Rebuilding
Ch 13 – Round Robin Secreting
It was two days later, the dreaded Friday and the mood of all of the gang had become more morose and worried.
Tara and Willow had agreed that they couldn't burden the gang, especially Giles and Dawn, with what they'd come to suspect about Buffy's predicament. That left both of them under a tremendous amount of pressure. Suddenly Tara could understand why Willow seemed so stretched beyond her limit. In addition to the robot issues that only she was qualified to tackle, she had been suffering the horror and guilt alone of Buffy being in torment.
Tara didn't want to believe that it was true, but she couldn't stop herself from getting wrapped up in Willow's terror and pain. With them needing to shield the rest of the gang, she'd taken it as her personal responsibility to assist Willow in finding a way to rescue Buffy if they needed to. In the meantime, she had begun to research Slayer lore in alternate resources, trying to find proof that Willow was wrong without her girlfriend and partner getting wind of what she was up to. She hated going behind Will's back, but what they were talking about was some heavy-duty magic, here. The risks were enormous and that was something that Willow rarely, if ever, actually considered. Tara had to know for her own sake that Buffy was really in trouble before she could allow herself to participate in such dangerous action.
Willow, Tara, Dawn and Spike had agreed with Xander to keep his issue with the Hyena-personality from Giles. At least until after Quentin's visit. He had taken Buffy's death so hard and none of them were convinced that he wasn't spending his evenings alone in that apartment with his scotch bottles. They didn't want to burden him any further at the moment.
The fact that they also didn't want the robots saying anything by mistake around him meant that they couldn't talk about it around the apartment, either. April, or Faithbot, had made it back home in the wee-hours of Thursday and had taken up residence later that day and would be an unwanted 'houseguest' until after Quentin left town.
Spike had taken to staying up all night and sleeping during the day, avoiding sharing intimate space with Xander. Not that he didn't understand it, but it made things tense for Xan and he couldn't help but feel some resentment that Spike still didn't trust himself that he'd changed; that he wasn't a danger to him, no matter what provocation Hyena tried.
Xander had berated Hyena in his skull and the two of them had stopped talking. Hyena felt completely justified in enjoying Spike's desires as well, since in her mind, she was the reason why they'd gotten together in the first place. She was angry at Spike's rejection and resentful of Xander's 'selfishness' in trying to stay in control all of the time. Finally, she was getting a bit sick of hearing her host's thought projections still looking for the weeks-gone Commando-boy.
Of course with the threat of a Hyena takeover at any moment, Xander also wasn't sleeping well and was turning impatient and bad-tempered. Especially with Spike's constant guarded looks as if Hyena was about to impersonate him at any minute. More than once he'd had to bite his tongue not to tell Spike to pack his shit and get out if he was that worried over it. He wanted Willow to get with the magic-works, but she was acting unusually reticent about casting any spells to take care of the problem. He could only hope that once the Watchers Council was out of the way again, that Giles would have some ideas.
Hyena's constant threats to take him out with her weren't helping him. This fact he was keeping from everyone else and it only added to the unconscious, collective strain among the group.
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Giles read the morning paper article again. An entire family had disappeared, their van left with doors ajar only three blocks from his place. Apparently, the relative quiet caused by Glory's presence in town was well and truly over. He jotted notes for the next Scooby meeting, which was tentatively scheduled for tonight depending on Quentin's agenda.
When a knock came at the door, Giles grimaced. He knew who it would be and felt his insides clench with tension. Wanting to ignore whoever was there, but knowing that would only invite more trouble, he answered it with an insincere smile.
"Quentin. Welcome back to Sunnydale," he said as friendly as possible as he stepped out of the way to invite his boss in.
"Thank you, Rupert. And congratulations on stopping Glorificus and her machinations."
"Please, do sit. I have a kettle on already. Let me get you tea."
"I would appreciate a good cup. American tea is a gross tragedy," Quentin replied.
"Y-yes… quite."
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Dawn looked at the test score circled in red at the top of her paper. She sighed while rubbing her dry eyes and tried to stifle another yawn. Without the sleeping pill hangover, she thought she'd feel better, but without them she slept a lot less.
Damned if I do and damned if I don't, she thought.
