Disclaimer: Joss owns all; I own naught but this particular AU.

X X X X X

I couldn't stop smiling after Tara closed the door.

Damn. That had gone better than I'd expected. I was sure we'd have a nice time, but I wasn't so sure we'd click.

We clicked well enough that she wants a second date.

I'm good.

And incredibly lucky.

Before the night had begun, I'd been fairly sure I was in love with Tara MacLay. Now I was completely sure.

The woman was a goddess. She could kill vampires, she was tough, she was smart, and she was absolutely beautiful. In my head I was already being Clark Gable to her Scarlett O' Hara. (That is my ultimate romantic fantasy. Of course, the latter parts of the movie weren't much to emulate. But I wanted to sweep this woman off her feet.)

All I wanted to do right now was go back to my room, collapse into my bed, and relive the night and how well it had gone, but there was something else I had to do first. I checked my watch – 10 PM. Odds were Giles wasn't asleep.

I went to his room and knocked on the door. "Come in," he said.

He was sitting on the bed, watching a black & white movie on television. "Giles?" I said.

"Kennedy," he said. "What can I do for you?" Then he looked at me. "I take it your date went well."

I didn't realize I could grin even wider, but I did. "You could say that."

"I'm glad." And from the looks of him, he really was. "But I'm sure you didn't come here to 'dish' on your evening. Did you have something else in mind?"

"I wanted to know if you'd gotten a call from either a lawyer or a real estate agent."

"Both, actually," he said. "First I received a call from a lawyer at Woodman & Weld, explaining the situation and asking if I had any other specifications for the location we were looking for. An hour or so later, a Baltimore real estate agent called and said they had located three potential locations: An old hotel, a former nursing home community, and an office building."

"Any of them sound good?"

"Oddly enough, the nursing home community," Giles said. "There are independent cottages formerly used by those retirees who were still largely capable of looking after themselves, plus many bedrooms and common areas. Ms. Baker – the real estate agent – is e-mailing some specifications to Angel Investigations and is sending us as many details as she can via overnight mail."

"And the money?"

"The council can easily afford it," he said. "And it's in the right location as well – right on the outskirts of Warren, between it and another Baltimore suburb called Cockeysville. Further, it is not in fact directly on top of the Hellmouth." He laughed. "We've had that difficulty in the past."

"Yeah, I heard about that." After a second, "So it looks good?"

"Well, so far," Giles said. "That phone call you made was a lot of help, Kennedy. I'm sure it would have taken us a great deal longer to locate a suitable location without the assistance of Woodman & Weld and Ms. Baker. The Council is grateful. More importantly, I'm grateful."

"If there's any other way that my or my father's connections can smooth things over, let me know," I said. "I want this to work as much as you do."

"I know you do," he said. "In fact, I've come up with the position I'd like to offer you, if you'll take it."

"What is it?" I doubted Giles was going to be making me the janitor.

"I would you like to be the head combat trainer."

"You mean, I get to do a bit of what I was doing back in Sunnydale?" Although I was a bit surprised at Giles' confidence in me – I know how much of an arrogant brat I can be at times – I knew that I'd had a lot more experience using weapons and training with them than anyone else except Buffy and Faith. And Faith was going to Cleveland for a while, and Buffy was going to take a vacation.

Part of me thought she was cutting out. The other part couldn't blame her. She'd been fighting the forces of darkness for about seven years at this point. I wasn't surprised she wanted a vacation.

Of course, there was also that part of me that was glad not to be dealing with her. I respected her, admired her, and thought I could learn a lot from her. But I didn't like her, and I'm fairly sure the feeling was mutual.

Maybe I'd like her more when she wasn't stressed out by everything that'd happened in the last year. I'd cross that bridge when, and if, I came to it.

"A bit less military in nature, but otherwise, yes."

"I accept." Damn right I accepted.

After a second, "You would, of course, also be the lead Slayer in Warren – and the lead Slayer of any sort associated with a permanent location."

"What about Faith?"

"Well, the first thing we do is take care of her problems with the California penal system," Giles said. "Buffy's discussing things with an old military ally of ours who may be able to provide some assistance."

"If that doesn't work, let me know," I said. "Woodman & Weld has someone on call to take care of difficult matters like this."

"I'll do that," he said. "The Council has its own resources, but it may be a while before we're able to fully access them. And, in any event, there are enough of the Old Guard remaining who could make things difficult for Faith were they so inclined." He said, "In any event, I tend to think Faith's better off not being based out of any specific location. Once we sort our her legal troubles, we can send her to trouble spots. In the meantime, she can stay in either Los Angeles or Warren, whichever she prefers. Robin will be going with her as her Watcher."

"So he's now an official recruit?"

"Yes," Giles said. "Plus, on Angel's recommendation, we've brought in an old friend of his – a former member of the LAPD. She'll be helping Wesley with the Los Angeles branch."

"It sounds like this is all coming together," I said.

He smiled. "It is. Still, I dislike the bureaucracy of it all."

