The Slayer blinked and focused on her mother's concerned face. "Mom, why are you upside down over me?"

"Buffy, Ma– Ms. Hollis is on the phone. She needs to talk to you."

"Why so seri– Oh, yeah, you guys are friends." Buffy rolled out of bed. "On my way."

Joyce waited at the foot of the stairs, phone in hand. The Slayer rubbed at the corner of one eye as she took it from her mother. "Hello? Ms. Hollis?"

"Buffy, how quick can you be at school?"

"What? How– You mean 'at school' at school, or–"

"At school, period."

The Slayer looked around, confused. "Uh, maybe… twenty-five minutes?"

"Then get here. The library. " There was a 'click' and the burr of the dial tone.

In a daze, Buffy handed the phone to her mother. "I gotta get to school right now… but that wasn't Giles. I'm… I'm so confused."

Joyce hung up the phone. "You get ready. I'll get you something to eat, and I'll go with you."

"What?" Buffy paused halfway up the stairs and looked down at her mom.

"I'll go in with you. I don't think Ms. Hollis and I are exactly friends, but I recognize that tone in her voice. I've felt it enough. Whatever this is, I'm not letting you go into that building alone."

Buffy blinked, open-mouthed. "O- Okay, uh, let me just grab a shower and brush my teeth."

Buffy was still rubbing sleep from her eyes when the Jeep pulled to a stop in the SHS parking lot. Her hair was up in a messy off-center topknot, and she'd grabbed the first things her hands fell on in her closet, which was why she got out of the vehicle wearing a fuschia t-shirt over olive cropped pants. She refrained from sprinting to the school, but just barely. She crossed the sidewalk and wondered if the door was unlocked, but then she saw someone standing inside… Cordelia. A cold chill sliced at the Slayer's heart. Cordelia opened the door and Buffy rushed past her, but not before she noted the sickened look on the cheerleader's face.

She covered the distance to the library door in a bewildered daze. Something was terribly wrong, obviously, but what? She pushed through the library and came to a sudden dead halt. Rupert Giles sat at the end of the table, his head buried in his hands. His glasses lay on the table and his face was invisible, covered by his hands. His shoulders shook, and the Slayer could hear soft, whispering sounds that she suddenly realized were stifled sobs. The room reeked of hopelessness. Buffy turned toward the office as Matti Hollis came out. The gym teacher stopped and looked at the Slayer, and Buffy flinched away from what was in those eyes. The room was frozen for a heartbeat, suspended between the anguish of what was and the dread of what might be, then Joyce entered, with Cordelia close on her heels. Buffy looked at her mother, but it was the way Cordelia looked, like her world had been picked up and shaken, that drove the Slayer to move again toward the office.

Matti stepped in front of her and held up a hand. "It's bad in there."

"Buffy." Joyce stepped up and laid a hand on her daughter's arm. "Maybe you shouldn't…"

The Slayer looked back and forth between the two women. "I stabbed Angel through the heart and sent him to hell. I watched Lindsay die, and I held Faith back while they did it. I held her with these two hands. I killed one of my best friends from Hemery when he turned into a vampire. I mean, I died. I think… I think everybody should stop acting like I'll break when I see terrible things." She glanced over her shoulder at Giles. "Walk me through it," she said to Matti.

"Okay." The Knight put a hand on Buffy's shoulder and guided her to the office.

A wax figure was propped in the visitor's chair beside Giles's desk. Buffy blinked and looked again, then realized that it was actually the corpse of Gerard Roland. The waxy pallor was the result of all of his blood draining out of the jagged black slash that ran across his throat. The edges of the cut had withdrawn as his body cooled; his head had been balanced in an upright position, but the gaping wound caused it to sit at an angle that was just wrong. His ankles were crossed, his hands were folded in his lap, and his face…

Buffy gagged. The corpse stared at her, a pop-eyed gaze that would never end, because eyes can't be closed without eyelids. A piece of paper was pinned to Gerard's shirt, and on it was written 'Mon Cher Ami'. "That means…"

"'My dear friend." Matti clucked her tongue.

The room suddenly felt hot and close; the air pressed against the Slayer's skin with a prickling weight. She turned and stumbled as her shoulder struck the door jamb. She caught herself on the edge of the counter. Her mother sat at the table at a right angle to Giles; Cordelia stood just inside the door, frozen to the spot. Buffy turned and looked up at Matti towering above her. She grabbed the teacher by the arm and pulled her toward the door, pausing to hold up an index finger to her mom. Joyce nodded.

