As he easily climbed out of the car, Angel buttoned his suit back up and tried to straighten himself up a little. It wasn't so much of being worried about making himself look more presentable, but more of him trying to do a mundane task to try and settle his nerves a little before he would head into the large, looming hospital. His brown eyes squinted some against the sunlight as he glanced around the large parking lot before he closed them, took a deep breath, and shook his hands a few good times at his sides before closing the door to his vehicle and began to make his way toward the closest entrance he could spot.
He had been in a meeting when his secretary had poked her head in the room, trying to get his attention. He'd raised an eyebrow at her but casually made his way across the room to where she was. Harmony had given him an uneasy look then whispered about the hospital being on the other line. Angel had told her to tell them to call back later, not paying much attention as he was more focused on business and just getting her back out of the room. "They, um, said it was about your wife?" came out as a question next and he had to force himself not to wince.
'I don't have a wife. Not anymore,' were the words his mind automatically brought up but he kept them otherwise quiet and his emotions under wraps as he stood near the doorway. Angel then told the young blonde once more that she should tell them he would return their phone call and deal with whatever the problem was at a later time, giving no more than that as he sent Harmony back on her way.
It was no more than a minute or two later when the door re-opened and Harmony shot him an anxious, apologetic glance. "Sorry, bossy. It's really important."
This time Angel gave a tight smile to everyone else in the room and apologized for the intrusion before walking back to the blonde. He kept a calm look on his face but his eyes showed his annoyance with girl when he knew she was the only one who could see them.
"Before you blow a gasket at me," she was quick to jump in and say, her voice no more than a whisper, "I did what you asked and tried to just take a message but they are insisting on speaking to you. They said it was an emergency, that your wife has been in a real bad accident and they need to speak with you."
His stomach wanted to give out and his heart certainly skipped a beat or two but he forced himself to keep his composer as he turned to address the room once more. He soon excused himself from the room and told Harmony to send the call to his private line in his office-where he then headed toward. He used the trip there to go back and forth between fretting like a mad man and telling himself to calm down.
When Harmony had first explained about the hospital, and even later when she mentioned it being related to Buffy he hadn't thought much of it. He'd gotten a call before from another hospital after their split which was about nothing more than dealing with the payments so he figured it was probably something similar. At that time he figured that she had probably just not gotten around to removing herself from anything related to him on such things given it had still been new and also the fact that Buffy would avoid going to a hospital at all costs if she could help it so it probably hadn't crossed her mind because of that.
Still, he hadn't thought much of it at first. But now with the way Harmony had worded everything he was starting to have every bad thought a person could possibly have pass through his mind at a mile a minute.
He'd forced himself to take a drink, sit down at his desk and take a deep breath once he reached his office. He spoke in a clear voice after picking up the phone receiver to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. And somehow he had managed to keep that same tone throughout the entire conversation as he answered their questions as well as asked his own, and otherwise sat patiently as they would speak to him. They did not want to go into much detail over the phone-nor did he-but he got the gist of the situation from the phone call.
It wasn't until he hung up that he let his true emotions show, his body physically shaking and his breathing turning ragged.
He'd stayed locked in his office until he re-gained control of his emotions then began to get his affairs in order so he could get out to the hospital as soon as possible. Angel had gotten rather lucky on that end of things. He'd managed to get there just in time for a flight out and got all of his other arrangements made for a rental car, hotel and such worked out with some help from Harmony back at the office.
And now he was here.
Angel easily found his way to the front desk and waited behind two others before he got to the front of the line to ask for directions as to where he needed to go from here. The girl behind the desk tried flirting with him but he was in no mood for that. He did force a fake smile or two her way and managed to thank her for her help before continuing on his way.
"Fuck me," was said under his breath not too long after, having gotten turned around for the second time. His mind was being fuzzy and he was having a hard time concentrating on anything and it was getting quite annoying. Thankfully, it was another five minutes or so before he found where he needed to be.
