RILEY: Yeah, but - I really think...

BUFFY: Riley, I just... can't.

RILEY: Can't talk?

BUFFY: Can't any of it. I can't be with you. - It's just a huge, black pit of a mistake and I can't go there again.

RILEY: Again? You've dated me before?

BUFFY: No! Look I was involved... (Sighs) You don't know what my life is like.

RILEY: But I'm dying to find out.

BUFFY: Dying being the operative word here. Okay, there is too much risk. There is too much... (Sighs) It's just doomed! And I can't do doomed *again* right now. Sorry.

RILEY: I-I don't understand where this is coming from. I know you like me. And it's not like we don't have anything in common.

BUFFY: But that's not enough.

RILEY: Buffy, I'm thrown by this, I'm confused... But I can feel my skin humming, my hands, my every inch of me. I've never been this excited about anybody before. I'm not trying to scare you, and I'm not going to force myself on you. But I'm, by God, not going to walk away because I think it *might* not work. I don't know what's happened in your past...

BUFFY: Pain, - death, - apocalypse. - None of it fun. Do you know what a Hellmouth is? Do you have a fancy term for it? Because I went to high school on it, for three years. We do not have that much in common. This is a job to you.

RILEY: It's not just a job.

BUFFY: It's an adventure, great. But for me, it's destiny. It is something that I can't change, something that I can't escape. I'm stuck!

RILEY: You don't *have* to be. You're not in high school anymore. You *can* change things.

BUFFY: Riley, no.

RILEY: I know it may seem...

BUFFY: Riley! My answer is no.

(She turns and walks away and he watches her go before turning and leaving himself. )

• Angsty Traumatic Confrontations
• Buffy & Riley
• Buffy's Love Life in general
• Slayerhood

written by: Marti Noxon, David Fury, and Jane Espenson; . Full transcript at:
http://www.studiesinwords.de/67doomed.html