by Wil & Nina
The Life of Riley, Not as Good as it Sounds...
"Alright, Spike, we want the truth. Now." Buffy said, sitting arms folded on the edge of the desk in Angel's office. "I'm tired of games."
"Like you said about Riley, here. It's not my place to say."
"Wrong or not, I'm gonna stake him now," Buffy snapped, leaping to her feet and pulling a stake out.
Spike raised his hands in mock surrender, "Fine. Angel, you don't really think killing her family drove her mad do you? I mean yeah it frightens them and might drive them a bit paranoid and batty-but not the kind of insanity Dru had. Tell them what Drusilla was dying of when you killed her."
"Syphilis?"
Buffy's eyes widened and Spike nodded.
"See, I told you, and it doesn't just stop there. Does it?"
"Katherine..." Angel whispered searching his memories.
Spike's grin widened, "Every living person you've ever been with. Didn't you mention once that you had it when you were still a lad in Galway?"
"Oh my God," Cordelia gasped.
"Funny isn't it?" Spike commented turning toward her only to have her collapse into his arms. Surprise spread across the vampire's face.
"Oh my God!"
"Cordelia, what do you see?" Angel said suddenly, moving her to sit in the rolling chair. Wesley grabbed a pen and paper. Spike, Buffy, and Riley looked really confused.
"Aneurysm?" Riley wondered aloud.
Eyes wide, Buffy moved to her side, "Are you ok?"
"Xander and Willow... identifying a body. It's a boy with dark hair and there are others. They're afraid," Cordelia raced looking up with frightened eyes, she massaged her temples. "That's it. The whole thing was kind of vague. Buffy, I think you should call Giles."
Just then the phone rang and Angel snatched it up, "Angel Investig... Willow, is everything alright? I see. Yes, hold on." Angel held the phone out to Buffy. "She wants to talk to you."
"Willow, what's the sitch? Uh-huh. He did. Ok, call me back when you get the results. Thanks. You too, bye..." Buffy gently placed the receiver back into the cradle and looked up at Riley. "Parker's dead. He died of an advanced strand of syphilis. The stages advance at a rapid rate, within a few weeks of contact. UCS is quarantined and everyone's being tested. They're still waiting for Riley and my results."
"Who's Parker?" Angel asked.
"You remember, I told you about him. Hmm, maybe Marcus' torture faded your memory some. Well here's a refresher: the boy who took a shameless poke at your girl. Which means she probably gave it to him..." Spike answered, looking at the ceiling, "and the soldier boy's next on the list to lose it."
"What?" Riley asked defensively. "You mean I'm going to lose my mind?"
"And then go blind before you die," Spike added with a sneer, "sounds fun doesn't it? Let me explain this in terms you can all understand. This is all Angel's fault. When you make a vampire the body dies, right? Then what happens is your soul leaves and the demon wakes up. Whatever problems or diseases you may have had in life aren't magically cured, they just don't bother us anymore.
"Say I was cripple before Angelus turned me. I'd still be a bloody cripple but a vampire, see? But if I was dying of consumption-you call it pneumonia, I think-I'd still have it, but it wouldn't effect me because you can't die of a disease when you're already dead... doesn't mean you don't carry it."
Buffy looked at Angel with a look of pure unadulterated hatred, "This is all your fault. Now it's all my fault because you couldn't tell me."
"Buffy, I didn't know."
"But Spike did? That's a little hard to swallow."
"It is? Just like you 'forgot' to tell Riley that Angel was a vampire?" Cordelia defended. "Wouldn't you like to add something right about now, Riley?"
Riley had been staring off into space and hadn't moved for the last few moments.
"Riley?" Cordelia waved a hand in front of the boys eyes. "Earth to mister commando guy?"
Suddenly Riley snapped back to life and looked at Cordelia as if seeing her for the first time. Something had not been right in his head. There was a hazy underwater feeling about everything suddenly. He couldn't bare the thought of losing his mind. He spun on Buffy suddenly and snapped, "You fucking slut!"
