stakeout chapter 11

SCSD Academy

Sunnydale, CA

October 12, 1998

Monday, 10:45 AM

Dropping the Ford Crown Victoria into park, Gabriel Martin let the engine stay on for a minute, the air conditioning of the unmarked department car washing over him before he finally cut the engine and got out. It was an hot day in what was already supposed to be autumn, which of course meant that it was the day that the Academy scheduled their Field Forces training.

Every member of the Sunnydale County Sheriff's Department had to go through a yearly refresher course on riot control tactics. Since the cadets at the Academy had to learn how to deal with unruly mobs, the instructors would have the requalifying deputies role play as rioters. So while the young cadets stood in ranks wearing riot armor, helmets with visors, and carrying heavy Lexan shields and batons, the role players would stand in a group in front of them, catcalling and hurling insults along with tennis balls, raw eggs and the odd half full plastic water bottle in order to get them used to holding the line against hostile rioters.

Walking up to the dark blue Chevy Caprice parked on the edge of the grassy field, Gabriel saw that Tim Harris was leaning against the fender of the car, a lit cigarette dangling from his lips. His attention was fixed on the now advancing line of cadets, who were moving at a slow walk with their shields at high port, chanting "MOVE! BACK! MOVE! BACK!" while pushing back the rowdy role players.

The two men were silent while they watched the training go on for a few moments before Tim finally spoke first.

"Two thousand years ago that was state of the art combat. You formed up your men in heavy armor in a solid square, advance on your enemies at a run with spears and swords at the ready and you smashed your way through. The world trembled before the phalanx." Tim took a drag off his cigarette and exhaled through his nose. "Things were a lot more simpler then."

Gabriel stood for a moment before speaking. "I had a meeting with Sheriff Greer today. Your name came up."

"About pumping the shotgun?" Tim asked. Gabriel nodded. "Am I off the team?"

"No. The Sheriff agreed with me that you were in a highly stressful situation and your actions were understandable and justified . Since no one was harmed and the team's cover status was not compromised, no actions will be taken at this time," Gabriel said evenly.

"'At this time,'" Tim repeated. "You mean I'm under watch now?"

"Look Tim, I didn't want something like this to happen and if anything, it's probably my fault. Chances are that if we had known that you and Xander were related we wouldn't have selected you for the team, but that is over and done with. What we have to do now is try and prevent stuff like this from happening again," Gabriel explained.

"How do you intend to do that?" Tim had gotten to the end of his cigarette and was now in the process of light a new one with the butt of the old one.

"You may not like this, and you are free to say no if you want to." Gabriel could see Tim's eyes go cold before he continued. "The Sheriff and I think it may be worth a shot for you to try and get closer to Xander and his friends."

"Toward what end?" Tim's tone of voice now matched his eyes.

"To sound them out, mostly. See how they feel about the SCSD getting involved. If that goes well, we may even let them know about the Teams. Point is, we don't want to be at cross-purposes with them and if we co-operate there is a lesser chance of that happening." Gabriel could see that Tim was relaxing somewhat. "Ideally, the Teams could take over from the kids so that they don't have to risk their lives anymore.

Tim nodded. "That's fine and dandy, but there's a couple of things that might interfere with that." Tim paused and Gabriel motioned for him to continue. "First thing is that they may not want law enforcement involvement. Buffy Summers has had bad experiences with Sunnydale PD and Faith Donal is skittish as hell."

"That is why we want the info. Until Scott and Steve can figure out a way to crack into that Willow girl's computer system we're awfully thin on intel here," Gabriel replied.

"How much luck are they having with that, anyway?" Tim had seen Steve and Scott collectively bang their heads against Rosenberg's security.

"The twins tell me that the computer files are protected by PGP encryption that is damn near unbreakable unless you have access to NSA supercomputers. Scott thinks he has a way to trick the computer into giving us the encryption key, but it depends on Rosenberg using the right computer at the right time," explained Gabriel.

"Any idea on how they are going to do that?" Tim took a puff off his smoke.

"Hell no. The last time they tried to explain it to me I wound up with a headache." Gabriel smiled slightly. "Besides, I don't want to know too much. This isn't quite legal, you know."

"Uh huh," Tim replied. He was not put off by the statement; he know that the sergeant would stand up for his men if the mess ever hit the fan. "Second thing is, now that I think about it, Xander doesn't know that I'm a deputy sheriff."

"You're joking." Gabriel was surprised by the revelation.

"Not even. I've only been on the department for two years and I don't see Xander that often, remember?" Tim was getting to the end of his second cigarette.

"That might be make things easier then. Look, lets get back to the Range and hash this out. The sooner we can get our act together the better." Gabriel watched as Tim put out his smoke and straightened up from leaning against his car fender.

"A sus ordenes, mi comandante," Tim responded, his Spanish accent good for a non-native speaker.

"Adelante, sargento." Gabriel's reply showed his native Spanish accent as he let Tim move away from his car fender and walked toward his own vehicle.

Rupert Giles' Apartment

Sunnydale, CA

October 12, 1998

Monday, 6:15 PM

Buffy Summers walked onto the back porch of Giles' apartment, the object of her search sitting on a chair. Buffy had been looking for him for a while now, and she was not happy with him, both for not being easy to find and for his perceived sins.

Xander Harris looked up from the piece of wood and the knife he was using on it. Whittling was something he was good at, and he had a stack of wooden sticks on the table beside him and a bucket on the floor in front of him for the shavings.

"What are you doing, Xander? I was looking for you." Buffy's voice did not sound friendly.

Seeing the look on Buffy's face, Xander bit back the various smart ass remarks that sprung to mind. Instead he gestured with his hands and said "Carving stakes, Buff."

