Chapter 22

Wesley awoke to the mobile phone on his nightstand ringing. He was just blinking himself awake, wondering who'd call him before 8:00 am, when his alarm went off. Right, so they called at exactly 8:00 am. And the phone was still ringing.

"Hello?" Wes finally answered the phone to prevent it from going to voicemail, but couldn't keep himself from yawning loudly into it. "Oh, terribly sorry." He said when he'd recovered.

"No harm, Percy. You awake enough for news? Or do you wanna fix yourself a cuppa first?" Spike's voice filtered through the phone, and it was so strange to have a famous evil vampire calling him on the phone, (even if he was a few years past truly evil and a few weeks post-vampirism), that it woke Wesley up with a jolt.

"Spike? Why are you calling me? Aren't you in London?" Wes threw off the covers and headed for the kitchen to start boiling water. Tea seemed very necessary.

"Yeah, I'm in London. Buffy asked me to give you a call, seems there are some doings at the Council she's hoping you'll come assist her with."

Wesley blinked in confusion at the thought that Buffy might actually be requesting his help with something. He was so distracted that he nearly cracked the glass carafe on his electric kettle pulling it out from under the faucet. "Buffy asked for my help? Why?"

He could clearly hear Spike taking a deep breath. "Well, it seems they've uncovered a conspiracy to usurp Giles' power as the head of the Council. These people were calling themselves the New Executive Committee and working from inside, keeping Rupes under control with spells and giving orders to the other Watchers that went against what Buffy wanted. She's got a group of people there working with her now to collect them and find out everything they've done and what they might be controlling, to get things back on track. I gather that's what she wants your help with."

Wesley couldn't figure out what the angle was exactly, but he could tell when someone was trying to hedge. "Yes, and if she has a team put together who are already in England, why would she need me to get on an eleven hour flight, arriving when most of the immediate investigative work is done? What exactly is it that she needs me to do?"

William sighed and rubbed his eyes, wishing he didn't have to deliver this news over the phone. "Wes…It looks like…Well, your father was one of the conspirators."

Wesley blinked, watching the water in the kettle start to bubble, and wondered what the likelihood was that his father had actually done something rebellious. "What evidence do you have that my father was involved?"

"Andrew found him in conference with one of the conspirators when he went to take the younger bloke in. He thought your pap was actin' cagey and took him in as well. Then one of the other blokes confirmed independently that he'd been taking orders from your father." Spike sighed again. "Nothin' definitive, right? But Buffy figures you're trustworthy and you'll be able to talk to him and search his records at home, and we'll be able to figure out if this is something he got drawn into or something he instigated."

"Does my mother know?" Wesley grabbed a notepad from near the phone and started to make notes on what he'd need to do before he left, and what he should bring with him.

"That he's in Council custody? Not sure. They're all up in Bath, and Tommy and I are in London dealing with my personal shit. I'm gettin' updates via text and the occasional phone call. I'll have someone get to you in the next hour or so with info on that, in case you need to call her before you get on a flight."

"My mother's Council, too." Wes hated to throw his mother under the bus, she'd always stuck up for him, but if his father was involved in something, she was often by his side. "Don't let anyone tell her anything. She'll start looking for him by calling the HQ switchboard, neither of them has a mobile I'm aware of…"

"Buffy was taking phones and wallets away from people they locked up, in addition to weapons and such." William cut him off. "Even if he had a phone, he won't have it on him anymore to call or text her."

"Wallets?" Wes frowned. "What could they possibly do with their wallets in a cell?"

"Summoning charms can be the size of a coin, and carrying them around in your wallet is a good way to keep from losing them. Also, doesn't take more than a few ounces of plastic explosive to get out of a situation."

"Good heavens." Wesley muttered. "Plastic explosives, really."

William shrugged, even though Wes couldn't see him. "Buffy dated military, and Andrew's a techno-nerd. Between the two of them they think everyone's carrying Bond-style gadgets. Red's the one worrying about the magics for the most part. And Penny of course, although she was down for the count for a big chunk of the day."

"Is Penny alright?" Wesley didn't like the sound of that. Almost without thinking he went to his closet and started packing.

"She put some serious mojo into opening an office with magical locks, and it knocked her out." William looked over at Tommy, who was trying hard to focus on legal work and ignore both the phone conversation and his worry for his fiancé. "Buffy's keepin' her safe until they get back to London tonight, but Tommy's a bit of a wreck, I assume we're gonna have to muddle through tomorrow without them for the most part."

