Philip Henry panted heavily as his feet thudded down on the sidewalk. He'd found the school – Sunnydale High – and he had managed to stay ahead. He hadn't started running yet. No need to arouse suspicion. Even this late at night, he knew there could be witnesses. He could feel it, though. It was coming. He clutched his briefcase in his hand and came to a stop, looking around. He'd gotten this far. Surely, Giles couldn't be far away.

A door opened nearby, and he just about leapt out of his skin. When he turned to look, he saw a custodian coming out of the school with a trash can. He looked at Philip with slight suspicion. "Can I help you?" he called over.

Getting his bearings, Philip replied, "Rupert Giles! I need to see him!"

The custodian relaxed a little, recognizing the name. "Mr. Giles, uh, he's our librarian. Next building over, first door on your left." Philip rushed off without a word of thanks. He could hear the other gentleman sarcastically say, "You're welcome," but he ignored him and continued to the next building and found the library door.

He continued toward it, but stopped in his tracks when he heard a twig being crushed behind him. He immediately turned to look. He heard a moan, but saw nothing and checked the other way again. Behind him, he heard breathing and turned back again, and saw a woman in the shadows.

"Oh, God!" he exclaimed as she slowly walked into the light. She looked nothing like the old friend he remembered, her flesh decaying and rotting like a zombie, her eyes flashing yellow briefly. "Diedre?"

"Philip," she grunted back.

Philip quickly backed up and didn't see the curb behind him. He tripped over it and fell, dropping his briefcase. He scrambled to his feet and ran to the library door. He pounded on it and yanked at the doorknob. Locked. "Help! Help! Somebody, please!" he cried. He could hear Diedre's footsteps behind him. "God, no!" he muttered before shouting again. "Help!"

. . .

How was it even when Buffy agreed to do her training, she could still drive Giles crazy? He covered his ears as the insane frenetic noises emitted from her boombox, reverberating off the walls so loudly it shook the dust off the books. She didn't seem at all annoyed by it. She actually smiled cheerfully as she did her step aerobics to this techno rubbish.

Giles sat at the table with his hands to his ears, not relishing her choice of workout CD. It was his own fault for saying she could play something during her workout. He raised his head and spoke loudly over it. "Must we have this noise during your calisthenics?"

Buffy didn't even break her stride. "It's not noise! It's music!" she corrected.

"I know music! Music has notes! This is noise!"

"I'm aerobicizing! I must have a beat!"

"Wonderful. You work on your muscle tone while my brain dribbles out of my ears."

. . .

Philip desperately pounded on the door. "Help! Help! Please!" he begged, feeling Diedre closing the gap between them. "Help me, somebody, please!"

But it was too late. Diedre closed the gap, and Philip turned to face her with horror in his eyes. She put her hands up to the door on either side of him to prevent his escape. He trembled with fear as she moved her hands onto his neck and began to choke him.

. . .

Buffy finally finished her aerobics. She strolled to the table and turned off her boombox, and her Watcher sighed with contented relief. "Ahhh! Very good. And the rest is silence."

. . .

Philip fell from Diedre's grip, dead. A moment later, Diedre collapsed next to him, also dead. After she hit the pavement, she disintegrated into a puddle of slime. The puddle spread out and into Philip.

"I'm on a beach," said Buffy, "but not one of those American beaches, one of those island beaches where the water's way too blue, and I'm laying on my towel, and it's just before sunset, and Gavin Rossdale's massaging my feet!"

Willow nodded eagerly. "Oh, that's good!" she said before she started thinking, too. "Uh, I'm in Florence, Italy, I've rented a scooter that's parked outside, and I'm in a little restaurant eating ziti, and there are no more tables left, so they have to seat this guy with me, and it's John Cusack!"

"Ooo!" Buffy approved. "Very impressive. You have such an eye for detail."

Willow smiled proudly. "'Cause with the ziti!"

They heard footsteps coming up behind them, and they spotted Xander and Jesse approaching. "What are you two up to?" asked Xander.

"Just having a quick game of 'Anywhere But Here'," said Buffy.

The two boys looked at each other, and Xander had his answer immediately. "Ooohhh. Amy Yip at the waterslide park."

Willow looked disappointed. "You never come up with anything new."

"To be fair, it is a pretty kick ass waterslide park," nodded Jesse.

"And where would you rather be than here?" Buffy asked him.

Jesse lolled his head thoughtfully and looked at the sky before announcing, "Under an oak tree – listening to nature – having lunch – with Helen Hunt."

"Oooh, Helen Hunt?" Willow grinned, as if this were some naughty secret.

"And occasionally, she reads a book, wearing her glasses," he paused dramatically, "and every once in a while, she glances at me over the rim." He mimed the gesture of lowering a pair of glasses and looking at Buffy and Willow in a slightly suggestive manner that made them both giggle.

Xander tilted his head in concession. "It's no Amy Yip at the waterslide park, but I can get behind this."

Willow tilted her head past them, and they turned to see Giles walking towards them. His pace was brisk and his shoulders looked tight, suggesting a level of agitation in the librarian's life. No doubt it involved the supernatural, and even less doubt that he would be lecturing Buffy on the evil she had to fight, which would leave her with no choice but to give him some affectionate ribbing.

"Do you think Giles ever played 'Anywhere But Here' when he was in school?" asked Willow.

Xander scoffed. "Giles lived for school. He's actually still bitter that there are only twelve grades."

Buffy nodded in agreement. "He probably sat in math class thinking, 'There should be more math. This could be mathier.'"

"C'mon, you don't think he ever got restless as a kid?" giggled Willow.

"Are you kidding? His diapers were tweed."

Xander chuckled, but Jesse didn't say anything, instead watching as Giles came walking by. He actually seemed so worked up he didn't notice them.

"Giles!" Buffy called out.

He turned and saw them. "Oh! There you are," he said, approaching their bench.

"Hey, 'morning. Say, is that tweed?" she asked, indicating his jacket.

Giles either ignored the teasing or was too preoccupied to register it as a taunt. "What? Oh, uh, yes. Um, now, uh, look, tonight is very important, um…" He immediately headed inside.

"Now, that's a surprise," Buffy sighed, getting to her feet while her three friends fell in step around her. "So, what's on tap tonight that's so important? Uprising, prophesied ritual, preordained deathfest?"

"Ah, the old standards!" Xander sighed wistfully.

Giles, however, shook his head. "Um, a medical transport is delivering the monthly supply of blood to the hospital."

Now Buffy understood. "Vampire Meals-On-Wheels," she remarked as she stopped at her locker.

"Hopefully not," said Giles. "Uh, we'll meet outside the hospital at eight-thirty sharp. I'll bring the weapons."

"I'll bring the party mix!"

Giles gave her a stern look. "Just don't be late."

"Have I ever let you down?"

Was it her imagination, or did Giles' expression turn even more withering? "Do you want me to answer that, or shall I just glare?"

Fortunately for her, the familiar petite brunette form of their Computer Science teacher came around the corner and walked up to Giles with a cheery expression. "Morning, England."

Like magic, Giles forgot to be annoyed and brightened immediately at her presence. "Oh, hello, Ms, uh, uh, tuh, Jenny."

Willow grinned mischievously between Xander and Jesse. "Feel the passion!" she whispered.

Her grin faltered, though, when Ms Calendar said her name. "Willow…"

Willow quickly faked a cough into her hand. "Coughing, not speaking!"

But Ms Calendar was smiling. "We still on for tomorrow?" she asked her, and Willow smiled and nodded with relief.

"What's tomorrow?" asked Xander.

"I'm reviewing some computer basics for the couple of students who've fallen behind. Willow's helping out for extra credit."

Xander chuckled and nudged Jesse. "Those poor schlubs have to attend school on Saturday!" he grinned. Jesse, however, did not share his mirth.

Ms Calendar grinned a little. "So you'll be there, Jesse?" she asked him.

Xander's laughter faded as he looked at his best friend, who nodded solemnly. "Yeah, remember how I couldn't hang out Saturday because I had a 'thing'?" He paused briefly before gesturing vaguely. "Yeah, this was the thing."

Ms Calendar's grin only widened. "I seem to recall your grade is a little lower than average, Xander. Nine A.M. okay with you?"

