Chapter 2.
Over the past few weeks when those in charge of Angel Slayer Inc. had begun the meeting process, their meetings had taken on the pattern if not the substance of the board meetings of McKenzie Brackman. They would discuss progress in searching for associates (Watchers and Slayers), they would talk about where they were sending their Slayers to train, and they would go over some of the more pressing evils that they had heard about. The way that they spoke about it seemed as normal as an legal problems. Indeed, if you get past the fact that one of the people sitting at the table had green skin and horns, an observer of the meeting might think he was watching 'L.A. Law: The Next Generation."
"All right." Wesley spoke. In accordance with the new policy of handling things, both Angel and Giles had asked the younger ex-watcher if he would mind taking the lead in these assembles. "Since we are now all here-"
"Um' Dawn piped up. Inwardly Wesley winced. He had accepted Buffy's insistence that her sister play a part in the decision making process and he had to admit that she had been doing a decent job. Nevertheless, Dawn often had the capacity to bring everything to a screeching halt with a non sequitur. "What is it, Dawn?"
"I was just going to say that Xander and Kennedy aren't here."
"Kennedy's in Belwood. Client called. Some kind of mess that required some muscle." said Gunn.
"And Xander?" Everyone went quiet. They all knew where Xander was but nobody knew exactly how to deal with it.
"I don't mean to be so narrow-" Wesley started
"That's a shame cause you do it so well." Everyone let Faith's comment pass.
"-but this is the third meeting in a row. I know he's upset but if he's going to work with us, we need him to be all in."
"Wesley, calm down. We will deal with Xander. Could we get this meeting started?" Though he wasn't in charge anymore, everyone still listened to Angel.
"All right. The last of the active Watchers have made contact with Giles earlier today. That brings the total up to sixty seven."
"You gave the estimate as around eighty a week ago." said Willow.
"Eight of them said that did not want to be Watchers anymore." said Giles. Nobody else asked about the other five. They did not need to go over anymore of the First's casualties.
"Can you blame them?" said Dawn. "Their last major assignment nearly got them all killed. I'd have some doubts if I were in the right job."
"Hey, you don't get a break from something just because people died. It's going to happen . You have to get used to it." said Gunn
"Would you rather that we dragged them back to Los Angeles, kicking and screaming? " said Giles dryly. "We agreed that we weren't going to force people into this anymore."
"And how exactly were you planning on recruiting new Watchers? " said Robin.
"We've just about completed the interview process. We will begin making contact with the proper sources in a few days."
"In the meantime ,the last of them will be on their way here." said Giles.
"Have you finished figuring out which Watcher will go with each Slayer?" said Buffy. This had been the subject of some debate. Giles and Wesley had thought that the people who were in charge of vetting the Watchers should decide which Slayer they were assigned to. Buffy, Faith and some of the other Slayers had argued that the Slayer in question should have a say in who was responsible for training them. In the end they had decided that they would let the new Councils judgement serve. However, they had agreed that at least for a time, a Slayer would be allowed to review and decide how good a job her Watcher was doing.
"We'll have a list ready by tomorrow. The Council will be ready to make its decision soon enough. " said Wesley.
"You know, maybe for now you could refer to 'us' instead of the Council. It still sounds a little... weird calling everybody the Watcher's Council." said Willow.
"All right, but we will have to get used to it. Moving on."
"How did last nights raid in Monterrey Park go?" Gunn had heard from some of his old friends about a vampire nest there.
"As best as we can tell, we got rid of six. Three got away. It may have been larger than that. Roxanne thought that she saw some in the alley, but when she took a closer look no one was there."
"Speaking of Roxanne, how did she and Wendy do in combat?" asked Angel.
"Well, they were a little sloppy- Wendy nearly had one on top of her before she killed it- but they did a pretty solid job. They each managed to dust two." Gunn was pretty good at downplaying his emotions but Wesley could sense a certain amount of pride. He had been training these girls pretty hard.
"On only their second time out? That is promising." said Giles.
