Fight to the Finish (BTVS, Book Seven)

chapter 14 - First Date

The other Scoobies had somehow gotten the wild idea that Giles was dead and that the First was impersonating him, but they soon found out they were wrong when they tackled him while he was out with the Potentials in the desert...

I wasn't even gonna ask.

Right now, the focus was for Giles, Buffy and I to take the Potentials out to the cemetery at night for training together.

Giles was telling us the story about when he found his friend Robson nearly dead in his flat in England, and he had almost been killed by a Bringer, before Giles had in turn killed the Bringer. "It was, uh, extraordinary good luck, of course. And-and, uh, training--years of training." He looked at the new recruit. "Chao-Ahn, keep up. You're new here, Chao-Ahn, so take note. Remember about training. But I honestly feel the largest part of it was instinct. Instinct and-and reflexes. There's a sort of wary watchfulness I've developed over the years. It's like another sense--"

From out of nowhere, someone attacked Giles, knocking him to the ground.

It was Spike.

I threw my hands up, both exasperated yet worried for both Giles and Spike. "Spike!"

Spike and Giles spoke simultaneously. "Hey!"

Giles frowned, saying, "You're not in pain," the same time Spike said, "You're not The First."

"What the hell are you--" Buffy started.

Spike pointed at Giles in defense. "Anya said he was The First. Said he was evil. He's supposed to be all go-through-able."

Spike stood, walking to my side.

Giles stood. "Then what the hell did you tackle me for, you berk? What's that supposed to do?"

Spike frowned. "I, uh, I didn't think of that."

"Apparently neither did any of the other Scoobies," I pointed out, giving Buffy a pointed look, who shrugged in acknowledgement. I sighed, a bit teasing. "Ah, the chaos of all of us sharing one brain cell."

Giles glanced at me, not denying the comment, before returning to focus on the matter at hand, looking at Spike. "More importantly, you just hit me."

"Why didn't your chip go off?" Buffy asked.

Spike and I shared a look, knowing that this was not going to go well.

Spike looked down. "Yeah, well..."

I looked at Buffy and Giles. "Well, uh, when we were at the Initiative..."

I hesitated before looking at Spike.

Spike raised his gaze to mine. "There was a choice."

I nodded, looking to Buffy and Giles. "Right. Either repair the chip, or to remove it."

Buffy and Giles both stared at me in shock, incredulous.

"You had it remov--" Buffy started, the same time Giles asked, "You removed the chip?"

I smiled, trying to appear innocent. "Yeah."

Spike shrugged. "Had to make a choice."

I really did not want to get into this with the girls here. "It really is okay."

Amanda was lost. "What's a chip?"

"They removed the chip?" Kennedy asked.

Chao-Ahn spoke in Chinese, but I didn't understand a word of what she said. I doubted she understood any of us either.

~~~~~~~

I was actually surprised that we didn't talk about it for the rest of the night as we headed separate ways to the Summers and my houses for the night.