Progress

Wells-Summers

Disclaimer: Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon

Spoilers: Post “Chosen”

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“Buffy, I don’t believe now is the time for this,” Giles sighed as his slayer rolled her eyes.

“Just—Trust me, Giles, you’ll need it.”

Knowing that he wasn’t going to win, Giles reached over and pressed a button on is intercom. “Emily, would you please send up a bottle of Scotch.”

“Will do, Mr. Giles,” Emily’s chipper voice came through.

“Will you please explain to me why I have my assistant running to get me Scotch?” Giles asked.

Taking a deep breath, Buffy spoke, “I need you to tell me everything about Andrew’s progress so far.”

“Buffy, that’s hardly a reason to get me to drink,” Giles admonished her. “There has to be something else.”

“He’s my half-brother.”

A pause.

A very prolonged pause.

“Emily, make that two,” Giles had reached for his intercom again.

“Two bottles coming right up, sir.”

“Sorry, Emily, I meant two cases,” Giles clarified.

“Is there an apocalypse, sir?”

“There may as well be one,” Giles replied.

“Two cases, Giles?” Buffy smirked. “I didn’t think the news would be that bad.”

“It’s not just for me,” Giles smiled. “Now please, tell me how this all happened.”

“It’s kind of a long story.”

“And from my experience with you children, you have the uncanny ability to make incredibly long stories into incredibly short ones,” Giles deadpanned.

Knowing she was caught, Buffy sat up straighter in her chair, “I guess mom and dad were having problems earlier than my high school years. I’m thinking they had problems right after they were married and when they had me, they put whatever differences aside. It didn’t last; dad came down to Sunnydale for several “business trips” and got together with Andrew’s mom. I don’t think he knows about Andrew, though.”

“I would imagine you’ve told the others?”

“Dawn and Willow were there,” Buffy answered. “They were training and Andrew told them first.”

“How comes her training?” Giles switched topic for a moment. It wasn’t often that he was able to visit his young wards and he took every opportunity he could to hear about them. And after learning that Dawn was showing signs of becoming a capable magic user, Giles stepped into congratulate her.

“Willow says Dawn’s coming along nicely,” Buffy nodded. “She’s taking her to meet the coven.”

That came as a relief to both Giles and Buffy. It wasn’t that they didn’t trust Willow to teach Dawn the basics of magic, but they both knew that a coven would be exactly what Dawn would need. Finding her own social network outside of the Scoobies, who, even though they knew Dawn was grown, they still treated like a child at times.

“I haven’t told Xander, he seems a little busy right now in Cleveland with Faith and the rest of their slayers,” Buffy shrugged. “I guess I could drop in with one of Willow’s potions and tell him.”

“You know those are for emergencies correct?” Giles fixed her with a look she knew all too well. Though she had gotten use the look, and he knew it.

“I know, but tell that to everyone else,” Buffy threw back.

Willow had created the teleportation potions for, as everyone kept mentioning, emergencies. A demon uprising in Russia and the only available team is in South America? Just use a potion and there you are, slaying in Russia. The “only for emergencies” part of the plan quickly flew out the window soon after. Slayers and even Watcher’s were using it for trips they could easily afford on their salaries.

There were talks to restrict the potions because word had been coming in that certain people were using the potions just to get from point A to point B. Point A being their bedroom and Point B being their kitchen downstairs.

“So why is it that you want to know about Andrew’s performance?”

And wasn’t that a loaded question?

“I don’t know what to do about any of this,” she shook her head, frustrated. “I mean, he’s my brother whose mom is somewhere in America and hasn’t tried to contact her son about his whereabouts and a dad who is probably still in Spain and doesn’t know about him. And even if he did know about Andrew, I doubt he’d come and see him. I want to be there for him, but our past hasn’t exactly been the greatest. And that’s my fault.”

And now he understood why she was here.

She wanted to get to know Andrew better, but was afraid that the way she treated him all these years had destroyed any connections they could have.

