"It's early," Dawn said. "I don't have to be in bed for half an hour yet."
"What time is it?" Faith asked.
"Just after 11."
"Wow, this really is an early night."
Dawn nodded. "So, didja kill anything?"
"Nah," said Faith. "Boring night."
"Do you think you could take me some boring night?" Dawn asked hopefully.
"Not on your life, Brat," said Faith. "Or maybe that's not on mine. Xander and Buffy'd kill me, and you know it. Not to mention what your mom would do to me."
"But you guys were fighting when you were my age!" Dawn protested.
"No. . . big sis was fighting when she was 15, the rest of at 16 about. Hell, I didn't get called till I was almost done with 16, and that was like 2 years ago almost. You still got 2 years minimum, girlie, and that's if you get slayer powers."
Dawn pouted. "Being powerless sucks."
Faith rustled her hair. "You'll get used to it," she said. "I'm wiped. G'nite, kiddo."
Dawn turned and retreated back into her room.
* * * * *
"Because the best the French could come up with was the Maginot line. What, they think people can't march north?" Willow asked, incredulously.
"I'm n-not saying it wasn't a bad idea, but they didn't just give up every time," said the young woman sitting next to her.
"Maybe so, but with their tactics? They were better off just throwing the towel in. It would save everyone some time and they can just go back to drinking wine and acting. . . well, French."
Tara smiled shyly at the redhead who had fast become her best friend in Sunnydale. "I guess you're right."
Willow checked her watch. "Do you want to grab some lunch?"
"Sure," Tara said. They gathered their things and headed off to the dining hall.
"Excuse you," Willow said as a man wearing a leather jacket brushed past her, bumping her out of the way. The man walked on, ignoring those he had just offended.
"That w-wasn't very nice of him," said Tara.
"Some people are just jerks," Willow said. "He looked a little familiar though, I think I've seen his picture somewhere."
"Where, do you think?" Tara asked.
Willow shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know where my head goes these days."
Tara smiled. "Would you like me to help you find it?" she asked, shyly.
Willow grinned, took Tara's arm in hers and marched off to get food, the incident forgotten.
* * * * *
"I just don't get why we have to help you move all your crap now," Faith said to Buffy later that day. "You been livin' with X-man for two months, and now you want your stuff."
"You just don't want to do the work," Buffy said, dropping a box on the floor.
"Well, yeah, duh," Faith said.
Willow looked up from the box she was unpacking. "I think it's because Buffy's just accepted the fact she lives here, and thus is going to domesticate Xander even more than she already has."
Buffy grinned.
"I just don't see why you need me here," Faith said. "You got two super strong beings here already, and a Wicca to levitate crap. What gives?"
"Just consider 'moving day' part of your family duties, Faith," said Buffy.
"Man, crappy family," she said.
"Now, ladies," said Xander, putting down Buffy's weapons chest and a bunch more of her clothes. "Let's not go saying anything that could start a catfight. Or if we do go saying something like that, let's wait for bikinis and mud."
All three women turned and glared at him. "Pig," they said, simultaneously.
"Where do you want this stuff?" Dawn asked as she walked into the room, her arms piled high with clothes.
"Oh, just put it on the couch, I think," Buffy said.
"How can any one person own so many outfits?" Xander asked.
"You should see what she has in the attic," said Dawn. "She's like a packrat. Or a mule. Some kind of ugly, load-bearing animal."
"Dawnie," Xander said, "what did I tell you about making fun of your sister?"
"That I should do it a lot when you're around so you can play off my jokes?" she asked innocently.
Buffy glared at him. He grinned sheepishly. "No, the other thing," he said.
"Oh, that I should make you look good when you ask me th. . . oh. Oops."
Xander patted her on the head. "That's okay," he said.
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" Buffy said.
"The reality in my head is often different than the one others know," Xander said. "Not that I'm the only one who has a skewed world view, Ms. Been-Living-Here-For-Two-Months."
