Where Memories Lead:
Fallout
(Living the Life of Riley)
by Gem

Part Two

It was a beautiful, starry night in Sunnydale, California. The soft breeze was unusually warm for December, and redolent with the fragrance of confused flowers brought to bloom out of season. It was a night made for lovers.

And, unfortunately, the lovers' friends, roommates, employees and the friend’s formerly demonic girlfriend, none of whom seemed to notice they were spoiling a romantic, moonlit walk.

"Guys," Buffy said once again, "it's not that we don't love you all, but this was kind of supposed to be a winding down time for us. The two of us," she reiterated, pointing to herself and Angel.

"But, Buff, we want details," Xander whined. "You can't just show up at the Bronze with Dead-Boy on your arm and expect us not to be curious." Stunned, shocked and dismayed would be more accurate, but in the interest of his continuing bodily health, he settled for 'curious.'

"I promised Willow I'd show," Buffy explained, snuggling into Angel's enveloping arm. "We weren't expecting to make a night of it."

Angel itched to kiss away the pout that had formed on her lips, but he restrained himself. There would be plenty of time for that later tonight, and many more nights to come.

"I could have told you he'd be coming," Anya said smugly, seizing Xander's arm to drape about her shoulders the way Angel had done with Buffy. "I wasn't at all surprised when Cordelia phoned from the mansion to say she needed a ride."

"I was surprised Cordelia was there," Willow admitted, glancing at that same person walking next to her.

"Well, where else would I spend the Apocalypse but on a hellmouth?" Cordelia replied dryly. She didn't add that these people were her only real friends, and she wanted to be with them at the big moment she figured that was implied.

"So, the New Year's Eve party is at the mansion, huh? Cool." Xander got a happy when he saw Angel's jaw clench at the suggestion. The big guy was so easy to needle, it almost wasn't fun anymore. Almost.

"No!" Buffy said firmly. "No party. You guys do what you want we're staying in. Alone."

"We've seen enough confetti to last us a while anyway." Angel shared a secret smile with Buffy as he wrapped both arms around

her."Yeah, it's not like you can drink anyway. Oww!" Cordelia rubbed her bruised shin, but refrained from further outbursts when Buffy turned her head to reveal a saccharine sweet smile and flashing eyes.

"I'm sorry, Cordy. Must have tripped," Buffy purred. "But you're right, I can't drink. I'm underage."

Four pairs of eyes stared at her in disbelief, while Angel studiously avoided her gaze.

"Well, I am!"

"Oh, come on, Buff." Xander wasn't sure whom Buffy thought she was kidding, but he decided it was wiser not to pursue that particular exhibit of selective memory. "I don't know about Angel here, but how many turn of the centuries are you going to see?"

"I've seen two already, and they're not that big of a deal." Angel refused to let Xander bait him any longer. He couldn't kill him, and even bruising him would probably annoy Buffy a little, so his only resort was to take all the fun out of Xander's games.

Anya raised her hand. "Eleven, and one change of millenium. Angel's right you've seen one, you've seen them all."

"We're a little off topic, as usual," Cordelia reminded the others. "God, I'd forgotten how you people love your meaningless banter. I just want to know how your mom took the sight of you two back together, among other things." She leaned forward to get all the juicy details.

Buffy elbowed Cordelia sharply in the ribs while Willow asked, "What other things?" and Xander tried to return the subject to the following night's festivities.

"She's fine now." Buffy spoke loudly to be heard over Xander's voice chanting "Party. Party." A slight choking noise from Angel caused her to modify her statement. "She'll survive."

"The hard part was explaining the move to LA," Angel said glumly. When Buffy's elbow was directed his way this time, he remembered most of the others still had not been told the complete story.

"You're moving?" Willow sounded crushed. "But... you're my best friend, Buffy, not just my roommate. You're the reason I didn't go away to school. Now you're deserting me, just like Oz did. Before you know it, Xander will actually move out of his parents' basement and Amy will escape from her habitrail." She stopped walking and faced Buffy, forcing the rest of the crowd to come to a grinding halt.

