Tara's feet soundlessly padded down the hall. She was fully dressed it was obvious that she was leaving the Summers residence though there was some inconsistency for the time was arguably either incredibly late or extremely early. She almost dropped her car keys when a figure stepped out of the door to her right. Twisting around she saw Buffy whose face mirrored her own shock upon being caught sneaking out.

"Couldn't sleep?"

"I k kept having nightmares a about what m might have h happened. All I c could see w was Willow laying iin the dirt."

Her voice trailed off though there was quite a bit more to her dreams than the red head in question lying in dirt. When she'd walked through the threshold to her old room she found everything she'd left in it's proper place and holes where the items she'd taken with her had once occupied.

"I know what you mean. I need to be there, at the hospital. Even if you know, I can't see her…. I have to be there."

Tara lifted up her car keys with a guilty smile on her face. Then wordlessly continued leaving a note on the fridge for Dawn and Anya, who were both sleeping on the living room couch. Tara for her part hadn't intended to spend the night in Willow's bed, and even if the thought had crossed her mind, she never thought that she would have spent her night in Willow's bed while the aforementioned red head lay in a hospital.

Without intending to they made the trip to the hospital in complete silence. Climbing out of the car both of them jumped when Buffy's cell phone rang.

It seemed that after Willow's attack walking around Sunnydale at night had them on edge.

"Yes?"

"Buffy. She spiked a fever. It's in the hundreds they forced me out of her room but she keeps whispering Tara's name and the nurses are desperate to keep her calm. They said that if they thought that it would get her to calm down you two can go in with her. I hate to call you so late but they said her body, she umm, really needs to rest. With the fever we'd have to wear scrubs to keep from exposing her to more infection. I know you might not be on the best of terms with her but you really need to be here. Tara too."

Buffy's heart twisted as the full impact of his words struck her. Willow. He thought that she wouldn't come for her Willow.

"Were in the parking lot. Neither of us could sleep. Tara drove."

She was hurting, speaking directly to the point in an attempt to mask her heartbreak. She didn't notice Tara's face loosing more color with every word she spoke. Then again she didn't know that she currently made white sheets envious, the stress of her grip on the cell phone had caused cracks to appear in the plastic. . A fever- the sign of infection. Her mind strove to recall the doctors musings on what would occur if her friend contracted a fever yet all she could see were still frames of Willow. High school Willow in overalls smiling up at her with pride, super wiccan Willow defending them all from Glory, loving Willow placing a cool hand on her forehead when she had the flu. Her rambling loving caring powerful one of a kind Willow.

Without realizing she'd even entered the hospital Buffy was pulled from her thoughts as she ran into Tara who was standing at the entrance to the ICU staring wide eyes at the double doors.

"Tara. Xander said that we can go in and see her as long as we wear hospital scrubs. She has a fever and they are saying that even though she is sleeping she's been having nightmares and the drug that they would use to stop this they can't give to someone with a concussion."

Before either of them rationalized what was happening they had found themselves showering, and dressing in sterile suits. Tara making sure to slip a new case of chap stick into her pocket as they walked into the ICU. The glass walls showed tubes and machines surrounding a bed. Xander was sitting in a chair holding a pale hand with bloody knuckles.

Tara felt herself choke when she looked at the person in said bed. No matter what she told herself, that Willow'd be okay, that they'd been through worse, she looked so fragile. Buffy was afraid to walk closer fearing that her redhead would shatter if she so much as glanced at her the wrong way. Both of her eyes closed a dark bruise over her right eye, her lips chapped and split, her forehead, and her left cheek had a dark purple held dark purple shades surrounding deep angry red welts.

"Tara."

All three of them held their breath as Willow whispered Tara's name and began to stir. Tara quickly stepped forward, noticing Xander holding Willow's good hand she went to the right side and placing a hand on Willow's cheek as she bent over her fallen lover.

"I know, Will. I'm right here. I love you. Ok? I'm here."

Instantly Willow stilled and Buffy found herself taking one of the two seats on Willow's right placing a hand on Willow's bed. She felt like she was intruding upon an intimate moment. The first time in what felt like a life time that Tara was seeing Willow and Willow couldn't look back at her. Buffy found herself feeling worse for her friend. Her Willowy friend that never meant to let her down. Her friend that always held the best of intensions.