“Buffy, while I agree that some of your methods for dealing with Andrew haven’t been stellar, you have to remember how you first came into contact with him,” Giles reminded her.

“I know,” she rolled her eyes at the thought, “Warren, him and Jonathan. He was just being manipulated, though, by Warren. I can’t keep blaming him for that. How can I be sure he wants this?”

“How is Andrew handling this?”

“Last I heard he was—Okay, so he wants to be my brother.”

Noticing the slip, “What has he done?”

“He said something about big changes happening and teleported out. Willow and Dawn think he’s gone off to scare everyone who has ever made fun of him by using his relationship with me to do it.”

“Yes, that does seem like something the boy would do,” Giles nodded, smiling. “And how do you feel about it?”

“Whatever makes him happy,” she shrugged, “As long as no one gets hurt. So please, Giles, how’s his progress?”

So he told her.

After the plans for rebuilding the Council had been approved and construction had started, Andrew had approached Giles about training to become a Watcher. Giles agreed right then and there for a few reasons. The first being there were a shortage of Watcher’s and any help they could get would be immensely helpful. The second was because Andrew already had some knowledge about demons and magic and the third was because Giles already had plans on asking the boy.

It was difficult at first because many of the conventional ways to become a Watcher had been destroyed in the bombing, so Giles did the best thing he could think of. He had Andrew shadow him. Actually, he had Xander doing the same when he was helping with the plans to rebuild the Council.

It had been a struggling year of balancing heading up all the Council buildings and training Andrew, but in time he had come to helping Giles with numerous problems throughout the Council related to attacks slayers around the world were dealing with.

“I think in terms of his Watcher duties, he is fully prepared to guide his own slayer, or perhaps a small group,” Giles told, truthfully. In the past five years, Andrew had been dividing his time between the Europe branch of the Council with Giles and the American branch with Xander getting the more physical side of being a Watcher.

“He’s really that good, then?”

“It wasn’t me that found the spell to banish that demon lord in France,” Giles told her.

“That was him, really?” Buffy smiled, remembering the incident that happened about a year ago. A powerful demon that had managed to escape L.A. during the demons riots had set up shop in Paris. They hadn’t known he was still alive until it was almost too late.

“Yes, and it was he who spoke the incantation to banish him.”

“And he’s with the magic developing? Wow, I guess I should have been looking at him more. Great, I’m a horrible sister.”

“Buffy—“

“I know, I know. What else has he done? How’s his combat skills?”

“He’s, uh, received the standard training that all Watcher’s have adhered to,” Giles nodded. “But I would imagine that being on the Hellmouth w-with Xander and Faith, they’ve seen to it that he’s more prepared.”

“That’s good. So he’s really coming along, then?”

“He has shown a vast improvement from what he once was, though his old ways still pop up from time to time,” Giles grimaced.

“Still spouting off random Star Wars knowledge?” Buffy chuckled.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Well, as you know Eastern Europe is kinda heavy with demonic activity. Even more so now that demons from Africa are scared to come into Western Europe with the Council always stopping them,” Buffy managed to speak. “And you know, life in Italy is kind of getting old. I wake up, I shop, I patrol and I sleep.”

He could already see where she was going with this, but wanted her to say it.

“And I’m not saying the team of slayers in East Europe are doing a bad job, but there’s a lot of area to cover and you need someone else there, someone with experience.”

“And this someone would need a Watcher guiding her, to make sure this someone knows which demon is which, what their name is and such? So as not to butcher it.”

Glaring, “Well, this someone has gotten better with names in the past five years.”

“Of course,” Giles chuckled.

“So, I guess what I’m trying to say is,” taking a deep breath, “Giles, I want to patrol East Europe for a while and have Andrew as my Watcher. Trial run of course.”

Smiling, “Buffy, you don’t have to ask. You are in charge as well.”

“Oh,” Buffy frowned, “Then I demand you give me Andrew and we’ll take East Europe.”

There was the confident Buffy he knew and loved. “Are you sure you wish to do this with Andrew?”

“If you trust him, Giles, then so do I.”