Giles knew he needed to tell Buffy and Willow about Xander, the longer he put it off, the more badly they would react. Neither of them dealt well with information being withheld from them. But he also wanted to understand their reasoning on removing him from the group. He'd proven himself useful, after all.

"Thank you for coming over Buffy, Willow. I need to talk to you about something. First, why did you remove Xander from the group and why didn't you tell me?"

"We didn't want him getting hurt, he's normal, Giles. Normal people shouldn't be fighting vampires, that's for Slayers and witches."

"Buffy, far more normal people fight vampires then Slayers or witches. And Willow gets hurt far more then Xander ever did. You're reasoning doesn't make any sense. And it's recently been brought to my attention that you chained Faith up when she accidentally killed Finch."

"Angel and I were trying to help her, Giles. We wanted her to understand that killing him was wrong."

"Killing him was an accident, Buffy. And you've killed a number of people yourself. Faith was confused and scared, you convinced her she was evil because of an accident."

"I was trying to help."

"Your method of helping wasn't remotely helpful. And did you try to feed Faith to Angel? I thought she'd attacked you and that's why she ended up in the hospital. Which makes me wonder how you came to be the one he fed on. I thought the poison drove him to do it, did you offer yourself when you couldn't deliver Faith?"

"I couldn't let him die, Giles. I love him."

"He's already dead, Buffy. Faith is a human being and a Slayer. What you did was wrong, regardless of your reasons. And I'd like to say Xander was safer being part of our group then on his own, but given what else I have to tell you, it seems he wasn't."

"Did he get in trouble? I knew he would get in trouble. He probably thought he could patrol on his own. It's so like him to do something stupid like that."

"Buffy, stop it, right now. What's happened Xander isn't something he caused. I do not understand your attitude."

"Xander was always getting in trouble, Giles. We wanted to keep him safe."

"Buffy, he rarely got into trouble. Why do you think he got into trouble?"

"Hyena, preying mantis lady, the love spell, the swim team."

"The hyena was an accident, he was trying to help someone. The preying mantis was because of pheromones, the love spell was a mistake and one he regrets and the swim team was also him trying to help. I find your reasons to be less then convincing. But we still need to discuss what has happened to Xander."

"What's happened to Xander?" Willow asked.

"It seems Xander has a destiny of his own."

"Xander has a destiny? How? It isn't like he can do Magic or anything." Willow said.

"Anyone can do Magic, Willow. It's not an exclusive club. No, Xander's destiny involves the other purview of the organization I was apart of."

"The Watchers Council? What do they have to do with Xander?"

"The Watchers Council has another branch, the Council of Watchers. The Watcher to a Slayers trains a Slayer and records a Slayers activities. The Watcher to Xander records his activities as well."

"Why? Why do they care?"

"The Council of Watchers records the activities of immortals, Buffy. Undying humans. Not immortal like the Mayor who sold his soul. Xander was born with the potential for immortality. It kicked in while he was here in town."

"How? When? Why didn't he tell us?" Buffy asked, bewildered.

"An immortal's immortality activates when they die a violent death. If they die of old age or sickness, it never activates. As for when, during that operation to expose Faith. Angel punched him and left him unconscious in the street. Further, Angel didn't tell us about it, Xander did. You thought he was exaggerating, he wasn't."

"But Angel wouldn't do that!"

"I called Angel and asked him, he confirmed it. He says he thought, since we were using Xander as bait, that someone was watching. It never occured to us to do that. We knew Angel was going to hit him to be convincing for Faith, but it never occured to us to keep an eye on him. You claim you worry about him and that's why you pushed him out and yet when he needed us, it never occured to us to be there for him. And he didn't tell us, because he didn't know. He just thought, he'd been knocked unconscious. Another immortal has become his teacher, he'll train him, the way I should have been. I left him vulnerable. I've let you have the lead and it's caused nothing but trouble."

"How do we fix this, Giles?" Willow asked.

"Fix what, Willow?" Giles asked.

"Fix what's happened to Xander, make him normal again."

"First off, he was born with the potential for immortality, there's nothing to fix, this is how he is. And he's this way because the gods have given him a destiny, this destiny. They made Buffy a Slayer and Xander immortal. You've chosen to study Magic and become a witch. You're the only with a choice here."