The mood in the room following Xander’s abrupt departure was very much subdued, as each of them tried to come to terms with what had just happened. There was no doubt that they all knew exactly where the Slayer stood regarding her mate, and the entire situation, at this point.
Whether or not they were capable of dealing with that, remained to be seen – but all of those gathered in the Summers’ living room were at least willing to give it a try – if only for the sake of their relationships with Buffy.
Some – with better motivations.
Giles tried to focus his thoughts enough to respond to the question that Buffy had just asked him. After all, he *had* come to the Summers’ house with a specific intent in mind – one that did *not* involve the unexpected rant that his Slayer had proceeded to subject them all to.
“Yes – of course, well – I only meant to inform you of some – very vital information I have received concerning the Council, and…”
“I do not *believe* this!” Buffy exploded, rolling her eyes and throwing her hands up momentarily in exasperation. “How can you even begin to trust the Council at all, after everything that’s happened? I do *not* want their advice, or their help, or anything to do with them, ever again!”
“You may change your mind once you have heard what I have to say,” the Watcher remarked calmly, eyebrows raised in speculation as he added in a soft, controlled voice, “That is – if you’re finished, and I may now freely finish a sentence?”
Buffy lowered her eyes, feeling a bit embarrassed now by this last in her series of outbursts – though she did not regret a single one of them. She knew that she was right, and the things that she had said had *needed* to be said – many of them for a very long time. She only found herself hoping, now that her temper had been assuaged a bit, that her words had not been too much, too soon, for her friends to bear.
“Yes,” she agreed cautiously. “Within certain limits. If you’re about to say anything negative about Spike, or me and Spike being together – then I’d still really rather not hear it. But if it’s anything else – feel free.”
The Watcher let out a long, heavy sigh of relief, before beginning again quietly, “Thankfully, it has little to do with that particular topic. I do believe we’ve all had quite enough of it for one day, thank you. No, I think that, at least in part, it’s something you may actually be pleased to hear.”
“Well, won’t *that* be nice for a change.” The Slayer’s sarcastically muttered words, and the disgusted roll of her eyes, revealed just how doubtful she was of the truth of her Watcher’s words.
“The Council should no longer pose a problem for you, Buffy,” Giles insisted, his expression and voice serious as he sought her gaze again. “From here on out – they should be functioning much as I have always believed that they should have – as your advisers – assistants – protectors – but not in any way attempting to exert power over you, Buffy…”
Her silence – the dubious expression on her face – made her disbelief and suspicion very clear – though she couldn’t quite bring herself to voice it, now that some of the steam had gone out of her rant. Now that she was thinking a bit more calmly, she really did not want to give her Watcher any more verbal harassment than she already had.
Spike, on the other hand, never had had any problem with the art of verbal harassment.
“So – in the past twenty-four hours,” he finally spoke up in a skeptical tone, after spending the duration of the conversation mostly keeping quiet, “the bloody Council of Wankers has completely changed into a completely different organization under totally different leadership and with completely different motivations for what they do? They’ve basically become a bloody new Council – is that what you’re saying, Watcher?”
“Precisely,” Giles replied quietly.
*That* got the attention of everyone in the room – especially the startled Slayer, and her disbelieving vampire mate – neither of whom had expected Spike’s half-sarcastic assessment of the situation to actually be the truth.
“What -- *are* you saying – precisely?” Buffy asked finally in a slow, cautious voice, holding her Watcher’s gaze warily. Then, after a moment’s consideration, she added with new understanding, “Giles – what did you do?”
The Watcher looked away for a moment, before taking a deep breath and launching into his explanation.
“I’ve taken care of the problem, Buffy.” He paused, before going on in a slow, cautious voice, “I used a – a combination of magic, and – and other resources that are at my disposal. I – I am not the only one in the Council who disagrees with the way Quentin Travers saw things.”
Buffy’s eyebrows shot up dubiously – but it was her mother who actually spoke up, stepping toward the Watcher, her arms crossing over her chest as she pointed out in a defiant tone, “I thought you were in support of Quentin Travers. You thought he ‘only wanted to help’ – until he blew up the mansion, thinking we were all in it!”
The expression of guilt and regret that went across Giles’ face at those words almost made Joyce feel bad – but not quite – as the older man looked away again, his eyes downcast as he quietly explained.
“The fact that I did not think him capable of such a heinous crime – that I still believed that he had the best interests of the Slayer at heart – does not in any way mean that I agreed with him on every matter.”
Giving them a moment to take that in, he raised his eyes, focusing them on Buffy’s, though everyone left in the room was focused on him.
“I have felt for some time – since – well, at least since your eighteenth birthday, Buffy – that the way the Council handled the Slayer and their service to her, would have to be changed. It was at that time that I truly became aware of just how dangerously outdated and foolish many of their customs have been – and it was then that I began cautiously, subtlely, searching for signs that someone else in the Council might feel the same way I do.”
