Chapter Text
London is an ancient and venerable city, but a living one. Stones that were set in place long centuries ago are reflected in the cool, gleaming surfaces of their towering neighbors, built of glass and steel, stretching toward the gray English sky. By deliberate choice, the new office of the Council of Watchers was located in one of the latter. Brushed chrome trimmed the rows of rounded cubicles, which were covered in mauve fabric and wired for computers.
A phone line buzzed in one of the private offices along the wall. Rupert Giles did his best to keep the exasperation out of his voice as he picked it up; it wasn’t Andrew’s fault that the new Council was pitifully understaffed and the phone had rung every five minutes all bloody day.
“Mr. Giles, um, good news and bad news? Good news is—Willow on line 3! But on the bad news side, she sounds kind of upset.” Andrew’s eagerness to please didn’t keep him from being annoying, but it did keep him alive.
“Put her through.”
Willow’s wavering hello was ripe with tears, either recently shed or barely repressed, and his exhaustion fell away, replaced by a fierce protectiveness. He wished the Slayers and Scoobies could have left peril behind after Sunnydale, but after only a brief respite, the survivors had taken on new fronts in the ongoing battle. He was relieved by her initial reassurances that she and Kennedy were in no immediate physical or demonic danger.
“Of course, I could certainly use your help here…. I’ll assign a Watcher to join Kennedy in Rio….yes, she should have some Council support there…..Don’t thank me. It will be….to be honest, I’ve missed you. I’ll have Andrew set up a flight for you and email the information. Do take care of yourself, Willow. Goodbye.”
When Giles looked up, Andrew was watching him from the doorway. In pursuit of his dream of becoming a Watcher, he was decked out in a three piece tweed suit, complete with watch chain. If only he’d get a proper haircut, Giles thought, he’d almost look like an adult. “So, she’s coming back? I mean, not back, but here? To us?”
“Yes. She and Kennedy have ended their relationship.”
Andrew made a sad face. “Wow. Sad, but like, totally predictable. I mean, anyone could see that Kennedy was Willow’s rebound girl, and Kennedy just wanted to not be alone ‘cuz she figured she was probably going to die soon. I completely get it because I felt the same way, except nobody in the house wanted to not be alone with me.” He brightened. “But hey, we lived, and is Willow coming to stay? I mean, is she going to be part of the London team now?”
“At least temporarily, I should think. She needs some time to recover before she makes any long-term decisions. We can provide a haven for her.” Giles looked back down at his interrupted paperwork. “Another task presents itself, as well. Kennedy should have a Watcher assigned to her. I don’t think it’s safe for her to handle the situation in Rio alone.” He sighed. “No doubt she’s emotionally vulnerable right now, too.”
“Um, well…” Andrew was uncharacteristically diffident. “What about me?” Giles looked up in surprise. Andrew did not meet his eyes, but went on, “I’ve been working on my languages, and one of them is Portuguese, and I wouldn’t say I’m totally fluent, but I’m getting there. Portuguese is actually one of my better ones, which is strange, but anyway, I think Kennedy might like a familiar face, being all alone in a foreign country.”
The older man considered. Despite his irritating ways, Andrew was not unintelligent, and had matured considerably in the year since the Hellmouth’s collapse. He certainly had more field experience than many of the surviving senior Watchers.
“I’ll discuss it with Kennedy, and see if she’s amenable. If so, I’ll consider it.” Andrew’s grin was oddly rewarding. “Set up a flight for Willow, Rio to London, within the next few days if possible. And clear my schedule for her arrival; I’ll meet her plane myself.”
“Right-ho, sir! I won’t let you down!” With a theatrical little bow, Andrew excused himself. Giles watched him through the glass panel next to the door. Was he actually skipping? Was it too early for Scotch? Yes, very much so, and there was work to be done. He returned to his work, a complete revision of the Watcher curriculum, based both on what he had learned in his Sunnydale years, and what could be done with the limited resources that had survived the destruction of the old headquarters. He could put Willow in charge of magical training, he arealized, and began to picture himself working with her. There was so much she could teach the new Watchers, both from her mystical power and her field experience.
While he felt compassion for Willow’s evident pain, he found himself looking forward to her return.