"My dear boy, you are a blithering idiot." is the first thing Giles hears when he answers his phone.

"Hello Uncle Alfred." Giles sighs. His Slayers had already given him hell for throwing Xander away and keeping Kennedy, now it looks like it's his uncle's turn to yell at him. And unlike the girls, his uncle doesn't even have to raise his voice to make him squirm.

"Was it worth it?" he asks quietly. "Throwing the young man you thought of as a son away because a spoiled little brat you'd only known for a few months."

"At the time I thought yes, I needed Willow here for her magical prowess and Kennedy because she was a Slayer. Xander was. . ."

"Xander was . . .? Say it Rupert, Xander was normal, and the young girl in question wasn't. Because she was a Slayer, she was automatically better than a mere normal boy, wasn't she? So, because he was normal, he was expendable."

Giles sighs on the other end of the line. "Yes, Kennedy had always had a problem with Xander, while she might have been Willow's lover, he is her best friend as has been with her longer. I thought that with Xander out of the picture for a while, her attitude might calm down and she would realize she was just being foolish. Unfortunately, when I announced that Xander had left everybody knew why he had been sent away and turned on Kennedy for her part in the incident. A couple of days went by and she became more insufferable, proudly announcing that she had sent Xander away and she was the Slayer, at least until Buffy and Faith took turns kicking her ass in training for her bravado. None of the other Slayers would work with her, so I sent her to one of the newly opened Slay houses overseas to get some peace in the house. She had thought that Willow would join her because, after all she was a Slayer and special, Willow was her lover, Xander had just been Willow's friend, a lover took precedence. Bloody little bitch thought Willow was just going through a phase when she'd threw her belongings out of the room they shared together, once she'd calmed down she'd be welcomed back to their bed."

"I take it the young woman did not get what she had been expecting?"

Giles snorts. "Willow slapped her for her troubles and stalked off to her bedroom, locking herself in for three days. I had thought of bringing Xander back to Cleveland when Kennedy had left, but the boy had already had a new job in Gotham . . ."

"Which you told him to do, unless you wanted him to stay in a cold dark building without any heat, water, or food?" Alfred asks dryly. "Also why you wanted him to attend college while he was here, wasn't it?"

"Yes, he was the only one of the scoobies who stayed in Sunnydale after graduation who didn't attend school. At the time I didn't have the money to put him through school then as I do now. . . And I wanted him to prove himself to Kennedy, that he could have a good job and a degree while she was here on the sufferance of being a Slayer. My only mistake I fear is not telling the others why I had sent him away, and telling him that I was proud of him."

"So you sent him away like a stray dog while the bitch strutted around like a peacock until the alpha bitch of the pack taught her that she was a beta and would never be any better?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

"My dear boy, like I said before you are a blithering idiot." Alfred says briskly. "What are your plans now?"

"Besides telling Xander why I sent him away and begging his forgiveness? I need to put him on the payroll as a member of the watcher's council and give him back pay for the last few years since we took over. The others are on the payroll, I have no idea why I did not put Xander on, as Willow reminded me just now, Xander had a job here until little miss I'm better than you opened her big bitchy mouth."

"If I might ask, why did you send him to Gotham?"

"We had brought a building up for back taxes, I know Gotham isn't a hellmouth but you do have your own troubles, including a grown man running around like a bloody overgrown bat. . ." Giles pauses, is his uncle stifling a laugh. "I had thought of maybe putting a watcher council house there in the future, perhaps as a place Slayers could rest and recover from wounds or even have a few stationed there year round. I also knew that you have a flourishing construction industry there so Xander could find work immediately, good schools if he was accepted, and finally .. . you were there, I knew you would take care of Xander. Which is why I had called and asked him why he hadn't come visit you yet, I had no idea he was working sixty to seven hour weeks and taking a full course load at school."

"Did you even bother to ask?"

"No," Giles sighs. "I knew he had been accepted to college, Willow had screeched like a peacock for a week when he'd called her with the news and we had sent him money for tuition, books, and other upfront expenses at the beginning of the tuition, we were sending him a monthly stipend for expenses, and Willow had just given him another payment for spring tuition and books. I could make excuses that I was busy running the council, but still, I hadn't bothered to contact him until you called me asking why he hadn't visited you."

"My dear boy. . ."

"I know Uncle Alfred," Giles sighs. "I'm a blithering idiot."

"Just so we're on the same page."