Disclaimers, etc, see part one.
Aftermath.
* * * * *
I'd forgotten how dusty vampire dust was. It sort of explodes over everything. Philip stared at the space that Trevor had been. Sally simply wiped the dust of her clothes. I shook my own clothes out before collapsing against the wall. I wouldn't ever see him again.
"What can I tell Michelle?" Philip whispered.
'Oh, god, the cleanup,' I thought. We had a secrecy thing now. It was also a general keep people happy and calm thing.
"Nothing," I said sternly. I managed to pull myself together. "You take Sally to be reprogrammed and say nothing to Michelle or Angie, and I won't tell the Watcher's Council what you were up to. I'll do the talking."
He looked like he was going to argue. But he had worked out that I could probably hold up my end of the deal. He was smart. He possibly did build Sally. She might even come to the next family gathering; no one else thinks robots are real.
I opened the front door first. The leader of the gang snarled at me and tried to enter. I stepped back calmly.
"Trevor is dust. I will be reporting this to the Watcher's Council. Get gone."
They did. Philip was trying hard to explain keeping this a secret to Sally. I ignored him for the moment.
I whistled before I opened the bedroom door. It was a song I made up for Angie when she was pregnant. Lizzie was standing in the middle of the room, stake in hand while the others had crowded themselves onto Caroline's bed.
"Dad, what good was that bit of wood going to have? and where did you get it anyway?"
I looked at Lizzie. She understood and shook her head slightly.
"I just wanted to give you something that might hurt them, put them off. I think it's from Grey's building site. I though about making it into a Christmas tree."
I took the stake from Lizzie. It was I nice shape, if I do say so myself. Too long, for the width, for a Christmas tree, but I had thought that at the time I had made it. I like making stakes. I got quite good at it in High School. And, as it turned out, I do have a natural affinity for wood things. Cordelia never got the hang of it. But I have also carved other things for the girls, and a state when Sarah was six I made her an axe and taught her how to wield it.
I put the tree my back pocket and walked over to Michelle.
"I'm sorry," I managed to say before she burst into tears. Angie put her arms around her. I knelt in front of them.
"Is he, is he dead?"
"No. He…" oh shit "He's gone. He was gambling, hard. He said that he never meant to hurt you or the kids. But he liked the life he found. I don't he'll come back."
She just shook her head.
Caroline was only a little older than Lizzie. "What happened to his face?"
Rule three: like a magician's tricks, don't ever give away the excuses.
"I've seen a drug that does that," I said slowly. "It's called PCP. It does all sorts of things, none of them nice. Your father would never have wanted to hurt you."
"But now he's gone?"
"Yes."
Her face fell, but she didn't cry. Shock, I knew. I hugged her as warmly as could given that my heart didn't seem to be beating any more than Trevor's had. Lizzie wrapped her arms around me too. Then Kyle, Beck and Sarah.
Philip entered softly some time later. He gently put his arms around Michelle, too. I hadn't noticed Beatrice and Arthur until she stood up. The effect that had was quite amazing. It was the strongest 'the test is over' since I proposed to Angie; first flat tire over the Michigan border.
"We should feed the children," she said.
I almost laughed at the simplicity of the thought that hit me. She sounded so much like Giles. The children did need food, and the adults needed something to do. I stood, pulling the kids upright with me.
We fed them, soothed them, and put them into bed on mattresses in the living room. Sally was still curled up on the couch where she'd been when we emerged. I wasn't sure if she was sleeping or had been shut down, and didn't raise the issue with Philip.
Angie slept with Michelle in her room. Beatrice and Arthur had the bunks in Beck's room. I had Caroline's and Philip had Kyle's. I had all night to think about how to raise the issue with my wife. I know that Olivia had left Giles because of the risk. And I know how sad he'd been about that, because he was a Watcher. But he was a Watcher, and I was a carpenter.
I must have fallen asleep because I woke up with Lizzie sitting on feet.
"You have to teach me," she said.
I hadn't slept enough. "What?" I asked.
"To fight. Just a little, to protect myself. I know I'm not a Slayer, but Dawn fought, and she wasn't. And you're still here too."
"There just–" I began wearily. But she hit, hard.
"They're not just stories. I saw his face. No one needs an invitation to their own house. And Aunty Shelly would never let that much dust in the house."
"Anya died, so did Jenny," I said. "Neither of them had any powers."
"Neither you nor the librarian had powers. I need to be able to protect myself if I'm going to go clubbing at night."
"I'd rather you fought vampires than that," I said.
"Then I'll fight vampires," she declared.
"A right little Watcher, aren't you?"
She beamed. I sighed.
It was the main concern Giles had had. With the destruction of the Watcher's Council there were about six Watchers left alive in the world. Willow's concern had been finding out the full effects of the spell. Kennedy had wanted Willow to rest. Buffy paced around the foyer of the Hyperion waving the scythe to emphasise her point.
"We need to find the Slayers. All of them, and soon. At least when the Council only had find one there was less chance of coincidental whatevers. And people putting two and two together. Some of them are going to get to five, and most will get to three. I don't want them even counting. Giles, we have to get moving."
"We said ten days, Buffy, you've given it six," I said. I just wanted to sleep the rest of my life away.
"Ten days of little girls all over the world suddenly breaking things and beating up their brothers. How do we reach them."
"I'm sure I could trace them with the scythe," Willow said.
She was sitting in Kennedy's lap, her head on her lover's shoulder. Buffy looked hopefully at her best friend.
"You agreed to ten days," Kennedy said. She looked fierce. And, I realised, was just as strong as Buffy. And had had training.
"Watchers," Giles said.
"They all got blown up," I reminded him.
"And they weren't much good any way," Buffy said.
"Giles was good," Faith offered.
"They should have a witch, too," Willow said.
I stopped paying much attention. I knew that I had to get out before I was roped into building something that meant nothing to me.
"We can't just resurrect the Watchers Council, Giles," Buffy said.
"No, I agree. But we will need civilians trained in research and demonic languages and all that. As well as mentoring facilities for the new Slayers. We can't very well tell everyone what has happened. We can train new Watchers in the new philosophy."
And it seemed she would need the book Giles had so thoughtfully hidden in my car.
