AN: See previous chapters for disclaimers.

Mac was sitting on his couch when a knock came at the door. He got up and looked out the door. Buffy stood there, gesturing wildly as she talked to Pete. Giles was shaking his head, and Willow and Xander were grinning. Mac opened the door.

"…So then…Oh. Hey MacGyver," Buffy said. Pete looked me over.

"How you feeling? You look pretty good for a guy who was almost killed twice in one week," Pete said. Mac snorted.

"You have to bring it up? I made a rookie mistake, and it nearly got me killed," Mac said. Buffy and Willow giggled.

"MacGyver, compared to us, you are a rookie," Xander said. Pete was smiling.

"I think he meant a rookie of a different field," Pete said.

"I left my door unlocked. I know better than that, and I did it anyway," Mac said.

"But you lived to learn a lesson," Willow said. "That's what counts."

"She's right, Mac," Pete told him.

They all sat down. Silence pervaded the room for several minutes before Giles spoke.

"We found three other Vampires at the Foundation. All admitted to being turned by Peterson during the attack. I must admit, I've never heard of a Vampire so young being able to do what Peterson did," Giles said. Mac shrugged.

"Peterson was always very charismatic. He made a good undercover operative because of that. He was quick to gain trust. Never expected it to be used against the Foundation, though," Pete said.

"Ah…that explains it," Giles said. "It was no wonder he was used to fulfill the prophecy. He had an easy time getting other vampires to work together."

"They don't normally work together?" Pete asked.

"No. By nature, Vampires are very unorganized. It takes a strong vampire or one with a lot of charisma, like you say Peterson had, to make them work together," Giles said. Buffy nodded, then looked at Mac.

"You know, I never did find out your first name," Buffy said. Mac groaned and put his head in his hands.

"Don't even go there," Mac groaned. Pete chuckled.

"I said it before, I'll say it again, it can't be any worse than Buffy, can it?" Buffy asked. Willow fought to hold in her laughter.

"Trust me, it's much worse," Mac said. Willow couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Yeah right!" Willow laughed. Everyone stared at her.

"I bet she knows," Buffy said. Mac looked at Willow, who nodded.

"I'm a technopagan, remember? I can hack into just about anything," Willow said. Mac groaned.

"Don't you tell them," Mac said warningly.

"It's…urmph!" Willow grunted when Mac leapt forward and clapped a hand over her mouth. Everyone laughed at their antics. Mac suddenly yelped and pulled away, whipping his hand on his pants. Willow was looking smug.

"She licked my hand," Mac said. That caused even more laughter.

"His first name is Angus," Willow said. Silence met her ears.

"Well, it's definitely not any worse than Buffy," Buffy said. Pete was chuckling quietly at Mac, who was holding his head in his hands. Willow was smiling at him.

"Well I happen to like it," Willow said. Xander was holding in laughter.

"Now I know why you want to be called by your last name. To name a kid that…that's just cruel," Xander said. Giles said nothing and only shook his head. Pete had stopped chuckling and was looking at Willow.

"You hacked into our personnel database, didn't you?" Pete said. Willow nodded.

"But only into his file and then only into personal history," Willow said. "And I put back up your firewalls on my way out."

At the expressions on Pete and Mac's face, the others burst out laughing.

"We've got to hire her when she graduates," Pete muttered. Rupert Giles was wiping his brow when he froze.

"Oh, dear, I completely forgot…" Giles moaned. Everyone tensed.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"I found more to the prophecy…" Giles began. Everyone groaned.

"If Peterson is going to be resurrected, I'll…" Buffy began.

"Oh, no, nothing like that. Far from it. It simply mentions that the Grounded Phoenix and the Slayer will be allied," Giles said hurriedly. Everyone sighed with relief.

"You trying to give a man a heart attack?" Pete asked. Everyone's laughter filled the house and drifted into the night.

FIN

AN: I hope you enjoyed the first story in my "With the Phoenix" series. Please, review.