"Again with the understatement, Giles. I didn't do that well on my second time out." said Buffy. She turned to Bianca, one of the three other slayers besides Buffy and Faith that had been allowed to attend the meeting. "Pass on the word that they're doing good and that we will have a Watcher for each of them out there soon."
"Um, guy in charge still in the room?" said Gunn.
"Calm down, Lando. We haven't forgotten you. " Normally Gunn didn't take well to being needled but he seemed to take it when it came from the dark-haired Slayer. Wes wondered if he was beginning to fall for this girl. Maybe that would turn into something.
Inwardly he cursed himself for still thinking that way about Gunn's and Fred's stuck in neutral relationship. He knew that the people at Angel Investigations tended to have extraordinarily bad luck when it came to having any kind of relationship. And given what he had gone through with Lilah, he would think that he would know better than to try and get involved with somebody else again. However, after nearly a year of feeling like he was dead inside, he had finally begun to feel like he had control over his life again. And that had led him to perhaps inevitably, think about his feelings for Fred- which he had thought were stagnant but had merely appeared to have been asleep. He knew that she felt something for him, and he also knew that Gunn and Fred hadn't spent a lot of time together since they had begun working here. But every time he tried to work up the courage to talk to her, whatever progress he had seemed to have made went up in smoke. She had always seemed to exercise that kind of power over him, and there seemed no end in sight.
"Wes? Still with us?" said Robin. Inwardly, he cursed himself for brooding like this. Sometimes, he was no better then Angel.
"Willow, would you mind telling us about the progress we have made interpreting the Book of Galway?" When they had come into ownership of the building, they had come across a very large collection of books, scrolls, and other elements of prophecies. Either the Home Office had thought that there was no harm in letting them keep these things or they had already interpreted their meanings and had left them behind- Wesley wasn't sure which. He rather suspected it had been the latter because they were all in foreign- and often archaic- languages, but there was no sign that anybody in the offices had made any effort to translate them. They had therefore set upon the long task of figuring out which were more important and immediate, but even though most of them were skilled, it was going to be a long and painstaking process.
Willow's report reflected this. "Wesley and I have managed to translate another page and a half. The book appears to be describing a man from a dark place who has the ability to see things that no man shall see."
"Haven't we been down this road before?" said Buffy.
"Buffy-"
"You keep telling us that there are a series of prophecies involving a Slayer. Only now you have no idea which Slayer. You talk about us meeting a seer but you can't tells us where or when or even who. You keep saying that there is still a great danger coming but you can't say what or when it will strike"
"Buffy, prophecies by their very nature are unclear. If we are to have any chance of seeing what the consequences of the battle against the First were, we need to know all we can." said Giles.
"Giles, don't be persnickety. We've been doing this for seven years and whenever we run across an end-of -the world scenario, we always get these vague warnings and ominous portents that don't really tell us anything." said Willow.
"And they always seem to end with me dying, which is very uncomfortable for me." said Buffy.
"We understand your frustration, but the great truths of the world are not going to spontaneously reveal themselves to us. We have to do it piece by piece. A little patience would not hurt."
"All right. Just before the next apocalyptic event, let's have more than a days warning. All I ask."
"Well, since you're so perky today, perhaps you would be willing to tell us about the progress of Sunnydale VS. Mutual Fidelity?"
Buffy smiled and everyone knew why. Ever since they had begun their work here, this had been one her biggest projects.
About a week after the Sunnydale group had set up shop, Buffy- still concerned about money despite the new job- had decided to try and call her insurance company and try and collect on the destruction of her house and possessions. Fortunately, her mother had had the good sense to by insurance not from a Sunnydale firm (which was now so much rubble) but from a company in a neighbouring town. She had been particularly mad when the insurance company said that her policy did not cover Acts of God (a phrase that was particularly ironic considering what had caused the destruction of Sunnydale).It was then that she had realized the usefulness of having an army of evil lawyers and researchers working for you. They had uncovered that Mutual Fidelity had been one of the bigger firms and had been covering Sunnydale residents for nearly fifty years. (Perhaps it shouldn't have come as a huge surprise that Sunnydale insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.) The company had been taking a special delight in soaking the people who had tried to live their lives without realising that a Hellmouth was under their feet. They were refusing to pay claims for any of the thousands of former Sunnydale residents who had lost their homes in the 'earth tremor' that had swallowed the town.
