Title: The Changing of the Guard Series: A Way Out 3/7

Author: Written by memarkw, based on an idea by Aristide.

E-mail: memarkw@yahoo.com

Spoilers: Some of the "past events" take place anytime
during the series, or may be happening in Season 7
according to entertainment articles.

Disclaimer: If you are reading this and think that
these characters are my own creation, you don't belong
here...it's all thanks to Lord Joss Whedon.

Rating: Mostly PG, although there are 3 or 4 swear words,
including one F-word, scattered about.

Special thanks to E James Burns, Bev, and MeB for catching
the little oopses...

_______________________________________


Three days had come and gone since Giles had received
the call from Buffy. He managed to book the first
flight to LAX the moment the connection with her had been
terminated.

According to his source within the inner sanctum of
the Council, Laura Warren was long dead. As far as the
source knew, the Council has no operations which involved
finding anyone involved with the supposedly dead Slayer.

The former Watcher walked down the stairs to find
Buffy pacing restlessly. When she noticed him standing
there, she stepped up to him.

"Giles, are you sure? How do you know you can trust
this person? This so-called source of yours? She IS on
the Council."

Rupert sighed. Placing a hand on Buffy's shoulder,
he led her to the sofa. "Buffy, I've repeated this more
than once. I trust her implicitly. I know you don't
belive me, but not every member of the Council is so
bad. A few are downright decent chaps. Or ladies, as it
were. If Amberly says the Council isn't involved, they
aren't involved."

"If you say so. I hate this - this sitting here just
doing nothing. I should have gone with Willow and Laura
to get the trailer."

"Buffy, sit down. Wearing a hole in the carpet isn't
going to solve anything."

She hadn't even realized that she had moved from the
couch, or that she was walking back and forth again.

"I can't get over the fact that if I get pregnant, I
lose my abilities."

"I never met Merrik. From what I understand, he was
an upright fellow. However, we can't just believe what
Laura has told us. Not that I think she's lying to us, of
course, but we need to see that particular journal for
ourselves."

"So, get it. I'm the Slayer," she stopped moving and
placed her closed fists on her hips. "You're my Watcher.
Watcher's research and my Watcher has priority. Get the
journal."

"I'm afraid it's not that-that simple. We don't
know which journal he found it in. All we know is that it
was supposedly before the Council existed. That means we
have to find a journal that is well over a thousand years
old. I just don't know how to explain that to the Council
without them asking dangerous questions."

"So, call your friend - this Amberly person."

"Buffy-"

"No! Call her! I want to know what's happening,
why so many girls died without knowing that there was a
way out of this...this...THIS!" The Slayer threw her hand
upwards and outwards wtih her exclamation.

"I was going to say that I just got off the phone
with-with Amberly. She is going to express several
journals from pre-Council years."

"Did you tell her what we're looking for?"

"No, but she did ask if I was looking for the
journal of the slayer who had given birth."

"What?! How?"

"Amberly is much older than I, Buffy. She's been a
member of the Council for nearly half a century."

"And you think-"

"No. I know it. She was the acquaintance that
Merrik referred to. She said that she hadn't thought of
that journal since Merrik researched it."

"Wow," Buffy exhaled as she fell onto the couch.
There's a... connection now, huh?"

"It would seem so. I have to say, though, that I
don't like the way that you are handling this."

"What?"

"You act as if though you've just discovered a secret
cure for a disease. It's not that simple. Do you think
that if it's true, you can just run out and-and-and find
some young man to impregnate you? Just so you can stop
slaying?"

The Slayer was silent. What Giles had just accused
her of hit her like a ton of bricks. She hadn't realized
it, but she WAS a little excited about the fact that she
could get out of slaying by getting pregnant. Now that
she thought about it though, it was crazy. She could
never have a baby just to get her out of a situation. She
wasn't that kind of person. Was she? No!

