September 2002:

“DING-DONG”

Buffy wasn’t sure what it was she’d heard, she stopped her workout, turned the music off and listened again.

 “DING-DONG”

“What the hell?” Buff walked out of the training room and looked around. What was that?

“DING-DONG”

“BANG – BANG – BANG”

Someone’s at the front door? Who would be at our front door ringing the door bell and banging? Everyone we know just walks in the garden door. Have we always had a door bell?

Buffy grabbed her towel and wiped the sweat off her face before heading towards the much neglected front door of the mansion. Salesman, she figured. An old commercial popped into her head, Ding-Dong, Avon Calling! and Buffy smiled.

Willow and Tara were upstairs, along with Annie who she’d put down for a nap just a half hour ago – they wouldn’t have even heard the door bell. Spike was on his way to L.A. for another of Angel’s PTB missions. Buffy was starting to wonder if Angel was calling Spike away more frequently as some kind of ploy to cause a rift between Spike and Buffy. She’d have to talk to Spike about it when he got back. These trips were becoming more and more regular and, although she knew the mission came first, she wasn’t sure why Angel couldn’t handle more of these missions without Spike. After all, he had Faith and his own version of a Scooby gang . . . what did they call themselves, anyway? The Angelettes?

Buffy was still thinking about all this when she stepped up to the front door and unlocked it. She’d no sooner had the door cracked when whoever was outside pushed it in, hard and fast. The last thing she remembered before blacking out was intense pain in the side of her neck.

**~**

Buffy woke up with a throbbing in her head that went down her neck, into her shoulder and all the way down her left arm. She moaned and tried to bring her hand to her head when she discovered that her hands were tied behind her. Squinting against the pain in her head, she opened her eyes just enough to see where she was. She was lying on the floor of the training room. She tried to move her feet, but they were tied also. She rolled onto her back and tried to sit up, but as soon as she started moving she was kicked in the ribs. Fuck!

“Feels good, doesn’t it, bitch?” a male voice demanded.

She knew that voice. She squinted again and tried to make out who it was, but when she tried to roll over to see where the voice came from, she was kicked in the ribs again bringing a moan from her lips.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Buffy croaked out through the pain.

Suddenly, Riley Finn was squatting in front of her, a cruel grin on his face.

 “Riley?”

“And the bitch gets it in one!” He stood up and kicked her again.

“Oommph,” came from Buffy as all the air left her lungs.

Spike! Buffy tried to contact him mentally. Spike! Nothing. Fuck!

Riley pulled her back into the moment. “Who else is here, bitch?”

“Just me,” Buffy lied.

“Why don’t I believe you?” Riley knelt down again, next to her face.

Buffy shook her head. “Just me,” she said again. “But when my husband gets home he’s gonna kick your sorry ass!”

Riley laughed, stood back up and pulled an electronic device from his pocket. He punched a few things into it and hit a button on the side. Out of the small speaker came Buffy’s voice, “Hey guys! Can you come down here?” it said.

“What the FUCK?!” Buffy looked at him incredulously.

Riley smiled. “Cute ain’t it? It just needs a little sample to re-create any words in anyone’s voice.”

Riley reached down and pressed the taser into her neck again, Buffy spasmed under the weapon before blacking out.

**~**

When Buffy woke up, her head felt like it was going to explode, she tried to open her eyes and shake the cobwebs from her brain. When she was finally able to focus, she saw Willow and Tara were both bound and gagged with duck tape lying unconscious on the floor next to her. Buffy tried to pull her hands free of her bindings, but they didn’t give at all as she struggled against them. What the fuck is this rope made of, anyway?

A boot hit her in the ribs again. “Stop moving!” Riley demanded and Buffy closed her eyes against the pain and stilled her hands.

“Mama!” Buffy heard Annie cry for her and she immediately turned in the direction of her daughter’s voice. Riley had Annie, one arm wrapped firmly around her middle, her back held tightly against the commando’s chest.

