At 9 AM the next morning, Willow pushed open the front doors to Sunnydale High School and sidled inside. Oz followed closely behind her. They stood by the doors looking at the small hubbub of summer school teachers that was gathered in the darkened hallway.
"Do you think they know?" Willow whispered fearfully.
"No," Oz reassured her. "Your secret identity as the Mad Short Circuiter of Sunnydale High is safe. Just play it cool."
Willow nodded and moved towards the faculty cluster, trying to look nonchalant.
"Too cool, Willow," Oz prompted her just before they joined the group. "You've got to look perplexed too."
Willow nodded. "Perplexed. Okay." She added a perplexed look to the nonchalant look. "How's this?"
Oz sighed. "Tell you what, forget that and think about thumb tacks for a minute."
"Thumb tacks?"
"Trust me on this."
"Okay," Willow said. She looked pained. "Ouch."
Principal Snyder came storming out of his office. "All right, people," he snapped. "You're all being paid to teach class, so get on with it."
Ms. Miller, the only teacher on faculty who could face down Snyder's tirades without batting an eye, turned her imperious gaze down on the principal. "And just when," she said, "are we going to get the lights back?"
"They'll be back when they're back." Snyder glared at her. "In the meantime: each room is outfitted with devices called windows. I suggest you people make use of them."
Willow gulped. "What am I going to do, Oz?" she whispered. "I can't teach a computer class without computers."
"Don't worry," Oz told her. "We'll improvise."
Snyder nailed Willow with an icy glare. "Is there a problem, Ms Rosenberg?"
"Uh well, computers need --" She looked at him again. "No problem, sir."
"Then I suggest you stop fraternizing with the students and get on with your class." He stormed off down the hallway, disappearing towards the back of the school.
"Come on," Oz said. He took Willow's elbow and they walked off in Snyder's wake.
Joe Riley, veteran daytime custodian for the high school, stood in the doorway of his tiny office at the back of the building. He had a cigarette lit and a small smile on his face.
"Hey Joe. What's the news?" Oz asked.
"Oh, His Holiness is in a royal snit. The electricians are discovering one thing after another that got wiped out during the outage last night, and the emergency budget isn't going to begin to cover it," Joe said cheerfully. "Hello, Miss Rosenberg. How's your new career as one of Sunnydale High's distinguished faculty?"
"Really great!" Willow grinned at the custodian. "Except of course for no power. And the boss is not all that fun to work for."
Joe snorted and flicked his cigarette away. "Just remember one thing: Right now he needs you far more than you need him. Keep that in mind, and you can negotiate a pretty cushy truce between the two of you."
"Do you know when they'll get the power back on?" Oz said.
Joe shrugged. "Power's on now. Problem is, most of the lights are on the computerized timers. And the system is fried."
Willow perked up. "Can I use the individual outlets in my classroom then?"
"Breakers are fixed. But all the administrative computers are DOA. Your babies probably aren't any better off."
She whimpered.
"Do they know what happened?" Oz said.
"Ball lightning, I've been told." Joe snorted. "Either that or one big mother of a power surge."
"What'll I do?" Willow said. "Snyder expects me to teach class."
Joe thought a moment. "Just a minute," he said, and wandered back into his office. He scrutinized the shelf over the coat rack, then came back with a battered, coffee-stained book. "When I was a kid," he said, handing her the book, "I used to love reading period. Might be nice to go back to that tradition every now and then."
Willow looked at the title: Tiktok in Oz. "Even in a computer class?" she said doubtfully.
Joe shooed them out the door. "Especially in a computer class. Trust me, honey. It'll keep you all humble."
Cordelia sat on the bench next to the high school's front entrance, examining the scratches on her face in a compact mirror. She set the mirror down to retie the scarf around her neck, and then surveyed her image critically.
"Cordy, hey. How are you feeling?" Xander sat down close to her.
"Really not so good," Cordelia said. "Does this look like I'm trying to disguise the scratches to you, Xander?"
"The scarf covers up the ones on your neck," Xander said. "But --"
"Yeah, but the ones on my cheek are still visible, which only makes the fact that I'm hiding the ones on my neck obvious," she grumbled, and yanked the scarf off again. "You'd think I'd be really good at this by now."
Xander threw his arms around her and pulled her close.
"Hey," Cordelia said, without moving. "You're wrinkling my blouse."
He tightened his grip. "You don't mind when we're groping."
She hesitantly wrapped her arms around his back and patted him awkwardly. "It's okay, Xander. Really. It's a couple of scratches. No biggy. I'll accessorize."
"No," Xander said. "It's not okay. I mean, it's okay that you're okay -- except that you're not okay."
"Well that makes worlds of sense," she said.
He held her at arm's length to look at her. "I had a bad dream last night. I had to make sure --"
She thrust him away. "Xander, we've been attacked before. It's not like this is amateur hour for any of us anymore."