Feeling the same kind of furious indignation that she did whenever a great evil had come to town, Buffy had decided that she was going to everything in her power to beat this monster. She then began the laborious process of tracking down the former residents of Sunnydale in order to mobilise them in a class action lawsuit. The former Scoobies had dubbed her 'Buffy Brockovich' and had been impressed at her dedication to something that didn't involved killing demons.
Wes was a little cooler. For one thing, most of her work so far had been talking to people on the phone, something that any young adult girl should be a pro at. For another, he wasn't wild about the former Slayer devoting so much of her time to something of this magnitude. He had already mentioned it to her, but she- as had been her habit during the brief period that he had been her Watcher- had run him ragged.
"Angel-Slayer Incorporated was created to help those who are need." she had told him. " AT least half of Sunnydale have no homes, no jobs, and no prospects. If they aren't in need, who is?"
"It's not that. " Wesley had responded. "You said that you were going to help the rest of us form a new Watcher's Council. I don't know how you're going to pull that off while working out whatever Julia Roberts thing you're trying to channel."
"And I will. In case you've forgotten, I helped keep Sunnydale's monster population down, stopped the world from ending on a fairly regular basis and graduated high school. If there's one thing I'm good at, its multitasking"
Unable to argue with that logic, he gave in. He had to admit that so far it hadn't distracted her much from her day to day business, but he didn't know what was going to happen if and when the next crisis would emerge.
"Lorne, what news from the demon underworld?"
"Well, gents and gals, I hate to sound like a broken record- or maybe the phrase is a CD out of it's groove- but things are pretty much same as they ever was. The flow of evil from the giant crater that used to be Sunnydale is still a constant stream."
Angel gave off a sigh. " Lorne, I thought that you had gotten the word out among your colleagues that L.A. is under new management." The green skinned demon shifted a look of annoyance.
"Hey, it's not my fault. It's not like these demons are guys you can walk up to and say: 'Kravtar ,old bean? How are the wife and kids? Ate em all? Well, that's dandy.'
"I thought that was the point of reopening your club." One of the first projects that Angel had OK'd was the rebuilding and revamping of Caritas.
"Yeah, well in order to give the appearance of being a sanctuary, it helps if incendiary devices aren't constantly being thrown down the stairs." Lorne said with a mixture of sarcasm and pain.
"That was over a year ago."
"Well, we can't all be Nodnarb monsters, can we?" Noting the look of blankness on everybody's face, Lorne said: "Turquoise? Fond of mildew? Attention spans of about five minutes?"
Sensing that this was going to go nowhere, Buffy interceded. "So you have no idea if there's going to be any more fallout from the First."
"Look, obviously I will keep my horns to the ground. But I don't think were going to get any help from the demon population for some time." Noting the looks of the others, he said: "It's a trade-off. You work with a small army of Slayers, you get a bad reaction from the undead population."
"Thank you, Lorne. Is there any other business?" Wesley said.
"Actually, there is one small thing." Giles seemed a little more hesitant than usual. "Normally, I wouldn't bring this up, it's very minor, but I still believe-"
"Giles, spit it out." said Buffy.
"It's about Andrew. Or more precisely his project." Wesley inwardly groaned. This had been a peeve of both of the former Watchers. "I know that we agreed to let him write or make some record of the battle against the First. But he really seems to be taking this to an extreme. He has constantly been borrowing materials from the records about Sunnydale, its history, my accounts on the battle against Glory and the Mayor for some reason-"
"Giles, this sounds like he is troubling you more than anything else." said Willow.
"You didn't seem to object when he was interviewing everybody." added Robin.
