In the next afternoon, the whole Scoobie gang met at the Magic Box, after Giles had called them all and had told them that they all should talk about this; to Buffy's dismay, he had asked her to call Riley as well and invite him, something she had done grudgingly, her unhappiness about his presence there clearly showing whenever she looked at him.
"I read through the text you brought me, Riley", Giles let the soldier know after the usual greetings had been exchanged and Anya had provided coffee for everyone, made with the new coffee machine Xander had purchased for the store not all too long ago. "And I have to say that it is quite unsettling. This should have been given to us much sooner, you know, now we won't have too much time anymore. If I interpreted this right, then those four horsemen mentioned will appear here in a few days, a week at the maximum, and that is not much time to prepare accordingly."
"I know", Riley sighed out in reply, "I told the guys at the research department the same. They've got so many books though, I guess it's hard to find the right one at the right time. We're probably lucky they found that at all, before it was too late."
"So, we'll be facing the four horsemen of the apocalypse", Xander stated matter-of-factly, "thrilling. I guess after going up against the devil, this shouldn't be too hard though, huh?"
"Don't take this too easy", Giles reprimanded him as an answer, giving him a strict look over the rim of his glasses. "If this text has been translated correctly, it might be quite dangerous to face those horsemen."
"Especially if our favourite demon here will be one of them", Anya pointed out happily, making Buffy, Willow and Pat groan in perfect unison – this had not been the way they had wanted to tell Riley about this fact.
"What?" the soldier immediately latched on to her words, "what are you talking about?"
"Pat's a demon", Buffy sighed out as an answer, realizing that now, there was no other way than the blunt one, "but don't flip out now, okay?"
"What?", Riley cried out in reply, clearly not heeding her advice about not flipping out, "and Willow's dating her? Willow, how can you do this?"
"Hey!" the demon protested, giving him a sour look and crossing her arms over her chest; ignoring her, the soldier kept staring at Willow, his gaze a mixture of shock and, to her annoyance, anger.
"I don't see how this is any of your business", she replied coldly, mimicking her girlfriend by crossing her arms over her chest as well, "and we have more urgent matters to talk about now, don't we?"
"I don't get this", Riley ranted on as an answer, "after all you've seen demons do, you date one? How can you do this? That's so… wrong!"
"Hey, soldier boy", Pat snapped in reply, clearly getting more than irritated about his behaviour, "you do know I am here and that I can hear you, right?"
Even if she could hear him, he clearly wasn't capable – or willing – of returning the favour; he kept his gaze focused on the redhead, even after jumping up from his chair and beginning to pace up and down, the rest watching him with growing irritation, Giles taking off his glasses to clean them while he glared at the soldier.
"Dating a demon", Riley now repeated, clearly not able to understand that concept, even running both hands through his hair, "I can't believe this. Willow, how can you be so stupid?"
Not able to believe he really had said that, Willow only could stare at him with wide eyes; next to her, Pat let out a low growl, never a good sign – before she almost jumped up from her seat, mumbling "Okay, that's it" as she moved up to Riley and punched him straight in the jaw with surprising speed, too fast for anyone else to react.
"Ouch", Xander commented, not able to keep a slight smirk from his face, "that must have hurt."
In response, Riley let out a clearly pained groan, trying to come to his feet; before he could do so though, Pat pushed him back down, giving him a glare that made him freeze in mid-motion.
"Listen up now, soldier boy", she spat, Willow behind her unable to keep the smile away as well, having to admit that she did like it when her girlfriend showed her protective side, "this is none of your business, as my girlfriend clearly pointed out, and we have more important things to do right now. So, you shut your trap about this now, because if you ever talk to her like that again, just once, I'll do more to you than just punch you. Do we have an understanding?"
For a moment, he looked as if he wanted to disagree, and maybe start ranting about this again; then, he saw the expression on the demon's face and clearly reconsidered, nodding grudgingly after his moment while he finally came to his feet.
"So", Buffy stated, to Riley's dismay clearly not feeling much pity for him, "now that this has been sorted out, can we talk about the upcoming apocalypse again? Or do you want to shout at Willow some more, Riley?"
"I'm good", the soldier muttered, sitting back down; after straightening her clothes, Pat did the same, giving the young man another glare while Willow grasped her hand, trying to calm her down again now that the situation had been resolved.
"Good", Buffy gave back, a strict look at Riley accompanying her words; then, she looked at her Watcher again and motioned at him to go on, something he did after he had put his glasses back on, the rest listening to him with their attention fully focused on him – except for Riley, who kept looking at Pat every now and then, that strange mixture of shock and anger showing in his eyes again whenever he did so.
"And Buffy really dated that jerk?" Pat asked several hours later, back in the apartment she shared with her girlfriend; they had spent the last hours at the Magic Box, trying to figure out ways how to keep Pat from becoming one of the four horsemen, a possibility which did exist, as they all had to admit, and how to stop them in general, without too much success though.
"Yes", Willow now answered the question of her loved one, smiling slightly again at her description for Riley, "it didn't end well though."
"Why am I not surprised", the demon commented dryly while she helped herself to a can of soda from the fridge; with her smile widening slightly, the witch stepped closer to her and embraced her, the demon hurriedly putting her drink aside so she could return the hug properly.
"I guess he just didn't get it", the redhead stated something which was rather obvious, "he's been in the Initiative, as you know, and it was his job to capture demons for them… Buffy told me he's got that black-and-white world view of 'Humans are good, demons are bad'."