Now everyone was grinning, except Xander, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Jesse playfully put an arm around him. "Always nice to meet a fellow schlub," he said patronizingly. "Oh, and extra fun – Cordelia's gonna be there, too."

Xander gave into despair completely at this news. "Ooo, a bonus day of class plus Cordelia! Mix in a little rectal surgery, and it's my best day ever!"

Satisfied to have done her job, Ms Calendar smiled much more pleasantly at Giles. "Walk me to class?"

"Pleasure," Giles smiled back, and they set off down the hall for the Computer Science room.

"Look at them," Buffy sighed.

"So wholesome," agreed Jesse.

"A twosome of cuteness," Xander nodded ruefully.

"Can't you just imagine them getting together?" Willow smiled.

And with that gross thought, they went their separate ways.

As fond as Giles was of Buffy and her friends, nothing compared to spending time with Jenny. The romance, of course, but he rarely had any interaction with someone his own age. He had few friends among the staff, and he didn't do much going out for all the research he had to do, so to have the privilege of her company was much appreciated.

"Oh!" Jenny said suddenly. "Thank you so much for loaning me the Forrester book. It's wonderful!"

Giles smiled gratefully. "Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it!"

"Yeah, it was so romantic, so evocative."

Blushing a little, Giles nodded. "That edition was my father's. I must've read it… twenty times."

"Yeah, y'know how you have to, to dog-ear your favorite pages so you can go back to them?"

Giles' mood made that record scratch noise, and his mouth stammered while it waited for his brain to wake up. "Uh, uh, uh, what?"

"Well, I mean," she continued enthusiastically, "I practically had to fold back every single page. So finally I just… started underlining all the pages I really wanted to discuss."

Now he felt woozy. "Underlined…?"

"But then, of course, I spilled coffee all over it, I can't even read it…"

"It's a first edition!" Giles very nearly exploded, his face a picture of abject horror.

Then, it finally registered that Jenny's enthusiastic smile was actually rather impish. "I'm lying, Rupert," she smiled, holding it up. "The book's fine. I just love to see you squirm."

She handed it back to him, much to his relief. "Yes, well, I, uh… trust I gave good… squirm," he smiled sheepishly.

She did that thing he adored where she tilted her head and looked into his eyes. "Did anyone ever tell you you're kind of a fuddy-duddy?"

His mind flashed back to several interactions with Buffy and her friends. "Nobody ever seems to tell me anything else."

She nodded. "Did anyone ever tell you you're kind of a sexy fuddy-duddy?"

"Well, no. Actually, that part usually gets left out," he said, smiling again. "I can't imagine why."

Jenny smiled, eyeing him in a way he found thrilling. "This weekend."

"Would you like to go out?"

She shook her head ever-so-slightly. "Mm, no, I think I'd like to stay in."

The implications were most definitely not lost on Giles. He was too much of a gentleman to admit he'd been yearning for this moment, but he still leaned in to kiss her. She closed her eyes to reciprocate, but they only managed to make contact for almost a whole second before the bell rang. They forced themselves to break apart as students began pouring into the halls.

Giles cleared his throat, trying to maintain decorum. "Uh, this Saturday, then."

Jenny smiled ruefully. "Saturday night." She paused to clear her own throat, eyeing him. "I'll see if I can make you squirm." She held his gaze for a moment before they went their separate ways

Sadly, his inner-giddiness went from anticipation to anxiety when he stepped into his library and found a female detective and two police officers waiting for him. The detective approached him, all business and a little bit intimidating. "Rupert Giles?"

"Yes?" he confirmed, hoping this could be wrapped up quickly.

"Detective Winslow. You're gonna have to come with me."

"Why?"

"There was a homicide on campus last night. The victim had no identification, but he was carrying this slip of paper with your name and address on it." She held up a slip of paper in a plastic evidence bag.

"My name?"

Suddenly, the door banged open, and they all jumped as, of all people, Cordelia Chase strutted into the library, looking incredibly agitated, not to mention oblivious to the presence of the local law enforcement.

"Well, evil just compounds evil, doesn't it?" she snapped. "First, I'm sentenced to a computer tutorial on Saturday. Now I have to read some computer book? There are books on computers? Isn't the point of computers to replace books?"

Riveting though this wasn't, Giles cut her off. "Cordelia, I'm a little busy right now," he said, indicating the police officers.

Cordelia finally registered their presence and put on her most charming smile as she approached Detective Winslow. "Oh! Great! Can you help me with a ticket? It's totally bogus. It was a one-way street. I was going one way…"

"Cordelia!" Giles snapped irritably.

"What?!" she demanded, glaring at him. "Why does everyone always yell my name? I'm not deaf! And I can take a hint." She paused, her frustration transitioning to uncertainty. "What's the hint?"

"To come back later."

Rolling her eyes, she finally turned and departed, muttering on her way out, "Yeah, when you've visited Decaf Land." The door slammed behind her.

Giles looked apologetically at Det. Winslow, who looked remarkably unfazed by the intrusion. "Where do you want me to go?"

The coroner opened one of the body storage doors and pulled out the drawer. "Have you had your breakfast?" he asked.

Giles shook his head. "No."

"That was probably a good idea." He pulled back the sheet to reveal Philip's body. Bruised all over, with two especially dark bruises on the throat, but Giles immediately recognized him.

"Do you know him?" asked Det. Winslow.

Deeply shaken to see him, Giles nodded. "Yes," he said hoarsely. "Yes. I mean, I did. His name's Philip Henry. He was a friend of mine in London. I… I haven't spoken to him in twenty years."

"Can you think of any reason why he might've wanted to contact you?"

Giles swallowed. "No." He saw the tattoo on Philip's right arm near the inside elbow. That blasted tattoo.

Det. Winslow followed his gaze. "Do you know what that is? The tattoo."

Giles did a decent job of furrowing his brow to imitate confusion. "No. No, I don't," he lied. He would have to lie convincingly, but then, it was hardly the first time he'd lied to the police. He could play this off as simply Philip got into some trouble and possibly came to him looking for shelter, only to fall at the last hurdle. Getting out of this jam with the police would not be terribly difficult.

The difficult bit would be trying to find out if any of his other friends were already dead?

Buffy paced outside the ER entrance of the hospital. Still no sign of Giles. She checked her watch again – just after nine. "Don't be late.' Sheesh," she sighed. She would be giving him merry hell about this next time he lectured her about timekeeping – if he was okay. That annoying stab of worry got to her again. Giles was a grown up. He could take care of himself. That didn't make her pacing any more pleasant.

She walked over to a pay phone to try calling, but stopped when she saw the blood van pull up. The driver got out with his clipboard as two ER doctors came out to meet him. She could hear them discussing the contents while the doctors signed the clipboard. Nothing out of the ordinary. All's well that ends with cute ER doctors, I always say, Buffy thought.

She watched them go to the back of the van and get out the insulated container. They started back with the driver, and he got back into the van and drove away. Buffy almost turned to leave when a thought occurred to her.

Since when do doctors take deliveries?

As the van drove off, a car engine behind it started and a pair of headlights came on. An old convertible pulled up into the light as the doctors set the container down. One of them opened the lid, took out a bag of blood and began to suck on it. The driver of the car got out. "Hey! No sampling the product!"

The doctor vampire hissed but put the bag back down, dropping the lid closed. Buffy ran to attack. She kicked the first doctor vampire down, then the second, and did a roundhouse kick to the driver's face. The first one got up, and she tried kicking him again, but he grabbed her leg and threw her onto the hood of the car. She scissor kicked him in the neck, and he staggered away and fell.

A fourth vampire ran up as Buffy got up and took out a stake. She turned to attack him, then promptly stopped herself. "Angel!"

Angel looked past her. "Buffy! Look out!" He jumped up onto the car's hood and leapt off to tackle the driver vampire coming at her from behind. Angel punched him in the face, but he stayed up. The second vampire jumped up onto the hood and swung at Buffy.

She ducked the punch and jabbed him in the chest. The first vampire jumped up on the hood, too, and Buffy knocked him back off with a punch to the face. She punched the second one in the face, too, and he fell down on the hood on his back. She jumped off of the car and thrust her stake into the first vampire as he tried to get back up. The second one got off of the car again and grabbed her by the shirt from behind. She swung around with the stake and got him in the chest also.

