New Beginnings
The rain was coming down in sheets as Rupert Giles stood in the window of his office. It had been a long few weeks of change. After defeating the First, Giles had thought they would end up in Cleveland, where they would take care of another Hellmouth, but fate stepped in.
The call came from Peter, an old friend of Giles. He had known the Watcher’s Council was in chaos, yet he didn’t think there was anything he could do. Nor did Giles think he would be welcomed back. The call was a surprise, and by the next morning, most of them were on a plane to England.
New headquarters had been found by the time Giles and the rest of them arrived. He thought he would be just a Watcher again but Peter and the rest of them had other plans. Giles was to become the new head; a position that was once held by Quentin Travers.
It was laughable to Giles; taking over the position of the man he loathed the most. He was sure Roger Wyndam-Pryce would’ve been the new head if things were different. But when Wesley had died, Roger’s wife had gone mad and now Roger spent most of his time with her.
“Giles?” came Willow’s voice. He turned from the window and looked at the girl. “How’s the search going? Andrew tells me today’s applicant was a no go.”
Giles gave her a ghost of a smile before moving back to his desk. “It’s a bit hard to find someone qualified to run the science department who also understands the nature of our work,” he said, taking off his glasses and cleaning the lenses. “I’m beginning to believe it’s a lost cause.”
“If I wasn’t busy with the magic--”
“I know, Willow,” Giles said with a sigh. He placed his glasses on his face. They had spent too much money on a lab that would probably never be used.
“But, hey, I do have a solution,” Willow said with a smile. “You need to call Fred.”
“Pardon? Fred?”
“Fred Burkle. Rescued from a nasty dimension by Angel. Smart and all science-y.”
“Ah, yes. One of Angel’s people. Didn’t she go with him to run the evil law firm?” Giles asked with a look of disgust on his face.
“Nope. She went to Texas. I have her number.” Willow pulled out her cell phone and started to look through her address book. “Need to delete some of these numbers. Oh! Here’s it is. It’s 210-334-… Why aren’t you writing it down?”
“I don’t think she’ll be the right choice, Willow,” Giles honestly said. “If she’s been with Angel--”
“But she’s not Angel.” Willow interrupted with a look of annoyance on her face. “Look, Fred’s good at what she does and she understands our work. She’s the prefect choice! Come on, Giles, call her.”
He thought it over for a moment as the old grandfather clock in the corner chimed. Giles hated it but it’d been a gift from the Council and he left it in his office to make them happy. “Leave the number on my desk and I’ll think it over.” He stood from his desk and picked up a stack of files. “I have a meeting to go to.”
“Will do,” said Willow as Giles started toward the door. “Oh, and Giles? Think really hard about it. Fred would make a great addition to our team.”
He merely nodded before leaving the office.
***
Days had gone by and Fred’s number remained on Giles desk; scribbled on a flowery piece of paper in Willow’s neat handwriting. He had interviewed another applicant and when he asked them their thoughts on vampires, the person gave him a disbelieving look.
They needed to find someone soon. The Council board was getting restless and demanded to know what Giles was doing about the empty lab. He was growing tired of the finger pointing, and after figuring out the time difference, he picked his office phone up and dialed the number Willow had given him.
He hoped this wasn’t a waste of time.