Buffy opened her mouth to comment, paused, reconsidered and shrugged. Everyone got back to unpacking.
* * * * *
"Who's that?" Xander asked, as he, Buffy and Willow sat going through one of her photo albums. Dawn had gone home and Faith was meeting Riley at the airport.
"That's Ford, remember? He visited Buffy a couple years ago. You said 'Doesn't she know any fat guys?'" Willow said, in a mockery of Xander's voice.
"Oh yeah," Xander said. "That was around the first time I called Angel 'Deadboy.' Ahh, the good ol' days."
"Ford tried to set us up for Spike," Buffy said, a sad note in her voice. "He had cancer, and didn't want to die. . . forever die, that is, while he was young. But Spike turned him and I killed him."
Xander stroked her hand, comforting her. She smiled warmly at him.
"It wasn't him, Buff," he said.
"I know. Looked like him, though."
Xander kissed Buffy softly on her forehead.
"You guys want a soda?" Willow asked, standing up.
"Coke," said Buffy.
"Nothing, thanks," Xander said.
Willow walked to the kitchen.
"So, Wills," Xander called after her. "You and that Tara girl have become pretty good friends, huh?"
"Yeah!" Willow replied, happily. "It's fun! She's into all the same stuff, like witchcraft and stuff. She's been practicing since she was really young and so she's way more advanced than I am. I'm really learning a lot from her. And she's so nice too!"
Xander grinned at his best friend's giddiness. "Well, I'm glad one of my girls was able to expand her horizons," he said.
"What do you mean?" Willow asked, handing Buffy a soda.
"Well, you made a friend. I mean sure, you met her through her being a virginal sacrifice for an apocalyptic ritual, which, come to think of it, mucho props on the 'not before marriage' part, but come on. Buffy managed to go to a college with a few thousand people she'd never met and managed not to make a single new friend."
"Actually," Willow said, "Tara's never even had a boyfriend."
"No way, sweet girl like that?"
Willow nodded.
"You're a liar, anyway!" Buffy protested, drawing the conversation back to her lack of new friends. "I happen to have-"
"Riley doesn't count."
"He's not the only-"
"Neither does Faith."
Buffy slumped back into the sofa. "Meanie," she said.
* * * * *
"Heya, tiger," Faith whispered to Riley as they stood in the airport terminal. People were looking at her. "Miss me?" She asked
"Of course I did," he said, smirking. "But not as much as you missed me."
"In your dreams, guy." People were still watching.
"I think you're causing a scene," Riley said, noticing the looks they were getting.
"Ah, screw 'em if they can't deal."
"I'd rather do that to someone else," he whispered. "By the way, and I'm not in anyway implying that you're heavy or anything, but I don't have super strength, and I can't help but notice that my legs are currently the only ones supporting our weight."
Faith bounced a little, using as leverage her legs that she had wrapped around Riley's waist when she had jumped on him as he walked out of the gate. "But I'm just getting comfortable," she pouted.
Riley groaned with the bounce. "Baby. . ."
"Yeah?" she asked in a sultry voice.
"I've been on a plane for 4 hours, with two members of overeaters anonymous blocking my way to the aisle. I really have to pee."
Faith chuckled and removed her legs from his waist. "Spoilsport."
Riley gave Faith a quick peck on the cheek and ran to the men's room. He exited a couple minutes later looking much more relaxed.
"Better?" she asked.
"Much."
Riley swooped in and gave Faith a long, hard kiss, which she returned in kind.
"I missed that," he said.
"Damn straight, you did."
They made their way to the baggage carousel, then out to Joyce's Jeep that Faith had borrowed in order to pick Riley up. He tossed his bags in the back and hopped in the passenger seat.
"How was the conference?" Faith asked as she drove into Sunnydale.
"It was pretty interesting," he said. "Some really good seminars dealing with really advanced theory."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. But there were things I'd rather have been doing."
Faith smiled genuinely at him.
"Been quiet here?" Riley asked.
