" - Karen, how long have you been training with this person?"

Can I assume that if you're gonna tip your hand that far we've just decided not to keep the timeline secret?

Honestly he wasn't thinking about that at all he was just resisting the urge to punch Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the face. 

Yeah. 

"About a year. I've been the Slayer since, like, July of last year."

"But that's not possible, that's when the previous Slayer was called in Beijing. You would have had to have - what, died and been raised from the dead?"

"I don't make the rules, man, I just -

- oh wait, I did sorta die the summer before last. Man, I gotta stop dying."

"We actually weren't sure why you all didn't show up. It seemed like good news, though, given the mortality rate of Slayers trained by the council. Just so there's no ambiguity, if you attempt a Cruciamentum on Karen I will make sure the state of California executes everyone involved for murder."

Karen bounces.

"This seems like a rather unique situation; I will need to confer with the Council about it. In the mean time, I, ah, suppose it would be acceptable for you to continue training with Mr. Johnson for a while longer, provided you do not neglect your official training or any other essential aspects of your duties. I will, however, expect you to present me with a schedule and to regularly account for what you have been learning from non-Council sources."

"Very thoughtful of you. I'll send over all my notes."

"I appreciate your cooperation in this."

"So. Good talk guys. Can I learn to drive now?"

"Sounds like a plan! See you, Mister Wyndam-Pryce. The lesson plan for today is Karen learns to drive my car. I took all the explosives out of the trunk first."

"Bye Mr. Wyndam-Pryce!" says Karen, waving cheerfully, before following Alex out of the school.

"I feel bad for him," she says, when he's out of earshot, though she's still smiling.

"I don't."

"I was getting that sense. It's just - hm. He's, like, trying to do a thing here, and he's very confused about everything, and he's trying to act like he knows what he's doing and nobody is buying it at all. And that sounds rough. I dunno if I'd like him very much if I thought I had to listen to him, though."

"It's like, I dunno, you feel bad for someone if they stub their toe but if they're mad and try to punch their kid, and instead punch the wall and hurt their hand, and this makes them madder so they keep punching the wall, then that's just kind of - the way their life is going to be until they learn to stop punching walls? And it's much better than if they'd successfully punched the kid, and maybe it'll even eventually teach them something about using punching to solve their problems.

Except I think punching people is far more - honest and decent - than trying to make them feel small and inadequate so they obey you."

"I think the rest of that's a lot sadder than them just stubbing their toe."

"For the kid."

"Mostly. You help the kid first, obviously, if there's only one of you and you can only help one person. But someone's gotta feel bad enough for people who're causing problems that they eventually try to figure out how to help them, I think, if we're not just gonna kill them or lock them in boxes with walls to punch from now until the end of time.

"And - I feel bad for vampires."

"Sure, they can't help it. Mister Wesley can, he just might punch some walls while he figures out how."

"I guess. ...What're we gonna do about him, just ignore him a lot?"

"Tap his phone to make sure no one in England is deciding to assassinate the Slayer for excessive independence or me for impeding Wesley, and then ...yeah, I guess? He can pass you leads from the Council on problems to solve, I think there'll be some of that."

"Poor murder nerd. Anyway," she says, very seriously. "How does driving work."

Yes, good idea, a driving lesson, a much better use of their time.