A/N In rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer as an adult I find things that are very confusing and have no in world explanation. Part of that confusion is resolved when I read the interviews and statements made by the cast, writers and the creator of the show. What Buffy became isn't what was intended, those making the show had the direction they wanted to go, the audience had the direction they wanted the show to go and the network had a direction where they wanted to go. The result was those behind the scenes would start something, than the audience would react in a way that confused those behind the scenes (the Lie is a good example of that, the audience's reaction came out of left field and those behind the scenes didn't understand the audience's reaction at all and nothing has really managed to dent the audience's beliefs regarding it.)

The witch is one of those episodes that in hindsight seems to foreshadow a different direction that might have been intended. Xander really was the one who checked out the books Giles needed to research the witch issue. Willow's opinion is that he did it just so he could look at pictures of half naked woman and the audience accepts that and never thinks anything more of it, teenage boy, it seems a no brainier. But consider when this episode happened, just a week after Xander learns Magic and vampires are real. His best friend is murdered and his body becomes a vampire's new residence and Jesse dusts on a stake Xander is holding. Xander has expressed hatred for vampires at this point and no, that doesn't make him a bigot and it's ridiculous that people think it does. The people making the show never wanted the audience to see vampires as people, Giles said it himself in the previous episode, 'you're not looking at your friend, you're looking at the thing that killed your friend'. We're never meant to see them as anything other than monsters.

Which brings me back to the witch episode, it's the first time Giles is careless with his books, but not his last. But Xander checking out those books a week after finding out about Magic and vampires makes me wonder, maybe there was meant to be more to Xander checking out those books and maybe seeing how Magic messed up Catherine Madison and hurt Amy maybe made him rethink it. The only time we see Xander involved with Magic, the love spell for instance, is when he's hurting and not thinking straight because of it and he regrets it.

And than there's Giles' carelessness, which is the cause of problems both when they're in High School and later when he owns the Magic Box. When you start to add it up, it begins to go way beyond accidental or coincidental because he's also the adult, with experience and training and such mistakes simply shouldn't happen. Unless there's an outside explanation and I've come up with a few if you've read my earlier fics.

Reviewers of my earlier fics have had some opinions on this matter themselves, apparently I'm not the only one who sees Giles apparent carelessness and wonders about it. Sure, it makes Buffy look good when she figures it out and solves the problem, but no one on the show seems to question just how often Giles is careless. Well, accept Anya and she got yelled at for it. It was one time I was not sympathetic to Xander, in trying to spare Buffy's feelings, he hurt Anya's, but Anya was right and Giles should have been called on it.

I see complaints about Xander not being called on his mistakes, few as they are, but no one gets called on their mistakes on the show and everyone makes worse mistakes than he does.

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"Alex, are you alright?" Willow asked anxiously when Alex entered the Library the next day.

"Yeah, why?" He asked absently, looking around for the Librarian.

"Buffy said you were stabbed yesterday! Should you even be here right now? Shouldn't you be resting or something?"

"I wasn't stabbed, I was cut and it's healed already, nothing to worry about. Is that Librarian guy, Mr. Giles, around? I need to talk to him."

"We've been calling him just Giles and what do you mean it's no big deal, you got cut! How many stitches did you need, are you keeping it clean so you don't get an infection?"

"It's already healed, Willow. Like I said, not a big deal."

"How could it heal that fast?! You just got cut yesterday!"

"Accelerated healing and transforming makes us heal even faster. Cordy's eyes are normal again and the four of us spent time running in Miller Woods last night. Is Giles, I guess, here?"

"Yes, I am." The man in question came out of his office. "You've really healed already? It was a fairly deep cut. But I understand werewolves can also heal during the transformation process and Slayers heal quickly as well, so definitely not unprecedented."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Cordy's father, Mayor Chase, wants to see you since you seem to have some authority or knowledge in regards to the Slayer. He needs information so he can determine how much of an impact your presence might have on the people using Sunnydale as a safe haven. We have good reasons for wanting to stay hidden after all. The massive purges of wolf packs affected us as well and those purges were the result of ignorance and fear."

"I'm willing to speak with him, once he understands how much having the Slayer here can benefit Sunnydale I'm sure his fears will be relieved."

"I'm pretty sure only you think the Slayer is a good thing, I assure you no else does."