Disclaimer:  Not mine period
Feedback: Duh! Yes!
Dedication: This is for, surprisingly, my English teacher! For being away today, hence giving me the chance to write this!
Spoilers: From "The Initiative" all the way back to "The Freshman"
Author’s Note: This is not what it seems! I am truly b/a! Oh, and I wrote this after reading spoilers for the crossover, and this was to help me avoid thinking about it, so don’t get your hopes too high.

Riley stood in the bushes, in gear, alone for once. He surveyed the clearing among the campus trees, knowing that a vampire would soon come. He slipped on his night vision heat goggles and, sure enough, about to arrive was a cold one. Then something caught his eye. Heat.

He lifted his goggles to see Buffy walk into the clearing, looking as casual as possible. He cursed silently to himself.

*Why does she always have to be around when the vampires are out?* He asked himself. He saw the rustle in the bushes and watched in horror as the vampire emerged, fully vamped out, focused on Buffy. *Should I help her? If I do, there goes my secret identity…but he could hurt her! But…* He debated in his mind.

He realized that Buffy had noticed the vampire too. *Uh-oh…* He began to change into his civilian clothing as quickly as possible.

Just as he had changed, he saw her body tense suddenly. She launched herself into the air, flipped, and landed beside the vampire. She had slipped a stake down her sleeve and was poised and ready. She threw a corkscrew punch at the vamp with lightning speed, connecting with its jaw. The vamp lashed out with a wide roundhouse punch, but Buffy blocked it easily and threw a sidekick into its abdomen. The she descended on the vamp, slamming the stake into its chest. She watched, satisfied, as it turned to dust.

"Quick and easy, just the way I like it," she quipped, not loud enough for Riley to hear. Suddenly, she sensed the presence behind her and whipped around. "Riley?" She asked in horror. *Uh-oh, busted…*

Riley realized that he had unconsciously stepped out of the bushes while captivated by her fighting presence.

"Um, don’t those gang members on PCP just piss you off?" She tried, her attempt falling flat.

*She doesn’t believe that it was that,* Riley realized. *Does she know? But how could she?*

Buffy’s shoulders slumped in defeat. What now? How was she going to deal with this? *Great, one more person to know I’m a freak…*

"Gangs on PCP?" Riley couldn’t help but echo. His words rang with his knowledge that that was hardly the case.

"Well, that’s what the police call them," Buffy said defensively.

"Them?" He asked. *Maybe she doesn’t really know…*

"Why do you keep on asking so many questions?" Buffy snapped. She needed to steer the conversation away from her. "What were you doing spying on me in the first place?!"

"I wasn’t spying on you!"

"Then what were you doing?"

Riley stopped short, stunned. What could he possibly tell her? "Why do you-" he stopped as something jumped on his back. A vampire. He threw it off him, then realized that it wasn’t the only one, there were others! He glanced over at Buffy and was surprised to see that she was neither afraid nor surprised.

"Riley," she said, her voice like steel. "I want you to get out of here now."

Riley gazed at her like she was crazy. "Buffy, that’s insane. They’ll kill you! You should leave."

Buffy swallowed. *Why haven’t they moved yet?* She wondered as she watched them wearily as they moved around them. "Riley, I know how to handle them. You don’t!"

Riley stared at her. "Buffy, I don’t know what kind of karate-chick you are, but those aren’t average dirtballs." He swallowed. "…They’re vampires."

It didn’t register that he knew way too much for someone who hadn’t already been involved. "Congratulations, Einstein," she said sarcastically. "Now that you’ve figured that out you can go."

"Why aren’t you even a little bit frightened? And why are you trying to get rid of me?"

"Ooh! Vampires! Sooo scary!" Buffy commented mockingly. "Look, go away! Shoo! I’ll take care of them. Don’t be so chauvinistic!"

"I’m not!" And I’m not leaving! …What did you mean by ‘I’m the one who know how to handle them’?" He asked.

"Nothing," Buffy snapped, realizing her slip.

The conversation was cut short suddenly as the vampires decided to finally charge.

"Slayer!" Hissed one as it jumped in front of her.

"What of it?" She drawled as she placed a perfectly executed hook kick into the vampire’s neck. It fell down, but pulled itself up right away – right into her waiting stake. She clucked her tongue. "Not too bright, are we?" As she threw a back kick into an approaching vamp, then spun around to fight it.

"Feisty, aren’t we, Slayer?" It laughed as it fought back. "You won’t be so feisty when I kill ya!"

"You have no idea how boring that gets," she commented as she blocked, punched, then drove the stake home.

"Slayer?" Riley echoed, but Buffy didn’t hear him. *Buffy’s the Slayer? God, I feel stupid now… Well, at least it sort of helps things to make sense…* He was pulled out of thought when he took a hit to the head. "Ow!" He cried. *No time to get the others here and to many to tag…* He thought as he pulled one of the two emergency stakes he carried out. *Guess this’ll have to do.*

The vampire lunged. Riley ducked easily and punched it square in the jaw. He followed up with an uppercut, then with his stake, turning the vamp into dust.

He twisted his leg, catching and tripping a nearby vamp. He staked that one. He staked two more. He looked around. All he saw was Buffy, dusting herself off.

"You’re the Slayer?" He finally managed to ask, his voice full of surprise.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" She asked indignantly. "And how do you know about slayers anyway? Or vamps and demons for that matter." She paused. "What are you?" She questioned suspiciously.

"I’m…I’m a demon hunter," he admitted. "To tell you the truth, I’m surprised I didn’t figure out sooner. We thought we’d find out a lot easier."

"News Flash: Slayer doesn’t advertise job!"

"I know," he said. "But-"

He was cut off as a group of three army-dressed guys broke into the clearing.