And another 'D' is not going to help smooth things with the principle, she sighed. She had felt better after she'd talked to Xander and found out that they were going to have Giles schedule a meeting via the robot. Not only would he keep the Buffybot from blurting out something inappropriate, but he would know how to settle the principal down before she did something wacky… like report her 'lack of a stable home life'.
She should try living with a robot duplicate of a Vampire Slaying sister, a Watcher, two witches, another phony Slayer robot and a tamed vampire. Then she can lecture me about schoolwork and 'paying attention to what's important', Dawn grumbled to herself.
Of course, she knew she'd brought this on herself. Skipping didn't seem like such a big deal when she was actually doing it and there had been those days when it was necessary, when they were all trying to avoid Glory. Studying had felt and still did feel pointless when there were exciting Scooby meetings going on around her.
I hope Spike can talk the others into letting me drop out in September, she thought. And then grimaced as she heard her name called; it was time to pretend to care about this junk again.
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Tara entered the U.C. Sunnydale campus library between classes. Looking around furtively to make sure that Willow wasn't in sight, she went to the desk.
"Hello, Ms. Mills," she addressed the assistant librarian.
"Tara? It's been weeks since you've been in, dear," Lavinia smiled warmly. "What can I do for you?"
"Oh, uh, I-I have an unusual request," Tara said. "I sort of need any books or papers dealing with Osiris." Tara leaned closer over the counter, "You know… the stuff not on the shelves?"
Lavinia Mills looked around to ensure there were no casual eavesdroppers. "Osiris? Tara, I hope that you're not allowing your Wiccan studies to delve into black magic. Nothing good can come of getting involved with him, you know."
"I'm afraid this is a 'special project'", Tara replied, her voice dropping even further as she continued to lean close. "I'm also looking for anything on Slayer lore."
"Hmm. And have you spoken to Mr. Giles about this?"
"Not yet. This is strictly fact-finding. And he… there's just a very good reason for not bothering him with this right now."
"Alright. But if you get in trouble, I hope you'll come to me, Tara. Even though Rupert and I aren't dating any longer, I would still be happy to help where I can," Lavinia stressed.
"I appreciate that, Ms. Mills. That's why I've come to you. And as for Mr. Giles; well, give him a few weeks, but I think he may be ready to ask you out to dinner again. There was just some… business… uh, reasons that he wanted to put some distance between he and you. It was for your own safety. But that, uh, issue, has been resolved."
"Really? Oh, well… uh, please tell him that I look forward to speaking to him again." Lavinia straightened and returned to a regular speaking voice, "Please give me until the end of next week to see what I've got squirreled away on your topics of interest, dear."
"Thanks. It's really important," Tara said before turning and leaving the library.
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"… so what the Council is really interested in is how Glory's defeat culminated in the apparent destruction of the so-called Key," Quentin said as he sipped at his tea.
"Apparent destruction, Quentin? You don't believe that the Key is no longer in existence," Giles nervously asked.
"Oh, I'm not doubting what you've reported," he assured his Watcher, "I'm simply stating that being energy, it seems dubious to accept it's destruction at face value. Especially since your report was lacking in any eyewitness details of its final dissolution."
Damn, Giles thought. I should have been more explicit about 'seeing' it blow up or something.
"W-well, I can certainly state that it wasn't in the area where Glory's tower was built and over which her portal was opened, Quentin."
"What of the Dagon's Sphere? And I believe there was something about a 'Troll Hammer'?"
"Yes, I'm afraid the Hammer was lost during the battle as well."
Actually, they simply had to abandon it as no one but Buffy could lift it. Even Spike's vampire strength wasn't able to budge the item, suggesting powerful magic was to blame. Giles had been willing to entertain the idea of summoning a Troll to retrieve it and take it back to their Asgardian dimension, but apparently the strip mall developer had their own way of covering and forgetting the unusual object. Giles had seen the area where he knew the hammer to be covered over in cement. It was destined to be part of the foundation of one of the coming boutiques and good riddance to it.
"As to the Sphere," he continued, "I was able to rescue that, which I have in the trunk behind the sofa. Or, I should say its damaged remains. Of course, it is the Council's…."
"Wonderful," Quentin complimented. "I'm sure our mystics will be thrilled to study it before it is placed in our secured vault. Have you informed Ms. Summers of my arrival?"
"Oh, yes. She should be at her home, ready to answer your questions."
"That will be a nice surprise," Quentin said.
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End Chapter 13