Giles put an arm around her. "We'll find Laura's
husband and Marika. Once that is done, we'll look into
this whole pregnancy thing."

Buffy was about to reply when they heard a loud
engine outside. Peering throught the curtain, she saw
that Laura and Willow had returned.

Willow was pulling her overnight bag from the back of
the van when her friend reached around her and grabbed it.
Willow turned to give Buffy a hug.

"What a boring drive! That little town they were
living in is so...boring."

"Yeah, well, try sitting on your hands for three
days."

Giles was already examining the little motorhome.
Just as Laura had said, there were signs that the door had
been forced open. He could see where she had done some
repair work so that it would lock again. He noticed a
small metallic shimmer just behind the door handle. He
pulled a small roll of surgical tape from his pocket,
unaware of the looks he received from the females present,
and placed it over the area where he had seen the shimmer.

A few seconds later, he entered the trailer. It was
quite...cozy. He was standing in a combination kitchen
-living area. At his left elbow was a small sink.
Directly next to the sink was a small stove. No more
than two steps across from the stove was a tiny
refrigerator. An empty countertop, no more than eighteen
inches square, was next to the fridge, across from the
sink.

To his right was a small seat that one would assume
served as a sofa, with an identical seat across from it.
Situated between the two was a table that seemed to fold
downwards if the table leg was pushed upwards. On the
table were a small television and stereo. Roughly three
feet above the table was a sleeping area of some sort.
It was a small mattress with a homemade shelf, on which
sat an extremely small lamp, clock, and book. The book
was laid on the shelf, open-faced down. There was a drape
of sorts at one end of the bed which apparently was drawn
lengthwise for semblance of privacy.

Towards the back end of the kitchen area, on the
other side of the fridge, was a door, which he assumed led
to the bathing area. Opening the door, he found his
assumption to be correct. There was a small toilet with
just enough room to sit and place one's feet in front of
himself. From this sitting postition, one could reach
across to wash one's hands in a small sink, or reach up
to adjust a shower head. It seemed as though one would
shower in this sitting postion.

Across from the bathing area door, was a small
closet. There was a partition pulled across the small
corridor. Opening the plastic partition, he found a bed.
It was the entire width of the small trailer, and appeared
to be a foot shorter in length than the average adult
height.

He turned around and went back to the sitting area.
He sat down and wondered how any person could live like
this, much less three people.

"You do what you have to do for the safety of your
child, Mr. Giles."

Startled, and ashamed that he had been caught
thinking out loud, he turned to face Laura. "I'm-I'm
sorry. I didn't mean to voice that question. I certainly
don't mean to sound judgemental."

"It's OK. I understand. I thought the same thing
when I first saw it. After the first day, I just wanted
to cry. After the first week, I started getting the hang
of it. After the first month, we were moving around in
here like pros. Like I said, you do what you have to do
for the safety of your child."

"Yes, I suppose one does at that." He thought of the
reasons why he'd left Sunnydale.

"So, what do we do now?"

The tone of her voice reminded him of his own slayer.
He was perplexed. Here was a woman who had been a
slayer. She hadn't died, she had found herself with
child. She was still alive. It meant that there was a
way out for Buffy. He was ashamed of himself, thinking
that. It wasn't right. How much longer could Buffy
continue before she was killed, though? The next
time...well, the next time, there would be no bringing her
back. If this whole mess ended up revealing a way for
Buffy to quit slaying, he was going to do his damnedest to
find it.

He let his eyes wander lazily, not looking for
anything, while he thought. Another metallic shimmer
caught his eye. It was on the floor near the entrance
to the trailer; there was another near the bathing area.
It didn't look like blood, but the pattern made him think
that was exactly what it might be. He pulled out the
tape and took a sample from each of the spots.

Buffy had poked her head into the trailer, just in
time to see her friend pulling tape from the floor.

"Whatcha doing?"

"If my suspicion is correct, this is blood of some
sort. It could give us an idea as to who or what caused
John to disappear."