“LET HER GO!” Buffy demanded. “She has nothing to do with anything! She’s just a child!” Buffy re-doubled her efforts to free her hands. If she could just get free it would take nothing for her to kill this son-of-a-bitch.

“Oh, but she has EVERYTHING to do with this.” Riley smiled at Buffy. “She’s YOURS, which means, you’re going to watch her die.”

Riley walked up to Buffy again as she continued to struggle against her restraints and kicked her in the stomach. When that didn’t still her, he continued to kick her ribs, head and back until she stopped moving.

SPIKE! Buffy closed her eyes to block the pain of Riley’s kicks and concentrated on contacting her husband through their bond. SPIKE, PLEASE! Nothing! Where the fuck is he? Then it dawned on her, he had probably been knocked out when she got hit with the stun gun, just as she had been knocked out when he had gotten hit all those years ago. If he’d been driving and lost consciousness, God knows what may have happened to him.

Buffy had turned back towards Willow and Tara when Riley kicked her. She opened her eyes now and looked at them. Willow was awake and looking at Buffy, but her mouth was taped shut. If Willow could talk, she could cast a spell to release Buffy. “Willow,” Buffy whispered hoping that Riley was far enough away that he couldn’t hear, “Annie!”

Willow’s eyes darted past Buffy to take in Riley holding Annie at the far end of the training room. Her eyes were wide with alarm when they met Buffy’s again. Willow started trying to work her tongue through her lips to press against the duct tape to loosen it, but even if it was possible, it wasn’t going to be easy.

Buffy had to do something! She turned back to face Riley. “Look, you don’t want these people . . . you want me. I’m the one that screwed you over, not them. They didn’t have anything to do with it!”

Riley stormed back towards Buffy, still holding Annie against him. “That’s where you’re wrong, BITCH! You killed my FAMILY and my FRIENDS and now I’m gonna kill yours! And you get to watch each and every one die a slow and painful death and know that it’s ALL YOUR FAULT!”

At Riley’s outburst Annie began kicking, screaming and struggling against his hold. Riley shook her to quiet her, but that made her scream that much more. “Shut up you little bitch-child!”

“Riley! Riley! FINN!” Buffy screamed at him to get him to stop. He finally looked at her when she said “Finn” and stopped shaking her daughter. “Finn,” Buffy continued more calmly. “Let her down. What can she do to you? Where’s she going? Let her down and you won’t have to hear that screaming!”

Riley considered this a moment before dropping the screaming and squirming child from his arms down on top of Buffy. “Better enjoy it! By the time this night is over, she’ll be dead!”

Annie immediately scrambled around and grabbed her mother tightly around the neck, her body lying on top of Buffy’s, the side of her head pressed against the side of Buffy’s so that her ear was next to Buffy’s mouth.

“Annie, honey, it’s ok, baby girl,” Buffy started in as soothing a tone as she could muster. “It’s just a game, baby, just a game, ok? “

Annie was sobbing and clinging to Buffy. Buffy wasn’t sure if she was hearing her at all. “Annie, listen to me. You know Papa and me we fight in here all the time, but it’s just a game, right? Annie, answer me.”

Annie nodded her head against Buffy’s. Buffy closed her eyes in relief; at least she was hearing her.

“Right. So this is the same thing, it’s just a game, so you don’t need to be scared, ok?”

Another small nod from Annie.

“Who’s Big Bad?” Buffy asked Annie.

“You are,” Annie whispered into Buffy’s ear.

“That’s right! So we’re gonna win this game, ok?”

Annie nodded again.

“Ok, here’s what I need you to do . . .”

When Buffy had explained to Annie what she wanted her to do, Annie climbed down off Buffy and went to sit on the floor between Willow and Tara. Just then, Buffy heard Spike screaming in her head, BUFFY!?

SPIKE! COME HOME NOW.

WHAT THE FUCK?!

RILEY FINN, Buffy shot back. HOW LONG?

