Watchers Council

Chapter 22

“Did Alex get to the airport OK?” Buffy asked as she handed a yawning Willow a mug of tea.

“Uhuh” Willow nodded and yawned again. “Sorry” she looked sheepishly at the others as she sipped her tea.

“When we said you were to keep Alex out of our way we didn’t really mean you had to keep her locked in the apartment all weekend” Xander smiled indulgently at her.

“I expected to see the limo still parked outside your place when I picked you up this morning” Dawn giggled and avoided a glare from Willow.

“Perhaps we could get started?” Giles suggested dryly and accepted his own tea from Buffy. He waited till everyone was seated and glanced round them all. He was reminded of similar occasions, years before, when they used to congregate in his apartment and sprawl all over his furniture while trying to figure out how to get rid of the monster of the week. “I understand that Faith and the others didn’t come upon anything on their patrols this weekend?” he looked towards Buffy.

“Nope” she shook her head. “But then again the bait wasn’t out and about to be stalked” she grinned and turned to stare at Willow.

“Faith was watching us?” Willow shifted uncomfortably. “I’m not sure that’s much better than the weird guy” she frowned and clenched her mug a little tighter.

“Xander how did you get on with the personnel records?” Giles tried again to keep to the matters at hand.

“Everybody who started or finished with us around that time were guys I’ve worked with before and I don’t recognise any of them as the video nasty” he shrugged. “The main construction was winding down about then and most of the out of town people were long gone”

“Nobody recognised the picture?” Buffy turned to Dawn.

“Not really” Dawn shrugged and pulled her notebook from her bag. “A couple of people thought he reminded them of someone they’d seen before but no names”

A silence settled over them. Giles cleared his throat a moment later and everyone looked towards him. “I think the best way to deal with this is to mount a wide perimeter surveillance operation where we keep a watch on everyone who comes near the campus” he looked specifically towards Willow. “It will mean you having to be a bit more visible to try to draw them out”

“We have three weeks till Alex is back and I’ll do whatever I need to, before then, to clear this up” she sighed. “I’ve been checking the timetable you drew up on the letters and I think he wrote a few of them around the times when I visited the local magic shop”

“You think he works there?” Xander suggested.

“Or lives nearby” she shrugged. “Whatever, I’ll be stocking up again real soon and hopefully that will give us something to go on”

“We’ll include the magic shop in our surveillance” Giles nodded and looked at his watch. “I need to go into the office to sort out the teams and plan a schedule for them” he leaned towards Willow and put his hand on her knee. “I won’t let anything happen” he said quietly and she looked up at him, keeping eye contact for several moments.

“Damn right” Xander agreed. “Nobody will get anywhere near you” he promised as everyone stood up to leave.

*****

Willow and Buffy were walking towards the park when Willow yawned again. “Sorry” she mumbled.

“No you’re not” Buffy rolled her eyes. “Honestly, I’m really happy for you, I just wish John hadn’t been away this weekend” she smiled. “How was the limo?” she grinned as Willow blushed. “That good, huh?”

“Let’s just say Gus got an overtime bonus and a very large tip” Willow giggled.

“He deserved it for putting up with Xander’s funny traffic cop act” Buffy shook her head. “I thought you were going to disappear him to Timbuktu before you realised what was happening” she smiled at the memory of Willow’s furious glare.

“I thought he was just being a goofball and I really wanted to be with Alex” Willow remembered. “He is pretty lucky that you showed up and I suddenly cottoned on to what he was up to”

“Faith and I totally missed the fake driver plot” Buffy admitted and sat down on one of the benches. “Alex didn’t suspect anything?” she checked as Willow sat down beside her.

“Nope, I think I managed to distract her, as agreed” Willow tried to keep the grin from her face but failed dismally.

*****

“You don’t need to come in with me” Giles reminded Dawn as they walked towards his office. “This is still a holiday”

“I know, but it’s like Willow said the other night, we can’t take a vacation when there’s evil to fight” she nodded seriously.

“You should have that put on a t-shirt as our slogan” he grinned and they enjoyed the warm spring weather as they strolled towards the campus.

*****

The seven people he had phoned before leaving his apartment were waiting for him in his office when he arrived. “I’ll get the coffee” Dawn suggested and everyone found somewhere to sit down. He waited for the bustle to die down before looking round the expectant faces. Two men in their thirties were staring at him with interest, they knew that he wouldn’t have called them in unless there was something unusual happening. The five girls were watching him as well but with barely disguised excitement. He smiled slightly and explained the circumstances that he needed their help with. “Essentially this can’t be an official Watcher’s Council operation” he explained once he had laid the facts before them. “There is nothing demonic about this, sadly it is an all too human foe”

“I understand what you’re saying, but we can still use the resources of the Council to help the investigation?” Ross asked.

