It was Friday night before they were able to speak to each other again. Seven o'clock on Friday night to be exact.

Buffy was looking at the clothes she'd laid out on the bed when the phone rang. She grabbed it off the hook. "Hello?"

"Unh-uh. Back upstairs. You are not wearing that in public."

Not a greeting she was used to getting and yet she smiled. She'd been hoping to hear from him. "Umm, Riley?"

"Hey, Buffy. Could you hold on for a second?"

Before she had a chance to answer, he started talking again. She could hear his muffled voice saying, "Annie, I'm not kidding. Change it or you're not going anywhere."

"Hi," he said, back on the line. "Sorry about that. Where was I?"

She sat on the edge of the bed. "You were saying there was no way I was wearing that in public."

"Oh, right." He laughed. "Yeah. She's got on some outfit that barely qualifies as being dressed."

Buffy looked down at one of the skimpier items she'd been planning to take on their trip. "Mmm. You used to like it when I wore stuff like that."

"Exactly. On my nineteen-year-old girlfriend it worked great. When it's my fourteen-year-old daughter-" He cut off as someone asked him a question. "No - you can't take the skateboard to the game. And don't forget your sweatshirt."

She couldn't help but laugh. "Ah. Domestic bliss."

"Yeah." He sighed. "See why I think adding a baby to this mix is a little crazy? What?"

Huh?

Oh, she thought, realizing he was talking to someone else. Jack, it seemed, since he was saying, "No, Jack. No one is having a baby. I was talking about Sam ... Yes, I know she's three. That's close enough to being a baby. Kate - help Jack with the rest of this, o.k.? I'll be in the laundry room ... Yes, for some strange reason, I do feel it's necessary. And Jack doesn't get to touch the oven. Chicken comes out in five minutes if I'm not back yet."

There was silence and then the sound of a door closing before Riley spoke again. "Buffy? Sorry. I don't spend much time on the phone; I forgot how hard it is to carry on a conversation when they're all around."

"No problem," she said smiling, remembering that first night at his house. "Is it always like that?"

"Pretty much." He sounded tired. "So, hi."

Buffy laid back on the bed, closing her eyes and remembering how much she had wanted to touch him as she'd followed him to that very same laundry room. "Hi."

"Did I really just blatantly lie to my son?"

"Yup," she answered.

"You are so bad for me."

"Only sometimes." She rolled over on her stomach, picturing him kneeling down to put everyone's clothes in the dryer on the night of the fireworks. "Did you get my message?" Picturing him standing next to her on the roof deck.

"No. When did you call?"

Picturing him in the shower. "Yesterday. I talked to your mom."

"Oh. We were in crisis mode yesterday. I've barely talked to Mom since Wednesday morning."

"Crisis mode?" And he didn't tell her? No fair. "Vampires or demons?"

He laughed. "Neither. Boyfriends. Annie and Charlie had a huge fight. We set a record - six hot fudge sundaes."

Ouch. So far the Buffy/Willow record was four. And a half. "Between the two of you?"

"Yeah, but I only had one."

"Oh." Major ouch. "What did Charlie do?"

Riley sounded a bit, well, perturbed. "Why is it always the guy's fault?"

She tried not to laugh. "I hope you didn't say that to Annie."

"Are you kidding?" he asked. "I did learn something from you and Sam. So, what did you call about?"

"You called me," she said, sitting up.

"I mean yesterday."

"Oh. I wanted to tell you I went shopping." She looked down at the bed and reached for one of her new purchases. Smiling, she said, "Got myself a wardrobe."

"Yeah?" That had clearly gotten him interested. "Anything I might like?"

"Only if your taste runs along the lines of black silk and lace." Which, of course, she knew it did.

"Sorry I missed you." And he sounded it. Really, really sorry. "Next time call my cell."

"That's what your mom said." She dropped the short, silky nightgown back to the bed. "I didn't want to bother you at work."

"Bother me at work."

"O.k." She wasn't sure why she had balked at calling him in his office. A little afraid that maybe in the daylight the magic would disappear? And it seemed silly to call him to say she had new underwear. "Your turn - if you didn't get my message, why'd you call me?"

There were a few seconds of silence before he said, "I just wanted to hear your voice."

"You did?" She knew she was grinning like a total goofball. It had been a long time since so few words had made her so happy. She let her hand trail across the bedspread. "I missed you last night. My bed seemed so empty."

His voice was quiet - and a little scratchy - as he answered, "Same here."

There was a banging, presumably on the door of the laundry room. A faint, "Dad! It's ready!"

Buffy looked at her clock. She knew he was going to a baseball game tonight with Liam. He probably had to go soon anyway.

Which he confirmed by saying, "I guess I need to-"

"Call me tonight? When you get back?" She didn't care how late it was. Just knew that if she couldn't have his body she at least wanted his voice. "Wish me good night?"

"Yeah," he said, softly. "I will."

She knew he was smiling when he hung up. Hanging up her own phone, Buffy reached for the remote control and found the channel for the game. She picked up the nightgown again and held the smooth fabric to her face.

