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Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the second chapter for you, I hope you like it.
As usual, none of the characters belong to me.
Thanks to my beta Nichole.
Two


Riley didn’t say a word during the ride home. Buffy kept her eyes on her hands, trying to prepare herself mentally for what she knew was coming. When Riley had turned off the car, he got out and went into the house, leaving Buffy to follow. She stopped outside the front door for a moment, inhaling deeply before she entered the house. When she was inside, Riley slammed the door shut behind her.

“Who is he?” He demanded, staring at her with wild eyes.

“He’s just a friend of Willow’s, I didn’t even talk to him, I promise.” Buffy tried to plead, but to no use. Riley threw her against the wall and pinned her to it. He grabbed a handful of her hair and twisted it painfully. He had found many ways to hurt her without it being visible. Buffy had to bite her lip not to scream out loud.

“Don’t lie to me, you little whore. You thought I wouldn’t notice, is that it?” He asked, his face less than an inch from hers.

“No, please, I didn’t talk to him, I was just talking to Willow and he was there, I haven’t even met him before, please.” Buffy couldn’t keep the tears in anymore and let them run freely down her cheeks. It didn’t affect Riley, however.

“How come I don’t believe you?” He said as he used one of his hands to hold Buffy’s hands above her head and the other to unbutton her jeans. Buffy tried to get away from his intruding hand, but he twisted her wrists so she couldn’t think about anything but the pain. “You don’t think I’d know if you’ve been with someone else?” He pulled her jeans down along with her underwear. “Let’s find out.”

Buffy couldn’t help but scream as pain ripped through her lower body when he violently pushed into her. Riley quickly covered her mouth with the hand that was now free.

“Shut up, bitch.” He half whispered as he sped up his pace, not noticing, or maybe just not caring, that blood was slowly trickling down Buffy’s inner thighs. Buffy closed her eyes, wishing the pain away like she had gotten so used to. But this time it didn’t work.

*****

Spike walked into the club known as the Bronze, looking around for Willow and Xander. He found them at a small table in a corner, obviously deep in conversation, and made his way over to them. They both looked up as he sat down.

“Hey, what’s with the serious faces?” He asked, taking a sip from Willow’s coke.

“I was just telling Xander about Riley.” Willow said, and Spike nodded, showing that he knew what she was talking about.

“We need to do something.” Xander announced, leaning back in his chair.

“Maybe we should go to the police?” Willow suggested, but Spike shook his head.

“You should probably talk to her first, see what she has to say.” He said. “It may not have been as bad as it looked.” Of course, he knew that wasn’t true. He had been around abused women before, and something about Buffy was setting off alarm bells in his head.

Willow nodded, agreeing with him.

“I’ll talk to her on Monday. We have Psych together first period.”

“Great.” Xander said. “Now let’s have fun.” Nobody attempted to move, and they spent the next couple of hours sitting at the table, talking.

*****

“Hey, Buffy, wait up.” Willow called after Buffy, who was practically running down the corridor. At Willow’s voice she stopped and turned. Willow caught up with her, panting slightly.

“Hey. Can we talk for a moment?” She asked, trying to catch her breath. Buffy looked around the almost abandoned hallway.

“OK. But my next class starts in fifteen minutes.” She agreed, a little reluctant.

“This won’t take long.” Willow promised, leading the way into an empty classroom. She leaned against the desk, and Buffy did the same next to her.

“The other day, after English, you know?” Willow started. “Spike and I kinda... we saw what Riley did. In the parking lot.”

“What do you mean?” Buffy asked, a questioning look on her face.

“Well, he practically threw you against the car.” Willow said.

“No, he didn’t. Nothing happened. Everything’s fine, OK?” Buffy said quickly and left the room before Willow could follow.

*****

“Hey guys.” Willow greeted as she joined Xander and Spike at a table in the cafeteria.

“Hey Wils. How’d the talk go?” Xander asked, handing Willow his apple.

“She denied anything was wrong.” Willow responded.

“That’s good, right?” Xander said. “So what’s with the long face?”

“She was obviously lying. She wouldn’t even look at me, and then she stormed off before I could say anything.” Willow gave Xander a scared look. “I’m really worried, Xan.”

Xander leaned across the table and squeezed Willow’s hand.

“We’ll think of something, don’t we always?” He said with a small smile. Spike decided it was time to cut in.

“I think the police might be our only option.” He said, looking at his two friends. “If you guys wanna help Buffy, you have to get her away from Riley. The police could get a restraining order so he wouldn’t be allowed to come near her.”

“OK, so we’ll talk to the police.” Willow agreed. “But I don’t understand why she would lie to me. She’s my best friend.”

“I don’t know, Red.” Spike sighed. “I don’t know.”

*****

Buffy walked toward the UCS parking lot to meet Riley for lunch. They had barely talked all weekend, he had been avoiding her as much as he could.

When she approached his car, he got out of the drivers seat and went around to her side. She could see the regret in his eyes that she had gotten as used to as the pain.

