Spoilers: Up to the morning scene in Smashed, but the stuff with Willow and Dawn never happened.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, nuff said

Author's notes- This is dedicated to Scott for the countless hours he spent in IM  with me going over this idea. Also to Kim my awesome beta who I learned so much from. And because she loves Jinx as much as I do

There was an audible click as a thin plastic card was swiped through the doors locking mechanism. Gently ,so as not to awaken the sleeping girl inside, Riley eased open the heavy metal door.  Searching the dim inner recesses of the cell he found her curled up on the small metal cot she had been assigned. Easing quietly through the room he sat down in the chair beside her bed.  Watching  the tiny sleeping figure he reached out  and smoothed her long black hair off her  small pale face. She whimpered slightly and he pulled his hand back as if burned.

He had come to this room a lot in the last few days. Riley had spent literally hours watching this girl . She ignored him just like she did every one who had passed in and out to inspect her, but he was sure she  knew he was there. Every once in a while  he caught a glimmer of recognition , that she knew it had been him that had saved her.

He almost hadn't been there in time. There had only been seconds before a soldier, high on the adrenaline of the raid, brought the bayonet down across her neck.  The thought that a few more seconds and this girl would be dead was something that would haunt Riley for a long time.

It had been a normal mission, well as normal as was possible when the job was the  extermination of demon cults. The government  had received information that a new powerful lord had set up shop in the caves under Santa Cruz.  It was  simple get in, kill anything that moved, get out. The formula had always worked before but this time somebody had been expecting them and planned accordingly.  Somebody or something had trained the almost 400 hostiles gathered to fight in the army's uniform battle technique . It should have been a slaughter, if it had been any other company it would have been. But this particular band of soldiers were Riley's and he didn't rely on the armies textbook anymore. His time in Sunny Dale  had taught the importance of adaptability and he had made sure his men knew how to roll with the punches. It had still been close. The only thing that had saved the soldiers was the demons inability to stray from their training.

Riley remembered the  fury radiating through him as he stood in the almost palace like main room of the caves surrounded by the broken and dying bodies of  at least 100 hostiles and a few soldiers. He hadn't found the leader yet, but he had a name now. A vamp ,hoping to spare his own life, had told him that someone named Jacob was the captain of this merry band. That wasn't the part that made him  angry, the fact that apparently this Jacob was human and had turned against his own kind was what really got to him. Traitors were not to be tolerated, and this man must have been in the army at some point to be able to train this filth . It had been that anger propelling him towards the back room at the shouts of his men. At the time he had thought they found the monster responsible for this mess, he hadn't honestly expected what he did find.

He had rushed in  prepared to fight and was brought up short at the room he encountered. It was obviously a bedroom of some kind, complete with a huge bed and a wide array of candles. What had startled him was the obvious sameness to one he had seen before. It was an exact replica of a room he had never wanted to see again. Spike's bedroom. So caught up in the pain that name evoked he almost hadn't noticed the one glaring difference between Spike's crypt and this. The small naked figure of a woman chained by her wrists and ankles to the back wall. The first impression he remembered having was of how small and helpless she looked. The second was that if he didn't do something she was going to die.

The chair squeaked slightly as Riley shifted his weight, glancing quickly at the girl he checked to see if the sound had bothered her.  Reassured that she was still asleep, he picked up a clipboard off a nearby side table and started to fill in her departure information,  wondering how she  was going to react to her new accommodations.  The silent treatment really bothered him. He just knew there was more to this girl than the sullen creature she presented to the world. He could feel the fire of her personality brimming under the surface of  her cold façade. He reasoned that it was that hidden flame that  had governed his actions around her. He had seen the same kind of spirit in Buffy.  His superiors thought it was crazy, the way he protected and cared for her. They regarded her as a commodity, something to be used to their advantage when the time was right. But he hadn't been able to stomach the thought of releasing her to the cold clinical administering of the armies doctors, not after all she had been through. So he had taken it upon himself to care for her.

It had been him that cleaned the dried blood off her arms and legs and had sewn up the 3 inch cut on her forehead. He was the one who had held and comforted her while the doctors had subjected her to test after test. It was also him who had fought for her safety when those tests revealed her DNA was not completely human.

The higher-ups had wanted her exterminated immediately, but Riley had convinced them that she could be useful later. When they caught up with, the as of yet elusive Jacob, she could give them an inside track on his weaknesses and strengths. Or at least that was his argument.  It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess at his real motivations regarding this girl, but the army very rarely involved human emotion in their tactile plans. She needed him . This time it was his protection someone needed. He could save her,  like he never could have with Buffy.   

There was a slight scuffling noise behind him and Riley glanced up from his writings to regard the young soldier standing nervously by the door.

