Buffy the Vampire Slayer and related characters are owned by someone with much more money than me.

Buffy wrapped her hands around her coffee as though it was a lifeline. She'd had an emotional few days after getting back to Sunnydale, and still wasn't sleeping all that well. Staying up late talking to her friends after several months apart probably didn't help. She glanced at Xander with a bit of a grimace. Normally the twinkie-loving Scoobie would be staggering around this early in the morning, but today he was driving her over to Giles' house at eight in the morning without a complaint. Buffy thought it was quite unfair that Xander seemed more awake than she did, but it wasn't really worth arguing over.

"So, Xand-man, where did you get this car? I haven't seen this much Detroit steel in one place outside of a movie."

"My uncle Randy gave it to me. He owns a used car lot, and restores classics as a hobby. He can't sell this one as a classic 'cause he replaced the engine and installed airbags, but it's still a fine automobile, and just the right size to get doughnuts at the drive-through."

"He just GAVE it to you? Nice to have a generous uncle."

Xander rolled his shoulders uncomfortably "Well, he gave it to me on the condition that I pick him up from the drunk tank when he's there."

"He's in the drunk tank often enough that's it worth giving you a car?"

"I have to bail him out twice a week."

"…it's a very nice car. Spacious, with comfy seats."

"You think it's nice up front, you should see the back seat."

Buffy gave Xander the look she had perfected over the two-year course of their friendship. The look that said 'Excuse me? What did you just say?'

"Not that I'm trying to get you in the back seat. I mean, not that I don't want to, but…I mean…can we continue this conversation after I die of embarrassment please?"

"From what I understand of conversations, I think it would be a pretty boring one if you were dead."

"I'm going to sit here in silence and pretend I didn't say anything until I can prove that I didn't mean what you think I meant."

"Well, Xander, I'll respect your choices. But I'm not promising not to giggle at them."

Pulling into Giles' driveway, Xander got out of the car and opened the back door. Buffy smiled at him "I'm sure you have some very comfortable back seats, but is right in front of Giles' house the right place to demonstrate?"

Xander blushed again, and knelt down. He reached over and triggered a hidden latch, causing the back seats to spring up an inch. Looking Buffy square in the eye, he lifted the seat, revealing a weapons cache "Even Sunnydale cops will get suspicious of swords and crossbows in the trunk. Me, Willow and Oz modified the back seat to put a hidden storage space in here. Of course, the downside is the seats are somewhat…less comfortable." Xander wiggled his eyebrows with the last statement, causing Buffy to giggle. He closed the hatch, and the two teens walked over to the front door.

Once Giles let them inside, it was evident that they were the last to arrive. Xander put down the doughnuts on the small space left for them on the table, as the rest was taken up with paperwork and weapons. Stealing one of the jelly-filled, he sprawled on the couch. Giles looked at him with a disapproving stare, but the teenager had grown accustomed to it, and barely straightened up.

"Yes, well. G-Good morning Buffy. As we discussed yesterday, we have come up with a number of different ways to help you with your activities as the Slayer. I'm going to let Willow take the lead discussing them, as most of them involve technology in some way, shape or form, and you know my feelings about that."

"Yeah, almost like a vampire with crosses."

The dirty look that Giles gave Xander this time must have carried more force, as the younger man straightened up in his seat and cast his eyes down.

Willow stood up, and went over to the piles of paperwork first "Well, first, we have a Slayer fund. We've used it to buy some cell phones, some walkie-talkies, a few weapons, and body armor for when you have planned Slaying time. We have the paperwork to, um, put you on the account, but there are some conditions." Willow dropped her eyes from Buffy's momentarily, and then continued "Um, thanks to Cordelia's investment in the fund, and some of her insight into finance, we've managed to grow the fund to over half a million dollars, though some of that has been spent or invested in the safe house."

"W-wait just a moment. H-half a million? When we spoke in mid-August, it was scarcely half of that. How on earth did you manage to grow the fund so quickly?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes at this "Um, hello? Have you not been paying attention to the stock market? The Russian crash?" Everyone gave her blank looks, save for Willow, who had been assisting her. "One of the first things I said when we created this fund is you'll never go broke betting against the Ruble. So when the Russian markets dropped in August, we cleaned up."

Most of the room looked shocked at the brunette's financial insights, but Willow managed to get the conversation back on topic.

"Um, because Cordelia's investment is only until June when she graduates, we can't drop the fund below two hundred thousand. A-and Buffy? The condition that your mom, Giles and Cordy all agreed to was if you get signing powers on the account, you, um, aren't allowed to use it for clothing or shoes."