Buffy looked at the finished stakes on the table and picked one up. Noting the reinforced point and grooved holding surface, she remarked, "You're the one that has been making these?"

Xander nodded, placing the half-finished stake aside. "I got a bunch of splinters dusting a vamp with one of the other stakes we had, so I started fooling around with making a better one. These won't mess up your hand or break when you use them." Closing the buck knife in his hand, Xander put it next to the stake. "You want something to drink?" He gestured toward the cans of soda on the table beside him.

"I'm OK." Buffy placed the stake back on the table. "I want to talk to you about the other night."

"What about it?" Xander knew what was coming and decided that he wanted to hear her say it anyway.

"You were following me and Faith on patrol. You know how dangerous that is?" Buffy moved to where she was standing in front of Xander, who was still sitting in his chair.

"I've got a fair idea, Buff." Xander also decided that he wasn't going to make it easier for her either.

"Damn it, Xander, there's all kinds of vampires and demons running around here. You're going to get yourself hurt if you're out at night. What the hell are you thinking?!?" Buffy's hands were now on her hips.

"Like I told you, I can handle myself out there. I haven't gotten dinged out there and I don't plan to." Xander reached over for his soda.

Buffy slammed her hand down on the table, causing everything to jump and stopping Xander from picking up his soda. Seeing his eyes snap up to meet hers, Buffy was struck by the cold expression that had appeared on the teen's tanned face. Although she didn't react outwardly, a tiny piece of the Slayer quailed at seeing her best male friend looking at her like that.

Suddenly, Buffy remembered another time that Xander had that hard look in his eyes - the night after she had returned from Los Angeles after running away. Buffy had seen Xander walking slowly in an alley by the Bronze and she walked up behind him. Just before she spoke to him she stepped on a soda can and Xander had immediately spun around, a cross with sharpened ends in his left hand, his right hand going under his heavy black coat, apparently going for another weapon. Buffy had cracked wise about playing with pointed sticks, but she had been surprised by the coldness, the flat merciless look before he blinked and recognition appeared on the young man's face once he realized who she was. And when the vampire that he had been tracking burst through the crate and attacked them, it was Xander that slammed that sharpened cross through the vampire's heart as Buffy fought him.

Moving her hand away from the table, Buffy dropped into the other seat on the porch. Looking at Xander watch her carefully, Buffy took a deep breath. "Let try this again but without the drama and the smart-ass comments, OK?"

Seeing Xander nod, Buffy continued. "What are you doing following Faith and me on patrol, Xander?"

Xander reached again for his soda and cracked it open, drinking it down before looking at Buffy and speaking. "Sometimes I *do* follow you on patrol. I used to do it before Faith got here. I always thought that you might need back up. Last night was the first time that I've done it in a while."

Buffy swallowed down the anger that was building in her, keeping her voice calm. "You're can get yourself hurt or killed that way, Xander. What if I heard you behind me and thought you were a bad guy and attacked you?"

"No offense, Buff, but you've never picked up on me before. In fact, it was Faith that caught me the other night." Xander drained the soda can before dropping it in the trash can. "Besides, being right behind you is pretty safe. The vamps that see you coming usually run like hell."

"I keep repeating myself, what if something happens to you?" Buffy was leaning forward, her eyes fixed on his face.

Xander sighed. He wasn't trying to be a wiseass but the answer to that question was probably going to tick Buffy off, so he tried to answer that question with one of his own. "Why do you keep trying to keep me out of danger? Of all people, you've seen me take care of myself."

Buffy blinked and leaned back in her chair. "You're human, Xander, you don't have any powers that can defend you if a bad guy attacks. You're my friend, I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Willow and Giles don't have 'powers' and they do ok." Xander knew that it was a weak argument, and Buffy's reply proved it.

"Giles has years of Watchers training and Willow can do magic. You fight a vamp, you could get killed!" Buffy's voice was started to rise again.

Xander looked steadily at Buffy, trying to frame the reply that he knew he had to give. Finally, he decided to let the chips fall where they may. "For two years now, I've known about vamps and demons. You've known me for those two years. Do you really think I can just stand aside and do nothing? Would you walk away from Slaying if you had the chance?"

Buffy opened her mouth to speak, but no words formed. She knew that she was always complaining about being the Slayer, but deep inside she also knew that Slaying was in her blood now, it was something she could not walk away from.

After a few moments of the two teens looking at the floor between, Buffy spoke again, her voice still low. "I don't want you to follow me and Faith on patrol. With the two of us together, I won't need back up."

"How about this - you let me tag along on your patrols with you?" Seeing the objection on Buffy's face, Xander continued speaking. "I'm not saying that I have to be with you all the time, just every once in a while."

Buffy sat still, considering Xander's words. She still thought that he was putting himself in danger, but short of chaining him to a wall, she knew that there was no way to keep him out of action.

"I agree, on one condition." Xander was watching her face as she spoke. "You don't do anything to put yourself in danger deliberately. Fight, yeah. Doing something suicidal, no. The first time you do, you're done."

Xander thought for only a moment before replying. "Deal. Shake?"

Buffy took Xander's extended hand, feeling the rough calluses on the palm and fingers. Despite that, his large warm hand felt good in her small cool one.

An evil light appeared in Xander's eyes as he spoke again. "So Slayer, what *are* you going to do if I misbehave? Spank me?"

Buffy felt her face immediately get hot as the low suggestive voice made that image pop into her mind. Yanking her hand away from him, she hissed out, "Xander!" before she saw him waggle his eyebrows up and down and grin, glaring at him before finally breaking down and laughing softly with him.

end stakeout chapter 11