Buffy released the teacher's arm. "We have to get him out of here."

"It's just like Ms. Calendar."

Buffy looked over her shoulder. "Cordelia, do you mind?"

"What? You want me to stay in there? No way! It's hella sad." Cordelia shook her head.

"Cordelia, just go back into the library and… give my mom moral support, okay?"

The cheerleader's eyes narrowed. "Okay… but you better not take too long."

Buffy gaped at her, then nodded. "I'm aware that we're under a time crunch."

Cordelia huffed and scowled, but she turned and went through the door. Matti watched her go, then turned to the Slayer. "What did she mean about Ms. Calendar?"

"It's a whole thing, and I really can't explain it all right now, but last year, Giles was dating Ms. Calendar, and Angel killed her and left her body in Giles's bed for him to find."

"Shiiiiiit." The word was barely more than a breath. Matti looked down at the Slayer. "I was just thinking about Maeda and the Council… You're right, we've gotta get him away from here. Uh-"

Footsteps echoed in the empty hall. The Knight and the Slayer looked up to see Stefan Warner approaching. "Hey, what's happening? You sounded weird on the phone."

"You have no idea," Matti said. "I'll catch you up in a minute, but we found Gerard and it's bad. C'mon." She led the trio back into the library, then slipped into a chair next to the stricken librarian. "Rupert, we've got to get you home, do you understand?"

Giles's head came up and the look in his eyes was worse than anything Buffy had seen in his office. "I… um, I…"

"I'll get him home," Joyce said to Matti, then placed a hand on his arm. "Mr. Giles, you should come with me."

The librarian turned his blank stare at her. "Mrs. Summers, you… at school… of course… I need my coat from the office."

"Here." Stefan put the garment in question on the table; the set of his jaw declared plainly that he had seen the horror in the other room.

"Thank… thank you." Giles stood up and shrugged on his coat.

"Here, let's take my car." Joyce Summers guided him toward the door with a gentle hand on his shoulder. She looked back at Matti, who mouthed 'Thank you', then pointed to herself and tapped her left wrist. Joyce nodded and helped the stricken Watcher down the hall. The group in the library watched them turn left, then Matti took charge.

"Okay, we've got about forty-five minutes until school starts, which means less than fifteen until teachers are in this hall. We've got to get this body out of here."

"On it," Stefan said. "Five minutes." He left the room at a rapid walk.

"Shouldn't we call the cops?" Cordelia asked.

Matti bit her lip and shook her head. "I don't think I want the Sunnydale PD anywhere near Giles's office and what he's got in there."

"Did Giles call you?" Buffy asked.

"No, I got here at my usual time, I just came to the library to see if he knew anything else. He was sitting on the floor behind the counter when I came in."

"Wow, it was just dumb luck that you showed up. What?" Cordelia looked offended. "I didn't say it was good luck. Judgemental, much?"

Buffy rubbed her forehead. "Do you think that's what Trick wanted? The police to get in our business?"

Mattie shrugged. "It'd be a nice bonus for him."

"Here." Stefan came in, a tarp under one arm and a yellow nylon rope looped around the other. "Janitor's closets are the gift that keeps on giving. Here-" he dropped his burdens "-get him wrapped up, I'll bring my car around to…" He looked around. "Isn't there an exit behind the library?"

"Yeah, the hall wraps around. You come out by the dumpsters." The Slayer waved a hand to indicate the proper route.

"Okay, the dumpsters are a convenient bit of cover. I'll pull around and come back in here if someone will open the door."

"That'd be me." Cordelia raised her hand and rushed toward the exit. Stefan nodded, then followed her.

"You cool with this?" Matti asked.

"Do I have a choice?" Buffy picked up the tarp and began to spread it out. As she did so, Matti went into the office and dragged out the body. It took a little wrangling, but they got the corpse positioned on the ground cloth; Gerard was so tall they had to put him on the diagonal.

The Knight stood up and stretched. "I hate to sound like Cordelia, but we are a little lucky… we don't have any blood to clean up."

"The morbid factor on that was off the charts," the Slayer said.

Matti flipped the tarp over the corpse, bringing the corners together and folding them tightly, then, with the Slayer's assistanc

"Doesn't seem like it's your first rodeo," Buffy said.

Matti shook her head. "It's not. I've seen terrible sh– stuff, too."