“What about your eighteenth birthday?” Joyce frowned, addressing her question to Buffy – who avoided her gaze.
“The Cruciamentum,” Spike answered softly, his eyes focused on the Watcher in a deadly cold glare. He knew exactly what Giles was talking about – knew much more than that about a Slayer’s traditional rites of passage – but it had not occurred to him until that moment that Buffy had already been through the barbaric, and often tragic, ritual.
“What’s the Cruci – the…what is that?” Dawn asked, a fearful look in her wide eyes as she looked between Buffy, Spike, and Giles, trying to understand what it was that was making them all look so troubled and upset.
“Yes, Buffy – what is that?” Joyce persisted.
“We’ll talk about that later,” Buffy said firmly, keeping her gaze focused on Giles. “It’s over and done. Right now there are more important things to talk about. Giles – you were saying you – looked for someone else who didn’t support Travers – did you find someone, then?”
Giles nodded slowly, his expression serious. “I did. A fellow Watcher, who lost a Slayer, about ten years ago, due to – to the Council’s – tests.”
Buffy knew by the guilty expression on his face that the “tests” he was referring to were in fact *one* test – the Cruciamentum – but the Watcher knew better than to mention a Slayer’s being killed by it, just now, when Buffy’s family was so curious about that very thing.
She nodded slowly. “So – he took your side. What did you do?”
“Nothing, right away. We discussed what changes we felt should be made in the traditions of the Council, but there did not seem to be any way of making it actually come about – not anytime soon. But still – I knew that I had an ally on the Council, should there ever come the opportunity to do something to change things.”
He was quiet for a moment before going on in a quiet, even voice, “Then – Travers tricked me – convinced me that he wanted to help you with this situation – and then had the mansion blown up – and I knew…”
“Knew – what…?” Joyce asked, her voice barely over a whisper, her expression stricken as she took in the sick, troubled expression on the Watcher’s face.
Giles could not bring himself to answer for a long moment, before he finally replied in a low, barely controlled voice, “Travers had no intention of allowing Buffy to live.” Above the soft, shocked reactions of those listening to his explanation, he continued, his voice rising slightly, “Even once the Slayer was brought back under control – once he had made an attempt on Buffy’s life – there was no way that he could let her live – no reason for him to back down, given the extent of his resources, until he had done exactly what he had set out to do…”
“Eliminated the uncontrollable Slayer that he never really liked in the first place,” Buffy finished for him, her voice low and grim, her eyes wide and focused on some point beyond Giles, as she tried to process once again how near she had come to death – not at the hands of a vampire or a demon, but at the hands of the very Council that was sworn to serve and protect her.
“Precisely,” Giles agreed in a calm, controlled voice, not looking up at her as he added softly, “And that was when I knew – that whatever else happened in this situation with the Slayer – Travers could not be allowed to steer the Council any longer.”
A moment of shocked silence followed his words, and Buffy frowned, shaking her head slightly in confusion. Before she could say a word, Joyce gasped softly, her eyes widening as she looked up at the Watcher with shock.
“You planned to…to…”
“Kill him,” Spike interrupted, a dark satisfaction in his voice, a gleam of approval in his eyes as he nodded at the Watcher with a grim smile. “As any thinking man would have, knowing what a threat he was to Buffy.” He waited until Giles met his eyes before adding with mild sarcasm, “You’ve just about earned your way off my list of people deserving to be eaten, if I ever…”
Spike never really remembered afterwards if it was his sudden remembrance, or Buffy’s sharp elbow to his ribs that silenced him then, as he suddenly recalled the fact that the chip no longer controlled him. He had become so accustomed to not being able to kill, to fight at all, that it seemed second nature to speak of “if he ever got the chip out”, even now.
But the chip *was* out.
And although Buffy knew that her Watcher already knew that, she hardly thought it wise or appropriate for Spike to be talking about his recent desire to eat him – even if he *was* partly joking.
She quickly steered the conversation back on topic, as a frown of confusion creased her brow. “But – you didn’t kill Travers. Spike did – when he was about to shoot me…”
“Yes,” Giles conceded, nodding slowly, not quite meeting her eyes. “Quite convenient for all concerned – wasn’t it?”
As understanding dawned on Buffy, her eyes widened – and she wasn’t sure which she felt more – chilled and troubled by the darkness that she had never really realized was such a part of her Watcher’s make-up…or grateful and filled with a warmth of affection for him, for how far he had been willing to go to protect her.
"So -- what happens now?" Joyce asked quietly, her own voice gentled as she addressed Giles, her own gratitude shining in her eyes. She knew that she would have done no less than Spike had done, or than Giles had planned to do, if placed in their positions -- but it filled her heart with a sense of warmth and security -- and forgiveness -- to be reminded of just how much the man cared for her daughter.
