Part 36:

"What do you want us to do Buffster?" Xander asked after Buffy and Spike had explained the situation.

"I don't even know. I guess…we need to get Giles out. And then we need to stop what the Mayor is planning. If we can get the folder that Spike and I delivered to him, that should stop him from unleashing hell," Buffy said.

"Sounds good in theory, but in actuality?" Xander asked, scrunching up an eyebrow as he looked at the slayer.

"In actuality the mayor will probably kill you all," Cordelia said with a toss of her hair.

"Cordelia Chase…eternal optimist," Oz said, receiving a chuckle from Tara, who sat one seat away from him.

"What is that supposed to mean Xander?" Cordelia asked angrily.

"I didn't say anything!" Buffy's brown haired friend protested, rising from his seat and looking at Cordelia angrily.

"And I should believe that because?" Cordelia asked, narrowing her eyes and rising from her seat so that she and Xander were looking eye to eye.

Buffy cut in before either of her friends could speak again.

"Guys, it doesn't matter who said what," The slayer explained, exasperated.

"Sorry Buff," Xander apologized meekly. The slayer didn't have a chance to respond as Spike and Willow came into the library from Giles' office. Willow was carrying a large stack of papers that she had just printed out, and Spike wore a weary expression.

"Is it bad?" The slayer asked as Spike came to stand behind her, kissing the top of her head.

"It's bad," Willow answered, coming to stand next to the Slayer and laying her printouts on the table that the other Scoobies sat around. All the Scoobies leaned in as Willow began explaining what she had printed.

"I managed to hack into the initiative database," The red-haired witch began, "It was tough. The Initiative isn't some little Sunnydale organization. It's a government branch. However, it's completely top secret. There's no way to access it from government web pages. There's only one way into their files. Once in things just got worse. The Initiative has high tech equipment. I'm sure you and Spike have seen what they can do. There are access codes to basically everything. And the codes…I could only get some of them."

"What are the print-outs for?" Buffy asked. Willow shuffled through the papers before pulling out one.

"This is a map of the Initiative. It includes all secret tunnels, room numbers, and all the access codes I could get a holy of. The only problem will be getting to Giles because he's in a high security area. I don't have the access code. I can get you into the corridor but after that, you're basically going to be stuck looking through the glass at Giles," Willow admitted sadly.

"Do you have the access code for the Mayor's office?" Buffy asked.

"I do. It was hard to get, but I managed."

"Are we going then?" Spike asked.

"Yeah," Buffy said, "I mean, if you're up for it…" The slayer finished teasingly. Spike nipped lightly at Buffy neck and whispered something in her ear that caused the Slayer to blush.

"I think that's a yes," Oz said.

"Sometimes I wish I had never met you, because then I could go to sleep at night not knowing there was someone like you out there."

from Good Will Hunting