"I know; that's not the problem. It was recently brought to my attention that he authorized the financing of a dig to the ruins of Sunnydale." There was a general reaction of amazement.
"What? Who gave him the authority to make a decision of that magnitude?" said Angel.
"No one. He just asked one of the executives for finance and he got it."
"And they just did it for him?" said Gunn
"Well, to be fair, we never told the 'other people' who worked here that his authority was any less than anybody else. Maybe it's just some bureaucratic mix-up." said Fred.
"The point is, someone needs to tell him to tow the line." said Giles.
"And you haven't done this because...?" The ex-librarian gave a sigh.
"I have been a little busy; I don't have time to get bogged down with... Well, you know how it can get talking with Andrew."
"So you're just leasing this out to us?" said Willow.
"Well, am I wrong? Isn't he overstepping his boundaries more than a little?" No one disagreed with Giles.
"All right." said Faith. "I got him on this kick; I should get him off it."
"No." Everybody looked towards Fred in surprise. "That it is to say, Faith, no offence but I've seen him around you and Buffy, and whenever he's near you the guy tends to blather uncontrollably. Besides, one of us should probably take a look and see what he has written. See if he's actually going to deal with something of substance."
There was a long pause. "Fred, are you sure you want to do this?" said Wes.
"Yeah, I mean you've barely spoken to Andrew since he came to work here." said Willow.
"I know I haven't associated with him much, but I think I've got an idea as to how he thinks. Besides, I'm pretty sure that I speak his language."
"Which is?" said Giles curiously.
"California blathering nerd." Fred spoke without any signs of shame.
Everyone took this in. Faith finally spoke. "Hey, you want to do it, I don't have any problem." There was general approval.
"If that's everything, we're adjourned."
Everybody got up. Angel walked over to Willow. "Could I have a moment?" he said. The redhead nodded. The two of them walked away.
Wes walked up to Fred. For a moment, the two walked side by side in silence.
"Fred-" "Wesley-" They both paused and tried to regroup.
"We shouldn't have to act like this." Wes started.
"No, we shouldn't." said Fred.
"We should be able to act like adults."
"We're certainly old enough."
"So let's just act mature."
"Right." Wes was about to lean in and kiss her when suddenly she stopped him with a gesture.
"Stop it."
"I'm sorry. I just-"
"Look, Wesley. I know that things have been awkward between us for- well I guess forever. I've been sending signals to Charles, I've been sending them to you, and neither of you have ever gotten an idea as to who I want."
"I know, Fred but you can't stonewall us forever. You have to make a decision."
"I have." Wesley's heart leapt to his throat.
"And it is?"
"Neither." Before Wesley could speak, Fred began to talk. "Look I know that this seems like I'm chickening out and maybe I am. But the truth of the matter is I don't know. I know what you offer, I know what Charles has to offer. What I don't know is what my heart wants. It's been sending me conflicting messages for the past five months, if not since the time we met, and all it has done is bring a lot of pain to all of us. So for right now, I'm going to listen to my head instead. And given what happened between Angel and Cordelia, maybe a workplace romance isn't the best thing for any of us." She stopped for breath.
Wes took this in. "How long have you been considering this?"
"A couple of weeks."
"Have you told Gunn this?"
"Two hours ago. He took it about as well as you are." Fred paused. "Look, I'm not saying 'No' to you. I'm just not saying 'Yes'. I need to figure this out. And I can't do it with both of you hovering and being snarky to each other."
"This building is pretty big, Fred. We've been doing a pretty good job of not seeing each other."
"Is that why you spend every meeting staring at me?" Wes was shocked; he hadn't realized that he had been that obvious. "Wesley, please. Do this for me."
Wes thought it over.And then gave the only answer that he could. "All right."
"OK. Look, I should really get moving. WE've both got things to do."
"I'll... See you around." he said. As he walked off, he told himself that nothing had been decided yet; that he still had a chance to be the winner.
SO why did he feel like he'd been socked in the gut.