Angel, in the meantime, roundhouse kicked the driver and sent him spinning into the car. The vampire quickly sat up in the driver's seat and floored it as Angel tried to chase him. The car raced off, leaving Angel and the blood behind.

Buffy opened the lid to check on it. "How did you know about this?"

Angel shrugged. "It's delivery day. Everybody knows about this. They only ruined one bag."

Buffy stood up and looked after the car – long gone. Angel kicked the lid back closed. "Do you think you could make sure the hospital gets the rest?" she asked him. Then, she realized who she'd just asked to do that and raised her eyebrows at him. Thankfully, Angel just nodded, not insulted by the query. "Thanks. I'm worried about Giles. He was supposed to meet me here."

"Maybe he's late."

"Giles? Who counts tardiness as, like, the eighth deadly sin?"

Realizing her point, Angel nodded. "Right. Go."

Giving him a grateful look, she took off into the night.

Giles attempted to remain patient and to not sound like a crazy person as he tried to keep the other person on the line. He'd been in his apartment all day since getting back from the coroners, and in his determination to find his remaining friends, he'd completely lost track of time. "Are you certain she didn't leave a forwarding number? I've been on the phone for hours, this is a matter of life and – !"

A knock at the door cut him off. Jumping at the sound, he mumbled an excuse to the other person and set the phone on his desk. He crossed to the door and opened the viewport. He saw an annoyed-looking Buffy waiting outside, so he opened the door.

"Buffy," he said a bit shortly. "It's late. Uh, are you alright?"

"I was gonna ask you the same thing," she replied pointedly.

He needed to get rid of her quickly. "Yes, I'm fine, fine. Look, I'm, uh, I'm rather busy a-at the moment, so, uh, I'll see you on Monday at school."

He started to close the door. Buffy, rather infuriatingly, held it open with her hand. "Giles, did you forget? The hospital, vampires, handy carryout packets of blood?"

His mind flashed back to that morning, and he realized he'd gotten so caught up in his game of Phone Tag that he'd forgotten to meet Buffy at the hospital. "Oh! Yes, uh, are you alright? Were you hurt?"

He could tell Buffy was put off by his erratic behavior. "No. I mean, my feelings a little. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing, nothing's wrong," he said hurriedly. He needed to get back to the phone. "I'm just in the, uh, middle of something extremely important, and, uh, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to say good night now."

Without waiting for an answer, he shut the door in her face. He would apologize on Monday. That would give him the whole weekend to concoct a story. He picked up the phone again.

"Are you still there?" he asked. "Yes, I'm, I'm sorry to disturb you. It's, uh… I realize it's, uh, five in the morning there, um… Uh, I-I'm trying to reach Diedre Page. My name is Rupert Giles, she knows me. It's very important." He paused to let them speak, and his face fell at the bad news. "I'm terribly sorry. I… didn't know. When did she, uh, pass away?" This news wasn't any better. "Ohhhh. That recently," he murmured, sitting at his desk. "Um, yes, yes, um, we were friends when we were young. My condolences."

He hung up the phone and stared off into space with his fingers to his lips while he considered and remembered. That was it, then. He took off his glasses and reached for his drink. The bottle next to it was almost half empty already. He gulped the rest from the glass and set it back down. He thought another moment before grabbing his pen and crossing Diedre's name off of his list: Thomas Sutcliff, Philip Henry, Diedre Page, Ethan Rayne, Rupert Giles.

He got up and went into his bathroom to the sink in front of the mirror. He rolled up his sleeves, and on his left arm just above the inside elbow, he briefly glared at the tattoo located there. He reached into the sink full of water, cupped his hands and splashed some on his face. He looked up at himself in the mirror.

Eyghon was back.

While Jesse could think of anything else he'd rather be doing than attending a weekend class, what he really didn't want was Xander and Cordelia in close proximity to each other. The pair of them just would not stop complaining about their unfortunate situation. He could commiserate to a point, but that point had been reached and surpassed a while ago.

"This isn't right," Cordelia said snidely. "School on a Saturday. It throws off my internal clock."

"When are we gonna need computers for real life anyway?" Xander demanded.

Ms Calendar pretended to think as she got out the right key for the computer lab. "Hmm, let's see. There's home, school, work, games…"

Xander refused to be beaten. "Y'know, computers are on the way out. I think paper's gonna make a big comeback."

"And the abacus," grinned Willow.

"Yeah, you know, you don't see enough abaci."

As Ms Calendar opened the door to let them in, Jesse grinned. "But if we don't learn how to use computers properly, I may have to actually play Solitaire the hard way. Shuffling the cards myself is so basic, y'know?"

They all took a seat in front of a PC, with Xander making sure Jesse sat between him and Cordelia. Ms Calendar went into teaching mode. "Alright, guys. The first thing we're gonna do is… Buffy!"

Everyone looked up at the familiar name, and indeed, the Vampire Slayer herself stood in the doorway. Xander had to blink to make sure he wasn't imagining it. "Huh? Did I fall asleep already?"

Willow smiled, touched. "Aw, you miss your friends?"

"You're welcome to my seat," said Jesse, already making to stand up, trying to indicate he'd rather someone tougher than him sat between Xander and Cordelia while they argued.

Buffy, however, looked a little withdrawn as she sidled up to Ms Calendar. "Actually I wanted to talk to you for a second?"

"Something wrong?" their teacher asked.

Xander perked up. "Is there some crisis that requires instant action? Very far from here?"

"It's Giles," Buffy explained.

Ms Calendar's concern gave way to worry. "Well, he's alright, isn't he?"

"I don't know. Uh, he didn't show up when he was supposed to last night, and then, when I went over to his place, he was acting… well, very anti-Giles. He wouldn't let me in, and he looked really bad. I… I think he might've been…" She paused, obviously upset. "I think he was drinking."

"He was home alone drinking?"

Willow frowned, either unable or unwilling to see what the fuss was about. "But… tea, right?"

Buffy shook her head. "Wasn't tea, Will."

Xander nodded wisely. "Yep, yep, I knew this would happen. Nobody can be wound as straight and narrow as Giles without a dark side erupting. My Uncle Roary was the stodgiest taxidermist you've ever met by day. By night, it was booze, whores, and fur flying." He looked seriously at Buffy. "Were there whores?"

Jesse rubbed his eyes. "Xander…"

"He was alone."

"Give it time."

Shaking her head, Buffy addressed the group as a whole. "So, none of you guys have noticed anything different lately?"

While everyone else responded in the negative, Jesse's mind flashed back to Halloween night. Trapped in the personality of a mute sorcerer, he'd seen Giles confront the shopkeeper that had given them all their cursed costumes, and while only glimpsed briefly, he'd seen a side to the Watcher he hadn't known existed. Of course, Giles had been less than remotely interested in talking about it, so Jesse had decided to pretend it never happened. That meant, of course, he hadn't told anyone else about the encounter, and he hadn't seen much of Giles since that day, but he continued to act like his normal self the whole time, so he assumed they had moved on.

"No, he seemed perfectly normal yesterday when I saw him talking to the police," Cordelia said, snapping him out of his thoughts.

Everyone stared at her. "And you waited till now to tell us this because…?" Buffy asked.

Cordelia shrugged. "I didn't think it was important."

Xander nodded. "We understand. It wasn't about you."

Ms Calendar looked a little shaken now. "Well, what were the police talking to him about?"

Taking a moment to try and remember, Cordelia scrunched up her face. "Oh, don't tell me, I know this one. Um…" She thought very hard, and the answer slowly came. "Something about… a homicide!" she finished brightly before the word registered with her, and this time, she looked as alarmed as everyone else.

"That's it. I'm calling him right now," Buffy declared, striding from the room toward the neighboring library.

Swallowing, Jesse got up and followed her while the others murmured to themselves.

Her mind raced with the possibilities. Given all the death and destruction that followed them around almost weekly, the very thought that Giles might be in some sort of trouble sent a cold shiver down Buffy's spine. She headed for Giles' office to use the phone when she heard something in the stacks and stopped in her tracks to look. She could see a shadow move across one of the bookcases in the anteroom. She went up the stairs and through the French doors.

