"I'm still not totally convinced that this is a good idea, Xander. We should be working at convincing the girls to come to the school rather than encourage them to work on their own. A trained Slayer is far more effective than …"

"You want I should get Buffy for this speech, G-Man?" I grin at Giles and sit down on the edge of his desk. "I know you're big on the whole 'Hogwarts for Slayers' thing you've got going on here, but you have to admit that it wasn't the Watchers Council that made Buffy the uber Slayer that she is. She didn't follow the Slayer handbook."

"I am not Quentin Travers and this isn't his Council." Giles is getting twitchy in his old age—especially when I suggest that the new Council isn't the be-all and end-all for Slaying.

"No, you're not. But you are putting all your Slayers in one basket—and if something happens to us here, who will carry on the fight? You're not going to force these girls to come here against their will—Buffy wouldn't let you even if you wanted to. They need help. Training. We can't turn our back on them. They won't come to us, we go to them."

"Very well, Xander." G-Man polishes his glasses and looks at me. "Now please get off my desk before I am forced to hurt you."

"Anything you say, G-Man."

"And don't call me G-Man."

"Sure thing, G-Man."

"Do not taunt happy fun Watcher, Xander. Bad things happen when you do that."

"Buffy! When did you get back to the States?"

"Last night with Giles." Buffy gives good hugs. She's been a lot better off since we left the Pit Formerly Known as Sunnydale. Maybe her new beau had something to do with it. Maybe one of these days she'll actually get around to telling us what his name is.

"How is Morty anyway?"

"He's fine." Buffy mock glares at me. "Buy a girl a soda, big guy?"

"Sure thing, Buffster. G-Man, Robin said he'd come up with a list of stops for our road trip. Kennedy said she'd be willing to go along to help give the girls some tips, so if Faith doesn't want to hang, we've got our Slayer quota filled."

"Kennedy?" Buffy's eyes turned anime huge.

"Yeah."

"Willow's ex? That Kennedy?"

"Unless you know any other Slayers named Kennedy, that's the one."

"Wow. I mean, wow."

"What does that mean?"

"Kennedy's never exactly been a joiner. Honestly, I'm surprised that she's still here. I always figured that once she and Willow broke it off, Kennedy would take off for parts unknown."

"She's a Slayer, Buff. She's in it to help people. And she's not a quitter."

"Geez, Xander. When did you become Kennedy's number one fan?"

"She's been training the new Slayers ever since we set this place up. Even after she and Willow split, she's stayed here and done her job. I know she's not exactly Ms. Popular, but she does at least her share here. And she deserves some respect for that."

"You're right, Xander."

"Damn, I love when people say that."

"I'm trying to give you some credit, Harris. Don't go ruin it by being such a Xander."

"Yeah, well, you know me …"

Oh my God.

"Xander, what's wrong?"

Kennedy and Faith are by the soda machine. Hot sweaty Kennedy and Faith are by the soda machine.

"Xander, so help me, if you start to drool I am going to slap you silly!"

I know that voice. That's Buffy's voice. I remember Buffy. I have a feeling that I should be paying attention to her, but somehow I'm not.

Um, eye? Why are we looking at Kennedy instead of Faith? Remember Faith? The woman we actually got to see naked and have sex with? Yeah, she's with our good buddy Robin, but at least she's straight and we got lucky once. Kennedy doesn't stop at Boystown …

But she's so freakin' hot …

And I'm talking to my eye. Oh crud.

I am so screwed.