Over the past few weeks when those in charge of Angel Slayer Inc. had begun the meeting process, their meetings had taken on the pattern if not the substance of the board meetings of McKenzie Brackman. They would discuss progress in searching for associates (Watchers and Slayers), they would talk about where they were sending their Slayers to train, and they would go over some of the more pressing evils that they had heard about. The way that they spoke about it seemed as normal as an legal problems. Indeed, if you get past the fact that one of the people sitting at the table had green skin and horns, an observer of the meeting might think he was watching 'L.A. Law: The Next Generation."
"All right." Wesley spoke. In accordance with the new policy of handling things, both Angel and Giles had asked the younger ex-watcher if he would mind taking the lead in these assembles. "Since we are now all here-"
"Um' Dawn piped up. Inwardly Wesley winced. He had accepted Buffy's insistence that her sister play a part in the decision making process and he had to admit that she had been doing a decent job. Nevertheless, Dawn often had the capacity to bring everything to a screeching halt with a non sequitur. "What is it, Dawn?"
"I was just going to say that Xander and Kennedy aren't here."
"Kennedy's in Belwood. Client called. Some kind of mess that required some muscle." said Gunn.
"And Xander?" Everyone went quiet. They all knew where Xander was but nobody knew exactly how to deal with it.
"I don't mean to be so narrow-" Wesley started
"That's a shame cause you do it so well." Everyone let Faith's comment pass.
"-but this is the third meeting in a row. I know he's upset but if he's going to work with us, we need him to be all in."
"Wesley, calm down. We will deal with Xander. Could we get this meeting started?" Though he wasn't in charge anymore, everyone still listened to Angel.
"All right. The last of the active Watchers have made contact with Giles earlier today. That brings the total up to sixty seven."
"You gave the estimate as around eighty a week ago." said Willow.
"Eight of them said that did not want to be Watchers anymore." said Giles. Nobody else asked about the other five. They did not need to go over anymore of the First's casualties.
"Can you blame them?" said Dawn. "Their last major assignment nearly got them all killed. I'd have some doubts if I were in the right job."
"Hey, you don't get a break from something just because people died. It's going to happen . You have to get used to it." said Gunn
"Would you rather that we dragged them back to Los Angeles, kicking and screaming? " said Giles dryly. "We agreed that we weren't going to force people into this anymore."
"And how exactly were you planning on recruiting new Watchers? " said Robin.
"We've just about completed the interview process. We will begin making contact with the proper sources in a few days."
"In the meantime ,the last of them will be on their way here." said Giles.
"Have you finished figuring out which Watcher will go with each Slayer?" said Buffy. This had been the subject of some debate. Giles and Wesley had thought that the people who were in charge of vetting the Watchers should decide which Slayer they were assigned to. Buffy, Faith and some of the other Slayers had argued that the Slayer in question should have a say in who was responsible for training them. In the end they had decided that they would let the new Councils judgement serve. However, they had agreed that at least for a time, a Slayer would be allowed to review and decide how good a job her Watcher was doing.
"We'll have a list ready by tomorrow. The Council will be ready to make its decision soon enough. " said Wesley.
"You know, maybe for now you could refer to 'us' instead of the Council. It still sounds a little... weird calling everybody the Watcher's Council." said Willow.
"All right, but we will have to get used to it. Moving on."
"How did last nights raid in Monterrey Park go?" Gunn had heard from some of his old friends about a vampire nest there.
"As best as we can tell, we got rid of six. Three got away. It may have been larger than that. Roxanne thought that she saw some in the alley, but when she took a closer look no one was there."
"Speaking of Roxanne, how did she and Wendy do in combat?" asked Angel.
"Well, they were a little sloppy- Wendy nearly had one on top of her before she killed it- but they did a pretty solid job. They each managed to dust two." Gunn was pretty good at downplaying his emotions but Wesley could sense a certain amount of pride. He had been training these girls pretty hard.
"On only their second time out? That is promising." said Giles.
