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Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry for the long wait in updates - they should be more frequent now!!
Part Eight



A/N What's in italics is Giles' flashback to the conversation.







With a sigh Giles closed the seventh book of the night and pushed it away. He couldn't understand it. They knew what time Buffy and Spike had been transported too and that they met with a Watcher and Slayer in the 1870's. The information should have been in one of these books.



Unless....



The name had sparked off the memory of the Watcher's disgrace. Maybe there was something in the diary that could explain Spike's strange behaviour towards the Slayer. Everything up till now had led Giles to believe that the Vampire was nothing more than a remorseless killer, feeling nothing for anyone other than himself.



Something about a soul?



Or a conscience.



Or even, a theory on the nature of the very demon that animated William The Bloody's body.



Yes, this indeed would be more than reason enough for the council to hide the manuscript....but not necessarily destroy it.



Even the Council, as set in their old ways as they were, knew the high statistical probability of an imminent apocalypse being averted through one text or another, regardless of how controversial.



They would, however, have no qualms about hiding the information until they deemed it pertinent.



He knew someone...back from his Oxford days. They had some access to confidential texts. He couldn't imagine why they wouldn't be able to gain access to this one. If they would agree.



Now, all he had to do was find the number.



Giles finally looked up from his self-induced daze to his wreck of an office.



"Oh....bugger."



---



An hour later Giles emerged from his office once more, "Uh, does anyone have an idea as to where I might have placed an old phone number?"



"Umm....address book?" Book Willow suggested with a frown, glancing around the room to see if anyone else had an idea.



"Who's it for?" Buffy asked.



"An old friend...one who may know the whereabouts of the Watchers' diary." Giles explained. "I do think it might be quite important as to the whereabouts of this demon and the consequences of your time-travel....I-if that indeed is what happened."



"You think we might not have gone back in time?" Spike asked, intrigued as it had occurred to him too.



"That’s impossible - we were there and it certainly wasn't Disney Land." Buffy put in confidently.



"Well, the idea of an alternate universe or dimension has crossed our minds...." Giles seemed to go off in to his own little world again.



"What about directory enquiries? They have numbers, right?" The group looked shocked at Xander's pretty good idea.



"Uh, yes...I don't know why I didn't think of it before." Giles mumbled, retreating back into his office.



"Hey, I do more than go for snacks you know." He smiled, fake-offended.



"Yeah, sometimes it's a whole meal."



---



Giles carefully replaced the phone back in its cradle. With a sigh he removed his glasses and began polishing them. Needless though the exercise was it calmed his nerves somewhat.



The good news was that Richard should be able to lay his hands on the diary in question.



"I don't know, Rupert, it'll be tricky."



"I understand that. It is of the up most importance that we can study this diary."



"We?" Richard queried.



"There a-are some....uh, civilians who aid my Slayer in her calling." Giles admitted.



Richard laughed, "Really old man? I heard that your Slayer was a bit of a...handful."



Giles allowed himself a smile, "Yes....but nevertheless she is one of the best in her line. I believe that there is something in the diary that could change an awful lot over here."



"Isn't there always?" Richard asked sarcastically.



"Quite. So, you think you can do it?"



"Like I said, it'll be tricky, but I should manage it."



The bad; he was going to have to travel to England himself to retrieve it.



"One problem." Richard admitted.



"Yes?"



"The Council....they've been watching me rather closely since the Angelus incident."



"Whatever for?" Giles frowned, trying to ignore the pang in his heart that screamed 'Jenny'.



"You remember the manuscript you requested concerning Acathla."



"Yes, you said they were not under...oh, I take it there were not in easy reach?"



"Not exactly. It was less my taking them, more my passing them on to you. Your Slayer has....quite a reputation. Not unlike your own." Richard teased lightly, trying to move his words to a happier subject.



"What's the problem?" Giles asked, unable to be swayed from his quest.



Richard sighed, knowing he wasn’t going to be able to get out of this. "I don't think it would be safe for me to send them to you over the Internet."



"Probably for the best, I hate that infernal contraption!" Giles scowled at the machine in question.



"You never change, Rupert." Richard laughed, then sobered. "I need you to come to England. I should be able to get them out of the council but..."



"I understand. How soon can you get your hands on them?" Giles asked, already making up a mental timetable.



"I need a couple of days. Can you be here by Friday?"



"Yes. Where do you want to meet?"



"Not at my home. You understand, right?"



"Of course, what about the pub near the docks?"



"It's now a gay strip club." Richard explained wryly.



"Good lord! Is nothing sacred anymore? That pub was a piece of our heritage!"



"I'm afraid when you left you took its main source of income with you, if you remember correctly!"



Giles smiled dryly. "Very funny. Where else?"



"Do you remember 1982?"



"Vaguely."



"I mean that night, in November."



Realisation hit. "Ah."



"Good. Midnight."



With a sigh, Giles reached for the phone again, preparing to make the necessary travel arrangements. England was not somewhere he wanted to be right now. Who knew what the implications of this demon were? And also, though he had reprimanded Xander, he too had misgivings about Spike.



What father wouldn't?



"Oh lord, please don't let him start calling me 'Dad'!"


TBC...
A/N: Please do review!





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