Disclaimers: Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon own it all. I'm just doing this for fun, and hopefully entertainment
Reviews: Welcomed and appreciated
"You've had over two weeks Wyndam-Pryce and I think we've been patient enough. What is your decision?" Giles tone told the whole room he would have the answer now, one way or the other. Buffy couldn't help but smile at her watcher. Go Giles, she thought.
Wesley looked up at the group of eight over the top of his glasses, and noticed the open hostility in more than a few. "I believe in Buffy's, in all of your intentions. I believe that they are pure and noble…" Spike snorted and rolled his eyes. "Yes, well most of you at any rate. Which is why I cannot fathom your hesitation to contact the council with this information."
Angelus stood to his six foot plus height and looked down at the watcher. "And I cannot fathom how you remain so blind regarding the council. They will kill her, or at least try. And in the process you will lose members of this precious group of yours. Your answer Wyndam-Pryce. Now." The calmness in his voice hid just how close he was to violence, but Buffy and Spike could sense it. Spike came up behind his sire and put his hand on his arm.
"Give him a chance to speak Angelus. Then if you don't like the answer you can rip his head off. I'll hold him down." He smirked at Wesley as he led Angel back to Buffy.
Wesley stood and removed his glasses. "I will keep this to myself. But surely Mr. Giles, you must realize how futile this subterfuge is. The council will eventually find out on its own."
"By then I am hoping Buffy will be gone from here. Her death has no effect on future slayers. If in a few years time she should 'die', well it would be a tragedy, yes. But the council will not need to involve themselves. Buffy and Angelus can leave. Find some place to live a life." He looked at Buffy, his Buffy. "That's all a watcher could ever want for his slayer. Life."
Buffy stood, seeing no one else in the room at that moment as she walked into his embrace. "I do love you Giles."
He gave her a wistful smile. "And I you, my dear."
Willow clutched Cordelia's arm, both girls with misty eyes. "I never thought this could happen."
Willow looked at Cordelia, "What?"
"I actually envy Buffy her watcher."
"Weird, huh? But he is kinda ours." She sniffed.
"Yeah."
Both Spike and Xander rolled their eyes. "Okay. Hate to put a damper on this Kodak moment, but boy-watcher is bloody right. That damn council will send more watchers. What then?"
"Don't be such a nay-sayer. It might be okay Spike." Willow gave Buffy an encouraging smile.
"Love, it's not nay-saying. It's merely a reality check. And we're all involved, if they come gunning, they come gunning for all of us."
"We'll just have to wait and see what happens, won't we?" Angel looked around the assembled group. "We'll have to get ready for a battle that will hopefully never come."
"So dead-boy. Your plan is to prepare for a battle with humans while battling all the little demons that the Hellmouth spits out on a day to day basis?" Xander challenged Angel to disagree.
He stared right back at Xander. "We all fight the everyday battles, but Spike and I, we're the ones who'll take care of the humans. If the need arises." Angel had to give the boy credit, he had his stones in place and didn't flinch once.
"I can live with that. So, hurry and wait. It's a plan." Xander nodded and turned his attention back to Cordelia.
"I love it when you play the man, you are just too cute." Cordelia whispered to her boy.
Spike gave Angel an incredulous look. "You gonna let the boy live?" Angel just shrugged.
It was now Giles turn to roll his eyes. ""Yes indeed, you are right Angel. We wait." Giles had a bad feeling, but the group seemed to be in agreement for the first time in a long while and this was a good thing. "Short of blowing up the Watcher's Council there really isn't much to do but wait."
Gwendolyn Post had been informed the moment Quentin Travers had left England. She still had allies at headquarters and once Travers was taken care of she was sure to be reinstated.
"Well my dear, seems your Mr. Travers checked into the Sunnydale Hilton half an hour ago." Ethan Rayne waited for reaction.
"That rat bastard. I'd burn the place down but he'd be the only one to get out alive. His little minions would make sure of that." She laughed. "Those photos you had taken of Summers in vampire face must've given him apoplectic seizures for days, do wish I could've seen his face."
"Yes, undoubtedly. But your dear Mr. Travers is traveling alone. Guess he didn't want to draw attention to the slayer in her present condition."
Gwendolyn smiled, her first genuine smile since she arrived in Sunnydale. "This is just too rich. He considers the council and all their little secrets his. Well, we'll certainly see about that." She rubber her hands together, making Ethan think of Snidely Whiplash. All she needed to do was twirl her moustache to make the picture complete.
"What?" She questioned him. "What's that little smile for?"
"Nothing, just thinking about Rupert is all. So, what's next on your agenda, fair Gwendolyn?"
"As soon as Travers leaves his hotel you and your cohorts search his room. You'll be looking for leather journals."
"You don't think we should be looking for a laptop? Discs?"
"Quentin is still in the 1900s, he'll have everything in hard copies. And when he gets back, bring him to me." Gwendolyn had been planning this from the first moment she realized the slayer had been turned. She didn't give a rat's ass about Summers, but Travers would. And Quentin was nothing if not predicable.
"Why don't we just snatch him and search his room now?"
"Because my darling Ethan, I want that merry little band to know Quentin is on to them. Chaos, my dear man, will work best for me." She smiled again, causing Ethan to shiver. "The little spies that hover on the edges will know that Travers went to see Giles. Once he's dead, I inform the council of what the turned slayer and her followers have done. I'll have the journals, the secret journals that everyone knows about, so they'll have to reinstate me. And I am aiming for the position of head of the council. Once inside, I can bring down the whole hierarchy and build it back up. My way."
"Ambitious plan. Very impressive. If it works. But remember, Rupert must suffer. That was part of the deal."
"With his slayer and all of her little playmates dead? Oh, he'll suffer Ethan. Never fear, he will suffer."
With his brief case and umbrella in hand, Quentin Travers made his way to the lobby. He decided to take a cab to Giles' instead of driving himself. On the way up to Sunnydale he forgot his road rules and ended up driving on the wrong side of the road. Damn Americans and their nonsensical way of doing things. The police office that stopped him let him go with a warning when he found out he was on his way to Sunnydale. "You'll need all the luck you can get if that's where you're heading, sir."
He had the concierge hail a taxi and gave him Rupert Giles address. He had already decided he wouldn't call first. Catching his watcher unaware was one of the reasons no one knew where he was.
All the lights were on at the Giles' residence when Travers walked up to the open door. And the place appeared to be filled with people, mostly young, all talking at once. No one really notice him as entered.
"So, I assume you are all acquaintances of my slayer?" Travers assumed an attitude of superiority and possession as was his right, he felt.
Giles and Wesley looked up and spoke simultaneously. "Sodding hell!"