FORTY MINUTES, Spike answered her question.

HURRY! Buffy told him before shutting down the connection with her husband. She didn’t need him screaming in her head, she needed to concentrate on Riley Finn.

Buffy struggled to sit up, finally able to get up onto her knees, placing herself between Riley and where Annie sat with the witches. “So, what’s your plan?” Buffy asked Riley.

Riley, who had been idly pacing back and forth, stopped and turned his eyes back to her. “My PLAN is to kill everyone you know and love and let you watch. I haven’t actually decided whether to kill you or just maim you so badly you wished you were dead, so you can live long enough to feel the pain of losing EVERY FUCKING THING YOU EVER LOVED.”

“Now, where is this husband of yours that’s gonna ‘kick my ass’? I’m really looking forward to meeting him, cause, when he gets here, I’m gonna shove this taser up his ass and twist.” Riley repeated the threat that Buffy had made to him that day in the Initiative, turning the taser in his hand for emphasis.

Buffy smiled slightly at the thought of him TRYING that. Spike’ll chew you up and spit you out, she thought, but instead said brightly, “I’m sure he’s looking forward to meeting you, as well. He’ll be home in a couple of hours.”

Riley started pacing again. He really didn’t want to wait that long, he was getting antsy. Buffy picked up on it. “Why don’t you have a drink while you wait? There’s some Jack in the cabinet there . . .” Buffy tilted her head to indicate where the liquor was. Riley narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously. “Or don’t. I don’t care. It’s just Jack, we don’t keep poison liquor around the house, you know.”

Riley considered this a moment before opening the top cabinet that Buffy had indicated and pulling out the nearly half empty bottle of Jack Daniels. He moved back to the other side of the room, leaving Buffy between him and the other three prisoners, before he sat down on a pile of mats and swallowed a large swig of it.

Buffy mentally sighed. Hopefully, he’d drink it all and fall asleep . . . probably not, but maybe it would slow his reflexes a little and buy some time. Buffy stayed silent, watching as the soldier continued to drink the amber liquid. He was just taking small sips now, almost without thinking about it. The bottle was almost empty.

Buffy opened the bond with Spike, HOW LONG?

FIFTEEN MINUTES, came the reply from Spike.

TRAINING ROOM, STUN GUN, HURRY, Buffy sent back before closing the connection again.

Buffy heard a whisper from behind her, “Liberatio!” and she felt the ropes loosen from around her wrists and ankles. She dared not look back lest she alert Riley that anything had changed. Buffy moved her hands slowly to disentangle them from the rope and drop it to the ground behind her before reaching down her back to do the same with the one holding her ankles. By sitting on her knees, her ankles were under her butt, she really needed to lift up to get the rope fully off her, but didn’t want to draw Riley's attention.

After a moment she was pretty sure she had the rope off her enough to move. She snuck a look back at Willow, Tara and Annie. Willow had gotten her own hands and feet free and Annie was working to help Tara, who had finally regained consciousness.

Suddenly, Riley saw what was going on and jumped up, as he did, Buffy jumped up also and barreled at him, tackling him around his middle, throwing him down hard on the floor and sending the stun gun flying into the nearest wall.

“GET ANNIE OUT!” Buffy yelled back at her friends as she began pummeling Riley’s face. Riley defended himself with one hand while the other reached down his body to his side arm. As he brought his hand back up, he shot the 9mm Beretta three times. One bullet hit Buffy in the thigh and she screamed in pain, but her adrenaline was so high that the bullet really didn’t slow her down. She grabbed the gun from his hand before he could shoot again and sent it flying across the room.

Then she heard Willow scream from behind her. “TARA!”

Buffy hit Riley one last time hard enough to knock him out before she jumped up to see what had happened. When she turned around, she saw Willow pressing her hand against Tara’s chest, blood was pouring out from between her fingers.

“TARA! NO! TARA!” Willow screamed.

Continued in the next chapter . . .

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