Spike went back downstairs to the basement, deciding it would be best for everyone if he stayed as far away from the Slayer as possible, and Buffy headed towards the staircase and Giles's office.
"He doesn't want to be bothered," Nancy said coolly, her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the wall and started Buffy down.
"I'm not bothering him. I'm going up there to discuss the crisis at hand," Buffy replied with more than a little annoyance.
"There is no crisis at hand," Nancy said. "This is you trying to play him, trying to turn him against the Council—and me. Spike put you up to this."
"You have no idea what you're talking about," Buffy snapped. "No idea at all." With that, she stormed up the stairs, refusing to even look back at Nancy.
When Nancy saw that Giles allowed Buffy into his office without complaint, her eyes narrowed.
"Anything helpful in the journals?" Buffy asked Giles as she flopped down in one of the overstuffed chairs in his office.
"No, not much, really," Giles replied, taking off his glasses to wipe his eyes. "Much of the entries before Joyce's death are quite vague. I'm assuming to keep Howard out of trouble with the Council, should they have gotten a hold on them." Giles coughed into the side of his fist. "Buffy, was there something other than the journal entries that lead you to believe it was the Council who had Joyce murdered? Not that it isn't all but spelled out here, but… I suppose I'm having a hard time accepting that the Council would do such a thing."
Buffy was silent for a moment, surprised at herself for not telling Giles about Mack. But then again, the night before had been an unsettled one, and she'd been thrown by the reappearance of Angel. "Spike found this vampire who claimed he was the one who actually killed my mother. We got it out of him that he'd been approached by three rough-looking men with British accents who told him the Slayer would be drugged and where he could find her that night."
Giles swallowed hard. "That does sound like…"
"A Council wetworks team?" Buffy finished for him. "I know, Giles. I was raised by a Watcher for twelve years. I wasn't clueless about everything, even if Howard thought I was. I also know that the Council has ways of drugging Slayers, taking away their powers."
"True, but the process takes several days and weakens the Slayer gradually. There is no sign in the journals of Joyce being weakened prior to her death," Giles replied. "Furthermore, she mentioned nothing to me at the time of feeling weak. We spoke every day. She would've said something."
"So the Council has something that can take down a Slayer quicker. Come on, Giles, would you honestly put it past them?"
Giles thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. I wouldn't. I'm not… Buffy, I believe it was them. The evidence certainly appears to point that way, and they had a motive, albeit a disturbing one. It simply that I…"
"Don't really want to?"
Giles lowered his eyes and nodded. "Yes."
"Yeah, I know, Giles. Me, too."
"I feel…"
"Horribly betrayed?"
"Yes." Giles stood and poured himself a brandy.
Buffy watched him for several moments as he drank from his glass. She didn't regret her decision in coming here, and not only because she wanted a way to get closer to the Council. Spike had been so comforting and good to her through all of this, but she was glad she had Giles, too. He could understand what she was going through in a way Spike couldn't, because Giles was going through the same thing. Both of them had been horribly betrayed, and in that betrayal had lost someone they both loved. The betrayal and the loss of Joyce were something only the two of them could truly share.
Buffy knew they both needed some sort of closure as well. They were united in their pain and united in their need to make things right.
"Giles, do you have an idea who on the Council would've had it done? Who would've been in charge of it?" Buffy asked.
His hand tightened around his glass, and for a second Buffy was afraid it was going to shatter in his hand. "Yes, Buffy. I do."
"Share?"
He took another drink of his brandy, then looked at her. "Quentin Travers. He's the current Head of the Council, and became so shortly after your mother's death. Before that, he was essentially the acting head since the actual leader of the Council had been ill for quite sometime, but it was not official, and he had no guarantees that he would become the Head once the current one passed on."
"Would my mother's death gain him a leg up in that?" Buffy asked.
"Yes. The Watcher of the Slayer who was Called following Joyce's death was a personal friend of Travers. While I was…on sabbatical…at the time, I would not be surprised in the least if that was used to garner Travers favor."
"Do the Watchers have any power of who gets Called?" Buffy asked.
"No, none at all," Giles replied, shaking his head. "Although I know several wish they did. But the next Slayer was, like your mother, found only after her Calling. Her Watcher was assigned after she was a Slayer."
"And this Travers guy assigned his friend, giving him more power over the Council and the Slayer." Buffy shook her head. "God, some people really disgust me."
"Me as well. Buffy, what do you want to do about all this?"
"I'm not sure," Buffy admitted. "Part of me is all 'revenge now, grr…' but I know that's not practical. We have to prove beyond a doubt it was Travers, and then we need to decide how to handle him. Although right now, I'm thinking feeding him to Spike would be fun."
"I wouldn't be adverse to that," Giles replied before downing the rest of his drink.
Buffy took one look at his face and knew Giles was completely serious.
"I'll start trying to find out what I can," Giles said after several moments of silence. "It might take a while, though, I can't…"
"Call him up and ask, 'hey, ever had a Slayer killed?' I know, Giles. I'm all prepared to be proceed-with-caution girl."
"Good then," Giles said. He poured himself another drink. "You are of, course, welcome to stay here as long as you would like to. However…"
"Giles, I'm not going to be anywhere where Spike isn't. I can't."
