11: Jelly Doughnuts and Plan B

Sam's hospital bed, to the annoyance of the doctors, became an impromptu meeting centre for the two different branches of the Hellmouth Committee. Sam felt vaguely sheepish to be in his position, but Giles shrugged it off with a resigned sigh.

"Getting knocked on the head, alas, would seem to be a continuing hazard in our line of work."

"Well, if you maybe actually locked your door once in a while-" Giles silenced his Slayer with a well-honed look.

"Regardless, the Box of Gavroc has once again eluded us," noted Wesley, a trifle snippily. "It appears we're doomed to never follow the easy route."

"I could've told you that," sighed Buffy.

"So what do we do now?" asked CJ, rubbing her forehead tiredly.

"We go to plan B," said Giles.

"Okay, would plan B in any way involve bringing dynamite into an ambassadorial reception?" Josh wanted to know. "'Cuz-"

"Tribby has to be stopped from Ascending at the reception," Toby interrupted impatiently.

"Once it's begun, the Ascension can't be put off," Wesley added.

"So we just need to keep him away from the reception and he'll... go all snakey somewhere else?" Donna asked. Josh smirked, and she gave him a look.

Giles took his glasses off and absently polished them. "I believe that has, um, pretty much covered it."

"Can't we just get him off the guest list?" suggested Donna optimistically, but Josh was shaking his head.

"The president's specifically asked for him to speak."

"He's Agriculture," added Sam. "It's a big day for him."

"Nobody turns down a chance to speak directly to the president."

"Yeah. Even if he wants to talk about waffles," agreed Sam wryly.

"Mmm, waffles." Buffy bounced suddenly to her feet. "You guys want food?" she asked. "It's the end of the world, we usually have jelly doughnuts."

"Yes, that's probably a good idea." Giles straightened up. "We could all, no doubt, use a bit of a break."

"Yeah, I could use some coffee." He and Donna exchanged a private smile, and Sam saw CJ's jaw tighten.

"We'll be back in a minute, Sam," said Josh, and before he could even protest everybody had bailed out and left him.

"Hey, don't mind me," he said to the empty room. Despite himself, though, he was feeling suddenly very tired. Maybe he would just rest his eyes for a moment...

"Hey, Sam." He jolted awake and blinked the world back into focus.

"Leo!" He scrambled to sit up.

"Stay down, Sam." Leo rolled his eyes. "What happened?"

Well, we were breaking and entering when these demons bust in on us, and... "Oh, I, uh, I hit my head. On a, on a cabinet." He tried to look sheepish, which really wasn't difficult.

"We need to get you one of those harness things they put three-year-olds in," Leo suggested with a wicked grin. "You're not safe to be out on your own."

"I just tripped, Leo!" he objected.

"Like you 'just' fell off that boat?"

"One time, Leo, that was one time." Leo just smirked.

"Whatever."

The sound of footsteps in the corridor outside came as a welcome relief. Until, that was, they came close enough to overhear what was being said. "And then, of course, there's the question of vampires, which are-" Giles spotted Leo "-a fascinating legend in their own right." Sam fought the urge to applaud the smooth change of gear.

"Hey, Leo," said Josh, as the others trooped in. "What are you doing here?"

"Ginger told me Toby got a call that Sam was trying to smash his own brains in. Thought I'd better come see if he'd succeeded." He looked curiously at the three strangers.

CJ quickly took charge. "This is Rupert Giles. He and his friend Wesley are, um, mythologists, and this is an old student of his, Buffy Summers." She shot a look at Sam. "We were having a very interesting conversation until Spanky here decided to practise his swan dives in a room full of sharp corners."

Sam shrank down in his bed, and wished he'd had the foresight to just pretend he was still asleep. This really wasn't turning out to be a good day, ego-wise.

"Okay." Leo frowned at Giles. "Have we met?"

"I, uh, took a group of young people to the White House a few weeks ago. That's how I met, uh-" He gestured vaguely towards the senior staff, pointing mostly at CJ.

"Ah. I see." Leo gave CJ an inquiring look that she pretended not to notice. "Well, I hope 'Spanky' here has apologised for ruining your evening."

Josh snickered, and Sam decided that now was a good time to check out the quality of the ceiling tiles. "Listen, I'm going back to the White House," Leo continued. "Sam, try not to headbutt any more furniture. I'll see you at senior staff tomorrow."

He left, and CJ grinned and snapped her fingers. "Hey, I just got an idea..."