RavensWritingProphecies – I thought it worked.

Okay, so here's what was going on, with my not-posting and all. I thought I could be one of those writers who cleverly balanced multiple fics from multiple categories of multiple lengths. I was writing this at the same time as writing my 19-chapter Gilmore Girls fic, Hollywood Hearts. I would bounce back and forth, forget things that happened, have no desire to work on either, or have ideas that I couldn't remember which story they went with. I concluded that writing multiple stories at the same time was not for me. When I made this decision, I was on an HH kick, and stuck with that one for several months. It's finished now, and I can return to this little beauty that was pitifully abandoned for so long. And it's beautiful little fans, whom I selfishly deprived. I'm sorry guys…I hope you remember this story. It's back for the long haul – no more stories until this one is finished. Which could be kinda quickly….summer is here!

Buffy was sitting in the library, yawning from behind the checkout desk, as Giles chatted with her mother on the phone.

"That sounds like fun, I think it's a wonderful idea. Yes. Yes, I'll ask her." He took the phone away from his mouth to ask Buffy "Do you and Riley want to come out with your mom and I tonight?" She nodded absently to get him to hurry the conversation up, but he went right back to chatting. She stood up and began walking around, bored, wishing Giles would hurry up and train her already. She had been taking self-defense classes in LA after her father was mugged, and had enjoyed it profusely. This Protector stuff was so similar, except there was a little fighting back thrown in the mix. Needless to say, Buffy would have loved these training sessions if they didn't take her away from lunchtime with her friends. The official story was that she was a library aid, but since she obviously wasn't aiding, and Giles wasn't letting her jab sticks at him, there was no reason for her to be there.

He was distracted, so she entered the barred room where he kept most of his Protector stuff. She'd been in here before, so didn't feel guilty about intruding in Giles's sacred space. A manila folder marked 'Priority' caught her eye from its place on top of several dusty old volumes of spells and whatnot, and she picked it up curiously.

Leering dangerously at her from the first page was Spike. She traced his features with her index finger, paying careful attention to the door. It wouldn't be good for Giles to come in and see her oogling his Most Wanted list. But she couldn't tear her eyes from the black-and-white candid photograph.

He was facing sideways, but had turned his head towards the camera. The edges were crumbling, and the picture itself was beginning to take a beige-ish tint. She had no idea how many years old it was, but guessed that it had been taken before Spike came to Sunnydale. He looked exactly the same, as she knew he would, but the look on his face unnerved her a little. He looked mean. She knew he was mean, but she didn't like to be reminded of it. He was nice to her. That was all that mattered.

She squeezed her eyes shut, thinking. She was such a hypocrite. Spike killed people regularly, for fun, but she was all ready to forgive because he was nice to her. Even to her own ears, it sounded horrible. But she wasn't sure how to deal with all that she knew Spike to be. Yes, he was a monster, but he behaved like a man where she was concerned (usually.) Where did one draw the line? What was she supposed to do when she liked Spike, missed Spike, wanted to get to know Spike better, but knew full well who he was?

Making sure Giles wasn't looking, she took the photo to the library copy machine, and made her own private Spike picture. It was hard to make out the details of the scenery he stood against, but his face was perfectly mirrored. She'd hide this in her diary so Giles would never see it lying around. And she'd think about the fact that the photographer was more than likely dead at his subject's hands long ago.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Hey you, it's me. Mom and Giles want to do some double-date thing tonight, so be here by seven. Unless you're busy or something. Either way, call me later. I love you. Bye." Riley replayed the voice mail message for the hundredth time as he sat in his car in the Summers' driveway. She sounded like normal Buffy, if only a bit more noncommittal. But she sounded noncommittal whenever she had something on her mind, possibly as infinite as a science quiz gone wrong, so he wouldn't normally be worried.

Only he had no clue where he and Buffy stood at the moment. There used to be a clear map in his head; first base, second base, third base, homerun, spend night, propose at opportune time, spend rest of life together. It was simple and closely followed, and Riley couldn't wait for the end of the road. They'd been somewhere between the 'homerun' rest stop and the 'spend night' rest stop, but then HE'D come along.

Exactly who HE was, Riley had no idea. Riley had taken Buffy to The Bronze a few nights ago, where she'd collapsed for no apparent reason. Before Riley, ever the good boyfriend, could pick her up and carry her to safety, HE showed on the scene, lifted Buffy like she was a delicate doll, but with apparent ease, and somehow slipped through the throngs of dancing people. Riley had lost Buffy and HIM outside, found a cop, related the story, and then discovered that Buffy was actually alright. In fact, she'd just been hanging with the stranger for a little while, getting some air, and had come back HOLDING HIS HAND.