“Of course, the considerable skills of Willow and her team will be utilised to try and track this person down” he stopped as he saw Ross looking uncomfortable.

“Perhaps Willow shouldn’t be involved in finding him?” he suggested and looked uneasily at the other young watcher sitting next to him before turning back to face Giles.

“Ms Rosenberg is our most valuable asset in this particular area of research and she understands completely that this is a surveillance operation only. Nobody is to engage the subject when we find him” he kept eye contact with Ross and waited for him to back down before turning to include the others. “If anyone feels they cannot trust Willow in this matter then they are free to leave” he waited for a few minutes, letting the silence become uncomfortable before nodding slightly. “As you’ll be patrolling during daylight hours, I would suggest you form small groups, but I’ll leave you to work out the details” he nodded and waited for them to leave before standing and looking out at the grounds.

“They don’t really know her, maybe they have a right to be concerned” Dawn said quietly as she closed his office door behind her.

“I know but I need them to believe in her so that she can begin to believe in herself” he sighed and sat on the edge of his desk. “I suspect Alex didn’t want any of us involved in this situation because she was afraid of Willow’s reactions” Dawn nodded her agreement. “And I think that Willow is probably even more scared and allowed herself to be sidelined because of her belief that she might not be able to control herself if someone threatened Alex”

“That makes sense” she continued to nod. “Was that what this morning was all about?” she asked as she remembered the exchange from earlier. “You told her you wouldn’t let anything happen and Xander assumed you meant something happening to her?”

“Yes” he said quietly and turned away. “Willow understood that I wouldn’t let her lose control”

“Could you stop her?” Dawn asked just as quietly and looked concerned when he didn’t answer her immediately.

“On my own, no I couldn’t” he shook his head and took his glasses off to rub his hand across his eyes. “However, I think she might be able to help fight the dark forces herself and together we may be able to stop them taking her over completely again”

“That would get my vote” Dawn said quietly as she stood up and went back to her desk.

*****

Several days passed and the campus settled back into a normal schedule of classes and training. Buffy wasn’t teaching so she went on patrol with Faith every night. Although she would never admit it, had missed her and they enjoyed their verbal sparring almost as much as their physical sparring. Willow managed to concentrate on her work and Alex had no idea that there was anything wrong during their regular phone calls. Xander had meetings with the contractors who were finishing off the building works on site. Despite his move to work on another project he was still in overall charge of the main Campus buildings. Mr Smythe took great pleasure in proving that he had managed to cope in Xander’s absence but also admitted that he missed him. They were talking in Xander’s old office, about the future works planned for the coming year, when Xander suddenly banged the table and stood up. “Say that again” he ordered and took a step towards him.

“What?” Alexander sat back in his chair and looked concerned at this sudden change in demeanour.

“What you just said” Xander waved his hand in the air.

“We’ll need to look at getting some security guards back as the number of petty thefts have increased?” he finished with a perplexed look on his face. “I don’t think it’s anything too serious, just some hand tools and a small amount of materials” he thought Xander was worried about the losses.

“No” Xander shook his head and grinned. “The security guys” he said and slapped Alexander on the back. “I’ll see you in the bar later and remind me that I owe you a large one” he strode out the door towards Dawn’s office.

“Security guards” he announced as soon as he entered her office.

“Handcuffs” she shot straight back at him and grinned as he stared at her. “We aren’t doing the word association thing?” she asked.

Xander finally got what she meant and grinned as well. “When we checked the personnel records the other day, did it include the temporary security company that we hired for the building site?” he waited for her to call up the information on her screen.

“Of course” she mumbled as she stared at the information scrolling in front of her. “That’s how he would know the layout of the place”

Xander lifted the print out from her printer and sat down on the sofa to scan through it. “I don’t recognise any of these names, did we take photos for their security badges?” he looked up to find Dawn staring at her screen with her tongue sticking out a little.

“I can’t access that from here” she frowned.

“Willow” Xander nodded and headed towards her office. “Danny, is Willow around?” Xander asked. “I’ve just checked her office and she’s not there”

“Try the gardens” Danny suggested without looking up. “She said she needed some fresh air”

“Can you get me the picture ID’s for these people?” Xander gave him the list. “Also, who would have the paper copies of their application forms?”

“This is about Alex’s stalker?” he finally noticed Xander’s concerned face. “Dawn told me what was happening, give me half an hour” he assured him on Xander’s nod and lifted the phone.