"Okay, let's move quick." Stefan pointed at the door. "Buffy, would you hold that?"

"Aye, aye," she said. The Knights picked up the blue-nylon-encased burden and carried it out of the library. Buffy let the door swing shut and stood in the awful, sudden silence, which was shortly broken by Cordelia's return.

"Oh, gross." The brunette paced to the table and back again. "I'm going to wash my hands for, like, the rest of the morning." She headed for the door, which barely stopped swinging before Matti entered.

"Okay, Stef will dispose of the body… we better get ready for the day. I'll call your mom and… are you going home?"

"Guess not," Buffy said. "No ride and it's getting close to the bell." She looked down at her 'outfit'. "I guess this is it for the day. It's just like that dream I had in middle school." She touched her hair. "I'll make sure everybody else is up-to-date, but I'll probably skip some of the details."

"Oh, Buffy, how adorable. Are you trying to tell everyone that the Clash is your favorite band?" Harmony simpered as her posse snickered.

A weary sigh issued from the Slayer. "I do like the Clash, Harmony."

Harmony's face clenched into a scowl that was going to become permanent sometime in her late twenties. "Well… that's good, because you really… your outfit goes with your hair. They're both a mess"

Buffy nodded, tired and exasperated beyond the telling. "Whatever." A smug, nasty smile crept over Harmony's features.

"Buffyyyyyyyy." Cordelia came around the Harmonaires and stopped in front of the Slayer. "Love the outfit. Have you read next month's European Vogue? They're calling this look 'Intentional Discord'... it's all over Paris this season."

"I, uh, I didn't know that," Buffy stammered.

"Well, look at you, ahead of the curve." The cheerleader turned back to her nemesis. "Were you asking for tips, Harm? Because you could probably use them."

Harmony sputtered, then finally blurted out "Loser!" and led her acolytes away. Buffy and Cordelia watched them leave.

"Uh, thanks," Buffy said. "Did you really read that in European Vogue?"

"What? No, do you think Hollis subscribes to Vogue? Guns & Ammo maybe, Women's Fitness, definitely, but the closest she comes to a fashion publication is the Title Nine catalog."

"Well, thanks anyway."

Cordelia tossed her head. "Harmony wants me, she better come at me. She doesn't get to take shots at you. That's like fighting a toddler."

Buffy nodded, her topknot swaying. "And the gratitude is draining away."

"Okay, gang's all here," Xander said, settling into the sofa with a can of soda in hand. "What's with the get-up, Buff? Power outage at the Summers house, no light in the closet?"

Buffy nodded. "That really hurt. Harmony making fun of my clothes, that's expected, but you…" Her lip curled as she made a head-to-toe hand gesture that took in Xander's olive-and-old-gold plaid pants and black shirt with tiny gold fleurs-de-lis.

"Cheap shot," Xander groused.

"So, what's the news?" Willow said.

The Slayer sighed, eyes closed. "Giles came into the library this morning and found Gerard dead."

Silence reigned for a moment, then WIllow said, "From a heart attack?"

Buffy looked at her best friend. "No, Will, not from a heart attack."

Oz rested one foot on the table. "Was violence involved?"

"Major 'oh, yeah'," Buffy said.

"So, someone murdered his friend in Giles's office?" Xander leaned forward, his soda forgotten.

The Slayer shook her head. "They murdered him somewhere else, then brought him to the office. 'They' by the way is probably Trick… the body was drained and it was… posed in a chair."

Xander went pale, Willow gulped, and Oz grew even more still. Finally, Willow said, "Poor Giles. He's not… I mean, he…"

"No. Ms. Hollis came in early and found him, she called me, my mom took Giles home, dominoes are falling."

Willow chewed her lip. "We better tell Cordelia."

Buffy looked down at the tabletop. "Cordy knows. She was there."

"Oh." Willow's voice was small. "So, what do we do?"

Buffy pressed her fingers to her temples. "We go to third hour, then fourth hour, then we meet up at lunch. We'll see how everybody's processing then, okay?" The Slayerettes mumbled variations on 'okay' and the meeting broke up.

Matti saw Stefan at the top of the bleacher steps. She bounced the basketball in her hands and raised an eyebrow. He gave a small, tight nod and left the gym. Matti exhaled and lofted a shot from just beyond the three-point line. It rattled around the rim and bounced out.

"I'm just kind of numb," Willow said, picking at her food with her fork.

