Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt own all.
Distribution: Sure, sure. I like to give :) Send me the addy.
Author's Notes: Ok, I *know* I owe you all new parts of Come to Play, Dreamscape and Parental Issues. But I just *had* to write this! I just saw Yoko Factor again (Which I *so* loved.) And it's got me feeling all antsy, you know??
Author's Notes 2: This is short, I jsut wanted to get out Riley's reaction upon first meeting with Angelus
Summary: Angel comes back to Sunnydale. And this time, he *is* evil. Set maybe, a month after Yoko, nothing else happened. In fact, screw everything after the part where Riley and Buffy talk.
Feedback: I give, you give, it's circular.

****

Riley

****

I slipped my arm around Buffy's waist as we walked toward her dorm room, trying not to think about how thin the shirt she wore was, how I could feel her warmth through the flimsy cotton.

I was *actively* not thinking about it.

So of course, it was the only thing I could think of.

She seemed weird, though. Jumpy. A could feel her trembling slightly beneath my hand, and her gaze flickered around erratically as it did when her slayer senses kicked in.

This seemed different, though...

Her spider senses, as she liked to call them, rarely made her this nervous. Rather, they made her focused, intent.

This was a whole other thing.

"Is something wrong?" I questioned finally.

"What?" She said, snapping out of the trance she'd been in. "Wrong? No. Nothing's wrong. Peachy keen." She offered a weak smile. "Just had too much caffiene, I guess."

I frowned, but didn't prod her anymore, because we stood in front of her door. She seemed to pause for a second before pushing it open and walking through. I followed, halting when I heard her sharp intake of breath.

I looked up.

Angel sat on her bed, legs sprawled out before him, leaning back on his hands, which were folded behind his head. A smirk crawled across his face.

Buffy seemed to have frozen completely.

"Hello." He said.

For some reason, anger flared up in me. It was like a chemical reaction when he was around.

"Can't you call, like a normal person?" I asked him, seething. "Oh, that's right, I forgot. You're not a person."

"Feisty boy you've got there, Buff." He said, sneering. "It's sweet. Really."

Normally, I didn't have a problem with being called sweet. But the way he said it, so condescending... it only made me angry. I opened my mouth to retort, but Buffy beat me to it.

"So how did you get free, Angelus?" She asked him, and I noticed that she'd started shaking again.

My eyes widened slightly. I don't know exactly what the change of name signified, but I had a pretty good idea.

"Let's just say..there was a shift in power." Angelus drawled. "Brood Boy was weakened by the First, you weren't there to save him. It worked to my advantage."

"He's still there." Buffy whispered angrily. "He's in you."

"Got it in one, lover." He replied, standing.

Buffy didn't even flinch when he called her that. She seemed slightly traumatized.

"So I decided to drop by while he was subdued. You and I haven't had fun in so long..." He ran a hand over her collarbone, and fury boiled up in me when she didn't try and stop him. She seemed so weak and helpless then.. It scared the hell out of me.

I'd watched her fighting technique. It was virtually flawless. She was the strongest person I'd ever met, and according to Giles', she was the strongest slayer in history.

But with a few words, this vampire had rendered her powerless. Terrified.

It made me wonder what was in store.

****

Buffy

****

I felt numb.

I was drowning in an icy abyss, fear and grief swirling around me and blurring my vision.

I vaguely felt his hand brush over my collarbone, and hated the fact that even through this heavy mist, his touch still burned my skin, leaving a tingling trail where his fingers had been.

A touch that made me yearn for more.

I blinked, pulling myself back to the surface, where I saw him standing, smirking at me.

I loved that smirk as much as I hated it.

We just stared at each other for several moments as I gradually came back to awreness. It surprised me when a fist came flying at Angelus' face.

I'd forgotten Riley was there.

And it was a bad move on his part. "Riley, No!" I shouted, but I was too late. Angelus had already grabbed his fist, twisting it behind his back. I winced, preparing to hear his bone snap, but instead, Angelus threw him against the wall.

"He's pretty weak, lover." He observed. "I can't believe that this is what you replaced me with." He sounded disgusted. He raised an eyebrow. "You know I'm gonna punish you for that, don't you?"

"I don't doubt it." I replied, my eyes on the floor.

He grabbed the front of my shirt, pulling my to him in a possessive, passionate kiss. He snarled into my mouth, then pulled away and threw me against the wall, where I landed in a heap on top of Riley.

He gave one last laugh before he turned and left the room.

I let him.

I was too drained to do anything else.

****

Riley

****

I felt Buffy move off me and lean against the wall. Tears were falling from her eyes.

Slowly, I pulled myself up so I sat next to her, back against the wall.

Her head was cradled in her hands, which rested on her knees.

"Wow." I said softly. "So that was Angelus."

She lifted her head and looked at me with round, scared eyes that held a sadness I couldn't quite comprehend. She looked like she wanted to crawl into bed and never wake up.

She swallowed. "That was nothing." She whispered. "Sratching the Surface. No, screw that. That wasn't even marking the varnish."

I tried to be reassuring. "We'll fight him."

She let out a short, bitter laugh. It sounded more like a sob.

"You can't fight him, Riley." She said wearily. "*I* can't fight him. You have no idea what it's like."

"I can fight him." I insisted.

She sighed and looked at me. "Riley, he'll kick your ass without breaking a sweat." She said. "When you fought him last time? He wasn't even trying, and he could've killed you." She tightened her arms around her knees. "And I can't fight him. I can't kill him again, especially not knowing that Angel is still in there."

"Again?" I asked, completely confused. "As in, you've killed him before?"

She closed her eyes tightly. "Riley, I don't want to talk about it."

It might have been shock. It might have been trauma. I don't know what it was.

"That's not good enough!" I yelled. "Sometimes, Buffy, you have to talk about things, whether you want to, or not."

She opened her eyes, and they were a storm of anger, and confusion, and sadness, and grief.

"Fine. You want to know? I never told you the full story of Angel and I, Riley, but it's a lot more complex than I bet that tiny little brain of your ever imagined. I sent him to hell! Literally shoved a sword into his stomach so that he would be sucked into the vortex." She cried.

I blinked. "Buffy...what are you saying?"

"That's how it stopped last time." She whispered. "He woke this demon that would suck the world into hell. We fought. I didn't know Willow was going to try the curse again....But she did. And it worked. Angelus was Angel again, but the portal to hell was already open. It was him or the world, and you know a Slayer's duty is always to her public. So I kissed him. Told him I loved him. Then I shoved a sword through his stomach and damned him to hell."

I sat back, completely stunned. She'd endured all of this....with him. Because of him.

I gave no thought to how the hell he got out of hell, nor how long he was there.

I used all my energy to hate him with every fibre of my being.

Because I knew she was loving him with every fibre of hers.

(Sequel if I ever get around to it.)

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