tarnished -- part three -- trekker |
Chapter Three | |
Lively Debate and the Lack of 'I' Statements |
“Tell me you did not just say what it sounded like you said.”
Willow winced a little as Buffy glared at Giles across the conference room table.
“He wants to come, Buffy, and he has enough power to be a large asset. Why on earth would we turn him down?”
Buffy threw her hands up.
“Hello? Evil??”
“Uh--” Willow tried to cut in, but neither Buffy nor Giles seemed to even remember she was actually present.
“He IS NOT EVIL,” Giles shouted.
“Whatever! Formerly evil, bad magic, trouble-maker, turned-my-Watcher-into-a-demon, or did we forget about that??”
“He’s changed, Buffy.”
“Uh huh.”
“Spike--”
“Ok, once again, this is not about me, and Spike was totally different. And you can’t bring a date to the apocalypse!”
“Dammit, Buffy, this is not *about* that.”
A date? Willow rewound the conversation in her head, but couldn’t quite figure out where Buffy had gotten that from Giles’ simple, quiet statement that Ethan Rayne would be willing to help them rid LA of the demonic legions.
“Date?” Willow said.
They both finally looked at her.
Giles stepped back from the table and folded his arms and said, “Ethan and I are involved.”
Whoa. Oh.
“Ok, then. Um.” She thought for a moment about what would be the appropriate response to this, and finally came up with, “Why?”
Giles sighed heavily. “Could we please get back to the topic of *actual* evil and how to defeat it?”
They didn’t, though, they were all silent and glare-y. Willow had to point out, “Well, technically, Ethan’s not evil. He’s just... unpredictable. Kind of by definition.”
“I trust him,” Giles said.
“You’re an idiot, then!” Buffy jumped back in, helpfully.
*’I’ statements,* Willow thought, helplessly, her head ringing. “Ok, Buffy, calling people idiots? Really not helping.”
“He’s given us no reason to trust him. And plenty not to.”
“He has given us reason,” Giles said. “You think I was completely alone when we were fighting the First? Ethan saved more Potentials than I ever did. He had every opportunity to turn on me then, but he didn’t, and he didn’t at considerable risk to his own life. I trust him.”
Buffy looked shocked. Willow was just kind of relieved that one of them had actually managed to make a logical point. “Guys? Can we please get back to trying to figure out how to get three hundred teenaged girls into the US?”
“Three hundred teenaged girls and a wanted felon,” Buffy muttered.
“He can bloody teleport,” Giles snapped.
Willow sighed again. This was going to be a long apocalypse.
tarnished -- part three -- trekker |