"But we always had Buffy here," Xander said. "We've never been the frontline before."
"We did all right last night, didn't we?"
"Just barely," Xander said. "We shouldn't have gotten split up like that."
"Xander, you were turning yourself inside out last night trying to keep everyone together. And it's not like we had advance warning that there were vampires about."
Xander shook his head. "We're not going to always have advanced warning. Maybe Willow and Giles have the right idea. It's insane to try to take on the sorts of things that the Hellmouth keeps chucking out without the Slayer."
"But you were so worried about Willow getting in over her head."
"Yes, but we're all getting in over our heads anyway," Xander said. "Maybe we need some help. Hellmouth kind of help."
"You've changed your mind about her doing the magic then?" She tied the scarf back around her neck.
"No. I still don't like Willow messing around with that stuff. But maybe she needs to learn some of it. Just a little, to keep us alive until Buffy gets back."
"You're going to have tell them you were wrong."
"Not wrong," Xander insisted. "But maybe my timing needs some work. Is all."
Cordelia smiled That Smile at him.
Xander gulped. "Uhm, you want to see if the lights are on in the utility closet yet?"
"Your timing's looking better already," she replied, and stood to take his arm.
Oz pushed open the doors to the library and stepped back to let Willow in. She paused a moment to steady the pile of books in her arms, then moved inside.
"Here," Oz hurried to grab off half the stack. "No toe squashage today."
"Thanks," she said. "But if I did squish my toes, would you massage them?"
"Every cute digit." He stepped over to deposit the books on the table. Giles was seated there, absorbed in still another old book.
Willow smiled at him and pulled a chair up to the table. Both she and Oz looked at the Watcher expectantly. He glanced up at them once, but immediately returned to the book.
He wasn't happy. Willow exchanged an uneasy look with Oz, then pulled a volume on meditation from her own stack and started to read by the natural light coming in through the library windows. Oz sorted through some books that were stacked at his end of the table, picked out a copy of Kafka's Metamorphosis, and settled in next to her.
Giles finally shut his book and removed his glasses to rub at his eyes. "I would like to read your notes from last night," he said, without looking at Willow.
"Sure!" she said anxiously, and pulled the notebook from the top of the book stack. Giles took it without a word and began to read it over. He flipped back to her notes from the previous night and reread them. She sensed that he wasn't getting any happier. "Giles -- is anything wrong?"
He slid the notebook that Xander had given him the previous night at her over the table top. Willow looked at him, wide-eyed. "Read it," he said curtly, before returning to her own notes.
Tentatively, still feeling that she was doing something she shouldn't be, despite the fact that he'd given her the notebook, Willow began to read over his notes from the night before. She admired his elegant, if somewhat wobbly right- handed penmanship for a moment, before turning to the notes themselves. It didn't take her long; there were only two pages.
She was smiling to herself as she finished, then looked up to find him watching her intently. "Did you mean that?" she asked.
He looked momentarily confused, then looked away, remembering now the one entry referring to her. "Apparently I did," he said. "Did I seem a trifle. . . giddy to you last night?"
"Don't you remember?"
He handed Willow her notebook back. "Yes, I do. Very clearly. I also remember that I took concise notes. But I read those notes now, and I have no idea where they came from."
Willow opened her own notebook, turned back to the first page, and read through her notes for the night before last. They read fine -- she could remember all of it -- but suddenly she blushed.
"Yes?" Giles didn't miss that.
"I -- uh," she swallowed and hurriedly shut the notebook. "Okay, maybe my inhibitions were down a bit that night." She looked up at him. "Hey, you said to write what I was feeling not what I was doing. Don't worry though, you didn't do anything with underwear. Though, there was that whole funny thing with that waitress."
Giles looked at her blankly for a moment. "Oz," he said. "Could you get the briefcase from the desk in my office."
Oz gave him a sympathetic look as he got up. "Sure."
"You didn't notice?" Willow said when her boyfriend had left. "You were flirting with her like crazy."
"No." He tossed his pen to the top of the table. "Apparently, I was too busy planning a preemptive strike against the current vampire population of Sunnydale."
"We were kind of doing that. But that's what we meant to be doing, isn't it?"
Giles shook his head. "I only intended to give you the support you needed to try a basic scrying spell for the purpose of locating Buffy."
"But that's what we're doing still, isn't it? Giles, you're worrying too much. We can handle this."
"Can we?" He stood and began to pace. "I agreed to this because of the circumstances, and because you seemed intent on doing the spell with or without me. I thought I could give you more responsible backup than Ethan ever gave me --"
"But you have," she insisted. "You've done everything possible to safeguard me."
"Perhaps, but good intentions aren't enough. I had the arrogance to think they would be. Willow, I'm calling a halt to this particular experiment right now."
"We can't stop," Willow said in dismay. "Giles, we were almost there last night. Okay, I was stupid. Again. But that was my fault. If I'd paid attention to you, the spell wouldn't have gotten messed up. I promise I won't try anything different without clearing it with you first."
