I am just catching up to this story and it made me so mad! It is such bull shit that people are not themselves when they're drunk. Drunk lowers peoples inhibitions NOT give them different personality traits. Somebody who loves to laugh and giggle, laugh's even harder. Somebody who is depressed will start crying. And somebody who is hiding violent tendencies will lash out. Violence against a woman is NEVER acceptable, ever. If she was my daughter, I would have gone straight to the police and his parents the 1st time, what the hell is wrong with Joyce! Sorry if I'm a little bit too passionate. I was really enjoying this story until this point.

Author's Response: Life lessons are learned through fictional stories and I'm not saying that violence against women is EVER acceptable, but fictional characters don't always behave correctly just as real people sometimes make mistakes in judgement. And sometimes when confronted with an issue PERSONALLY, we might make decisions that aren't considered acceptable to the outside world. I understand your opinion and I value it, but under the circumstances, I don't see a POINT for Joyce to press charges against Riley. The only thing that would do is bring unnecessary (and an awkward amount of )attention to her daughter and start a ripple effect of drama in the town. Besides, Riley isn't like a psychopath, he is simply a teenager who drinks too much and has anger issues. And as a character, he could be dealing with things in his life and he's coping badly. Again, I am not condoning it, and Joyce didn't either. BUFFY was the one who convinced Joyce not to press charges the first time, and Buffy broke up with Riley the instant he laid a hand on her.

Very glad they have a reason to have to deal with each other. Seems like a perfectly reasonable way for a pair of 17 year olds to act. Update soon!