"You're really going to leave the hellmouth, Buffy?" Xander couldn't believe his ears. All the times she talked of her duty, her perpetual responsibility, and now she was throwing everything away for Dead-Boy.

Buffy slid out of Angel's arms to give her best friend a hug. "Will, I'm sorry. There's still a lot I have to explain to you, but the bottom line is, I don't want to stay here. I have a new life starting, and I can't do it in Sunnydale."

"You mean they don't know any of it yet?" Cordelia was incredulous she was actually the first one to know the whole plan this time.

"Any of what?" Xander was quick to take offense. "You told Cordy stuff you couldn't tell us? When did you two become such buds?"

Buffy looked at her friends, then up at Angel for confirmation. When he nodded, she began. "Guys, we have some news. Thanks to Oz's Memorex memory and Anya's way with ancient Romanian, we found out Angel’s curse is loophole-free. So, we're not just moving to LA we're getting married. On my birthday."

"Are you insane!"

"Actually married? With a flower girl and bridesmaids and throwing rice and...oh no, not rice, bird seed, because otherwise the birds will...married?"

"From personal experience I can tell you: demons and church weddings, not a good mix. Not that it affects former demons, you understand."

"I can't believe I was the first to know this time."

Angel pulled Buffy around to face him as the uproar began. "You never mentioned your birthday before," he murmured. "I'm not complaining," he added hastily, "but you never mentioned that specific day."

She slid her arms around his waist, holding on to her future with all her might. "I told you, I don't want to wait any more. Mostly, I want a good memory for my birthday. The last few have had some nasty side effects." Even in the moonlight Buffy could see the flicker of pain in his eyes. She quickly reached up to smooth away his frown. "This year I want to wake up in your arms the next morning and know it's forever." She stood on tiptoe to kiss the smile he couldn’t suppress.

"Get a room," Xander said with disgust.

"Is that all?" Cordelia asked pointedly. "No more little bombshells to drop on them?" She was really enjoying being in the know this time.

"Well, there is one more thing," Angel said slowly. Buffy turned around in his arms so she could face her friends as he broke the news. "It's kind of hard to explain, but we're...having a baby."

This time there was no uproar, only silence.

"It's good news, people," Buffy said at last. "We're happy about it." She looked around at her silent friends. "Will someone please say something?"

"But Buffy," Willow responded quietly, "what about Riley?"

Riley Finn was not having a good night.

He was supposed to be spending this beautiful moonlit evening with his girlfriend, consummating a promising relationship. Failing that, he was supposed to be in Iowa, doing some pre-millenium partying with his old high school buddies. Instead, he was prowling through the Sunnydale's inordinately large number of cemeteries, and he didn't even have an automatic weapon protect himself.

He didn't want to lay blame, but it was really all Parker's fault. It had taken Buffy a while to warm up to Riley, thanks to that creep, but he finally edged his way into her good graces. They had a few dates, began dating only each other, and then it was time for the next step.

Sex.

Riley never realized the complications that one little word could create. He didn't want to rush Buffy there was no hurry, and her experience with Parker had obviously made her a little gun-shy. He thought they had reached...an understanding, though, right before the end of the semester. He was going to go home for the holidays, then return the day after Christmas so he and Buffy could spend a few very romantic days in Lake Tahoe not skiing.

Then, the day before he left, she called him to say she couldn't, or wouldn't, go away with him. When he suggested he just stay in the fraternity house for the vacation, she didn't like that idea either. She wanted space. So, he went home to Iowa without even being able to say good-bye to her. He called on Christmas Day she wouldn't come to the phone. He called her two days later she still wouldn't talk to him. Two days after that, she had left town for parts unknown. The next morning Riley started calling airlines to get a flight back to California.

Now here he was, scouring Sunnydale for a glimpse of his erstwhile girlfriend, instead of spooning by the fire. Meanwhile, he could only hope that none of the hostiles he took such pride in hunting was on the prowl for dinner.

Buffy was right Parker was just plain evil.