"I know," Buffy said. "I just… I can't get the way Giles looked out of my head."

"Was it like when he found Ms. Calendar? Sorry." Willow winced at her own gaffe.

Buffy struggled for words. "It was… it was almost worse. He looked so… empty, like this was added to that… and to Lindsay-"

"And the Watchers blowing up," Xander said.

"Yeah, thanks for that." The Slayer's brow furrowed. "Your appetite seems fine."

Xander looked up, still chewing. "What, me starving will keep evil at bay? I don't think so."

"I agree." Cordelia slipped into the empty seat at the table. "I mean, all I heard was you not being able to keep evil at bay, but I definitely agree with that."

Xander dropped his fork. "Oh, so now that it's stopped being polite and started getting real, you want back at the Slayer's table?"

"Please." Cordelia sprinkled a small amount of salt on her palm, used the fingers of her other hand to distribute a miniscule amount over her food, then brushed her hands together. "Look, we've got… that guy from the university, then the Reverend, who I know is not technically a person, but still, then Snyder, now Gerard, that's like, like-"

"Dominoes falling," Willow offered.

"Exactly, like dominoes of doom falling… or a Jenga tower of death about to collapse. Whatever, we're running out of players, which means that Buffy needs someone she can depend on. No offense," Cordelia said, gesturing at Willow and Oz.

"I swear to God," Xander muttered under his breath, "it's almost like we're dating again… emotional abuse and no physical contact."

"What's that?" Cordelia asked, eyebrows arched and eyes wide.

"Nothing," Xander said, offering a wide, fake smile. "Good to have you back on team Buffy."

"So," Cordelia said, leaning toward Buffy, "what did he do with the body?"

"The body?" Willow's voice squeaked.

"I don't suppose we're talking about a rollicking game of 3D Clue." Xander laughed at his own joke.

"Are you damaged?" Cordelia asked. "You don't do anything with the body in Clue. It's always right there in the middle of the board."

"The cellar stairs." Oz looked around the table. "The center space is the cellar stairs."

"Whatever. We're getting distracted." Cordelia turned to Buffy again, eyes wide in expectation. "What did he do with the body?"

"What did who do with the what?" Willow's voice went into a realm only dogs could discern.

"Ms. Hollis didn't think it would be a good thing for the Sunnydale PD to find a body in Giles's office and go rummaging around, so… Mr. Warner took the body… somewhere."

"Won't we get in… trouble?" Willow coughed and grabbed her glass for a sip.

"Has anyone noticed Giles isn't here today?" Oz asked.

"Please," Cordelia said. "This place is so up its own butt, they still haven't figured out how to explain why Snyder's missing."

"Cordelia's right," Buffy said. "All the confusion actually helps us."

"Cordelia's right. My God, the world is ending," Xander said.

"Excuse me?" the brunette said. "Did you think it was okay for you to criticize me now?" She tried for an icy glare, but Buffy thought she detected a hint, a speck, a shard of humor.

"Guys, as much as this takes me back, we have to deal with the sitch at hand." Buffy looked around the table. "Library after school?"

Matti Hollis looked through the window of the library door. The hallway was empty. "Okay," she said, looking around the table at the five students, "I don't want to be in here long, so I'll keep this short. Mr. Giles has been at home all day, Buffy's mom is still there. She said he's doing… better, so… yay. Buffy, you good with patrolling tonight, maybe checking with Angel?"

The Slayer gave a quick, firm nod. "Can do."

"I can go with," Xander said. "The patrol part, maybe not so much the Angel part. We still sort of… hate each other."

"That's your business. Willow, can you keep researching? Even if you can't be here?"

Willow nodded, her hair bouncing. "Oh, yeah, I have a better computer than this at home… I just like hanging out here." Her expression grew grave. "I might do a little more, if that's okay?"

Matti leaned forward, forearms on the table. "Are you talking about your little… whatever they are?"

"Yeah, I'll see if Tyler's busy. If he's not, we'll just check in and see if anything's changed. Is, Is that all right?"

"Sure. Just don't tell Giles I gave you the thumbs-up. Oz?"

"I've got rehearsal, but I'll try to make sure no one gets killed."

Matti chuckled. "Okay. Let's call that maintaining cover. Cordelia…"

Who looked up from filing her nails. "Oh, I thought I'd just stay home."

