A/N As I've noted before I'm trying to flesh out the details of compentant Council. In canon, no mention is ever made of the Watchers Council and governments being aware each other's efforts to fight the supernatural, but the Watchers Council, when they come to do the review during the Glory incident, do imply that they have considerable political clout. They misuse it in their efforts to control Buffy and Faith, but a competent Council would use those resources to help the Slayer, right?
Syg, yeah I read the blurbs and reviews regarding the reboot comics and had zero interest in reading further and yes, Joss could have used the opportunity to finally tell the story the way he wanted to from the beginning, but chose not to, for whatever reason.
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"Mr. Giles, perhaps you could explain to me exactly why you failed to tell Mrs. Summers of her daughter's status as the Slayer?" Sam Zabuto glared at the other man.
"Secrecy! Do I need to spell it out for you, Mr. Zabuto, the Slayer works in secret!"
"You allowed her friends to know, her classmates, but you couldn't allow her mother to know? Since when are parents not informed of their child's status? By what reasoning could you possibly justify keeping her mother in the dark about her being a Slayer?"
"I was under the impression that secrecy was supposed to include everyone! If I could have kept her from having friends I would have, but she is an extremely stubborn child!"
"We don't keep it a secret from the parents, that has never been the policy of the Watchers Council! Kendra's parents were well aware of the fact that she was a Potential, they gave her into my custody believing I would do everything I could to keep her alive. The policy is usually to raise them apart, to immerse them in study and training, which I'm now questioning because of the studies Mr. Harris informed me of, but it has never been the policy to not tell the parents. Mr. Giles, Miss Summers' mother was already targeted once by a vampire and nearly died, by leaving her ignorant you're continuing to endanger her and by extension the Slayer you're supposed to be guiding! How can you not understand that?"
"I fail to understand how I am endangering either of them!"
"You can't possibly be that stupid, if one vampire could talk her way into the house and lay a trap for the Slayer, so could another! While most vampires are little more than cannon fodder for the Master Vampires, the Masters become Masters because they're more intelligent than the cannon fodder! You left your Slayer and her mother vulnerable to attack! How can you not see that?!"
"That was not my intention, besides the woman previously had her daughter committed when Buffy spoke of vampires before, what is to say, she wouldn't attempt such a thing again?!"
"Mr. Giles," Sam Zabuto struggled to hold onto his temper, but was dangerously close to losing it. "Miss Summers had no one to help her then, Merrick was dead and the Council couldn't find her. She couldn't figure out how to present convincing proof that wouldn't endanger her mother! Surely you understand that? But the Council has resources that a lone child does not, not to mention contacts with the government that can help us explain the matter of the supernatural to Mrs. Summers and her daughter's role in it! Why have you not called on those resources to help you?"
"The Council works in secret too! We don't need outside help!"
"It's not outside help, Mr. Giles, the governments of the world are aware of the supernatural and have their own methods of combating them. The United States founded the Initiative during WWII, remember? Because Hitler intended to use the supernatural against the allied forces! We can and do, help each other, we have to or it would be extremely difficult for our hunter teams to deal with problems. You had options, you chose not to use them! And in doing so, you endangered your Slayer! It's your job to help her survive and you left her vulnerable and that is unacceptable!"
"I have done everything I can to keep Buffy safe!"
"You can't possibly expect me to believe that, do you? You accepted help from a vampire, against Council policy, without once bothering to prove or disprove his claims. You did not verify the authenticity of the Pergamon Codex when said vampire brought it to your attention. Instead of notifying the Council that you supposedly had the Pergamon Codex in your possession, you attempted to study it yourself and even when you found what you believed to be a prophecy about your Slayer, again, instead of notifying the Council, you called the vampire! The very same vampire that was willing to let her die at the hands of the Master, claiming to be too afraid to do anything. When the curse proved true and was broken, you did not have the disinvite spell done on Miss Summers' or Miss Rosenberg's homes, not until after the vampire began to taunt them nor did you have it done on your own home! Or how else could the vampire have been able to deposit a dead body in your bed?"
"I barely remembered that spell even existed!"
"It's one of the first spells a Watcher in training learns! Aside from allowing Miss Summers friends you seemed to have done everything wrong that you possibly could do wrong! Your own actions and choices have endangered your Slayer's and her friend's lives repeatedly! This Angelus situation could have happened with any vampire, because you left them all so damn vulnerable! And there is no excuse for any of it, Mr. Giles!"