Taking the Initiative
by Rainne
Part Three
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"Willow!"
The redhead stopped in her tracks and turned slowly to see the young man who was chasing her down the street. "Riley!"
"Hey!" he exclaimed. "How are you?"
"I'm good, how are you? What brings you back to Sunnydale?"
Riley shrugged. "The usual. Hostiles, demons, things like that. Have you got a few minutes?"
"Sure. What's up?"
He took her by the arm and led her into the Espresso Pump, ordering mochas for both of them and offering her his charming smile. "Well, I was wondering if there was anything unusual going on here lately. More unusual than the status quo, I mean. I tried to find Buffy, but..." he trailed off, shrugging charmingly.
"W-Well, we're having an apocalypse, you know, b-but it's just a little one. A-and we already know what we have to do to stop it."
His eyebrows lifted. "Really?"
"Oh, yeah," she confirmed, nodding.
"Tell me about it."
She shrugged. "Not that much to tell, really, I guess. Demon trying to open the Hellmouth. The usual."
"Oh, yeah, sure." He pondered this for a moment, then threw out his bait. "Have you seen Faith lately?"
Willow blinked, blindsided. "Uh, not recently, recently... um... how recently do you mean?"
"Is she out of jail?"
Willow drew in a breath. "How did you know that?"
"I think I saw her. Willow, if she's broken out, you need to tell me. I can get the boys together and we can take her down and put her back where she belongs."
Willow blinked. "Oh, no! No, Faith didn't break out. The Council got her released."
Riley was taken aback. "They did what?"
Willow nodded. "Well, this one Council guy did. And she came here, to mend fences? But it turned out that this Council guy was this demon in disguise, and he wanted to destroy the Council. Well, he did destroy the Council. And he almost destroyed us, too! It was really bad. But Buffy and Faith fought together and they killed him. He almost killed Dakota, too, but she's really resilient, you know, being a vampire and all —"
"A vampire?" Riley leaned forward. "What vampire?"
Willow blinked. "Oh, Dakota was a friend of mine in school, but she got turned into a vampire. But she's got a soul, you know, like Angel. So she's good. And she came back and she was helping us. But then she decided to leave, because Buffy and I couldn't really have a good relationship with her involved, because things were so crazy —"
"Was she coming between your friendship?"
"Oh, no, nothing like that... it's just that... well, when Buffy and I decided to get together, you know, Dakota was there, and we were both attracted to her, and it got kind of... confusing for awhile, which is why Dakota decided to leave —"
"You and Buffy are together?" Riley was genuinely shocked at this news.
"Oh, yeah, we've been together for over two years now. Well, more like two and a half. Gosh, it's been awhile! It doesn't seem like it." Willow paused in mid-babble, musing on that.
Riley turned the conversation carefully backward. "So Dakota left? Tell me about her."
"Oh, she's awesome. She's funny, and sweet... a little psycho, though, sometimes. She and I used to walk up and down the streets all afternoon after I got out of classes, just talking about stuff. She's a really deep thinker. She reminds me a little of Oz that way."
"Before she became a vampire?"
"Oh, no, we were just in high school when she was turned. This was when she was here before."
"So, what, she's immune to sunlight?"
Willow flushed. I shouldn't have told him that.
He didn't need her reply — her flush was enough. She had just realized she'd said too much. He doubted he'd get anything else out of her. But he had to try. He thought very carefully before asking one last question. "So, where is Faith these days? Because I thought I saw her in Johannesburg two weeks ago."
Willow's relief at the conversation leaving Dakota was nearly palpable. "Oh, no, Faith was in England the last time we s- uh, talked to her. She... uh... she travels a lot, I think."
"And where's Dakota?"
But Willow would not budge on the subject of Dakota. "I don't know. I haven't heard from her in awhile."
Her face told him she was lying, but he didn't dare call her on it. She was too valuable as an information source. "That's too bad. Well if Faith is in England, it must not have been her I saw." He glanced casually at his watch. "Oh, man, look at the time. I gotta get back to the boys. I'll be by to see Buffy, okay?"
"Sure." She nodded mechanically, just glad that he was leaving. She was rolling the conversation back in her head and beginning to realize how skillfully she'd been played. Like a freakin' guitar... I'm such an idiot, she berated herself, while making the necessary noises to get him to leave. She waited a moment with her now-cold mocha in front of her, watching him disappear down the street, then shot out of the Espresso Pump as though from a cannon, heading back toward the Magic Box to tell Buffy what had occurred.
---
"I'm sorry, Buffy," Willow said for about the fifteenth time after relating her tale of her conversation with Riley.
"Will, don't worry about it. He played you. It's not your fault. He's the bad guy here. He's like... He's Fernand. That's what. He's Fernand, and I'm about to be the Count of Monte Crisco over here."
"Cristo."
"Whatever." Buffy turned to Giles. "What time is it in England right now?"
Giles glanced at the clock and calculated. "Three o'clock tomorrow morning."
Buffy frowned. "Not calling this early. They'll think someone's dead. I'll call them in a few hours. They've got to be warned."
"Quite right, Buffy." He turned to the young woman behind the counter. "Anya. If Riley Finn comes here looking for anyone or anything, he's not to be given any information as regards the whereabouts of any one of us. Clear?"
Anya nodded. "Because he's evil."
"Not evil so much," Willow pointed out. "Just a jerk."
"Got it," Anya stated, then turned to the door as the bell rang to welcome a customer. "Welcome to the Magic Box!"
It was Tara, who had been gone for some months on a study trip from the university. She had a huge smile on her face. "Hi, everyone!" she greeted them.
"Tara!" Buffy and Willow went to hug their friend. "We're glad you're back. How was Europe?"
"Oh, it was awesome!"