Slowly, she walked down the main aisle, looking around and down each side aisle. She couldn't shake the feeling of eyes following her every movement, giving her the willies. She listened very carefully in the quiet room, and she stopped at the sound of fingers on wood. She turned and saw a familiar face watching her in between the stacks, and he had his fingers pressed against the nearest bookcase, looking like he intended to knock it over on top of her.

She dashed away just in time to avoid being crushed under the bookcase. The weirdo tried to make his escape, but he'd acquired a bad limp since the last time she'd seen him and couldn't run. She grabbed him by the arm and turned him around.

Now in the light, she could see him properly. "I know you! You were in that costume shop."

He smiled with false charm. "Oh, I'm pleased you remember," he said, trying to go, but she held him back.

"You sold me that dress for Halloween, and nearly got us all killed!"

"But you looked great!" She punched him squarely in the jaw. "Owww!" he exclaimed. What a wimp – she hadn't even put that much strength into it. "So now we're even?" he asked sarcastically.

"I'll let you know when we're even. What're you doing here?"

"Snooping around."

Buffy tilted her head. "Honesty. Nice touch."

"It's one of my virtues." He smiled bitterly. "Not really."

"Buffy?" They both turned to look, and Jesse stepped in, looking nervous as he entered the gloom, but then, his eyes fell on the shopkeeper, and his expression turned annoyed. "Oh, it's this guy," he said, almost sounding disappointed. To Buffy's surprise, the shopkeeper took a startled leap backwards when he saw her friend, bumping into another bookcase. Jesse just smiled pleasantly. "Hello, Mr Rayne."

Buffy looked between them. "You two have met?"

"Halloween. We had an encounter." He smiled again. "How's your throat, by the way? Feeling better?"

The shopkeeper straightened up, trying to pretend his leap of fear hadn't happened. "The costume is gone, the spell is broken – you don't have that power anymore," he said firmly.

Jesse nodded absently, murmuring, "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm," then abruptly raised his right hand at the older man, yelling, "Hikeeba!"

The shopkeeper's hands flew to his throat instinctively before he realized Jesse was just screwing with him. "You little sadist," he hissed.

"Takes one to know one," Jesse replied, breezing past Buffy as he approached him. "So, Ethan, maybe you can tell us what's going on with Giles?"

Buffy's eyebrows met in a confused collision. "He knows Giles?"

Ethan smirked a bit at Jesse. "Didn't tell them, did you? How you spared poor ol' Rupert the trouble of thrashing me?"

Jesse smirked back. "You know what's going on with Giles. Whatever it is, you're a part of it."

"Oh, I know only too well," Ethan replied, rolling up his shirt sleeve and showing them his arm.

Jesse tilted his head. "Is that a pitchfork? Are you a farmer?" he asked, in a tone that made Buffy wonder if he was genuinely confused or if he was just screwing with the guy.

But Ethan's smirk never left his face. "It's the Mark of Eyghon."

Giles' nightmare was mercifully cut short by his phone ringing. The tattoo on his arm. Visions of a demon, of Diedre in her rotted state, of eyes glowing yellow. He looked around in a haze at his phone. A glance at the clock told him he'd gotten maybe six hours of sleep. Hopefully, it would be enough to remain functional. He still had so much work to do. He fumbled with the phone, managing to pick up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Giles, it's me." Buffy.

Giles let out a breath, trying not to sound too annoyed. "Buffy, unless this is an emergency, I'll see you on Monday."

"What's the Mark of Eyghon?"

Giles froze, and whatever plans he had for the day seemed to evaporate in his brain. How could she know?

"Giles?" he heard her ask. She heard another voice muffled in the background before she continued. "I'm in your office with someone who claims to be an old friend of yours. Ethan Rayne?"

It just kept getting worse. "He's there with you?"

"Yeah, Jesse's holding onto him for me. Apparently, they've had a prior encounter, but Jesse won't give details, so I'm hoping you'll fill in the blanks for me."

Giles' heart sank. While on the one hand, he was grateful Jesse respected his privacy, the two of them were in danger while Ethan was in the room. "Listen, Buffy, you're… you're in grave danger while Ethan's there. I want you to put the phone down, take Jesse and get out of the library as soon as possible."

"I'm not going anywhere until you give me some answers!"

Then, in the background, he could hear glass smashing and lots of yelling. "Buffy?" he shouted into the phone, but he got no response – just chaos. He hung up the phone, grabbed his glasses and ran from his apartment.

Buffy watched as a man with glowing yellow eyes, wearing a tarnished suit and sporting an almost-okay-looking goatee came smashing in through the library, heading straight for them. She kicked him in the chest and rolled over the counter. He came through the door and at her again. Jesse and Ethan stayed behind her, with Ethan cowering behind Jesse the whole time.

"Ethan…," the man hissed.

Ethan attempted to make a break for the doors, but he almost ran into an entering Xander, followed by Willow, Cordelia and Ms Calendar.

"Grab him!" Jesse shouted, already heading after him.

Xander pushed Ethan up against the counter, but got pushed aside. Ethan tried to make his escape past the women through the still-open door, but Cordelia kneed him in the crotch and he collapsed.

Buffy looked around for what to do with the weird zombie-looking guy and spotted the open cage door. She backed toward it, then turned and made like she was running in. He hurried to follow, but she sidestepped the door and kicked him into the cage as he ran by. She slammed the door shut and locked it.

Over the next half hour, Ethan recovered from his encounter with Cordelia's knee and sat in a chair at the table with Buffy and Jesse on either side of him. The others stood watching the undead guy pacing like an animal in the cage, his eyes still glowing yellow occasionally. Ethan had given his name as Philip, but beyond that, he hadn't given many details.

Having seen enough, Willow sidled over to Buffy. "I'm not gonna get close enough to feel his pulse, but… he looks dead."

"Except for the walking and attacking Buffy part," Xander snorted.

"He's dead," Ethan said knowingly. He looked across at the caged man and almost looked remorseful. "Sorry, Philip. Really I am."

The library door suddenly barged open, and in barged Giles – unshaven, haphazardly dressed and dark circles under his eyes, but also, very urgent. "Is everyone alright?"

"Super!" said Cordelia, proud of herself. "I kicked a guy!"

"We're okay," Ms Calendar assured him.

"Dead guy here interrupted our tutorial," Xander said, smiling brightly at Philip. "Been meaning to thank you for that." Philip jumped at him behind the mesh barrier, and Xander backed off.

Giles walked over to have a look at Philip, his eyes wide with horror and sorrow for his friend. "It can't be!"

"Yes, it can," Ethan spoke up from the table. Giles turned to him. "Hello, Ripper."

"I thought I told you to leave town," Giles practically snarled.

Ethan shrugged. "You did. I didn't," he replied, apparently not bothered that Giles was approaching him at a frightfully quick pace. "Shop's lease is paid till the end of the month."

Cordelia whispered to Xander. "Uh, why did he call him Ripper?"

Abruptly, Giles grabbed Ethan by the hair on the back of his neck and lifted him out of his chair, taking them all by surprise. "You should've left when I told you."

"Ohhhh…," Cordelia realized.

"Giles?!" cried Buffy. She'd never seen him like this before. So disheveled, so passionate. So angry.

"You put these people in danger," Giles growled at Ethan. "The people I care about."

Ethan winced in pain but not fear. "If you cared so much about them, why didn't you leave town?" he snapped, pushing Giles' arm away. "You've been having the dreams, I know. I have. We both know what's coming."

Buffy's world felt off-kilter. Where was the pause button for all of this? "What dreams?! What is going on here?!"

Ethan grinned. "Tell her, Ripper."

Buffy looked at Giles, almost frightened. This wasn't him. Giles was stuffy and boring and clever and smart and tweed – not scary. "Giles…?" she prompted, hoping maybe he'd tell her it was all a lie and that he really was the same guy she'd thought he'd been yesterday.

Before anyone could say anything else, though, Philip broke the cage door and threw it open into Ms Calendar, knocking her out. Xander quickly moved away and pushed Cordelia with him.

Giles ran for her unconscious form. "JENNY!"

