[A/N: The whole bloody thing got serious. Oh well. I suppose in a way its serious stuff. Anyway, I’m just gonna keep telling the story like I planned, and hopefully you guys will still be with me. Title is from the Bard, (in thy face I see, the map of honor, truth and loyalty) from Henry VI, Part II, act iii, scene i and the quotes are as attributed and the disclaimers, as always prove that nothing about these characters except the things I put them through are mine.]
Ninth. The map of honor
Reputation is what other people know about you.
Honor is what you know about yourself.
Lois McMaster Bujold, A Civil Campaign
I am grateful, you know,
for the ill-conceived and high-handed attempt
to defend my honor although I didn't want you to.
Inara, Firefly, Episode I
Next week was Thanksgiving. Hard to believe so much time had passed. It was the strangest time of her life. The days were endless, excruciatingly long, dragging on to the point of making her scream, lasting forever and yet the weeks flew by quickly.
There hadn’t been any word from Riley either, not that Buffy had been expecting any, but some explanation of that stuff with his father would have been nice. But there was nothing. No word, no phone call. Not even a glimpse of him in the hallways. Which really sort of suited her just fine. She didn’t need him. Didn’t even really want him anymore. It just would have been nice to have someone she could lean on, someone to be there for her, someone more than just her mom.
And that too had been weird. Well, her mom’s behavior anyway. She’d been out of town again for another buying trip, but she was being nice to her. Almost too nice. They had even bonded some during Buffy’s first real doctor’s appointment, both of them crying when the baby’s heartbeat filled the room, magnified by the ultrasound.
Hey baby, what about Zoe? Wanna be a Zoe? Hhhmmm? Or what about Sara? Or Brandy? Like any of those? Do you? C’mon baby, gotta have a name. Can’t call you baby all the time. Buffy smiled, thinking about the movie Dirty Dancing and how everyone had called the girl Baby, even though her name had been Frances. Oh! Frances? Oh never mind, don’t really like Franny. Wrinkling up her nose, Buffy continued to flip through the baby name book Willow had given her.
She was sitting in the courtyard again, waiting for Willow and Xander to come and get her so they could head out to lunch, just enjoying the sunshine and trying to find a name. There was a cheerleaders meeting after school, but Buffy knew she wasn’t going. They’d removed her from the squad – ok, they’d asked her not so nicely to step down and the rest of the girls were picking her replacement today.
Wiping a tear from her eyes, Buffy decided she wasn’t going to get upset about it anymore. None of the girls talked to her anyway, so it wasn’t that big a deal. Yeah, okay. Right. It still hurts. Even Cordelia’s halting apology two days ago still hurt, but she at least had made the effort. None of the others had.
Oh baby, we can rule out Brunhilda or Bohumila. Not going there at all. A noise, a really loud Xander sounding noise caught her attention and Buffy got up to see what was wrong. Xander had his back to her, his fist lifted and he was looking down at someone. Buffy moved closer and his name was out of her mouth before she realized it.
“Riley?”
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Xander and Willow had gotten caught going the wrong way, hundreds of kids heading in the direction away from the courtyard were streaming through the hallways like salmon swimming upstream. Grabbing her hand and tugging her behind him, Xander tried blocking his way through.
They hadn’t made it very far when he stopped dead, Willow plowing into his back. “Xander? Why’d you stop?”
“Staying out of the way of pond scum.” Xander’s voice was overly loud and several passing students craned their heads to see what he was talking about.
Willow peered around his side, spying Riley and a couple of other people standing in the hallway. “Oh. C’mon Xander, let’s go.”
But Xander had seen something Willow hadn’t, which was Riley’s arm slung casually around Harmony’s shoulders. Which sort of more than pissed Xander off.
It was the first time Xander had seen the other teen since Buffy had told them about the Finn’s generous offer. That alone was enough to shred his temper. But seeing Harmony and Riley all cutsie? Too much. Buffy was like his sister – he loved her the way he loved Willow and this just was wrong. So he got mad.
“Gee. Got yourself a new girl real quick. Guess we know how much of a stand-up guy you are.” Not taking his eyes from a suddenly glowering Riley, Xander addressed his next comments to the blond bimbo by his side. “Harm, you better hope you never need Riley to defend you or you know, stand by you when things get rough, coz, hey, Riley doesn’t have the balls to stick around longer than the time it takes to zip his pants.”
A chorus of groans and laughter filled the hallway and there were some high fives for Xander from some of the spectators, but Xander didn’t waste any time resting on his laurels, he was too angry for that. “But really, you won’t have to worry about that, coz, Daddy Finn will just write you a check for your troubles.”
