Author's Note: "A Riley Interlude".
Short Story Summary: When Riley Finn is falling apart and at the end of his rope, he reaches out for help. To the Doctor.
And this is the story that explains the Doctor's entire mindset and attitude towards Riley at the beginning of "Nothing". And why the Doctor believes Riley's chocolate bar gesture is so important.
Also, some foreshadowing for stories I haven't written, yet.
Next story is one of my all-time favorites! It's called "Non-Interference", and starts off with the Doctor and Dawn interacting. It also involves one scene I wrote in for filler-pacing-stuff, which wound up being one of my favorite things ever.
A Riley Interlude
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The Doctor was done with Riley Finn. Forever.
And there were so many other things going on, what with Buffy's mother going through something that was absorbing all of Buffy's time, and the Doctor trying to work out how to stop the chain of events that was unfolding from doing so (and trying to discover why the universe kept nearly falling apart), and Donna helping the Summers family to handle everything on the domestic side — that, well, Riley Finn was not even important. At all.
If Riley had been an even halfway decent person, maybe the Doctor would have cared enough to shout an "I'll explain later!" at him.
But Riley didn't even warrant that.
For some reason, though, Riley just couldn't come to terms with the fact that he wasn't important. That no one cared about him. At first, Riley had just been content annoying Buffy, but as time passed, Riley seemed to be popping up, more and more, around the Doctor.
(Fortunately, without the guns.)
"She doesn't love you, you know!" Riley shouted at the Doctor, once, leaping out at him randomly.
The Doctor just ignored him, and ran off, trying to track the odd energy signal that he'd discovered nearby. Riley, unable to take the hint, sped after him.
"I know why you do it!" Riley tried. "I get it. There's a rush."
The Doctor thudded the side of the device, as it began to lose the signal. No, no, no! This energy trace might be linked to Glory, and if he could work out the details of what Glory was planning, he could work out a better way to stop her.
"I've started doing it, too!" Riley said. "Paying them to drink my blood. It's… really intense."
The Doctor shot his head up at Riley. "Sorry, paying who to do what?"
"Vampires," Riley said, as if it was obvious. "You know. Like you and Buffy do."
The Doctor blinked at him. "Come again?"
"Oh, come on, you know how it feels!" said Riley. "To be needed and desired like that!"
The Doctor raised an eyebrow at Riley. "Like a vampire needs and desires you, you mean? Yes, I know how it feels. I'm just not particularly sure why anyone would want that sort of thing."
"It's hot!" said Riley. "It's… you know. Exciting."
The Doctor turned back to his little device, flipping off the lid and poking around inside. "Last time it happened to me, millions of people were massacred. Maybe more." He flipped around a coil, and reconnected a wire. "I lost my temper. And I'm still trying to repent for what I did as a result."
"But… but… you practically beg the vampires to drink your blood!" said Riley. "I've seen you!"
The Doctor put the lid back on the machine, and it began to ping again. "Not the same thing," muttered the Doctor. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got an alien energy reading that needs tracing."
And the Doctor ran off in the direction his gizmo was indicating.
"Yeah? Well… I… I… I stole a bunch of grenades from the army!" Riley shouted after him.
The Doctor expected no less from someone who wandered around waving loaded guns about. Who would, apparently, wind up doing something horrible and torturous to him in his own future. Who seemed to seek out the sort of vampiric lust and greedy hunger that still lingered in the Doctor's nightmares.
"I could blow myself up!" Riley shouted, again.
The Doctor didn't bother to answer. He had too many things to do. Too many sins of his own — past, present, and future — to repent for. After what Riley did to Donna, the Doctor honestly didn't care what Riley decided to do to himself.
Riley Finn was nothing.