Angel began to be briefed and updated on the situation with Buffy. He was sat down as he began to hear the story of what had happened first-from what they could gather from the scene and other eye-witness accounts. He clenched his hands together as they described the car crash in which his ex-wife had been involved in, and how lucky she was to have survived such an ordeal. There'd been a massive pile up and she'd gotten some hell thrown her way in the middle of it. Angel listened as they then began to describe what injuries she'd come in with and the steps for treatment which they'd begun. He was walked through some of the possibilities for one injury or another, and they went over the surgery they'd done on her while he was still on his way here. The doctor explained that she was still out from the surgery and there would be a long road ahead of her on some things, but gave a positive outlook which made Angel feel a little relieved.
Angel decided he would keep some information to himself for the time being, not mentioning to the staff that he and Buffy were no longer married, they weren't on speaking terms, and the only reason he was still listed as her emergency contact was more than likely due to not having gotten around to updating such information just yet. He'd thought at first he would tell them once he found out her condition and if she were okay or not, but that faultered away upon his arrival it seemed.
OoOoO
Buffy was having one hell of a day. And that was quite the understatement.
First, she had woken up to a searing pain in her head, although the process of actually waking up was not an easy one. It'd been almost like a buzz at first, but then continued to grow and grow. Her brain and her body didn't seem to want to work on the same team so it'd taken her what felt like forever to actually get her eyes to pry open. Along the way she found it wasn't just a pain in her head but her entire body seemed to just ache.
When her eyes finally did open, she had to blink several times to make the images before her less fuzzy. They made no sense however. Another month of Sunday's seemed to pass before she pulled herself up a little to look around. Her mind registered the images but it took some fishing around her brain for the actual words to form together. That she was in a hospital. Buffy looked around a little the best she could from her position, at the room and then down at herself. She gasped a little at the off-colored skin, the scrapes, bruises and cuts that greeted her. The IV's, bandages and hook ups to machines.
For the life of her, Buffy couldn't recall any reason as to why she would be here or in such a condition.
Deciding to get help minutes later, she fumbled around until she found a call button and waited for someone to arrive.
The nurse who entered the room looked nearly as shocked as she felt. "Mrs. O'Connor," the woman greeted happily. "You're finally awake."
The nurse came over as Buffy blinked and tried to swallow and soon felt the nurse's hands on her checking her stats before raising her bed a little. "A-awake?" Buffy finally managed to get out once sitting up a little better. Her throat felt awfully itchy and dry.
Picking up on that, the woman walked over to bring her a drink of water. Buffy tried to thank her but her head was all muddled so she just attempted a nod before taking her first sip.
And then things really began to get weird.
Buffy learned of the car accident in which she was involved in and what had led her here. She had listened utterly horrified as they described the wreck as well as her injuries and what treatments they had begun as well as planned for her. She didn't remember a lick of it, for this she was actually thankful for though. Hell, she didn't even remember ever having learned to drive. She'd been terrified all through high school.
Her eyes had nearly popped out of her head at the news that she'd been in a coma for over two weeks.
This was hardly the most disconcerting part of the conversation however. No, that came from the realization that it wasn't just the accident that she couldn't remember. There were actually several years of her life that were now missing. Tears stung her eyes as she frantically tried to recall anything... but there was just nothing. The last memories on her mind were of seven years ago and nothing further than that. She was a nineteen year old collage student for all she could remember, not a twenty-five year old who-knew-what!
Everyone tried to be helpful to the scared young woman but it didn't exactly do much as far as she was concerned. The only upside was the hope it would be temporary, as she was told it usual was with her type of injury. It was still frightening despite this, being unable to remember anything at all in the past six years, unsure of why she was even here-so far from the last home she did remember, anything.
"We will run some tests on you soon to get a better understanding of where we are," she barely heard as her brain kept going in and out of focus of her surroundings with all the new information laid in her lap. "Mrs. O'Connor..."