"WHAT? You're telling me that I have access to an account with hundreds of thousands of dollars in it, and I can buy even ONE pair of shoes? That's completely unfair! What if I have a shoe-related emergency? Or there's a fashion demon? There has to be a clause that accounts for that?"

Xander sighed and handed Cordelia a ten-dollar bill he dug out of his pocket.

"Told you she'd freak out over the shoes first."

"Yeah, yeah. You're the queen, you know best. Shut up." Xander said sulkily as Cordelia smiled victoriously.

Before Buffy could berate her friends for betting on her, Willow tried to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand "W-well there is a refreshment fund that goes towards getting drinks and stuff at the Bronze, and coffee, and doughnuts and things, oh, and if you need a late night snack after Slaying or-or"

Buffy cut her friend off "Wait, you mean I can't buy shoes, but I can go out clubbing? Color me confused."

Giles sighed, and started to polish his glasses before continuing "Buffy, as you know you're one of the longest-lived Slayers in history. Most Slayers die in action in the first eight months, with a year and a half being considered exceptional. You've been the Slayer for almost three years, two of those on an active Hellmouth. The Watcher's council has never done a study on the long-term psychological effects that fight evil on an almost daily basis has. Rather than have you burn out, we decided that if you were able to have some semblance of a normal life, including school, a-and listening to that infernal noise you call music at the Bronze, and what have you, you'll be more able to cope with your calling. So, yes, we have earmarked funds for leisure activities." Pausing, he gave Buffy a soft look. "We do care for you, after all."

Buffy felt tears start to form in her eyes from the care and consideration her friends were giving her.

"Yeah, and anyhow, we'd have to rob a bank to keep you in shoes."

Nope, moment's gone, thanks to Xander, who ended up on the receiving end of a roomful of dirty looks from the ladies, and an amused one from Oz. Giles had turned away to polish his glasses again, but Xander could tell he was trying not to laugh.

"Xander! Stop interrupting! Don't make me use my resolve face on you! I'm trying to explain everything to Buffy!"

Xander held up his hands in surrender, and Willow resumed "So, Cordy and I will walk you through the paperwork later. We've also come up with some new weapons for you, as well as body armor. T-the armor for you is upstairs in the guest bedroom, so you should try it on later, but first we've got new toys!" Willow seemed quite excited about the array of weaponry on the table, so Buffy wandered over.

"Um, Willow, are those guns? 'Cause bullets don't kill vampires."

"No, b-but Xander argued that shooting one in the head or the knee will slow them down, and give you time to finish them off, or give someone who's less good with the jumping and fighting stuff to finish one off. We've tried it a few times, a-and it works pretty good. We, um, haven't used the shotgun yet, because it's really noisy, a-and Giles said you can't take a gun out with you on patrol until Xander's checked that you know how to use it properly."

"Until XANDER's checked? When did Xander become Charlton Heston?"

"Last Hallowe'en and again over the summer. The soldier memories kind of stuck around, as you know, and they were reinforced by my stay at Pendleton this summer."

"I thought you went there for medical training?"

"Yeah, but that's the thing about the military. They don't let you so much as file paperwork unless you can hit a target three times out of five."

"Hey! Resolve face! Focus! O-ok, so we've got more gun-type things that you can use right away. Paintball guns with holy water and liquid garlic paintballs, they're ok, but more to slow down vampires, mechanical water guns with holy water, they're pretty good, but only for about thirty feet, and the batteries need charging every day after using them, we've got some wooden throwing knives, and gloves with silver crosses on them for that, um, extra oompf, I guess? Xander says that he has more guns and heavier stuff hidden away, but we don't have them here because they're kind of illegal."

"Ok, what's heavier stuff, and how illegal is kind of illegal?"

"Um, well, you know how you took out the Judge? That kind of heavier stuff. A-and so long as we don't get caught with it, does it really matter how illegal?"

"So, illegal enough that we don't want to get caught with it is what 'kind of illegal' means."

"Yeah, pretty much. Oh, and Buffy, we have your emergency backup kit as well!"

"My emergency backup kit? What's that Wills?"

Willow pulls out a can of mace, a suspiciously familiar purse, and a ring.

"This is! T-the mace is holy water, and there's a cross on it so you remember, the purse has a stake hidden in the bottom that you can pull out like this, and the ring has crosses on it, like the gloves."

"Is that one of my purses? Did you cut up one of my purses? Why did you cut up one of my purses?" Buffy wailed.

