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Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns and created all of the Buffy characters. I own the rights the original characters and this computer though.

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The Watcher's Council

Living Quarters – Rupert Giles

London, England

June 15, 2008

9:50am

Rupert Giles, senior member of the new Watcher's Council, looks on out the window, with tea in hand, watching the slayers training in the yard. For the last five years, him and his 'children' have repaired the pieces of rubble that was once the headquarters into a newly engineered, high-tech training and research facility.

With Xander and others finding potentials everyday, things have been looking up for the former Watcher… until recently.

A few weeks ago, Giles received a distressing call from Kennedy. She claimed that Willow sensed something was brewing through all of the Hellmouth's in the world. She tried to find the source of the disturbance but she was knocked unconscious for three days and just woke up that day. Giles brushed it off as Willow tapping into something small until Xander called saying he "saw" something happening to all the Hellmouth's.

That's when he called Angel and asked him to get Faith out of prison. Giles had heard that Faith had gotten herself back in prison and neither he nor Robin Wood, now a Watcher, went to get her out. Angel got the paper work together but could not serve the paperwork due to another job he was working on. Giles then called in Demitri to take Faith out of jail and bring her to London for the forthcoming battle.

Giles looking on at "his" slayers with despair, not knowing what to do if they have to battle The First or something bigger. Giles is so into his thoughts, that he doesn't see Buffy coming up behind him

"Giles?" Buffy asks

Giles jumps at the sound of Buffy's voice, spilling his tea, "Bollix… Hot, hot, hot! Damn, this was a new vest."

Giles sprints over to the table in the middle of the room and grabs a Kleenex. He quickly begins to clean off the tea from his vest. He notices Buffy trying horribly to hold in laughter.

"This is not funny, Buffy. I could have been severely burned," Giles says in a very a fatherly tone.

"Your right… not funny… this is me not laughing," Buffy says as she still tries to hold in laughter, "So what made you space out this time."

Giles finishes wiping himself off and walks back to the window. Buffy follows him with a worried look on her face.

"Remember, I told you that Kennedy called about the energy disturbance that Willow felt?" Giles asked without looking at Buffy.

"Yeah… I thought we agreed that it was just Willow stressing herself out about nothing. Remember she has done that before."

"Yes…" Giles pulls off his glasses and starts cleaning them, "But I also got a call from Xander and he said he "saw" the same things that Willow sensed."

Buffy has a look of confusion, "Why didn't you tell me this information? What… you don't trust me after everything we have gone through?"

"Buffy, I did not want to alarm you until we have researched the importance of this."

Buffy begins to pace, "So how bad is this thing we are about to face?"

Giles places his glasses back on the bridge of his nose, "Buffy, I can honestly tell you I have no clue on who or what we are dealing with or how powerful this thing is."

Buffy stops pacing and looks at Giles with a worried look, "What can I do to help?"

Giles smiles and grabs Buffy on the shoulders, "The only thing that you can do is act like nothings wrong and go about your life so the others don't worry. Remember, you are their leader and the attitude of the girls reflects leadership."

Buffy nods and hugs Giles. Buffy is the first to release the embrace and walks away. But before she is completely out of sight, she turns to Giles one last time, "When was the last time you heard from Xander?"

"Last Wednesday, if I'm not mistaken."

Buffy nods and smiles, but before she turns to walk out the door, Giles' cell phone goes off. Buffy walks out the door but stops so she was out of sight but not out of earshot. Giles opens his flip phone to see a restricted number.

"Rupert Giles speaking."

"Ripper…" The voice said on the other line.

Giles swallows hard, "Demitri… It's good to hear from you."

"Drop the act, Ripper. We have business to attend too."

Giles sighs, "Quite right… Do you have Faith?"

'What the hell does he want with Faith?' Buffy ponders to herself.

"Yes, I have your precious slayer. She is quite the feisty one. Faith has some trusting issues… care to elaborate on that."

Giles walks over to a table on the far left wall and sits down, "For now, it is not a factor on your assignment. So what is the necessity for this call?"

There is silence on the other line for a few moments, "We might have a problem out here."

"What kind of problem?"

"We are located at a hotel here in Laguna Beach and to my understanding, there has been an influx of people from the town that have relocated here in the hotel."