"As a graveyard. One that isn't on the Hellmouth anyway."
Riley nodded. "Patrol with the guys any?"
"Nah," Faith said. "Baldie asked me, but I went with B and X instead."
"You know, Forrest is only bald because he shaves his head."
"So?"
"Just saying."
Faith smiled. "Actually, Dawnie wanted to go patrolling with me, but I told her the Gruesome Twosome that includes big sis and X would kill me for it."
"Who wanted to go?" Riley asked, confused.
"Dawnie. You know, B's sister. Kind of a whiner?"
Riley paused, then shook his head. "Right, of course," he said. "I must be more tired than I thought."
Faith grinned at him evilly. "Too tired for a little exercise?" she asked.
"What did you have in mind?"
Faith leaned over and whispered in his ear. Riley paled and coughed.
"No," he said eventually. "No, I think I can manage that."
Faith smirked all the way back to Lowell House.
* * * * *
"And then Jason was all, 'But I play basketball!' And I said 'First, basketball isn't even a real sport, it's just ten guys running up and down a hardwood floor. Second, you're not even any good. You think that because you're lousy at a non-sport, I should just, what, beg you to out with me?' And he was all, 'Um. . . yeah?'"
Xander nodded over his Cheerio's. "Uh huh, uh huh, I see. So, who is this boy, where does he live, and how much can I kill him?"
"Xanderrrr!" Dawn whined.
"Hey, any boy that looks at you before you turn 30, I'm legally allowed to kill. Your mom told me so."
"MOM! Xander's telling lies!"
"What kind of tripe are you filling my youngest daughter's head with now, Mr. Harris?" Joyce asked, entering the kitchen in her bathrobe.
"No lies at all, Mrs. S. I just told Dawn I'm allowed to kill any and all boys who look at her before she turns 30."
"Oh," Joyce said. "She didn't know that already?"
Dawn glared. "I hate you both," she muttered.
Joyce smiled at them. "Xander, thank you so much for driving Dawn to school today. I just have so much to get ready for before my presentation...."
"No thanks necessary, Mrs. S. I'm happy to help, anytime."
"You just do it for the Cheerios," Dawn said.
"Well, the cereal is a plus, but what could be better than getting in some quality time with the Dawnmeister?"
Dawn grinned despite herself.
Xander checked his watch, then dumped his bowl in the sink.
"You ready to go?" he asked.
Dawn jumped off her stool and ran to the hallway to get her backpack. Xander shook his head.
"I never had that much energy when I was thirteen," he said. "Not this early in the morning, anyway."
"Buffy always did. She was always a morning person. Although, that changed once she started spending her nights in graveyards."
"Killing the dead will do that to a person," he said.
"Xander! I'm going to be late!" Dawn called from the front door.
Xander grinned and headed for the door. "Bye, Mrs. S!"
* * * * *
Xander pulled up outside the middle school.
"Okay, Dawnie," he said. "Go in there and make us Scoobies proud."
Dawn rolled her eyes at him.
"Okay, okay," he said. "Just try not to burn it down or get kicked out or. . . no, wait, wrong sister. Have fun, all right?"
"Xander, you're not my father," Dawn said.
"Ah, no, and thank God for that. That would make dating your sister really weird and icky."
"Dating Buffy is weird and icky anyway."
"Well, hey," Xander said with a wink. "A few more years and I can trade up, right?"
Dawn giggled and blushed.
"Go on, get to class," he said.
Dawn leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek before bolting out of the car.
"Bye!" she yelled.
* * * * *
"Who's the stud?"
"What?" Dawn asked. She had caught the question, she just wasn't sure why Alison was talking to her. Alison was, like, the second most popular girl in school.
"The hottie, the guy, you know with the car? He dropped you off like twelve seconds ago."
"Oh, that's just Xander."
"Xander, huh? Cool name."
"I guess," Dawn said, playing it cool.
"Been with him long?" Alison asked.