"It's time to move the pris……. I mean the girl, It's time to move the girl."

 The young boy shifted awkwardly and Riley had to smile at his discomfort. More than one person had felt the sharpness of his tongue when it came to the perceived status of the girl, and this boy was at least trying not to piss him off.

Taking pity, he dismissed the nervous soldier and set down his clipboard. He regarded the tiny body in front of him for the last time. He wasn't going to be the one to deliver her to her new home, he just wasn't ready to deal with all the drama that trip would produce. Knowing this would most likely be the last time he would see her Riley traced a finger across the small tattoo etched just below her throat. He had wondered on more than one occasion what the word stenciled in flowing script meant, Jinx.

The shifting of the body he was touching had his gaze shooting up into a pair of bright green laughing eyes. Bolting up Riley watched the girl climb to her feet. He didn't know what shocked him more the amusement she was obviously feeling or that fact that she seemed to be talking to him. Shaking off the surprise, he watched her hand wave in front of his face. He had no idea what she had been saying.

"Hello. Anybody home?" the girl was staring at him with a healthy mix of laughter and disdain.

Riley could feel a grin curl up the corners of his mouth, it had been a long time since someone had joked with him. In fact the last person to treat him with anything other the strict respect demanded of his rank was the very person this girl was soon going to be meeting.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something"

The girl sighed and regarded him like he was  a tiny child in need of assistance. A tiny child she obviously had no patience with.

" I said , where am I being moved to."

Still stunned that she was actually communicating Riley tripped over his next words.

" To the safe house."

"It's time to go to the ummm… safe house. I thought I told you all this yesterday."

He watched as she folded her arms over her chest and tried to restrain her temper.

"Really and yesterday when you were telling me this did the fact that my eyes were shut register at all. Well let's pretend that I was asleep for that whole conversation, which, oh wait a minute , I  was. "

Wincing slightly at the sarcastic tone in her voice, he sat back down in the chair. He was suddenly thankful for the more clinical conversation he participated in now.

" I am taking you to an old friend, she will be able to help you recover and protect you until you can take care of yourself. "

"Protect me!!!" The sound of the girl screeching sent a shiver down his spine, it was like nails on a chalkboard.

" I don't need someone to protect me, sure I'm a little tired right now, but you would be too if you had been chained to a wall for 3 years. I'm fine and I don't need anyone trying  to protect me, just give me some cash and I will be on my way."

Riley had gone from shock straight to anger. After all he had done she was throwing his efforts back in his face. Throwing protocol out the window he grabbed her arms and yelled into her face.

"You are going," he ground out " As of this moment the only thing keeping your head attached to your neck is my assurances that you are a weak and helpless creature that needs constant supervision. The government wanted to lock you in a cell with countless other hostiles and leave you there to rot. But I convinced them to let you stay in a secured environment until you became useful. It took even more convincing to get your host to take you. I have stuck my neck out for you more times than I can count in the last few days, so if I say you are going then you are damn well going."

Riley watched the emotions flicker across the face of the girl he held. She was irate but he also caught the resignation pooling behind her eyes. She hated this and most likely him too but she knew she had no choice.

" Well since you put it that way, lead on, oh cappytan"

Riley released her arms and picked up the duffel bag of clothes he had found for her. Gesturing towards the door he lead her out into the bright lights of the hall. He hadn't been lying, it had taken a hell of a lot more to convince Buffy to take her than it had to convince the army to let her go. That had been an awkward conversation, one he planned to firmly bury in his past. The same place he had buried most memories of Buffy. He had tried, very effectively, to  obliterate her from his mind but every now and then she came back screaming to the front. They had tried, it was over. Some things were better left alone. From the tone of Buffy's voice on the phone, he knew she felt the same. He really hadn't been able to think of anyone else to send the girl too, and he had really tried. But in the end Buffy had been the only logical choice, she had the room to care for the girl and the strength to protect her. 

Now watching the girl trudging along beside him he wondered at the wisdom of that decision. Until a few minutes ago he hadn't questioned it, but in the face of this girls obviously  intolerable view of her situation, he didn't know if Buffy was going to be able to handle her.

As they reached the car and he settled her  into the seat he decided it was too late now. Leaning through the window he handed the directions to the private assigned to accompany her. Turning to the sullen passenger his gaze was again drawn to the tattoo on her chest. She must have been watching the direction his gaze was going because she answered his silent question.

Riley watched the car pull away with a sense of relief. He was very happy that the girl was going to be safe. He was also incredibly pleased that he wasn't Buffy, having to deal with her.  Turning back to the complex he decided to find a mission as far away as he could get and as soon as possible. The sound of her voice still echoed in his head when she had told him what Jinx meant. It wasn't some sick joke her captor had played on her like he originally thought,  It was her name.