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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanks to all of you who are still with me on this... I know it seems like they'll never get together but I promise it's coming.... just gonna take a little bit longer before they're finally free from Riley.

Beta'd by one of the best friends a person can ever have, Tis 'aka' Tistoo.


“Got it all, Wes?” Gwen asked, leaning over to look at the notes he’d jotted down on the notepad.

“Yes, I believe I have it all. But I assure you, Mr. Finn will not sign the document after it’s been drawn up. In fact I fear you will just anger him more.”

Hopping down off the desk, she grinned. “You let me worry ‘bout getting him to sign it. You just make sure it’s ready first thing in the morning for me.”

Sauntering over, she boldly took his face in between her hands and promptly kissed his forehead, leaving a bright red lipstick mark, and then headed home.

It wasn’t often she used her influence over anyone, but right that moment it felt good… no, more than good, it felt great.

With the divorce papers, Buffy would be free from him and she could start a new life. It was something Gwen had wanted for her friend for years now and with a little luck and a few pictures, she was sure she could finally give it to her.

Getting in her jeep she called Faith and headed for home feeling better than she’d felt in a very long time.

~*~*~*~

Spike had no more than started to clean up when his phone rang. Answering it, he was relieved to hear Lieutenant Gunn’s voice on the other end.

“It’s about bleeding time ya called, mate. I was starting to think you’d fallen off the face of the earth.”

“Sorry about that, Spike. I was away on leave for a few days. You sounded desperate in that last message so I called as soon as I got in. What you need?”

Leaving the stack of containers on the coffee table Will made his way over to the table and chair in the far corner of the room where he’d left all his notes and other stuff related to the case.

“Yeah, I am. I need you to do a background check on a Riley Finn for me. I did one myself but I couldn’t get much. From what I could tell he seems to have been in Special Ops. But that’s all I can tell. I need to know where he served and if there is anything out of the ordinary that he might have been involved in during that time.”

“Special Ops, huh?” the man on the other end of the phone said as he started running a search of the army’s data base.

“Not sure but I think so, couldn’t get much on him.”

A few minutes passed and neither of them talked while Gunn searched for information on Riley and William went back to picking up the remains of his and Buffy’s late dinner.

“Spike, I can’t find anything on him. I searched the dates you gave me for his service time and there’s nothing. Do you happen to have his social security number or his dog tag number?”

“Yeah, hold on a minute, got them right here.” He told his friend shoving the last of the food in the compact fridge. Returning to the table where he’d left all the information, he read off both numbers to him.

~*~*~*~

Buffy’s first thought was to call Dawn and let her know what was going on and warn her about Riley, but unfortunately she couldn’t. She didn’t have her number. The one and only place she’d ever had it was in her phone, which was now with Gwen. So instead, she called her friend.

It rang twice before Gwen picked up. “Hey sweetie, how’s it going?” the bright chipper voice on the other end of the phone asked.

Buffy smiled hearing her, Gwen had an uncanny way of always making her feel better, no matter what was happening. “Hi Gwen, I’m… I’m okay. I just wanted to call and make sure you’re alright.”

“I’m right as rain, hun. But I have a feeling you aren’t as good as you’re trying to pretend. What’s wrong?” Pausing for a moment, she continued. “Spike isn’t forcing you to do anything or hurting you is he? Cause if he is just tell me and I’ll come over there and kick his lily white ass,” the brunette fumed, so help him if he was even thinking about hurting Buffy.

She wasn’t about to allow it. The poor girl had been through so much in the last eight years, she deserved to have some peace just once in her life.

Buffy laughed at the thread of heat she heard in her sister in law’s voice. It was the ‘take no prisoners’ tone she used when she was just itching for a fight. “No, no… it’s not like that at all. Spike’s been nothing but a gentleman with me, honest.” She sighed, gathering her thoughts before trying to convey them to her.

“That’s sorta the problem, too. I’ve never felt so happy… so alive in my life as I did the minute he pulled me into his arms earlier. God, Gwen, I love him so much and I’d forgotten it. Blocked all these feeling out for so long and now…. Now they’re back and I don’t know what to do or say anymore.”

Taking a quick breath, she plunged onward, needing to tell her everything; needing to get it all out and see if someone else could make sense of her jumbled emotions better than she could.

“But at the same time I feel guilty ‘cause I’m not free to love him, guilty for marrying Riley to begin with. And yet I know I don’t love him and I do love Spike and… and….” Buffy said, feeling like she was going to hyperventilate.

“Calm down, Buffy. It’s going to be alright. Just hold out a day or so and you won’t have to worry about Riley anymore; I promise. ”

That calmed the blond more than anything. Not having to worry about Riley would be a blessing but at the same time she was very curious at what the other female had in mind. “Gwen, what are you going to do?”

