"They're here," announced Toby. "I'm going down to meet them. Don't everybody crowd around and get in the way!"
"Can I come?" asked Josh.
"Can I come?" asked CJ.
Toby glowered. "One person. And only one person. Can Come. With me!"
"Take Ainsley," suggested Sam. "To show how bipartisan we are," he explained to the many confused looks.
"I'm sure that's the first thing they're going to worry about," sighed Toby. "Not, you know, the demon."
Ainsley jumped from her chair with a squeal of delight.
"Shouldn't Leo be doing all this?" asked CJ. "Or the military…..or, well, somebody else?"
"Leo is keeping an eye on the President." Toby ignored the implied slur.
"Doesn't the President know?"
"No way! And it's staying that way. Leo is keeping him distracted and far from places of curiosity. He's not to suspect a thing. Which is more likely to happen if you're all going about your jobs as normal. Go on, go! Don't any of you people have jobs?"
He was met with a chorus of surprised denials.
"What about the military?" asked Josh.
Toby sighed deeply. "Their only recommendation was to send for this girl. They sounded a little nervous after their past experiences."
"Are they scared of the demon or are they scared of the girl?" laughed Josh.
"I'm not entirely sure." But he had his suspicions.
****************
"Wow," said Buffy, looking around the hall.
"I second that wow and raise you a sense of overwhelming fear," said Xander, laughing nervously.
"Too many military types with big weapons," grumbled Spike. "They're all *looking* at me."
"I don't know why, you just fit in so well around here. See the way all the staff here have bleached hair and big swishy coats?" smiled Willow, who alone of the Scoobies seemed at home in the White House.
"It's –ah- quite intimidating, isn't it," admitted Giles. "Once we get to meet our contact things should become more straightforward. You know - find demon, kill demon. In the meantime, let's just try not to stand out."
"Yeah," said Xander, waving a finger at Spike. "No vamp stuff in the White House."
"Right," was the sarcastic reply, "Cos what I was going to do was shout 'I'm a vampire' really loud and then try and bite the president."
"Spike," said Giles in a strangled tone, making a flapping motion. They looked around to see a short, bald man who seemed to be trying hard to pretend he hadn't heard Spike's words.
"Oh, bloody hell."
"Rupert Giles, pleased to meet you." Giles offered his head to the stranger with a nervous glance over his shoulder. "And this is Buffy, the er…."
"Vampire slayer, I hope," said Toby with a small smile. "Toby Ziegler, White House Chief of Communications."
He became aware of the group gathered surreptitiously behind him.
"That's most of the senior staff," he explained, waving disinterestedly at them. "People who are *paid too much*."
"Hi!" CJ waved to the crowd.
"And these are the people who are going to solve our problem." He waved a hand at the amassed Scoobies.
"We're not paid at all," said Buffy with a smile.
"I thought there was one Slayer?" CJ put in. "A 'chosen one'?"
"Ha! You did do some reading!" crowed Toby. The comment hit him. "Why *are* there eight of you?"
"Um. Sorry about that," began Giles. "The group functions quite well as a unit…."
"Riley-talk," whispered Willow.
"But if, for security, we need to reduce numbers, then, I'm sure it will be no problem."
"No problem at all," Toby assured them. "I've been told that you are the people you need if you have a – well, demon."
"Who ya gonna call? Ghost-busters!" sang Josh and Sam in unison.
Spike sighed loudly. Pillocks.
Toby added, with a harsh look at his staff, "And if for security, we need to reduce numbers, we can get rid off some of the idiots standing behind me. The people who I'm *quite* sure could be finding better things to do?"
The senior staff attempted to look busy while standing around doing nothing.
"So what's the demon?" Buffy piped up.
Toby raised his hands in a gesture of defeat.
"Okay then, *where's* the demon?" she asked. "Can we get a look at it?"
"Of course," said Toby, "Follow me."
They wandered along a seeming interminable series of corridors.
"God, what demon would want to live down here?" wondered Buffy, as the temperature rose and the air thickened.
"This is where I work," said Ainsley, with a look to Sam.
Buffy stared. "Wow, what did you do in a past life? This is worse than my work place – you know, cemeteries, mausoleums?"
"I was probably a Republican," admitted Ainsley, thoughtfully. "Because I am now and I always have been, a Republican."
"Why do you work in this White House?" asked Willow curiously.
"They needed a lawyer," was the reply.
"I thought everyone was a lawyer here?" wondered Buffy.
"Yes, but they needed a good lawyer," explained Ainsley, ignoring various Democratic snorts of derision in the background.
"I think we should clear up a few minor points of fact," began Josh, addressing himself to the visitors.
"Demon," called Buffy.
"Huh?"
She pushed him out of the way, ignoring his yell of protest, and heading fast for what was indeed a – big – thing. It seemed to be heading for the blond girl, the nice girl who worked down here in these stinky underground passages. Buffy hurled herself at it, vaguely realising that Spike had grabbed the girl and removed her from harm's way. Harm, in this case being a many-tentacled demon.
As she reached it, the demon vanished into a whisp of smoke.
"Oy!" she yelled, frustrated, "Where did it go?"
"So, what was it?" enquired Toby, maintaining a safe distance.
The White House staff waited for the verdict in some trepidation.
"Well," declared Buffy, "What you've got is a – Big - Thing."