"Will, I'm sorry you're taking this so hard, but I never really cared that much for Riley." Buffy looked sympathetically at her best friend, who appeared to be taking the break-up worse than Buffy expected Riley to do.

"But he's a nice guy," Willow whimpered. "You don't just happen along that sort of thing every day. I mean a nice guy, who will stick around, and isn't lunar sensitive, and doesn't have fangs, and never worshipped a demon."

"Hey, fang jokes are my department," Xander said sharply. "As a matter of fact, making fun of Dead-Boy as a whole is my gig when did you decide to join the party?"

"For the record, I resent the demon crack," Anya muttered, as she leaned against a tree and tried to get a pebble out of her shoe.

Willow looked apologetically at Angel, who was trying to pretend her comment hadn't stung. "I'm sorry, Angel, I don’t want to hurt your feelings. But I think Buffy should think carefully about all this before she gives up school and a perfectly nice boyfriend and her home and her friends..."

"That's what this is about, isn't it?" he asked softly. "You don't want her to leave you."

"No!" Willow wailed as she hurled herself at Buffy. "You promised you'd stick by me, like I did for you when Angel walked out on you. What am I going to do without you or Oz?" She began to sob uncontrollably.

Buffy held Willow, gently patting her on the back to soothe her. "Willow, I wish I could stay, for your sake at least, but I can't. Angel's business is in LA, UCLA is a really good school, and I so don't want to raise a child here."

"What's wrong with growing up in Sunnydale?" Willow pulled away from Buffy as she and Xander made the same horrified exclamation.

"Notice I don't have to ask," Cordelia said from the shadows, where she waited with Anya. "Hello! It's on a hellmouth!"

"It's too dangerous, Willow." Angel felt badly for the red-haired Slayerette, but not as bad as he felt for his beleaguered lover. First a fight with her mother, now her best friend, and through it all her only true supporter, other than Angel, was Cordelia. As Willow would say, everything was askew.

"But we all survived," Willow offered feebly, trying not to remember the "In Memoriam" section of her yearbook. The pre-graduation ceremony, and yet still very full, "In Memoriam" section.

"I need a break, Will. Actually I need a maternity leave. And when I'm back in shape again, I don't want to be fearing for my kid's safety every second. Too many demons come to Sunnydale, and they all seem to know who I am. They know Angel too, and they're not overly fond of him. In LA we'll be safer."

"I've made some enemies," Angel admitted, "but they aren't vampires, and they don't usually attack me unless I go looking for them. Besides, and I don't want to hurt your feelings, baby," he said with an apologetic glance at Buffy, "no one remembers Buffy. Not in the demon community at least."

"No offense taken," she responded with a smile and a quick kiss. "That's part of the reason LA is better for us."

Angel pulled her back for another kiss as Xander whined, "But marry Dead-Boy? I think I speak for all of us when I say 'huh?'"

Buffy growled as she spun around within Angel's encircling arms. "Xander Harris, for the last time..."

"Buffy? Is that you?"

She dropped her head back against Angel's chest when she heard the voice behind her. "Riley," she whimpered.

Riley could not believe his eyes. He had searched all over Sunnydale for Buffy, and when he finally found her, she was in the arms of another man. And she wasn't even hiding it from anyone she'd brought all her friends along to witness her infidelity. He came rushing back from Iowa the day before the biggest New Year's Eve he'd ever see just to be made a fool of.

"Buffy, what's going on?" He approached her slowly, hoping the strange dark man with her was some sort of optical illusion that would vanish upon closer examination.

"Riley," she sighed, turning to face him.

Riley noticed the good-looking stranger didn't vanish, nor did he release his hold on Buffy. She didn't seem to mind it either.

"I came back because I was worried about you. You've been acting really...peculiar lately." He stood close enough to touch her, yet she made no move to reach out to him. She continued to rest in the dark stranger's arms, almost seeming to restrain his hands by pressing them against her stomach.

"I'm sorry I haven't returned your calls, Riley. I've had a lot going on."

"I can see that. Who's your friend, or am I not allowed to ask?" Riley tried to hide the bitterness in his voice, but Buffy's wince told him he wasn't being too successful.

