FIC: Conspiracy Theory, part 7/12 (Giles/Xander, FRT)
Title: Conspiracy Theory, part 7 / 12
Author: Soft Princess (soft_princess) and Mireille (mireille719)
Fandom: BtVS
Pairing: Giles/Xander
Rating: FRT
Word Count: 4,650 this part / 64,000 overall
Summary: When Xander is attacked by a demon on his way to deliver a trio of young Slayers to England, he and Giles find themselves investigating a plot that may threaten the Council's very existence--and re-evaluating their relationship in the process.
Spoilers: Post-Chosen; based on aired-episode canon only.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. The characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy; we are only borrowing them.
Feedback/Concrit: Both welcome, either here or at mireille719 {at} gmail {dot} com and soft.princess {at} gmail {dot} com.
Notes: This story is being posted in 12 parts: parts 1-4 at spring_with_xan on June 17, parts 5-8 at summer_of_giles on June 19, and parts 9-12 at summer_of_giles on June 22. We would like to thank wesleysgirl for the wonderful job beta-reading.
Previous parts:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Part 5 | Part 6
The "good night's sleep" had utterly failed to materialize. When, the last time Giles woke up, his mind still busily turning over all the facts at his disposal and failing to come up with anything resembling a good solution to the problem, he saw that it was almost dawn, he decided that he might as well give up on getting any rest.
He was meant to be speaking to a group of the senior Watcher trainees that morning, anyway, young men and women within the final year of their training, and he hadn't actually taken any time in the past few days to prepare. Not that he ever did prepare much; he'd done this a few times already, and he tended to send the instructor off to find him- or herself a cup of tea, close the door, and let the students ask him questions for the rest of the hour.
Even if the students didn't learn anything much from him--he had his doubts, sometimes--it gave him a better idea of who they were, and which of them he'd trust with an equally-inexperienced Slayer in a year or two.
The talk didn't go all that badly, all things considered, though he did spend a good portion of the time fielding questions about the patrols he'd established. There were only so many times he could say, "It's a training exercise," before he became convinced they could all tell he was lying.
He'd stopped off at the girls' dormitory, where Mrs. Cheever--he knew perfectly well that she had a first name, but she'd put the fear of God into him when he'd been a small boy and she'd been one of his father's colleagues, and he wasn't about to dare to use it--delivered her report on the patrols, down to the teams that took far too long to cover their assigned territory and should probably be separated "for their own good." That had been her segue into her usual criticisms of her counterpart in the other dormitory; Giles had spent at least fifteen minutes reassuring her that she was, in fact, Mr. Adams' superior, and that he'd certainly read through any formal written complaints that she cared to make, before escaping to his office.
Perhaps Andrew would have brought in breakfast again, he thought, as he went down the steps of the dormitory, just in time to see a police car pulling out of the drive. Good Lord.
There was no reason to expect the worst; the police had been around once because one of the Slayers had been shoplifting in the village, and another time because a handful of the students had slipped out after curfew, got their hands on several bottles of cheap alcohol, and made a nuisance of themselves. Some of the time, his job was very like the headmaster of any school in the world, he thought.
On the other hand, he wouldn't know if it was something serious or not until he asked. Giles crossed the courtyard at a brisk walk, balancing his need to get back to the office quickly to find out what had happened and the need not to arouse too much curiosity among the students who were on their way to their next classes.
"Andrew," he called as he walked down the short hallway leading to their offices, "did I just see the police leaving here?"
The response from Andrew's office was an incoherent wail, and Giles pushed the door open to find Andrew with his head down on a pile of papers. "Andrew," he repeated, "what did the police want?"
Andrew looked up, and Giles realized in surprise that his eyes were red and unusually bright. "Someone called in about an hour ago to report a car wreck," he said. "The, um, the driver of the car was killed. They couldn't find anything in the car to tell them who to notify, so they called the rental agency--"
"Gregory," Giles said, as it clicked into place. "Dear God." He and Xander had argued and bickered and tried to keep things quiet to avoid a panic, and as a result, a good man had been killed.
Giles tried to remind himself that he had called Gregory the morning before and had warned him, but it didn't do anything to prevent the onslaught of guilt that was building in his chest. "Andrew, I--do you have any more details?"
He needed to find Xander, needed to let him know what had happened.
"No, they just--they just said he was dead. They gave me this," Andrew whispered, voice broken, and pointed at a sheet of paper on his desk.
Giles needed to think fast, figure out who to call to prevent this from happening again. First things first: "Is anyone else due back from the field today?"
Andrew just blinked at him, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Andrew, I need you to focus, please." Giles put a hand on Andrew's shoulder, and squeezed softly.
The young man shook his head. "No, no one else's due back today. Just--just him. And it's my fault, I shouldn't have--"
"Oh for God's sake," he snapped, "it isn't your fault." It was nobody's fault but his own. He should have listened to Xander more carefully. "It isn't your fault," he repeated, more calmly this time, reminding himself that Andrew was on the verge of breaking down, and he didn't need to be yelled at.
"I told him, I said, I wanted--" With a wail, Andrew bolted from the office, and Giles heard the door of the bathroom close soon after.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, took the police report from Andrew's desk, and walked out into the hallway. It was only a preliminary findings report, nothing too conclusive, but it held all the information Giles needed to confirm Xander's theory. Alan Gregory, male, age twenty-seven, already dead when the paramedics had arrived on the scene. The driver's side of the car was completely destroyed; the causes of the wreck were unknown, pending investigation.
Giles didn't find Xander in the study, nor the dining room or the kitchen, so he climbed the stairs two at a time, the report held in his hand. He knocked on Xander's door, and went in when a muffled "Yeah," answered him.