"I'm well aware of that. I've never before seen a mated couple firsthand before, and I had wondered if perhaps vampire mating rituals were no more than myth, but I have studied what is available on them enough to know that separating you from Spike would be nothing short of impossible. My concern, however, is what his habits will be while he remains in Sunnydale."
"Spike isn't feeding off live humans anymore," Buffy replied, knowing exactly which of Spike's "habits" Giles was referring to. "It's one of the areas where he's had to make major concessions in order for us to work."
Giles met her gaze and held it. "Can you promise me that, Buffy? Can you give me an absolute guarantee that I will not be harboring an active killer in my home?"
Buffy's stare didn't waiver. "Yes, I can."
"I'm putting a lot of trust into you here."
"I know. It's not misplaced."
"See that it isn't."
Buffy rose to her feet, knowing they'd said all they needed to say to each other for the time being. "I'm going to go check on him now."
Giles gave a slight nod, and Buffy took it as her cue to leave.
Willow paused at the top of the stairs to the basement. She felt a bit like an intruder, and wondered if she should just turn around and go home. Buffy had been in the basement with Spike for most of the day, and Willow wasn't sure how that sat with her. Nancy had been convinced they were plotting something evil, and while Willow didn't think she'd really go that far, the idea of holing up in a basement with a vampire all day did sorta give her the creeps.
But on the other hand, she liked Buffy. She seemed like a really nice girl, and Willow thought she seemed like she needed a friend. Furthermore, when Willow was completely honest with herself, she wasn't sure how much she truly liked Nancy. Xander had met her first, and had continued to want to hang around her even after he learned she was the Slayer. Willow then did what she'd done since kindergarten and went along with Xander.
At first, Nancy had seemed like a good friend. And if some days she was a little terse and hard to be around, Willow could cut her some slack. After all, being the Chosen One had to be a difficult job. But as time went on, Willow began to see just how mean Nancy could be. She'd tried to talk about it to Xander, but he'd hear none of it. He was completely convinced Nancy was a goddess from the heavens. He also seemed completely oblivious that she was doing nothing but stringing him along. She threw him just enough of a bone to make him stick around, but Willow had noticed the only time Nancy ever got all flirty with Xander was when she thought he wasn't paying her enough attention.
Willow didn't even know why Nancy wanted all of Xander's attention anyway. She had Angel and their little angst fest. Willow would've thought that would've been enough for Nancy, but apparently, Xander had to pine after her, too—to the detriment of the friendship he'd always had with Willow. Willow had already been growing tired of it all and after the whole thing with Angelus, she'd only grown more so.
"Uh, Red? Are you going to stand at the top of the stairs all day or did you actually want something?"
Willow jumped at Spike's voice, making a little "eep" sound as she did. Right, vampire hearing, and smelling, and whatever else vampires had. Of course he'd known she was there while she was having her little inner monologue moment. "I, um, wanted to talk to Buffy," Willow called out. "Can I come down?"
"Sure," came Buffy's chipper reply, and Willow felt instantly better about being down there. Willow walked down the stairs, stopping right beyond the foot of them and turning towards Buffy and Spike. They were sitting up on the side of the cot, Buffy's arm wrapped around Spike's and her head on his shoulder. Willow suppressed her grin at the sight. They looked, well, really cute.
"Nancy left to meet Angel for patrol and Xander went home, and well, I was going to go home, but then I thought about you down here, and now I'm being all rambley when all I was really going to do was ask if you wanted to come upstairs and watch a movie with me or something." Willow let out a deep breath. There, she'd said it.
Buffy glanced quickly up at Spike, who responded with a soft smile. "Go on, luv."
"You can come, too, if you want," Willow said to Spike, fiddling with her hands nervously as she extended the invitation.
Spike shook his head. "I'm all right down here. You two go, do whatever it is girls do when they're alone."
"Okay," Buffy said. She kissed his cheek. "Let me know if you need anything."
"I will, sweetheart."
Willow found it hard to remember that this was the same guy who'd spent months trying to kill them all. Now he was all sweet, like a domesticated kitty. Willow glanced over at him again and amended that. A domesticated lion. How gentle and loving he was with Buffy aside, one look at him and the way he carried himself made it very clear he still had his fangs.
"Okay, let's go see if there's anything good to watch," Buffy said to Willow as she got to her feet.
Willow gave Buffy a warm smile, and they went up the stairs together.
Just a quick note about Nancy to respond to some of the reviews I've been getting. While she may have followed a similar path to Buffy's on the show, Nancy is not merely a stand-in for canon Buffy. Facing similar events does not make two people the same person, and Nancy is, personality wise, different from Buffy. So don't think that Nancy wouldn't do something because canon Buffy wouldn't or that a character wouldn't react to Nancy a certain way because they wouldn't have to canon Buffy. They're different people and are not meant to be interchangeable.
Also, I wanted to remind everyone that voting has begun in the Sunnydale Memorial Awards. There's a lot of good stories and authors from all over the fandom nominated, so go check it out: http://sunnydawards.dragonydreams.com/
Please remember to review!