Wesley called all the group together in the Library to bring them up to date on the investigation. Hearing that Buffy would not be charged was a relief, hearing about Angel whammying her wasn't.

"What are we doing about Angel?" Xander asked, seething at the thought of what the vampire had done to Buffy.

"Monitoring him." Wesley replied. "Like you, we're reluctant to send a soul to Hell. He appears to be working with a half Bracken Seer. Brackens being a neutral demon. The two of them are following visions of people in trouble. For now and as long as he stays away from Miss Summers, he appears not to be a problem. But we are monitoring him and will be aware if the soul is freed and there will be an immediate destroy order effected against him. As long as he's actively attempting to do good, we will let him."

"If he shows his face around here, he'll find himself occupying an ashtray." Buffy decided. "Especially if Mom spots him first."

"What about Giles?" Amy asked. "He let Buffy be in that relationship and he wasn't doing his due diligence in magical events, the investigator said so. Not to mention, he made Buffy deal with Angelus even knowing how hard it was for her. That can't be excusable, can it?"

"Mr. Giles has extenuating circumstances as well, I'm afraid." Wesley answered. "He's returning to England and his family for treatment."

"Treatment for what?" Willow asked.

"Early onset Alzheimer's brought on Traumatic Brain Injury brought on by cumulative concussions." Was the surprising answer. "He first began experiencing concussions as a teenager during his rebellious stage."

"Giles had a rebellious stage?" Amy asked, surprised.

"Surprised me too." Oz told her.

"Black Magic, demon summoned to get high, orgies, hates the world ticking time bomb." Buffy informed her.

"Oh, I had to ask. Let me guess, lots of fights too?"

"You should of heard Mom's reaction when she found out a man with that past was assigned as my Watcher." Buffy added.

"His family is quite influencial and managed to have most of that information expunged from his record when he returned to the Watchers Council after deciding to leave all that behind." Wesley continued. "It seems he's been experiencing some of the symptoms of his condition for awhile now. Forgetfulness, repeating tasks such as cleaning his glasses repeatedly, asking the same questions, focusing to the exclusion of others on one person."

"Me." Buffy realized. "He was very focused on me and barely remembered Faith existed unless someone reminded him. He sees Willow everyday and used to see Xander everyday, how long until he started forgetting about Xander too?"

"Probably not that long." Wesley speculated. "But the biggest symptom he's been displaying is poor judgement."

"Which is where him allowing me to see Angel and insisting on me dealing with Angelus comes in." Buffy realized. "But all of that is vague enough that we didn't notice anything."

"Which is why it took a medical exam to reveal it." Wesley agreed. "None of you could be expected to see, especially since in the early stages the symptoms are subtle."

"So he's going back to England?" Willow asked.

"He's already left." Wesley answered. "His family wishes to begin treatment as soon as possible. It may delay the advance of symptoms, I will stay on as Watcher for both of you for now."

"Will I get a new Watcher eventually?" Buffy asked.

"Yes, it's felt that having a single Watcher for each of you is the best policy. It keeps me from having a split focus, besides as I understand it, you're considering leaving Sunnydale to attend College."

"Well, Mom definitely wants me to and I can't blame her for that. But we haven't even started applying to colleges yet, so that's a someday soon decision, not a today decision, it's only the end of January."

"Well Xander will be coming with me wherever I end up going to college." Cordelia grinned at him. "Since I have no plans to break up with him."

"Damn," Faith muttered. "that means I won't get to play with him."

"Faith," Cordelia said sweetly with a shark grin. "I've told you before, I'm not sharing, stop asking."

"Our meeting is concluded." Wesley announced. "If anyone has any concerns, please let me know." He hurried out of the Library.

"Do all British guys have sticks up their English channel or is it just Giles and Wesley?" Faith asked. "Because I was hoping it would take more to break him. I'm sooo disappointed."

"He couldn't even take one innuendo." Xander said. "Faith can't get though an hour without innuendo. He's going have to toughen up if he's going to be looking after our Faith."

"Your Faith?" Faith wiggled her eyebrows at him.

"Our, as in, the Scooby Gang. You're one of us, Faith." Xander answered. "We're not forgetting about you."

'So this is what having friends feels like.' Faith decided she could get used to this feeling. The others all were nodding in agreement with Xander's declaration.

######

A/N Information on Traumatic Brain Injury or TBI found at alz dot org/alzheimers-dementia. Concussions, especially repeated concussions, increase the risk of Alzheimer's, in some case it more than doubles the chances of getting Alzheimer's.

Giles getting knocked unconscious was a running joke on the show.