Uh, chapter dedicated to Aniala and Cuddles. Sorry, did I say chapter? I meant story.

The Best Type of Riley Finn

By SilverWolf7007

Trial Two: Concussion by Stake

Faith was frowning at her sister slayer as the two of them lounged under 'their' stand of trees over a week later. "I still don't get why we've waited so long to conduct the next experiment."

Buffy sighed with the air of someone who has gone over this many times before (mainly as she had). "Faith, Riley was in the hospital for a night, and then we had to let him recover a bit. There would be no point in trying many ways to concuss him if he's in a constant state of concussion as it is...we don't want to cause brain damage."

"Not yet at least," the other woman muttered. "All right, I can deal. So, do we go after him tonight?"

"We have to. If we leave it too much longer, they'll get the demon and leave town. Then we'd have to track them down, and find them, and it would be far too much hard work even for such a good cause."

Faith smirked. "Good. Now, will you tell me what your weapon of choice is already?"

Buffy didn't answer verbally, but as she stood and began to head back to the house, she pulled something from her pocket and waved it around pointedly.

"What the…wait, B, we're not killing him, are we? B? Buffy!"

The blonde didn't look back.

Faith stared after her before beginning to follow.

Riley Finn had been having a rather bad month.

It had started when he and Sam had begun tracking that damned demon, the species of which he was still unsure. The thing had been leading them a merry chase for two weeks, and he was sick of it.

Then they had run into Xander Harris. The day had looked up then, and he had asked whether Buffy and the Scoobs would be willing to give them a hand finding the demon.

Xander had turned him down flat. Apparently, they had their hands full training their new slayer army, or something to that effect.

Three days after that, he and Sam had been walking away from the café when his ex wandered out of an alley with a large tome in hand.

Riley didn't remember the rest of that day very well. Buffy had, in a move that confused him completely, brained him with the book.

That had landed him an overnight stay in hospital and a concussion. Plus, before he was discharged he was told that someone had hacked into the hospitals computers very unprofessionally and investigated his condition.

Then, of course, had been the recovering from the concussion part of his month, which took almost a week.

Finally, he and Sam were still looking for that damn demon.

Eventually, that led them to tonight, when they had decided to separate and head different ways, hoping to at least catch a lead.

For reasons still unknown to him now, Riley headed into a cemetery.

Faith was still trailing after Buffy several hours later, as the blonde slayer headed into a cemetery carrying her intended weapon against Riley.

She still hadn't definitively said that she wasn't planning to kill him, though Faith consoled herself with the thought that she hadn't actually said that she was, either.

"Okay, I'm going to ask again. How exactly are you going to concuss the guy with that?"

It seemed that Buffy was finally tired of Faith's constant questioning. "I was planning to hit him repetitively with the blunt end, actually."

Faith blinked several times. "Well, I hope it works. And I hope you're ready."

"Ready?"

She pointed. "Looks like our subject has wandered into the graveyard after all…"

Buffy grinned. Evilly.

Riley spotted them and made his way over. "Buffy, I was hoping to run into you. I wanted to ask you, what happened last week?"

Buffy feigned ignorance as Faith settled in behind a nearby gravestone to get a good view with the camera. "I don't know what you mean. I haven't seen you since you and Sam tracked that demon through Sunnydale."

"I…but…last week…with the book…"

She shrugged and pulled Mr Pointy out of her pocket. She tossed it in the air and caught it by the pointy end.

Riley eyed her. "Um, Buffy…"

She began smacking him over the head.

"Ow! Hey! Ow! I – ow! What –ow! Ow! Ow! Argh!"

By now, he was curled up on the ground with his arms around his head, trying to protect it.

Buffy stopped and gave a sigh.

Riley cautiously opened an eye and shifted an arm to see her.

Crack.

"Owww….."

"Oh, I give up. Riley, call your wife. She might need to take you into the emergency room again. We'll be seeing you!"

He watched, rubbing his head as she walked away, the brunette he knew to be Faith joining her.

For the second time in her life, Faith hacked into the hospital records to find out the condition of Riley Finn.

This time, the news was not so good. "Aw man."

"What?" Buffy asked from where she was sprawled across the floor with a book.

"A few nasty bruises, a couple of cuts, a large splinter, and no concussion to be seen."

Buffy pouted and pulled out her 'trusty' stake. "Mr Pointy, I'm so disappointed in you."

Faith rolled her eyes. "Well, now you know to use something with more force next time, huh?"

"You're right. Plus, without a current concussion, we can conduct trial three much faster. Oh, and Faith?"

"Yeah?"

"You get to pick the next weapon."

"Yay!"

Trial Two: Failure…though still fun

Score - Slayers: 2, Soldier Boy: -1, Mr Pointy: 7.5

Possibly my quickest update, well, ever. Don't expect it to happen again! I just couldn't help myself, I wanted to post more. And I finished the next trial, too, so that kinda helps.

Now, to certain reviewers…

amytherat – Glad you approve. And yes, in later chapters others will be getting in on the act.

Lora – Really? And here I thought being a lousy writer involved lack of grammatical skills, seriously bad spelling, Mary Sues, things like that. But hey, if you think character bashing is a sign of lousy writing, I'll leave you to it.

beccaA – I honestly don't think anyone likes Riley.

davide – Thanks.

Everyone else should have received their review replies by the time I post this chapter.

Next time, Trial Three: Concussion by Cactus.

Please review!

S. Wolf