It was all an intricate game of favours, really, Giles mused and looked down at the screen of his pad and read the note once more.

    'I won't tell the Director who stole that spare datapad, and you'll cover my ass when I take a little trip down to sublevel 27.' Sure. Seemed fair. He could always claim he didn't know, had no idea, I thought she went outside or something, had no idea, really...

    The outside was bad, but at least it wasn't a forbidden part of the center.

    Thing was, however, that the Director already knew about the datapad. He had told her the reason he needed it in very loud detail. It still made him wince when he thought about it. It had been necessary, but still.

    "Are you aware that William is dyslexic? Severely so? And has never in his life gotten any help? Not before, not now, and it's a disgrace, madam! One I cannot believe you have been accomplishe of. Are you aware that it takes him several seconds to read a single word? Have you thought about what could happen if he was on a mission with anyone and something went wrong and he would have to send a written message to the center? Or read one?" He'd paused to breathe.

    "Yes, you may have the pad," the Director said calmly, though he could tell she was kicking herself for having missed this. Granted, she was in charge of all Squads from A to J plus surrounding technicians, contacts, sleepers and transport, but still she should have been on top of this. "I'm assigning William to you two hours a day while you are both at the center."

    Not a part of his plan, if he'd had one, but he could deal. It wasn't like his days were packed or anything. William however could not. He'd thrown an absolute fit when news of the arrangement reached him. "I don't need your sodding help, I can read just bloody fine!"

    Giles gave him a look.

    "Well I can!"

    "Yes, right, well, it's the Director's orders, I'm afraid." He started polishing his glasses.

    "And we do everything the Director says?" William pouted.

    Giles gave him another look. "Now you're being silly."

    William flopped down on the couch with a sigh, apparently finally understanding that the Director Hath Spoken and there was nothing he could do about it. He had stared at the ceiling for a while, then propped himself up on his elbows and fixed Giles with a serious look. "The other children will tease me."

    He shook his head slightly, grinning at the memories. He rapidly tapped down a reply to Anya which basically said 'No. Find some other sucker' and turned the pad off. He needed to find some more of those 'The Little Vampire' books William was so fond of.

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