*****

“Willow” Xander said quietly before he reached her. “What’s it like to be out during the day?” he grinned as he sat down beside her.

“I still haven’t forgiven you for the limo thing” she turned to hnd pnd put down the book she had been reading. “I need to pretend that I’m still mad at you, I’m supposed to be bait, remember, you shouldn’t be hanging around looking all protective” she whispered.

“OK” he whred red back at her. “I think I’ve got a lead” he murmured while trying not to move his lips and sitting further away from her with his arms folded.

“What are you doing?” she turned to laugh at him. “A lead?”

He shook his head. “I’m being stealthy and pretending that we’re fighting” he sighed dramatically. “Come on, I need you at the pc”

She followed him back into the main building and pulled his arm to turn him towards her as soon as they cleared the front door. “What?” she begged him.

“Alexander reminded me about the temporary security guards we had at the building site” Xander started and kept walking towards her office. “They weren’t listed on the personnel records and Danny’s searching for photo’s handhandwriting samprighright now”

*****

“What did I miss?” Buffy asked as she closed the door to Giles’ office half an hour later.

“A hairbrush?” Dawn suggested and everyone tried to avoid eye contact and stifle the laughter.

“Dawn Summers” Buffy growled at her and struggled in her bag for a mirror. “” sh” she mumbled under her breath and tried to run her fingers through her hair to resolve the very obvious bed hairstyle she was currently sporting. “You said it was urgent” she pointed accusingly at Xander and threw her mirror into her bag in disgust.

“I also told John that we would wait for you” Xander held his hands up in his defence.

“Could we get to the matter in hand?” Giles nudged Willow as she giggled next to him. “Xander, perhaps you could bring us all up to speed?”

“So why would he be dumb enough to get caught on camera?” Faith asked when Xander had finished explaining the route that led them to the list of suspects. “If he was a security guard then surely he’d know where they were and avoid them?”

“The cameras were installed after the building site contract was terminated with that security company” Dawn checked a file in front of her. “He might have noticed some of the cameras but quite a few of them are hidden and he co’t k’t know all of the locations”

“I think I’ve got this working” Willow said quietly and Xander turned out the lights while Giles adjusted the screen hanging on the far wall of his office. “The left hand picture is the one Kerry managed to clean up from the video image and the pictures from the security badges will appear on the right” she explained and settled into her chair before clicking her mouse to bring up the first comparison.

“He’s a possible” Faith mumbled at the third picture and Dawn nodded before putting a notation beside the name. “And him” she pointed a moment later.

“Can do tdo the same thing with the handwriting?” Giles asked.

“Gimme a minute” Willow’s tongue peeked out of the corner of her mouth as her fingers flew over the laptop keys. “Again, the left hand side is one of the envelopes and the right is the ‘previous experience’ box of the application form”

Buffy blew out a deep breath after they had picked several of the application forms as similar to the handwriting on the envelope. “Any pictures and forms match up?” she asked Dawn as Xander switched the lights back on.

“Yes” Dawn said quietly and flicked through another file to retrieve the original application form. She handed the papers to Willow who took a deep breath and flexed her fingers.

“Give me five minutes” she looked up at the others and they dispersed to find coffee and snacks. “You can take a break if you wanhe she said quietly to Giles when he didn’t moved from her side.

“I’m interested” he leaned in closer to try to see what she was doing. “What are we checking first?” he finally admitted defeat in following her actions.

“Register of voters and address details” she mumbled and waited a second for a page to appear. “The name and address match up” she nodded before turning to glance at him. “But we already checked that much when he applied so we’ll look for phone records next” she smiled at him. “You do know this is completely illegal?”

“I will of course express my outrage if the authorities inform me about your flagrant disregard for the law of the land”assuassured her seriously and pointed to the screen. “Can we check bank records next?” he smiled and they both stared at the laptop screen.

“I just checked the map and he lives within two blocks of the magic shop” Dawn popped her head round the door of his office. “I’ve put a call out for the surveillance teams and they’ll meet you in the boardroom in an hour”

“Thank you Dawn” Giles glanced up at her before turning back to the laptop. “What is that?” he pointed to a regular deposit into the back account they were checking.

“It looks like a salary payment” Willow suggested as she scrolled through several months. “Always paid on the same date and always the same amount” she leaned back for a moment and crossed her arms. “What on earth is he working at now to earn more than I do a month?” she scowled and looked towards Giles. “Unless you are paying me less than the going rate for a contract security guard?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Hardly” he shook his head. “Can we trace where the payments are coming from?” he checked his watch. “How sure are we that he is the one?” he asked quietly.