Oz came back to the table carrying two items. Willow looked up at him. "Should we stop, Oz?"
"Hey," he said, "I'm here for you guys whatever you decide."
"Willow," Giles said, running a hand through his hair. "I can't safeguard you if my judgement is impaired --" He took a second look at the object Oz had set down on the table and looked at the young man questioningly.
"I figured either you've taken up a new hobby, or a very strange child has been in your office recently," Oz said. "I'm guessing now, the latter."
Willow picked up the doll and examined it. Its eyes had been poked out and it had been gagged. "Poor little girl," she said. "Whose is it, Giles?"
"I've never seen that before in my life," he said and took the doll from her. "What child would mutilate a doll like this?"
"It's obvious that you've never had sisters," Willow said. "The really wiggy thing is the gag." Something occurred to her. "You mentioned something once about Drusilla collecting dolls, didn't you? Back when you were first researching her."
"Yes. I did." His face was expressionless as he turned the doll over in his hands. Willow exchanged a worried look with Oz.
"Maybe it isn't hers," Oz suggested. "I mean, anybody could have come in here since last night."
"Sure!" Willow said. "It could have been one of the . . . electricians. . ." She bit her lip. ". . . or maybe some little girl came in . . . uhm when the school was locked? Hey, maybe Joe has a niece!"
Giles set the doll down, stood and made for the door. "Come on."
Willow and Oz hurried to catch up. "Where are we going?" Willow asked.
Giles looked thoroughly disgusted. "I need to talk with my Watcher."
"Cordy?"
"Mmmpf?"
"We're out of the closet with our 'thing', aren't we?"
Cordelia sighed in exasperation. "What more do you want from me, Xander?" she said. "I've defended you to Harmony and the gang, we've been seen together at the Bronze. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to wear your jacket."
"No, no! I mean, not that you wouldn't make even my jacket look cute. Why are we still smooching in the utility closet?"
Cordelia drew back and looked around her. "Well, I don't know. Why did you invite me in here?"
Xander thought about that. "Habit, I guess. Do you want to try smooching in the student lounge and see if the world explodes?"
Cordelia considered the concept, her nose scrunched up. "No offense Xander, but that seems weird. Actually, the thought of kissing you in public seems weird." She looked at his expression. "Well come on. Doesn't it sort of wig you out too?"
"Cordy, do you really want to think of the utility closet as 'our' place?"
"Don't be ridiculous," she said. "Just because we've come in here a couple of times to make out doesn't mean that it's 'our' place." She grabbed him.
They'd been smooching for a few minutes more, when there was a knock at the door.
They drew apart and stared at the door. It opened a crack. "Xander?" Willow's voice said. "We don't mean to interrupt anything. But Giles need to talk with you."
Xander cleared his throat. "Okay, Willow. We'll be with you in a second." He looked at Cordelia.
"Okay, okay," she said. "We'll try making out under the bleachers next time."
Willow, Giles, and Oz were standing in the hall outside, well away from the door. Xander glanced at Giles nervously. He'd given the Watcher a pretty hard time last night, and now he was going to have to swallow some of his words. Going by the grim look on the man's face, he wasn't going to make it any easier for Xander.
"Look, Giles," Xander said, "I know I was pretty harsh last night. . ." He glanced back at Cordelia with her scratched face. She grimaced at him and mouthed 'Go on.' "I mean, I said some things without thinking. But now that I have thought --"
"Good," said Giles. "You were right. We need to stop now."
Xander stared at him, then pulled his mouth shut. "Now wait a minute," he said. "I'm trying to say that you guys were right. You mean to say that with everything that happened last night, you're just going to pack it up?"
"I wish it were that easy," Giles said. "But we're going to have to cast at least one more spell, and Willow can't do it. Which leaves it up to me."
"Pinson's Point is a go then?" Cordelia said hopefully.
"So you do the spell tonight, we figure out where Buffy is, let her know what's going on, and she --" Oz frowned, "-- she does what?"
Giles sighed. "One thing at a time. We'll do the spell tonight, as Oz says. Willow will back me. You --" he looked at Xander, "are the designated Watcher."
Xander stared at him.
"You volunteered already, Xander," Willow prompted him gently.
"You did, Xander," Cordelia said.
"W-well, yes," Xander stuttered. "But that was a joke. I mean, it wasn't a joke, but I didn't mean -- I can't be a Watcher! What about my D plus grade average?!"
"Fortunately, Buffy doesn't have to work with you," Giles said. "I do." He turned and headed back towards the library.
Willow and Cordelia each grabbed one of Xander's arms and steered him along at Giles' heels.
"Do I have to wear tweed?" Xander whimpered.
"Only if you're British," Giles said. "But paisley ties are de rigueur for American Watchers, I believe."
"It's okay, Xander," Cordelia said. "We'll go shopping this afternoon." Xander whimpered again.