"I'm sorry," Giles said immediately, when he made eye contact with Xander. "I should--"
"Oh God, something happened, didn't it?" Xander swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, reaching for his pants.
"It's Gregory."
Jeans held in one hand, Xander faced Giles, gaping. "No, you can't be serious."
"Unfortunately, I am," Giles said, sighing. "Here, see for yourself." He gave Xander the report and sat on the bed, taking his head in his hands. "I should have taken you much more seriously, Xander; I am so very sorry." He was so distressed, it never actually occurred to him that Xander was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts, until Xander sat down beside him and touched his hand. Then he was all too aware of Xander's skin, close enough to touch. He pushed those thoughts away; it was neither the time nor the place for this. "I should have warned him not to come back alone, but I didn't think of it at all, I--you were right."
"I was--I was right?" Xander sounded distraught, the opposite of how he'd sounded the last time Giles had told him that. "God, Giles."
"We need to think fast, Xander, I don't know when the next Watcher is due back from the field. Andrew has the schedule, but I doubt he's going to be much use today. I need to warn the entire Council."
"Wait," Xander stood, pulled on his pants, and reached for a shirt. "Rumors are going to start soon. I mean, some of the kids and the faculty members must have seen the police car, and Andrew can't keep his mouth shut, and I'm pretty sure at least a couple of people were expecting Gregory back today and they're going to notice when he doesn't, but--if I'm right, if my conspiracy theory is right, sending out a big Bat-signal is just going to make them know we're onto them, and they're going to lie low." Xander passed the shirt over his head, frowning. "Before we tell anyone what's going on, we need to figure out a way to catch them."
"We need to determine who 'they' are, first," Giles pointed out. "I agree with you; the attacks have been aimed at the Watchers. But we don't know who's behind them. Even if we assume that Dawn's report was correct and the demons are intelligent, someone must be directing or controlling them. I could imagine them attacking the Slayers on their own, but if they're focusing on Watchers..."
"Or hiring them," Xander suggested. "I mean, they don't like humans, but maybe if there was something they were getting in exchange?"
"Such as?"
"I have no idea," Xander admitted. "What do demons want?" He shrugged. "That doesn't matter. The reason it's important is that it broadens our list of suspects." He got up, getting a pair of socks out of the dresser and then coming back to sit next to Giles to put them on.
Giles frowned, about to ask Xander what he meant when it suddenly made sense. "Because if they're being controlled, we're almost certainly dealing with someone with a relatively high level of magical training, but if they're hired mercenaries, the only thing he would need is money, or some other asset to offer the demons." He sighed. "And we're going to have to assume that's a possibility, because we can't afford to rule anything out."
"So right now, the only thing we're sure of is that it isn't either of us," Xander said. "And I know, that's exaggerating a little; I don't think Andrew had anything to do with this."
"Mrs. Cheever may think I'm a young upstart with no sense of tradition, but I still trust her implicitly," Giles added.
"Okay, that's four of us," Xander said. "And we can't keep this a secret any more, because I'd bet you five bucks that the police car pulling up is already the talk of the school. We're going to have to tell them about Gregory, at least."
"At the moment," Giles said, "I plan to tell them that he was killed in an automobile accident, and leave out any details. That should satisfy their curiosity without making whoever's responsible suspicious."
"That won't work for long," Xander said. "I mean, they have to know what we're doing. They knew Gregory was coming back today, and when his flight would get in...." He frowned. "Do you think your office is bugged?"
That had never occurred to Giles. "I've no idea," he said. "That's beyond my area of expertise. I suppose we could search."
Xander sighed. "I wouldn't even know what to look for." Then, looking up, he added, "Andrew might, though."
Giles thought about the state he'd left Andrew in. "I don't know that he'll be much help. He was rather... distraught after talking to the police."
"It's worth a try, anyway." Now fully dressed, Xander got up, all of yesterday's tension between the two of them apparently forgotten. "So what's our plan? You tell the school about Gregory, I'll see what can be done to get Andrew calmed down and at least semi-helpful, and then... what? We try to figure out how they're finding out where people are going to be. That's not common knowledge, is it?"
"Not unless the Watchers who were attacked have told them," Giles said. "That might have been possible in some of the earlier attacks, but Gregory... well, he wasn't the sort to socialize much."
"Okay, then they're getting the information from somewhere. And if we know how, maybe we'll know who?"
Giles nodded, feeling a little relieved that he and Xander seemed to be able to work together again. "That's what I was thinking. But if we haven't made any progress in the next twenty-four hours, I'm going to have to tell the rest of the Council about this. I can't keep them unaware that they're in danger."
"Then we're just going to have to solve this in twenty-four hours."
***
They'd definitely need twenty-four hours, Xander thought. After Giles had gone to take care of telling everyone about Gregory, Xander had gone downstairs to find Andrew. He'd really thought he had the easy job.
But apparently not.
"Andrew?" Xander called out, after stepping into the empty office. A short wail answered him from behind the desk, and he peeked over to find Andrew huddled against the wall. "Hey, you okay?"
Andrew shook his head and looked up, eyes red-rimmed and filled with tears.
With a sigh, Xander sat down by Andrew's side, squished between the desk and the chair. "Hey," he said again, trying to sound comforting and forget that they were on a deadline and didn't have time to deal with this. He hadn't even realized Andrew had known Gregory all that well; Xander hadn't been around much, and it wasn't like he and Andrew talked about anything really personal most of the time. It wasn't a secret, though, that Andrew really liked Gregory, and it wasn't like Xander didn't know what Andrew-with-a-crush looked like. He should have been expecting this.
"I told him," Andrew whispered, sniffling. "On the phone, yesterday, I told him he had two options, and he could come back today or the day after tomorrow, and I--I said I missed him. So he--he grabbed the night flight."
