CHAPTER TWO
Angel waited nearly until dawn. By then, the spell had dissipated. He could tell Buffy was no longer under its influence by the humiliated look on her face, the verge of tears, the trembling in her limbs. He released her, rubbing her skin to help the circulation.
"I'm so embarrassed." She curled up, cocooning in the blanket.
"It's not your fault, Buffy." Angel stroked her hair. "I'm just glad that you weren't hurt. If I hadn't been there, you could have been killed or you could have hurt an innocent during a hallucination. I'll take you being embarrassed any day over those scenarios."
"Willow, Xander and Cordy, they were affected, too." Buffy sat up, clutching the blanket to her.
"I think so. Giles said it was a spell he used to enchant food. That would explain why I wasn't affected. Willow was at home, at least when you called. Xander and Cordy were together. I think they all should be safe."
"Xander and Cordy? If they were like me, like Giles and Jenny...ewwww, poor Xander." Buffy shuddered.
"I was thinking, 'poor Cordy'," Angel blurted out, and, seeing her glare, instantly regretted it.
"I have to talk to Giles," Buffy squirmed. "But what if he and Jenny are still...you know."
"Buffy, given the hour it was when we walked in on them and the time it is now, if Giles is still capable of that, he has earned my respect." Angel's lips twisted into a goofy grin.
Buffy shot him an incredulous look. "That's almost as disturbing as seeing Giles in that pool."
Angel shrugged. "You'd understand if you were a man. I'll let you dress and do whatever else you need to." Angel cast a glance out the window seeing the hints of pink. "I better get underground."
"Angel, you were the only one not affected. You probably have the clearest mind about all of this. We should meet at your place. I don't want Giles and everyone here, in case a nosey neighbor tells Mom."
"Can't we just meet at the school like normal?" he asked, envisioning the invasion of his privacy and hating it.
Buffy shook her head. "Fumigating it this weekend."
"All right then. I'll head home and wait." He stroked her hair again. "Are you okay?"
"Dying of embarrassment and feeling hung over." Her eyes widened. "Not that I know how that feels."
"I'm not your mom, Buffy. I sort of assumed most teenagers know that feeling." He smirked.
"Mom probably assumes that, too." Buffy glanced around. "Angel, where'd you put Mr. Gordo?"
"Gordo?" His brow wrinkled. "Isn't that your stuffed pig?"
"Yep. He waits for me on the pillows." Buffy looked under them. "Where'd he go?"
"He wasn't on the bed. I'm sure he's somewhere." Angel looked out the window again. "I need to go."
"Go on, I'll see you there."
Buffy still felt horribly embarrassed over what had happened to her. The expressions on her friends' faces as they positioned themselves in Angel's place told her she wasn't alone in the feeling. She glanced at Angel who had the air of a mom who foolishly allowed her kids to have a pool party and invited half the class. He was hovering near Xander as the boy poked around the apartment. He grabbed a knick knack out of Xander's hand as if the teen had picked up a priceless museum item. Buffy knew that look. Mom had given it to her enough whenever she'd drop by the gallery.
"Don't move stuff," Angel snapped, setting it down gingerly.
"Don't worry, I won't mess up the ultra-tidy you've got going on." Xander eyed him sourly.
"I think Angel has some feng shui going on, Xander. It relies on the flow of the room," Jenny said, soothingly.
Buffy thought the teacher seemed as uncomfortable as the rest of them. Willow thumped on Buffy's arm. Buffy started paying attention again to the conversation of what Willow was doing behind closed doors last night sans details but with extra blushing.
"What do I tell Mom?" Willow's pretty eyes were bigger than golf balls.
"Tell her you kept telling her to go away because you were working on a special gift for her birthday," Buffy offered.
Willow brightened. "That could work...but now I'll have to do that. It was so terrible."
"You think that's terrible?" Cordy didn't look up from filing her nails. "I was stuck with Xander."
"Stuck?" he whimpered.
"And he looked like a giant Steif teddy bear. He even had the silver ear stud." Cordy shivered.
"You promised not to tell!" Xander looked crushed.
"It's not so bad, Xander. Steif's are very expensive teddies," Jenny said with a hint of a smile.
Xander perked up. "Only the best for our Cordy."
"Trust me, I have you all beat. I saw Giles and Jenny naked in the pool and that was no hallucination," Buffy blurted out to the horror of her elders.
"Ewww." Willow's face puckered up.
"Way to go, Giles!" Xander crowed, going to chuck the older man's shoulder. Giles' glare stopped him.
"I swim in that pool." Cordy shot the older couple a hot look.
