A/N: Sorry for the delay! This was definitely the hardest chapter to write so far, since there's lots of characters wanting to do lots of talking. Hopefully it reads smoothly and covers everything, so we can get back to the fun next chapter :)
Ziva stood at the door, indicating for the newcomers to enter the room.
"Xander!"
Willow crossed the room in seconds and threw her arms around Xander's neck. Her weight caused him to step back awkwardly to keep his balance, and he felt Gibbs place a steadying hand on his shoulder.
"Hi Will. Missed you too." Xander couldn't help grinning at her enthusiasm. Over her shoulder he saw Buffy and Giles enter. After glancing at Gibbs, Ziva left, shutting the door behind her.
Willow pulled back. "You are in big trouble mister! You haven't called me in ages!" She glanced around, eyes widening as she noticed who else was in the room. "We will talk about this later," she warned him.
"Angel, Spike," Buffy greeted evenly. "I wasn't expecting to see you two here."
"Buffy," Angel returned.
"Weren't expecting to see you either, love," agreed Spike. "Unless Xander already called you, and that argument we just had was all for show."
"No, I didn't call them," Xander said.
"So I'm the only one here who needs to be introduced, I take it?" Gibbs asked.
"Sorry Boss." Xander straightened. "Guys, this is my boss, Special Agent Gibbs. Boss, meet the Scoobies." As he'd hoped, he saw a look of understanding flick across Gibbs' face as he made the connection.
"Hey, I was a Scooby too," Spike protested.
"I would rather you introduced us as the ISWC, Xander," Giles admonished. He held out his hand to Gibbs. "Rupert Giles. This is Buffy Summers, and Willow Rosenberg."
Gibbs shook it, and acknowledged the women. "And the ISWC is?"
"The leading international authority on demons and supernatural matters," Xander answered. He noted the brief look of surprise on the others' faces. "He already knows, guys. Well, some stuff, anyway."
"Well, that will make things easier," Giles commented.
"So, uh, what's going on here?" Buffy finally asked, addressing her question to the two vampires as much as Xander and Gibbs.
"You don't know?" asked Angel.
"You guys turn up out of the blue, at this particular moment, and have no idea what's going on?" Spike chuckled. "The Powers have gotta be messing with us again."
"If Harris didn't call you, and you're not here for the same reason as these two, why are you here?" Gibbs asked.
"Willow and her team detected higher numbers of demons than usual in the area, and an increase in magical activity that seemed to correspond with it. We came to check it out," Buffy explained. "Since we knew Xander was living here, we thought we'd check in with him first, see if he knew what was up. He wasn't at home, so we came looking here."
"And now I'm guessing something's definitely, uh, 'up'?" Willow asked.
"Yeah, the Faligata Prophecy, that's what," said Spike.
"The what?"
Spike turned to Angel, grinning. "Guess we weren't the last to hear about it after all."
Angel shook his head. "This is going to take a while. Maybe we should sit?" He indicated the long table they were standing around, and everyone moved to seat themselves. Gibbs, Xander, Angel and Spike ended up opposite the three Council representatives. Angel took the lead in explaining what the prophecy was, and then about the Badinok Spell that had led them to NCIS.
Buffy shook her head. "Giles, why hadn't we heard about any of this? How can we not have known about one of the -apparently -most well-known prophecies ever?"
"Our resources are still being built back up, Buffy, you know that," Giles sighed. "Most of what the old Council had was utterly destroyed. I suspect it will take several decades to have a proper collection again. Now, if you'll excuse me a moment, I need to make a call." He stood and let himself out of the room.
"What I don't understand is, why didn't you call us Xander?" asked Willow, sounding a bit hurt.
Xander had been afraid of that question. He shrugged awkwardly. "I wanted to know what we were facing first. Maybe it would have been something we could handle."
"In his defence, Xander was arguing that we should call you guys, just before you arrived," Spike offered.
"What's important is that we're here now," Buffy concluded. "We can find out who the big bad is, and see what can be done about getting those marines back for you." Behind her, Giles re-entered the room and took his seat again.
"Hold on," Gibbs interrupted. "Why does everyone walk in here and assume they can take over my case? These are our marines, and I am in charge of this investigation."
"Actually, we have an agreement with your government allowing us to take control of any matter we need to," Giles informed them.
"Oh?" Gibbs asked, eyebrow raised. "And so, just like that, I should hand the lives of these men over to some stuffy Englishman from an organisation I've never heard of?"
"Well, not me, actually," Giles replied. "Officially, I'm head of the organisation, but that's mostly an administrative position. You'd be handing the reins over to our primary field leader."
"And that would be?"
"Buffy," Giles said, nodding to the petite blonde beside him.
Gibbs stared for a moment. "You must be joking. You want me to trust these men's lives to a young woman who can barely have completed a basic training course?"