Riley leered at Buffy and everyone else stood in silent shock for a moment. Buffy's eyes went wide and she looked as if she'd been slapped with a wet squirrel.
"Riley?" she ventured like a wounded animal, unsure if she was about to be hit.
"Forest was right about you-nothing but trouble."
"That's enough," Angel growled protectively, ready to kill the boy if necessary. No one hurt Buffy his Buffy like that.
"I'm going to die because she's a tramp. I should have guessed that Parker's cast-offs always are-"
"And I said, 'ENOUGH'!" Angel roared throwing Riley against the wall and pinning him there.
Spike snickered in amusement and Wesley touched Angel's shoulder to get his attention.
"Something's not right about this, Angel. Do not let your passions rule you now. The boy is losing his faculties." The ex-Watcher advised.
"Wow, he went nuts almost on cue," Cordelia uttered. "Another lesson in 'sex is bad' by TPTB."
"What's that?" Spike inquired.
"Oh, you weren't here for my date with the demon baby machine. I went home with this guy and woke up eight and a half months pregnant. Not fun. And before that? When Buffy and Angel had a night of fun, he tried to kill us all, but I'm sure you remember that. Thus I learned my lesson that sex is bad," Cordelia said, shaking her head, "I think it was another trick of The Powers That Be."
Wesley, Angel, and Buffy just stared at Spike and Cordelia. Finally Angel spoke up, "Nice to see you and Spike getting along now, but we need to calm him down?"
"A glass of water, please, Cordelia," Wesley rapped as he and Angel guided Riley to the couch and sat him down.
"Right." Cordelia dashed off in search of water and returned holding up a bottle of Aquafina. "All I've got is holy water. I wouldn't trust the tap in this town for anything."
"He's human," Buffy said automatically, still hurt by Riley's outburst. "It won't hurt him."
***
Riley bucked and kicked, spasming from one convulsion into the next. Angel, Buffy, and Spike held him down to keep from hurting himself .
"I thought you said he was human!?" Angel shouted through clenched teeth, trying to stay the constantly moving boy, then suddenly Riley lay still.
"He is," Buffy replied in earnest as she leaned back and examined her boyfriend. "I don't understand what happened to him. But his breathing's getting more regular and his pulse is coming back to normal."
Wesley turned to Cordelia "What was in that water?"
"Just bottled water I had blessed by Father Milken down the street. I swear. Well, maybe some Echinacea? It was some smart water stuff. They were out of regular water at the Stop and Go. He's not allergic to herbs is he?"
Riley moaned and opened his eyes to stare into Buffy's smoky green, "Buffy?"
The Slayer nodded but didn't say anything.
"Buffy, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
She placed a finger on his lips, "I know. How do you feel?"
"Better. Clearer."
The phone rang again and Cordelia answered, "Angel... Oh, Hi, Willow. Yeah, we know about Riley. Uh-huh, he just flipped out after we gave him some holy water... I was out. Ok. What about Xander, and the rest of you? Good. Alright. Thanks. I'll let them know. Bye."
Cordelia looked up and thought of a tactful way to address the group, but then decided she'd never been too keen on tact and blurted, "You and Riley are infected. Giles, Xander, Willow, Anya and some girl, Tara, are all negative. They also said something about Harmony hunting for Spike? I thought she was dead."
"She is," Spike mumbled rolling his eyes. "Idiot girl probably set herself on fire, walking into the sun."
"That would mean that you have it too, Spike," Buffy smirked.
"You think? Considering I spent forty some odd years with Angelus and over a hundred with Dru, you'd feature I'd have something, wouldn't you? Of course I have it. You and the commando really are the bright ones aren't you?"
Buffy ignored him, not wanting to think about what Spike was alluding to. Instead she busied herself with Riley. "You seem sane to say the least. We'll just have to find a cure."
"There IS no cure for syphilis, you git."
"We'll find one, and in the mean time, we have to stop this from spreading."
"Perhaps you already have," Wesley said. "I don't want to get any hopes up too high just yet, and it will take some more research, but I think the answer may lie in the holy water."