The first, and only, step they had on the way to finding out what was going on was the President. They were able to get a time to see him after lunch. The President was surprised to see the three of them together. And he wasn't sure what it meant that Donna and C.J were following Toby. That sort of thing was rare, particularly from C.J

"Sir," Toby began hesitantly, "this conversation is the result of two phone calls I made this morning. One with a man who hates me, and the other with a man I don't like. Neither, however, has any reason to tell me anything other than the truth. If this seems like a joke, or prank, please feel free to laugh, and we won't bother you again."

The President took off his glasses to look at him.

"Well, Toby, that's the longest speech I've heard you make without raising your voice, but I'm not laughing yet."

Toby merely nodded and took a steadying breath. He had tried to work out how to say this without sounding crazy or too serious, with no serious success.

He said, "last night, Donna was called as the Vampire Slayer."

The President didn't even blink.

"My sympathies, Donna," he said. "Fate has given you an unusual and rocky path. I know you will tread it well, although it may be short."

Toby let out a relieved sigh. The President turned back to him.

"But there is a lot that has happened that I don't understand, Toby."

Toby had wanted the President to take charge of the situation, as was his want, and leave Toby to write the speech. They had four days left before a readable draft was needed and there were whole sections that had no actual words yet.

"That's why we're here, sir," he said. He went on to explain, as succinctly as possible bulk of his conversations with Quentin Travers and Rupert Giles.

"So the Slayer's death should not have Called a Slayer, and Donna should not have been Called?"

"Yes."

"Why you?" the President asked.

"I'm her Watcher."

"What?" C.J chocked. Her brain had refused to think anything since Donna had said 'Watcher's Council.'

The President, who had till then been waiting for her to explain her own presence turned the full force of the presidential glare on her. C.J quickly apologised and stepped back.

But she repeated her question silently to Toby. His answer was just as eloquent. They now understood much more about the things they, themselves, had done.

"C.J may be able to read your facial expressions, Toby," the President said. "But I cannot."

"I was a Watcher, or almost. I came back home to New York for the summer. I was maybe twenty when I decided that I was going to stay and work, somehow, in politics. The Council, of course, knew where I was. When Donna left home the Council saw that she was coming to the campaign and I was to look out for her. She was to have supervision, although no one expected her to be Called."

C.J stood to her full, tall, height to face the President's next question.

"What about you, C.J?"

"I'm a Slayer."

"So we're dealing with a number of Chosen Ones, are we?" the President asked.

The return of his light humorous tone relaxed them. But the President was quite serious. The look her directed C.J was that of a disappointed father. C.J had been feeling guilty for too long to react.

"I really don't see how my past lives are any concern of yours, sir," C.J said.

"We have a real problem here," Toby said. If the President wasn't going to take over and let Toby write the speech then Toby was going to take charge and damn presidential respect. He almost regretted it when all three of them turned to look at him.

"We have three Slayers. I don't know where the actual Slayer is, but we have Donna, and C.J. That they are here, in D.C, seems to be some kind of prophecy, or necessary situation, so we need to beware of something about to happen. C.J will train Donna; we will do our best to research any occurrences while doing our jobs. I will be in contact with the Watcher in Sunnydale."

The President made a point of coming around his desk and standing with C.J and Donna, facing Toby.

"I'm not in charge here, Toby. You are. I will do my best to help, as well as I can, but you are the Watcher and I have no authority in these matters."

"Are there any government agencies that could help us?" Donna asked.

C.J didn't want to know if there were.

"I don't know," the President said. "In these conversations I'm not the President. The President doesn't know anything about these issues, because if he did he would want to know about the government agencies that have been set up to deal with it, and they wouldn't like it. Mutual ignorance serves us well in many instances. But what do we now?"

"We should call Lord John Marbury. Rupert said he may be able to help us."

The President's eyes lit up.

"Excellent," he said. "Leo will be delighted."

Before Toby could remind the President that the British ambassador was crazy and that Leo could not know anything about what was going on the Chief of Staff entered the Oval himself from his own office.

He was too worried about the piece of paper in his hand to be worried about the odd meeting. He was pleased to see C.J, which worried her.

"Senator Charles Owens died," he said.

"Would you like me to tell Josh?" Donna asked, finding an excuse to leave.

The President let her go and she thanked him fervently for his support as she left.