"Again with the understatement, Giles. I didn't do that well on my second time out." said Buffy. She turned to Bianca, one of the three other slayers besides Buffy and Faith that had been allowed to attend the meeting. "Pass on the word that they're doing good and that we will have a Watcher for each of them out there soon."
"Um, guy in charge still in the room?" said Gunn.
"Calm down, Lando. We haven't forgotten you. " Normally Gunn didn't take well to being needled but he seemed to take it when it came from the dark-haired Slayer. Wes wondered if he was beginning to fall for this girl. Maybe that would turn into something.
Inwardly he cursed himself for still thinking that way about Gunn's and Fred's stuck in neutral relationship. He knew that the people at Angel Investigations tended to have extraordinarily bad luck when it came to having any kind of relationship. And given what he had gone through with Lilah, he would think that he would know better than to try and get involved with somebody else again. However, after nearly a year of feeling like he was dead inside, he had finally begun to feel like he had control over his life again. And that had led him to perhaps inevitably, think about his feelings for Fred- which he had thought were stagnant but had merely appeared to have been asleep. He knew that she felt something for him, and he also knew that Gunn and Fred hadn't spent a lot of time together since they had begun working here. But every time he tried to work up the courage to talk to her, whatever progress he had seemed to have made went up in smoke. She had always seemed to exercise that kind of power over him, and there seemed no end in sight.
"Wes? Still with us?" said Robin. Inwardly, he cursed himself for brooding like this. Sometimes, he was no better then Angel.
"Willow, would you mind telling us about the progress we have made interpreting the Book of Galway?" When they had come into ownership of the building, they had come across a very large collection of books, scrolls, and other elements of prophecies. Either the Home Office had thought that there was no harm in letting them keep these things or they had already interpreted their meanings and had left them behind- Wesley wasn't sure which. He rather suspected it had been the latter because they were all in foreign- and often archaic- languages, but there was no sign that anybody in the offices had made any effort to translate them. They had therefore set upon the long task of figuring out which were more important and immediate, but even though most of them were skilled, it was going to be a long and painstaking process.
Willow's report reflected this. "Wesley and I have managed to translate another page and a half. The book appears to be describing a man from a dark place who has the ability to see things that no man shall see."
"Haven't we been down this road before?" said Buffy.
"Buffy-"
"You keep telling us that there are a series of prophecies involving a Slayer. Only now you have no idea which Slayer. You talk about us meeting a seer but you can't tells us where or when or even who. You keep saying that there is still a great danger coming but you can't say what or when it will strike"
"Buffy, prophecies by their very nature are unclear. If we are to have any chance of seeing what the consequences of the battle against the First were, we need to know all we can." said Giles.
"Giles, don't be persnickety. We've been doing this for seven years and whenever we run across an end-of -the world scenario, we always get these vague warnings and ominous portents that don't really tell us anything." said Willow.
"And they always seem to end with me dying, which is very uncomfortable for me." said Buffy.
"We understand your frustration, but the great truths of the world are not going to spontaneously reveal themselves to us. We have to do it piece by piece. A little patience would not hurt."
"All right. Just before the next apocalyptic event, let's have more than a days warning. All I ask."
"Well, since you're so perky today, perhaps you would be willing to tell us about the progress of Sunnydale VS. Mutual Fidelity?"
Buffy smiled and everyone knew why. Ever since they had begun their work here, this had been one her biggest projects.
About a week after the Sunnydale group had set up shop, Buffy- still concerned about money despite the new job- had decided to try and call her insurance company and try and collect on the destruction of her house and possessions. Fortunately, her mother had had the good sense to by insurance not from a Sunnydale firm (which was now so much rubble) but from a company in a neighbouring town. She had been particularly mad when the insurance company said that her policy did not cover Acts of God (a phrase that was particularly ironic considering what had caused the destruction of Sunnydale).It was then that she had realized the usefulness of having an army of evil lawyers and researchers working for you. They had uncovered that Mutual Fidelity had been one of the bigger firms and had been covering Sunnydale residents for nearly fifty years. (Perhaps it shouldn't have come as a huge surprise that Sunnydale insurance rates were among the highest in the nation.) The company had been taking a special delight in soaking the people who had tried to live their lives without realising that a Hellmouth was under their feet. They were refusing to pay claims for any of the thousands of former Sunnydale residents who had lost their homes in the 'earth tremor' that had swallowed the town.