"God, Andrew," Xander wrapped an arm around Andrew's shoulder and pulled him closer. "It's not your fault."
"How can you say that? You don't know--"
"No, maybe not," Xander interrupted him. "Maybe I don't know, but Andrew, even if Gregory had come home two days from now, he would have been killed anyway."
"You can't know that," Andrew said vehemently, but when he looked at Xander, he was frowning.
Xander let out a sigh, and shook his head. "Unfortunately, I can." He looked away from Andrew. No, it wasn't Andrew's fault, it was Xander's for avoiding Giles all day yesterday and not being more certain of himself, and it was Giles' for not listening to him at all in the first place. "You know how my car was attacked, and then Gregory's was? Giles and I have been working on trying to figure out what that demon was, and... we're pretty sure that's what killed him this morning too."
"No," Andrew said miserably. "It was a car wreck, he'd just made it back to Bangkok, and if he'd waited to come back until tomorrow, he wouldn't have been so tired...."
Xander kept his arm around Andrew's shoulders, but he raised his voice. "Listen to me. This was not your fault. It wasn't an ordinary car wreck. Someone murdered Gregory, and unless that someone was you--" Xander winced as Andrew sobbed loudly. "No, I know it wasn't you, Andrew, seriously. So it wasn't your fault."
Andrew looked up at him again, face still streaked with tears. "But murder? Who would want to kill him? He was--" He started crying again, and Xander decided that he definitely had a worse job than Giles.
"I know," Xander said. "But Giles and I are sure that's what happened." He took a deep breath. "And we need your help to catch the people behind it." He wasn't sure Andrew would be all that much help, considering the state he was in, but keeping Andrew busy would at least stop him from curling up on the floor and crying.
At least, Xander hoped so, because no matter what Giles told the rest of the school, there was no way anyone would believe him given the way Andrew was acting.
"What can I do?" Andrew said, sitting up straighter and wiping his eyes, though he was still sniffling.
"Who knew that--look, can we get up off the floor now?" Xander said. When Andrew nodded, he got up, helping Andrew to his feet and pulling the desk chair out so Andrew could sit down. Xander closed and locked the door to Andrew's office, to make certain they wouldn't be interrupted, and then came back to perch on the edge of Andrew's desk.
"Who knew that Gregory was coming back today?" Xander asked once he was settled.
Andrew shook his head. "Nobody. I mean, I did, of course, and he did, and you and Mr. Giles, but I didn't tell anyone else."
"Giles and I didn't, either," Xander said. "At least, I know I didn't, and I'm pretty sure Giles didn't mention it to anybody. So unless Gregory told someone--" Something occurred to Xander, and he frowned. "Do we use a travel agent?"
"No, I got his ticket online, from the airline. And even if someone had intercepted the data, his ticket had an open return date. They wouldn't have known when he was coming back, just the airline."
"Someone might have overheard him when he made his flight arrangements," Xander said, "but they'd have been in Thailand with him. Why fly all the way back to London to kill him when you could do it before he left?"
Andrew shook his head. "Nobody knew he was coming back," he repeated. "So how could someone have known where he'd be to kill him?"
"That's what I want you to tell me," Xander said. "I know you used to know a lot of weird technical stuff, right? Back when--back in Sunnydale," he finished, not really wanting to end with, "back when you were evil." He didn't give Andrew a chance to answer, just went on, "We think maybe Giles' office is bugged, or yours is. I know it'd be hard to do, with Giles living in the other half of the house, but it seemed like the simplest explanation."
"We're going to sweep the offices for bugs?" Andrew said, brightening a little. He still looked like he might break down again at any moment, but at least he wasn't huddled into a little ball under his desk.
Xander sighed. "Yeah, it looks like we're going to have to. But seriously, Andrew, no one else can know about this."
Andrew gave him a hurt look. "I know how to keep secrets."
He doubted that, but Xander decided arguing wouldn't be a good idea. "Not saying you don't, Andrew, just that people are going to have a lot of questions. And they'd come to you for answers, wouldn't they, if they thought Giles hadn't told them everything?"
"Everyone does know that Mr. Giles keeps me up-to-date on everything," Andrew agreed.
"And Giles is telling the school that this was just a car accident, because we don't want people to completely panic--and we really don't want whoever's responsible to know we're on to them. So if people have questions, you're going to have to tell them it was just an accident." Privately, Xander thought anybody who questioned Andrew about Gregory's death was likely to have to deal with a sobbing Andrew and probably wouldn't get any useful information out of him, but he had to make sure.
Andrew nodded, and Xander went on. "I'm going to help you check in here and in Giles' office for bugs, so if anyone asks, I'm doing some repair work as a favor to Giles, and I got you to help me." Enough people would have seen Xander doing small carpentry and repair jobs around the school on previous visits that it wouldn't be hard to believe. For bigger jobs, or when Xander wasn't around, Giles hired someone, but the less time outsiders spent around the school, the better.
"I can do that," Andrew insisted.
Xander certainly hoped so. "Okay, then. Let's get to work."
They started with Giles' office. Xander didn't know why, but that's where Andrew headed first. Maybe he just needed to get away from his own office for a while, and when Andrew managed to not curl up into a ball and cry at all for all the time it took them to turn Giles' office upside down, and then back to its original state, Xander was glad that's where they'd started. He didn't think they'd have had that result if they'd been in Andrew's office first.
By the time they were done, Giles was back, and watching them from where he stood, leaning against the closed door. "Anything?"
Andrew answered before Xander could. "No, nothing that looks even close to a listening device." He sounded a lot calmer than just an hour ago.