Buffy put herself between Ethan and Philip and kicked him in the chest three times, forcing him back against the cage. He slid down to the floor, but got back up and came for Buffy again. Before he could reach her, his eyes went wide, he began to convulse and he collapsed to the floor next to Ms Calendar. He disintegrated into a puddle of slime. It began to spread out. Everyone stared in fascinated disgust.

Willow found her voice first. "Now, there's something you don't see everyday."

Jesse tutted. "Hope that doesn't stain the carpet."

"I'm gonna be in therapy till I'm thirty," Cordelia grumbled.

Buffy looked around, doing a quick head count. "Where's Ethan?" she demanded, running to look for him. "Where'd he go?"

"What a surprise," Jesse sighed. "Ran away again."

"Who is he though?" Xander asked. "What happened on Halloween, Jess?"

Before Jesse could answer, though, they heard Ms Calendar give a groan. They all looked and saw her regain consciousness, and Giles helped her sit up. "Are you alright, Jenny?" he asked urgently.

"Ow!" she groaned, cradling her head in her hand.

"Careful!" Giles warned, trying to help her up. "Can you stand?"

"I think so."

Cordelia shook her head. "This is what happens when you have school on Saturday." But the others gave her a stern look and she stopped talking.

Ms Calendar still looked woozy from her head trauma. "Lean on me," Giles offered, pulling her close. "It'll be alright."

She pulled away to look at him. "Promise?"

"I promise."

"I believe you." She closed her eyes and leaned on his shoulder, hugging him close. No one saw when she opened her eyes again they glowed yellow like cat's eyes.

Twenty minutes later, Giles sat at the table stroking Ms Calendar's hair as she rested her head against her hand. While the others worked on fixing the cage door, Buffy came striding back into the library. She'd done three laps around the school and one outside, but their prisoner had pulled a disappearing act.

"How's your head?" Giles was asking Ms Calendar.

"Throbbing," she replied.

Buffy approached them, frustrated. "I lost Ethan. Giles, what's going on?"

Giles glanced at her. "It's complicated, Buffy, and quite frankly, it's private."

"I don't care from private!" she snapped. "I care from dead guys attacking us. I care from you 'lost weekending' in your apartment."

"I wasn't…!" he replied before catching himself. "I was just trying to find a solution."

"Giles, share! What is the Mark of Eyghon?"

That name must've triggered something, but Giles suddenly turned fierce. "Hey!" he said abruptly, staring her down as he rose to his feet. "This is not your battle! And as your Watcher, I'm telling you unequivocally to stay out of it!"

Buffy stared at him, stunned. Even at his most authoritative, Giles never talked to her like that.

If he felt bad about it, he didn't show it. "I have to get Jenny home," he said.

"Mm. Thank you," Ms Calendar agreed. She rested her head on his shoulder as the two of them walked from the library.

Buffy went over to the others sitting and leaning on the counter, looking equally stunned. She wasn't about to stand for this, and she would make sure they didn't either. "We have work to do. Will, I want you to find out anything and everything you can about the Mark of Eyghon."

Willow nodded but looked uncertain. "I'll try the 'Net, but 'Mark of Eyghon' sounds like Giles and his books sorta deal."

"Then we hit the books." Willow headed up into the stacks, and Buffy addressed the boys. "Xander, how do you feel about digging through some of Giles' personal files and seeing what you can find?"

Xander shrugged. "I feel pretty good about it. Does that make me a sociopath? Nah." He headed for the office.

Buffy started to head for the books herself when she noticed Cordelia hop off of the counter and smile at her expectantly. "What?"

"What about me? I care about Giles."

Bemused by the idea but deciding to go with it for now, Buffy thought up a task. "Uh, work with Xander."

Cordelia's smile faltered slightly. "Well, when I say 'care', I, I mean…"

"Cordelia…"

"Okay, okay!" she sighed, heading for the office.

Jesse held up his hand. "What do you want me to do?"

Buffy crossed her arms and looked him in the eye. "I need you to tell me what you know," she said. "What happened on Halloween? How do you know that Ethan guy? And what connection does he have with Giles?"

Giles had taken Jenny back to his apartment, if only because he couldn't think of anywhere else to take her. She didn't seem to need serious medical attention, so a hospital bill would probably be unappreciated. He made a drink to help her relax while she sat on the couch, cradling her head.

"Thanks for bringing me here," she murmured gratefully. "Not quite ready to be home alone just yet." He brought her the drink, and she accepted it, taking a sip as he walked around the couch and sat next to her. "Ooo!" she said, enjoying the drink.

Giles sipped his own drink briefly. Even if she didn't seem angry with him, he still felt terrible this had all happened. "Jenny, uh… I'm so very sorry about all of this," he said, setting down his drink and taking off his glasses. "I, uh… I never meant for you to be involved in, in, uh, any of this."

Jenny shrugged. "So I got involved," she said, leaning forward. "That's what happens when two people get involved."

Giles looked at her and smiled. At least she seemed to have retained her sense of humor. He started to make a move to kiss her, but stopped himself. Something about it felt wrong, and he was a gentleman, after all. "I really am, however, gonna have to get you home. It's not, uh… I'm not a very safe person to be around at the moment."

She smiled at him. "Nothing's safe in this world, Rupert. Don't you know that by now?" She reached up and stroked his head behind his ear.

" … and so, we returned to normal, Ethan disappeared, and… well, Giles wasn't interested in sharing," Jesse said, rubbing the back of his head. "I mean, the Sorcerer character I became – he could kind of intimidate anyone with just a look, but Giles… He gave a look that saw him and raised him – er, me, I guess."

"And you didn't try to pump him for info?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"Hey, he may be a librarian and a Watcher, but he's still a friend," Jesse said defensively. "And friends don't pump friends that don't want to be pumped." He paused, confused by his own words. "I think."

Buffy gave him a look but she followed his logic. She probably wouldn't appreciate too many questions about her own past if she had one as shameful as his apparently was.

Willow's triumphant voice interrupted her thoughts. "Ah! Aha! It's not Egyptian, it's Etruscan!" she exclaimed, going over to them with her book. "Mistaken for Egyptian by the design pattern, but any fool can see it predates their iconology. Look, the Mark of Eyghon, worn by his initiates." She started reading out loud. "'Eyghon, also called the Sleepwalker, can only exist in this reality by possessing an unconscious host. Temporary possession imbues the host with a euphoric feeling of power.'"

Buffy frowned. "Yeah, but what about non-temporary?"

Willow continued reading while Xander and Cordelia joined them. "'Unless the proper rituals are observed, the possession is permanent, and Eyghon will be born from within the host.'"

Cordelia made a face. "I'm guessing eww!"

"Wait. Hey, listen. 'Once called, Eyghon can also take possession of the dead, but its demonic energy soon disintegrates the host, and it must jump to the nearest dead or unconscious person to continue living.'"

"I still don't get what this has to do with Giles," Buffy said, mostly because she didn't really want to know what this had to do with Giles.

Willow skimmed the text. "I don't know about Giles, but ancient sects used to induce possession for bacchanals and, and orgies."

Xander made a face that suggested disgust was imminent. "Okay! Giles and orgies in the same sentence. I coulda lived without that one."

"Of course, the dead guy's been reduced to a puddle of protoplasm," Jesse pointed out.

"So the demon's gone!" said Cordelia hopefully. "There was no one dead to jump into. I mean, we're all not dead, right?"

"No, no one dead," Buffy nodded unhappily.

Xander's eyes widened as he cottoned on to her line of thought. "But someone unconscious."

They all looked at each other in horror.

Giles worked in the kitchen on a cup of tea when he heard a crackling snap come from the living room. He looked up in surprise. "What was that?" he called.

"What was what?" Jenny called back.

He gathered the mugs of tea and headed toward her. She sat on the sofa by his end table – the one with the phone and the lamp. "I thought I heard something."

Jenny shrugged. "I didn't," she replied.

Deciding to put it out of his mind after this long day, Giles handed her the mug. "Here. Drink that, and then I'll drive you home."

Jenny took a sip. "You could take me home," she murmured, setting the cup down. "Or you could take advantage of me in my weakened state."

It took a lot of strength from Giles to make sure he didn't accidentally drop his mug.