Matti drew in her breath with a hiss and shook her head. "No, not tonight. Stef and I have to take care of some stuff, and you really shouldn't be there. Why don't you…" She looked around the table again "...why don't you patrol with Xander and Buffy?"

"What?" Cordelia dropped her emery board with a clatter. "Are you looking to create another corpse?"

"Is that a threat?" Xander said, leaning forward over the table.

"Take it any way you want," Cordelia said.

"Well, then," Matti said, "you'll keep each other on your toes. Let's scoot."

"Thanks for meeting me," Willow said as she sat down at the table. She had picked the bookstore coffee shop as their meeting place, and Tyler had shown up wearing a Canadian tuxedo. He even wore a plaid shirt under the denim jacket.

"Ah, dinner ain't until six, so it's not a big deal. Okay, what do we wanna do?"

"Same as always, but just count to one hundred." Willow slid both hands across the table. Tyler glanced toward the counter, but a different barista was manning the pumps tonight. He took Willow's hands. She took a deep breath and looked at the chrome napkin holder.

The buzzing tingle started in his hands. It began almost subliminally, then increased until it was actually kind of pleasant, but it continued to increase in strength until a weird, tickling sensation edged with discomfort, almost like a pinched nerve or lost circulation, coursed through them. He gritted his teeth and tried to flex his hands without losing contact. …ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred. He relaxed his hands and withdrew them slowly. Willow gasped and jerked like someone just falling asleep. The redhead blinked and shook her head.

Tyler shook his hands and rubbed his thumbs across his fingers. "What are you doing?"

"Remember the monsters and the vampires and… all that?" Willow's lips pursed and her eyebrows rose. "Well, we're looking for something from… that world, and it's easier to keep tabs on it from the Never Never, but it's gotten closer, so…"

"Well, is it bad?"

Willow shook her head. "No, but since it's closer, it's just…. more."

"So, you think there's, like, more current runnin' through the line?"

"Yeah," Willow said. "That's pretty good. Can I buy you a coffee?'

Tyler shook his head. "I don't drink the stuff… but I'll take a cocoa."

"So, are you guys all right?" Buffy eased forward, a stake in each hand.

"Yeah, fine." Xander's voice was unusually high. His rigid arms held a large gilt crucifix in front of him. His posture was explained by the three vampires in the alley behind the Bison Lodge on Oak Park. The demons fanned out in a dangerous-looking triangle.

Buffy kept her eyes on the trio. "Cordelia?"

"Do you have anything I can use, like, a spear or something?" The brunette tightened the belt of her fawn-colored car coat.

Buffy risked a quick glance over her shoulder. "No spear, but see what's in the bag." The cheerleader rummaged through the slaying bag and pulled out a collapsible steel baton. Her eyes lit up.

"Neat," she said and flicked it. The truncheon snapped into place. She whipped it through the air in a figure-eight as Xander eyed her nervously and moved a step to his right.

Buffy decided that action was better than reaction and charged the vampires. She went straight at the one in the middle. He reached out to seize her, but she dropped into a slide that would have made the Sunnydale softball coach proud and passed under his grasp. She struck out with her left hand as she passed by and hooked his ankle. He was already off-balance from his lunge toward her and fell flat on his face. The Slayer popped up, wheeled around, jammed a foot into his back between the shoulder blades, smashing him back to the ground, and used him like a trampoline to leap between the other two vamps, who had hesitated. Simultaneous backhand stabs and they were dust.

Unfortunately, their leader was made of sterner stuff. Buffy heard the scrape of his shoe on the concrete floor of the alley and ducked aside. He let his momentum carry him past, giving him some maneuvering room before he turned to face her. Buffy feinted with her right hand and stabbed with her left, but he was clever. He moved slightly to let the strike go by, then looped his right arm over her left, immobilizing that side. Before she could bring her right hand around, he trapped that one with his left arm. She was immobilized, face to face with him, but he was taller, and could reach her with his fangs.

"I'll be famous," his voice rasped, "the one who killed the Slayer." He tightened his arms and jerked upward. Buffy gasped in pain as she was levered onto her tiptoes; her shoulders and elbows screamed. His lips peeled back from his jagged teeth, his head tilted forward, and a solid thunk echoed in the night air. "Owww! What?" He turned his head just in time to catch another swing of the steel baton. He grunted, although he didn't seem terribly hurt, but Cordelia's next strike, powered by the full weight of her body, caught him over the eye. "Hey, quit that," he snarled, his grip on the Slayer loosening as he staggered.

