Title: The Assistant 13/?
Author: Sweetdoggie
Email: (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
Pairing: B/G
Rating: R
Summary: Merrick didn’t die. A/U
Spoilers: Up to mid-season 2
Disclaimer: No permission has been granted to use the characters. They are owned by their creator, Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, UPN, WB, and Mutant Enemy. This story is non-profit and is intended solely as entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Pretty much A/U right from the start. I don’t know how many parts this will be but I’m not going to leave you hanging. The rating is me being ultra-conservative. 99% of all the sex takes place off scene. B/A fans—it never happened

Giles tried to gather his thoughts. He wanted this handsome boy out of Buffy’s life and needed to figure out some way to do it so that her role as the Slayer was not compromised. “Riley, this really is a very admirable project that you have undertaken, and if it were with any student but Buffy I’d say fine. But the truth is I have worked diligently for the last two years to keep her in school and out of trouble and I don’t want to lose the ground we have covered because a psychology student has a hypothesis to prove.”

“That’s just it, sir. If your mentoring has helped Buffy stay in school, that’s great, but it hasn’t kept her out of the hands of this thug of a boyfriend, and she’s still skipping way too many classes. There are rumors of fighting and she’s suspected of gang activity. I can help her with these problems. She probably just needs somebody nearer her own age that can understand her. No offense meant, of course.”

Rupert smiled grimly. “I can’t stop you from hounding her at school, but if you try to bother her off campus, there will be severe repercussions. I trust I make myself clear?”

“I’m sorry you feel so threatened by me, sir, but this is for Buffy’s own good.” Riley spoke in his open, friendly manner and it was beginning to annoy the hell out of the librarian.

Rupert wanted to let Ripper out in the worst way, but he managed to hold off. “I’m simply telling you to leave her alone for your own good. People who annoy Buffy have a habit of disappearing.”

Riley looked happily perturbed if there was such an expression. “Do you think it’s that boyfriend of hers? We need to find a way to get Buffy away from him. Do you know where this guy lives?”

“Do not, no matter what bit of do-gooder nonsense you use to convince yourself it’s for her own good, attempt to separate her from Ripper. As a matter of fact, I do know where Ripper lives and no, I’m not going to tell you. If you are very lucky, you’ll never find out.”

Buffy approached Rupert. She could feel his desire to throttle Riley. She took his hand. “Let’s go, Rupert. School’s over and we don’t have to take this crap on our own time.”

The Watcher looked down at her, eyes like deep green jewels. “As you wish, love.”

They turned out the lights and brushed past the astonished student without a backward glance. The librarian had called her ‘love.’ Surely that was just a figure of speech? Yes, that’s what it had to have been. Anything else was just too creepy to contemplate. He pondered his next move and decided that a trip to Buffy’s home to speak with her mother was next. It was for the girl’s own good, after all.

Merrick had called Joyce as soon as Faith had explained what was going on. He stroked his mustache as he contemplated what untold amount of problems this boy was going to bring down on their small group.

“Plus, we still have to think up a quest for Angel and persuade him to go.” He finished.

“Well, what are we going to do?” Joyce asked him. “I can call the school and complain, but Snyder doesn’t like me any better than he likes my daughter.”

“Make a list of people to call and complain to. Start with Snyder and work your way up through the school board and also be sure to get to whoever is in charge of that boy. Be loud, vocal and furious. Threaten lawsuits for harassment. We’ll do some research on our end and see what we can come up with.”

“Thanks, John. This is all so awkward.” She looked up as someone knocked on her door. “I’ve got to go now, somebody is at my front door. Do you want me to swing by the house later?”

“That might not be a bad idea, Joyce. The children will all be over researching the Angel problem. We have enough people to have two teams looking for answers now, even if we send the girls out on patrol.”

“OK, see you then.” She hung up the phone and went to the front door. Years of living in Sunnydale had cautioned her against simply opening the door. She looked out and saw a young man looking much like the description Merrick had given her about Buffy’s new stalker.

“Hello.” She said as she opened the door. “May I help you?”

“Hello, ma’am. My name is Riley Finn and I’m looking for Mrs. Summers, Buffy’s mom?” He was scrupulously polite.