"I still don't see the problem."

"Do you have a television were you are at?"

Giles spins chair to the wall to his right and turns on a television to CNN.

The newscaster is sitting at the desk with his hand to his ear, "Sorry for the delay… We have just got some information from the states. We now go live to field report Thomas Henry… Thomas…"

The reporter stands there for a moment because of the satellite delay, "Thank you, Anthony… We have just been informed by the Laguna Beach Police Department, that the 24th missing persons report was just turned in about three minutes ago. These missing person reports started about eight days ago. The police believe that this is the work of a serial killer. The people have been leaving the city in drones not knowing…"

Giles turns off the television and takes off his glasses, "It's starting."

"Ripper, what the hell is going on? What's starting?" Demitri asks with anger in his voice.

Giles now begins to clean his glasses, "It is not your job to worry about what going on around here, remember? Isn't that what you said?"

"Look here, boy… You will give me whatever information that is necessary to survive," Demitri said through gritted teeth, "And without this knowledge, your precious slayer may end up one of those missing people."

Giles quickly stands up and starts to crush his glasses in his hand, "If you as much as touch a strand of hair on her head, I'll…"

"Ripper, you know that is not how I operate. Once I am paid, I will not stop until the job is complete but remember your slayer is out of practice. And I can't be in two places at once."

Giles sits back down and opens his hand to find a broken pair of glasses stained with his blood. Giles sighs again, "I'll send a few slayers your way to help assist with the problem."

Giles hears a laugh on the other side of the phone, "Have you forgotten who you are talking too? Faith and I will handle whatever is here but you can do something for me…"

"And what could that be?"

"I want you to get a hold of one of your contacts that you had tailing Andrew and Jonathon and get them to find the radius of were the attacks are centered."

Giles is now letting the blood flow freely from his wound, "I will contact them and get that information to you in the next few hours."

"Nice doing business with you… Rupert. And by the way, how long have you known that Faith was in jail?"

"The whole time, why?"

"Nothing, just curious." And with that, Giles hears a click on the other line. Giles places the phone down and looks up to see Buffy coming around the corner from her hiding place.

Buffy, at first played innocent and then she looks at his hand to see it bleeding. She jogs over to where he was and tends to his hand.

Giles looks down at his 'daughter' and grins, "I guess I let my anger get the best of me, didn't I?"

Buffy looks up, "You look like you went all Ripper mode during that conversation…"

Giles grabs the bridge of his nose with his good hand, "How long were you eavesdropping on my discussion?"

"As soon as you answered the phone," Buffy said innocently.

Giles stands up and begins to pace, while blood is still seeping out of the wound. Buffy looks at Giles with concern, noticing he has not nurtured his cut hand.

"Giles should I get the first aid kit?"

Giles does not respond to her, so she leaves to get the kit. When she returns, Giles is still pacing like a madman. Buffy, with kit in hand, grabs Giles and sits him down.

"If you don't mind me asking why have you gone Uncle Scrooge?" Buffy asked.

Giles is knocked out of his daze, "I don't get your meaning."

"DuckTales… it was a cartoon… oh, never mind. What has got under your skin?"

Giles places his hand on his forehead, "Faith is not ready to take on a nest at this time, whether he is with her or not."

"Who is with Faith?"

Giles looks at Buffy, "His name Demitri and he is more than capable of taking care of himself."

"Then why are you worried? You could send a few of us to take care of the problem, no sweat?"

"He consider it disgraceful to send anyone to help him. He works better alone, like you think you can."

Buffy looks confused, "Then why send him to get Faith, why not send me, Wood, Xander or even Angel?"

Giles shakes his head, "Because with my experience with Demitri, he will make sure that Faith acts accordingly. And plus, he will trainer her better than I ever could."

"You seem to have a lot of respect for this man."

"It's more fear than respect…" Giles trailed off into a mumble, irritating Buffy.

"So what's the plan?" Buffy asked

Giles puts his glasses back on and looks at Buffy with confidence, "Demitri, as unpredictable his nature is, I believe he can handle whatever problems arise in Laguna Beach."

"And if he decides to go against the deal, he will learn not to mess with us slayers," Buffy says as she heads out of the door and before Giles is able to protest she exits his room.

'That went well…' Giles thought as he also walked out of his room.