"You quit it, you ugly dental nightmare," Cordelia snapped, hitting him across the upper arm.

"That's it." The vampire shoved Buffy away. She stumbled back and landed on her ass. "I'm going to teach you what real pain's about."

Cordelia stepped back. "You're going to teach me about pain?" Her breath came fast and her eyes glittered. "Buster, you have no idea what I've gone through." She jerked her head. "I used to date that guy."

"Hey," Xander protested.

"You little bitch," the vampire growled… and burst into ash. As the haze cleared, Buffy flipped her stake in the air and caught it.

"Buffy!" Cordelia stamped her foot. "You staked him."

The Slayer was confused. "Yeah, that's my thing."

Cordelia held out her empty hand. "He got to call me a bitch, then you staked him. That's so unfair. It's like he ended up with the upper hand. I didn't get a comeback or anything."

Buffy looked puzzled, then said, "You can hit Xander if it makes you feel better."

"Wait? What?" He pivoted back and forth between them, the crucifix still held out before him.

Cordelia looked at him for a while, then turned back to Buffy. "It wouldn't be the same." It took her two tries to collapse the baton against her thigh, then she tossed it in the slaying bag. She pointed at Buffy's leg. "Too bad about your pants."

"What?" The Slayer looked down. There was a rip in the knee of her pink jeans; blood oozed through the tear from her abraded knee. "Ah, crap, I really liked these pants. Stupid concrete. Stupid vampires."

"That's what you get for being all show-offy with the Matrix moves," Xander said, finally lowering the cross. Both young women glared at him. "What? How did I become the bad guy?" He hurried after his departing friends. "I haven't tried to kill either one of you tonight."

Matti looked across the table at Stefan, then took a deep breath and punched the buttons on the phone. She heard six rings, then a mechanically distorted voice said "Identify."

"This is Sierra Delta Hotel Oscar one point zero zero four nine." She looked at the white legal pad in front of her.

The line hummed, then a clear feminine voice said, "Authenticated. It's about time."

"Yeah," Matti said. "It's time for a sit-rep and a course of action collaboration."

"All right. Proceed."

Matti tightened her grip on the phone and picked up a pen. "Here is the present situation…"

"I'm glad Ms. Hollis let you drive her car," Buffy said. "Easier than walking to CRD, especially with this knee." Buffy fussed with the torn edges of her jeans. "Hey, you really wailed on that guy back there."

"I did, didn't I?" Cordelia's eyes shone in the dashboard lights.

The Slayer leaned back in the 4Runner's passenger seat. "It was kind of like we were back in the woods."

"Oh, please, not even close. All I do now is homework and work out in that basement. When he grabbed you, it was, like, this is why I spend all that time down there, and then I got so mad, and then, it was, like, … then… it just… flowed."

"Well, I really app–"

"It was, like, everything bad that's happened to me this year, it was all right there in him." Cordelia kept her left hand on the wheel, and gestured with her right. "I mean, all of it, right there in one bad guy, one thing I could hit, and it was so, so–"

"Cathartic?" Xander offered from the back seat.

Cordelia looked sharply at him in the rearview mirror, then her face softened. "Yeah, that."

"I know what you mean," Buffy said. "A little of the old ultraviolence can flush out a lot of junk outta your system."

"Yeah," Cordelia said slowly. "I feel you."

"Apparently, that third van was the charm," Buffy said, limping among the trees.

Angel shook his head. "How's Giles?"

"When I last saw him? Comatose would be an improvement." She looked out over the CRD compound. "Any news that's new?"

"A couple of things might be coming together." He stood beside her; he could feel the warmth of her body, while she was aware of the absence of his. "I kinda assumed that the Seal was at City Hall, but I'm pretty sure of it now."

"Because Trick goes to the Mayor, not the Mayor to Trick?" Buffy was tight-lipped.

"That's the first thing, but a while ago I was at Willy's, and he told me that somebody was hiring all kinds of supernatural thugs. As he put it, 'muscle, not brains'." Angel nodded across the open space. "You see anything like that out here?"

"I do not."

"So… where are they? Then I thought, if you wanted to guard the Seal, wouldn't it make sense to do it with cannon fodder, with people you have no real ties to and can afford to lose? Just use numbers and pack 'em around City Hall. It's a small perimeter, limited access, I mean, that's a plan, isn't it?"

