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by Chris Kenworthy (scoobyhq@fcmail.com)
Disclaimer: I hereby disclaim any ownership of the characters from the show, including Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, and Oz.
A light blue mid-size sedan slowly caught up to Willow in the street behind her. "Willow?" a woman called from the driver's seat. She was just getting into middle age, quite pretty with light hair.
"Uh, who are you?" Willow asked.
"Oh, sorry, we haven't really met yet. I'm Miss Johnson - Celia Johnson. Your friends met me yesterday... they didn't happen to mention, did they?"
Miss Johnson... hmm, wait - Xander had mentioned something about meeting Giles' ex at the school, last weekend not yesterday, but he had said "Celia." Good enough. "Giles' Celia?" Willow confirmed.
"Uh, well, yes. I'd like to talk to you about something. Can we go somewhere for breakfast? You've got some time before first class I believe."
"Yeah, I was going in early," Willow said, and pondered breakfast restaurants. "There's the Summertime River cafe just up a bit."
"Okay," Celia said with a smile. "I'll follow you."
(At the S.H. Library.)
"Give it up, B," Faith muttered through gritted teeth, as she continued her energetic attack with the bokken, a wooden samurai practice sword. Buffy parried each attack expertly with her own bokken, but Faith was keeping her too busy to counterattack and each interchange brought Buffy ever so slightly closer to the edge of the mat Giles had laid out, and the defeat that would be hers if she set foot off the mat.
But, as Giles watched Buffy, he suddenly came to realize that she was trying to lull Faith into complacency - Buffy could make her counter at any time, or defend herself without giving up ground, but she knew that she couldn't defeat Faith unless the other let her guard down. Sure enough, at the very last moment Buffy's sword darted out, tagging Faith in the thigh. A countered body-check and footsweep later, and Faith was lying on the mat on her back, and Buffy's sword was marking the point between the younger girl's ample breasts.
"Advantage, Miss Summers," Giles called out with a smile, signalling the end of the contest. "Well fought, both of you."
"Not too bad, honey," a new voice called out from near the door. "You shouldn't have let her draw you off your guard, babe," the mysterious stranger told Faith, "but you did well otherwise."
"Jonny!" Faith said, scrambling to her feet.
"Um, who... this is..." Giles mumbled.
"S'okay, Giles, I don't think we need to put on the disguises," Buffy told him. "Jonny Hardcastle is a vampire hunter too, I believe."
"Guilty as charged," the british gen-X-er confirmed, walking towards the Watcher with his hand outstretched, his wide smile revealing flawless white teeth. "Mister Giles, I presume? It's a pleasure to meet you; William Littlefield told me a lot about you."
Giles' mouth dropped in the middle of his handshake with the charming rogue. "How do you know William Littlefield? Or did you know, I suppose."
"Through Karen Kimball," Jonny said cryptically. Giles' face flickered with recognition, but before he could respond, Faith broke in.
"I met up with Jonny in Chicago last winter... we were both goin' after a handful of mafia vamps..."
"Last winter??" Giles broke in. "But... but that's before you were called, Faith."
Faith gave an apologetic shrug. "Yeah, so? Mrs. S. knew I was born to slay when she found me two years ago. Once you know they're out there and that they have to be stopped, it's kinda hard to wait for a green light from the 'Mystical Forces from Beyond.'" Giles' face was impassive. "I kept myself safe until I had the Slayer strength, Mister Giles. That fact that I'm still alive is proof of that."
"Uh, yeah, well, it's still quite irregular-" Giles trailed off uncertainly. "But I can understand why you felt you had to take action."
"So, Mister Giles," Jonny put in, trying to break the tension. "Have you ever heard of the Brotherhood of the Bat??"
(In the Summertime River cafe.)
"So," Celia began once her toast and Willow's pancakes had been delivered to their table. "I, uh, well, they, uh, they told you about Giles and me? About our connection??"
"Uh, yeah," Willow agreed a little uncertainly.
"Well, I'm here, in part, to see if you'd be interested in following in our footsteps."
"Huh?" Willow tried to understand this. "As what, an ex-fiancee?"
"What??" Celia whispered back. "You... how did you, ohh! You heard about me from Xander, instead of Buffy or Faith, right??"
"Uh, yeah," Willow whispered back.
"I see. No, I'm not wondering if you're interested in being an ex-fiancee; the fewer of those in the world, the better, as far as I know." Celia lowered her voice even further. "Willow, I'm a Watcher too."
(Back in the library.)
"Hey," Oz said, coming through the library door. Giles, Buffy, Faith, and some new guy were all looking in books. "Research party? What's the subject this time?"
"Batty vampires," Buffy told him.
"Cool. Where's Willow??"
"Uh, she hasn't been in. Care to try your luck in Vampire legends and lore?"
Oz shrugged. "Why not." As he began to head further in, Xander pushed through the door behind him.
"Willow's not here," Oz told him flatly.
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