"All right," Giles sighed. "At least that means we can speak freely in here." He was going to add something when a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
Xander put the pile of papers he'd been putting in order back on Giles' desk, and he and Andrew sat down on the two chairs.
Giles opened the door. "May I help you?" he asked, frowning, when two students--a Slayer and a future Watcher--looked at him.
The teenage boy stood forward, looking so frightened that Xander felt a pang of sympathy for him. "We have something to tell you, sir," he said, stuttering slightly. "May we come in?" He looked quickly inside and seemed relieved to see only Xander and Andrew there. Apparently, they weren't as frightening as the rest of the faculty.
"Of course," Giles agreed, shooting Xander a worried look as he let the teenagers in and shut the door behind them. "I'm afraid I can't remember your names."
"I'm Camden Travers, sir," the boy said, and then waved at his friend. "This is Selena Cruz."
Xander groaned at the boy's name; he'd forgotten that Travers' grandson was actually attending the Academy, and from the look on Giles' face, so had he. At least that meant he probably wasn't as annoying as his grandfather.
"Yes," Giles nodded, letting as little of his surprise show in his expression as he could. "From El Salvador, isn't it?"
The girl nodded nervously, looking sideways at her companion. "Something--something happened last night, sir," she said, in a lilting accent. "We--we didn't want to be scolded, so we didn't say anything when we got back to Mrs. Cheever and Mr. Adams."
"With Mr. Gregory's death, we though--" Camden picked up, then stopped, looking down on the floor. He shook his head. "I mean, it's--it's not just an accident, is it? The little girl from Africa? I can't remember her name, I'm sorry."
"Niki," Xander supplied, more interested now than annoyed.
"Yes, she said they had been attacked, their car?"
Giles nodded, looking at Xander worriedly. "Go on," he said when Camden didn't continue.
It was Selena who picked up the tale. "We were patrolling last night, and we--we split up from our group. Lily and Gretchen took the right, and we took the left, and we--" She blushed furiously.
Xander sighed. This was getting back to being annoying. It was absolutely obvious that they had been doing everything but patrolling, just from the way they were standing close together and giving each other furtive looks.
Giles picked up on it too, because he shook his head. "You were both distracted, I assume?"
Camden and Selena nodded. "We're sorry, sir," Camden breathed. "We swear it won't happen again, we've learnt our lesson."
"Of course it won't happen again," Giles said. Xander thought he sounded a little harsh, but the situation was kind of desperate, and they didn't really need to be dealing with two disobedient teenagers right now. "I'll have you both separated in the future. Now, please, go on."
Camden squeezed Selena's arm comfortingly, and then turned back to Giles. "We stopped against a tree, and we were distracted when we heard a sound behind us." His voice was a lot more steady now, business-like. He might be shy when it came to personal stuff, but he had a good head on his shoulders, Xander thought. In spite of who he was related to, he might actually make an okay Watcher one of these days. "Selena saw it, the demon."
"It was green, about this tall," she supplied, extending her arm as high over her head as it could go. "It had claws and--" She stopped when Andrew jumped to his feet and walked out of the office.
Giles and Xander looked at each other, frowning, but didn't have time to even think about why Andrew had bolted like that before he came back, closed the door behind himself, and handed a sheet of paper to the two teenager. "Did it look like this?" Andrew asked, and it suddenly made sense. With the number of copies of that sketch he'd ended up with the other day when he'd battled with the copy machine, Andrew would have at least one lying around close by.
"Good thinking, Andrew," Giles said, impressed. Andrew smiled at him, just a little smug, and sat back.
"Yes!" Selena and Camden both said. "This is exactly what it looked like," Camden continued, handing Giles the sketch. "It came after me."
"I told him to run and get Lily and Gretchen, but the demon followed him, not me."
Xander stood, anxious. "You're sure that it followed him? It saw you," he said, pointing at Selena, "but followed him?"
"Yes, I'm certain. It barely even glanced at me."
"It's like it dismissed her entirely," Camden added. "Selena managed to knock it out, but we were so scared, we ran back to the dorms and…" He shrugged.
"Didn't tell anyone," Giles finished for them. When both of them nodded, Giles went on. "We're going to have to take disciplinary actions, but not right now. I'm willing to give you both some leniency if you promise not to tell anyone about this for the foreseeable future. Nobody, and I repeat," he said, pushing each word, "nobody must know about this."
"We promise, sir," Camden said, solemnly. "We won't tell anyone."
"I'll contact Mrs. Cheever and Mr. Adams, and have them put Camden on another patrol team. And I'll expect both of you to be on your best behavior from now on. I've heard that you've been sneaking around the girls' dormitories for a while now," he added, looking sternly at Camden, and the boy blushed. "No more of that. You have plenty of opportunity to see Miss Cruz during your classes and your free time, without breaking school rules."
Xander was pretty sure Giles or Mrs. Cheever didn't know who the stalker-kid had been, or they'd have done something about it before now, but it was obvious just from the way Camden looked down that it had been him. And come to think of it, he did look a lot like that kid Xander had seen in the bushes that first night.
"Yes, sir."
Giles sent Selena right back to class, but asked Camden to stay. "Can you show us where the demon attacked you?"
"Yeah," the boy answered. "I don't think I'm going to forget that any time soon."
"Probably not," Xander said, tapping Camden's shoulder.
"All right," Giles stood up, giving Andrew back the sketch. "Can you keep looking for what we talked about earlier?"
"Yes, I can do that," Andrew replied, nodding. Now that the distraction was over, Xander could see Andrew slowly going back into his funk. "I'll look in my office, and give you a call if I find anything."
"That will do." Giles turned to Xander. "We'll go look around with Camden, and see if the demon left us any clue as to where it comes from."
"Sure." Xander grabbed his jacket and followed Giles out.