“I’m Joyce Summers. Is something the matter with Buffy?” She asked him.

“Not in the way you mean, ma’am. I’m in a mentor program at the school and I’ve been assigned to Buffy for the next six weeks. I want to help her get back on track academically and I need some information from you. May I come in?”

Rather than providing a direct answer, she simply let the door swing open and stepped aside. The boy ushered himself in and they went to the living room to talk. He looked around, taking in the neatly kept room, the family photos on the mantle and the virtual lack of anything in the house to indicate that a teenaged girl lived there.

“Where is Buffy, ma’am?” He asked in his best ‘I’m terribly concerned’ voice.

“I don’t know.” Joyce told him, unperturbed. “Probably with her, er, boyfriend and the gang from school.”

“Did you know she’s going to a party tonight? It’s a school night. She should be home, doing homework.” He looked very righteous, Joyce noted with irritation.

“Buffy’s an adult, Mr. Finn. If she chooses to skip her classes, not study, go to parties and that sort of thing, surely that is her business, not yours.”

“She’s very close to being expelled. I don’t want to alarm you, but I may be your daughter’s last chance. I don’t like the sound of her boyfriend. He sounds like exactly the type of boy she needs to avoid. I’d like your support in this matter, Mrs. Summers.”

“I’ve been dealing with Buffy and her assorted problems for a good deal longer than you have, Mr. Finn. I’m confident that Rupert and John and even Wesley have everything completely in hand with Buffy. I don’t want her involved in some sort of guinea pig project. I would like to know who your supervisor is however.”

He provided her with the name, Dr. Maggie Walsh and her phone number.

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask that Buffy be removed from this project, Mr. Finn. I really don’t think it’s in her best interests.”

“I’m sorry you feel like that, ma’am. Buffy really does need my help and I’ll go to the school board myself if I have to. I won’t just leave her in the lurch. Obviously, you have serious parenting issues with your daughter. Have you tried counseling?”

She wanted to grit he teeth but was unfailingly polite as she asked him to leave. “I’m sorry I can’t talk longer, Mr. Finn, but I have to get to a party myself.”

The boy shook his head not understanding how she could be so casual about her daughter’s welfare. He thought about things and then remembered that Mrs. Summers had said something about Rupert, John, and Wesley taking care of Buffy. He wondered if it were worth a drive to the librarian’s house to talk to him again but decided he had dealt with this defeatist bunch long enough tonight and went home instead.

When Riley walked into his professor’s office the next day, he was surprised to see her frowning. She gestured him to come in and sit down. “What have you been up to with this Summers’ girl, Riley? I’ve had three complaints about you already.”

“Something’s not right with her situation, Professor. She’s on the verge of being expelled and instead of everyone trying to help her, they are doing their best to see that she gets no help at all. She doesn’t want me to work with her, her friends ignored me at best and her librarian sort of threatened me. Her mother was more interested in going to a party than in talking about her daughter’s problems. I just don’t understand this. Who called to complain?”

She looked through her notebook. “Let’s see. First, there was a phone call from Mr. Rupert Giles, her school librarian, next was from Mr. John Merrick, apparently a friend of Mr. Giles, and third was her mother. The message was pretty much the same from all of them. Leave Buffy alone.”

“What should I do?” He asked her.

“The girl’s track record is abysmal. Look at her records. Fighting, violence, expelled twice in the last three years, she’s attended more detentions than she has classes, two arrests for murder, though neither were ever brought to trial.” She shook her head. “I was going to pull you off her case, but look at her SAT scores. They are astounding. A good student would be proud of these numbers, let alone a problem child like her.” She tapped the folder against her lips momentarily. “I’m going to let you continue with her. I think she may have potential if she can be steered off her self-destructive course of behavior. I don’t like her association with the librarian and his friend. I think you should do your best to break that up. You need to find out more about the boyfriend as well. We’ll get her away from his influence and see what happens. I’m going to talk to the school board and insist that we be allowed to work with this girl. We have enough influence that I think we won’t have any problems from that source.”

