Fighting For Love

Author's Note: Warnings: Torture, Extreme Language, Rape/Actual, Sexual Situations, Violence (offending chapters will be noted)

Pairings: Riley/Buffy; Spike/Buffy

Challenge Requirements at the end

Chapter 2



Riley was upset. Visibly upset. He wanted to break something with his bare hands. Buffy was shutting down on him. She was no longer the beautiful, sweet, innocent girl he fell for last year. For the past 2 months she had completely blocked him out. She wouldn’t even cry around him over her mother’s condition. She never opened up and just let her worries out concerning anything. It was driving him nuts. He didn’t know what to do.



He wanted so many things. Things that he would never get from her. Her love? The Scoobies had that. Her virginity? That damnable vampire Angel had that. Her devotion? The whole fucking world had that. So what was left? What did Riley Finn get to receive from the small Vampire Slayer? An empty shell to hold in bed. HA! He laughed derisively to himself. To hold in bed. That’s a fluke. She sleeps on the other side of the bed away from him. Not daring to let him touch her. She’d just as soon sleep on the couch if she didn’t feel so goddamn obligated to be in bed with him.



Riley tried to think back to the last time he touched her intimately in private. The night of the Initiative War. But even then she was only grateful to be alive. God, that woman was driving him mad! What the hell does Angel and Dracula and Spike have over her?




He clenched and unclenched his fists as he watched her with unseeing eyes. She was on the opposite end of the couch watching television with him. But there was no closeness. She was still as distant as ever. The more he gave his thoughts free reign, the more he grit his teeth and tightened his fists until his nails broke the skin.



“Why, Buffy? Why have you pulled from me? I’ve had your back more than once in a patrol. Why are you punishing me?” Riley asked in a steely whisper.



“What do you mean, Riley? I’m not punishing you,” Buffy responded shyly.



“Then why won’t you let me touch you anymore?” Riley asked.



“I-I just . . . I can’t be intimate with so much on my mind,” Buffy answered. She watched him warily.



“Then for the SAKE OF EVER-LOVING GOD TELL ME WHAT’S BOTHERING YOU!” Riley nearly screamed. He couldn’t take anymore. Her coldness was getting on his last nerve. If she was trying to drive him insane it was working.




“You let Angel touch you –“ Riley started.



“I loved him. He was my first love.” Buffy cringed when she saw his facial reaction to that. His face was a blotch of red from the anger he tried to contain.



“You let Dracula suck your blood –“ Riley continued.



"I told you I never let him suck my blood. He took it!” Buffy answered defensively.



“And need I mention SPIKE!” Riley’s voice rose again.




“What’s this have to do with Spike?” Buffy was confused.



“WHAT. DOES. THIS. HAVE. TO. DO. WITH. SPIKE? EVERYTHING.”



Riley was out of his mind. He was past thinking clearly. He just wanted his sweet, pliant Buffy back. He was on her in a second. He swept across the distance, straddling her thighs and pinning her legs underneath him. He gripped her arms painfully in his hands and shook her so violently her teeth rattled.



Riley pulled Buffy to her feet and pushed her hard. She stumbled over her own feet and hit the wall with her shoulder, jarring every muscle in her sore-but-healing body. She slid down the wall, trying to get her bearings. He strode purposefully over to her and knelt down grabbing her by the collar of her flannel shirt and pulled her up to meet his eyes. His knee pressed into the side of her stomach, drawing out the pain of her injury.



“You spent the entire night with him the other night. What were you doing with him in a dark corner of the Bronze? Reliving old fights? You let him in your house! Do you know where I found him while you were at the hospital with your mother? In your bedroom sniffing your clothes. He was in your bedroom, Buffy! And that Queller demon . . . Why was Spike even there? WHAT THE HELL KIND OF HOLD DO THESE VAMPS HAVE OVER YOU BUFFY!” Riley’s voice went from whisper to yelling at her.




“Riley!” Buffy panted, trying to steel herself from the pain. “Get off me! You’re hurting me! Please? You’re hurting me.”



“Ahh, but isn’t that what you like, Buffy? To be hurt. Isn’t that what those scars are your neck indicate?” Riley taunted.



“I never wanted Dracula to bite me. He had me enthralled!” Her tears spilled down her cheeks. “I love you, Riley.”



Riley’s lips thinned in a grim determined line. His eyes were cold shards of ice. He cocked his fist back and punched her in the stomach opposite her injury. “Don’t lie to me, Buffy. All I’ve done is be your lapdog and I’m finally putting my foot down this time. No more.” He drew back again and hit her cheek, causing it to burn.