Chapter 2

The Xander Harris had flown into a rage when he saw two guys opening the coffin that contained the body of his best friend, Willow Rosenberg. He didn't know that the teens were going to use her brain as part of a creature they were creating. All he knew was that they had defiled all that remained of the most important person in his life.

Angel, a vampire with a strength borne from two hundred years of survival had been hard pressed to remove the teen from the broken body of one of the grave robbers. Buffy had finally had to knock Xander out to keep him from hurting himself in his struggles.

Chris refused to tell anyone why he had attempted to remove Willow's body from her grave. A suspicious fire in a school lab was attributed to his supposed accomplices. He transferred to another school and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Xander became catatonic when he regained consciousness at the hospital. His eyes stared straight ahead, unfocussed. Giles, Cordelia, Jenny Calendar, and Joyce joined Buffy in the waiting room the next evening.

"We're sorry, but there's been no change in Alex's condition," the attending physician said. No one bothered to correct him. They weren't sure that the patient was Xander anymore. "Visiting hours will be ending soon. He really won't even know you're in the room." With that, the doctor left.

"What's going to happen to him?" Buffy asked.

"I'm not sure," Giles said. "If he remains in this condition, I'll make sure that he's sent to a proper mental facility. There are funds I can access from the Watcher's Council. If there's any chance that he can recover…"

"But there isn't, is there?" Cordelia asked.

"I don't know," Giles admitted. "You have all proven so resilient that I hesitate to rule anything out. There are cases where Watchers and Slayers have recovered from conditions such as this. Unfortunately there have been more where the patient never regained sentience."

Cordelia looked at her day planner and gave a bitter laugh. "I have cheerleader practice tomorrow. I have cheerleader practice and I feel, like, a million years old. It just seems so pointless…"

Jenny moved over to the brunette teen. "Hey, come on. What do you say that we get some ice cream or something?"

"Rocky Road?" Cordelia asked in a small voice.

"Whatever you want," Jenny agreed. "Guaranteed to take at least a thousand years off you." She put her arm around Cordelia. "Anyone else coming?"

"No," Buffy answered. "I need to patrol. Angel is meeting me later."

Jenny gave a worried nod. Her tribe had sent her to Sunnydale to make sure that the vampire Angelus was still suffering. His relationship with the Blonde Slayer was troubling.

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Angel noted the sad look on Buffy's face when they met at the cemetery. "Hey, how are you holding up?"

"Better than some people," Buffy said, simply.

"You've got to start beating yourself up over this," Angel said.

"I'm the reason Willow's dead and Xander's in the hospital."

"No, vampires killed Willow and two creeps robbing graves pushed Xander over the edge," Angel insisted. "You made a mistake, just like everyone does. But you aren't the one who caused all this to happen. It's important to remember the difference."

"Thanks," Buffy said, quietly. "That helps, a little."

"Look, I know you're hurting now," Angels gently replied. "But you're still the Chosen One. If you come out here and aren't completely focused, you will die, and so will other people. I think, maybe you should go home. I'll patrol."

"It's not your job," Buffy answered, "like you just said, it's mine." She took a deep breath. "Let's do this."

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A week later, Xander Harris was transferred to the Douglas Oswald Thomas Center, a private mental hospital in Sunnydale. Giles visited the next day, stating that he was from the school and had been sent to ensure that Mr. Harris was unable to continue with his studies. Principal Snyder had been insistent that without a formal doctor's signature he would simply list Xander as a drop out.

Giles was greeted by a tall, condescending doctor who took him on a tour of the facility. "Yes, Mr., Giles is it? Interesting name. I remember a Giles at a conference I went to in Aruba last fall. He wasn't English, though…" When Giles didn't ask him about his trip, the doctor continued.

"I'm Doctor Joseph, and I'll be personally in charge of Mr. Harris' care. As you can see, this is a state of the art facility. We have this ward for those patients who are considered to be transitioning back into normal society." He waved his arm to indicate the people in the ward. The doctor managed to ignore a nurse and a couple of patients as they approached a heavy, metal door.

The two men passed through other areas of the hospital. The doctor kept pointing out what he considered to be interesting items about the facility, but Giles remained silent.

