WHO: Elena & Giles. WHEN: Week Three, Tuesday (November 2, 2004). WHAT: Elena arrives in LA. WHERE: Giles's office. STATUS: Active.
It was a day Elena thought would never come.
Ten years ago, she gave up her life as a Watcher, moved to New York and never looked back. Well, that wasn't exactly true. She tried not to look back, but the memories haunted her dreams every night: Esperanza's smile, her laughter, her voice. The excitement on her face when she found out that she was the new Slayer -- and the devastation when Elena had to tell her about her new Watcher. Sneaking around behind his back, getting caught, being forbidden from seeing each other again, having to leave Monterrey the very next morning without so much as a goodbye. Then, a week later, that awful, gut-wrenching call from Mexico when she learned of Esperanza's death.
Ezperanza had been her best friend, her sister, her everything. And Richard Ainsley ripped it all away from her like it was nothing. How could she remain with an organization so willing to betray her? She couldn't. So Elena walked away. She made a new life for herself in America, one where the only demons she ever encountered were those inside her, one where she could throw herself into work and ignore the rest of the world. And when she lay in bed at night, the cool Manhattan air beating against her window, she tried to convince herself that this was the life she truly wanted.
But something was missing. As the years passed, it became harder and harder to deny. She liked being a cop, but she needed.... more. One day, out of nowhere, she got a call about the Watchers Council. They were rebuilding in California -- she hadn't even known the original Council was gone -- and by the way, Richard Ainsley was no longer in charge. Hadn't been for a long time, apparently. Rupert Giles had the reins now, a friend of her father's, a man she respected and admired. The Council would be different under his leadership. They needed her, and maybe, just maybe, she needed them too. It was time to stop running.
Obtaining a leave of absence from her position as NYPD detective lieutenant, Elena headed west for Los Angeles. She was staying in a hotel for now, still a little unsure about the choice she had made. Was she giving up a good, stable life for something that would only get her hurt again? There was only one way to find out. After settling into her room (and working up a fair amount of courage), she took a cab across town to the address Giles had given her. A man she didn't recognize let her in and directed her upstairs, where she found a library with an office next to it. Elena took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and knocked on the closed door. "Rupert?" she called, nervously chewing on the inside corner of her lip.