“He seems to be the best candidate we’ve found so far” she looked towards him again. “Once I’ve finished here we could work out some way to dangle the bait and see if he bites” she suggested and waited for his nod before turning back to her screen.

*****

“Absolutely not” Willow and Buffy both said firmly at the same time. “We keep Alex out of this completely” Buffy continued and glared at Ross.

“I’m not suggesting we get Alex involved” he sighed and explained again. “I’m suggesting Willow could put a glamour on one of our slayers to make them look like Alex”

“Perhaps we can keep that in mind if our other options don’t work out” Giles suggested as he saw Willow frowning and working up a head of steam. “Willow” he said and waited for her to make eye contact before continuing. “I think your suggestion that he is keeping a watch on the magic shop is our best opportunity to draw him out”

“If we can let him overhear a conversation then we can plant information without him ever suspecting” Buffy agreed and checked her watch. “The magic shop will be closed by now so we have all night to work on this before dropping by tomorrow morning” she looked towards Giles and saw him nod slightly. “I’ll do the usual patrol with Faith tonight and the rest of the teams will keep up their normal pattern as well, if he is watching us he can’t suspect that anything is different” she turned to see Willow scowling at Ross again. “Will, I need you to stay at Giles’ place with him and Xander tonight” she waited for the red head to give her full attention. “That won’t appear too out of character and I don’t want you on your own again till this guy’s dealt with”

“How exactly do we deal with him?” Ross asked, well aware that he was treading on thin ice but also aware that the topic had to be discussed.

“Willow and I have a lead on some very large payments he has been receiving recently and we are trying to track down the payee in the hope that we can gather evidence of criminal intent” Giles informed them all coolly. “Once we have enough evidence it will miraculously appear on the desk of the local authorities and his removal to a secure location will be up to them”

“What do we think he’s up to?” Xander asked and tried to diffuse the situation developing between Willow and the watcher. “It’s not as if anyone gets paid to be a stalker”

“The sums are quite considerable” Giles realised Willow wasn’t in the mood for rational discussion on this and decided to wrap the meeting up. “We’ll have a better idea once we have tracked down where the payments are coming from” HE looked around the room. “Buffy, can I see you and Faith before you set out on patrol, the rest of you are free to go” he nodded to the two watchers and saw them accept the situation with some reservations.

“Red’s looking a bit twitchy” Faith said as she sat down next to Giles. “Will she be able to sit this out till the cops deal with him?”

“She will” Buffy nodded with certainty and looked directly at Faith. “Any problems with that?” she asked aggressively and heard Giles sigh.

“Hey B” Faith held up her hands in defence and shook her head slowly. “I’d vote for her to get ten minutes alone with the perv but if you think she’s holding it together then I’ll take your word”

“I need you to do something for me tonight” Giles walked towards the corner of the room and the two oldest slayers looked at each other before following him. “Do you think you can manage this without anyone seeing you?” he asked after several minutes of explanation.

“Will you bail us out if we get caught?” Faith asked him seriously.

“I would hope it won’t come to that” he turned to see Xander and Willow deep in conversation. “I’ll let Xander and Willow know once we’re at the apartment, I don’t want either of them to get involved”

Buffy rested her hand on his arm. “Tell Willow I’ll come by your place tomorrow morning, early” she waited for his nod be fol following Faith out the door.

*****

“He isn’t treating it lightly” Xander sighed. “He’s just worried that you might have a conflict of interest” he explained patiently.

“Surely we all want the bad guy to stop threatening me and my girlfriend” she stared at him. “I don’t see any conflict, do you?”

“Willow” Giles said quietly and noticed Xander’s grateful glance as she turned to look at him. “Please stop scaring my Watchers” he said solemnly. “There aren’t very many left and I can’t exactly advertise for any more”

“Sorry” her shoulders dropped and she ran her hands through her hair. “I know he’s only trying to help” she took a deep breath. “Do you want to finish the research here or back at your place?” she asked and nodded when Giles suggested his place.

“I’ll get my stuff” she turned and walked slowly towards her office.

“We need to finish this soon” Xander said angrily. “Why can’t I just go round tonight and beat the living daylights out of him?” he stared at Giles and flexed his fingers.

“If we haven’t made any progress by the weekend I promise you can have first punch” Giles put his arm round Xander’s shoulders and led him down the corridor.

*****

“Everything’s fine, I’m just having a pizza and video night with the guys” Willow leaned against the counter top in Giles’ kitchen. “Of course not” she giggled and waved to Xander as he passed the kitchen door. “Come and tell Alex we’re not watching porn” she handed him the phone and turned to check on the microwave.