Real. It truly was.

Unbelievable.

"You guys are o.k. with Grandma driving you to soccer practice tomorrow, right?" Riley looked at Annie and Kate as they sat eating their breakfast. Including Jack and Liam in the next part, he said, "And then Grandpa's treating you all to dinner afterwards. There's plenty of ice cream in the freezer. If you need anything else, just -"

"What's your deal, Dad?" Liam asked as he grabbed the milk out of the refrigerator. "You go away all the time. For a lot longer than a few days. We've got this stuff down."

"You're right. Sorry. Then I guess I'm off." Overcompensating. Because even though Riley traveled for business fairly often, he had never gone a day early so that he could spend most of that day in bed with his girlfriend.

He gave all the kids hugs and kisses, thanked his parents for yet another few nights of babysitting, and headed out the door.

By the time he got to the airport, he had worked himself up into a huge case of guilt. Walking to the gate and checking in, he went through all the reasons why there was no reason for it. As Liam said, it wasn't as though Riley had never taken a business trip. And when he was home, he tended to spend most of his non-working hours with his kids - probably more than they would have liked, judging by the loud round of complaints every time he suggested a game night. Plus, if you didn't count painfully awkward blind dates, Riley had barely even looked at a woman in ages, much less taken time away from his kids for one.

That thought - and all feelings of guilt - faded away as he came within sight of Buffy, sitting in the corner with a magazine in her lap and laughing at something the man next to her had just said.

Back when they were in school, Riley would have wasted no time going over and staking his claim, making sure the other guy knew that she was spoken for. But now he just wanted to appreciate her for a minute when she didn't realize he was watching: the way she tucked her hair behind her ear when it fell across her face. Her tan skin glowing against the white, tailored shirt, unbuttoned low enough for a hint of white lace to be peeking out. The outline of her legs against the long, dark, flowing skirt.

And the best part of all - the way her eyes lit up when she saw him walking towards her.

The man was gone by the time Riley reached her. "Hey." He sat down next to her and smiled.

"No talk." She grabbed his hand and pulled him to her as she reached up to kiss him.

"O.k.," she said, almost a full minute later, pulling away. "We can talk now."

Great. Now that she had rendered him totally speechless.

"So, is Graham heading up tonight?" she asked.

Riley shook his head. "Tomorrow morning."

Buffy grinned happily. "We have the whole afternoon?"

"And evening." He nodded, quite happy himself. "Night, too."

"Good thing I brought the whole box."

It took him a second to realize she was talking about the box of condoms. Once he did, he didn't speak. If he had any voice at the moment, it would probably be really squeaky. Like a twelve-year-old boy's.

Her smile took a wicked turn. "Ever do it on a plane?"

He let go of her hand and turned to face her. "Are you doing this to me on purpose?" Now actually feeling like that twelve-year-old whose dick had suddenly become completely uncontrollable. He was grateful to see that at least his voice worked.

Forget wicked, now her smile was positively evil. "Just wanted to make sure you were suitably turned on."

"No worries." He looked away. "Just seeing you works for me."

She sat back in the seat, obviously pleased. Picking up her magazine, she said, "So, have you? Done it on a plane?"

He had forgotten how playful Buffy used to be - game for just about anything. Of course, when your first time was with a vampire, not to mention however many years she'd spent with Spike...

Actually, no. Riley was most specifically not going to mention it, but he was sure their life together had been pretty interesting, at the very least.

"Not commercial," he answered, amused by her look of surprise. His years with Sam hadn't exactly been dull, either. "The bathrooms are kind of small."

She closed her magazine and looked up at him. "And the bathrooms on military planes are that much bigger?"

"No," he said, taking the magazine from her and paging through it. "But, you know, lots of camouflage around. You get good at blending in when necessary. How 'bout you?" he asked with all the nonchalance he could muster.

There was a beat before she said, "Spike didn't like airplanes."

"Hmm." He tried to pretend he was much more interested in the magazine article. Didn't think he was pulling it off, however.

"Oh, we are so trying this out," she muttered, folding her arms in front of her chest.

"Figured as much." He glanced at her, laughing at the determined look on her face. "Gotta love a woman who's always up for a challenge."

The airplane thing didn't work quite as well as they had hoped, but it was a lot of fun trying. Too much fun, in fact, seeing as their laughter attracted the attention of a very angry flight attendant.

It took a little more work to placate her than it had the policeman earlier that week, but Riley turned on the charm and played up the college-girlfriend-who-he-hadn't-seen-in-almost-twenty-years angle, finally managing to convince her not to report them. He couldn't believe that as he was walking away she actually called him back and wrote her number on a piece of paper. 'In case the college girlfriend doesn't work out.'

"Passes all around," Buffy said, showing Riley the matchbook with the phone number of the guy from the airport. "Mine said he'd be up for a threesome. How 'bout yours?"

Riley just shook his head, laughing as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes, not opening them again until they touched down half an hour later.

"Nice dreams?" Buffy asked, grabbing his hand as they walked to the taxi stand.

"Yeah," Riley answered, smiling. "Not bad at all."