"Are you sure it wasn't a hallucination?" Willow had a hopeful expression on her face.
"She's sure," Angel dead-panned.
"And I learned that grey hair doesn't just happen on your head. How horrifying is that?" Buffy wrapped her arms around herself and Willow patted her back.
Giles turned on his best annoyed expression. Buffy wondered how he was managing not to blush. "Perhaps we should get to what we're here for."
"Yes, let's." Jenny had her hands over her flushed face.
"Okay, Giles, you said you and your band of miscreants used to cast that spell way back in the dark ages," Buffy said and Giles' lips pinched.
"Why?" Willow sounded somehow disappointed in Giles. Buffy shot her a curious look.
"It livened up the parties." Giles ducked his head. "And why is not important."
"No, but who did this is," Buffy said. "And since I'm assuming that you wouldn't involve all of us just to do...ugh...that with Jenny." Buffy glared a dagger or two at her Watcher. His chin tipped up defiantly and Jenny just covered up her expresison by plugging in her lap top. "So that leaves your little group of friends, all of which are dead but Ethan."
"He gets my vote," Xander said.
Angel nodded. "That would make sense. He's already proved he's not in any hurry to get out of town despite the imminent danger to himself if any of us catch him."
"It's not a hard spell to find and use," Giles said. "But Ethan would probably enjoy using it as a weapon. We're assuming it came with the pizza."
"Which is just wrong," Xander interjected.
"The question is, why would Ethan do this?" Angel asked.
Giles ran a hand through his thinning hair. "That spell would have been a cover for something he wanted to do without the interference from the Slayer."
"I get that. The pizza was delivered to me. You and Jenny and all my friends were just bonuses," Buffy said. "So what do you think Ethan, if it is him, wanted?"
Giles pushed up his glasses. "I'm not sure. It could be that Ethan was hired to cast the Odawiy Reversal spell by the woman referred in Jenny's emails."
"That makes sense, too, but if he wanted Buffy out of the way for that, then we're already too late," Angel said, his eyes meeting Buffy's but she couldn't look at him without blushing.
"It's not an irreversible spell," Giles said. "We still need to identify the victim."
"This might help." Jenny pointed at the screen. "I've got another email saying the woman looking for the spell was once a Potential. Does that mean anything to you, Rupert? My contact said it would."
Giles' eyes slotted. "Is your contact in the Watcher's Council?"
Jenny pursed her lips. "I don't know but I suspect so."
"So, what's a Potential?" Buffy asked.
Giles sat back, settling in. "Kendra is a good example of a former Potential. The Council has spells that locate girls who have the potential to be a Slayer. When possible, these girls are brought to a Watchers' Complex and extensively trained. Most often, when another Slayer is called, she comes from the known Potentials and she's prepared for her new life. Unfortunately, the system is far from foolproof and sometimes the new Slayer is a wild card, like you, Buffy, and she is totally unprepared. You are incredibly lucky and talented not to have been killed before Merrick had time to find you. Kendra, on the other hand, was discovered as an infant."
"Yeah, and she got a rule book," Buffy said in a tone that indicated she was still smarting over being left out. "And the Watchers took away her ability to function in a normal society, you know one where there are boys, and removed her ability to think creatively in a fight. You might as well send in a robot."
"I'm the first to admit there are problems with the process. If I didn't see some value in allowing you to have your friends, despite the risks, they wouldn't be here," Giles said, and her friends looked a little offended that they could have been banished from Buffy's side and yet pleased that they had been deemed worthy.
"Giles, training someone to hunt and kill from early childhood, that has to have lasting effects." Angel's face went dark and thoughtful. "And not very good ones. If this is a highly trained, one-time Potential, can she function in normal society?"
"We do our best to help them reintegrate into society but we're not always successful. More often than not, they become Watchers." Giles seemed suddenly embarrassed. "Others...well, we do maintain large psychiatric facilities. Watchers do have a high rate of mental...um, difficulties, shall we say, from the stress?"
"So, you're telling me a wannabe Slayer is out to steal someone's power?" Buffy grumbled.
"She's not technically a wannabe. She had the potential to be, but in the end she wasn't called. It never seems to happen past a certain age. It has a preference for teenagers, probably because you're still in top physical shape and of a more open mind." Giles ran a hand through his hair. "She could very well be one of the ones who didn't transition well back into society."
"But she's a normal woman, right?" Willow asked.
"Yes, unless she already has the power she sought to steal," Giles replied.
"Is it too much to ask that the email contained a name or location for this ex-Potential?" Buffy put her head on the tbale. She still had a thumping headache from the spell and this wasn't helping.