Feeling the same kind of furious indignation that she did whenever a great evil had come to town, Buffy had decided that she was going to everything in her power to beat this monster. She then began the laborious process of tracking down the former residents of Sunnydale in order to mobilise them in a class action lawsuit. The former Scoobies had dubbed her 'Buffy Brockovich' and had been impressed at her dedication to something that didn't involved killing demons.
Wes was a little cooler. For one thing, most of her work so far had been talking to people on the phone, something that any young adult girl should be a pro at. For another, he wasn't wild about the former Slayer devoting so much of her time to something of this magnitude. He had already mentioned it to her, but she- as had been her habit during the brief period that he had been her Watcher- had run him ragged.
"Angel-Slayer Incorporated was created to help those who are need." she had told him. " AT least half of Sunnydale have no homes, no jobs, and no prospects. If they aren't in need, who is?"
"It's not that. " Wesley had responded. "You said that you were going to help the rest of us form a new Watcher's Council. I don't know how you're going to pull that off while working out whatever Julia Roberts thing you're trying to channel."
"And I will. In case you've forgotten, I helped keep Sunnydale's monster population down, stopped the world from ending on a fairly regular basis and graduated high school. If there's one thing I'm good at, its multitasking"
Unable to argue with that logic, he gave in. He had to admit that so far it hadn't distracted her much from her day to day business, but he didn't know what was going to happen if and when the next crisis would emerge.
"Lorne, what news from the demon underworld?"
"Well, gents and gals, I hate to sound like a broken record- or maybe the phrase is a CD out of it's groove- but things are pretty much same as they ever was. The flow of evil from the giant crater that used to be Sunnydale is still a constant stream."
Angel gave off a sigh. " Lorne, I thought that you had gotten the word out among your colleagues that L.A. is under new management." The green skinned demon shifted a look of annoyance.
"Hey, it's not my fault. It's not like these demons are guys you can walk up to and say: 'Kravtar ,old bean? How are the wife and kids? Ate em all? Well, that's dandy.'
"I thought that was the point of reopening your club." One of the first projects that Angel had OK'd was the rebuilding and revamping of Caritas.
"Yeah, well in order to give the appearance of being a sanctuary, it helps if incendiary devices aren't constantly being thrown down the stairs." Lorne said with a mixture of sarcasm and pain.
"That was over a year ago."
"Well, we can't all be Nodnarb monsters, can we?" Noting the look of blankness on everybody's face, Lorne said: "Turquoise? Fond of mildew? Attention spans of about five minutes?"
Sensing that this was going to go nowhere, Buffy interceded. "So you have no idea if there's going to be any more fallout from the First."
"Look, obviously I will keep my horns to the ground. But I don't think were going to get any help from the demon population for some time." Noting the looks of the others, he said: "It's a trade-off. You work with a small army of Slayers, you get a bad reaction from the undead population."
"Thank you, Lorne. Is there any other business?" Wesley said.
"Actually, there is one small thing." Giles seemed a little more hesitant than usual. "Normally, I wouldn't bring this up, it's very minor, but I still believe-"
"Giles, spit it out." said Buffy.
"It's about Andrew. Or more precisely his project." Wesley inwardly groaned. This had been a peeve of both of the former Watchers. "I know that we agreed to let him write or make some record of the battle against the First. But he really seems to be taking this to an extreme. He has constantly been borrowing materials from the records about Sunnydale, its history, my accounts on the battle against Glory and the Mayor for some reason-"
"Giles, this sounds like he is troubling you more than anything else." said Willow.
"You didn't seem to object when he was interviewing everybody." added Robin.
