Part 4

 "Hey G-man, we're here as per requested," Faith yelled as she entered the
library, followed by Willow, Angel and Pacey.
 "How many time must I ask you to please not call me that?  Giles said as he
came out of his office.  He noticed the unfamiliar face with the trio and
figured that he had to be Willow's new housemate.  "Oh hello.  You must be
Pacey."
 "Why must I be?' Pacey asked in all seriousness.  Giles looked flustered
for a moment, thinking that he must have made a mistake.  Willow noticed and
decided to let him off the hook.
 "Relax, Giles, this is Pacey," Willow told him.  "He's just teasing you.
He apparently likes to do that.  From what I can tell, he's a lot like
Xander."
 "Oh good lord, what have I done to deserve this?" The Watcher rolled his
eyes as he asked himself that question.  While he did love all of the young
people in his charge, including Xander, there were many times when they had
tried his patience.  Willow went over to the Brit and put her hand on his
arm.
 "You know you love us," she said with a huge grin on her face.
 "That may be, but there is only so much even I can handle," he stated,
returning the red head's smile with one of his own.  He turned back to
Pacey.  "Be that as it may, welcome to Sunnydale, Pacey.  I'm Rupert Giles,
the school librarian."
 "And substitute parental unit to us all," added Faith.  "Which isn't al-ways
an easy job."
 "Yes well," Giles looked embarrassed by Faith's comment.  "So how was your
trip to Sunnydale?"
 "The trip was boring but my introduction to your idea of nightlife here was
rather interesting," Pacey told him.
 "What do you mean?"
 "We ran into a couple of vamps just outside of my house," Willow ex-plained.
  "Kinda caught me by surprise.  If it wasn't for Angel and Faith being in
the neighborhood, we probably would be a couple of Sunnydale statistics
right about now."
 "My word, are the two of you all right?" The concerned Watcher asked.
 "Yeah, just a couple of bumps and bruises.  Not to mention my ears being
tired from the lecture that I got about not being prepared."  Angel leaned
over and kissed Willow on the cheek.
 "You know we only lecture you because we care."
 "Yeah, yada yada yada," Willow shrugged it off.  "Whatever."  Anything else
that might have been said between the group was interrupted by a pair of
voices that were coming form the hallway.  While they couldn't make out what
was being said, they could tell that it wasn't very nice.  "Ahhh, that must
be Xander and Cordelia."  Sure enough, the pair in question emerged from the
hallway, not even stopping there argument.
 "I don't care what you and your bimbette friends say, ‘Nsync is not mu-sic,"
Xander argued with his ex.
 "What would you know about music, loser boy.  You can't even dress your-self
in the morning," Cordelia shot back.
 "Well, now that I don't have to worry about impressing the fashion police,
I can actually dress in clothes that are comfortable," he answered.  He saw
Faith and went over to his girlfriend, kissing her as soon as he reached
her.  "Hey sweetie, what's up?"
 "Nothing much.  Just enjoying the show," she replied.  "So what were you
and Cordy fighting about this time?"
 "Nothing much," he shrugged.  "Just disagreeing on what she deems music."
 "He actually thinks that ‘Nsync is nothing but a bunch of talentless
jerks," the cheerleader huffed.
 "Really, and why would he possibly think that?" Pacey asked from his perch
by Willow's side.  "Couldn't be because they are nothing but a bunch of
talentless jerks, could it?"  Willow and Angel stifled a giggle, while
Xander laughed out loud.
 "I like you, man, whoever you are," the teenager said.  "Xander Harris at
your service."
 "Pacey Witter."  Pacey turned to face Cordelia.  "And might I inquire as to
whom you might be, my fair lady?"  Cordelia actually looked impressed by
Pacey's small attempt at flattery.
 "Cordelia Chase.  Reluctant member of this little group of misfits."
 "But, of course," Pacey said.  "No woman such as yourself would ever be
considered anything less than perfect."
 "You know, for once Xander is right.  You can stay."
 "Oh god, is anyone else going to be sick," Xander joked.   Giles decided
that it was time to discuss why he had wanted everyone to gather in the
library that night.
 "Yes, well, there is a reason that I called all of you here tonight.  Part
of that was so that we could meet Pacey and explain to him some of the
things that happen in Sunnydale, but apparently he has discovered those
things on his on."
 "And might I say, what a pleasure that was too."  Willow hit him on his
arm.
 "Behave," she ordered.  Giles continued as if he hadn't even been
interrupted.
 "Well, it has come to my attention from a source of mine in the Watcher's
Council, that a meeting has been set up to discuss the future of Faith and
myself."
 "What do you mean, the future of me and you," the brunette Slayer asked.
 "Well, with the departure of Buffy, and the rather unfortunate demise of
your previous Watcher, the Council is trying to decide as to what to do with
the two of us."
 "But I thought you were going to train Faith," Willow said.
 "As did I," Giles agreed, "but apparently there are some on the council
that feel that Buffy's departure from Sunnydale just proves my
ineffectiveness as a Watcher in allowing her to have a personal life.  You
all remember how Kendra was raised.  That is what the council believes I
should have done with Buffy in the first place.  They are thinking about
reevaluating my status as the Slayer's Watcher."
 "What about Faith?"
 "It seems that there has been a spy from the Council in Sunnydale for the
past week.  His job was to observe Faith in her training and during her
patrols, and then report back his findings," Giles explained.  "Let's just
say that those findings weren't exactly up to usual Council standards."
 "So they're going to what?"  Faith questioned.  "Fire me?"  Giles removed
his glasses, wiping them with his handkerchief.
 ""Actually, I believe they may be considering termination and bringing in a
new Slayer."
 "Wait a minute," Xander said.  "What do you mean by termination?"
 "The only way they can bring in the new Slayer is if the old one dies,"
Angel answered for the nervous Watcher, understanding why he was so upset.
"And since Faith isn't going to die any time soon, especially not if any of
us can help it, the council may be planning on taking matters into their own
hands."
 "Wait a minute," Faith interrupted.  "Are you telling me that I'm not only
going to have to worry about a bunch of demons and vamps trying to make a
meal out of me, that now I'm going to have to worry about the Watcher's
taking a hit out on me.  What, did I suddenly become a member of the
Sopranos?"
 "Faith, I want to assure you that I'm doing everything that I can to make
sure that this doesn't happen," Giles informed the girl.  "I'm trying to
find out as much as I can so that, whatever happens, we will be prepared."
 "And what do we do until then?" Willow asked.
 "We go on like nothing has changed," Giles answered.  "We give the council
absolutely no reason to question anything that we do.  Make them realize
that we are the best defense that they can even hope for."
 "I hate the idea of just lying low until something happens," Faith swore.
"Dammit, why can't we just take this fight to their front door?"
 "Because that's the quickest way to get ourselves killed," Giles replied.
Xander put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.
 "Don't worry, sweetie.  We'll figure something out," he promised her.  "I'm
not going to let anything happen to you."
 "Same here," added Willow.
 "Count me in," came Angel.
 "As much as it hurts to say this, I'm in," Cordelia said.
 "Hey, I can't be left out, so I'm in too,:" Pacey stated.  Faith looked
around at the group of friends, glad for their support and thankful to the
Powers that Be that brought them into her life.
 "Thanks guys."
 "Hey, what are friends for," Willow told her.  "Besides, what would our
lives be without a little adventure?"
 "Normal."

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