Andy stared across the valley at the huge bonfire on the other side. She didn't feel hungry, though she couldn't remember the last time she ate. Shieldingher eyes against the moon, she could see shadows passing in front of the bright flames.

She liked to think of herself as a quick study but it had taken her two months of working at the Mirror to realize that Runway, or more accurately Miranda Priestly, had ruined journalism for her. Two months of writing obituaries, interviewing public employees for hard hitting articles on street cleanig, and assisting a photojournalist document the yearly spring garden show. Journalism? Yes. Something of world shattering importance? Not even close. And definitely lacking in the terror inducing, adrenalyn boosting excitement of being a Priestly girl.

Stopping just out of view of anyone in the small conference room, Buffy quickly checked her face and hair in her compact for any signs of her sprint up the stairwell. Satisfied that no one would be able to tell that she'd been running more than fashionably late until that last burst of slayer speed, Buffy stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.

Slipping into one of the remaining seats, she looked around at the other seated occupants. Sam Finn, as expected, was dressed in the impressively non-descript uniform her group used for diplomatic meetings. She hadn't been expecting anyone else from Riley's team to show up, but Sam's solitary presence was a very clear indication that they were definitely taking a hands-off approach. If they'd expected to be part of the investigation, Graham or Riley would have been with her, no matter what they'd told Giles.

"Sam," she said, nodding in her direction. Sam winked back at her.

The others wouldn't have been hard to figure out, even if Andy's profiles of them hadn't included photos. The Commissioner and his assistant sat at one end of the table, the Chief of Detectives and hers at the other.

"Commissioner, Chief Cagney, I didn't believe you've met Ms. Summers before," Sam said, introducing her.

"Commissioner, Chief Cagney," Buffy said, briefly standing to shake their hands.

"Ms. Summers, Agent Finn has assured us that your organization can take care of this problem without attracting undue attention from the press," the Commissioner stated.

"We'll do our best," Buffy told him, projecting sureness. "Any press exposure will not come from us."

"Good, good. We'll leave you to your discussion," he said, standing up. "Chief Cagney and her office should be able to provide you with any help you need." Nodding at the others, he stepped from the room followed by his assistant.

Raising an eyebrow at his quick departure, Buffy looked at the Chief.

"As long as we let him take credit for solving the high-profile cases, he leaves us alone to do our jobs," the Chief said.

"Ah," Buffy murmured, nodding in understanding. She had Giles to play political buffer herself. "So, how are we going to do this?" she asked. "I had to promise our new lawyer that I wouldn't sign anything without her approval. She won't arrive until this afternoon, but we can at least work out the details."

"You have complete authority over the investigation," Sam told her. "We'll provide any assistance you request," she added, "but otherwise it's all yours." She slid a large envelope across the table. "Have your lawyer review this. It's the standard paperwork. I'll need a signed copy to take back to Washington tomorrow morning."

"So, the usual apocalypse disclaimer?" Buffy asked, opening the envelope and quickly glancing through it. "How much operational freedom do we really have here?"

"I prefer having my detectives running any investigations in the city," the Chief said, clearly unhappy. "But I was over-ruled. You have powerful friends, Ms. Summers. This investigation is now so classified only one of my detectives has been given clearance to be involved."

"Detective Polniaczek?" she asked. "We met yesterday," Buffy added in response to the Chief's frown.

"She's one of Chief Cagney's best detective," Sam said.

At the Chief's terse nod, Buffy said, "Good choice."Does she know yet that we're running this?"

"No," the Chief said. "I have a meeting with her in an hour. As long as you are operating on this case in my city, I expect her to be a part of it."

"Are you lending her to us or is she just observing?" Buffy asked. She really didn't have a spare slayer to babysit an observer.

"I expect her to keep me updated on your progress but otherwise she'll take her orders from you," the Chief said. "I want her back, in one piece, when you're done."

"We'll try not to break her, but we can't make any promises," Buffy said.

"A little experience in your world won't hurt her," Chief Cagney said. "Just don't forget that she doesn't have your unique abilities."

Frowning at the unexpected knowledge she was displaying, Buffy looked at Sam, who shook her head. "My world?" she asked.

"I would be a pretty poor Chief of Detectives if I wasn't aware of the non-human elements in my city," she said. "I expect you to listen to her advice in this matter, unless the Council has suddenly started hiring people with her expertise?"

"You have experience with the old Council," Buffy stated, suppressing a groan.

"Yes," Chief Cagney said but didn't elaborate.

"We aren't anything like them," Buffy said. "The old Council..."

"Wouldn't have asked permission," the Chief said. "I appreciate your efforts in keeping us informed."

"What else?" Buffy asked, turning to Sam.

"The FBI turned over their complete case files to us." She slide a slim briefcase across the table to Buffy. "Our analysts went over everything with a fine toothed comb and narrowed it down to this."

"I'm sure they wasn't happy with that," Buffy said. "How'd you manage to pry it loose?"

"It wasn't too hard," Sam said with a shrug. "They've hit a dead end using their usual methods and would rather it blew up in someone else's face."

"Anything else? Like an actual suspect?"

"We believe there is a clear connection between Sachs and the earlier attacks but our analysts couldn't find anything definitive. The FBI is still claiming there isn't a connection."

"Evidence?" Buffy asked, picking up the briefcase. "Anything I can send to the wiz kids up at the Mansion?"

"A duplicate of that was sent up to Willow. If she needs any physical evidence, she knows how to contact us."

"Thanks, Sam," Buffy said, standing up. "Chief Cagney, we'll try to avoid damaging both your city and your detective. She could have been one of us, we'll treat her like family."