"Right, and I suppose I'll be coming in to bolster the magical resources in the meantime?" Wesley figured five outfits should be plenty, and moved into his bathroom to grab the dopp kit.

Will felt an increasing irritation at Wesley's attitude. It was one thing for him to worry that Buffy was distracted and her methods were haphazard, it was quite another thing for someone else to criticize her. "They're doin' the best they can, and I'm tryin to get them the resources they need to assist. Are you gonna come help or not, Percy?"

Wesley sighed, knowing there was really no other answer to give. "Yes, of course I'm coming. At very least I need to check on my parents. I'm almost packed now, let me call the airline and I'll text you my arrival information."

"Thanks, Wes." William felt himself relax. "Make sure you text this number, right? My other phone doesn't work here."

"Yes, of course." Wesley hadn't even registered that the number wasn't the one he'd saved for Spike months ago, so he was grateful for the reminder. There was entirely too much going on for before he'd had tea. "Oh, I suppose I need to call Jezebel, also."

"I've been textin' her already, there was other Council business I had to go over with her. She knows I'm askin' you to come to England."

"Right, thanks. Let me go shower and drink my tea, I'll call her and check in once I know my travel plans. And text you back at this number." If he didn't repeat it to himself, he might very well forget.

"Ta, mate. See you soon."

Giles woke to a heavy, lethargic feeling; like a fog over his consciousness. It was confusing to wake when he didn't remember going to sleep, and rather disorienting to hear voices in the room with him. For a moment he wondered if Glory had injured him and landed him in hospital, before he remembered that Glory had been years ago. Was it The First? But, hadn't they beaten back the source of all evil? Obviously something was wrong, but he couldn't think what it could be.

He tried to blink open his eyes, but they felt heavy and dry. He took a deep breath, and while his chest felt sore, it was more the type of soreness one felt after a chest cold or an unaccustomed round of cardio than the soreness of a body blow. That was a relief, an injury from a battle he couldn't remember would have meant more to worry about.

Giles felt movement to his left and turned his head to face it, trying to open his eyes again. He managed it this time, though his vision was blurry. "Giles?" Buffy's voice came from the blob of jumbled colors he was trying to make out. "Are you awake? How are you feeling?"

He took another deep breath and tried to talk. Unfortunately, his mouth was dry and his tongue felt somewhat numb, and his response came out garbled.

"It's alright, Mr. Giles. Let's get you a sip of water before you try speaking again." A voice he didn't recognize came from somewhere near Buffy, and a moment later someone was shifting him to prop him up with a pillow, then handing him a plastic cup. He blinked again, and objects were starting to come into focus better. He was fairly sure he recognized Buffy's hand as it helped direct a straw towards his mouth.

After a few sips of water he cleared his throat and tried speaking again. His voice was reedy, but he managed to make himself understood. "Buffy, what's happened? I don't remember being injured, and I seem to be having some trouble seeing…"

"That'll likely be dry eyes, exacerbated by the lack of glasses. Why don't I get a washcloth, and then we can get some specs on you." A voice came from the other side of the bed, but Giles didn't turn his head, trying instead to focus on his Slayer. The longer he was awake the more tired he became, but since he couldn't place the situation, he fought to stay awake and get an explanation.

"It's alright, Giles." Buffy sat on the bed beside him, and Giles was a bit surprised to find that she looked somehow older than he'd expected. Or, was that just his vision? "You're at home in Bath. You've been under a mind control spell, but Willow and I are taking care of it. For now, the most important thing is that you get some rest, and give your brain time to digest what's happened to it." She took the cup from his hand and set it off to the side.

Giles considered that information, trying to focus on what he could remember and put his thoughts into some type of order. When he focused he could remember the victory over The First, though it was somewhat blurry. Then the trip back to England and an altercation with Roger Wyndam-Pryce, then…"Am…Am I the head of the Council?"

Buffy smiled. "Yup! Dully elected and everything. I'm covering for you right now, acting as the Head Slayer, but I brought in Chester Freeman from the Caribbean Branch to advise me on all the Council's inner workings and bureaucratic bullshit; and Willow and I pulled a couple of the younger Watchers to help with figuring out who can do what for us. It's working out okay. By the time you're back on your feet everything should be running much more smoothly."