Riley dropped his arm from around Harmony, dumped his backpack on the floor and charged at Xander. Driving the slightly smaller teen backwards, Riley pushed him out through the door to the courtyard.
Willow panicked and somehow got separated from Xander, ending up down the hallway just outside the teacher’s lounge. As luck would have it, the first face she saw was a friendly one.
“Mr. Stevenson? Xander. Riley.” Was all she managed to stutter out, but he understood her completely.
“Where?” And following her pointed finger and the now audible sounds of a scuffle, Will headed off in the direction of the courtyard at a rapid pace, Willow on his heels.
Xander, recovered from Riley’s push, was back on his feet and had rocked Riley off his with a solid right punch to the jaw.
Riley was on his ass, long legs splayed out in front of him, blinking his eyes rapidly trying to relieve the pain from Xander’s punch when Buffy’s voice broke through the noise of twenty or so kids that were surrounding them.
“Riley? Xander?” She looked from one to the other, both boys breathing heavily. “What’s going on?”
“Buff? Move back, just get outta the way.” Xander didn’t exactly tell her what was going on, but then he figured she could easily guess.
“Don’t do this, he’s really not worth it. C’mon Xand, please?” She went to grab his arm, but Xander flinched away, stepping around her to face Riley, who was back on his feet. Xander turned slightly to tell Buffy to get out of the way, his attention momentarily off Riley; and the other teen punched him in the side of his head, then followed up with another blow to his gut. Xander hunched over, then forcibly pushed Buffy out of the way and into someone else’s arms.
She barely had time to register that it was Mr. Stevenson before he too was pushing her aside, into the arms of Cordelia and Willow, who both moved her out of the way.
Xander had rammed into Riley’s gut, like the linebacker he was and once more knocked him down; followed up by a series of punches that would have done Joe Frazier proud. Someone pulled Xander off Riley and Forrest hauled Riley to his feet.
Oz had Xander by the arm while Forrest held back Riley, who was still trying to break free and get to Xander. It was into this circle that Mr. Stevenson stepped, his voice calm and his eyes moving between the two sets of teenaged boys. “Calm down boys. Let’s just all calm down.”
Xander wiped some snot and blood away from his nose, his eyes trained on Riley, who was bleeding from a cut over his eye and another on his temple.
Knowing he’d gotten the better of the taller teenager, Xander sneered at Riley, ready to mouth off some more. Xander watched as Riley shook off Forrest’s hold charging toward him.
What happened next had Xander blinking in astonishment; as Riley tried to make it past Mr. Stevenson, the English teacher calmly lifted his fist and slammed it into Riley’s jaw, effectively poleaxing him. Riley Finn went down to his knees in a heartbeat and then Stevenson had him in a choke hold.
“Told you to stop Finn. Better learn how to follow orders.” Stevenson’s voice was a low growl, raising the hairs on the back of Xander’s neck.
“Some people really have to learn the hard way.”
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Buffy saw Riley nearly sucker punch Xander and then hit him again and then she was held tight in someone’s arms, hugged and shoved away into Cordelia’s arms and then Willow was there and the tears were falling and she really didn’t know why.
Through her tears she realized it had been Mr. Stevenson who had hugged her and pushed her out of the way, because he was standing between the boys, saying, “Let’s just all calm down.”
For half a minute everyone was calm, the boys breathing heavily then Riley got away from Forrest and started to charge at Xander, but Mr. Stevenson lifted his fist and knocked the bigger teen off his feet.
Mr. Stevenson stepped behind Riley, getting him in a choke hold and said in a chilling voice, “told you to stop Finn. Better learn how to follow orders.” When Riley bucked up against him, trying to break his hold, Stevenson ground out, “some people really have to learn the hard way.”
Buffy held onto Willow and Cordelia, crying softly, her hiccups the only sound in the suddenly silent courtyard. Stevenson’s head popped up, searching around for the source. Finding the three girls and the visibly upset blond one, Will jumped to the conclusion that she’d somehow gotten hurt. His hold on Finn tightened and his temper flared again.
“Take her to the nurse.” Looking at Xander, who was quietly standing two feet away, trying to stop the flow of blood from his nose, Will made another decision. “Go with them Harris. Then get yourself to Giles’ office.”
Easing off Riley, Will stepped back, but not before digging his thumb into the side of Riley’s neck. “Get to your feet, Finn.”
Standing between Riley Finn and his former girlfriend and her friends, Will fought a grim sense of satisfaction.
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Cordelia walked beside the two girls, not really listening to their hushed and tear-filled conversation. Her attention was on the figure walking on her other side, slightly ahead of her, his head bent and shoulders in a defensive slouch.
Her hand on his arm startled him and Xander flinched away from her, but Cordelia just sort of smiled at him. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just a bloody nose.” Xander shrugged off the purple knot on his cheek, dismissing it completely. “No big deal.”