Riley nodded. He really did want to save Buffy. There was something special about her that made him want to help her. She was so cute and perky and he just wanted to keep the bad things away from her. After driving to the school, he walked into the Sunnydale High Library with a new determination to see this project through. He wouldn’t let Buffy down.

He was surprised to see the group gathered around the library table. Buffy and Giles he expected, but the presence of Faith, Willow, Xander, Merrick, Wesley and a boy and girl he didn’t know threw too many unknowns into the mix. He introduced himself to the new kids.

“Hi, I’m Riley.” He said stretching his hand out to the boy.

“Oz.” The kid barely touched his hand.

“Riley.” He said to the girl.

“Cordelia.” She said without looking at him. He dropped his hand.

Turning to Buffy he put a smile on his face. “Are you ready for a new day? Remember, every day is a new beginning. It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday, because you’re starting fresh as of now.”

One of the group, he wasn’t sure who, made a gagging noise. When he studied their faces, he thought it might have been Xander but couldn’t be sure. He looked at Buffy again. “You look like you got more rest last night.”

Several of the group choked. He wondered what he had said that was so funny.

“Yeah, we went to bed fairly early.” Buffy said without thinking.

“We?” Riley spoke sternly. “Buffy, are you sleeping with this Ripper character? You’re too young to be having those sorts of relations. I want you to break things off with this guy. He’s not good for you.”

Buffy looked at him, face carefully blank. “I guess we have been known to sleep occasionally.” She told him. “But mostly we have hot monkey sex till we’re so tired our legs shake. Are those the sort of relations you mean?”

Riley’s face turned as red as a beet. The group was snickering at him, even the old guys. The librarian’s face, he saw, was almost as red as his own. “Are you using protection? What if you get pregnant? Accidents happen, you know.” He tried to sound parental and stern.

“Excuse me, but just when the Hell did you become my dad? I’m legally an adult, having relations,” she sneered at his euphemism, “with an older man who takes care of me just fine, thank you. I may be stuck with you for six weeks, but I don’t have to like you or answer your prying questions about my sex life.” She turned and stomped out of the library.

Nobody else would make eye contact with him. Riley had never felt so ignored. “I just don’t understand this. You people let a girl who needs help to break out of a relationship that’s bad for her just stay with this Ripper guy. It’s totally obvious that she needs to leave him. What about pregnancy? Do you want her to have to raise a child alone?”

There were smiles all around and several chuckles at his assumptions. “What makes you think Ripper would abandon Buffy if she got pregnant?” Cordelia said with a huff. “I’ve never seen anybody loved like she is, and there is no way that he would harm a hair on her head.”

There were seconds made all around on her comment. Even Wesley said “Just so.”

Merrick looked at him coldly. “You won’t find any supporters for your campaign to hound our girl, Mr. Finn. Buffy is coping with a great deal more than you could possible even guess at and is doing just fine with Ripper. That is all you need to know.”

Riley threw up his hands in disgust and ran after Buffy. She had gotten to her Biology class and was zoning out over another film again. He tried to attract her attention but she ignored him. He followed her around all day. She continued to ignore him. When her last morning class was over, she headed to the library and he accompanied her.

“It’s good that you’re going to study now, Buffy. I can help you with some of your assignments.” Riley offered.

She sighed and plunged through the double doors. “Giles, I’m here.” Buffy called.

He stepped out from the stacks. “How was class?”

“Same old, same old.” She shrugged. “How important is it for me to know biology in real life?”

He grinned. “Pretty negligible unless you take up one of the life sciences for a career.”

“That’s kinda what I thought.” She threw her book bag down on the table.

Riley came up and sat beside her. “You shouldn’t say that, Mr. Giles. Buffy needs all the encouragement she can get to pass her classes.” He chided the librarian.

Buffy and Giles gazed at each other across the width of the room. “I’m not in the habit of lying to my…to Buffy and I’m not going to start now.” Giles looked stern. “She asked a reasonable question and I answered it truthfully. What would you have had me say? Oh, yes, Buffy, you will need deep and intimate knowledge about the life cycle of the cell every day once you graduate from high school? I think not.”