"I remember talking to Roger Wyndam-Pryce after I got back to England, then everything gets…Incredibly fuzzy." He rubbed his eyes.

"Here you go, Mr. Giles. A warm washcloth should help a bit with the eyes. Then you can try putting your glasses on." A dark hand came into his field of vision holding a cloth, which Giles took and pressed to his face. It felt better immediately, and he relaxed somewhat. Buffy seemed on top of whatever was going on, and it seemed like she had some good help. He felt sure Chet Freeman was trustworthy.

"We have Roger in custody. Don't worry, Giles, he'll answer for whatever it was he did to you." Buffy sounded annoyed, which made Giles feel better. Also, he didn't know what she meant by custody, but that certainly sounded better than 'wandering about, able to pop in on him at any moment', which Giles felt may have been the situation recently. "Wesley is also on his way here from LA to help make sure his mom isn't involved, and get us access to all his father's papers and whatnot."

"Anne always was better at magic than Roger." Giles muttered. "That's probably a wise angle to look into. Is there perhaps a dry cloth about?" He gave his face another scrub. "And you mentioned my glasses."

"Yes, sir, here you go." A dry cloth was pressed into his free hand, and as he withdrew the damp rag from his face it was whisked away.

Giles rubbed his face briskly to dry it, hoping to jar himself into more wakefulness. When he withdrew the cloth and looked around, he found the slightly blurry contours of the furniture and art in the room to be familiar, although if Buffy hadn't told him they were in Bath he wasn't sure he'd have recognized it straight off. He gave Buffy a long look, and he was definitely concerned at her thinness and how tired she looked. Then he turned to the other side, and tried to focus on the man standing next to the bed. For the life of him Giles didn't recognize him, but he seemed to be the possessor of the hands helping with practical items.

"I don't expect you remember me, sir." The man reached over and handed him a pair of specs. "My name is Daniel Taylor, I'm a second-level researcher in demon anthropology. And I'm dating Andrew Wells."

Buffy spoke, catching Giles' attention again as he put his glasses on. "Andrew and Daniel have been hugely of the helpful with resolving some of the problems we've been having at HQ. And, Daniel spent most of today keeping an eye on your condition so I could deal with other fires that needed to be put out. So, we're kind of the Giles-support team at the moment. Willow's having dinner with one, or maybe both, I'm not sure, of your aunts tonight. Once we're sure they weren't involved in all this mess, we're hoping they'd be willing to help you get back on your feet. If that's okay with you, of course."

Giles smiled. "They rather hate the Council, and weren't eager for my mother to marry into a Watcher family, so I'd assume they wouldn't get mixed up in any Council nonsense. And, it would be good to see them." He was fading again; despite the glasses and his improved vision, he felt his eyes growing heavy and tired.

"Well, Willow and I wanted to be sure that there were good people we could trust staying with you. She'll be here for the interim dealing with the magical issues, but Daniel and I are going to have to head back to London tonight."

"I'm sorry that you have to leave so soon." Giles honestly felt somewhat uneasy about Buffy leaving him alone while he was incapacitated. He trusted her ability to protect him more than anyone else's.

Buffy reached out and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry, too. If I'd had any idea things were as bad as they are, we would have made plans to stay in Bath instead of London. But, now I can't find a handicapped hotel room in the area, so I'll just be commuting, I guess."

Giles frowned. "A handicapped room? Why do you need a handicapped room? Is Dawn…"

"Dawn's in Italy, finishing out her school year. She'll be along in a few days. My boyfriend's in a wheelchair at the moment, his legs got crushed when a giant demon fell on them. Do you remember any of this?" Buffy looked at him with concern.

Giles reached deep inside himself, trying to remember Buffy's demon-fighting boyfriend. He was about to mention Riley, when he remembered the former commando cheating on Buffy and leaving town. Since then she'd been fighting alongside… "Ugh." He hated to make that noise, but it was truly what he felt at the moment. "I'd forgotten you were dating Spike." He shook his head. "That may be the only thing I'd forgotten I'm not happy to get back."

Buffy smiled widely at him. "Once you remember everything that's going on, you'll feel a little better about it. I promise." She leaned over and kissed his forehead. "You look beat, Giles. Get some rest, and I'll see you tomorrow."