She turned back a few moments later to find Xander leaning against the wall with a huge grin on his face. “I’m sure Giles would accept your personal recommendation” he nodded and listened some more before laughing. “In a skating rink?” he asked incredulously and shook his head as Willow indicated she wanted the phone back. “Ear muffs?” he wiped the tears from his eyes and turned away from Willow to keep the phone out of her reach. “Can you Fedex a copy?” he laughed again before shaking his head. “Will’s about to have a coronary, I’ll speak to you later” he handed her the phone and lifted the bowl of popcorn.

“Alex?” she listened for a moment, a blush starting slowly and finally reaching her ears. “Please don’t tell Xander about stuff like that, now I’ll have to put up with him for the rest of the night” she giggled as Alex spluttered at the other end of the phone. “You know what I mean” she finally managed to get out around the laughter. She listened for a few more minutes, a soppy grin stuck on her face. “Can they manage without you?” she asked and the grin suddenly dropped from her face. “Perhaps you should stay and keep an eye on them” she said seriously and felt her stomach churning. “Of course I do but I don’t want you to miss important work stuff” she gripped the edge of the table. “Don’t be silly, I’ll pick you up on Saturday afternoon” she tried to make her voice sound happy but only managed slightly less panicked. “Yeah well, I’ll just have to put off the orgy with the Swedish twins” she swallowed nervously. “I love you too, see you soon” she stood staring at the mobile for a moment before turning and throwing it across the kitchen.

“Willow?” Giles asked as he stood at the kitchen door, watching her clench and unclench her fists.

“Alex is coming home on Saturday” she snarled at him and looked round for something else to throw.

“But I thought she was away for three weeks” Giles said mildly and moved to lift the phone from the backdoor where it had landed.

“She had a chat with the girls and they think they can manage on their own!” she growled and blew out a breath. “After all the times I wished she was here, now I just want her on the other side of the world”

“What’s up?” Xander stood in the doorway, looking towards Giles.

“Can’t you phone Laurie and tell her to keep Alex there?” he suggested when Giles explained the problem.

“She’s not stupid” Willow spat out and closed her eyes to try to regain control. “She picked up that I didn’t want her back and if Laurie changed her mind now she’d know I was up to something” she said in a slightly more restrained tone.

“She’d probably just think you were seeing someone else” Xander shrugged and took a step back as Willow’s eyes flashed in anger. “Hey, it would only be until we got rid of the guy then you could make up”

“I think we should just plan on clearing this up before she gets back” Giles suggested ruefully and handed her the various parts of the phone. “And you’ll need a new one of these” he looked at her and shook his head.

“Damn” she turned and dropped the pieces onto the worktop before going to the sink and splashing some cold water on her face. “Let’s get started” she said determinedly and stalked to the living room and her laptop.

*****

“He has an ISP account” she quickly wrote down a series of numbers. “If I can access the server I can probably hack into his home pc” she glanced up at Giles and looked a little sheepish. “You probably don’t want to know, do you?”

“I think we’re past the stage of plausible deniability” he sighed and reached for some more popcorn. “While you’re working on that, I need to tell you about plan B” he munched on the popcorn for a while.

“I thought beating him up was plan B?” Xander mumbled from the sofa.

“We’ll call that plan C, if you don’t mind” Giles took his glasses off and stretched. “Buffy and Faith are busy stealing some equipment from the construction site” he announced and finally put his glasses back on to see them looking at him in bewilderment. “You told me that Alexander wanted to get the security guards back and I’m just giving him a better justification” he shrugged. “When he discovers the loss tomorrow morning and asks me to allow the expense for the security, I’ll have no choice but to agree”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Xander asked in a hurt tone. “I’d have been more use to them than I am here”

“Xan” Willow looked up from her screen and sniffed a little. “I need you here” she said quietly and smiled a little weakly as he stood up and came to hug her. “Besides, who else would compare porn with Alex?” she smiled as he pulled back and wiped the tears from her face.

“Perhaps we can get back to the illegal invasion of privacy?” Giles suggested with a shake of his head.

“So we’re hoping he’ll come back to work with the security team?” Xander sat down across from Giles.

“I would think the opportunity would be too good for him to miss and I’ll make a point of asking for the same employees as they’ve already been through our clearance system” he pulled the application form towards him. “Which reminds me, when this is over with, we need to work on our clearance system” he sighed and the two men watched Willow concentrate for five minutes.

“Why don’t you go and watch some TV?” she finally mumbled without looking up. “I don’t really like having an audience” she waved them away.

“Tell that to the two hundred people who saw you kissing Alex at the dance last weekend” Xander said over his shoulder and saw her grin before turning to a smiling Giles. “You weren’t much better” he said to the older man and shook his head.