"Xander?" Dawn asked, eyes bugging. "He and I are-" she paused. "No. I haven't."
Alison smiled at her. "Don't I have first period with you?"
Dawn nodded.
"Why don't you come sit with me, today."
Dawn grinned. "I'd love to."
* * * * *
"I think that your time would be better spent training. Less hanging around with these. . . civilians, who are quite obviously having an influence on your performance!"
"With all due respect, ma'am, I think you're wrong," Riley said. "Faith, and to a lesser extent Buffy and Xander and the rest, are having a positive influence on both my performance and that of the teams. We can fight better, we know more effective ways of killing the demons, and how to identify those that are actually hostiles."
"Riley," Walsh said. She was quickly becoming irate. "I say this without bragging. I am one of the best professors of psychology in this hemisphere. Your physical performance may have improved, but your mental performance is slipping. The more time you spend with these people, the more you drift away from your duties!"
"Ma'am, are you ordering me not to see them?" Riley asked.
"No, Riley, of course not." she said, calming down. She took him gently by the arm. "I just want you to be careful. We really don't know their true motives. We don't know anything about them. This girl you've been seeing, Faith. Did you know she has killed human beings?"
"Yes, I did. Faith has been nothing but upfront about her past. She's dealing with it as best she can."
"Look, Riley, just promise me you'll be on the look out for anything out of the ordinary, okay? I worry about you."
Riley nodded. "I'll be careful, but I think you're overreacting."
Walsh looked at him. "I hope I am."
"Is that all, ma'am?" he asked.
Walsh nodded. "Yes, you are free to go."
"Thank you."
Riley turned and walked out of Walsh's office and out through the corridors of the Initiative.
Maggie Walsh watched him the whole way on camera's within the installation. When Riley had gotten into the elevator, she pressed a button on her console.
"Yes?" said a deep, tinny voice through an unseen speaker.
"Make it happen," Walsh said. "Make it happen soon."
"Done," said the voice.
Walsh nodded and looked to her last camera. It was looking in on Riley's room.
----------
End Chapter 2
"What time is it?" Faith asked.
"Just after 11."
"Wow, this really is an early night."
Dawn nodded. "So, didja kill anything?"
"Nah," said Faith. "Boring night."
"Do you think you could take me some boring night?" Dawn asked hopefully.
"Not on your life, Brat," said Faith. "Or maybe that's not on mine. Xander and Buffy'd kill me, and you know it. Not to mention what your mom would do to me."
"But you guys were fighting when you were my age!" Dawn protested.
"No. . . big sis was fighting when she was 15, the rest of at 16 about. Hell, I didn't get called till I was almost done with 16, and that was like 2 years ago almost. You still got 2 years minimum, girlie, and that's if you get slayer powers."
Dawn pouted. "Being powerless sucks."
Faith rustled her hair. "You'll get used to it," she said. "I'm wiped. G'nite, kiddo."
Dawn turned and retreated back into her room.
* * * * *
"Because the best the French could come up with was the Maginot line. What, they think people can't march north?" Willow asked, incredulously.
"I'm n-not saying it wasn't a bad idea, but they didn't just give up every time," said the young woman sitting next to her.
"Maybe so, but with their tactics? They were better off just throwing the towel in. It would save everyone some time and they can just go back to drinking wine and acting. . . well, French."
Tara smiled shyly at the redhead who had fast become her best friend in Sunnydale. "I guess you're right."
Willow checked her watch. "Do you want to grab some lunch?"
"Sure," Tara said. They gathered their things and headed off to the dining hall.
"Excuse you," Willow said as a man wearing a leather jacket brushed past her, bumping her out of the way. The man walked on, ignoring those he had just offended.
"That w-wasn't very nice of him," said Tara.
"Some people are just jerks," Willow said. "He looked a little familiar though, I think I've seen his picture somewhere."
"Where, do you think?" Tara asked.
Willow shook her head. "I don't know. I don't know where my head goes these days."
Tara smiled. "Would you like me to help you find it?" she asked, shyly.
