(Fade in on Buffy and Giles in the exercise room. Giles has padded mitts on his hands and Buffy is training, hitting Giles in sequence. )

GILES: All right. Switch. Left lead.

BUFFY: So you really think they might be able to help us?

GILES: Uh, if you mean are they gonna help us find out something about Glory ... I saw that coming. You're dropping your shoulder. Uh, the resources that the ... Watchers Council has at their disposal, (wistfully) I mean the Central Library alone is just...

BUFFY: (sternly) Don't talk about the books again. You get all ... and sometimes there's drool.

GILES: I'm sorry, but we, we've really exhausted the materials I have here, and we're coming up empty. You're, you're still dropping your shoulder. I can see when you're gonna go with your right. You're doing it again!

(Buffy hits him sharply in the upper arm and he stumbles aside. )

GILES: Ow!

BUFFY: Sorry! Sorry. So, Glory's all you're gonna talk to them about, right?

GILES: (nods, rubs his shoulder) Let's, let's take a break.

BUFFY: Answer me.

GILES: I, I'm not gonna mention Dawn's name. I wouldn't do that, I promise.

BUFFY: But you're gonna tell them about the key? That Glory's looking for something called the key?

GILES: (removes mitts) Well, knowing her goal is, is crucial. I mean, i-i-if anything helps them uncover her origins, her, her plans...

BUFFY: I know. It's just I trust these Watchers about as far as ... you could throw them.

GILES: Thank you very much.

BUFFY: (sighs) I'm just freaked about the idea of giving them any information that could possibly lead them to Dawn.

GILES: Truly, Buffy, if I saw an alternative ... if, if the Initiative were still around, I'd consider using them, but... they're gone, and then Riley was, was, uh, the last link we had to the government.

(Giles wipes his face with a towel. Buffy looks down sadly.)

GILES: Sorry, I didn't mean to....

BUFFY: It's okay. You can say his name. (pensively) I'm doing all right. These things happen. People break up and they move on ... for a while it feels like the end of the world, you know, but ... big picture...

GILES: Not so huge.

BUFFY: Not so huge? I just said it feels like the end of the world, don't you listen?

(Giles looks dismayed. Buffy leans in closer toward him.)

BUFFY: (whispers) I'm teasing.

GILES: (relieved smile) Oh.

BUFFY: Sort of. I'll be okay.

GILES: Well, I do hate to go if you're feeling badly.

BUFFY: look, if it help you find out something about Glory, I'm thrilled to have you gone.

• Buffy & Giles
• Buffy & Riley

written by: Jane Espenson; Transcribed by Joan the English Chick (pisces@englishchick.com).. Full transcript at:
http://www.studiesinwords.de/89triangle.html