"I-it was Xander's idea!"

"Willow helped!"

"Your mom gave us the purse!"

"We're sorry!"

"Ahem." Giles cleared his throat. "Yes, Buffy, they did mildly mangle one of your many purses, at my request, in the hopes that you'll never be unarmed or endangered due to lack of weaponry. The damage is unnoticeable, at least according to Miss Chase, who verified the purse after the modifications were done and said is passed muster."

"Actually I said that for a Ferragamo knock-off, it looks almost decent, but sure, whatever."

Buffy favored Cordelia with a dirty look before giving the shaking Willow a hug. "Thanks Wills, I do appreciate it. I'm sorry I was all shouty."

"I-it's ok. Oh, and we got you a cell phone! It's got all our numbers programmed in, so you can call us, and we also have walkie-talkies with earpieces for when you patrol! Aren't they neat?"

Buffy examined the earpieces. They were attached to the radios by a wire, and looked lightweight enough not to bother her when fighting. She nodded, deciding it was worth trying.

"This all looks pretty good. You guys have put a lot of work into thinking about this, thanks."

"W-well, we wanted to keep you safe, even though it's your job to keep us safe, so we're kind of keeping each other safe at the same time? I guess. Anyhow, you should try on the body armor."

"I dunno Wills, I'm not really an armor kind of girl. I prefer designer label and all that."

"Well, Bufster, you should at least give this armor a try. It's lightly padded, to make those impacts with trees and gravestones less painful, as well as reducing punching impact, it has plastic chainmail mesh wedged between layers to protect from stabby things and claws, it has high-impact plastic plates to cover the vital areas of the body, and it should be flexible enough for you to turn cartwheels and do high kicks in. Most importantly is the neck guard, to prevent unfriendly biting. Your suit only weighs eight pounds, and is small enough to fit under jeans and a jacket, if they're a size or so too big."

"Well, I do hate getting stabbed, and getting thrown into trees is not as much fun as you'd think. I'll give it a shot."

"I-I should probably help you get into it, at least the first time. It's kind of tricky."

"You've got armor, Wills?"

The redhead blushed "no, but, um, I've helped Oz…"

Buffy didn't understand why everyone else was trying not to laugh or looking away. She grabbed her best friend and dragged her upstairs to save her from her near-terminal blush. When she saw the armor, she understood.

"That's not going to fit over clothing. Willow, does that fit over any clothing? At all? Did Xander choose this armor?"

"There's, um, there's a bodysuit to put on first, because the armor is hard to wash. And Xander did choose it, but it really is good armor, I checked! He's not being perverted! Well, no more than usual, I guess. And-and he and Oz wear the same stuff. And, I'm going to stop talking now."

Buffy came back down the stairs about fifteen minutes later, feeling somewhat strange in the armor, but realizing that Xander's promises about it being light and flexible were true. Before heading down the stairs, she had tried doing a vertical split kick, and found her mobility was only slightly impaired. Buffy figured she try it out on patrol, see how it worked before casting judgment.

In the living room, Xander was talking to Cordelia, while eating another of the jelly doughnuts, Giles was reading, and Oz had produced his bass from somewhere and was strumming quietly. Buffy cleared her throat as she walked back into the room, drawing all eyes to her. Cordelia smirked at her, seeing Buffy in a very unfashionable outfit was amusing to the brunette, Oz raised an eyebrow without missing a note, Giles took off his glasses, and Xander's eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets. The bodysuit was skintight, to prevent chafing and keep the armor in the right place, and Buffy had to admit she felt kind of exposed wearing it. She knew that she wouldn't be able to bring herself to wear this outside without camouflage over top, but some of her older jeans would probably fit, along with a turtleneck to cover the throat armor.

"Xander, pull your eyes back in their sockets. No staring!"

Xander closed and covered his eyes, forgetting he was still holding a doughnut, and ended up with jelly on his face. After sharing a laugh, Buffy turned to Willow.

"Ok smart girl, what's next?"

"Well, we've got a patrol rotation so you get one night off in three, we've got paperwork for you to sign, you can go out patrolling tonight, and tomorrow school starts up again!"

At that last statement, Buffy let out a groan.

AN: The Russian Stock market actually did take a dive on August 17th of 1998 when the government defaulted. Also, I have no idea if Ferragamo is a good brand, but it sounds like one, and came up in a Google search. Please feel free to provide feedback, both good and bad, on the story. Flames will be laughed at and criticized for spelling and grammar.