Buffy frowned at the response over the phone. "Thank you, operator," she said before hanging up. "There's no answer at Ms. Calendar's, and Giles' phone is out of order. I'm gonna go over there."

She started to stride out of the library, only to notice Jesse had fallen in step alongside her. "I'm coming, too," he said simply. She probably should've argued, but she didn't have time right now.

Giles tried to move away. "Jenny, uh… I'm really very attracted t-to you."

"Good," she smiled, following him.

"But, um, now really isn't the right time."

"Oh, there's never been a better time." She pushed him back onto a chair, climbed onto his lap and kissed him hard.

Reluctantly, he reasserted his Britishness and gently pushed her away. "It's not right. I would be taking advantage."

Jenny got off of him, but her demeanor changed to frustrated amusement, and her smile turned cruel. "God, you just don't change, do you?"

Giles felt a growing sense of dread in his stomach. "What?"

"'It's not right, it wouldn't be proper, people might get hurt'," she mocked. "You're like a woman, Ripper. You cry at every funeral. You never had the strength for me. You don't deserve me." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "But guess what? You've got me." She took her head, and her voice turned deep and distinctly male. "Under your skin."

She grabbed his hair and lifted him to his feet. She kissed him roughly for a few seconds, and when she pulled back, her face had started to transform into a familiar face, including facial ridges, pointy ears, glowing eyes, and blue sores on the forehead, face, and neck.

"Was it good for you?" she growled. Before he could react properly, she smashed his head into the phone on the desk. "Aw, you never had the stomach. But that's okay. 'Cause I'm about to rip it out!"

She pulled him back, and he cried out as he staggered backward into the bar and stumbled to the floor.

The door burst open, and through his blurred vision, he could see Buffy had kicked it open before kicking Jenny – no, not Jenny – Eyghon hard in the jaw, sending her back over the couch and onto the floor. She got up again and walked around the couch, eyeing Buffy. Another figure scurried in, keeping behind Buffy while they headed for Giles, who realized after a moment the figure was Jesse, putting himself between the fight and him.

"Back off!" his Slayer growled.

Eyghon stopped and laughed that horrible laugh. "Three down, two to go. Be seeing ya." He ran and dived through the window, vanishing into the night.

Buffy crouched down beside Giles, whose injuries were already being inspected by Jesse. "G-Man, still with us?" Jesse asked urgently.

Giles' distress overrode everything else. He could feel blood trickling down his forehead, and he couldn't move his arm, but he could only reflect on how hopeless everything seemed. "Oh, Jenny! Oh, God!"

"Giles, how do we stop this?" Buffy demanded.

"Oh, God, what have I done?" Giles wailed. How could he have been so stupid? He should've known Eyghon would've gone for Jenny while she was unconscious. He should've dragged her away from Philip the moment she'd gone down.

Buffy's voice cut through his self-loathing. "Giles, you're scaring me!"

"I'm sorry – " Giles started, but Jesse gripped his lapels.

"Head in the game, G-Man," the young man snapped. "We read up on Eyghon, but we couldn't find a way to stop him. You're at the heart of this. You're our best shot."

"C'mon, we fight monsters," added Buffy. "This is what we do. They show up, they scare us, I beat 'em up and they go away. This isn't any different!"

They didn't understand. "It is different."

"Because you don't know how to stop it?"

"Because I created it!"

They both came up short at that revelation. The confusion, the fear, the look of yet more of their innocence being shredded – and he was the one to do it to them.

Xander came out of Giles' office, his expression looking deeply disturbed.

"Did you find anything?" Willow asked anxiously.

"The most meticulous banking and phone records you've ever seen," he replied, his expression still miles away. "And, um, this." He handed her a picture of a young man in a leather jacket playing an electric bass. It took a moment for Willow to realize, and when she did, she giggled.

"That's Giles?"

Xander nodded. "Apparently Giles wasn't always Giles."

Cordelia came over to look as well. "Wow, was he like in a band?"

"Once upon a time boys and girls, Giles was us."

Buffy and Jesse had gotten Giles to the couch as he told his story. Buffy tended to his injuries while Jesse fumbled with making a fresh mug of tea for him in the kitchen since the other had been knocked over in the scuffle with Eyghon.

"I was twenty-one, studying history at Oxford. And, of course, the occult by night. I hated it. The tedious grind of study, the… overwhelming pressure of my destiny. I dropped out, I went to London…" He let out a shaky breath as he came to the unpleasant part. "I fell in with the worst crowd that would have me. We practiced magicks. Small stuff for pleasure or gain. And Ethan and I discovered something… bigger."

"Eyghon," Buffy stated.

"Yes. One of us would, um… go into a deep sleep, and the others would, uh, summon him. It was an extraordinary high!" He smiled nervously at the memory. "God, we were fools."

"Guessing it got a little out of hand," said Jesse.

Giles nodded. "One of us, Randall, he lost control. Eyghon took him whole. We tried to exorcize the demon from Randall, but it killed him." He paused and shook his head, ashamed. "No. We killed him. We thought we were free of the demon after that. But now he's back. And one by one, he will kill us all."

"Three down, two to go?" Buffy asked. He nodded, prompting her to get to her feet. "Then it's going after Ethan. I better beat it there."

Giles attempted to get up as well. "We'd better."

But Buffy held up a hand to stop him, and in his weakened state, he couldn't exactly argue. "I'd better. Giles, you're barely mobile, and speed is of a serious essence here."

Resignedly, he slumped back onto the couch. "I don't know how to stop it without killing Jenny."

"I've got the guys working on it. I'll, um, try to contain it until we figure something out." She looked at Jesse, who stood in the kitchen entrance. "Take care of him."

Jesse looked grim, but he nodded all the same. "You got it."

She started to leave. "Buffy?" Giles called over. She stopped to look at him. He wondered if he looked as pitiful as he felt. "I'm sorry." For putting her through this, for endangering everyone, for breaking her faith in him, and so much more.

Her expression remained neutral. "I know," she replied, betraying no signs of forgiveness or understanding. She left.

His eyes briefly flitted to Jesse, who hadn't moved from the kitchen entrance, and he didn't look terribly forgiving either, so he let his gaze fall to the floor. A long silence stretched between them before he heard the young lad turn and return to his task at the stove. Not even a mild quip from him. Normally, Giles would consider it a blessing, but right now, it felt like condemnation.

It only took fifteen minutes for Buffy to get to the costume shop. Without all the costumes, the place looked dirty, creepy and icky. Must be all the mannequins standing around – like so many dead people.

"Ethan?" she called out as she fully entered, shutting the door behind her. "Ethan?" She thought she saw movement. Did one of the mannequins do that? "Giles told me everything. Look, it's coming for you."

"And you came to protect me? I'm touched."

She whirled around at the voice and found Ethan smirking at her. "Don't worry, it's nothing personal. To protect Giles I have to protect you."

Ethan tilted his head, looking genuinely curious. "How does Ripper inspire such goodness?"

Buffy shrugged as she started scoping out the building. "'Cause he's Giles."

"And I'm not. Still, lucky me."

"Hmm. Lucky you."

Ethan let out a sigh and gestured around the room. "Well, we can't run. Eyghon will find us. This mark's like a homing beacon." He showed her the tattoo.

"That's okay. I'm not much into running."

"Aren't we manly?"

"One of us is. You're gonna hide till it's over."

He smiled at that. "Excellent plan."

Buffy looked around a little more. No sign of the demon yet. Maybe they had some time to prepare. "Is there a way in through the back?"

Ethan looked over his shoulder. "Uh, there's a back door. It's locked. I think it's solid."

"We'll set up there. Let's go."

Ethan held up a hand. "Oh, no, please," he said, indicating she should go first. She headed toward the back, only to feel a sharp blow to the back of her head, and as she fell to the floor, she dimly saw him holding up a mannequin arm that he'd hit her across the back with, knocking her down and out. "Ladies first."

As she lost consciousness, she reflected on how embarrassing this was and hoped the gang wouldn't find out she'd been taken out by a dummy holding a dummy arm.

Giles sat on his couch for a long time, dimly aware of activity in his kitchen. He absently ran his fingers over his bandaged forehead. He needed to get his strength back. Buffy couldn't stop Eyghon by herself. She just couldn't. And he couldn't just sit here and let her fight his battles for him.