The Slayer made a face and shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

Angel nodded as though her agreement validated his reasoning. "I, uh, there's not much happening out here, there's no imminent attack… I think I'm going to try pulling at some other threads, see if I can't learn anything.

"I like your coat."

"What?" Cordelia looked in the mirror. Xander leaned against the door, his legs stretched out in the back seat.

"I like that coat. I remember you wore it last year." He looked down at his hands.

"Yeah, I did." She fingered her lapel and spoke softly, as if to herself. "Might be the first coat I've worn two years in a row."

"You look nice in it." Xander swung his feet to the floor. "Were you serious? I mean, all you do is work out in the basement?"

The imperious Cordelia resurfaced. "Yeah, it is. What else am I supposed to do? Who do I hang with?"

"I don't think any of her crew really likes Harmony."

"Even if I wanted to, what… happened… burned that bridge." Cordelia shook her head. "You have no idea how vicious they can be."

"Oh, I've got some idea." Xander pulled a face.

"They're so petty and… stupid, really. I mean, if you let Harmony take over, how much have you really got on the ball?

Xander cleared his throat. "So, when you-"

Cordelia's eyes shot to the mirror. "Zip it."

A long silence filled the vehicle. "You could hang with us," Xander suggested.

"Really? That's your suggestion?" Cordelia looked out the driver's window.

"Cordelia, I apologize for asking you to sit at our table. I thought I was doing a good thing, but Buffy and Willow explained how I was an ass. Which is only the latest entry in the 'Xander is an ass' list, and might not make the top ten, and a lot of that list has to do with the way I acted to you, but I admit that… and... Buffy and Willow miss you. I miss you. The Scooby Gang isn't the same without our Daphne."

"Wouldn't Buffy be the Daphne?"

"Buffy's our Fred. I'm no sexist."

She clicked her tongue. "So, you've stopped making Cordelia jokes?"

Xander offered a wan smile. "We kid because we love?"

She looked down and fiddled with the belt of her coat. "Does Oz miss me?"

"Probably, but honestly, who can tell?" Xander shook his head. "I mean, the way he and Willow broke up…"

"I know." Cordelia half-turned in her seat. "Freaky, right?"

"Way freaky." Xander grinned, then ducked his head. "But, I really want you to know I'm sorry… for everything I did wrong."

"Xander." He looked up when Cordelia said his name. "I know you're sorry, but cheating… I can't just get over that. My dad cheated on my mom almost from the day they got married. I always swore that I would never, never tolerate a man who cheated, and then I turned out to be just as stupid and gullible as she was." She looked him full in the face. "What does that say about me, that I spent my whole life trying to avoid one thing, and then I fell for it?"

Xander swallowed. "Well, for what it's worth, you didn't tolerate cheating. I feel pretty well kicked to the curb."

Cordelia thought about that for a moment, then her face brightened. "That's right, I didn't, did I?"

"Miss me?" Buffy said, opening the SUV's door. "Let's go home. I wanna put some Bactine on this knee."

"Sure thing." Cordelia fired the engine and looked in the rear view again. A fleeting smile crossed her face.

The Slayer looked at her, then at Xander, then back to Cordelia. "Am I missing something?"

"This is not what I was expecting." Stefan Warner shook his head.

"Ah, shit." Matti crumpled up the piece of paper and dropped it on the table, then picked it back up and tore it into four pieces. She took the pieces to the kitchen sink, where she lit them with a match, then, when the flames had well and truly caught, dropped them into the sink, where they burned for a few minutes. She finished by using the sprayer to flush the ashes down the drain. Operation complete, she returned to the table and sat down.

"Impressive attention to security," Warner said.

Matti made a disgusted face. "I just did it to give myself time to think." She looked at Warner. "We can't do that, you know."

Warner spread his hands on the table. "Well, let's say my heart agrees with you, but my head reminds me that this is our assignment."

Matti shook her head. "No, no way. Maybe we've spent too much time here, gotten too close to these people, but there's no way I'm executing Nebula Black."

"What if I say I will?"

Matti looked at him, jaw set. "I respect that, and I understand you're just talking about fulfilling our orders, but you'll have to go through me to do it."

He nodded once. "Okay, all cards are on the table." He leaned back in the kitchen chair. "But, off the record, deep off the record, I'm with you. I don't think I can do it."

"We're probably burning our careers."

"Well," he said, "what kind of sane career plan involves chasing various supernatural entities? That sounds like a mug's game."