***
On to Part 8
Author: Soft Princess (soft_princess) and Mireille (mireille719)
Fandom: BtVS
Pairing: Giles/Xander
Rating: FRT
Word Count: 4,650 this part / 64,000 overall
Summary: When Xander is attacked by a demon on his way to deliver a trio of young Slayers to England, he and Giles find themselves investigating a plot that may threaten the Council's very existence--and re-evaluating their relationship in the process.
Spoilers: Post-Chosen; based on aired-episode canon only.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. The characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy; we are only borrowing them.
Feedback/Concrit: Both welcome, either here or at mireille719 {at} gmail {dot} com and soft.princess {at} gmail {dot} com.
Notes: This story is being posted in 12 parts: parts 1-4 at spring_with_xan on June 17, parts 5-8 at summer_of_giles on June 19, and parts 9-12 at summer_of_giles on June 22. We would like to thank wesleysgirl for the wonderful job beta-reading.
Previous parts:
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Part 5 | Part 6
The "good night's sleep" had utterly failed to materialize. When, the last time Giles woke up, his mind still busily turning over all the facts at his disposal and failing to come up with anything resembling a good solution to the problem, he saw that it was almost dawn, he decided that he might as well give up on getting any rest.
He was meant to be speaking to a group of the senior Watcher trainees that morning, anyway, young men and women within the final year of their training, and he hadn't actually taken any time in the past few days to prepare. Not that he ever did prepare much; he'd done this a few times already, and he tended to send the instructor off to find him- or herself a cup of tea, close the door, and let the students ask him questions for the rest of the hour.
Even if the students didn't learn anything much from him--he had his doubts, sometimes--it gave him a better idea of who they were, and which of them he'd trust with an equally-inexperienced Slayer in a year or two.
The talk didn't go all that badly, all things considered, though he did spend a good portion of the time fielding questions about the patrols he'd established. There were only so many times he could say, "It's a training exercise," before he became convinced they could all tell he was lying.
He'd stopped off at the girls' dormitory, where Mrs. Cheever--he knew perfectly well that she had a first name, but she'd put the fear of God into him when he'd been a small boy and she'd been one of his father's colleagues, and he wasn't about to dare to use it--delivered her report on the patrols, down to the teams that took far too long to cover their assigned territory and should probably be separated "for their own good." That had been her segue into her usual criticisms of her counterpart in the other dormitory; Giles had spent at least fifteen minutes reassuring her that she was, in fact, Mr. Adams' superior, and that he'd certainly read through any formal written complaints that she cared to make, before escaping to his office.
Perhaps Andrew would have brought in breakfast again, he thought, as he went down the steps of the dormitory, just in time to see a police car pulling out of the drive. Good Lord.
There was no reason to expect the worst; the police had been around once because one of the Slayers had been shoplifting in the village, and another time because a handful of the students had slipped out after curfew, got their hands on several bottles of cheap alcohol, and made a nuisance of themselves. Some of the time, his job was very like the headmaster of any school in the world, he thought.
On the other hand, he wouldn't know if it was something serious or not until he asked. Giles crossed the courtyard at a brisk walk, balancing his need to get back to the office quickly to find out what had happened and the need not to arouse too much curiosity among the students who were on their way to their next classes.
"Andrew," he called as he walked down the short hallway leading to their offices, "did I just see the police leaving here?"
The response from Andrew's office was an incoherent wail, and Giles pushed the door open to find Andrew with his head down on a pile of papers. "Andrew," he repeated, "what did the police want?"
Andrew looked up, and Giles realized in surprise that his eyes were red and unusually bright. "Someone called in about an hour ago to report a car wreck," he said. "The, um, the driver of the car was killed. They couldn't find anything in the car to tell them who to notify, so they called the rental agency--"
"Gregory," Giles said, as it clicked into place. "Dear God." He and Xander had argued and bickered and tried to keep things quiet to avoid a panic, and as a result, a good man had been killed.
Giles tried to remind himself that he had called Gregory the morning before and had warned him, but it didn't do anything to prevent the onslaught of guilt that was building in his chest. "Andrew, I--do you have any more details?"
He needed to find Xander, needed to let him know what had happened.
"No, they just--they just said he was dead. They gave me this," Andrew whispered, voice broken, and pointed at a sheet of paper on his desk.
Giles needed to think fast, figure out who to call to prevent this from happening again. First things first: "Is anyone else due back from the field today?"
Andrew just blinked at him, tears streaming down his cheeks.
"Andrew, I need you to focus, please." Giles put a hand on Andrew's shoulder, and squeezed softly.
The young man shook his head. "No, no one else's due back today. Just--just him. And it's my fault, I shouldn't have--"
"Oh for God's sake," he snapped, "it isn't your fault." It was nobody's fault but his own. He should have listened to Xander more carefully. "It isn't your fault," he repeated, more calmly this time, reminding himself that Andrew was on the verge of breaking down, and he didn't need to be yelled at.
"I told him, I said, I wanted--" With a wail, Andrew bolted from the office, and Giles heard the door of the bathroom close soon after.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, took the police report from Andrew's desk, and walked out into the hallway. It was only a preliminary findings report, nothing too conclusive, but it held all the information Giles needed to confirm Xander's theory. Alan Gregory, male, age twenty-seven, already dead when the paramedics had arrived on the scene. The driver's side of the car was completely destroyed; the causes of the wreck were unknown, pending investigation.
Giles didn't find Xander in the study, nor the dining room or the kitchen, so he climbed the stairs two at a time, the report held in his hand. He knocked on Xander's door, and went in when a muffled "Yeah," answered him.
"I'm sorry," Giles said immediately, when he made eye contact with Xander. "I should--"
"Oh God, something happened, didn't it?" Xander swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, reaching for his pants.
