Chapter 1- Buffy's Great New Guy
"Something horrible’s gonna happen Giles," Buffy warned, pacing back and forth in the courtyard outside Giles’ apartment.
Giles didn't even look up at her from where he was sat looking over a map. "It was an earthquake, Buffy, a not uncommon occurrence in Southern California. No reason to think it was anything more."
"Oh, I so have a reason! A darn good reason! The last time we had an earthquake, I died," Buffy reminded him.
"Yes, I know that and therefore I completely understand your anxiety."
"Oh, good ‘cause I’d hate for my little untimely horrible death concern to be ambiguous," Buffy replied sarcastically before sitting down on a bench across from Giles.
Giles turned towards her. "But unless evidence suggests otherwise, I think we can assume that it’s shifting land masses and not a portent of some imminent doom." Giles turned back to his map, holding it up for her to see the tiny red tacks on it. "Now in the meantime, I’ve got a few theories about our mysterious commando friends."
"Oh...really?"
***
"What’s a slayer?"
"Slayer? Thrash band. Anvil-heavy guitar rock with delusions of Black Sabbath," Forrest replied quickly without looking at Riley. The two were dressed in their military wear, walking through the halls of the Initiative.
"No, a girl. With powers."
"Oh. The slayer. Oh yeah I’ve heard of the slayer."
"Fill me in."
At this request, Forrest stopped walking and turned to face Riley. "Well the way I’ve got it figured, the slayer’s like some kind of boogeyman for sub terrestrials. Something they tell their little spawn to make them eat their vegetables and clean up their slime pits."
"You’re telling me she doesn’t exist?"
"Oh. Wait a sec. Am I bursting somebody’s bubble here. Maybe this is a bad time to tell you about the Easter bunny." Riley rolled his eyes and started to walk away as Forrest laughed.
"Sorry. Sorry. It’s a myth, Ry," Forrest called, rushing to catch up with his friend. "All a part of that mediaeval folklore garbage kooks dream up to explain things we deal with everyday."
"What if it’s not?" Riley asked, suddenly turning serious.
"You know something?" Forrest asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"I might."
"So share, brother," Forrest replied, becoming annoyed with Riley’s cryptic act.
Riley contemplated telling Forrest the truth about Buffy. He didn’t want to put her in any unnecessary danger, but if the Initiative found out another way there’d be hell to pay. "Okay," he said finally. "Buffy-"
"The peculiar one?"
Riley glared at Forrest for interrupting him. "Yeah, her. It seems I wasn’t so far off about her peculiarity."
"What are you saying?" Forrest asked incredulously.
"Buffy’s the slayer." Riley watched his friend for a minute, thinking he was going to send him straight to the psych ward.
"I knew she was way too hot to be a normal girl," Forrest said with mock seriousness.
Riley shook his head. "You don’t believe me."
"I don’t know what to believe," Forrest replied honestly. "It does kinda make sense, though. You do always hear the HST’s talking about ‘that damn slayer’." Forrest took a minute to think over everything Riley had told him over the last minute. "You know you have to tell Walsh about this, right?"
***
"So, the slayer," Professor Walsh started from behind her desk.
"Yeah, that’s me," Buffy replied from her place on the other side of Professor Walsh’s desk.
"We thought you were a myth."
"Well, you were myth-taken." Buffy smiled sheepishly up at Riley who is standing next to her, hoping he'd still want to talk to her after that last comment.
"And to think all that time you were sitting in my class. Well, most of those times. I always knew you could do better than a B-minus. Now I understand that your energies were directed to the same place as ours, in fact. It’s only our methods that differ. We use the latest in scientific technology and state of the art weaponry. And you, if I understand correctly, poke them with a sharp stick."
"Well, it’s more effective than it sounds."
"Oh, I’m quite sure of that. As I’m just as sure we can learn much from each other."
***
Riley knew he was in for it the second he walked into the Initiative after seeing Buffy and Giles home safely. He’d acted out of order, and he knew he’d have to deal with the consequences. There was just something about Buffy that made him want to break all the rules that had ever been instilled in him by the military.
"So, she walks in and the rules just suddenly break?" Professor Walsh asked him as they walked through the crowded lower level of the Initiative.
"Um, pretty much."
"Be careful with her. She reacts on instinct; there’s no discipline there. Her loyalties are uncertain," his blonde superior warned him.
"You won’t be disappointed in her. She’s good at what she does," Riley insisted. "And she is the truest soul I’ve ever known."
"Oh, no. Oh, no." They stopped walking when they reached a door to a restricted area. "Spontaneous poetic exclamations. Lord, spare me college boys in love."
"I’m just saying she’ll work out. You’ll be proud of her."
"You wanna know what I think? I think you’re probably right."
***
"And then he said that he likes that I’m ‘in control’," Buffy told Willow the same night that Riley was in the dog house with Professor Walsh. Buffy sat on her bed facing Willow’s, both of them acting like thirteen year old girls, giggling and gushing about Riley’s new knowledge of Buffy’s secret.
"That’s great, Buffy," Willow replied sincerely. "You totally deserve a good guy like Riley. Especially after poop-head Parker."
"Don’t even remind me," Buffy said bitterly. "Riley is nothing like him."
"You don’t have to convince me." Willow rose from her place on the bed. "I’m going to the vending machine to get a soda, you want one?"
"No, I’m good." Buffy, too, rose to her feet. She grabbed her jacket and stake. "Might as well get some patrolling in tonight while I’m still wide awake."
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