"Want to tell?"

He stopped walking and shook his head. "Gonna show," he whispered as he bent down and kissed her.

His phone rang as they started walking again. "Hey, Jack ... Yeah - it was a great flight. Pretty much uneventful." He grinned as Buffy squeezed his hand, reminding him that the flight wasn't entirely uneventful. "Yes, I promise I'll call tonight ... I love you, too."

"Good timing," Buffy said as Riley put away the phone.

He readjusted the shoulder strap of his bag. "Jack follows my flights on the Web. He's been nervous about my traveling lately."

"Quite a delayed reaction, isn't it?"

"Actually, it's pretty normal at this age." Or so the doctor said. An unsurprising response given the way Sam had died. "Annie went through it, too. Started having nightmares whenever I'd have to fly. She got over it after a few months; Jack's o.k. as long as I keep checking in when I'm away."

They reached the taxi stand and got in line.

Buffy rummaged through her tote bag. "Speaking of doctors, have you ever heard of a Dr. Hanover?"

"Nancy Hanover?" Riley asked. "Yeah, we've worked with her a couple of times. She's good with the civilians. Why?"

"I have an appointment with her on Thursday." Buffy pulled out a mirror and a tube of lipstick. "Giles set it up for me a few weeks ago. Said she knew about Slayers and stuff."

Riley nodded as he held open the door of the taxi that had just come to a stop in front of them. "She and Walsh were classmates back in the day. Except, as far as I can tell, Nancy stayed sane." He slid into the backseat of the cab and gave the driver the name of the hotel.

"Oh." Buffy applied her lipstick perfectly despite the bumpy ride. She smiled, having caught him watching her in the mirror. Her eyes gave him an I-don't-understand-why-guys-find-this-sexy-but-I'm-sure-going-to-go-with-it look. She topped it off by saying, "Then maybe I shouldn't mention your name when I ask about birth control pills."

There goes that twelve-year-old boy thing again. Riley shifted. "No, probably not." Not that Nancy knew him well enough to really care. Still...

"Are we there yet?" Buffy asked, sidling up to Riley and nuzzling his neck.

"Fifteen minutes, give or..." He concentrated very hard on breathing evenly when her hand found his thigh. The inside of his thigh. Kind of at the top, where there wasn't much thigh left. "...Take."

"I don't want to wait that long." She pulled him down for a kiss and didn't let go until they reached the hotel.

Check-in couldn't have possibly taken longer and the ride in the elevator was excruciatingly slow, with stops on what seemed like every floor.

"I swear..." Buffy murmured when the key didn't open the door at first. "If that doesn't work, I'm kicking down the door."

Feeling the same way himself, Riley was relieved a few seconds later when the light turned green and there was a clicking sound as the door unlocked. He didn't want to waste a minute of today talking to management about a broken door.

Door open and slammed shut. Bags dropped to the floor. Buffy's arms around his neck and legs around his waist as he pushed her up against the wall. He tugged her shirt out of the waistband of her skirt and managed to unbutton it without tearing it off. Knowing that these weren't the things you were supposed to thank God for, he nevertheless sent up a silent thanks when he saw that the bra had a front clasp.

"I was hoping this might happen," she said, probably in response to his eyes lighting up. "Thought I should be prepared."

She ran her hands through his hair as his mouth went to her breast and his hands to her waist. Working her way down his back, then around front and fumbling with his belt, button, zipper; pushing his pants down just far enough. His breath caught as he felt her wet and warm against his skin and fought the overwhelming urge to just slip inside, wanting more than anything to forget about things like consequences and responsibility.

She was obviously thinking the same thing. "Just for a minute," she said. "Please?"

Closing his eyes, he nodded. One minute. He leaned his head against her as she guided him in. Groaned as the walls closed tightly around him. Clenched his jaw as she sighed and arched her back. Pulled out quickly because it was just too damn much.

She asked, "Where-"

"Back pocket," he gasped. "Wallet."

She reached for his wallet and pulled out the condom, dropping to her feet as he put it on. She was back up against the wall seconds later, lifting her skirt and tilting her hips and, murmuring, "Oh, God, Riley..."

'Oh, God' was right. So good. So fantastically good. She clutched at him as he drove into her again and again.

Faster, she urged. Harder. Just like that. Uh-huh. Just...like...

Oh...Hell, yes. Exactly like that.    

Breathe again - deep breath in, deep breath out.

She sighed.

Exactly like that.

"So," he said afterwards. "Welcome to Canada."

"Mmm," she answered lazily. "Thanks."

"You seem to be missing something." He ran his hands up her legs and kissed her before easing her down to the floor.

"You were supposed to notice that in the cab." She smiled as she dug her underwear out of her purse where she had apparently stashed them after the aborted mile-high club attempt.

She ran her hand through her hair. "What do you think about ordering some lunch? I'm hungry." Smiling, she added, "Seem to have worked up an appetite."

Laughing, his eyes swept the hotel room. "Want to go out? Or should we order in?"

"In." She grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled him down again. "Most definitely in."