Willow grinned, took Tara's arm in hers and marched off to get food, the incident forgotten.
* * * * *
"I just don't get why we have to help you move all your crap now," Faith said to Buffy later that day. "You been livin' with X-man for two months, and now you want your stuff."
"You just don't want to do the work," Buffy said, dropping a box on the floor.
"Well, yeah, duh," Faith said.
Willow looked up from the box she was unpacking. "I think it's because Buffy's just accepted the fact she lives here, and thus is going to domesticate Xander even more than she already has."
Buffy grinned.
"I just don't see why you need me here," Faith said. "You got two super strong beings here already, and a Wicca to levitate crap. What gives?"
"Just consider 'moving day' part of your family duties, Faith," said Buffy.
"Man, crappy family," she said.
"Now, ladies," said Xander, putting down Buffy's weapons chest and a bunch more of her clothes. "Let's not go saying anything that could start a catfight. Or if we do go saying something like that, let's wait for bikinis and mud."
All three women turned and glared at him. "Pig," they said, simultaneously.
"Where do you want this stuff?" Dawn asked as she walked into the room, her arms piled high with clothes.
"Oh, just put it on the couch, I think," Buffy said.
"How can any one person own so many outfits?" Xander asked.
"You should see what she has in the attic," said Dawn. "She's like a packrat. Or a mule. Some kind of ugly, load-bearing animal."
"Dawnie," Xander said, "what did I tell you about making fun of your sister?"
"That I should do it a lot when you're around so you can play off my jokes?" she asked innocently.
Buffy glared at him. He grinned sheepishly. "No, the other thing," he said.
"Oh, that I should make you look good when you ask me th. . . oh. Oops."
Xander patted her on the head. "That's okay," he said.
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" Buffy said.
"The reality in my head is often different than the one others know," Xander said. "Not that I'm the only one who has a skewed world view, Ms. Been-Living-Here-For-Two-Months."
Buffy opened her mouth to comment, paused, reconsidered and shrugged. Everyone got back to unpacking.
* * * * *
"Who's that?" Xander asked, as he, Buffy and Willow sat going through one of her photo albums. Dawn had gone home and Faith was meeting Riley at the airport.
"That's Ford, remember? He visited Buffy a couple years ago. You said 'Doesn't she know any fat guys?'" Willow said, in a mockery of Xander's voice.
"Oh yeah," Xander said. "That was around the first time I called Angel 'Deadboy.' Ahh, the good ol' days."
"Ford tried to set us up for Spike," Buffy said, a sad note in her voice. "He had cancer, and didn't want to die. . . forever die, that is, while he was young. But Spike turned him and I killed him."
Xander stroked her hand, comforting her. She smiled warmly at him.
"It wasn't him, Buff," he said.
"I know. Looked like him, though."
Xander kissed Buffy softly on her forehead.
"You guys want a soda?" Willow asked, standing up.
"Coke," said Buffy.
"Nothing, thanks," Xander said.
Willow walked to the kitchen.
"So, Wills," Xander called after her. "You and that Tara girl have become pretty good friends, huh?"
"Yeah!" Willow replied, happily. "It's fun! She's into all the same stuff, like witchcraft and stuff. She's been practicing since she was really young and so she's way more advanced than I am. I'm really learning a lot from her. And she's so nice too!"
Xander grinned at his best friend's giddiness. "Well, I'm glad one of my girls was able to expand her horizons," he said.
"What do you mean?" Willow asked, handing Buffy a soda.
"Well, you made a friend. I mean sure, you met her through her being a virginal sacrifice for an apocalyptic ritual, which, come to think of it, mucho props on the 'not before marriage' part, but come on. Buffy managed to go to a college with a few thousand people she'd never met and managed not to make a single new friend."
"Actually," Willow said, "Tara's never even had a boyfriend."
"No way, sweet girl like that?"
Willow nodded.
