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From
the shadows he watched as the blonde woman fought against six preternaturally
strong foes. Her timing was precise and impeccable. She knew where
each of them were almost before they were there. One by one he watched
as they turned to dust under the penetrating thrust of the stake in
her hand. Once the fight was over she turned, almost as if she could
sense him there in the shadows, a frown marring the perfection of
her face.
"Is
someone there" She called softly, peering into the shadows. He made
no reply, didn't move a single muscle. She stared toward him a moment
longer, but when no one responded she packed up her weapons and continued
on patrol. He waited until she had left before shifting out of the
shadows. That had been close. If she ever found out he was watching
her she'd kill him with her bare hands, or at least make him wish
he were dead. He ran his hand over his face in a frustrated gesture.
There really was no answer to his dilemma. After all, he wasn't really
here, not really. He wasn't even sure if she could see him if he didn't
hide, but he didn't want to take a chance on that.
Sunlight struck him full in the face and he realized that he
had slept later than he anticipated. His dreams were so real that
he didn't want to leave them. At times he thought that it was possible
the dreams were real and the rest was fantasy. He wondered, not for
the first time, what that old woman had meant...
"Hey
man, you're up finally!" Graham walked into the room. "I thought we
were going to have to light a fire under you, literally!"
Riley
groaned as he rolled out of bed. "I don't think the desert agrees
with me quite as much as the jungle did" He groused as he reached
for his pants.
"Yeah,
the jungle agreed with you. Uh huh." Graham replied. "What is with
you lately? Ever since we went to that village where that big ugly
had the townspeople cornered in the old ruins you've been really off
your game."
"I don't
know. Maybe I need a vacation" Riley responded. Privately he shied
away from thinking about that particular mission. He had been separated
from the team in the ruins and he had gotten lost deep in the caves
the old village had been built into. He didn't remember much about
what happened in there, but he did remember the old woman. She had
told him that dreams were pathways and that he could be taught to
walk them if he were willing.
"What's the big bad of the day?" Riley asked as he entered
the war room. He was looking down at the documents he had swiped off
the fax machine on his way past so at first he didn't notice her.
When he looked up, the world tilted crazily on one side and spun around
a little. "Buffy..." he whispered.
"What
are you talking about Riley?" Graham grabbed his shoulder as Riley
lost his balance.
"Uh,
nothing Graham..." he stammered as he looked around and realized she
wasn't there. He was full on losing his mind he decided. It was bad
enough he had been having those dreams, but now he was halucinating
too. "Look, I think I'm coming down with something. I think I'd better
see the medic today" He told Graham.
With that he turned around and walked back to his room.
Buffy
tossed and turned in restless sleep. She was tormented by images that
were foreign to her. Jungles with dark beasts stalking in the night.
Blinding sunshine reflecting off the dunes of a desert. Things slithering
through the sand. She woke up soaked with sweat to find a familiar
figure standing at the foot of her bed.
"Riley! When did you get back into town? How did you get into
my house!?" She gasped. He just stared at her for a moment and then
disappeared.
"...one minute he was there, the next poof! He was gone." Buffy
finished explaining her disturbing night to Giles. "What do you think?
Am I crazy, was I dreaming? What's going on?"
"Well,
Buffy, I can't say for sure without some more research, but it is
possible you were just dreaming. You never did have much closure with
Riley, maybe the stress of the last few weeks have brought it to the
surface" Giles explained while he polished his glasses. "It could
simply be pre-wedding jitters you know"
"Hey
what's up guys?" Asked Willow as she came in holding a dress bag.
"Oh,
I just had a strange Riley dream last night. Kinda freaky really.
Oooh is that the dress Willow? Can I see, did they get it right?"
Buffy started toward Willow with a big smile.
"What
kind of freaky, really freaky or just kinda oh wow that was wierd
freaky? And yes it's the dress, yes they got it right and I was going
to try it on for you in a minute." Willow replied batting Buffy's
hands away from the dressbag. "Anya got hers too."
"What
about Tara? Did they get the color right for her? I want everything
to be perfect!" Buffy was obviously being her usual obsessive self
over this wedding. The obsessive trait was what had kept her alive
all these years, but it could become a pain when she was in charge
of social events. Her wedding had brought it out in spades.
"Yes,
Tara got hers and the color is perfect and she's on her way over to
model hers for you now. Xander and Christian are at the tux shop getting
their final fittings done. Everything is going to be fine" Willow
patted Buffy on the back as she headed toward the bedroom to try on
the gown for Buffy.
"I know
I'm a pain and you guys are wonderful for putting up with me" Buffy
called after her. Willow just waved as she entered the bedroom. "I
am the luckiest girl alive!" Buffy exclaimed. "But just in case Giles,
I want you to look into this thing because I don't want anything to
ruin my wedding."
"I'm
really getting worried about him." Graham spoke in soft tones to the
commander. "He just hasn't been right since he got lost in those ruins.
Do you think maybe we missed something?"
"I don't
know, but we're looking into it. I've had him check into the infirmary.
Hopefully it's just a virus or something" The commander squeezed Graham's
shoulder and then sent him off to join the unit for training. He rubbed
the bridge of his nose as he watched Lt Finn settle into the bed in
the infirmary. A full blood workup had been ordered as well as several
brain scans. He was hoping that whatever was wrong with the man could
be fixed with modern medicine.
Riley
laid down in the bed in the infirmary and was asleep before the nurse
came over to take the blood sample. She hesitated and then decided
to proceed anyway because she was under orders to provide the samples
ASAP.