"I know; that's not the problem. It was recently brought to my attention that he authorized the financing of a dig to the ruins of Sunnydale." There was a general reaction of amazement.
"What? Who gave him the authority to make a decision of that magnitude?" said Angel.
"No one. He just asked one of the executives for finance and he got it."
"And they just did it for him?" said Gunn
"Well, to be fair, we never told the 'other people' who worked here that his authority was any less than anybody else. Maybe it's just some bureaucratic mix-up." said Fred.
"The point is, someone needs to tell him to tow the line." said Giles.
"And you haven't done this because...?" The ex-librarian gave a sigh.
"I have been a little busy; I don't have time to get bogged down with... Well, you know how it can get talking with Andrew."
"So you're just leasing this out to us?" said Willow.
"Well, am I wrong? Isn't he overstepping his boundaries more than a little?" No one disagreed with Giles.
"All right." said Faith. "I got him on this kick; I should get him off it."
"No." Everybody looked towards Fred in surprise. "That it is to say, Faith, no offence but I've seen him around you and Buffy, and whenever he's near you the guy tends to blather uncontrollably. Besides, one of us should probably take a look and see what he has written. See if he's actually going to deal with something of substance."
There was a long pause. "Fred, are you sure you want to do this?" said Wes.
"Yeah, I mean you've barely spoken to Andrew since he came to work here." said Willow.
"I know I haven't associated with him much, but I think I've got an idea as to how he thinks. Besides, I'm pretty sure that I speak his language."
"Which is?" said Giles curiously.
"California blathering nerd." Fred spoke without any signs of shame.
Everyone took this in. Faith finally spoke. "Hey, you want to do it, I don't have any problem." There was general approval.
"If that's everything, we're adjourned."
Everybody got up. Angel walked over to Willow. "Could I have a moment?" he said. The redhead nodded. The two of them walked away.
Wes walked up to Fred. For a moment, the two walked side by side in silence.
"Fred-" "Wesley-" They both paused and tried to regroup.
"We shouldn't have to act like this." Wes started.
"No, we shouldn't." said Fred.
"We should be able to act like adults."
"We're certainly old enough."
"So let's just act mature."
"Right." Wes was about to lean in and kiss her when suddenly she stopped him with a gesture.
"Stop it."
"I'm sorry. I just-"
"Look, Wesley. I know that things have been awkward between us for- well I guess forever. I've been sending signals to Charles, I've been sending them to you, and neither of you have ever gotten an idea as to who I want."
"I know, Fred but you can't stonewall us forever. You have to make a decision."
"I have." Wesley's heart leapt to his throat.
"And it is?"
"Neither." Before Wesley could speak, Fred began to talk. "Look I know that this seems like I'm chickening out and maybe I am. But the truth of the matter is I don't know. I know what you offer, I know what Charles has to offer. What I don't know is what my heart wants. It's been sending me conflicting messages for the past five months, if not since the time we met, and all it has done is bring a lot of pain to all of us. So for right now, I'm going to listen to my head instead. And given what happened between Angel and Cordelia, maybe a workplace romance isn't the best thing for any of us." She stopped for breath.
Wes took this in. "How long have you been considering this?"
"A couple of weeks."
"Have you told Gunn this?"
"Two hours ago. He took it about as well as you are." Fred paused. "Look, I'm not saying 'No' to you. I'm just not saying 'Yes'. I need to figure this out. And I can't do it with both of you hovering and being snarky to each other."
"This building is pretty big, Fred. We've been doing a pretty good job of not seeing each other."
"Is that why you spend every meeting staring at me?" Wes was shocked; he hadn't realized that he had been that obvious. "Wesley, please. Do this for me."
Wes thought it over.And then gave the only answer that he could. "All right."
"OK. Look, I should really get moving. WE've both got things to do."
"I'll... See you around." he said. As he walked off, he told himself that nothing had been decided yet; that he still had a chance to be the winner.
SO why did he feel like he'd been socked in the gut.