Still enjoying this and damn, I still don't own these characters...

Two things struck McGee when he entered Sunnydale for the first time. The first was the extraordinary number of cemeteries around – far more than should be usual for a place this size. The second thing was the faint chill that came over him, like someone walking over his grave. He wasn't sure what it was or why he felt it, but it was there and he didn't like it very much.

According to the information he'd gotten off Graham the best place to go was the library on campus. And the campus itself set off a number of faint, indefinable, alarm bells. For one thing a number of the male students looked awfully like they belonged to Fort Bragg. And then there was the blonde girl who moved in a very similar way to Faith. He caught sight of her from a distance and damn she was good looking. And menacing in a way that he couldn't put his finger on.

Once he got to the library he had to admit that he was impressed – it was a great one. A lot of books, a well-labeled floor guide, good computer facilities… his sister Sarah would have been impressed. Ok, well, actually she would have looked around with a dreamy smile and then disappeared inside it for a week, but you got the picture.

"I'm looking for Xander Harris," he said when one of the security guards asked to see his student pass. The guard gave him directions to an office deeper inside the building and then turned his attention back to the students, whom he seemed to suspect of book smuggling, or something equally heinous.

When he reached the office he found a tall man whose brown hairs was starting to go a little grey at the temples and who seemed to be extremely English. At least that's what it said on his coffee mug. He was reading a large book of Mayan script and judging by the muttering he was not enjoying himself. "Bloody Mayans and their bloody archaic rituals… I could have condensed this into a quarter of the time and we'd at least have a salad at the end of it…" Sensing McGee he looked up. "Oh. Excuse me. Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Xander Harris. My Name's Timothy McGee."

The Englishman stared at him for a moment and then smiled. "Ah. Yes, I did hear about the help that you rendered to Faith and Wesley. Just before the arrival of Oz. Well, Xander's sadly not here just at this moment, but I don't think that he'll be too long. He had to make a phone call to a friend of his in the US Air Force. Something about a repulsorlift problem or something."

Big flashing lights lit off in part of McGee's head, but he repressed a comment other than: "Ah. I see."

Another stare, followed by a slow smile as he stood up. "Let me introduce myself; I'm Rupert Giles, the head librarian here. Amongst other things."

Tempted as he was to ask what kind of other things McGee repressed it and simply shook hands with Giles. "Pleased to meet you Mr Giles."

"Likewise Mr McGee. Now, as to where Xander is, I think that-"

"Good morning," said a new voice and they both jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of someone new. And he had almost literally appeared out of nowhere.

"Damn it Xander, please stop doing that," Giles grumbled. "Knocks years off my life every time you do it."

"Constant vigilance, Giles, constant vigilance." The newcomer was a tallish young man – hell he was younger than McGee! – with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in light brown clothes, with black boots, but it was his eyes that intrigued McGee. They were almost far too old to belong to a man his age. Gibbs had eyes very like his. They were the eyes of someone who had both been there and seen it. Repeatedly. "You must be Tim McGee."

"I am," McGee replied quietly, shaking hands with Harris quickly. "Um… Can we talk someplace private?"

"You can talk in front of Giles." Harris shot the older man an affectionate look. "He's suffered greatly in the defence of us all, including lots of my bad puns." His expression sobered. "And he knows what goes bump in the night on the Hellmouth. And all about who fights the darkness here."

"Then he knows that you're…" McGee found himself suddenly unwilling to say the word 'Jedi'.

"A Jedi, yes." Giles smiled and then took off his glasses in order to polish them. "Mr McGee, I was the first person that Xander came to when he first realised that he could access the Force."

Harris turned, looked out of the office windows and then, as the hairs on the back of McGee's neck tried to rip themselves off, he waved a hand at the door – which closed smoothly and without any assistance from any external stimulus.

"You wanted to talk to me," Harris stated. "I think I know why. The Force is strong in you. I can feel it."

McGee opened his mouth, closed it again and then sighed. "Your friend Oz said that I can be a Jedi. The thought of it... both scares and intrigues me. And I want to do what's right."

Harris exchanged glances with Giles, as they seemed to have some kind of eyebrow shorthand going. "You want to do what's right," Harris said eventually. "Which is a good sign. We've trained other Jedi before, from worse starts. But – they were aware of how hard it would be. Are you?"

A thousand thoughts flashed through McGee's head as he tried to image what it would be like. Finally he settled on total honesty. "I think it'll be harder than anything I can imagine."

Harris grinned cheerfully at him. "Got it in one. Right then. Let's see when you can start. And then we'll get Oz in."

Graham looked up when he heard the doorbell and then looked at his watch and frowned. A bit early for the pizza? He walked over to the door and carefully peeked through the peephole. Then he grinned and opened the door. "You're uglier than the pizza girl who delivers to this area!"

"H ha," his cousin replied and then walked in holding a pizza and a six pack of beer. "Although your right – I met her on the stairs and she's very cute indeed. I saw your name, exercised my frightening detective skills and then paid her for the pizza. I hope it's your usual?"

"It is indeed, and thanks for the beer too!" Graham grinned and then glanced at Tim. He looked… different. Pleased. A bit stunned. Definitely tired. Oh and visibly hungry. "How did it go?"

Tim put the pizza down on the table, pulled out a beer, twisted the cap off and then chugged quite a lot of it. "I'm going to be a Jedi," he said in a hoarse and disbelieving tone of voice. "So I'm a bit freaked out."

"Hey!" Graham grinned, getting out a beer himself. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks. I think. I've got a lot of work to do."

"Starting when?"

"Tomorrow morning. I was hoping to crash on your couch."

"Take the spare room. Now sit. Eat pizza. Drink beer. And tell me what happened!"