"Agent Finn, we noticed you had trouble," stated one.

"Civilian," commented another. "We should contain her.

"Try it," Buffy dared, menace in her voice. She glared at Riley. "You work with them?!" She demanded.

Riley began to feel nervous. *What’d she mean by "them"?* He asked himself. *She knows?*

"What?!"

"You guys attacked Willow," she stated angrily. "Let me say that I am so glad I kicked your asses!"

"That was you?" Riley asked in disbeleif.

"Wait, she’s the ‘big guy’?" Asked the third guy as he did air quotes.

"It doesn’t matter," stated the guy who had spoken second. "She’s a civilian, she needs to be contained." He raised his tranquilizer.

Within a millisecond the gun had been kicked straight into Buffy’s hands and he was down on his back, groaning in pain. Buffy had already trained the gun on him.

"That wasn’t very nice," she said smoothly. "Any other takers?"

"Who are you?" Asked the first guy as he watched her curiously.

"Someone you don’t want to mess with," she snapped.

"Buffy," Riley tried. "We’re on the same side."

"Actually, I’m not sure that we are," she stated. "Contain her? Contain this! You can’t just kidnap every person that stumbles onto the truth that is vampires! Now what are you guys?"

"She knows?" Asked the third. "Finn, you been sharing privy information to, um, impress girls? The professor won’t like it."

"Of course not!" Riley exclaimed.

"Hello!" Buffy got their attention again. "Who are you guys? Still waiting for an answer."

"Buffy, maybe you should come with us to talk to the professor about the Initiative…" Riley tried.

"Finn, what the Hell are you doing?" Asked the guy on the ground.

"You crazy, man?" Asked another.

Buffy laughed meanly. "You think I’m going to go with you guys somewhere? Do I look stupid to you?"

"What the Hell is this, Finn?!" Asked guy number one.

"You still haven’t answered my question."

"And we don’t intend to," the guy countered.

"Don’t make me make you," Buffy threatened.

"Who does she think she is?!"

"Guys," Riley said taking the opportunity to quiet them. "Meet the Slayer."

"Thanks so much for the intro," Buffy replied dryly.

"Wait a minute.  She is the slayer? But she’s so small!"

"I sort of figured she’d be taller."

"There’s no way she could take one of us."

Buffy glowered. "Thanks for the confidence vote," she exclaimed sarcastically. "It’s great that we’ve gotten to know each other, really. Except for the fact that I haven’t gotten to know you! Now, before I get testy. Who the Hell are you guys?!"

Riley sighed. Since she wouldn’t come with them, not that he could really blame her at this point, they’d have to explain it to her here. "We’re part of The Initiative," Riley told her.

"Gee, that helps so much!" Buffy rolled her eyes. "What’s the Initiative?"

"We’re a group of…well, we catch, tag, study, and experiment on vampires. Eventually we’ll get rid of them. We’ve already found a way to stop them from being able to feed," he answered.

"So that’s what happened to Spike," Buffy murmured.

"Spike?" Riley echoed.

"Bleach-blond vampire," Buffy drawled.

"Hostile 17? You know of him?" Riley asked, his lowered head snapping up.

"Only for the past two years."

"And you haven’t killed him yet," commented the guy on the ground, not so nicely.

"Hey, he wasn’t always this pathetic!" Buffy snapped. "Getting dumped will do that to you."

"You know the vampire’s love life?" The first guy exclaimed with some disbelief.

"Long story," she muttered. "Not that you’ll ever hear it."

"Look, it doesn’t matter now. Tell us where he is," Riley ordered. "We have to tag him."

Buffy pretended to look thoughtful for a moment. "No," she said simply.

"What?" Asked the third guy.

"I said no," Buffy said, talking slowly as though to a child. "Look, sorry…well, I’m not but, I don’t trust you, so I’m not going to help you."

And she walked away, leaving the others to look after her.

"We can’t let her go! I’ll beat it out of her," threatened the first guy.

"No you won’t."

"What’s going to stop me? You, Finn? You’re not pulling rank this time!"

"I don’t need to. She’s the Slayer. She can take care of herself…"

*****

Next day,

"Buffy! Wait up!"

Buffy turned to see Riley running after her, alone. She stopped and waited for him to catch up.

"Hey," she said when he finally did.

"Look, I’m sorry about the other night."

Buffy shrugged. "No biggie," she said. "It happens. I’ve got my duty, you’ve got your gig."

"Yeah, um, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Okay."

*I never thought I’d be able to have a normal relationship. I figured that no girl would ever go for a relationship with a demon hunter. But Buffy’s the Slayer! She can’t have a normal life anyway, I’m sure that we could make it work. She understands these things. Besides which, I like her!* Riley told her this. "So, I was wondering if you wanted to go out some time…"

*He thinks that I’d want to go out with him?* Buffy forced a smile. "Riley, you’re a really nice guy, but I’m not really interested in y -- a relationship," she managed, trying to spare his feelings.

Riley’s face fell. "Is this about Parker?" He asked quietly. "Buffy, the guy’s a jerk!"

"I know," Buffy told him. "And it has nothing to do with Parker…he was just rebound boy."

"Rebound boy?" He echoed.

She nodded. "That’s why I got so upset. Rebound boys don’t dump you – you dump them! So it was a little hard. God, I would’ve never even considered Parker if there hadn’t been that huge break up with Angel…"

"Angel?"

"True love, soul mate kind of deal," Buffy elaborated. "Listen, it’s not important what my reasons are…" She glanced at her watch. "I’ve got to go, Riley. Bye!" And she ran off.

Riley watched her go sadly and frowned. "Just my luck…" He muttered. After all, it wasn’t the first time a girl had run away from him after he tried to hit on her…