Laura sighed. "It's been a long time. I can't
belive I didn't notice that."

Buffy tried to ease the burden. "Don't worry about
it. I miss stuff like that all the time."

Giles stood up and pushed his way past the Slayer-the
current Slayer. He approached Willow, who was on her
way back to the van from the house.

"Willow, can you test this? I think it's a demon
blood. I'd appreciate it if you would analyze it and
compare it to all known demon bloods. If we can figure
out what it came from, perhaps we can pinpoint the
location of the creature that left that for us."

Willow shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, that's what I'm
here for. Trusty Willow here to research. Maybe I
should be a watcher?"

Giles gave Willow a look that Buffy recognized. It
was one that he gave Buffy when she did or said something
that he wanted kept secret or that she herself shouldn't
know.

Laura walked came out of the trailer and asked Buffy
if she could park the trailer in the driveway and hook up
the electricity.

"Why?" the younger woman asked.

"I'm thinking of calling it an early night."

Buffy laughed. "No, you can't park it and hook it
up."


"Oh."

"You can park it, but you don't need electricity.
You're staying in the house."

"I can't. I wouldn't want to take anyone's bed."

"You can have Dawn's room. How convenient that my
dad decides to play Father-of-the-Year this summer, huh?
Dawnie's gone till the end of August."

"What about Mr. Giles?"

"He's got Will's room. She's sharing with me.
Really, it's no problem."

"Well, if you're sure..."

Giles took Laura's arm. "She's sure. Come on. I
could use a bite to eat."

Laura pulled away from the Watcher, gently. "I need
to grab some things from inside and lock up first."

Buffy and Giles waited for Laura to do the things she
needed to do. After about fifteem minutes, she stepped
out of the trailer and locked the door behind her.

As they entered the house, Willow ran down the
stairs. "I found it! It was a lot easier than I thought
it'd be! It's a Greunzyk Slith."

Giles stopped short. "Oh, dear." He took off his
glasses and started to clean them with his handkerchief.
You're sure of that?"

Willow looked insulted. "Yeah, I'm sure. You can
double check if you want."

"No, it's quite alright. I'll take your word for
it." He put the glasses back on his face, pushing them
up. Again, he said "Oh, dear."

"Oh, dear?" Buffy and Laura asked.

"Oh, dear. The Greunzyk Slith is part demon, part
warlock. It feeds on memories. It's not usually an
aggressive creature, though. It feeds in small doses
from unconcious victims. The effect is similar to that of
a drunken blackout. The fact that one of them forced its'
way into the motor home and was injured indicates that it
was aggressive. We need to find out where they are."

"But, how do we do that? Just go up to each and
every one we meet and ask it if it attacked John?" Laura
demanded of Giles.

"No, finding them should be fairly simple. They are
not great in numbers. I believe it is safe to say there
are only about thirty or forty in existence at one time.
They tend to reproduce at the same rate they pass away.
The good part is that they travel in large packs. Right
now there are only two such packs known in the country."

Buffy raised her eyebrows. "You know this how?"

Giles looked at her sheepishly. "The Council has me
updating books and records. Some creatures are kept
under watch, as they tend to come in...handy...at times."

Buffy put up a hand. "Don't tell me anymore. That
alone makes me think that they aren't going to be happy
to deal with us. I mean, if the Council REQUESTS their
assistance at times, these Gretzky Sloths aren't going
to be volunteering. I know how the Council works. Demons
do it the the way the Council wants it done or the Council
decides the demon dies."

Willow spoke up. "Laura, are you sure you don't
remember anything about John disappearing?"

"Just what I told you. Why?"

"Well, if a Greunzyk Slith," she looked at Buffy,
trying to send a message that the Slayer had pronounced
it wrong, "feeds like Giles says, then it's possible you
saw what happened to John. What if the Slith fed off of
you that night to remove your memories of it?"