Riley's buddy Forrest had winced and clapped his friend on the back when told of this.

"Women. Take your heart, take your money, leave you with nothing. No wonder there are so many songs about them. Like that one about the girl who took the singer's heart, then ran around...with every single, man in town." Forrest had begun to hum, so Riley forcefully tried to steer him back on track.

"No, you don't get it. He wasn't just another guy, there was something weird about him."

"What was weird?"

"Well, he was older, for one."

"How older?"

"Thirties, easy. Maybe older. Too old for Buffy. And he was one of those punk dudes, with the black and the chains and the eye makeup. Buffy has never, ever expressed anything but pity for those kinds of guys."

"Times change, man. Break up before the shit hits the fan, that way you can still be friends, and leave open the door for rebounding when she realizes what a loser this old punk guy is."

"I can't break up with her!" he'd said, aghast.

"Why not?"

"Because I love her, and our relationship doesn't feel over." Forrest shook his head.

"Never does, brother. Never does." By now, Riley was starting to get frustrated. He wasn't trying to whine to his friend about his cheating girlfriend and get tips for how to handle her and the guy. He was trying to explain that there was something seriously wrong with the situation. When had Buffy met this guy? Why had Riley never seen him around, other than the time outside the Bronze? Why hadn't Buffy expressed any remorse for leaving Riley behind to go 'get some fresh air' with Mr. I-love-bleach-and-it-loves-me? Why hadn't she tried to stutteringly explain that kiss, like the time she'd fallen asleep on her couch with Xander, and woken up to his happy, sleepy nuzzling of her chest? Add up all that, and multiply it by the weird feeling he'd gotten from 'Spike', and, well, it was something he really wanted to ask Forrest about. But sadly, poor Forrest didn't get it.

"You have to be the responsible one, and break up with her before she can break up with you. I mean, if you don't, you'll just be the guy who got dumped because your ex found someone better. If you do, she'll know she drove you away, and be all remorseful and stuff."

"Forrest, you're really not helping."

"Well what are you asking me, man?" He'd given up.

"Never mind. I have to go to Buffy's now, we're going on a double date with her mom and Mr. Giles."

"Do it tonight, Riley. Let her down easy, but firmly."

"I'm not breaking up with Buffy. There has to be a reasonable explanation, that's why I came to you."

"You wanted me to come up with a reasonable explanation for why Buffy's running around with another guy? Try this: she's dating a college man for the first time ever, that would be you, and she finally realized that older and more independent guys are really fun and dangerous and all that shit. So, she found and even older and even more independent and even more fun and even more dangerous guy, and has been banging him on the side for at least a little while now. Dude, I don't want to know the answer to this, but just please have been using condoms with her."

"Don't say that about Buffy! She would never sleep with another guy!"

"You have it bad, Finn. She's gonna stomp all over your heart when the time comes." Coldly, Riley had stood up, grabbed his coat, and left.

He was here now, and from the swaying of the blinds in Buffy's upstairs window, she'd just seen his car in the driveway. Sure enough, she waltzed out the door a few seconds later.

"Hi there!" she greeted perkily as he stepped out of the car and allowed her to give him a peck on the lips. "We're almost ready to go. How do you feel about El Tap?"

"Sounds good. What are we doing after dinner?" She shrugged.

"Mom and Giles want to see a movie, but I draw the double-date line at dark theatres. We could get ice cream or something."

"And talk?" She smiled oddly at him.

"Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know. I just kinda wondered if there was anything you wanted to say to me."

"Uh, I passed my vocab test?" She looked so completely clueless that he just shook his head.

"That's great news, Buffy."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Don't stay out too late, you two," Buffy playfully warned her mother and Giles. Rolling her eyes, Joyce Summers took her boyfriend by the hand, and led him towards the cineplex.

"Same goes for you. Home by ten thirty."

"Eleven."

"Ten forty-five." Buffy almost jumped for joy, not having expected her bargaining to work. Giles sure did make her mom happy.

"Gotcha. Have fun, but not too much fun." She let Riley lead her down the street to her favorite ice cream shop, buy her a heaping cone of bubblegum ice cream, and sit them down on one of the benches in the area.

"Thanks, this is sooooo yummy." He tried to return her smile, but his mouth had was frozen, and not from the temperature of their desert. Ever since he'd picked her up, the first time they'd seen each other since the Bronze incident, his stomach had felt like it was full of cement. Despite her earlier obliviousness, he was positive that she was planning on telling him something tonight. Maybe not breaking up with him, as Forrest was so adamant, but he felt strangely expectant.