Buffy grinned and pulled out her textbook. Turning her back to Riley she sat down and began reading. Giles continued to shelve books until Merrick walked in with a large bag of Mexican fare. They ignored the boy and the three of them sat down and began delving into the food. He hovered behind her for a few more minutes. “Uh, I’m going to go to the cafeteria. I’ll be back after lunch.”

Nobody so much as glanced at him. When the doors swung closed behind him, Buffy sighed and slipped into a more relaxed posture. “Giles, can’t I just beat the stuffing out of him? It would make things lots easier if he was hospitalized for the next few weeks.”

Giles returned her sigh. “I wish we could, love, but as far as we can tell he’s simply an annoying human with a Good Samaritan streak.”

“It’s not fair! I shouldn’t have to take flack from the good guys too!” She pouted.

Giles searched for a way to make her happy. “Ah, would you like to go out tonight? Not the Bronze, but I could manage a decent dinner at an upscale restaurant if you wish.”

She smiled at him “You’re a good man and I love you to pieces, but what if pod boy follows us?”

“Pod boy?”

“Riley. Nobody could be that nice and sincere unless they were secretly an alien trying to take over the world. It’s obvious.”

He grinned. “If he sees us, we can continue to ignore him. It’s certainly none of his business what you or I do after school.”

She thought about it for about ten seconds. “That would be great. Dress up or nice casual?”

“Since this is rather impromptu, lets stick with nice casual.” He allowed his hand to stroke her arm. “We can save dress up for another time.”

He took her to a family restaurant on the edge of town. They ate here frequently enough that the waitress brought them their drinks without having to order. They placed their orders and sat back to enjoy their time alone. Giles took her hand and stroked his thumb across her palm before picking it up and planting a soft kiss in her palm. “Has it been truly awful, love?”

She held his hand against her cheek. “Bad enough. I can’t wait to graduate. Sometimes I think there would be a lot less pressure if people knew about us.”

“If it gets too bad, I suppose we could come out with it. You are over eighteen. Still, it would be awkward at school.”

“Yeah, I guess. We only have four more months. Maybe we can hold out.”

They spent a pleasant hour conversing, flirting and giving each other loving looks. Neither of them noticed when a large shadow hulked over their table till a voice that was beginning to grate on Buffy’s nerves spoke reproachfully.

“Buffy! What are you doing here with Mr. Giles? You shouldn’t be hanging around with teachers off campus. People could get the wrong idea.” Riley admonished.

Buffy sat her fork down carefully and made sure that her knife was safely out of her reach before she looked up. “Hello Riley and goodbye. I’m having a private moment here. Probably you’ve heard of those? Where you spend time with somebody who isn’t you, for example? Sound familiar?”

“You didn’t answer me, Buffy. As your mentor, it’s my job to keep you out of situations that have the potential for trouble. Being seen with Mr. Giles, even if he is a friend of yours could be misconstrued.”

Buffy turned her gaze to her husband. “Well, gee, Riley, why didn’t you say something? I wouldn’t want anybody to misconstrue anything. She stood up, walked around to Giles and slid onto his lap. Pulling his head down she kissed him to within an inch of his life. His hands slowly stroked up her back marking her possessively. Buffy finally looked up, lips red and swollen, “I don’t see how that could possibly be taken the wrong way, do you, Sweetie?” She asked Giles.

“It seemed fairly straight-forward to me, love.” He growled. “Any questions, Finn?”

“You! You and her! You! Eeeeuw!” He seemed to have lost command of any reasonable attempt at vocabulary. Riley turned to Buffy. “He and you! Old! Bad! Eeeeuw!”

Buffy smiled like a cat that had just eaten the canary. She ran her hand up Rupert’s chest, toying with his shirt buttons. He stopped her exploration by pulling her hand up for a kiss. She looked at the Psych major. “Not all that old, and only bad when he needs to be.” She purred.

The boy continued to gape at her in horrified amazement. “Really, you need to get a grip, Finn. I’ve belonged to Rupert since I was sixteen. Get over it.”

He staggered away from their table and Rupert set Buffy on the floor. “Shall we go home, love? I’d like to be bad.”

“Ooooo. I can hardly wait!” She slipped her arm around his waist and they exited the restaurant.