"You're a liar, anyway!" Buffy protested, drawing the conversation back to her lack of new friends. "I happen to have-"
"Riley doesn't count."
"He's not the only-"
"Neither does Faith."
Buffy slumped back into the sofa. "Meanie," she said.
* * * * *
"Heya, tiger," Faith whispered to Riley as they stood in the airport terminal. People were looking at her. "Miss me?" She asked
"Of course I did," he said, smirking. "But not as much as you missed me."
"In your dreams, guy." People were still watching.
"I think you're causing a scene," Riley said, noticing the looks they were getting.
"Ah, screw 'em if they can't deal."
"I'd rather do that to someone else," he whispered. "By the way, and I'm not in anyway implying that you're heavy or anything, but I don't have super strength, and I can't help but notice that my legs are currently the only ones supporting our weight."
Faith bounced a little, using as leverage her legs that she had wrapped around Riley's waist when she had jumped on him as he walked out of the gate. "But I'm just getting comfortable," she pouted.
Riley groaned with the bounce. "Baby. . ."
"Yeah?" she asked in a sultry voice.
"I've been on a plane for 4 hours, with two members of overeaters anonymous blocking my way to the aisle. I really have to pee."
Faith chuckled and removed her legs from his waist. "Spoilsport."
Riley gave Faith a quick peck on the cheek and ran to the men's room. He exited a couple minutes later looking much more relaxed.
"Better?" she asked.
"Much."
Riley swooped in and gave Faith a long, hard kiss, which she returned in kind.
"I missed that," he said.
"Damn straight, you did."
They made their way to the baggage carousel, then out to Joyce's Jeep that Faith had borrowed in order to pick Riley up. He tossed his bags in the back and hopped in the passenger seat.
"How was the conference?" Faith asked as she drove into Sunnydale.
"It was pretty interesting," he said. "Some really good seminars dealing with really advanced theory."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. But there were things I'd rather have been doing."
Faith smiled genuinely at him.
"Been quiet here?" Riley asked.
"As a graveyard. One that isn't on the Hellmouth anyway."
Riley nodded. "Patrol with the guys any?"
"Nah," Faith said. "Baldie asked me, but I went with B and X instead."
"You know, Forrest is only bald because he shaves his head."
"So?"
"Just saying."
Faith smiled. "Actually, Dawnie wanted to go patrolling with me, but I told her the Gruesome Twosome that includes big sis and X would kill me for it."
"Who wanted to go?" Riley asked, confused.
"Dawnie. You know, B's sister. Kind of a whiner?"
Riley paused, then shook his head. "Right, of course," he said. "I must be more tired than I thought."
Faith grinned at him evilly. "Too tired for a little exercise?" she asked.
"What did you have in mind?"
Faith leaned over and whispered in his ear. Riley paled and coughed.
"No," he said eventually. "No, I think I can manage that."
Faith smirked all the way back to Lowell House.
* * * * *
"And then Jason was all, 'But I play basketball!' And I said 'First, basketball isn't even a real sport, it's just ten guys running up and down a hardwood floor. Second, you're not even any good. You think that because you're lousy at a non-sport, I should just, what, beg you to out with me?' And he was all, 'Um. . . yeah?'"
Xander nodded over his Cheerio's. "Uh huh, uh huh, I see. So, who is this boy, where does he live, and how much can I kill him?"
"Xanderrrr!" Dawn whined.
"Hey, any boy that looks at you before you turn 30, I'm legally allowed to kill. Your mom told me so."
"MOM! Xander's telling lies!"
"What kind of tripe are you filling my youngest daughter's head with now, Mr. Harris?" Joyce asked, entering the kitchen in her bathrobe.
"No lies at all, Mrs. S. I just told Dawn I'm allowed to kill any and all boys who look at her before she turns 30."
"Oh," Joyce said. "She didn't know that already?"
Dawn glared. "I hate you both," she muttered.
Joyce smiled at them. "Xander, thank you so much for driving Dawn to school today. I just have so much to get ready for before my presentation...."