"One of you?" Sam asked, standing up in surprise.

Buffy just winked at her and slipped out the door.

The meeting with the Chief hadn't gone the way she was expecting, Jo thought, stomping to her desk afterward.

"Did you know?" she asked her partner.

"Know what?"

"That this isn't our case anymore?" she said, waving a large manila envelope in his face.

"That was quick," he said. "Who'd they pass it to?"

"To that Council," Jo grumbled.

"The Chief couldn't have been happy about that," he said.

"No. But they agreed to allow someone to work with them on this," Jo said.

"Let me guess," he said, laughing. "You?"

"It isn't funny," Jo protested. "I didn't become a detective so I could babysit. And, on top of that, it's classified. By the Feds."

He shook his head. "You'll need a real office then," he told her. "Give me a couple hours to find you one."

"Thanks," Jo said, flopping into her chair. She stared at the envelope for a minute before opening it.

"Buffy? The Detective is here," Alex (?) said, cautiously sticking her head into the room.

"Send her on in," Buffy said, looking up from the small pile of charred metal and plastic, glad that at least one of them had stopped ma'am-ing her.

"Have a seat," Buffy said, waving to one of the chairs in front of Andy's desk. "So, what do we call you?"

"Call me?" the detective asked, sounding puzzled.

"Are you 'Detective', 'Jo', 'Detective Jo'? Ms. Polniaczek? 'Hey You'? Or Something else?" Buffy asked. "We aren't too formal around here but the younger girls seem to think anyone over twenty five is a 'ma'am'."

"Jo or Detective," she said. "I answer to either."

"Good. I'm 'Buffy'. No 'Miss', Ms., or 'Summers', just Buffy," Buffy said. "Any questions?"

"Who do I report to?" Jo asked. "The Chief wasn't too clear about that."

"This is my responsibility, so, me," Buffy said. "We'll have to do a show-n-tell tomorrow for you and our new lawyer up at the mansion. We'll cover chain of command and organization during that. We have this whole orientation thing we do for new employees. I'm not sure how much she knows about the things we do... might as well introduce the two of you to it at the same time, even though we aren't paying. Which I really need to talk to my boss and your boss about."

"Okay, I can do that," Jo said. "But I don't think you can pay me. It would probably be seen as bribery."

"No, wouldn't want anyone to think we bribed the NYC police. Next thing you know and everyone will want something," Buffy said, laughing. "Just kidding," she added when Jo didn't appear to share her amusement.

"Where do you want to start?" Buffy asked, not giving her a chance to ask for an explanation.

"Sachs..."

"Andy," Buffy corrected. "Everyone in the Council calls her 'Andy'. Things will work out a lot better if you do too."

"Okay, Andy," Jo said. "I need to build a profile of her and her movements over the last few weeks. People she met with. People she's in contact on a regular basis. Enemies. Friends."

"Andy isn't the kind of person to make a lot of enemies, or at least not any more than the rest of us," Buffy said. "And she's a very private person. Alex is her assistant. She'd be the best person to ask about those things."

"Can I see her calendar? Cell phone? Apartment?"

"Her apartment is up-stairs. Alex can get you a print-out of her calendar," Buffy said. "Cell phone? Might be a problem."

"Was it stolen? I didn't see anything about it in her file."

"Not exactly," Buffy said, sliding the pile of phone parts across the desk. "This is what the FBI returned to us.

"What happened to it?" Jo asked, reaching out as if to poke it.

"Our phones have some special features," Buffy said. "We figure someone must have accidentally triggered its self destruct."

Jo shook her head. "Phone records?"

"I've already requested them," Buffy told her. "We should have them tomorrow."

"Okay, is there anything else I need to know about her before I start digging into her life?"

"Other than she's very important to a lot of people? And the sooner we figure this out the better for all of us?"

"Other than that," Jo said.

"She has contingency plans covering all sorts of things," Buffy said, leaning back. "Including this. She can be a bit of an over achiever."

"She left instructions on what to do if she ended up in a coma?"

"Yup. Which is good. Her office will keep chugging along while she's out. It's like she's on a long vacation, except she isn't able to enjoy it, what with the coma. And yes, we do expect her to recover," Buffy added.

"Can I see these instructions?"

"After tomorrow's orientation," Buffy said. "Most of it won't make sense until then. And you'll probably need a lawyer to explain some parts of it. Good thing we'll have one by the end of the day. But there is one unexpected item in her instructions."

"Unexpected?"

Buffy wasn't surprised that the detective had jumped right on that. "She left a letter for someone."

"Parents? Friend? Lover?" Jo asked.

"We notified her parents," Buffy said. "Standard policy. She didn't leave them a note. You might get to meet them tomorrow. As far as anyone knows, this isn't a friend or a lover."

"Who?"

"How would you like to visit a certain magazine editor?" Buffy asked. "I need to deliver a letter."

"Really?" Jo said, surprised.

"Oh yeah. That was a huge surprise. As far as we know, she's never even mentioned her since she started working for the Council. And no e-mail or entries on Andy's calendar."

"Can I see the letter?" Jo asked. "It might contain important evidence."

"Not until its recipient has seen it," Buffy said.

"I'm not sure it's a good idea," Jo said.

"Unlike the FBI or the media, we don't believe she had anything to do with the attacks. Several analysts think she might be the real target."

"Why didn't anyone tell me that," Jo said, pulling out her phone. "I can have a protection detail on her before the end of the day."

"I'm telling you now," Buffy said. "We have several people keeping an eye on her and her children right now. By the end of the day we should have our own bodyguards in place."

"Does she know about Andy?" Jo asked. "It's been kept out of the press."

"Not unless someone else told her."