Xander's jaw dropped to the table as he stared into the accusing eyes of Buffy. The others where looking confused. Buffy hadn't told anyone else anything about finding Xander with Glory. She certainly hadn't said anything about her own immediate reaction. Xander couldn't help but notice that there was a strange glimmer behind the accusation in her blue-green eyes.
"Urhh!" Xander started then paused, "How?" he asked stunned, he was totally amazed that anyone could have found out about he and glory so fast. He had left her that morning and they had only started being together the night before for god's sake.
Buffy shifted nervously, that was the last question she wanted to answer right now. Giles's was looking at her reproachfully. He had figured it out by himself.
Willow virtually leapt up from the table, "What?" she said in an indignant tone. Buffy almost sighed in relief at her distraction. Tara noticed her relief though even if no-one else did.
"Urm, hey I can explain, I think. But hey do you want the god news before I die?" Xander said trying to inject a little humour. Also known as scrabbling for a way out.
Buffy was trying to keep up her façade. In fact she wasn't mad. She wasn't a hypocrite, not really, and she had watched. She wasn't too sure how she felt about that small fact. She was worried though, worried about her friend. Worried about the possible fall out for her sister.
"Oh really Xander is there some good new. You've slept with the enemy" Willow said her voice dripping sarcasm. "How could you?"
Tara was looking at her lover with trepidation, not really knowing what to make of the situation. Giles was clearly thinking things through. Something the others didn't often do.
"Well, how do you define an enemy" Xander demanded off his oldest friend. He was reacting angrily to her ire. It wasn't his best trait but he always reacted defensively and with anger.
"Well, someone who is trying to kill us and end the world would be good definition I think" Willow shot back her green eyes flashing. Buffy nodded along with her. She had been curiously quiet since dropping her bombshell.
"What about someone who isn't. That would make them, not an enemy then," Xander asked. His anger was subsiding as he realised he had possibly trapped his friend.
"I suppose" Willow said confusedly. She had no idea where her male friend was going with this.
Xander took a deep breath and delivered the Coupe De Grace. "Then Glory isn't our enemy," he stated. The anger fully gone from his voice.
Willow's mouth opened and closed a few times doing her best guppy impression. It was Giles who actually spoke next.
"What? Xander she has been trying to open a portal to her home, with this Key" he said, not mentioning they knew what the key was, or more specifically who.
"Look, I don't have an excuse for what happened but I can tell you this. Yes she was willing to rip apart everything to get home. No she isn't anymore. Something happened a spell, gave her soul back to her and it has cleared her mind." Xander said earnestly, then realising he might have a way out looked at Giles, "Oh and she told me something very interesting. I know where the key is," he said. After all he didn't want to upset everyone more than they already were. But the key would still need protecting.
Giles looked shocked and Buffy started in her seat. It was at that point Xander had an epiphany.
"You already know?" he said softly. He felt almost betrayed; Dawn was like family to him as well. It had taken a lot of convincing from Glory to even get him to think about it. If Giles and Buffy had known who the key was they should have said, then they could all of protected her better.
Giles's nodded and Buffy along with him. Willow looked at them with a duplicate look as Xander's. Hurt and betrayal.
"We only found out yesterday," Buffy said off of their looks. "We were going to tell you today"
Xander smiled relieved and Willow visibly relaxed. Tara pierced Xander with a look, "But how do you know Glory is telling the truth." She said.
'It was funny', Xander mused, 'She may be all quiet and you tend to forget she's there. But boy does she have a shape mind. I just wish she didn't'
He shifted uncomfortably and tried to decide how best to tell them how he knew deep down inside of his guts. Glory was telling the truth. Glory was now sane, and Glory didn't want to go home anymore. Putting feelings into words are never easy, and even harder for Xander. A man who never really showed what he was feeling on the inside.
They were all looking at him expectantly and he cleared his throat and licked his lips. "I just do. She just isn't like she was. She is clear and sane. She was the one who told me about Dawn. Why would she do that if she was lying? She could just go and get her. Trust me Buff form what she was saying no one could stop her doing it. Not even you"
Buffy snorted but refrained from comment. Giles however was actually nodding his head. The simple logic was inarguably correct. It was a simple fact that he and his council contacts had no way of stopping Glory. The only way to end the crisis would be to end the key's existence. Not something he wanted to do, but he would if it meant saving the world, once again.
Willow glanced at Tara and saw that she appeared to agree with Xander as well. Willow was in two minds about it but was leaning towards trusting her friend. Whilst not the best judge of character, he would not allow any risk to them and especially not Dawn. He thought of Dawn like family. Xander thought of them all like family.
"So what is there between you and Glorificus?" Giles asked as politely as possible. He wasn't normally one to pry into the relationships of his adoptive family. But a relationship with a god? That was something else entirely.
"I'm not sure about that, yet. We are seeing each other again." Xander said truthfully.
Tara was smiling, in the short time she had known Xander he had an almost pathological attraction to females in need. Like Anya, the ex- demon turned to a human woman. She was in need. She needed a guide more than a lover, but Xander had acted as both. He was her guide to becoming human. Now it looked like he would be glory's guide as well.
"She is still a hell god," Giles said unnecessarily. Xander was well aware of that fact. She was as powerful as she always had been, but she wasn't evil like she had been.
"I know that" Xander told him. "She is also just Glory as well. She does have a soul, it has grounded her."
"A soul?" Giles prompted him.
"Yes, the result of a spell to try to centre her. Originally it was meant to free her from the insanity but it did that and more than she bargained for."
Giles nodded slowly to himself. A soul would have that effect of a soulless creature. Souls are not necessarily good, after all look at Hitler. But for a creature that had no soul, one would balance the forces within it. Making it like a human, neither good nor evil. Just somewhere in between.
"There is another problem," Xander said uneasily. He really wasn't looking forward to this bit.
"What is it Xan" Buffy said picking up on his fear.
"The Knights of Byzantium"