"I can assure you, she is more than capable," Giles replied.
Gibbs was about to respond again when his cell rang.
"Yeah, Gibbs," he answered. He stood up and moved to the end of the room. There were various 'yes sir's and 'understood' but for the most part Gibbs just listened.
Xander leaned across the table.
"Look, Gibbs and his team -my team -we are the best of the best here, Buffy."
She nodded. "Dawn said you're happy, Xander, and I'm glad for you. We all are."
"That's not what I meant," Xander replied. "I mean, if it's at all possible, things will be much better for everyone if you include us in your plans."
Buffy frowned. "I don't know Xander..."
Gibbs hung up his cell. "That was Vance," he told Xander. "We're to hand over full control of this case to the ISWC. And you have been nominated as the liaison between the two agencies." He scowled at the other side of the table.
"Agent Gibbs, I can understand your doubts," Buffy said. "But I can assure you, I have been doing this for more than a decade, and the team we brought with us are the best I've got. We will get your men back."
"You did bring a team? Where are they?" asked Xander, relieved.
"At our hotel of course," Willow smiled. "There was no need to drag them all over town looking for you."
"Ok, we might as well get down to business," said Giles. "Ah, Angel, you and Spike actually entered the building where these marines are being held?"
"Yeah," Angel confirmed. "A couple of hours ago. There were four marines and six guards."
"That doesn't make any sense," Gibbs objected. "We know of at least thirteen marines that have gone missing."
"Willow, Giles. What do you guys know about a Badinok Spell?" asked Spike.
Willow shook her head; she didn't know of it.
"Not much," answered Giles. "I've heard of it but I've never encountered someone trying to do it."
"Well, here's the thing," Spike said. "It's effects are only temporary. It was really only designed to give a short burst of extra strength and health to the target."
"Oh dear," said Giles, worried.
"How long ago did marines start going missing?" Willow asked seriously. She pulled out a fancy-looking PDA and starting tapping on the screen.
"Seven weeks," Xander answered.
"Seven... hmm," she mumbled. "And there's been more recently?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "The first three marines were taken a week apart, then two per week for the next three weeks. This week they've taken four, including two at once."
"Here it is," Willow said. She read the screen in silence for a moment. "Okay, the spell only lasts seven days at most. So whoever it is, they've had to renew the spell weekly."
"And what happens to the marines that have been 'used' in the spell?" asked Gibbs, his voice low.
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"I don't believe they would survive the process," Giles answered eventually.
Gibbs slammed his fist angrily against the table as he rose from his seat. Nobody flinched. "Then why the hell are we sitting here talking? We should be getting those four out while we still have the chance!" He walked down to the window, and began to pour himself a cup of the horrid coffee they kept down there. Xander guessed it was out of frustration and a need to do something more than because he actually wanted to drink it.
"I think we have a bit of time actually," Willow said timidly. Xander gave her an encouraging smile, which she gratefully returned. "The spell is most effective if done at each quarter moon phase. If whoever's doing this knows his stuff, then the next spell will be in two days' time."
"Alright," Buffy interrupted decisively. "There are two important things here: finding out who's behind it, and rescuing the marines. How sure are we that the spell won't be done again for another two days?"
"I think we can be pretty certain," Giles answered. "This is a rare and somewhat difficult spell. This person clearly knows what they are doing, so we can assume they would know the best time to do it."
"Good," Buffy said. "And if this guy is using these marines for their health and strength, we can assume they're being looked after right? That means we have two days to rescue them. So we focus on finding out who's behind this first, and rescue the prisoners second. Willow, can you track down who's doing the spell?"
"Uh, maybe not who," she replied. "An unusual spell like this would leave ripples though -I could probably track down where it was done. It'll take a few hours though."
Buffy nodded. "Where is still a good place to start. And it's," she checked the time, "really late, especially for those not used to working vampire hours. So, here's the deal: We all go our separate ways. Willow can work on finding out what she can, while the rest of us get some shut-eye."
Xander nodded gratefully -he hadn't had much sleep last night, and this had been a very long day indeed. He was looking forward to as much sleep as possible. Everyone began to stand.
"You are planning to contact us when you find out anything, I presume?" asked Gibbs with a hint of sarcasm.
"Absolutely," Buffy agreed.
"You know D.C. better than we do," added Giles. "It would be foolish not to use your local knowledge."
"And us?" asked Spike. "We did all the sodding groundwork here." Behind him, Angel crossed his arms and frowned at Buffy.
She considered them for a moment. "We'll see."
Gibbs reached the door first since he'd already been standing, and walked out leaving the door open.
"Xander, what do you reckon? I think Angel and I have earned our places in this party," Spike said, trying to gather support.
"I don't know," he answered. "Buffy sure did better facing my boss than Angel did the first time."