"I'm sure there had to have been Watchers who handled the paperwork," I said. "Why not try to make sure at least one of them gets assigned to every location?"

"I'm trying," Giles said. "But few of them survived the explosion. Most of the surviving Watchers were field operatives. The ones who specialized in office work –"

"Were in the office. Yeah." I should have figured it out.

"Don't think I don't appreciate the thought." He stretched. "And on that note, I'd like to get back to my movie."

I said goodbye and went back to my room. Then I went over and over my date with Tara until I fell asleep.

Still grinning, I'd like to point out.

X X X X X

That night, I think I had my first Slayer dream.

Fortunately, this one didn't seem to be leading up to a coming apocalypse.

I walked into a magic store. The place was empty, not even anyone behind the cash register, except for a woman with mid-length red hair – I knew that color -- who was sitting at a table in the middle of the room. She was reading a book.

"It's about time you got here," she said as I walked in. "I've been waiting a while." She pulled out a chair. "Come on, take a seat." I hesitated. She laughed. "You're going to have to get comfortable around magic if you want to keep dating Tara. I swear, nothing's going to jump out and attack. I'm fairly sure the mummy hand is safely downstairs."

I came over and sat down. Of course, I'd figured out who this was. "You're Willow Rosenberg."

Smiling, she said, "Well, that saves the problem of introductions. Yes, I'm Willow. And you're Jacqueline Olivierez Kennedy, and you're in love with my soulmate."

"Yes. I am," I said defiantly. "Do you have a problem with that?"

Her eyes flashed dark for just a second. "If I had a problem," she said in a voice that was both light and menacing, "You'd know about it." Her eyes went back to their normal blue. "Besides, my friends have already threatened you with dismemberment if you hurt Tara. I don't think anything I'll do is going to add to that."

"Considering what you did to help Tara while we were fighting the First," I said, "I'm not quite sure I believe that." After a second, "But I love her new, red hair."

"I didn't know that was going to happen," Willow said. "Ah well. I liked it better blonde, but I have to admit she makes a darn cute redhead."

"Did you actually tell someone that you were going to beat them to death with a shovel?"

"That's a big yeppers," she said. "One of Buffy's old boyfriends." She stretched. "Anyway, that's not why I'm here."

"So why are you here if you're not here to tell me not to hurt Tara?"

"I don't need to tell you that," Willow said. "You wouldn't hurt Tara. I can already tell. She's more likely to hurt you. And she inflicts less pain than anyone I've ever known." Then she said, "No. I'm here to tell you that, for whatever it's worth, I approve. I mean, I'd like it a bit more if you had a better attitude about magic –"

"I've given up saying it's all fairy tale crap," I said. "What more do you want?"

"I want you to learn about it," she said. "I'm not saying become a witch or an expert like Giles. Not everyone has that in them. But it's really important to her. Learn the basics."

"So why are you helping me win over your soulmate?" I asked, a bit suspiciously. One thing I did learn from my father – well, my father and Robert Heinlein: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.

"Because you'd be good for her," she said. "I loved Tara with all of my heart, and I know she loves me. But there's room in Tara's heart for an awful lot of love – yeah, I know, this sounds mushy to you. But it's true. I want her to be happy and I think you could make her that way." Then she smiled. "Of course, if I were still alive, you wouldn't have a chance in hell, and you know it, missy." I did. Cocky as I was, I knew that for sure.

"I do," I said. "But if it'd make her happier I'd bring you back."

"I think you would," she murmured. "I really do." She straightened up in her chair. "Anyway, I appreciate the offer, but no. That kind of stuff is extremely dangerous. Believe you me, I know that from bitter experience."

"So that's it? You approve, and learn magic?"

"One other thing: you don't need my help to win her over. You're doing a pretty good job of that already." Noticing the grin on my face, she said, "But don't take that as an ironclad vision of the future. You could still screw this up. You're on the right track."

"Any clues as to what that witch is going to find tomorrow when she looks inside Tara?"

"Tara. Just more so. I gave her my raw energy, not my darkness. My darkness . . . well, that's why I'm here."

"Doesn't look so bad."

"It isn't. It's not so good, either. I'm not in heaven or hell."

"Purgatory?"

"Right. You were raised Catholic," she said. I guess that's as good a word as any," Willow said. "I don't know if I'm ever going to move on from here. But it's not so bad. I get to watch my friends on Earth and help them on occasion."

"What do you do the rest of the time?"

"Read, mostly."

Something occurred to me. "So is this a dream or isn't it? And is there anything you want me to pass on to Tara?"

"Anything I want to say to Tara I'll tell her myself," she said. "Don't you worry about that."

"Are you talking to her now?"

"Do you see her around here?"

I shrugged. "How the hell do I know what the dead can do? For all I know you can invade five people's dreams and sing a merry tune at the same time."

"Not much on the singing. Or the dream invasion. This is a one-night only gig." She said, "Anyway, it's time for you to wake up now." She snapped her fingers –

And, by God, I woke up.

You know, that could have gone a whole lot worse . . .