"Did you get any actual studying done, or were you busy checking out all the French girls?" Willow teased.
Tara blushed and dug around in her bag to cover her light embarrassment. She had missed her friends, but they did tease her so. She began pulling small boxes out of her bag. "I brought back souvenirs for everyone."
"Oh, you shouldn't have!" Buffy exclaimed, peering close to see if she could figure out which one was hers.
Willow let the excitement of their friend's return wash away her self-recriminations regarding Riley for the time being, but she knew she was still going to feel really bad when they called England later.
---
Willow volunteered to make the call, but Buffy kissed her and told her not to worry about it. "Go take a shower, babe, I'll take you out tonight."
Willow blinked. "You don't have to try to make me feel better," she said softly, but she was interrupted by a more solid kiss from Buffy.
"I said I'm taking you out. You don't have to do the guilt thing, Will. He pressured you, and you crumbled. It's not your fault. He used to be a friend, and you would've responded to him that way. Don't stress it. At least you realized what was going on, you know? This way we can give them advance warning."
Willow sighed, nodded, and went upstairs to shower.
Buffy lifted the telephone handset and dialed. It was still very early in England, around six-thirty a.m., but it was not so early that she would wake Dakota, who she knew was a very early riser. She waited as the overseas operator made the connections, then listened to the funny English two-tone ring. The phone was snatched up on the second ring, but the voice was young and unfamiliar. "Hello?"
"Uh, Dakota?"
"No, this is Nicki. Hold on. Um, who's calling?"
"Buffy Summers."
"Oh! Hold on, Miss Summers. Miss Dakota!" There was a thump as the phone was dropped on a table, and the sound of the girl who'd answered moving away from the phone. "Miss Dakota! Miss Summers is on the phone."
"Thanks, Nicki. Go ahead and get ready for breakfast, okay?" Dakota's voice came closer to the phone as she spoke, and then she picked up the handset. "Buffy?"
"Dakota, hey. Did I wake you?"
"Naw, you know me, I'm up early. What's up?"
"Remember me telling you about my boyfriend that was in the paramilitary demon-hunting thing?"
Dakota thought. "Yeah. What was his name? Randy?"
"Riley. Riley Finn."
"Oh, yeah. What about him?"
Buffy sighed and plopped down on the sofa. "He showed up here in town today asking questions about Faith, and he got hold of Willow. He knew just how to push her buttons and he got her to spill about you, too."
"Shit." Buffy could hear a thump and a hiss of indrawn breath. "Does he know about the Academy?"
"No, Will realized what he was doing before it got that far. Right after she told him about your little sunlight issue."
"Oh, great." Dakota sighed. "What made him ask about Faith?"
"Claims he thought he saw her in Johannesburg a couple weeks ago. Was she there?"
"No..." She thought for a moment. "Two weeks ago she was in Newcastle picking up Kennedy."
"Kennedy?"
"New Potential. American girl, rich boarding-school type. Pushy, kind of a pain in the ass, but she'll make a good Slayer when she gets there. Hang on." Her voice went away from the phone. "Faith? Honey? Did you do any hunting while you were in Newcastle?"
Faith's voice from a distance. "Uhh... a little bit. Why?"
"'Cause I think you got busted, that's why. Any reason why anyone might have known you were a vampire?"
"Not unless they saw me in the sewers."
Dakota returned to the phone. "Well there you go. She got seen in Newcastle. Which, on the plus side, means she'll be hunted in Newcastle. Which means we've got the edge, for now."
"You got a plan?" Buffy asked, winking at Willow who was coming down the stairs, soaking wet and wrapped in a towel.
"Sure do," Dakota returned. "We'll go on up to Newcastle in a couple of days, find your military boy, and lead him on a little tour of Europe. The farther away he is from the Academy, the happier I and everyone else will be."
"Be careful."
"I will. Hey, guess who's coming next week?"
"Who?"
Dakota's grin could be heard in her voice. "Janna."
"You're kidding! That's great!"
"Yep." Dakota responded. "We're real excited. She's going to train with us for probably six months or so, and then I was kind of hoping to send her and her Partner to you."
Buffy glanced at the calendar. "Well, if we make it through the current apocalypse, that'll work great. We've got this demon thing."
"Yeah, the Nho, Giles told me. We're hitting the books on this side of the pond, too."
Buffy was surprised. "When did you talk to Giles?"
"Couple days ago," Dakota responded. "We've got a little problem that he offered to help us out with."
"Which kid are you farming off on him?"
Dakota laughed. "Nicki Roland. Hang on." There was a brief pause, then Dakota returned and began filling Buffy in on the problems they'd had with Nicki. "And then, to top it all off, she pulls a stunt that we couldn't just laugh off. I caught her up in the book tower, messing around with the magick texts."
"Oh, no."
"Oh, yes. The same ones that gave us scary, veiny Willow. Idiot. I seriously considered expelling her, but she's going to be such a good Partner someday. I figured what she needed was to be in a place where the shit was really going down, so she could have a feel for what she's failing to take seriously."
"Good idea. Lucky Giles."
Dakota laughed. "I figure if anybody can keep her in line, Giles can. He's kept you in line for how many years now?"
"Seven, going on eight, and that's not funny," Buffy said with a laugh. "Well I better go, I promised to take my girl out tonight. Let us know if you find out anything on the demon."
"Will do. Hey, have Will email us a picture of Rusty if you can find one, okay? So we know what we're looking for."
"Riley. Will do. Take care."
"You too."
They both hung up and Buffy turned to Willow, who was dripping on the living room floor. "You look yummy," she teased. "I might change my mind about taking you out and just... eat in."
Willow giggled. "I don't think so, Slayer. You promised."
Buffy sighed dramatically. "So I did. Let's go get dressed, shall we?"