"I'm afraid so." Jenny offered an apologetic look.
"I'll contact the Watchers Council and see if they have any clues. We do keep tabs on the ex-Potentials. Perhaps, once again, the memo got lost," Giles said wryly.
"Could you be any more out of the loop?" Cordelia asked.
"She has a point, Giles. Why don't they ever tell you anything important?" Buffy knew hoe Giles felt about the way the Cuoncil jerked him aaround.
"Because Travers and I don't get along and never have." Giles wilted. "It's a long story, Buffy, having to do with generations of animosity between the Gileses and the Traverses."
"Guess we should have guessed that since you weren't first choice for Buffy's Watcher," Cordy said, ignoring Xander's attempt to shush her.
"I actually was. Merrick's arrival in L.A. wasn't planned. Generally, once your Slayer has been killed, you are retired from that sort of field work. It can be too....hard emotionally. Just leave it as like any organization the Watchers have their fair share of bureaucracy and in fighting and sometimes Buffy and I get caught in it," Giles said, not seeming particularly offended.
"Dangerous occupation to have that kind of stuff going on," Angel said.
"I'm not arguing." Giles pushed up his glasses yet again. "Angel, could you see if you can hear anything from the underground about someone's power being stolen?"
Angel cracked his knuckles. "Already planning on it."
"Good. Jenny and I will see if we can come up with more on this Potential. The rest of you can go home and get some rest. You're not used to the...aftereffects of that spell," Giles said.
"What? Really?" Buffy had never expected to get a break.
"Yes, really." Giles smiled faintly.
"Thanks. Oh, before we go, were any of you up in my bedroom last night? Mr. Gordo has gone missing. I couldn't find him anywhere." She shot a look at Angel who made a palms-up 'I have no clue' motion.
"What's a Mr. Gordo and what would I even be doing in your room?" Cordelia lifted an eyebrow.
Buffy curled the corner of her lip. "My stuffed pig and I would have no idea."
"Well, I didn't take it and if it was Xander in your room you'd be missing panties, not a pig," Cordy said, casting a wilting look at Xander who just shrugged.
"Guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do," he said then caught the fire in Buffy's eyes. "But it's a big no to the pig and the panties."
"Sorry, Buffy. I haven't seen Gordo," Willow put in.
Buffy pouted. "I wish I knew where he went."
"I thought I heard a parole from this...mess," Cordy said. "Xander, my car's still at Buffy's."
"I'll drive you there. Ladies, want a ride?" Xander asked.
Willow shook her head. "I'd rather walk, thanks. I need to do some thinking. Buffy, want to help?"
"Think?" Buffy's eyes widened slightly then she realized Willow wanted to continue talking about last night. Even though she didn't really want in on Willow's darkest secrets she nodded. "Sure."
She gave Angel one last embarrassed look. He came toward her but she shook her head. She wasn't ready to really face him. Buffy followed Willow out into the sunlight.
"Can we pretend last night didn't happen?" Willow asked as they strolled under the warm, yolky sun.
"Don't I wish. I mean, for you it's not so bad. They say...you know, touching yourself, is good for you." Buffy offered up a wry smile. "At least you don't have naked Giles burned into your memory."
"And that's of the good," Willow agreed. "I just didn't like...feeling out of control. It was kinda scary and then my fish started talking to me, giving me pointers."
"At least you didn't imagine you were somewhere with a giant teddy bear," Buffy said with a giggle at Xander and Cordy's expense. "And you won't have to keep apologizing to Angel forever and a day."
Willow's eyes took on their usual curious gleam. "What did you do to Angel?"
"I bit his nipple then grabbed his...you know, and did I mention the taking off of all my clothes?" Buffy covered her face with one hand.
"You were naked?" Willow's eyes swallowed her face.
Buffy's face crumpled. "He had to tie me to the bed just to keep me off him."
"Look on the bright side, Buffy," Willow said.
Buffy's eyes snapped over, staring at her friend. "There's a bright side?"
"Sure. Angel treated you like a gentleman. He could have taken advantage of you and the fact you wanted to jump his bones," Willow said with the little head bob she did when she was earnest about something. "Most guys would have."
Buffy smiled. "I guess you have a point. Still, it's embarrassing."
"Well, duh."
Buffy watched something sail over her and Willow's heads from behind them, landing a few inches from their toes. She peered down at it. It looked like a crystalline blue glowing orb. "What is that?"
"I don't know." Willow leaned over for a closer look.
The orb exploded. Buffy was aware of bright light that felt like it had form, a form that was slamming into her with the force of a tank, then everything went black.