*****

“You should get some sleep” Giles mumbled three hours later as Xander yawned again and blinked several times. “I don’t mind waiting with her” he nodded towards Willow.

“I do have the meeting tomorrow with the union guys” he rolled his neck and yawned again. “You’ll come get me if anything happens?” he checked and stood up. “Will, do you want me to get some beauty sleep for you too?” he looked over her shoulder at the screen.

“Hey, remember all those beauty contests I won?” she grinned then groaned as she straightened in the chair.

“Here, let me” Xander slowly kneaded her shoulders and neck. “Better?” he asked a couple of minutes later as she stood up to stretch her back.

“Much, why can’t you get a woman with magic hands like that?” she grinned as he shook his head and headed to the spare room.

“Perhaps this will help as well?” Giles placed a mug of coffee in front of her and pulled out a chair next to her. “Where are we?” he pulled a pad and pen closer. “So whoever is paying the money into his account is being very careful to cover their tracks?” he clarified her explanation of the money trail she had been following.

“Anyone else would probably have given up by now but I’ve got a few more tricks I can use” she yawned and put the coffee mug down. “You don’t need to wait up, I’m not going to be much company anyway” she smiled.

“Nonsense” he grinned back. “I hardly ever get the chance just to relax and read a book” he reached behind him to the overflowing bookshelves.

“You could always set up a card index for your library” she giggled and looked around the room at the books piled haphazardly on several bookcases and shelves.

“Perils of living with an English teacher” he sighed and peered at the title of the book he had chosen. “I haven’t read this in years” he smiled fondly and settled down to begin The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Willow studied her screen for a moment before beginning another search for the corporation she had traced the last payment to. Several hours later she was startled out of her concentration by a low chime from the laptop and a message alert popped up. “Danny?” she said quietly and glanced across at Giles as he lay snoozing in the chair. “Of course I’m still awake, what are you doing in the office at this time of night?” she messaged back and sat back to take a sip of her coffee to wait for his answer. “Eeuuwww” she grimaced as the cold coffee hit her throat before sighing. “No you can’t call me on my mobile, it’s out of commission” she replied and added Giles’ home number. She had just lifted his phone to the table when it rang. Quickly picking it up and checking to see if Giles was still asleep, she whispered his name into the receiver. “No, everything’s fine, I just don’t want to wake Giles up” she assured him. “Of course not!” she said indignantly in a louder tone and Giles snuffled in his sleep. “He’s fallen asleep reading a book at the table and I’m still trying to run down the money”

“Willow?” Giles looked around him grumpily before finding his glasses. “What time is it?” he asked.

“Four am” she sighed. “Give me a minute Danny” she put the phone down and stood up. “Come on, you need to get to bed” she sighed and helped him stand up before following him to his room.

“What on earth is Danny doing on the phone?” he mumbled as she pushed him gently and he sat down on the edge of the bed.

“He was working at the office and he’s just about to help me” she sighed. “Now get to bed and no more arguments” she waited with her hands on her hips to see that he kicked his shoes off and pulled a blanket across himself. “Sleep tight” she whispered to his already sleeping figure and returned to the dining room. “Sorry Danny, I just needed to put Giles to bed” she sighed and cleared the screen saver from her screen. “OK here’s what I’ve tried so far” she began an explanation of her progress to date.

*****

“Tea or coffee?” Giles asked and yawned again.

“Coffee all round I think” Buffy smiled at him and took the kettle out of his hand. “When did the party finish?” she asked as she hunted for his coffee.

“Over there” he pointed to a cupboard and sat down on a stool. “It wasn’t a party and I think Willow sent me to bed about four” he ran his hands over his face again and winced as a door slammed. “Xander’s got a meeting he’s running late for” he explained.

“I’ll check in later” Xander peeked round the corner before waving and slamming the front door behind him.

“God knows what time Willow finally gave up” he yawned again, almost dislocating his jaw with the effort. “I wish I could remember how I managed on so little sleep when we were in Sunnydale” he leaned on the kitchen counter as Buffy placed a mug in front of him.

“We were all a little younger” she smiled and pulled a stool up next to him.

“Please tell me that’s full strength coffee?” Willow asked as she walked into the kitchen still drying her hair.

“I suppose you can have one” Buffy grudgingly poured out a mug for her. “But that’s it for the rest of the day”

“What time did you call it a night?” Giles asked as they all went to sit around the dining room table.

“About six I think” Willow shrugged. “Danny and I worked together for a while then I started to nod off and he said he would finish up and come round here about ten to fill us in on what he’d found” she gratefully took another sip of the coffee.

