Chapter 8. Sleeping Beauty.

"Graham, we need to balance it," says Riley.

"How?" asks Graham.

"I'll pull them up and you take them to your side."

"Okay, I hope this works." Graham gets in position to receive the first girl.

"I'm going to pull you up." He yells to both girls and sticks his hand out to Faith. Faith tries to grab it as Buffy pushes her up. Faith is onboard and looks at Riley. Graham pulls her to his side. Riley pulls out his hand for Buffy. Buffy moves closer to his hand and accidentally let's go as the helicopter jerks again. "Buffy!" But luckily Riley grabs her hand in time. He pulls her up and into the helicopter. Graham takes her in.

"You two are crazy," says the pilot to the girls, who are relieved to be in the helicopter.

Riley begins to breathe heavily. Buffy and Faith begin to worry about him. Graham grabs the first aid kit on the helicopter. It has a small oxygen tank that the hospital gave them.

"Come on, Riley," says Graham. "Hold on." Buffy is sitting next to him and grabs hold of his hand. She then looks at Faith and grabs hold of her hand.

Half an hour later, they are rushing Riley into an initiative compound medical center somewhere unknown. Graham, Faith, and Buffy wait in the waiting room. Riley told them what he wanted in a very aggressive manner. The doctor obliges with his wishes and decided to do it.

They would operate and take out the medical stuff the initiative put into him. Including the meds and the microchip inside him. The doctor that operated on him, after two hours, comes over to the three.

"He's in recovery," says the doctor. "We did as he asked."

"Good," says Graham.

"Can we see him?" asks Faith.

"One at a time," says the doctor.

Faith looks at Buffy. She assumes that Buffy, the girlfriend, would want to go first. Faith decided not to argue with her and walks away.

"Faith," says Buffy. "Why don't you go in first?"

Faith's eyes widen. She is surprised that Buffy is letting her see Riley first.

"Are you sure?" asks Faith.

"Yeah, tell him I said hi."

Faith nods her head and follows the doctor, who leads her to Riley's room. He is alone in one big room, with an ivy in his arm. There is a patch on his chest, where they took out the chip that was inside him. She touches the patch and Riley opens his eyes. He is surprised to see her come in first.

"Faith," says Riley with a smile as he grabs hold of her hand.

"Buffy says hi," says Faith. She sits down next to him.

"What did she say to you?"

"Nothing, yet. What was wrong with you?"

"The initiative that I work for planted this chip inside each soldier. It makes me stronger, kind of like a Slayer. Maybe not as strong. And the meds worked together to get me physically fit."

"I guess they were super vitamins."

"Yeah, you could call them that."

"I'm glad you're okay."

"I'm glad that you're here." Riley puts his hand on top of hers.

Faith comes out of the room and walks over to Graham and Buffy. The two stand up as she approaches them. She gives them a smile, letting them know that Riley was okay.

"He wants to talk to you," says Faith.

Buffy takes a deep breath and walks down the hallway.

"Hey, B," Faith calls out to Buffy. Buffy turns to face Faith. "Thanks for pulling me in."

"It was a long fall," says Buffy. She then couldn't think of anything else to tell her. Buffy should be mad at Faith. She's been seeing her current boyfriend behind her back, she ran off to LA to mess around with her last boyfriend and now…well she just couldn't lash out at Faith when she is being so nice and caring. Buffy takes a deep breath and goes into Riley's room.

"Comfy," says Buffy as she enters the room.

Riley smiles at Buffy as she slowly makes her way over to his bedside. He knew this would be hard, but he had to do it. He loved Buffy very much, but something was missing with their relationship. Riley never understood, until now.

"Buffy…" says Riley.

"I know what you're going to say," says Buffy. "She's not bad anymore and maybe you're right. Both Angel and you are right."

"Angel?"

"Tall, dark, and broody."

"Oh." Riley remembers seeing him next to Faith when he was wheeled out to the helicopter. "He's…"

"My ex. He tried to help Faith out when she was going over the hill, but things got out of hand. I blame Faith for Angel leaving. It was hard after…"

"Bad break up. Got the short version from Willow, and Faith told me some."

"Faith can be a pain in the butt sometimes, but she's my pain in the butt. I feel like I'm responsible for her and I am. Because I died another Slayer was called and my careless action won the best of me when Kendra died, she was the Slayer before Faith. Then Faith came."

"Deep inside, she's scared of you or maybe it's the guilt of whom she killed when she fell off the wagon."

"Did you have to use that metaphor?"

"What I'm saying is that maybe all she needed was love and friendship, especially when she was in that coma. I think that got to her. Maybe I helped her out and she helped me out, too."

"We tried the love and friendship. She was hard as a rock to penetrate."

"I know that." Riley sighs. "Buffy, there is something that I've been meaning to tell you."

"What is it?"

"It's not Faith's fault. Believe me in that."

"What are you getting at? This doesn't sound good."

"I know. Buffy, I love you with all my heart, but…"

"But…"

"I don't think you do."

"What? Why would you think that?" Buffy gets up from the chair she was sitting on and starts to pace. "I…"

"I know it's hard for you to understand how I know this, but that's what I feel."

"Really." Buffy bows her head.

"I'm sorry."

"Me, too." Buffy just could not find anything else to say to Riley. She feels like beating him to a pulp, but that is out of the question. Buffy then looks at the door and walks out, without saying anything to Riley. She stops in the middle of the hallway and takes some deep breaths.

Faith sees her from the lobby and begins to walk over to her. As she gets closer, she notices that Buffy is not moving and seems to be trying to hold back her tears.

"Buffy," says Faith.

Buffy turns her face around to face Faith. Right then her tears start to come down and stain her face. Buffy seems to have no control of her body for just this second of emotional outburst. She walks to Faith and hugs her tight and cries her eyes out on her shoulder.

"Buffy, it's okay," says Faith, trying to say kind words to sooth her. Faith finds it weird that Buffy would come to her to be consoled. I guess she couldn't go to Graham because she kind of didn't like him.

After a couple days of recovery, Riley was let out of the hospital and brought back to the base in Sunnydale. It seemed like the best idea at the time. Faith and Buffy went with him and were the only ones that Riley allowed to come see him in the base. This didn't go well with Forrest.