Here's chapter five. Sorry I haven't posted in a little while. Teri and Cyberwulf, hope you enjoy this.



Chapter 5

For over a week, there was no sign of Katherina. Giles took advantage of the quiet time, catching up
with all of his family in Sunnydale. Though Dawn had sent him regular updates on all the events in
Sunnydale, he missed the different views of events. He missed Willow's optimism, and Buffy's sarcasm,
and Xander's unique brand of humor. He missed talking to them.

While they were waiting for Katherina to make her next move, it also became apparent that the
relationships between Giles and his former charges had changed in his absence. They were friends now.
They were on equal ground. The Scoobies had grown up. They were adults, and therefore they didn't
look to him to solve all their problems. They didn't segregate him to the role of "boring old book guy",
as they had in the past.

Upon his return, Sunnydale was a whole new world for Giles. He spent several evenings with Willow
and Xander at the Bronze. He went on patrol with Buffy(it felt satisfying to dust a few vampires after all
this time). He helped Dawn with her homework in the afternoons. He was useful and needed in a way
that he was never needed before.

It was a bright Tuesday morning, eight days after Giles had arrived. Dawn had just gone off to school
and Buffy had just gone off to work. Giles had the morning to himself, but he was on a mission. He had
promised to take care of dinner for all of the Scoobies, but first he needed to do a little grocery shopping.
He chose not to take a cab, and instead enjoy the calm of Sunnydale day.

It was amazing what a different world Sunnydale was in the light. School busses where trundling
down the suburban streets. Women in high powered suites, and men in white collared shirts and subdued
ties were getting into their cars with coffee and the morning paper. The sounds of birds and lawn mowers
filled the air. Giles took a deep breath; definitely a different world.

He had just left the residential area and was nearing the back of the nearest grocery story when there
was a flash in the corner of his eye. His heart leapt into his throat and he turned, certain that something
was wrong.

There was nothing there. Giles listened intently for a moment, but he could here nothing but the
sound of a car alarm going off in the parking lot. He relaxed a little and was about to start back towards
the store when a powerful hand clamped over his mouth and another wrapped itself around his arms and
chest. He struggled, but to no effect. He was dragged into the shadows of the alley behind the grocery store.

When they were out of sight, his assailant stopped. He felt warm breath on his neck as he heard as soft
feminine purr. "If you make a sound, I'll snap your neck. Do you understand?" Giles shook his head yes.

The hand was removed from his mouth, and he was slammed into a dumpster. When he saw who his
attacker was, his worst fears were confirmed. Xander was right about Katherina. Up close, her resemblance
to a vampire was even more profound. Her skin was sickeningly pale, as though she had only seen the sunlight
on rare occasions. Her color was emphasized by the dark makeup she wore around her eyes and the dark hair
that framed her face. She stared into his eyes with the same violent intensity that he had seen on the faces of
demons before they killed. But there was something else as well. Deep in her eyes, behind the violence and the
confidence, there was...something. Giles couldn't identify it yet.

Right now he was more concerned with inhuman strength that had him pinned to the dumpster; feet
dangling in the air. Damn!> He thought to himself. Bloody stupid of me. 'Nobody should go out alone.'
I was standing right next to Buffy when she said that, and what do I do? I practically hold a sign over my
head that reads 'easy target'? What am I going to tell Buffy if I survive this?>

Giles' thoughts were interrupted by Katherina's soft voice. "You're her watcher. You're supposed to
be in England. So what are you doing here?"

Giles didn't speak, the slayer's earlier threat on his neck still fresh in his mind. Katherina, misunderstanding
his silence for defiance, backhanded him across the face and threw him to the ground. "Talk." She commanded.

Giles tried to rise to his feet, but a swift kick to the ribs convinced him otherwise. "I'm loosing my patience."
Katherina informed him.

"Ethan Rayne." He said simply, after catching his breath. He couldn't betray Paul's trust. If the council
found out about Paul's involvement, Giles was afraid they would kill him. On the other hand, they had known
about Ethan for years. They had tried to kill him on several occasions that Giles could recall, and he had
survived each one. The man was like a cockroach.

"The warlock?" Katherina questioned.

Giles nodded. He had to give away as little information as possible, but still make it sound convincing.
"He contacted me...by phone. Said my slayer was in danger and gave me a description of you."

"Why would he help you? He's not the type." She asked, suspiciously.

"I wondered the same thing myself. I think he's less comfortable with you around, than with Buffy.
Can't say I blame him really." Another kick. The wind was knocked out of him, and Giles could
practically feel the bruise spreading over his ribcage.

"Where did he get his information?"

"He wouldn't say." He gasped. "I wouldn't put it past him to have the whole council bugged
though. Probably heard someone talking about it in the loo." Misdirection was his only weapon at
the moment. Giles only hoped he was convincing enough. "I'd check into that when you get back
to the council, if I were you." Another swift kick silenced Giles, as he began to curl in around his injuries.

Katherina towered over him, considering what she had just heard. She picked him up by the collar
again. "Tell your slayer that this isn't just about her. This is about her entire network. She can't protect
you and all of her friends at once." With that, she threw him back against the dumpster and vanished into
the shadows. Giles tried to follow her movement, but found it impossible.

"Well," He said to himself, and the one rat that regarded him from inside a cardboard box. "That was
exciting."

**********

That evening, everyone sat around the table, eating out of containers of chinese take out. Giles now sported
a vivd black eyes from his encounter with Katherina which everyone noticed as soon as they walked in the door.