"It's Gregory."
Jeans held in one hand, Xander faced Giles, gaping. "No, you can't be serious."
"Unfortunately, I am," Giles said, sighing. "Here, see for yourself." He gave Xander the report and sat on the bed, taking his head in his hands. "I should have taken you much more seriously, Xander; I am so very sorry." He was so distressed, it never actually occurred to him that Xander was only wearing a pair of boxer shorts, until Xander sat down beside him and touched his hand. Then he was all too aware of Xander's skin, close enough to touch. He pushed those thoughts away; it was neither the time nor the place for this. "I should have warned him not to come back alone, but I didn't think of it at all, I--you were right."
"I was--I was right?" Xander sounded distraught, the opposite of how he'd sounded the last time Giles had told him that. "God, Giles."
"We need to think fast, Xander, I don't know when the next Watcher is due back from the field. Andrew has the schedule, but I doubt he's going to be much use today. I need to warn the entire Council."
"Wait," Xander stood, pulled on his pants, and reached for a shirt. "Rumors are going to start soon. I mean, some of the kids and the faculty members must have seen the police car, and Andrew can't keep his mouth shut, and I'm pretty sure at least a couple of people were expecting Gregory back today and they're going to notice when he doesn't, but--if I'm right, if my conspiracy theory is right, sending out a big Bat-signal is just going to make them know we're onto them, and they're going to lie low." Xander passed the shirt over his head, frowning. "Before we tell anyone what's going on, we need to figure out a way to catch them."
"We need to determine who 'they' are, first," Giles pointed out. "I agree with you; the attacks have been aimed at the Watchers. But we don't know who's behind them. Even if we assume that Dawn's report was correct and the demons are intelligent, someone must be directing or controlling them. I could imagine them attacking the Slayers on their own, but if they're focusing on Watchers..."
"Or hiring them," Xander suggested. "I mean, they don't like humans, but maybe if there was something they were getting in exchange?"
"Such as?"
"I have no idea," Xander admitted. "What do demons want?" He shrugged. "That doesn't matter. The reason it's important is that it broadens our list of suspects." He got up, getting a pair of socks out of the dresser and then coming back to sit next to Giles to put them on.
Giles frowned, about to ask Xander what he meant when it suddenly made sense. "Because if they're being controlled, we're almost certainly dealing with someone with a relatively high level of magical training, but if they're hired mercenaries, the only thing he would need is money, or some other asset to offer the demons." He sighed. "And we're going to have to assume that's a possibility, because we can't afford to rule anything out."
"So right now, the only thing we're sure of is that it isn't either of us," Xander said. "And I know, that's exaggerating a little; I don't think Andrew had anything to do with this."
"Mrs. Cheever may think I'm a young upstart with no sense of tradition, but I still trust her implicitly," Giles added.
"Okay, that's four of us," Xander said. "And we can't keep this a secret any more, because I'd bet you five bucks that the police car pulling up is already the talk of the school. We're going to have to tell them about Gregory, at least."
"At the moment," Giles said, "I plan to tell them that he was killed in an automobile accident, and leave out any details. That should satisfy their curiosity without making whoever's responsible suspicious."
"That won't work for long," Xander said. "I mean, they have to know what we're doing. They knew Gregory was coming back today, and when his flight would get in...." He frowned. "Do you think your office is bugged?"
That had never occurred to Giles. "I've no idea," he said. "That's beyond my area of expertise. I suppose we could search."
Xander sighed. "I wouldn't even know what to look for." Then, looking up, he added, "Andrew might, though."
Giles thought about the state he'd left Andrew in. "I don't know that he'll be much help. He was rather... distraught after talking to the police."
"It's worth a try, anyway." Now fully dressed, Xander got up, all of yesterday's tension between the two of them apparently forgotten. "So what's our plan? You tell the school about Gregory, I'll see what can be done to get Andrew calmed down and at least semi-helpful, and then... what? We try to figure out how they're finding out where people are going to be. That's not common knowledge, is it?"
"Not unless the Watchers who were attacked have told them," Giles said. "That might have been possible in some of the earlier attacks, but Gregory... well, he wasn't the sort to socialize much."
"Okay, then they're getting the information from somewhere. And if we know how, maybe we'll know who?"
Giles nodded, feeling a little relieved that he and Xander seemed to be able to work together again. "That's what I was thinking. But if we haven't made any progress in the next twenty-four hours, I'm going to have to tell the rest of the Council about this. I can't keep them unaware that they're in danger."
"Then we're just going to have to solve this in twenty-four hours."
***
They'd definitely need twenty-four hours, Xander thought. After Giles had gone to take care of telling everyone about Gregory, Xander had gone downstairs to find Andrew. He'd really thought he had the easy job.
But apparently not.
"Andrew?" Xander called out, after stepping into the empty office. A short wail answered him from behind the desk, and he peeked over to find Andrew huddled against the wall. "Hey, you okay?"
Andrew shook his head and looked up, eyes red-rimmed and filled with tears.
With a sigh, Xander sat down by Andrew's side, squished between the desk and the chair. "Hey," he said again, trying to sound comforting and forget that they were on a deadline and didn't have time to deal with this. He hadn't even realized Andrew had known Gregory all that well; Xander hadn't been around much, and it wasn't like he and Andrew talked about anything really personal most of the time. It wasn't a secret, though, that Andrew really liked Gregory, and it wasn't like Xander didn't know what Andrew-with-a-crush looked like. He should have been expecting this.
"I told him," Andrew whispered, sniffling. "On the phone, yesterday, I told him he had two options, and he could come back today or the day after tomorrow, and I--I said I missed him. So he--he grabbed the night flight."