He heard a ceramic 'clink' on his coffee table, and he looked up at the sight of a hot mug of tea before him. He felt movement next to him, and he saw Jesse sitting next to him on the couch. He gestured at the tea. "All right, English – get that down ya," he said in a voice that contained barely a trace of humor.

Fighting the urge to mock American tea, Giles reached forward and silently took a sip. It was nice and hot, and also, it tasted halfway decent. He lowered the mug and smacked his lips, his eyebrows rising in surprise. "I didn't know you could make tea."

Jesse shrugged. "My grandma used to make it. I remember staying with her when I had bronchitis. Drank almost a gallon of the stuff." He paused, and then, he eyed Giles. "So… Ripper," he said at last. "I guess this is what you didn't want to talk about on Halloween, huh?"

Wincing at the nickname, Giles nodded.

Jesse clasped his hands in his lap. "I mean, it's better than the other theory I had."

"And what theory would that be?"

"That you were literally Jack the Ripper who used magic to time travel to the present to escape the police of the 1800s."

Furrowing his brow, Giles looked at him again, and he saw the nonchalant grin on Jesse's face. Perhaps it was the absurdity of the idea coupled with the stress of the current situation, but it made Giles start chuckling. He set down his mug of tea and put his face in his hands, giggling uncontrollably. He heard Jesse start laughing, too, and he felt him pat him on the knee. Just for a moment, he felt some of the tension melt away, and he felt a little better.

Jesse resumed talking through the laughter. "We all have things in our past we regret, G-Man. It doesn't diminish who you are now. You're still our bud – whether you like it or not."

Giles removed his glasses to wipe his eyes and take a breath. Regaining his composure, he stared into the mug once again, the light steam wafting up welcomingly to his nostrils. He took it and enjoyed another sip from it before putting his glasses back on. "We need to get moving. Buffy won't be able to stop Eyghon alone."

Jesse sighed. "I suppose there's no chance I'll be able to convince you you're too injured and we should just hide here?"

"None at all."

Nodding, he got to his feet. "Yeah, well, I just thought I'd mention it. Come on." He started helping Giles to his feet.

Buffy slowly woke up face down on a table with her arms tied together underneath. She could hear someone whistling jauntily. She raised her head and saw it was Ethan, setting something up that she couldn't quite see.

Ethan noticed her stirring. "Wakey, wakey. You're missing all the fun."

"What fun?" she grunted.

"Your initiation." He set down a tray of tattooing instruments, and she realized what he meant.

"You know what? I'm not real interested in joining your club."

Ethan smiled. "Too late. I already voted you in."

She struggled to get free, but he'd done a good job tying her up. Even her ankles were tied together.

"Y'know, I hope you're not taking this personally, Buffy," he continued, almost sounding apologetic. "I actually kinda like you. It's just that… I like myself a whole lot more. If you think of it karmically, this is really big for your soul." Buffy ignored him, struggling with the rope. "You know, taking my place with the demon, giving so that others may live."

"I'm gonna kill you," she snapped. "Will that blow the whole karma thing?"

Ethan just tutted. "Sweet child." He took a large ominous-looking needle and dipped it in the ink. "Now, this may sting a little just at first. But don't worry, that'll go away once the searing pain kicks in." She struggled harder as he brushed her hair away from her neck. "You can go ahead and scream if you like."

Willow took another sip of her tea as she continued to pore over books with Xander and Cordelia. "We have to figure out how to kill this thing, and we need to do it fast."

Xander read on, a little frazzled from the frantic pace they worked at. "Uh, 'hot lava.'"

Willow shook her head. "That's for a heretic."

"Oh, yeah," he sighed. "Yeah, yeah, okay." Then, he lit up again. "Uh, ooo, ooo! 'Bury a potato!'" His expression fell again. "No, that's for warts. Who writes this stuff?"

Cordelia pointed to a section of her own book. "I've got the solution right here. 'To kill a demon, cut off its head.'"

Xander rolled his eyes, unimpressed as always. "Oh, yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah! We'll, uh, find Ms. Calendar, then we'll decapitate her. Hey! She'll be the first headless computer teacher in school. You think anybody will notice?"

Fed up with him yet again, Cordelia slammed her book shut. "Do you know what you need, Xander, besides a year's supply of acne cream? A brain."

Xander got up from his chair, giving in to the madness. "That's it! Twelve years of you and I'm snappin'! I don't care if you're a girl or not, I'm throwin' down! Come on!"

Unintimidated, Cordelia got up and closed the distance between them. "I've seen you fight. And don't think I can't take you!"

"Give it your best shot!"

Willow grabbed the biggest book she could find and slammed it hard against the table, making them both jump. "HEY! We don't have time for this! Our friends are in trouble! Now, we have to put our heads together and, and get them out of it! And if you two aren't with me a hundred and ten percent, then get the hell out of my library!" she shouted, pointing furiously at the door.

Taken aback by her outburst, they look suitably chastened.

"We're sorry," Cordelia said meekly.

Xander nodded. "We'll be good," he said sullenly.

Satisfied, Willow sat down again. "Okay. Now, we've done the research. We just have to figure out how to use it."

Trying to move past the embarrassment of his outburst, Xander snapped his fingers. "Oh, hey! Why don't we find another dead body for the demon to jump into!"

Cordelia nodded, if nothing else to prove she could cooperate with him. "Yes! At the cemetery."

Willow thought the plan out. "Well, that won't kill the demon. It'll only give it a change of scenery." Then, her expression changed as something clicked in her brain. "Oh. Oh! Oh, I've got it!" she shouted, running for the phone. "I've got it!"

The others watched her go, bemused. "She's good," Xander said at last, following after her.

The excruciating pain put Buffy off the idea of ever getting a tattoo after tonight. How the hell did bikers and goths do this?! Mercifully, it stopped after a few minutes, although Buffy could've sworn it took hours.

Ethan paused to admire his handiwork. "Hmm. I think I missed my calling as an artist."

Buffy grunted as she tried to glare up at him. Maybe there was still a scrap of something human in Ethan. "Listen to me. This is a bad idea. You're dealing with something very dangerous."

Ethan rolled up his left sleeve to expose his own tattoo. "But it will get Eyghon off my scent." He picked up a bottle of sulfuric acid. Buffy drew a breath in fright. What the hell else did he have planned for her?! But Ethan smirked. "Now relax. I'm finished with you. This is for me."

Buffy felt around under the table and found an exposed screw. With Ethan distracted, she began scraping her rope against it.

Ethan steeled himself for the burn of the acid before slowly pouring it onto his Mark of Eyghon tattoo. He did his best not to scream but let out a few grunts of pain. There was nothing the man wouldn't do if it might save his own worthless skin.

Jesse helped Giles on with his jacket and got his car keys. In his current condition, the Watcher probably couldn't drive reliably, so he would have to trust the young man to not get pulled over. At the very least, he knew he had his learner's permit, and Giles was a licensed adult, so that was good enough for him.

They were just about to leave his apartment when he got caught by those wretched visions again. He nearly collapsed to the floor, but Jesse caught him in time and gently lowered him. The young man tried to shake him out of it, but he saw the visions – the Mark of Eyghon, Randall possessed and surrounded by flames, Deidre screaming, Philip's dead body smashing through a window, Eyghon-possessed Jenny making her way through town, Buffy tied to a table with that wretched tattoo on her neck…

He woke to Jesse's frantic face. "Giles! Snap out of it, man! Wake up!"

Giles gasped sharply. "Oh! Ethan… No. No!"

Jesse managed to help him up. "What? What happened?"

"I'll explain as we go. Get me to the car!"

Buffy continued cutting her ropes on the exposed screw. She was nearly through them – she just had to keep it up.

Ethan had managed to burn off his tattoo, and he wrapped his arm in a bandage. He smiled as he started to turn. "Well, I hate to mutilate and run, but…"

He trailed off, and Buffy followed his gaze to a diffuse green light shining through the shop windows and the shadow of a demon coming to the door. It opened and Jenny/Eyghon stepped in, well on her way to transforming into Eyghon.

The demon slowly approached Ethan, who stood frozen in fear. "It's your time."