~*~*~*~

Spike paced the living room area waiting for Gunn to call him back with something, anything. He’d told him things didn’t seem to match up so he was going to go cross reference the information he’d gotten with the larger, more complete data base in another part of the building but he couldn’t do that with Spike on the phone. Others would get suspicious and it would call attention to him. He’d have to call him back once he had all the information.

Twenty minutes had passed since then and Spike was about to jump out of his skin. Things just weren’t adding up. The more they dug in to Riley’s past, the weirder things were getting.

A little while after he and Gunn had gotten off the phone, he’d gone to check on Buffy. But he’d didn’t knock when he heard her talking on the phone with someone; he was pretty sure it was Gwen but not a hundred percent, but that wasn’t what had stopped him. No, what had him listening outside the door was what she was talking about…

He couldn’t hear everything but what he could hear made his heart soar. His name was said several times along with words like ‘love’, ‘wanting to be with him’ and ‘a future together’. It was only bits and pieces but it gave him hope, real hope that she wanted to be with him just as much as he wanted to be with her.

For that he was truly grateful. He wanted so badly for this all to be over and to just be able to take her away from all of this forever. But, he reminded himself, they were getting closer to finding out just who Riley Finn was and after they knew that he’d find a way to get him out of the picture. He knew they’d find more than enough evidence to put him away for something; they just had to.

As he heard Buffy say goodbye to whoever was on the other end of the phone, he made his way back out into the living room, not wanting her to know he’d been listening to her conversation and that’s where he’d been ever since. Pacing.

~*~

Buffy felt so much better after talking to Gwen. Her friend had soothed her fears of Riley coming after them and her. And most amazing of all, she’d told her she’d be free of him forever in a few days. She wouldn’t tell her just how, but Gwen had promised she would just as soon as she could. After that she’d given her Dawn’s number from her phone directory.

Taking a big, deep breath, Buffy called her sister and told her about everything that had been going on.

It had been hard to tell her all that Riley had done but in the end it had felt so much better to get it off her chest. Besides, her sister needed to know just how dangerous Riley could be for her own safety.

She also told her that Will was back, that he and Gwen had convinced her to leave Riley for good and that she was staying in Spike’s hotel room for the time being.

Buffy also asked Dawn to go and stay with one of her friends or her boyfriend. Even thought Riley didn’t have her new address, Buffy feared he’d hunt her sister down if he thought that she might be there.

Dawn reluctantly agreed to go stay with her boyfriend, Connor Mac Masters- Angel’s younger brother. Even thought the couple had been going out since their senior year of high school and most of the time slept over at one another places, neither Dawn nor Connor wanted to give up their freedom or their own place.

After making sure her sister was safe for the moment, Buffy promised to call in a day or two to keep her up to date. Then gave her the number she could be reached at in case of an emergency before saying good bye to her as well.

Closing the phone Buffy could hear Spike talking to someone in the other room, her heart stopped. All she think could was that somehow Riley had found them, but the more she listened she realized that he was on the phone with someone. Setting the phone on the end stand beside the queen sized bed, she quietly made her way to the living room.

When she got there, Spike was just telling who ever was on the other end that he’d talk to them later; then he hung up.



Writing down the last of what Gunn had told him, Spike closed his eyes and tried to think of how he was going to tell Buffy all this.

None of what he’d found out made any sense. Ages, dates, names… none of it matched what he already knew, but somehow the profile and the crimes he committed fit to a tee. They were also congruent with what he knew about Riley. Not to mention the social security number and his dog tag number also matched what he’d gotten himself. It had to be Riley, but how…?

How could a man with the same id numbers serve in the army twice, twenty years apart and be the same age both times? How was that even possible?

“Is everything okay?” Buffy’s sweet voice was music to his ears.

Lifting his head, he opened his eyes and smiled at seeing her leaning against the wall just inside the room. “Fine,” he told her, getting up and making his way to her, pulling her to him the minute she was within reach.

He couldn’t help it; he just had to hold her. It was this like there was an indescribable need for him gather her in his arms just to make sure she was real and safe; especially now, with all that he’d learned about Riley.

They just held one another for a long moment, needing to feel their connection.

“Luv, we need to talk. There’s some things that I need to tell you. Not all of them are gonna be pretty but you need to know. But first I need you to tell me everything you know about your hus… about Riley Finn; about everything he’s ever done to you.” Spike murmured against her hair.


Tbc….


A/N- okay please don't kill me for leaving you hanging like this. I will try and update this again before next Sunday, but I can't promise anything okay?
Also know I'm really working on trying to get another chapter of 'Come Back to Me' done as well.





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