She's Electric

Author's Note: I never wrote Riley. He bores the living daylights out of me and I don't really like him. So I thought I would write this as a challenge to myself. No Riley-bashing here!

And I want you to know,
I've got my mind made up now,
But I need more time,
And I want you to say,
Do you know what I'm saying?
But I need more…
'Cause I'll be you and you'll be me,
There's lots and lots for us to see,
There's lots and lots for us to do,
She is electric, can I be electric too?

- She's Electric, Oasis

She was staring out of the window when Riley glanced her way. Sunglasses pushed up high on her nose, orange bandanna wrapped around her head, curls tumbling over her shoulder. She felt his eyes on her and turned to give him a slight smile.

"Where are we going, Riley Finn?" she asked.

"My heart is like an open highway," he replied cryptically, gesturing to the road ahead with a sweeping hand.

"Like Frankie said, I did it my way," she answered and he shot her a surprised look. "What? I'm not allowed to like Bon Jovi?"

He chuckled. Peculiar. That's what he had called her. And so far, she was living up to it. But in a good way.

"The desert," he said after a pause. "Well, not quite the desert, but the edges. I thought we'd have a picnic. This time, I've thought about privacy and not just how to stop the apples going brown."

"Privacy is good," she said with a smile and sank back against the seat, heaving a happy sigh and looking out of the window at the scenery as it sped past.

She was trying to stifle her laughter, cupping her chin as she tried to decide which would be less disgusting - swallow the grapes and wipe away her drool or spit them out and laugh. He couldn't remember what had made her crack up; he kinda forgot when she threw her head back in laughter.

He caught hold of her hand and grabbed a napkin. Her giggles evaporated as he dabbed grape juice from her chin.

"Urgh, am I really disgusting?" she asked, cringing.

"Oh, yeah," he nodded, leaning in to kiss her.

She tasted like grapes and spring water. And her hair was warm and soft when he pushed his fingers through it. It was strange, he thought, the way she yielded beneath his. She was the Slayer and yet she gave herself over so willingly. What was he? A soldier, without the sacred destiny weighing on him and yet he held himself rigidly.

Perhaps that's why he was so drawn to her. There was something about her. Something so wild and free, something untameable, untouchable.

He couldn't believe the things this girl - woman - had done. Fighting since she was fifteen, now there had been a shocker. It had taken Riley a while to come to terms with that. At fifteen he was playing high school football and worrying about an essay he hadn't done.

He wanted to be the one who could reach that side of her, the Slayer side. The part that was so wild and untouchable. He wanted that fire, he wanted to be near it, to try and understand how a single person could be so… electric.

She leaned her forehead against his and smiled.

"Mmmm," she murmured.

"You're having fun?" he asked, in a low, husky whisper. "Are picnics and Buffy mixy things?"

"Oh, yeah," she nodded.

"And Buffy and Riley?"

"Definitely mixy too," she grinned and pulled him in for another kiss.

And he felt the sparks start at the base of his spine and shoot upwards.

He noted once again, how slim she was. And once again, he was shocked that someone so small could kick him across a room. He still liked it.

Did that make him a perv?

He was starting to think that he was falling in love with her. Really hard. And it felt strange. Since joining the army and then the Initiative, he had always been in control. He had to be. He had to watch what he did, what he said, make sure he didn't drink too much in case Professor Walsh had a job that he needed to do.

But suddenly he was out of control; way out of his depth, all shook up.

So much so that he didn't notice the slow, but steady increase in jibes from Graham and Forrest, the flicker of disapproval in Professor Walsh's eyes whenever he mentioned Buffy.

They pulled apart and Buffy's eyes slowly opened, met his for a moment, then glanced over his shoulder.

"We should get going," she whispered and he heard the note of disappointment at the thought. "I told Willow I'd see her today before I went patrolling."

He nodded, trying to hide the shaking of his hands as heat cut through his stomach and warmth and electricity tingled across and through his limbs. It felt like what all those tacky romance novels called love.

Though he was disappointed that their date was cut short, he understood. She had commitments and he didn't mind, it was one of the things he liked most about her. Though he did want more time with her. But he realised that even if he spent a whole week with her, it would never be enough and he would always want more time.

He packed away the picnic silently, opened the door of the car the way a gentleman should and climbed into the driver's seat. He watched her yawn and stretch a little, before closing her eyes with a soft murmur of contentment.

He turned on the radio, keeping it to a low hum so as not to wake her from her doze. A slightly rocky beat rose from the radio and he tapped the steering wheel in time to the beat, gradually starting to hum.

Riley chuckled when he heard Buffy snore softly.

"Huh," he muttered. "I must have been right back there. I must be in love."

It was a light-hearted comment, but it was weighed with meaning and feeling. He blinked, realising that not only had he given the emotion that surged through him back at the picnic a name, but he had voiced it.

He grinned, the kind of hysterical grin that comes from realising that holy crap, you're in love when you'd only just realised you were falling.

He hummed along to the by now slightly familiar chorus of the song, stopping at traffic lights. He looked at her for a moment, before joining in softly with the last line of the song.

"She is electric, can I be electric too?"

Buffy stirred at the sound and he allowed himself a smile at the thought his singing was bad enough to wake her when the radio hadn't.

"Riley? Did you say something?" she asked, rolling her shoulders.

"No," he said, turning the corner after the light turned green, stifling a smile. "It's nothing."

The End.