Author's Notes: I'll leave it till the epilogue

Chapter 16

The group filed into Giles apartment, all except Angel who had requested to be dropped off at his mansion, Buffy suspected it would be a few days before she saw him again.

Cordelia headed straight for the bathroom, determined to clean off some of the dried blood that covered her face and had matted her hair. Giles headed upstairs to his room to get a clean sweater for Xander, the bloody shirt he wore currently was an unwelcome reminder of how the night may have ended.

Xander and Buffy headed straight for the couch while Willow and Oz decided to share an over sized armchair.

Giles came back down the stairs and passed the sweater to a grateful Xander, before proclaiming, "I'll brew some tea."

Noting everyone looking at him, the long night evident on their faces, Giles quickly reviewed his statement. "Sorry force of habit. Coffee perhaps?"

The eager nodding from the teenagers clearly indicated that was the better suggestion.

A few minutes passed in silence before Cordelia entered the room and sat her self down in between the less bloodied Xander and Buffy on the couch, looking almost like her usual impeccable self.

"Xander, perhaps you would like to start your story." Giles called thorough from the kitchen.

Xander looked over towards Giles in surprise before turning back to the other, "There's not that much to tell really, except…Buffy do not trust the Watcher's Council…Ever!"

Xander looked to the watcher again, "Sorry Giles, but what those guys did. That was why McKinley killed that Watcher, Rutherford." Xander fell quiet momentarily.

"Why didn't he go for Giles then?" Willow queried, before looking apologetic as she realised she may have interrupted Xander.

Xander took a steadying breath before starting, "The other Watcher, Rutherford, he was in the house for a couple of weeks before McKinley finally got control of the situation and decided he was going to have revenge."

Xander again stopped momentarily as he considered how to continue, "It wasn't until Rutherford died that McKinley discovered Rutherford had, had no idea what he had done. Rutherford was effectively set up by some people in the Watcher's Council to play a part in McKinley's demise. McKinley realised what had happened, so when the Council sent more people he stopped them from even entering the house."

"Because of the curse?" Buffy queried, jarring the others out of their reverie, from listening to the tale.

Xander looked at her surprised, while the others, barring Giles, just looked on in confusion.

Noticing Xander's expression, Buffy quickly explained. "He told me some of it before we left."

Xander nodded, finally replying to her question, "Yeah, he would have had to deal with them all."

Willow put her hand up out of habit, "Umm, what curse?"

Xander continued, eager to get the story over and done with, "McKinley had been sent to the house by the Council to put up wards, such that the artefact could be stored there. A few of the watchers including one called Whitby disagreed with the Council's decision, they wanted the artefact destroyed. Whitby took on the challenge of destroying the artefact without the deed being discovered. He took up the project to move the artefact to the house and planned it such that the house would become unliveable, that way nobody would ever find out that the artefact was not in the house."

"And it worked." Oz stated, thinking about how the house had been more or less left alone over the last five decades.

"Mostly, the Council still sent two slayers. That by the way is why he mostly left Giles alone, he knew Giles was different, because he went along with his slayer. It showed Giles cared about her above himself."

Buffy turned to Giles, who was entering the room with the coffees and smiled at him.

The sentiment was missed by the others in the group as Oz continued the line of questioning, "Why the questions?"

Xander looked momentarily confused before realising what Oz was talking about, "It was part of the curse. Kind of like a Genie in a bottle, as soon as you entered the house you're greatest desire or wish was made known to him and he was obliged to provide it. The only way for the curse to be broken was for all those who entered at one time to reject the offer"

"What about the two slayers?" Willow asked softly, not sure she wanted the answer.

The question brought a pained look to Xander's face "He couldn't tell anyone about the curse, the curse prevented it and the two slayers took the only opportunity for life they could get. McKinley never begrudged them that, it was the Watcher Council he wanted. They were the root of the curse."

"Whitby knew what he was doing with the curse, human want is very powerful and most are not likely to reject it." Giles interjected.

Xander nodded in response to Giles' comment before continuing, "So when we went in, McKinley saw a chance to be finally free…he just needed to manipulate the situation a little."

The group sat and thought in silence, before Cordelia turned to her boyfriend and asked, "So he told you all of this?"

"Only some of it, he showed me the rest, what Rutherford had seen and what McKinley saw after his death. It was weird, but he needed to show someone and he felt sorry for getting me killed...And ruining a perfectly good shirt" The last part said with a smile to his girlfriend, who only rolled her eyes in response.

"If you're okay, does that mean we should find that Rutherford guy?" Willow asked, her features worried at the idea.

Xander shook his head, "No, he passed on decades ago, he just stayed around long enough to tell McKinley what he knew and then just disappeared."

"Oh."

"So we all went in there for the key, but none of us actually wanted it." Buffy surmised

"Indeed, our desires were far removed from the search." Giles confirmed.

"And we all said no." Xander added quietly.

"Okay, so mine was freedom and Willow you said something about magical power." Buffy commented, looking to her friend.

"Yeah, full magical ability. Oz?" Willow looked to her boyfriend, curious to see if his wish was what she expected it to be.

"Control of the werewolf." Oz confirmed Willow's suspicion.

Willow hugged him, knowing how hard it was for him to not accept.

They all looked to Xander and Cordelia on the couch, Xander frowned not eager to share and even Cordelia looked self conscious.

"A power, something to help you guys." Xander finally elucidated.

Willow smiled encouragingly at him, while Buffy looked sad at the revelation.

All attention turned to Cordelia, who still did not look her usual confident self.

"Apparently I still miss my popularity." Cordelia explained.

Xander squeezed her hand to reassure her as did Buffy who could fully understand the sentiment.

"What about you Giles?" Buffy queried of her watcher.

Giles looked even less eager to share, "Let's just say the sentiment was similar."

"What sentiment was that?"

"Power, power to be in control of ourselves and the environment around us, something McKinley himself could not have until others were willing to forego their own." Giles explained.

Buffy seemed to perk at the comment, "So we did good?"

Giles' reply was solemn, "Indeed."

"Go us." Willow chirped with false cheer.

"Yeah go us." Xander reiterated solemnly.

TBC...