"God, Andrew," Xander wrapped an arm around Andrew's shoulder and pulled him closer. "It's not your fault."
"How can you say that? You don't know--"
"No, maybe not," Xander interrupted him. "Maybe I don't know, but Andrew, even if Gregory had come home two days from now, he would have been killed anyway."
"You can't know that," Andrew said vehemently, but when he looked at Xander, he was frowning.
Xander let out a sigh, and shook his head. "Unfortunately, I can." He looked away from Andrew. No, it wasn't Andrew's fault, it was Xander's for avoiding Giles all day yesterday and not being more certain of himself, and it was Giles' for not listening to him at all in the first place. "You know how my car was attacked, and then Gregory's was? Giles and I have been working on trying to figure out what that demon was, and... we're pretty sure that's what killed him this morning too."
"No," Andrew said miserably. "It was a car wreck, he'd just made it back to Bangkok, and if he'd waited to come back until tomorrow, he wouldn't have been so tired...."
Xander kept his arm around Andrew's shoulders, but he raised his voice. "Listen to me. This was not your fault. It wasn't an ordinary car wreck. Someone murdered Gregory, and unless that someone was you--" Xander winced as Andrew sobbed loudly. "No, I know it wasn't you, Andrew, seriously. So it wasn't your fault."
Andrew looked up at him again, face still streaked with tears. "But murder? Who would want to kill him? He was--" He started crying again, and Xander decided that he definitely had a worse job than Giles.
"I know," Xander said. "But Giles and I are sure that's what happened." He took a deep breath. "And we need your help to catch the people behind it." He wasn't sure Andrew would be all that much help, considering the state he was in, but keeping Andrew busy would at least stop him from curling up on the floor and crying.
At least, Xander hoped so, because no matter what Giles told the rest of the school, there was no way anyone would believe him given the way Andrew was acting.
"What can I do?" Andrew said, sitting up straighter and wiping his eyes, though he was still sniffling.
"Who knew that--look, can we get up off the floor now?" Xander said. When Andrew nodded, he got up, helping Andrew to his feet and pulling the desk chair out so Andrew could sit down. Xander closed and locked the door to Andrew's office, to make certain they wouldn't be interrupted, and then came back to perch on the edge of Andrew's desk.
"Who knew that Gregory was coming back today?" Xander asked once he was settled.
Andrew shook his head. "Nobody. I mean, I did, of course, and he did, and you and Mr. Giles, but I didn't tell anyone else."
"Giles and I didn't, either," Xander said. "At least, I know I didn't, and I'm pretty sure Giles didn't mention it to anybody. So unless Gregory told someone--" Something occurred to Xander, and he frowned. "Do we use a travel agent?"
"No, I got his ticket online, from the airline. And even if someone had intercepted the data, his ticket had an open return date. They wouldn't have known when he was coming back, just the airline."
"Someone might have overheard him when he made his flight arrangements," Xander said, "but they'd have been in Thailand with him. Why fly all the way back to London to kill him when you could do it before he left?"
Andrew shook his head. "Nobody knew he was coming back," he repeated. "So how could someone have known where he'd be to kill him?"
"That's what I want you to tell me," Xander said. "I know you used to know a lot of weird technical stuff, right? Back when--back in Sunnydale," he finished, not really wanting to end with, "back when you were evil." He didn't give Andrew a chance to answer, just went on, "We think maybe Giles' office is bugged, or yours is. I know it'd be hard to do, with Giles living in the other half of the house, but it seemed like the simplest explanation."
"We're going to sweep the offices for bugs?" Andrew said, brightening a little. He still looked like he might break down again at any moment, but at least he wasn't huddled into a little ball under his desk.
Xander sighed. "Yeah, it looks like we're going to have to. But seriously, Andrew, no one else can know about this."
Andrew gave him a hurt look. "I know how to keep secrets."
He doubted that, but Xander decided arguing wouldn't be a good idea. "Not saying you don't, Andrew, just that people are going to have a lot of questions. And they'd come to you for answers, wouldn't they, if they thought Giles hadn't told them everything?"
"Everyone does know that Mr. Giles keeps me up-to-date on everything," Andrew agreed.
"And Giles is telling the school that this was just a car accident, because we don't want people to completely panic--and we really don't want whoever's responsible to know we're on to them. So if people have questions, you're going to have to tell them it was just an accident." Privately, Xander thought anybody who questioned Andrew about Gregory's death was likely to have to deal with a sobbing Andrew and probably wouldn't get any useful information out of him, but he had to make sure.
Andrew nodded, and Xander went on. "I'm going to help you check in here and in Giles' office for bugs, so if anyone asks, I'm doing some repair work as a favor to Giles, and I got you to help me." Enough people would have seen Xander doing small carpentry and repair jobs around the school on previous visits that it wouldn't be hard to believe. For bigger jobs, or when Xander wasn't around, Giles hired someone, but the less time outsiders spent around the school, the better.
"I can do that," Andrew insisted.
Xander certainly hoped so. "Okay, then. Let's get to work."
They started with Giles' office. Xander didn't know why, but that's where Andrew headed first. Maybe he just needed to get away from his own office for a while, and when Andrew managed to not curl up into a ball and cry at all for all the time it took them to turn Giles' office upside down, and then back to its original state, Xander was glad that's where they'd started. He didn't think they'd have had that result if they'd been in Andrew's office first.
By the time they were done, Giles was back, and watching them from where he stood, leaning against the closed door. "Anything?"
Andrew answered before Xander could. "No, nothing that looks even close to a listening device." He sounded a lot calmer than just an hour ago.
"All right," Giles sighed. "At least that means we can speak freely in here." He was going to add something when a knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
Xander put the pile of papers he'd been putting in order back on Giles' desk, and he and Andrew sat down on the two chairs.
