lot of equipment to unload."

"Yes," Giles replied. "Let me just write down the directions to my place." The Watchers walked over to the reception desk.

"Oh, I should probably give you directions to the Bronze, shouldn't I?" Willow said. She wandered over to her binder and scribbled something down on a sheet of paper. "The 'Our Lady Peace' starts playing at 7:30." She said as she handed him the sheet of paper. "Just look for us when you get there."

"Thanks," the Necromancer said as he accepted the paper and stuffed it into his coat pocket.

"Eddie!" Sidney called from the doorway, "Let's go!"

"Hold on!" Eddie called back. "You know, Buffy," he said as he reloaded his gun and slipped it into its back holster, " The next time you get the urge to jump on top of me, you don't have to hit me with a book, just ask nicely!" With that he turned and raced after Sidney who had already left.

After he had gone, Buffy turned to Willow, a look of expectation on her face. "It seemed like a good idea at the time!" the red-haired girl said defensively.

Buffy raised an eyebrow and walked out of the Library. "Hey!" Xander exclaimed. "How come everyone can do that but me?"