"Wh-Why do you keep calling me th-that?" she interrupted. That thought had crossed her mind a time or two but she finally got her mouth for spit the words out.
And that was about the time she learned Elizabeth Summers was now Elizabeth O'Connor.
She was given several of her personal effects, many including the strange new surname. She picked up her license once handed the small card and saw the black lettering with the name staring back at her.
Buffy was staring at the beautiful ring set she'd also been given some time later, after she'd been left alone to have some time to herself, when a nurse finally came to check in. This young woman was much more chatty than the rest and began to compliment her on the ring which then led to a short discussion of the man who must have given it to her. Buffy couldn't remember a thing about him for the life of her but the nurse was happy to fill her in on what she knew. There was the information of how he was listed as the person to contact should anything happen and how he'd rushed out here, there was his name-Angelus O'Connor, and the nurse was not in the least bit shy about informing the confused girl that this husband of hers sure was a honey and she would not be disappointed with him as far as looks went anyhow.
She learned that this Angelus O'Connor person had been here ever since that call had been made, that he spent most of his days there with her at the hospital, and that he had been contacted about her having come out of the coma so she should probably be expecting him to make an appearance at any time.
OoOoO
Buffy was taken out of her room for a couple of hours to run some scans and do some testing but whenever she was in her room she found herself holding her breath every single time the door opened. Her mind was so muddled as it were but the thought of having a husband she couldn't remember going to show up at any time was a little more than she could bear.
She was anxious about everything really. Everything and everyone she couldn't remember and even some that she could bring to mind, earlier memories seemed to clear for the most part, but everything else was just a big blank space as if it never happened for the majority.
It all hurt her head to think about. The past she could remember, the one she couldn't, the accident, her life... the past, the present, the unsure future... Not wanting to deal with reality anymore, Buffy decided to rest her head down on the pillow and escape it all for awhile.
It didn't feel like she slept for long but a glance at the windows told her it must have been a few hours as the sun was going down. Buffy groaned as she tried to move then stilled when she heard a voice from behind her. "Are you alright?" the voice had asked. A soft, masculine voice at that.
Buffy shifted with another groan. "Yeah, I'm..." she trailed off as she finally got herself to a position where she could find the source of the other voice in the room. Her throat was back to feeling dry, though this time for a much better looking reason. Sitting in one of the chairs along one of the walls was the stranger who could have nearly knocked the breath right out of her. The thought that he was probably the most handsome man she had ever seen in her life-or would ever see in her life-came just as quickly as she practically drooled right there on the hospital bed.
"Elizabeth?"
Both this stranger and her turned their head to the door. "Buffy," both of them corrected. Buffy blinked, her head turning slowly back to the man a few feet away and tried to place him.
"Right, sorry. Buffy," the woman said with a shake of her head. She stepped closer into the room and turned on a light, making Buffy wince. "Buffy," she then said slowly, "Do you recognize this man?" the nurse asked, pointing toward the man in the blue chair.
Buffy was silent at first, staring at him, then she shook her head. "N-no. Sh-should I?"
"That's okay dear," the woman said, reaching her hand out to pat Buffy's. "Like we've said, it'll take time," she said to both Buffy and the other man. She then looked directly at Buffy and said, "Buffy, this is Angelus O'Connor. He's your husband."
Buffy was sure she must have looked pretty comical in that moment and the next several to follow. Her eyes were wide open and her mouth was probably wide open as well as she stared in disbelief. She hardly even heard anything else the nurse said, nor her leaving the room, leaving her alone with her husband.
Buffy swallowed, forcing herself to blink a few good times. The man she was saying her husband looked at her oddly, some part of him trying to seek out if she recognized him she knew but other than that she couldn't seem to read him. His brown eyes were dark and haunting, like they could see into her soul. He had a strong facial structure... beautiful cheek bones, sculpted to jaw line that was covered in light stubble. And on top of that gorgeous head of his was some luscious locks of dark brown hair, spiked in a way it looked both messy and professional. He had a nice tan from what little of his actual skin she could see and he wore the light gray sweatshirt and jeans like they were made just for him. His arms and legs looked long, hard and strong. "Y-you're my hu-husband?" Buffy finally spoke.