"We call this area, 'the garden' because it's where we keep the vegetables."

Giles tried very hard not to strike the arrogant doctor. "The nice thing is that they're really very little trouble. Not like the teens you have to take care of." He gave a chuckle as Giles clenched his fists.

Dr. Joseph indicated a group of young people in a lounge. They were positioned in front of a television. "As you see, we try to use variable stimuli to see if there's anything that gets a response. We don't just keep them in padded rooms." He started indicating patients. "There's the little drummer boy, he's always banging those sticks against something. He goes crazy if we take them away. We've got Jonathan here who mumbles occasionally, and Tara who hasn't said anything since her mom died three months ago. There's Alex beside her. As you can see, he's not faking it." He signed the form Giles had brought.

"You don't say much, do you," the doctor said to Giles as he handed back the form.

"No," Giles said in clipped tones. "I'm the librarian."

"Talk about matching the man to the job," the doctor said. He was used to getting a far more impressed response when he conducted these visits. It was almost enough to make him want to stop wasting his time with the tours.

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Cordelia Chase parked a block from the private hospital. She had tried for the last several minutes to force herself to get out of the car. Cordelia had a phobia about the mentally ill. She remembered as a small child when she had been forced to visit her great grandmother. The older lady had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for many years. Her rambling speech and sudden mood swings had terrified the youngster. She still had nightmares of her last visit.

Cordelia had been seven years old. Her great grandmother had been sleeping quietly and Cordelia was listening to her mom and grandmother talk. Suddenly, she had been seized by the elbow as her delusional relative called out, "You! She's the one who will bring forth the liar! Kill her now!"

Cordelia had been in tears by the time her mother had managed to free her from the older woman's grip. For years, she had a recurring dream where her great grandmother had held her underwater.

"I've got to do this," Cordelia told herself. "It's almost dark. I don't know how long visiting hours last." Then she thought about what might happen if Harmony, or one of the other cheerleaders, saw her entering the hospital.

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Doctor Joseph drank his coffee and indulged in a cigarette in his office. It was against the rules, but it was good to be the king. There was a knock on his door, and an orderly entered.

"What is it Jenkins?" the doctor asked, annoyed.

"We have a visitor," the young man said.

"I've played tour guide once already today," the doctor grumbled. "Besides, visiting hours are over."

"The visitor is a rather stunning brunette," Jenkins mentioned conversationally.

"Oh," the doctor said with a grin. "That's another thing altogether. We can't keep the good lady waiting, now can we?"

"I guess not," the orderly replied. The older man set the schedules. If Dr. Joseph hooked up with the young lady visitor, Jenkins knew he could count on being assigned to the day shift for a month at the very least.

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"Thank you for letting me see Alex," the tall brunette said. She looked very shaky as she walked with the doctor, so he used his right arm to support her frame.

"I understand the need to visit your loved ones. Is he your brother?"

The brunette shook her head, her eyes almost unfocused. "No, more… like cousins. It's hard… I know what this is like."

"I can see that this is difficult this must be for you," Doctor Joseph said, smoothly. "There's a coffee shop just down the street. It'll only take us a second to get there. I'll help you calm down before your trip home."

"Thank you," the brunette replied.

The doctor drew her close to him as they exited the hospital. "I can't quite place your accent." He touched her bare arm. "You're cold," he mentioned.

"You're not," the brunette said as she turned to him, her eyes glowing and fangs visible. She plunged her teeth into the man's neck. Once he was drained, she used a fingernail to open a cut across her wrist and fed the blood back into the doctor's gasping mouth.

She left the doctor in an outside storage room and stumbled off towards the cemetery.

"There you are!" exclaimed a figure off to her left. "Dru, you had me worried sick!"

"Spike, I had to go," Drusilla replied, "There stars called to me. They told me that balance was needed. I had to answer."

"Dru, you know how ill you are," Spike said gently. "We need to get you back inside. Sunrise is near."

"I'm sorry," She said. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"It's okay," Spike cooed in her ear. "Besides, it may have done you some good. Your cheeks look a little rosier, I think."

Thanks for reading this section. The next one will be longer and will be a little lighter, eventually. Please let me know what you think - ml