… Yes, it’s all a question of timing … “He” always had it, and over this last year he refined it to an art ...
Buffy stood in front of the gaping expanse that had been Sunnydale and as the words of the group washed over her she watches the sign tumble onto his grave. Yes, even after he has gone he still knows how to remind her of their history. Timing – always his speciality, yet not for her. It’s not surprising that he didn’t believe her words – He would have thought it was her way of letting go … of letting him at least hear the words he has always wanted, that he had always said. Yet if she had only had the courage to say the same 3 little words the previous night … but in trying to keep the peace that was between them she hadn’t wanted to say anything at all. She had loved him in action and in thought, thinking that it was enough this time. Thinking – next time – I shall say the words as well – Timing – She got it wrong again.
Was it minutes, hours, days later that Buffy came to realisation that she was no longer in America? Time drifted past as she tried to come to terms with her monumental loss. A loss she could share with no one as they were all moving forward while she stayed lost in a moment in time in a deserted house :-
*You are the one, Buffy*
Time passed while she tried to realise that no longer was she THE ONE, but part of an army. Even the Scooby gang was changing, time was evolving the group – new members moving in whilst others moved away or were lost for ever.
Some things never change though! The Council of Watchers was being re-formed. Giles, with his sense of impeccable timing, told the survivors who had tried to settle in LA with Angel, that just before the final explosion Quentin Travers had written to him with details where much of the money was banked. So to London he headed, taking with him any of the girls who wanted to formalise their training. Many of the girls, however, headed home – there were problems all over the world, but with the new Council organization the girls knew that they could always get back-up when needed.
Faith decided to stay in the USA and headed for Cleveland. She and Buffy realised that they understood each other better. They had at long last discovered that both their similarities and their differences were what being The Slayer was all about. Robin, amazed everyone by persuading her to travel from LA to Cleveland via Las Vagas; and so the girl who felt that she couldn’t be committed to anyone for longer than a night became a bride. When she was later asked “Why?” she said that the time was right!!
Kennedy stayed with them, but Willow decided to travel to London to help with the co-ordination of The Council. They didn’t make a conscious decision to split, merely that their relationship had been one of timing … they had both felt the pressure of the forth-coming apocalypse, but they now had the time to re-discover themselves.
So to London the group headed, to a beautiful building near Trafalgar Square. The ground floor had four large rooms, which were converted into one large lecture hall, two large training rooms; and the other being divided to make three smaller training rooms. There was a large basement with an efficiently run cafeteria as well as a bar area and a couple of lounges. The first floor had a comprehensive library, with internet connection; as well as a conference room, a few offices and a couple of small seating areas. The next three floors had bedrooms and bathrooms for those girls doing their training. Whilst on the top floor were the “family” bedrooms – Those for Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Xander, Giles and (of course) Andrew. In time Giles knew that he would be able to buy the adjoining building to have more classrooms and bedrooms, but this could wait until the initial plans were set into practice.
As time slowly passed things gradually came together. There was no problem for the alterations as money was plentiful. Sadly this led Xander to think that he was not really needed, so after a few weeks he headed back to Cleveland, hoping that in doing so he would feel useful, and that Anya would be proud of him again.
A couple of months after arriving in London Giles called them all to the Conference Room to begin to make some real plans as to the training schedules, both for Buffy and for the actual lessons that would be taught at the school. He knew he would have to work hard to re-gain her trust, but also realised that she was letting her life drift. So without mentioning Spike he decided to try to get her physically fitter, thus hoping that she would then become emotionally fitter.
“Let me officially open this first gathering by welcoming you to The Council of Watchers …”
“Giles – Do you have to?” Willow interrupted “I am just glad Xander isn’t here if this is all this is going to be about”
“I am sorry, Willow, but I just felt that the time was right for us to have a full and formal start to this new stage in the history of the Slayer”
“But we know what is happening, and why …”
“This is so exciting. Don’t listen to her, Giles” interrupted Andrew “Can I record this so that future generations will see how we forged ahead through all the tensions…”
“ANDREW” stormed Dawn, Willow and Giles; whilst from Buffy still the silence continued. As ever it was as if she wasn’t there … no she was still caught in her personal moment of time …
*You are the one, Buffy*
“Let’s have some silence, please”. While the rest were settling it gave Giles a chance to yet again clean his glasses while studying Buffy. His thought was that of the serene picture she actually portrayed – like that of a Madonna in a Renaissance Cathedral. “Right, now let’s get back to business, if that is OK with everyone.” Giles paused to give the group a chance to settle and to re-focus.
“It has been about 3½ months since Sunnydale was destroyed and at long last we are getting some stability and focus …” Buffy had listened to the beginning of his comments when she realised that it was yet another Giles-speech, so let herself zone out again.
*I am glad he is happy; I know I caused him some grief over the 7 years. But how can he be so vague, I mean, it is 108 days, why doesn’t he know that? Wait – did he say 3 months … No … He must have that wrong … * Buffy stood up suddenly surprising everyone, especially Giles who was in the middle of a sentence!
“Sickness …. Months … Time” and with that she rushed out of the room
Tbc