It was hardest telling Buffy about his stupidity and bad judgment. He tried to lighten the situation with humor.
Buffy walked through the door and froze when she saw Giles' face. "Hello Buffy." He smiled nervously.
"You'll never guess who I ran into at the grocery store." Buffy was not amused, she was concerned. She ran into
the kitchen and forced an ice pack onto Giles' eye.

"What were you thinking, walking around alone when you know Katherina's out there?"

Giles was actually a little annoyed at Buffy's mothering. "Look, I couldn't very well make dinner for everyone
with no food in the house. I had to do some shopping. Besides, I'm a grown man. I can take care of myself."
She glared at him in silence. At a loss for words, Giles was appalled to hear himself say "You're not the boss of me."

After Buffy had calmed down, she allowed Giles to make a phone call to the chinese take out restaurant,
while she began cleaning up around the house. It was a way to relieve some stress.

Now, several hours later, and with stomachs full, the conversation had turned away from Giles(Thankfully),
and on to a new battle plan. Giles explained Katherina's threat to everyone. "She's going to go after your
weakness Buffy, and that's your care and concern for us."

Willow threw up her hands in frustration. "Grr! When are these people going to figure out that attacking
us doesn't work. I mean how many people have tried it already? Angelus tried it, Faith tried it, Glory tried it,
Spike tried it..." She ticked each one off on her fingers. "We're still here. Most of them aren't."

Buffy looked down at the ground trying to disguise shame as thinking. "Since Giles showed up, Spike had
been making himself scarce. No one mentioned it, mostly because they didn't care. For some reason, the
vampire didn't want to be anywhere near Giles now that he and Buffy had been sleeping together. He wouldn't
explain why, and Buffy didn't have time to wonder. She just hoped that the whole thing with Spike wouldn't
come out while Giles was home. She couldn't bear the look on his face if he ever found out.

"Yeah, well, look at how many times things almost didn't work out. It's always been a really close call.
I don't want to deal with that again. I think we should take the offensive; attack her before she can hit us again."

"Buffy, last time you fought her you came home an absolute mess. What makes you think you can beat
her?" Giles didn't want Buffy rushing into a fight without thinking first.

"Well what am I supposed to do? Wait around for him to attack you again; or Dawn, or Xander or
Willow?"

"No, that's not what I meant." Giles answered, irritated. "It's just..." He paused, struggling for the
right words. "There's something I didn't tell you earlier...about my encounter with Katherina. We're treating
this girl like we did Faith, but I don't think that's a fair assessment."

"It's my duty." Buffy said quietly to herself.

"Buffy, don't you think you're abusing the 'it's my duty' line?" Xander asked. "Next thing you know,
you'll be going though the cereal looking for the decoder ring that Dawn called because it's your duty."

Buffy was only half listening to Xander's ranting. She seemed deep in thought. Willow noticed this and
asked "What is it Buffy?"

"Hmm?" Buffy suddenly snapped out of her reverie. "What? Oh. Katherina said that. She said 'It's
my duty.' when we were fighting. By the time Faith joined the Mayor, it wasn't about duty. It was about
doing damage and having fun."

Giles was nodding as Buffy spoke. "I noticed that too. She didn't say anything of that sort, but there was
something in her eyes. She wasn't enjoying threatening me. It was just a job to her. That's her weakness."

"Wait," This time it was Dawn who spoke up. She had been quietly picking apart the last egg roll until this
point. "her weakness is that she doesn't get her jollies out of kicking ass? Then we have a problem, because
neither does Buffy."

Giles was once again astounded at the young girl's capacity to understand what was going on. "That's not
exactly it, Dawn. Buffy has a very good reason to fight. She fights to protect you and all of the people she cares
about. She has a very strong motivation. Katherina probably has no friends. She's doing this because Travers
told her to."

"And everything I know about Travers says he isn't much motivation." Buffy interrupted. "So her weakness
is her motivation. I don't know Giles, how can this help us. I don't think talking to her is going to do anything."

"No, I agree. She's too well trained and too well brainwashed for talking to work." His glasses were off
again and he was deep in thought. He stood up and began pacing around the room.

"What are you thinking, Giles?"

"I'm not quite sure yet. We need to plant a suggestion. We need to get through a wall that has been built
up over years. Talking won't do it..." Giles trailed off, obviously still deep in his own thoughts.

Willow was the next to speak. Her words were quiet and timid. "A spell?"

All eyes turned to her and she looked around defensively. "I'm not suggesting that I...what I meant was...
how could you guys think that? I'm clean! I don't do magic any more!"

"Of course Willow. We're sorry." Buffy apologized. "You were saying?"

"Well, like Giles said. We need to plant a suggestion. Maybe a spell that is performed by someone who is
not me, could do that. Maybe we could plant some sort of visual image; something her subconscious couldn't
outright deny."

Giles groaned in frustration. "Of course, why didn't I think of that?"

"Think of what?" Xander asked.

"It's so simple!" Giles continued as though Xander hadn't spoken. "I'll need some help, but it won't
be difficult at all."

"Tara can help!" Willow suggested. Tara smiled and nodded.

"I'll need Xander's help too. We'll need to form a triangle. We'll need some supplies, but this should
do the trick."

The rest of the evening was spent planning. Details were worked out and concerns were raised and answered.
The most difficult part of the plan would be to find Katherina and to keep her distracted long enough for the
spell to work.

"Leave that up to me." Buffy said.

With that, the meeting was over. The table was cleared, and everyone went off to get a good night's sleep.