"So, want to talk?" he asked as soon as she'd finished. She frowned; a bad sign.

"First time it was sweet, second time its a little bizarro. I get the feeling there's something you want to tell me." His temper surged at that. She had so many things to explain, and she acted like there was anything on his chest she didn't know about. Well, other than this huge Spike! weight.

"I'm just curious," he started out slowly. It wouldn't do any good to be rash, and to start accusing her. "The other night, where did you and Spike go?"

"A house somewhere." His stomach became heavier; it was vague, but honest sounding, and he was pretty sure it was a bad sign.

"What did you two do there?" He tried to keep things casual, but found that his voice was at least an octave higher that it should have been in asking that question.

But for the first time, she looked guilty. Not after leaving him alone to take a breather, not after he watched Spike kiss her and give Riley a possessive glare that suggested if Spike were a lion, he'd have peed on her, not after he'd shown up at her house in a funk. But now, she looked guilty. Either something really bad had happened, or the shame of everything was finally hitting her.

In reality, it was because Riley had attempted to do what Spike had done to her in the house. It always left a very messy hickey for her to carefully hide from Joyce's eyes, but Spike had done the same thing, just in a more accurate and pleasurable way. Everything else that had happened with Spike, the playful, but laced with supernatural, banter, the extremely powerful and protective kiss he'd given her, and holding her hand securely as they walked near Vampire turf...none of it was anything Riley could attempt, for the simple reason that he was human. All those things were so very Vampish of Spike that she had never thought of it as cheating before, because cheating involved two PEOPLE. People, as in humans.

But now that Riley brought it up, there were some humanish, cheatish things going on at the house. And she was blushing, a clear giveaway, not because she regretted doing those things, but because of the revelation that she was a horrible girlfriend.

"Riley, you know I love you, right?" He nodded, looking sad and angry at the same time. She suspected he knew what she was going to say next, though she was a little fuzzy herself. Pretty much flying by the seat of her pants, only she was wearing a skirt.

"I know."

"Good. Well, you were the first boy I ever loved. You're very special to me, and you will always be very special to me. But there's something going on with Spike that just feels...powerful. Passionate. Destined." His face slipped even further as an outlandish sort of grin covered her face. She'd plainly never described their own relationship this way, nor did she seem to realize that it wasn't a good way to describe any other relationship to her boyfriend.

"Wow, did I just say destined?" She giggled, wondering if it was true. Were there forces beyond this world, pushing good and evil together? Forbidden love, ever so sweet? Not that it was love yet, but as she thought this last musing, she realized what she wanted to do. It was just like those very beyond forces had opened the gates of heaven, and poured out realization upon her.

"It's not fair to string you along, which is what I'd be doing if I investigated what's happening between me and Spike, like I want to. So I think we should go back to just being friends." Yes, that was the right decision. She wouldn't have any guilt over what might or might not eventually happen with Spike. And she felt she'd been relatively tactful about the whole thing.

"Why?" he burst out suddenly, destroying the calm quiet which had descended on them with her last words.

"I thought I explained it."

"Why? What did I do? What can he do that I can't?"

"Well, a lot of stuff. But that's not the reason why."

"Oh really? Tell me some of this stuff that he can do." She frowned. Biting sprung to mind as something Spike could do that Riley couldn't, but she didn't think it prudent to voice. Instead, she stood up.

"This has nothing to do with you, and nothing to do with anything that's happened with him. I just feel that I'm in a new phase of my life now, and not only do I want to enter it with open options, I don't think you fit very well into it." Not as tactful as before, but the words 'fighting Vampires, or at least training to' had never directly come up, so she congratulated herself for getting all the points across.

Riley was sputtering. He was beginning to regret this talk, perhaps it would have been better if he'd kept quiet, and just accepted the fact that she was seeing another guy on the side. Forrest would give him hell for being such a pansy, but all the Spike stuff would blow over soon, and they'd be back to where they were before. Only now, it seemed he'd fatally damaged everything.

"I think it'd be really rude to ask you for a ride home after that, so I'll walk. Goodnight, Riley Finn. You are incredibly special, and once what I just did hits me, I'm sure I'll be crying." She kissed him on the cheek, then turned and headed for her neighborhood. Riley sat there, stunned, for a good half an hour before dazedly heading back to his dorm, where an anxious Forrest would hear all about Buffy's words. And since Forrest was such a great friend, he'd refrain from saying 'I told you so.'

For a few days, at least.