"No thanks necessary, Mrs. S. I'm happy to help, anytime."
"You just do it for the Cheerios," Dawn said.
"Well, the cereal is a plus, but what could be better than getting in some quality time with the Dawnmeister?"
Dawn grinned despite herself.
Xander checked his watch, then dumped his bowl in the sink.
"You ready to go?" he asked.
Dawn jumped off her stool and ran to the hallway to get her backpack. Xander shook his head.
"I never had that much energy when I was thirteen," he said. "Not this early in the morning, anyway."
"Buffy always did. She was always a morning person. Although, that changed once she started spending her nights in graveyards."
"Killing the dead will do that to a person," he said.
"Xander! I'm going to be late!" Dawn called from the front door.
Xander grinned and headed for the door. "Bye, Mrs. S!"
* * * * *
Xander pulled up outside the middle school.
"Okay, Dawnie," he said. "Go in there and make us Scoobies proud."
Dawn rolled her eyes at him.
"Okay, okay," he said. "Just try not to burn it down or get kicked out or. . . no, wait, wrong sister. Have fun, all right?"
"Xander, you're not my father," Dawn said.
"Ah, no, and thank God for that. That would make dating your sister really weird and icky."
"Dating Buffy is weird and icky anyway."
"Well, hey," Xander said with a wink. "A few more years and I can trade up, right?"
Dawn giggled and blushed.
"Go on, get to class," he said.
Dawn leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek before bolting out of the car.
"Bye!" she yelled.
* * * * *
"Who's the stud?"
"What?" Dawn asked. She had caught the question, she just wasn't sure why Alison was talking to her. Alison was, like, the second most popular girl in school.
"The hottie, the guy, you know with the car? He dropped you off like twelve seconds ago."
"Oh, that's just Xander."
"Xander, huh? Cool name."
"I guess," Dawn said, playing it cool.
"Been with him long?" Alison asked.
"Xander?" Dawn asked, eyes bugging. "He and I are-" she paused. "No. I haven't."
Alison smiled at her. "Don't I have first period with you?"
Dawn nodded.
"Why don't you come sit with me, today."
Dawn grinned. "I'd love to."
* * * * *
"I think that your time would be better spent training. Less hanging around with these. . . civilians, who are quite obviously having an influence on your performance!"
"With all due respect, ma'am, I think you're wrong," Riley said. "Faith, and to a lesser extent Buffy and Xander and the rest, are having a positive influence on both my performance and that of the teams. We can fight better, we know more effective ways of killing the demons, and how to identify those that are actually hostiles."
"Riley," Walsh said. She was quickly becoming irate. "I say this without bragging. I am one of the best professors of psychology in this hemisphere. Your physical performance may have improved, but your mental performance is slipping. The more time you spend with these people, the more you drift away from your duties!"
"Ma'am, are you ordering me not to see them?" Riley asked.
"No, Riley, of course not." she said, calming down. She took him gently by the arm. "I just want you to be careful. We really don't know their true motives. We don't know anything about them. This girl you've been seeing, Faith. Did you know she has killed human beings?"
"Yes, I did. Faith has been nothing but upfront about her past. She's dealing with it as best she can."
"Look, Riley, just promise me you'll be on the look out for anything out of the ordinary, okay? I worry about you."
Riley nodded. "I'll be careful, but I think you're overreacting."
Walsh looked at him. "I hope I am."
"Is that all, ma'am?" he asked.
Walsh nodded. "Yes, you are free to go."
"Thank you."
Riley turned and walked out of Walsh's office and out through the corridors of the Initiative.
Maggie Walsh watched him the whole way on camera's within the installation. When Riley had gotten into the elevator, she pressed a button on her console.
"Yes?" said a deep, tinny voice through an unseen speaker.
"Make it happen," Walsh said. "Make it happen soon."
"Done," said the voice.
Walsh nodded and looked to her last camera. It was looking in on Riley's room.
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End Chapter 2
