Just something i thought of when I should have been studying or working. but Giles, of course, had to interrupt.

Giles poured himself another cup of tea and glanced at the clock. He was pleased to find that he still had twenty-minutes before he had to shower and get dressed before driving over to the Magic Box. Whatever else might be said of Anya, and he knew he could say some rather unkind things about her people skills, the shop ran well. The stock was inventoried, it was dusted, nothing out on the shelves was likely to turn anyone into a frog, and the money was always accounted for down to the last penny. He wished he could take credit for the last bit, but he knew that had more to do with the extreme love of a thousand year old demon for the folding green stuff than it did him. Well, he sighed to himself rather contentedly as he picked up another section of the paper, despite the fact that there was a god out to destroy the world, everything is not going too badly. Then the phone rang, he stared at it. Normally he would have let the answering machine pick up for him but it was too early for most telemarketers, it was surely a bad start to the morning. He picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello, Giles," the voice responded, there was a lot of background noise, low voices and faint beeps could be heard, "it's Cordelia."

Giles tensed at the exhausted quality of the young woman's voice, a 7:10 in the morning phone call from a young woman who had once declared that no hour before noon was reasonable to get up for, this was not going to be good news, he decided. "Is everything all right?"

"No, I just thought I'd call you and maybe that you'd know who, if anybody, I should call."

"Call about what?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm just really wiped out here. Wesley got shot last night."

"Dear God, is he all right?"

"Well, he was doing really good for a while. Came through the surgery just fine and was talking with Gunn and I, but now. Well, he was shot in the abdomen and it looks like an infection is setting in and the doctor's say not to worry, that that's normal and everything but he looks worse to me and I'm not sure if I should let his family know or something. I keep thinking maybe if we tired harder to get him to the hospital right away but those zombie cops were everywhere. And Gunn thinks that Wesley would tell us if he wanted somebody contacted but, you know, I'm not sure he's thinking too clearly with all the morphine and now with this fever andŠ"

Cordelia paused for a breath and Giles took the opening. "Cordelia, please slow down, is Angel there? Maybe he can explain what happened withŠ"

"Angel's not here, Giles. I chased that cold-assed son of a bitch out of here last night and I don't think he's coming back."

"Was Angel responsible for Wesley getting hurt?"

"What? No, no, I guess I never told any of you guys, Wesley and I don't work for Angel anymore. He's gone all psycho-boy on us."

Giles went rigid with alarm at the last comment. "He's lost his soul?"

"Nothing like that, he's just decided to get all nasty with one. He fired us a couple of weeks ago."

"I see, but you're still doing private detective work?"

"Yeah, we're still doing our bit for truth, justice and apple pie and bizarre paranormal incidents, or whatever. We were helping out a teen shelter, protecting the kids from some nasty zombie police brutality, when Wesley got shot."

"You're alright?"

"Fine, just a few bruises and major head buzz from all the hospital coffee I've been swilling for the past coupla hours. Is there somebody I should call to let them know about Wesley?"

"The Watcher's Council recently reinstated me, I'll call them and they'll pass along the information."

"So you and Buffy are back with the Watchers?"

"In a way, Buffy negotiated some rather beneficial perks to the deal. Cordelia, would you like me to come to Los Angeles?"

"Why?"

"To lend a hand taking care of Wesley, give you a rest, help out with anything at the agency while he's laid up, I do know something about the paranormal."

"Yeah, you're book guy all right. I don't think I need you to come to L.A., Gunn and I have everything under control."

"Gunn?"

"He's our new partner, he's in with Wesley right now."

"Very good," Giles considered for a moment before continuing, "Cordelia, if Angel has fired you, how is Wesley fixed for money? Does he still have hospitalization?"

"Well, we've still got the small business health coverage I bought everybody when we worked for Angel, though our rates our going to shoot through the roof after this one. I think Wes should be okay with funds for awhile, I made sure we've got money put away in case of something like this."

"Sounds like you've handled everything extremely well," Giles said, he noticed that Cordelia's voice sounded slightly less strained. She'd probably just needed someone to babble to for a moment until she realized she had everything under control already. "Are you sure there's nothing that I could do for you?"

"Well there is one thing that you could do, you have anything on a demon bite that makes you grow a third eye?"

"I think I might have just the book, should I fax you the information?"

"Well, if you could xerox a bunch of the book it'd give Wesley something to do when he's feeling better."

"I'll send it overnight then. Please keep me appraised of Wesley's condition and don't hesitate to call if you need anything."

"Sure, Giles."

"And I mean it, Cordelia, if you need anything at all. The only thing we have going on right now is some crazed alternate dimension god trying to bring about hell on earth."

"Just that again? Some people have all the luck. I'll call you soon and let you know how he's doing. Bye."

"Good bye and give Wesley my best wishes."

Giles glanced at the clock, it was time to shower and go to work. He'd copy the sections of the book that should help Wesley solve the third eye problem. He'd send along some other books as well, something to keep the man busy when convalescing. Something for Cordelia as well, he thought, maybe one of those gourmet coffee baskets. How amazing it is, he thought, Cordelia Chase, investigator of demons, buyer of insurance, caretaker of others. An adult, he realized, they were all adults now. Willow, Xander, Buffy, Cordelia, all the self-centered teen-agers he'd dealt with were now young adults. Sometimes childish still, of course, but so mature in most ways. Cordelia had turned out well, he wondered if he could take some small credit for that. Giles smiled slightly, yes, he could take some credit for her and the others. Perhaps the morning hadn't started out so badly after all.

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