"Riley, this is Angel. Angel, Riley."

"Oh boy, ex-ex meets new ex. Can you feel the love?" Xander was finally finding the upside to Buffy's engagement the end of Riley Finn. The guy was about as exciting as an overcooked turnip, and yet he had still managed to temporarily win Buffy's affection where Xander could not. You really had to hate a guy like that.

"My money's on Angel," Cordelia murmured, relishing the drama unfolding before her. This was much better than her usual evening's activities: running for her life, then scraping monster guts off her shoes.

"Sucker bet!" Xander scoffed. "Who wouldn't put money on the vam..."

Angel's glare put an end to the wagering. The Slayerettes subsided and even withdrew slightly to allow the principal actors in this drama some privacy.

"I'd say it's nice to meet you, but under the circumstances..." Riley made no move to shake the hand Angel belatedly extended. Instead, he chose to continue staring expectantly at Buffy, waiting for her to explain this was all some sort of misunderstanding and introduce Angel as her long-lost cousin from Patagonia.

"Riley, I really didn't mean for you to find out this way." Buffy felt terrible about how this all worked out, but she couldn't see any way out now but the truth. Well, some of the truth.

"Angel." She paused to gather her thoughts before continuing. "Angel is my old boyfriend, the one Willow told you a little about. We sort of met last month, and then I thought that it was all over, but...I was wrong." She glanced up at Angel, smiling at how his serious eyes would soften when they met hers.

"Why didn't you tell me you saw him last month?"

"Because we had gone on one lousy date by that point," Buffy snapped, returning from Cloud Nine with a thump. "Look, I'm sorry you saw us together before I had a chance to explain, but it's too late to change anything. Believe me, if I got a do-over, this would not be what I fixed." Angel's arms tightened around her, centering her. She continued more calmly, " You're a nice guy, Riley and I enjoyed the time we spent together. But I love Angel. I always have, and I always will, and that's why I'm going to marry him."

She was puzzled why that last statement seemed to cheer Riley. He didn't leave her in doubt long.

"Boy, you really had me going this time! And he's a much better prop than the wedding dresses. You and your crazy jokes." He reached out to her, but Buffy instinctively stepped back. She knocked Angel off-balance and turned his growl into a yelp when she landed on his foot.

"This isn't some...," she began in confusion, but she stopped when the light dawned. "Look, I know the last time I told you I was getting married it was a joke, but this is real. Angel and I are getting married, in about three weeks. Then I'm moving to LA."

"But we had something, Buffy," Riley protested. "We shared things. I told you about my family, and growing up in Iowa, and all the things I want to do after graduation. I opened my heart up to you."

"And I told you what about my life?" Buffy was beginning to wonder what she ever saw in this whiny loser. Other than the fact he didn't remind her of Angel in the slightest, of course. "You asked, but did you ever notice I avoided answering almost every personal question? What does that tell you about our relationship? Everything you know about me you know from Willow. And that includes the stupid cheese thing she told me she told you to say that!"

Angel had gone from feeling threatened to amused in a heartbeat, so to speak. This guy actually thought he was the one who was going to make her forget about the past she shared with Angel. He truly believed he was the new love of her life. What kind of poor deluded sap would create such a huge fantasy?

"I suddenly feel much better about taking you away from your quote quote normal college life, baby," he murmured in her ear, holding her firmly against his body.

"While I suddenly have a weird urge to apologize to you for my taste in rebound material," she laughed. She was too busy enjoying the feel of Angel pressed up against her to waste any time pitying Riley. Riley who?

"Buffy, I'm going to leave now." Riley drew himself up to his full height and tried to appear dignified. "I'm sure when you think this through you'll realize I can make you much happier than he ever did. You know where to find me."

"Have a nice life, Riley," she said with almost total sincerity. "Be careful on your way home."

Riley slunk away as Buffy turned to give Angel a kiss. The Scooby Gang started to approach them, but melted away again when they heard Angel speak.

"Now what was this about 'the last time' you said you were getting married?"

The End

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