author: Lucinda

rating: pg13

main characters: Riley, Faith, Graham Miller

Faith and Second Chances 10: That Sinking Sensation

disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

distribution: Wic, Paula, Cat - anyone else ask first.

set in season 4, just after the body-switching has been reversed.

Riley was sitting with Faith, watching birds flutter around the open field. They'd decided to have lunch again today, partly in hopes of removing the bitter taste of the encounter with Buffy - and what made her think she had any rights to him now? She'd broken up with him, nearly broken his hand doing that, and stormed out of his room. Too bad she hadn't just stormed out of his life altogether.

"Hey, stop thinking bout B." Faith said, her hand swatting lightly against his arm, just enough to make him notice, but not enough to hurt.

"Sorry, it's just..." Riley tried to find the words. "She has no claim on me now, so why does she care?"

"Because, once you're hers, you're hers forever. Didn't she mention that part?" Faith's voice didn't quite hide the painful undertones. "You can't have your life back afterwards."

"That doesn't work for me." He muttered, plucking a blade of grass.

"Riley?" Graham's voice caught his attention.

"Miller, what brings you here? I thought you were trying to talk to that pretty girl at the computer lab?" He wondered if it was coincidence, or if Graham had been looking for him.

"It's..." Graham glanced at Faith, and tensed slightly. "It's complicated."

Riley blinked, and then realized that Graham probably meant that it connected to Initiative matters. "If it's work related and not too technical, Faith might be able to offer some useful ideas."

"Really?" Graham sounded doubtful. "Here's not a good place to talk about it."

Riley stood up, unsurprised that Faith managed to rise as quickly and more gracefully, and brushed the back of his pants off. "Lead on to somewhere we can talk then."

His mind tried to figure out the possible complications. Another escape? Computer failure? Some sort of equipment damage? Illness carried by one of the hostiles?

Graham brought them to a rather worn looking shelter, really just a roof over some support poles with some picnic tables underneath. Turning around to face them, he stuffed his fists into his pockets. "Forrest... his body's missing."

"When you say missing..." Riley couldn't quite finish. How could a body be missing? Forrest was dead, not a vampire, he wouldn't get up and walk away.

"Where was the body?" Faith's voice was soft. "Had there been a funeral, or was he being kept in a morgue?"

"We have a morgue. He's not there, and there's no record to say that he ever was." Graham admitted, his eyes full of painful confusion. "I... I wanted to say goodbye."

Riley blinked, his mind just grinding to a painful halt. "Gone? But... the records..."

Faith sat on one of the tables, one foot pulled up. She looked as if her thoughts were very unhappy. "This morgue... It's in your soldier-boy complex, right? Secured location and all of that?"

"That's right." Riley agreed, glancing from Faith to Graham. "Why? What are you thinking?"

"If the morgue where he was put is inside your perimeter, then anything going after the body would have to be inside the base first. You'd know if any big nasties charged in, and they probably wouldn't know where to look." Faith seemed to be partly thinking out loud, and partly trying to tow them along her line of thought.

"Yes." Riley nodded. "So you're saying...

"She's saying that whatever happened to the body, the person responsible was already inside." Graham's voice was soft.

"Yeah." Faith nodded. "But that still leaves the question of who and why."

Riley blinked and swallowed hard as things started to make a very ugly sort of sense. "Who has the clearance to have bodies moved? Who can get into the computer and delete records like that?"

Graham paled, and sat down. "But... are you saying that... one of our bosses ordered Forrest's body to be... Why?"

"Good question. I don't have any answers for you." Faith muttered. "You're sure that it couldn't just be for an autopsy, or maybe cremation?"

"If that was all, why delete the records?" Graham asked.

"We have a doctor who takes care of injuries or autopsies. She would have said something if..." Riley couldn't quite continue, feeling suddenly sick at the whole messy tangle of thought.

"So, someone's got a secret project going? Or just an unauthorized one?" Faith whispered.

Riley looked at them, seeing that Graham looked just as sick as he felt, and Faith didn't look happy about it either. "We have to find out."

"I just think the answers are going to be ugly." Faith murmured.

"Yeah."

end Faith and Second Chances 10: That Sinking Sensation.