"Oh
Willow, the gown is perfect! That green goes with your hair and coloring
better than I thought it would, and Tara in the pink! You guys are
so cute!" Buffy was gushing as she watched the girls twirl in their
gowns. Then suddenly she got a prickly feeling on the back of her
neck. The girls stopped twirling and looked astonished at something
behind her. She spun with reflexes honed by years of slaying and crouched,
prepared to spring at whatever was behind her.
"Buffy
I..." Riley started and then he disappeared.
Buffy
blinked with astonishment at the place where Riley had been moments
before. "What the...! Giles! Giles come here!" Buffy called.
"What
is it Buffy? You know I'm no good with fashion!" Giles said as he
came into the room.
"Nuh
huh, Giles, that's not the problem." Willow slowly shook her head.
"Tell him Buff."
"Giles, Riley was here. I mean right here in front of me, well
behind me until I turned around. He spoke to me!" Buffy was babbling
in her disbelief. "You guys saw him too right?"
The
girls nodded, struck dumb by what they had seen.
"He
was dressed in a pair of shorts, maybe pajama bottoms and no shirt."
Buffy looked imploringly at Giles. "This is not wedding jitters, not
when two of my best friends saw the same thing!"
Giles
stuttered something about the wedding jitters being only a theory
and how he would look into it further if she would give him half a
chance.
Meanwhile in a secret facility in the Sahara desert, Riley
lay awake in the hospital bed staring at the nurse who had awakened
him. "Why did you do that?" he asked her.
"Do
what?" She replied. "I have my orders, and from what I hear you spend
most of your time asleep so when exactly was I supposed to get my
blood samples without waking you up?" She said snidely.
He turned
his head away from her and thought about what had just happened. Buffy
could see him when he dreamed of her. Somehow he was sure that the
dreams were real, that he wasn't just imagining things. He thought
back to what he had seen when he was there. Tara and Willow in bridesmaid
dresses. Buffy gushing over how perfect they looked. Absently he wondered
who was getting married.
Buffy
sat stunned on the bed. Still staring at the spot where Riley had
stood. Willow had gone to make her a cup of tea and Tara had gone
to get Xander and Christian. Buffy put her face in her hands and asked
herself, why now? After all these years he had been gone, without
a word from him, why was he haunting her now? Her head came up suddenly...haunting?
Could that be it? Could he be literally haunting her? "Giles! Giles!
Could Riley be dead? And haunting me?" She shouted as she moved down
the hall to the living room.
"Well,
it's certainly a possiblity, but unlikely Buffy...unless he died somewhere
here in town, it takes a tremendous amount of energy for a spirit
to travel any distance and most of them are unable to do it at all."
Giles looked up from the book in his hands and took in Buffy's pale
face and general tensness. "It's far more likely that he's astral
projecting in some way. Give me a little more time. And if he appears
again, try asking him!"
Buffy
returned to her bedroom and curled up on the bed. Her thoughts turned
to that time five years ago when she and Riley had fallen apart. He
had left so abruptly that she had felt torn apart. It was unfair of
him to drop all that on her and then take off without giving her a
chance to work her way through it. It had taken her two years before
she was ready to trust a man with her heart again. Just when she thought
she was going to be alone forever, she had met Christian at Anya and
Xander's wedding. He was a friend of Willow and Tara's from a wicca
convention they had gone to. He was perfect. He understood the slaying
thing without trying to protect her or feeling inadequate. He loved
her and wanted only to be with her.
Buffy
lay on her bed thinking about the past when Riley appeared as suddenly
as he had disappeared.
"Buffy!" He gasped and reached out to touch her. She jerked
back from him and stared disbelievingly at him.
"How
dare you do this to me!" She hissed at him. His expression became
puzzled.
"Buffy
I don't know what's happening but I never meant to hurt you."
"Same
old Riley. Ya know I thought you loved me once, but I was wrong. Now
you think you can show up on the eve of my wedding and I'm gonna welcome
you with open arms? And how exactly did you get here huh? What have
you let the government do to you now?" Buffy spat her words at him.
"Your
wedding! I didn't know. Buffy I don't know how this is happening.
All I know is I fall asleep and I dream of you. But it's not really
a dream is it?" He looked at her pleadingly as he said this.
"Giles! Giles! He's back." She screamed. Tears were streaming
down her face as she stared at the face she had loved so much.
Giles
dashed into the room and saw Riley standing there. His posture was
that of a defeated man.
"I only
wanted to tell you that I'm sorry Buffy. I was wrong to leave you
like that and if I could do it over I wouldn't have done any of the
things I did then. I was so insecure I didn't understand that you
weren't pushing me away, I was allowing myself to drift. I was so
sure you didn't love me that I hurt myself to get back at you. It
was childish and immature and I never should have done it. I wish
you the best in the world Buffy. I hope this guy is worthy of you.
I never was." With those words Riley disappeared and Buffy and Giles
were left staring at each other open mouthed.
In a
secret installation under the Sahara desert an alarm began ringing
in the infirmary. The patient who had been lying motionless for the
past hour suddenly started convulsing. Doctors and Nurses came running
as the heart monitor went wild and then began chiming the ominous
flat sound that meant the heart had stopped. The medical staff worked
on Riley for hours but were unable to revive him. When they finally
stopped trying and allowed his best friend in to see him, Graham was
startled to see the expression of complete peace on his friends face.
VISIT Jessica Atchisons Vebsite here
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