“You know that young fool is going to make trouble for us, don’t you?” Giles whispered into her hair as he cuddled her in the car.

“Not caring now, Giles.”

They explained to the gang what had happened and they thought they were prepared for almost any contingency except what actually occurred. Riley walked in and gave them both a stern look but said nothing. “Are you ready for class, Buffy?”

She eyed him suspiciously, but finally shrugged. “Let’s book.”

He didn’t say much to her beyond asking if she understood the assignment until it was time to head back to the library for lunch. “I understand what you were trying to do with Mr. Giles last night, Buffy.”

“Well, good. ‘Cause if you’d gotten to your age without understanding that, I’d think you had a problem.” Buffy told him as they walked into the room.

Giles came out and put his arm around her shoulder. The rest of the gang was seated around the library table already working on the platter of sandwiches and chips. He sat down and pulled Buffy onto his lap and gave her a sandwich before grabbing one of his own.

Riley stood arms crossed over his muscular chest and looked at them. “I was just telling Buffy I understand what you were doing last night. You guys were trying to throw me off the scent of this Ripper guy. Nobody would actually believe that a girl like Buffy was romantically interested in her librarian of all things.” He looked at Giles. “Er, No offense, but you’re entirely too much older to make this believable.”

Buffy let her head thunk into Giles chest. “I give up, Rupert.”

He kissed the top of her head softly. “I don’t know what we need to do to convince you that we are a couple, Riley.”

“I’m not going to be convinced. This is all just an elaborate put-up job to confuse me. I’m not stupid you know. I’m majoring in Psychology and I can spot a ruse when I see one.”

Buffy looked seriously annoyed. “What is it with you, Finn? Do we have to strip and have sex on the library table? Would that convince you? Or would you find some sort of rationale for that too?”

Giles, thinking quickly, patted Buffy on her arm. “I confess, I didn’t expect you to see through this quite so quickly, Riley. You’re right, of course, I would do almost anything to protect Buffy.”

Riley got a smug look on his face. He looked at their amazed expressions and misinterpreted them as astonishment that he had guessed their little scheme. Buffy looked at her husband’s expressionless face and had to put her hand in front of her eyes, tipping her head down so the Psych major from Hell couldn’t see her grin. “Well, thanks, Giles. Uh, it was a really good effort but I guess we just weren’t convincing enough.” She had to stop because her lips were quivering. “I, uh, I need to go to the restroom before class. Willow, Faith, Cordy, you girls want to come?” They got up and exited the room en masse.

The group managed to hold it together till they reached the women’s room then they burst into laughter so hard that tears ran down their eyes. Faith laughed so hard she gulped air and got the hiccups, which made the rest of them laugh even harder. Willow stood legs apart, her arms crossed over her chest. “You can’t fool me, I’m a Psych major!” It set them off again. It took another ten minutes before they could begin repairing the makeup damage the laughing jag had caused. They didn’t dare make eye contact because it would have started it up again. Thus, it was a red-faced, red-eyed group of young women that made their way back to the library.

The men hadn’t moved at all. All of them, Giles, Merrick, Wesley, Oz and Xander simply sat there and stared at Riley. He looked back at them, very self-satisfied. They remained seated when the girls returned and collected Riley for the afternoon classes. As soon as the double doors closed behind the small troupe, their gazes met across the table. Laughter could be heard well down the hall for a good twenty minutes after the bell rang.

“My word,” Wesley spoke. “I knew that there were plenty of jokes about country bumpkins but I never suspected they were based in reality. Is he, what’s the current phraseology today? Challenged?”

Merrick looked over at him. “No, no, Wesley, he is, after all, a Psych major.” That set them off again. Giles was wiping tears off his face. Oz had not only laughed, he had nearly fallen out of his chair. Xander had given up the battle and simply laid his head on the table gasping for air between long baying laughs.

Merrick stood. “Well, I must say, this is quite a diversion from our usual activities. I’ve been a Watcher for nearly forty years, but I’ve never in my entire life seen anything like that!”

Oz looked up. “Hellmouth.”

It was enough to start them up again.

NEXT