"Obviously", Pat dryly gave back, shaking her head, "I'm just glad those guys aren't active around here anymore, or who knows what he might have done."
"Buffy wouldn't have let him do anything", Willow reassured her, "but I understand why you're glad about that. I just wish we'd found out more at that meeting today…"
"Me too", the demon agreed, pulling back from the embrace so she could get out her cigarettes and light one of them up, "especially about that concern you all seem to have which involves me becoming one of those guys. I still don't see why that should happen, but apparently, all of you do."
"Believe me, I don't want it to happen", Willow sighed out in reply, giving her girlfriend an apologetic look, "but you have to admit that it might be possible, with you being a fire demon and everything."
"I'm surely not the only one here", Pat reminded her in reply, "and, as Giles said today, they might come from out of town. Or out of the Hellmouth, or whatever."
"I hope so, as weird as that may sound", Willow mumbled in reply, leaning against the kitchen counter and watching her girlfriend smoke, the thought of her being one of those four demons clearly unsettling her.
"That's how it'll be", the black haired woman reassured her confidently, putting out her cigarette and moving over to her so she could hug her again, making the redhead smile slightly. "Stop worrying about that…"
"I'll try", Willow promised her after a moment of silence; to her relief, Pat clearly accepted this, since she nodded and kissed her tenderly, then changed the topic by asking if she was hungry as well, making the witch nod as well, the unpleasant possibility of the demon ending up as one of the four horsemen at least for the moment forgotten.
Even though she had promised her girlfriend that she would stop worrying, Willow couldn't keep herself from thinking about the upcoming danger, her mind constantly wandering back to the unpleasant subject; to her dismay, Buffy noticed this the moment they met at the campus in the next afternoon, after their classes.
"What's up?" the blonde asked while they made their way to the lecture hall together, giving her best friend a concerned look, "you look worried. This isn't about Riley and the idiotic things he said yesterday, right?"
"No", Willow gave back at once, briefly wondering why the Slayer would think she was worried about that, then shrugging it off, a small sigh escaping her before she voiced her obvious concerns. "I'm worried about that… thing… You know Anya had a point with what she said yesterday."
"She did", Buffy had to admit, making sure to choose her words as wisely as Willow, since quite a lot of unsuspecting students were all around them, none of them having an idea about the true colours of the town they were living in.
"I'm more worried about Riley though", she went on after a moment, "after we told him that yesterday, well… If Anya was right, I'm sure there'll be a way to get her back, but only if Riley doesn't go trigger happy first."
Grimacing at that thought, Willow had to admit that this was a possibility; after all, the soldier had made it quite clear what he thought of her relationship with the demon, and even though she figured that he had deserved that punch for talking about her girlfriend and her that way, she now doubted that it had helped with making him trust Pat despite her demonic nature.
"I guess I should talk to him about that", the Slayer now muttered, gaining her best friend's attention again, the sound of her voice and the look on her face making it more than clear that she wasn't really looking forward to this kind of talk; still, Willow nodded, giving the blonde an encouraging smile afterwards, giving her best to sound light-hearted when she replied. "Or I could do that. Seeing that Pat's my girlfriend, and everything…"
"I just wish this wasn't necessary at all", Buffy sighed out as an answer, "but the last thing we need is him doing something stupid during a fight or something."
"I'll try to talk some sense into him", Willow promised in reply, telling herself that it'd be only fair if she did this and that it'd spare Buffy from having to do it, the relief which instantly showed on the blonde's face making the witch smile slightly.
"You really aren't happy that he's here, are you", she stated the obvious, the Slayer giving her a sour look in reply, her voice dry when she answered. "Thanks for stating the obvious… It's not him in person who ticks me off so much though, it's more because his bosses seem to think that, whenever they need help, they can just send him here to hire me and I'll deal with it. Of course I will deal with it, but, as I told him, this isn't Rent a Slayer…"
"I understand why that ticks you off", Willow reassured her, choosing her next words wisely since she didn't want to annoy her best friend further, "and believe me, after what he said to me about Pat, I'm not all too happy with him being here either, but… I guess we should be glad they did send him here, or maybe, we wouldn't have known about this until it would've been too late."
"I know", Buffy sighed out, "and he surely will be helpful, but still… It's annoying how he just makes his big entrance here with the helicopter and everything and claims that I jump through hoops for him. That all of us jump through hoops… Except for Pat maybe, I think he'd prefer her to jump off a cliff."
"I'm just glad the Initiative isn't working around here anymore", Willow mumbled in reply, shuddering briefly as she remembered the areas she had seen of said organisation, especially the small, brightly lit cells where the demons and vampires had been kept, the thought of her girlfriend in one of them sending another shiver down her spine. Buffy nodded her agreement to that, clearly well aware of what her best friend was thinking of; she let out another sigh, then suddenly brightened up, her next words making the redhead smile again as well. "Alright, that's enough gloomy talking for me, I need some sugar and caffeine now. You got any other classes, or wanna go to the Espresso Pump with me for a mocha or two?"
"Sure", Willow agreed at once, to Buffy's obvious happiness, "I just have to stop by at the professor's office for a minute and hand in my paper, then we can go."
"Great", the Slayer smiled, "I'll wait then…" Nodding, the redhead smiled back at her; then, they made their way to the building where the professor's office was located, looking forward to the mochas and the hopefully calm time awaiting them at the café.