"Yeah -- Travers is dead -- but that doesn't mean it's over," Buffy realized aloud, giving Giles an anxiously questioning look. "I mean -- the Council will send people looking for him -- won't they? They'll -- they won't just take this lying down. They'll retaliate."
"Only if they are aware that there is something that requires retaliation," Giles pointed out, a dark glimmer rising in his eyes as he smiled slightly. "Of which they will not be. That has already been taken care of, my dear."
"How?" Buffy frowned, not understanding at all. “I know that Travers and the two that he brought with him – but how could you possibly have gotten the rest of the Council off our backs?”
“Again, Buffy – with a bit of magic, and a bit of underhanded deception,” Giles replied, a small smile on his lips, though his eyes were intent and serious. “My associate at the Council is, fortunately, one whom Travers held in close confidence. As soon as I knew what Travers had tried to do at the mansion, I contacted him immediately, and we concocted a plan. I – told him what I believed needed to be done…”
“And he just – went for it?” Buffy’s voice was skeptical, her wide eyes doubtful and unsure as they searched his. “Just *accepted* that it was the best thing to kill the head of the Watcher’s Council?”
Giles hesitated a moment, before reminding her softly, “Travers had already cost my associate’s Slayer her life. He was more than willing to assist me in making sure he didn’t do the same to mi – to you, Buffy.”
She was quiet for a moment, nodding slowly in acceptance as he went on.
“My associate drew up a document, and quite expertly forged Travers’ signature to it, declaring that if anything should happen to him, he wished his successor to be none other than my associate, and left it in a sealed envelope on his desk, with a note to open it if he had not returned by this morning. He also – using magic, so as not to have his efforts detected – removed certain necessities from Travers’ possessions, so as to make it appear that he had intentionally left the country for longer than the length of time he had previously told the Council.”
“So – you made it look like he skipped out, then – but why would the wanker take off? The others wouldn’t believe that – not with the position he had on the Council...” Spike objected, puzzled.
“Well – my friend *also* forged certain documents which he ‘accidentally’ found – implicating Travers in various illegal activities…true, it’s caused quite a stir in the Council that will last for some time – but hard, factual evidence doesn’t lie,” Giles answered with a secretive smile.
A slow smile spread across Buffy’s face as she realized what he had done. “So – you faked his disappearance – gave him a reason and everything – and set the person in his place that’s right for the job…”
“But what about the two men who were with him?” Joyce asked, frowning with concern, an expression in her eyes that said she was almost sure she was going to regret asking.
“I left them alive,” Giles assured her, his voice soft. “Let the one in the desert go, with instructions not to return to the Council – and then went back to the hotel and released the other one, did the same…” He paused, before admitting quietly, though his eyes glinted with wicked amusement, “…but not before performing a bit of a forgetting spell – blocking the events of the past few days from their mind, and – er -- *suggesting* -- the ideas that my associate and I had led the rest of the Council to believe were true.”
“So – the Council *has* completely changed overnight, then,” Buffy concluded, with a sigh of relief. “They’re really not gonna be giving us any trouble, anymore, are they?”
“No,” Giles assured her, shaking his head. “Not with my friend in power there. In time, he should be able to return them to performing their actual purpose.”
“Wow – that’s incredible!” Buffy exulted, growing more excited as the impact of the news sank in. “You know, that almost makes up for all the stupid things you’ve done the past few days, Giles!” The teasing note in her voice was tempered by the steely look in her eyes, making in clear that she was only partly joking.
“Er – good – I think,” Giles replied, a bit uncomfortably. “But – Buffy – that’s not all I had to tell you…”
“Is the rest as good as your last news, because if it is, you just might break even,” she smirked.
“Well – I’m really not sure if it’s – good or bad, Buffy,” the Watcher began hesitantly. “But it – it concerns one of the mysteries of this whole solution – with perhaps – some answers? But – perhaps it would be better if we – discussed this privately?”
He only glanced at Dawn for the barest fraction of an instant – but the girl did not miss it.
Immediately she moved forward, her wide eyes intently searching the Watcher’s expression, almost desperately. “It’s about me, isn’t it?” she asked, her voice trembling with apprehension. “About why I could do the things I could? About why the Slayer said I – wasn’t real? You can’t not tell me about this! I have to know!”
“Dawn – dear,” Giles began gently, his expression sad and apologetic, “I believe it might be wiser…”
“*No*!” Dawn insisted. “Mom!” she turned to her mother desperately. “You have to let me stay! I have to know!”
“Go ahead, Giles,” Buffy said suddenly, stepping back and putting her free arm around her sister’s waist, an intense strength in her eyes as she squared her shoulders and prepared herself for his revelation. “She deserves to know the truth, too.” She paused, looking at her mate beside her, and her sister on the other side, and then to her mother who stood protectively hovering behind them.
“We’re a family,” she stated firmly. “And I don’t care what it is you have to say – whatever it is – we’ll deal with it *together*.”
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