Surprising both of them, Cordelia argued with him, “it was a big deal. That was really sweet what you did. Not very smart, but sweet.”
Xander’s step faltered and he looked at her. “Thanks Cordy. I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Yeah well, don’t get used to it.” She retorted, sweeping past him into the nurse’s office.
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Once more, Riley Finn found himself cooling his heels outside Assistant Principal Rupert Giles’ office, awaiting sentence. This is not good. So not good. My father is going to kill me. West Point – oh god, what the hell is gonna happen. It wasn’t my fault, though. It really wasn’t. Xander started this whole thing. I was minding my own business. I was.
His lip was bleeding and he could feel the trickle of blood from a couple of cuts on his face. His head hurt and his knuckles were scraped and sore and the spot on his belly where Xander had head-butted him hurt like hell; but those were the very least of his worries.
There was real danger of his appointment being withdrawn. So the sick feeling in his belly had nothing to do with the fight, instead having everything to do with seeing all his dreams crumble to dust.
Mr. Stevenson was behind closed doors with Mr. Giles and Riley knew he was about to get hit with his second suspension in less than a month.
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Taking one look at the four teens in front of her, knowing one of them was pregnant and also knowing they were all friendly, Brandy West, school nurse, quickly put two and two together.
Hustling Willow and Buffy into the screened off area, Nurse West focused on Xander. “Sit down Harris.”
Gently but firmly tending to his nose, she said matter of factly, “its not broken but you’re sporting some pretty bruises.” Handing him an ice pack, she continued, “get that on your face and tilt your head back. I’m going to pinch your nose until the bleeding stops.”
Nodding his acceptance, Xander waited, forcing away a surprised smile when Cordelia slipped her hand into his.
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Will was pacing back and forth from one end of the office to the opposite, his temper momentarily beyond control.
Giles sat on his desk, knowing that giving his nephew a few moments was the best course of action. Normally he was a fairly mild mannered person, but when he got angry, Will’s temper was deadly and had been a cause of much alarm when he was younger.
At the moment, Will wasn’t entirely sure what was fueling his current temper. He’d guessed earlier, remarking so to his uncle one night when they were working late, it would only be a matter of time before Harris and Finn came to blows, and he’d been correct. Wasn’t hard to spot, Harris was constantly shadowing Buffy, shielding her from the more harsh comments and stares as much as he could.
Buffy. She’d been there. Oh shit. “Have you got enough? Finn’s outside. I’ll go get Harris.”
Before Giles could say anything, Will was gone, stalking out of the office.
Giles sat there for another few moments, trying to make sense of what just happened.
Opening his door, Giles motioned Riley inside.
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Buffy was lying on her side, her eyes lightly closed, just listening to the sounds of movement in the outer office. Willow and Cordelia had been sent onto their classes, so both she and Xander were alone. She was drifting, just sort of floating when there was a different noise in the outer room and she could just make out the sound of voices.
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Will got Sara Logan to cover his English class for him, then headed for the nurse’s office.
His first sight was Xander sitting on a chair, head back, ice pack over one eye. “How’re you feeling Harris?”
“Not so good. Feel like I went ten rounds with a bull.” Laughing a bit, he continued, “but other than that I’m good.”
Will smiled despite the fact Xander couldn’t see him. His smile disappeared however, as he realized that Xander Harris, along with Riley Finn was about to be suspended for fighting. “You’ll be suspended.”
“Yeah I know. That’s okay.” More than resigned to his fate, Xander shrugged from behind the towel covering his face. “I’ll survive.”
“When you’re done here you have to head to Mr. Giles’ office.” Will patted his shoulder then moved away to find Nurse West.
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There was a soft knock on the wall beside the closed curtain. Buffy mumbled something and whoever it was slid aside the curtain then stood beside her bed.
A strong hand ran down her hair, over her shoulder, then tugged at the blanket she had let fall, pulling it up over her. A sniffle escaped her and Buffy hoped whoever it was would jsut leave her alone because it wasn’t someone she . . wasn’t him.
“Buffy? Are you okay?”
Disbelieving at first it was him, she didn’t look up until he said her name again.
She stared up at him, tears pooling in her big green eyes and Will could only gather her up into his arms.
Not sure about this one. But please, let me know what you think, good, bad or otherwise. I need to know. And again, I apologize for taking so long to update. So be kind anyway and leave a review. Thanks! Nia
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I apologize for taking so long to update this. I know it has been a while, but believe me when I say I won't do it again. I hope. Anyway, here's the next installment. I hope you enjoy this. And my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has taken the time to review. Your support means alot. Slainte, and Happy Solstice one and all. Nia.