"What?" Angel's jaw dropped. "That is not true!"
Xander smirked. "Sure it is. I saw you -all fidgeting and nervous."
"I was not nervous, I was... uncomfortable," Angel admitted. "It was awkward. I wanted to warn him that more marines would be taken but I didn't think through the part where I couldn't say why."
"Still looked like nervousness to me," Xander replied, taking any opportunity to harass the older vampire.
"Spike, tell him. You know I fidget when I'm uncomfortable."
Spike raised his eyebrows. "What, you expect me to back you up?"
Angel glared at him.
"Oh all right," Spike conceded. "It's true. Takes a lot to get ol' Angel nervous, but awkward is practically his normal state."
Angel rolled his eyes, and Xander shrugged, dropping the topic. He headed out to the bullpen to grab his gear. He was surprised to realise Ziva and Tony were still there, and apparently Gibbs was thinking along the same lines.
"Go home," he was saying as Xander walked in. "Don't be in before ten hundred hours tomorrow."
"Uh Boss?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, DiNozzo?"
"What, I mean who, or uh, aren't you going to fill us in?" he managed. Tony was completely confused and didn't seem to know what the right question was.
Gibbs stood up, frustration evident on his face. "The ISWC has jurisdiction, so it's their case now. We may or may not be asked to assist them further."
Tony and Ziva both stopped in surprise.
"They've taken our case? How can they have jurisdiction over abducted US Marines?" asked Tony in shock.
"And who is the ISWC? I have never heard of it before," said Ziva.
"Neither had I," Gibbs replied. "But that doesn't make any difference. That's how it is."
The conversation paused as the three Council reps made their way past to the elevator, followed by Angel and Spike. The two groups eyed each other with interest: Tony and Ziva wanting to know who the strangers were, and the Scoobies looking for a glimpse into Xander's new life.
Once the lift had taken them away, Ziva turned back.
"I think there is much you haven't told us. I don't understand why Tony and I are being kept in the shade."
"In the dark," Tony corrected. "But yeah, I'd like to know too."
"It's need to know," Gibbs answered.
"But Xander gets to know?" Ziva prompted.
"I was uh, 'read in' a long time ago," Xander replied. "That's why they nominated me as their liaison."
"Yeah." Gibbs grabbed his bag and left the bullpen. "Y'all waiting for a written invitation?"
They grabbed their gear and hurried after him.
In the car park, Gibbs hung back and indicated for Xander to wait with him. Tony and Ziva said goodnight and headed for their cars. Xander groaned inwardly. An interrogation on his friends, now?
Thankfully, Gibbs seemed to read his mind.
"Most of it can wait until all this is over, Harris."
He nodded. "Sure, Boss. What do you want to know?"
"Buffy."
Xander grinned. "Buffy's the best. You won't find anyone better at fighting demons. Giles was telling the truth. She's more than enough for whatever we're facing."
Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "She can't be any older than you."
"She's not."
Xander could have explained more, but he wasn't in the mood for an in-depth conversation right now. Confirming or denying Gibbs' thoughts was enough.
Gibbs was studying him, apparently deciding whether to push further or not.
"Get some sleep, Harris," he said eventually.
"No argument there, Boss," Xander agreed, heading for his car.
But when he got to his car, Willow was waiting.
"Hey Xander."
"Hey Will." Despite his tiredness, it was good to see her again. "How did you know which car was mine? Some clever spell up your sleeve?"
"Er, no," she smiled. "I asked Spike, he said this one smelled like you."
"Huh."
"Anyway," Willow went on. "I just hadn't seen you in so long and I wanted to say sorry because it's not entirely your fault that we haven't had much contact, I mean, I know it's partially my fault because I didn't call you either. Or write. Or visit. But Giles and Dawn have been keeping us all up to date when you write to them so we kinda knew what was going on with you and stuff, and it sounds like you're happy here which is great, it really is-"
"Willow!" Xander laughed. "I get it, really."
She smiled. "Sorry."
"It's fine," he grinned. "I've missed you too. How about you guys stick around a few days after all this is over? We can catch up on everything then."
"Oh that'd be great! And we can have junk food and a movie marathon, just like in high school!"
"Sure, so long as it doesn't involve undead party crashers," Xander laughed again. "But right now I really need to get home and sleep."
"Oh of course!" Willow enveloped Xander in a hug, but was interrupted when Xander yelped suddenly. He rubbed his arm.
"Sorry, totally forgot I was stabbed a few days ago." A few days ago? It seemed more like a few years.
"Oh my god, are you okay?"
"It's fine, just a few stitches." He gave her a one-armed hug. "I'll see you tomorrow Will."
"Alright. Night Xander." She walked away towards the far end of the carpark, and Xander was finally able to go home.