Angelus sighed, templed his fingers against one another and looked back at the door out to the hallway. "Ex-husband actually," he answered.
Buffy blinked again. "E-ex-husband?"
He nodded, looking back at her now. "Yes," he said, his voice remaining soft and his tone even. "We divorced last year."
"O-oh," she replied. Not only had she found out today that she'd been married but now also that she'd gotten divorced. One of her hands came up to her forehead and rubbed the building headache there. "Sorry, this is all just very confusing for me."
He nodded, leaning back some in the chair. "I would image so," he stated simply.
"A-are we on g-good terms wi-with one another?" she asked after a few moments passed.
His face gave a tight smile. "No. I wouldn't say that." Then he explained, "I was still listed as your husband and emergency contact, that's why they called me. We haven't spoken to one another in about five months."
"O-oh," was repeated. "Th-they fai-failed to mention the divorced part when y-you were brought up."
Another tight smile. "I may have forgotten to tell them," he told her. At her raised eyebrow he sighed. "I didn't think they would be so forth coming with updating me on how you were doing if I corrected them on that little detail. I was worried about you."
Buffy felt awkward at the last statement and looked down at her own banged-up hands.
"I am sure you are on information overload with everything you've been through and it is all quite a bit to take in," he told her, "I'd like to help in any way that I can, Buffy. I am sure you have a thousand questions and maybe some of them I can provide some insight to. I can also get in touch with some of your old friends-Willow and Xander-if you'd like. She and some of the others were here over the weekend to see you. I am sure they'd be happy to hear you're finally awake."
"T-That would be nice. Thank you."
"It's no bother," he replied. Another pause passed before he asked, "What are some of the last things you do remember?"
Buffy sighed, letting her head fall back a bit against the pillow behind her and began to answer him on the last things her mind could bring up.
His head nodded once more. "That sounds like a little less than a year before you and I met if memory serves me correctly," he told her.
OoOoO
The past two weeks had been an absolute hell as far as Angel had been concerned. He would have easily preferred her green eyes to have opened in a blaze after the surgery, for her to have started cursing him out as he'd expected, as she had been doing every time she saw him for over a year. Even if it nearly ripped him to shreds each and every time, he was used to it. Having her not wake up and just lie there day after day was more than his heart could stand. The silence was deafening, the wonderings of she would ever wake up weighing him down.
He'd spent more time in the past two weeks berating himself as well as her for the wrongs that had destroyed their marriage than he had any other time before. If they'd not tossed it all away, this wouldn't have happened.
He'd nearly had a heart attack when the call came in informing him that she'd finally awoken. As happy as he was at this news, he also felt his heart give way a little all the same because he knew what was in store for him next. And after the two weeks of hell... he wasn't sure if he could handle it.
It wasn't until he actually arrived at the hospital that he was told about her memory loss. He'd nearly laughed at the idea. Fate sure could be one cruel thing it seemed. Right when you think you're getting close to hitting bottom, the dark pit you were seeing gives way to a whole new floor below the previous.
His eyes had searched hers for any signs that she knew who he was when she'd re-awoken and noticed his presence... but there were none. There was no anger or hurt in her eyes when she looked at him, no hateful words being flung his way, no hint of her knowing anything of their life together. He was a virtual stranger as far as she was concerned.
A flood of relief caught him by surprise by this. He could be thankful she was alright and not go to war with her in the same breath.
The last time she'd been herself and the two of them were in each other's presence Buffy had clipped him on the side of the head with a toaster she'd picked up and threw at him. Having no idea who he was was rather a pleasant change on his end of things.