“I’m sorry, baby.” He put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. “I’m so sorry, I never meant to hurt you. You know that, right?” Buffy nodded quietly. He held her close a little longer before he placed a kiss on her forehead and opened the passenger door for her. With a smile he walked around the car.

“Let’s go to lunch.”

*****

Willow walked out of the Sunnydale police station, anger practically fuming from her. Spike and Xander were waiting outside. At the sight of Willow, Spike crushed the cigarette he had been smoking under his boot and went to meet her.

“What happened, Red?” He asked, even if he knew what she was going to say.

“What’s wrong with our society, huh? Could somebody tell me that?” Willow threw her arms in the air in a resigned gesture. Xander put an arm around Willow’s shoulder, trying to calm her down.

“What did they say?” He asked.

“They told me that if we didn’t have any real proof that something was going on, they couldn’t do anything. Unless she reports him.” Willow sighed. “So we’re back to square one.”

“I’ll try to talk to her.” Spike said, squeezing Willow’s hand. “Maybe I can get through to her.”

*****

Spike was sitting in the cafeteria, waiting for Buffy to show up. He had managed to get her schedule from one of the secretaries in the principals office, and knew she had a half hour break in a couple of minutes. He was skipping history to be here, but didn’t care. This was more important.

He saw Buffy enter the room, and waved her over. She smiled and walked toward him.

“Hey, don’t you have class?” She asked as she sat down next to him.

“Kind of.” He answered, smiling at her. “I just needed to talk to you.” At his words, Buffy frowned.

“Willow didn’t send you, did she? Cause I told her that nothing happened...”

“You can quit the lie, love. You don’t fool me.” He said, carefully observing her expression.

“I’m not trying to fool anyone.” She tried to sound convincing, but he wasn’t buying it.

“You’re trying to tell me that your boyfriend isn’t beating you up whenever he feels like it?” Spike saw pain in her eyes for a brief moment before she got control over her feelings.

“Of course he’s not.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke.

“Wanna try that one more time?” He suggested in a mocking tone, trying to get a reaction from her. He hadn’t expected the reaction he got.

Buffy looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

“Please, stay out of this.” She whispered before getting up to leave. He grabbed her arm, and heard her gasp. He loosened his grip and turned her to face him, as he slowly rolled her sleeve up to reveal a greenish bruise that covered all of her upper arm.

“You call this not hurting you?” He asked in an angry voice. She gave him a pleading look.

“Please, Spike, just... don’t, OK?” She sat back down and buried her face in her hands. He carefully put an arm around her shoulder, afraid that he might be hurting her.

“You can talk to me, Buffy, it’s OK. I just want to help you.” At his last words, she laughed almost hysterically.

“You can’t help me. No one can.” She said in a low voice.

“You know what? You’re right. I can’t help you.” He saw her confused look at his change of attitude. “You have to help yourself.”

“You don’t know what it’s like.” She whispered, her eyes firmly fixed on the floor in front of her.

“No, I don’t.” He sighed. “But I know where it will end.” She looked up at him. “My sister was killed by her boyfriend three years ago.” He explained, still feeling the pain as if it had happened yesterday. “He had been hitting her for years, and we didn’t know anything.”

“I’m sorry.” He heard her say and turned to look at her, desperation in his eyes.

“Leave. I’ll help you, anything you need. Please, I can’t go through losing someone I love again.” He saw her eyes widen at his words. “I’m sorry, I didn’t...”

“It’s OK. I know you didn’t mean it.” She said in a sarcastic voice.

“Of course I meant it.” He said, trying to get eye contact with her, but she refused. “I do love you, I just didn’t mean to spring it on you like that.” He could see tears in her eyes again.

“No, you don’t. You can’t.” He barely heard her, but understood.

“Why, because he says you’re not worth it? You are.” He said, desperate to make her believe him.

“No I’m not. And I have a boyfriend, you can’t just...” He cut her off.

“You think I haven’t tried not to? I’m not the kind of guy that goes after someone else’s girlfriend. That’s why I haven’t said anything before. But I do love you.” He pleaded with her. “If you want me to back off, I will. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you love him and I will never bother you again.” She kept her eyes on the floor. “That’s what I thought.”

“Of course I love him. He’s my boyfriend, and he loves me.” She said in a neutral tone.

“Been practicing that long, have you?” He replied. “He doesn’t love you. If he did, he could never hurt you like he has.” They were both started by the sound of Buffy’s cell phone ringing. She found it in her bag and looked at the display. Standing up to leave, she turned to Spike.

“Please. Just leave it.” She said before walking away.

*****

Buffy waited until she was outside the cafeteria before she answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Miss Summers?” A voice said over the line.

“Yes.” Buffy answered in a nervous voice.

“I’m calling because we got the result of your pregnancy test. Could you come in this afternoon for a consultation with Dr. Carey?”

“OK, what time?” Buffy asked.

“Three thirty, if that is alright with you.”

“That will be fine.” Buffy hung up the phone and put it back in her bag while one thought raced through her mind over and over. ‘Please, don’t let me be pregnant’.





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