“I wondered why Dawn was so grumpy this morning” Buffy smiled.

“I’ll use the shower now, if you’re finished?” Giles checked with Willow before heading for the bathroom.

“So” Buffy smiled and pulled one leg underneath her on the chair. “Alex is coming back on Saturday?”

“Did Giles tell you about the temper tantrum?” Willow looked very embarrassed.

“He mentioned that we would need to stop by the phone shop on the way to the magic shop” Buffy admitted and nodded towards the kitchen. “Plus the evidence is piled up in there”

“I think I’m just letting this get to me a little more than usual” Willow admitted. “Before, when we were in school and in danger, I just used to get scared” she looked towards Buffy to see if she understood. “Now I get scared and angry” she ducked her head and took a deep breath.

“Both of which are perfectly understandable in this situation” Buffy replied sensibly before sipping from her coffee.

“It’s alright for you, you’ve got punchbags and big sticks to get rid of your frustration” Willow pouted.

“I could always take you to the gym later today, if it would help?” Buffy smiled and looked surprised when Willow took a moment to consider the offer. “Or you could just try some of the meditation stuff you learned at the coven” she suggested.

“To be honest, I’m too pissed with this guy right now to be able to meditate” Willow nibbled on her lower lip.

*****

Giles emerged from his room thirty minutes later, looking considerably refreshed and clean shaven. “I need to get into the office so that Alexander can meet with me” he picked up his keys. “Once you’ve been to the magic shop we’ll convene a meeting of the team around lunchtime to discuss our progress” he suggested. When he saw Willow settling behind her laptop again he nodded surreptitiously to Buffy to walk him to his car. “Why did Dawn tell Danny?” he whispered.

“He wanted to know why she was spending her vacation weekend showing mugshots around the campus” Buffy shrugged. “And I asked him to check something out for me last night” she turned to check over her shoulder. “He doesn’t have a licence for a gun”

“Danny?” Giles asked and stared at her.

“No, the stalker” she hissed and looked at him as if he was being particularly slow. “Not that it means he doesn’t have a gun” she admitted sadly.

“We won’t be getting close enough for that to be an issue” he stood in front of her and waited till she squinted up to look at him. “I mean it Buffy, he is a civilian and we don’t have any reason or justification for tackling him”

“I know” she shielded her eyes from the sun. “I just thought I’d check, I don’t want another surprise” he saw the pain flash across her face. “Because if he tried something like that I wouldn’t hang around to reason with him or read him his rights”

“We can’t take the law into our own hands” he persisted and glanced back up at the house to see Willow watching them from the window. “We can’t talk here but we’ll discuss this later”

“I think we probably will” Buffy nodded and turned to walk back up the steps.

“What were you and Giles arguing about?” Willow looked concerned. “Was it about me?”

“Nope” Buffy walked past her and slumped onto the sofa. “We like to keep our hand in by arguing every day” she watched Willow pace slowly between the sofa and the dining table. “He’s just worried I’m going to see the guy and pummel him” she finally decided to give the half truth to settle Willow’s mind.

“You could break his fingers slowly, one at a time” Willow sat down in an armchair and flexed her fingers in front of her.

“Personally I was thinking of pulling his teeth out, one at a time, with some rusty pliers” Buffy suggested.

Willow nodded her head. “That would work too, but it might be a bit messy” she pointed out.

“Hmmm” Buffy nodded and sat forward. “Perhaps you’re right, we should go for internal injuries with as few bodily fluids as possible”

They continued to trade clean and efficient options for torture until the door bell interrupted them. “That’ll be Danny” Willow sighed and put her hand on Buffy’s shoulder as she passed. “Thanks” she said quietly.

“Willow” Danny nodded at her as he came in and quickly dumped his laptop and some papers on the dining table. “I think I’ve found something but I’m not sure you’re going to like hearing it” he turned to face both of them

“It would surprise you what we like hearing” Buffy mumbled and settled back. “Spit it oute sue suggested and shrugged at Willow’s look of distaste.

“I tracked one of the payments to a law firm” he started and pulled some papers from the file. “They had taken some pretty extreme measures to hide their trail but I finally got through their last security barrier about two hours ago” he handed the paper to Willow and looked round to find a chair. “Is that fresh coffee?” he asked as Willow leaned down to show the paper to Buffy.

“I’ll get you some” she said quietly as Buffy dropped the paper onto the sofa and stared at the ceiling for a few moments. “What the hell is he playing at?” she finally asked and searched through her pockets to find her mobile.

“You’ve got Angel on speed dial?” Willow asked with a raised eyebrow as she finished handing out coffee and settled back in the armchair.