Giles opened the door. "May I help you?" he asked, frowning, when two students--a Slayer and a future Watcher--looked at him.
The teenage boy stood forward, looking so frightened that Xander felt a pang of sympathy for him. "We have something to tell you, sir," he said, stuttering slightly. "May we come in?" He looked quickly inside and seemed relieved to see only Xander and Andrew there. Apparently, they weren't as frightening as the rest of the faculty.
"Of course," Giles agreed, shooting Xander a worried look as he let the teenagers in and shut the door behind them. "I'm afraid I can't remember your names."
"I'm Camden Travers, sir," the boy said, and then waved at his friend. "This is Selena Cruz."
Xander groaned at the boy's name; he'd forgotten that Travers' grandson was actually attending the Academy, and from the look on Giles' face, so had he. At least that meant he probably wasn't as annoying as his grandfather.
"Yes," Giles nodded, letting as little of his surprise show in his expression as he could. "From El Salvador, isn't it?"
The girl nodded nervously, looking sideways at her companion. "Something--something happened last night, sir," she said, in a lilting accent. "We--we didn't want to be scolded, so we didn't say anything when we got back to Mrs. Cheever and Mr. Adams."
"With Mr. Gregory's death, we though--" Camden picked up, then stopped, looking down on the floor. He shook his head. "I mean, it's--it's not just an accident, is it? The little girl from Africa? I can't remember her name, I'm sorry."
"Niki," Xander supplied, more interested now than annoyed.
"Yes, she said they had been attacked, their car?"
Giles nodded, looking at Xander worriedly. "Go on," he said when Camden didn't continue.
It was Selena who picked up the tale. "We were patrolling last night, and we--we split up from our group. Lily and Gretchen took the right, and we took the left, and we--" She blushed furiously.
Xander sighed. This was getting back to being annoying. It was absolutely obvious that they had been doing everything but patrolling, just from the way they were standing close together and giving each other furtive looks.
Giles picked up on it too, because he shook his head. "You were both distracted, I assume?"
Camden and Selena nodded. "We're sorry, sir," Camden breathed. "We swear it won't happen again, we've learnt our lesson."
"Of course it won't happen again," Giles said. Xander thought he sounded a little harsh, but the situation was kind of desperate, and they didn't really need to be dealing with two disobedient teenagers right now. "I'll have you both separated in the future. Now, please, go on."
Camden squeezed Selena's arm comfortingly, and then turned back to Giles. "We stopped against a tree, and we were distracted when we heard a sound behind us." His voice was a lot more steady now, business-like. He might be shy when it came to personal stuff, but he had a good head on his shoulders, Xander thought. In spite of who he was related to, he might actually make an okay Watcher one of these days. "Selena saw it, the demon."
"It was green, about this tall," she supplied, extending her arm as high over her head as it could go. "It had claws and--" She stopped when Andrew jumped to his feet and walked out of the office.
Giles and Xander looked at each other, frowning, but didn't have time to even think about why Andrew had bolted like that before he came back, closed the door behind himself, and handed a sheet of paper to the two teenager. "Did it look like this?" Andrew asked, and it suddenly made sense. With the number of copies of that sketch he'd ended up with the other day when he'd battled with the copy machine, Andrew would have at least one lying around close by.
"Good thinking, Andrew," Giles said, impressed. Andrew smiled at him, just a little smug, and sat back.
"Yes!" Selena and Camden both said. "This is exactly what it looked like," Camden continued, handing Giles the sketch. "It came after me."
"I told him to run and get Lily and Gretchen, but the demon followed him, not me."
Xander stood, anxious. "You're sure that it followed him? It saw you," he said, pointing at Selena, "but followed him?"
"Yes, I'm certain. It barely even glanced at me."
"It's like it dismissed her entirely," Camden added. "Selena managed to knock it out, but we were so scared, we ran back to the dorms and…" He shrugged.
"Didn't tell anyone," Giles finished for them. When both of them nodded, Giles went on. "We're going to have to take disciplinary actions, but not right now. I'm willing to give you both some leniency if you promise not to tell anyone about this for the foreseeable future. Nobody, and I repeat," he said, pushing each word, "nobody must know about this."
"We promise, sir," Camden said, solemnly. "We won't tell anyone."
"I'll contact Mrs. Cheever and Mr. Adams, and have them put Camden on another patrol team. And I'll expect both of you to be on your best behavior from now on. I've heard that you've been sneaking around the girls' dormitories for a while now," he added, looking sternly at Camden, and the boy blushed. "No more of that. You have plenty of opportunity to see Miss Cruz during your classes and your free time, without breaking school rules."
Xander was pretty sure Giles or Mrs. Cheever didn't know who the stalker-kid had been, or they'd have done something about it before now, but it was obvious just from the way Camden looked down that it had been him. And come to think of it, he did look a lot like that kid Xander had seen in the bushes that first night.
"Yes, sir."
Giles sent Selena right back to class, but asked Camden to stay. "Can you show us where the demon attacked you?"
"Yeah," the boy answered. "I don't think I'm going to forget that any time soon."
"Probably not," Xander said, tapping Camden's shoulder.
"All right," Giles stood up, giving Andrew back the sketch. "Can you keep looking for what we talked about earlier?"
"Yes, I can do that," Andrew replied, nodding. Now that the distraction was over, Xander could see Andrew slowly going back into his funk. "I'll look in my office, and give you a call if I find anything."
"That will do." Giles turned to Xander. "We'll go look around with Camden, and see if the demon left us any clue as to where it comes from."
"Sure." Xander grabbed his jacket and followed Giles out.
***
On to Part 8