Parker

[Scene: This occurs between Episode 7 ("The Initiative") and Episode 8 ("Pangs") of Buffy's Season 4. Buffy and Riley are flirting in the quad. Riley just said too much, in a flattering way.]

Buffy smiled shyly and looked away.

Suddenly, her grin was replaced by a pensive frown that betrayed an imperfectly healed wound. Riley followed her gaze. Parker was crossing the quad behind him, laughing with classmates.

"Are you friends?" Buffy asked quietly, nodding in Parker's direction.

"We know each other." Riley replied cagily, wondering if Buffy had heard about his fist's run-in with Parker's jaw. "I wouldn't call us friends."

"Have you ever heard him talk about me?" She still was watching Parker, her eyes and voice distant.

Riley paused. "Once." He confessed.

Buffy snapped back to the present. "And?" He had her full attention. "What did he say?"

Riley decided not to sugarcoat.

"He likened you to a toilet seat that wouldn't stop following him around after he used it."

Buffy's eyes narrowed. Self-disgust squeezed out the hurt, then slowly hardened to rage. It was a welcome catharsis.

"I'm going to talk to him." She decided.

"What. Now?" Riley swallowed agitation. Their conversation had been going so well. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I'm sure." For the first time since Angel left, Buffy knew exactly what to do. It made her feel confident - whole. "We have something that we need to discuss."

She headed after Parker, then pivoted back to face Riley.

"You can come, if you'd like." She invited. "But it's going to be a pretty tense conversation. And you'll have picked a side. It won't be Parker's."

"Wait a minute." Something about Buffy's expression sounded alarm bells in Riley's head. "What are you planning to do?"

Buffy shook her head. "No questions. Are you in or out?"

Riley remembered his and Parker's last meeting. He'd already picked a side.

"In."

They were halfway across the quad before Buffy thought to say, "Don't interfere."

"What?"

Buffy kept her focus on Parker. "This is between Parker and me. You're strictly a spectator. Got it?"

Riley sighed. "Got it."

They approached Parker from behind. He was in the middle of a funny story.

"Parker?" Buffy interrupted, her voice vulnerable and just loud enough to get everyone's attention.

Parker turned. "Buffy." His eyes darted back and forth between her and Riley. The bruise on his jaw had faded to yellow. His fingers went unbidden to the healing lump on his head.

"I just wanted to apologize for the other night." Buffy sounded remorseful. "I don't know what came over me."

"What other night?" Riley was confused.

"I rescued him from a burning building." Buffy explained over her shoulder. "Then I clubbed him with a stick."

Riley took a moment to digest that. "I see."

"It's just . . ." Buffy was talking to Parker again. "It's just that, I know that it was just one night, and that it didn't mean that much to you."

"Buffy." Parker started, looking around at his friends uncomfortably.

"I need to say this." Buffy cut him off. "Please. Don't interrupt."

Parker fidgeted, but stayed silent.

Buffy took a deep breath.

"The thing is." She resumed. "It meant something to me. It meant a lot to me. You meant a lot to me."

She stepped so close that they could have cuddled, and looked up into his eyes.

"And no matter how many times I tell myself that it was stupid." Her voice was raw. "And no matter how much time goes by, it still hurts me every time that I see you."

Parker felt his legs go out from under him. He suddenly was on his back, the wind knocked out of him.

Pressing her knee to his chest to keep him pinned to the ground, Buffy wrapped her fingers around Parker's collar and pulled his head and shoulders closer to her too-sweet smile.

"So I've decided . . ." Buffy was beaming, her voice perky. ". . . that I'm going to hurt you every time I see you. Not just when we run into each other socially. Every time. If I see you in the halls, then I will chase you down. If you see you in class, then I'll be waiting for you afterwards. If I see you in the cafeteria, then I'll throw you out. Starting now, and for the rest of your life, if you cross my field of vision, then you will feel pain. Are we clear?"

It took a few minutes for Buffy's words to permeate Parker's shock.

"B-b-b-but." He stammered. "But we have class together."

"I know." Buffy replied sympathetically. "I've seen you there, every class, snuggling up to that pretty girl who sits next to you. It's been awful." The vulnerability had crept back into her voice.

Then she grinned again. "But that's not my problem anymore, is it?"

Her eyes, only inches from his, didn't share her smile. Parker saw pain. He saw confusion. Self-recrimination. And - most of all - fury.

"I took a chance on you." Her voice was quiet. Controlled. "And it was a mistake. You were a mistake. And I accept that."

She sat up to give herself room for a good swing.

"Well, you took a chance on me too. And you made a mistake."

Parker's mouth moved wordlessly. Buffy put her finger to his lips.

"Shhhh." She soothed. "Say night-night."

Buffy slammed her fist into the side of Parker's head, knocking him cold.

She stood, pushed her way through the ring of open-mouthed spectators, and rejoined Riley. "He'll wake up in about fifteen minutes." She reassured him offhandedly.

She cocked an eyebrow. "Still in?"

Riley was a whirlpool of awe.

"Absolutely."

"Hungry?"

"I could eat."

"Care to join me at my cafeteria?"

"Your cafeteria?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied lightly. She glanced back at Parker's prone form, and remembered all of the times that she'd fled the cafeteria rather than watch him not notice her eating nearby.

"It's mine now. I own it."