“I call him every now and then” she shrugged and scrolled to find a number, looking determined. “Can you give me five minutes?” she looked at Willow and Danny before asking for Angel as the call was answered.

“Come on, I’ll make you some breakfast” Willow nodded to Danny and they headed into the kitchen.

“Why would Wolfram and Hart be stalking Alex?” Danny finally asked the question that had been on the tip of his tongue since he had stared at the screen in astonishment earlier. “Unless Angel is evil again?” he suggested.

“Nope” Willow shook her head as she rummaged in Giles’ fridge. “Number one, I’m on their speed dial if he went evil again and number two, he might stalk Alex, but there would also be killing and rampaging and murder and destruction” she looked up at him. “Would you like scrambled eggs?”

“How can you be so calm about this?” he asked incredulously as she started hunting for other ingredients.

“Because now we know what we’re dealing with we can deal with it” she shrugged.

“Because if Angel’s boys are behind this then there’s the chance the stalker is actually a demon and we can kill him” Buffy said quietly from the doorway.

“Actually I meant research and planning but killing would be good too” Willow looked back at Danny as his jaw dropped even further. “Do you like your eggs hard or runny?”

He looked between the two women, one of whom he had worked closely with for several years, and realised he had never really seen either of them before. “Is this what it’s like every time?” he asked quietly.

“Pretty much” they both agreed as Buffy pulled out a stool and sat next to him. “Angel said he has no idea what this guy is up to but he’ll get Wesley onto it right away and call back in half an hour”

“We should wait for his answer before going to the magic shop” Willow suggested and set about making enough eggs for all three of them on Buffy’s nod.

*****

“Uhu” Buffy had been nodding and grunting in agreement for the last five minutes and Danny saw Willow starting to get annoyed for the first time since he had given them the information earlier that morning. “Give me a minute” Buffy put her hand over the phone and looked at both of them. “They think this guy is a sleeper put in place for one of their client’s to keep an eye on the Council” she gave the minimum amount that she knew would keep Willow from trying to take the phone away from her.

“That actually makes sense” Danny stretched his legs out in front of him. “It was pretty obvious, in the beginning, to anyone in the ‘business’ that we were gathering a pretty powerful group of people here” he suggested to Willow.

“I suppose so but that doesn’t explain the letters to Alex” Willow mumbled.

“And it makes it even more unbelievable that he’d threaten you” Danny suggested quietly and saw her look up at him. “I mean, if he knows about us why in God’s name would he pick on you?” he asked incredulously and saw her smile.

“There is something just a bit off about this still” Willow shrugged and tried to wait patiently for Buffy to finish her call.

“Sure, I’ll tell her” Buffy nodded and finally hung up the phone. “OK, here’s what they’ve got sr” sr” she took a deep breath. “They have this guy listed as some kind of surveillance expert who was put in place to covertly keep an eye on things at the Council” she began and looked a little annoyed as Willow put her hand up. “What is it Ms Rosenberg?” she asked in her best teacher tone.

“Does he know what we are?” she asked and smiled at Buffy. “I mean is he just collecting info and passing it on or does he know about us”

“I’m guessing the former because he can’t be stupid enough to threaten someone with a rep like yours” Buffy suggested and shrugged apologetically. “Anyway, Wesley said he was going to contact the client and try to find out what kind of info he is getting from this guy and let us know more later today” she paused. “Oh, and Wesley says hi and someone called Fred wanted you to call them” Buffy raised her eyebrow. “Something you want to share?” she smiled.

“Fred is a girl” Willow explained and realised that this didn’t help. “She’s kind of the science nerd on Angel’s team and we help each other out occasionally on researchy stuff” she shrugged and smiled in memory of Fred’s enthusiasm on her last visit. “And she is very straight and keeping Wesley and Gunn guessing, the last I heard”

“Science nerd who’s fallen for an ex Watcher, what is that all about?” Buffy grinned and turned to Danny. “Anyway, there isn’t much else we can do till Wes gets back to us so I suggest you go home and get some rest, we’ll all meet in the boardroom at 12” she waited for Willow to see him out before starting to hunt through Giles’ kitchen drawers. “He must keep them somewhere” she mumbled to herself. “Aha” she smiled as she pulled out a neatly folded brown paper bag. “Even tries to save the world one recycled paper bag at a time” she shrugged and turned round to find Willow watching her from the doorway with a grin on her face. “I think this will do” she held the bag at the edge of the kitchen counter and carefully scraped the bits of Willow’s phone into it.

“Phone shop?llowllow sighed as she shook the bag and heard her phone rattle.