Buffy was almost through the rope under the table. She watched the demon walk up to Ethan, who stood rooted to the spot, trembling nervously. It sniffed a few times and realized he wasn't not the one it was after anymore. It turned to Buffy, and the eyes glowed as it shoved Ethan aside just as Buffy got through the rope.

Buffy rolled off of the table and onto the floor as the demon lunged for her. She kicked up and flipped it and the table over and onto the floor. She winced, hoping Miss Calendar wouldn't feel that. They both got up, the demon holding the table in her hands and rushed Buffy with it, pushing her into some crates.

The door swung open, and Buffy could just see Giles barging in with Jesse right behind him. "Eyghon! Take me." The demon tossed the table aside and turned to face him. "Buffy, get out of here!"

Seeing the demon slowly advance on Giles, Buffy got back to her feet and put herself between them. "No!" she shouted.

The demon stretched its arm out at Buffy, and she went flying into a pile of boxes. It grabbed Giles by the collar, pulling him around and down to the floor. It stood over him, almost grinning. "I've been waiting a long time to do this."

As it bent down to grab Giles, there was a flash of movement through the door, and to Buffy's astonishment, Angel ran in, grabbed the demon and pulled her to the crate, banging her head into it. He took her by the neck and started to choke her.

As Jesse helped Giles back up, Willow, Xander and Cordelia ran in next.

"He's killing her!" Giles cried, trying to run to them.

"No!" Willow insisted, holding him back. "Trust me! This is gonna work!"

Confused but not about to complain about the cavalry, Buffy spotted Xander holding a hand out to her, and she let him help her to her feet. Angel continued choking the demon until, finally, Eyghon had to jump and did so, right into Angel. He dropped Ms Calendar as he got thrown back into the wall and began convulsing.

When Ms Calendar hit the floor, her face almost immediately reverted to normal again. Jesse and Willow let go of Giles, and he immediately got on his hands and knees next to her. "Jenny!"

Angel's face twisted and contorted as the demons inside of him fought it out. He got thrown to the crate and hit his head, his face goes through a few more contortions when Eyghon suddenly appeared, apparently gaining the upper hand. After a moment, though, Angel's face shifted back to normal, then back to Eyghon, then back to normal again. He got thrown back against the wall, where there was another moment's struggle, and the demon inside Angel threw Eyghon out. Without a host body to occupy, Eyghon quickly crumbled into ashes before their eyes.

Angel gasped and collapsed to the floor. They all ran over to his aid.

All except Giles, who reached out to Ms Calendar. She shifted to look at him. "Jenny!"

"Rupert…," she rasped, her voice sounding much more like hers.

Buffy, meanwhile, had cottoned onto the plan. "You knew that if the demon was in trouble it was gonna jump into the nearest dead person."

"I put it in danger," confirmed Angel.

"And it jumped," added Willow as they all got back up again.

"I've had a demon inside me for a couple hundred years…," he let out a weary sigh, "just waiting for a good fight."

Buffy smiled. "Winner and still champion."

Xander scanned the room. "Uh, I think that Ethan guy disappeared again."

"Probably ran away from me," said Jesse, grinning a little. "He's scared of me, y'know."

Cordelia shook her head. "Well, at least it's over."

Buffy's gaze drifted over at Giles and Ms Calendar, who clung to him as they walked out of the shop. It wasn't over for them yet, and she feared what this would mean for them going forward.

The next day at school, Buffy walked across the quad with Jesse, Willow and Xander alongside her. "You know what the worst thing is?" she complained, showing her neck. "I was saving up for some very important shoes, and now I have to blow my entire allowance to get this stupid tattoo removed. Let's just hope my mom doesn't see it first."

"Or Snyder," Jesse pointed out. "He's convinced you're a criminal already. There are too many stereotypes surrounding tattoos for you to take the chance."

Xander chuckled before glancing at Willow. "Putting that demon into Angel was pretty brill, Will."

Willow smiled bashfully. "I wasn't sure it was gonna work."

"Could've fooled us," remarked Jesse. "You sounded pretty confident in the moment."

"Hey!" said Buffy with an enthusiastic smile. "Maybe you should consider a career as a Watcher."

"Ohhhh, no," Willow objected, shaking her head frantically. "I don't think I could handle the stress."

"And the dental plan is crap," Xander nodded.

"I don't see how Giles does it."

They paused as they spotted the man in question walking across the quad and into the building, still bandaged from his ordeal yesterday.

"I don't think he has a choice," Buffy murmured. She shared parting words with Xander and Willow as they split off to attend their own classes, while she carried on with Jesse, who had a class in the same direction as her. At least, he said he did. He was clearly worried about her Watcher as well.

Giles hadn't heard much from Jenny lately, and while he wanted to give her space to recover from her hellish ordeal, his concern couldn't just be switched off. He needed to speak with her.

He caught up with her as she started to move up the stairs towards her classroom. "Uh, Jenny! Jenny…!" he called.

She stopped and turned to face him, but she didn't smile. "Rupert, hi."

Sensing his presence was not entirely welcome, Giles tried to speak quickly. "Uh… I… tried to call you last night, s-see how you were."

"Yeah, I… uh… I left my phone off the hook. I seem to need a lot of sleep lately."

Giles nodded in understanding. "But, but you're alright? Is… there anything you need?"

She shook her head. "Mm, no, I'm fine. I mean, I'm not… running around, wind in my hair, 'the hills are alive with the sound of music' fine, but… I'm coping."

Holding out a hope that things could be salvaged between them, he continued. "I would like to help."

"I know."

"Perhaps we could, um, talk sometime, um… dinner, or, or a drink? When you're feeling stronger."

She nodded distantly. "Sure, sometime." He reached out to her, but she took a backward step up and away from him, drawing a deep breath that made him wish his hand would just wither and die right there. "Yeah. Sometime." She paused. "I better get to class."

Withdrawing, Giles tried not to look like he'd just been told to go to hell. "Yes, of course." He watched wistfully as she went up the stairs. Once she was out of sight, he looked down sadly, and after a moment, he started to go to his library.

He heard footsteps and looked up to see Buffy and Jesse walking up to him, their faces full of concern. "Hey," Buffy said as they rounded a corner and stopped. "Is she okay?"

Giles didn't know what to say. "Um… The hills are not alive."

The two teens looked at each other in confusion before Jesse spoke again. "Just give her time, man. She needs space."

"I don't think she'll ever really forgive me," Giles sighed. "Maybe she shouldn't."

"Maybe you should," said Buffy.

Giles looked at them, then looked back at his shoes. "I never wanted any of you to see that side of me."

"Well, yeah," said Jesse, "I mean, truth be told, seeing it was kind of…"

"Scary," Buffy supplied.

"Yeah, scary," he agreed. "But, that's what it is – a side of you. It doesn't make you any less 'Giles' to us."

Giles looked back at him, and he saw the earnest smile on Jesse's face. "Perhaps," he said quietly. "Thank you for your help yesterday, Jesse. Perhaps I should've been more trusting of you on Halloween."

Jesse's smile almost widened, but he kept it under control. "Perhaps. But then again, you needed to see that side of me first." He nodded to them both before walking off to class, leaving him alone with Buffy.

After a pause, she spoke. "I'm so used to you being a grownup, and... then I find out that you're a person."

"Most grownups are."

"Who would've thought?"

"Some are even, uh… shortsighted, foolish people."

Buffy shook her head. "So, after all this time, we finally find out that we do have something in common. Which, apart from being a little weird, is kind of okay."

Giles smiled a little. Despite Jenny's distance, at the very least Buffy and her friends would still be willing to let him in despite learning about his unsavory past.

She cleared her throat. "I think we're supposed to be training right now."

Reasserting his inner-grownup, Giles straightened his glasses. "Yes. Yes. Um, need to concentrate on your flexibility."

"And you know what? I have just the perfect music." She held up a black CD and grinned as he visibly blanched at the sight of it. "Go on, say it. You know you want to."

It took a moment, but he took the bait. "It's not music, it's just, uh, meaningless sounds."

She smiled. "There. Feel better?"

"Yes. Thanks." They headed into the next hall toward the library. "Bay City Rollers. Now, that's music."

"Oh, god…," she sighed in an I-don't-know-you tone of voice that almost made him laugh.