"They said that she should wake up sometime tomorrow but that they may have to sedate her. She needs something to help her sleep however with concussion they're limited in what they can give her."

Xander found his words dying out as he tried to hold fast to the notion that his best friend was going to be alright. They all wanted Willow to wake up. They wanted her to have never been attacked to begin with. Still he could see Buffy's guilt, Tara's guilt, all of the guilt in the world would do Willow absolutely no good he could have growled at what it took for them to realize what he'd known all along.

"Her llips are chapped."

Tara whispered pulling out her chap stick and applying it to Willow's lips before running her fingers through Willow's hair. Absent mindedly she found herself in constant physical contact with the redhead, and as long as Tara hands were on her the red head was content to rest.

…

Morning saw three young adults still standing watch by their friends side. Tara was sitting on the edge of Willow's bed fingers still running gently through Will's hair, Xander had switched seats with Buffy somehow during the night. He was leaning on the wall behind him while watching over his best and first friend. Buffy had found Willow's one good hand and was holding it constantly checking for a pulse. Each of them had become attuned to the steady beep that reassured them of their friends condition.

Well for Tara, Willow would always be more than a friend.

They all had become desensitized to the nurses coming and going throughout the night, so when the door opened none of them looked up.

"We would like to move Ms. Rosenberg to her own room now."

A woman in a white coat said and again it was a rush. Instantly Buffy's head shot up and she made eye contact with the woman before asking.

"Is she ready for that? I mean she has a fever. That means that there may be in infection. Should she really be moved into another room?"

This doctor smiled at her and then took the seat that Tara wasn't occupying.

"I should have introduced myself. I'm sorry it's been a long shift. I'm Doctor Kleeps and I have been assigned to Willow's treatment. I want to ask before I start explaining a few things to you. Do you have any questions on her condition?"

"You said there were internal injuries?"

The female Doctor smiled at Xander before shifting her eyes back to her patient.

"Her spleen and her stomach were injured. Because of the internal bleeding she has lost more blood than we thought at first. We were able to patch her up and she is on a high grade antibiotic. She won't be eating today, because of the trauma though. We patched that up too. Tomorrow she really shouldn't eat anything either maybe the day after that we'll start pushing liquids and then light broth and the horrid hospital jello. "

Buffy could only stare at the doctor, Tara found her gaze on Willow with her eyes tearing and Xander found his gaze drifting to the white ICU tile.

"Um. TThe fever?"

"When a body goes through that much stress and trauma it is not unusual for a slight fever to appear. I think the best thing for her right now is to get her somewhere that she can be around people who will support her. Somewhere she can laugh. But try to lax on the laughter today because of her broken ribs. It does worry me a bit that she spiked a one oh two last night even on the antibiotics but she's doing quite a bit better this morning."

"Are you the reason that they let us in to see her."

Dr .Kleeps only smiled at Tara her knowing eyes catching the gentle touches that the blonde was still applying.

"So are you ready to go to a room where you will actually have walls?"

All of them stood then followed as their friend was rolled down the hall and into an elevator, then into a room with white walls, a couch, a chair on either side of the bed, and a television. In all honesty they'd been pleasantly surprised that the doctor had taken so much time to explain to them what was going on. Even a bit of what was going to happen. Buffy looked up and realized that it was nine, the start of visiting hours. Turning to Xander she caught his eyes before saying,

"Why don't you go tell Anya and Dawn that if they want they can come see Will."

Xander realizing that Buffy wasn't giving him an option stood, walking from the hospital room, leaving his friend for the first time.

I love her. And no spell can create feelings of love. Not like this. I've missed her more than i thought possible. It wasa part of myself I was missing. Oh goddess thank you for the chance to tell her that I love her.

I don't understand why. Why couldn't I have just done what my heart was telling me? From the start it felt like I was more alone than I have ever been. Why couldn't I have just forgiven her? Dawn has forgiven her, Anya, Xander, even Tara. I do forgive her. I forgave her the moment I knew what she had done. Why though? Why couldn't I tell her that?

Why?

Finally after what felt like an eternity Buffy spoke.

"She missed you."

"Wwhat?"

"She really has gotten back to her old self. She got a job developing software for a company and creating codes -impenetrable firewalls along with other things. She can go to the magic box without even flinching. She said that she owed it to you. When we asked her why she was doing so much. She also said that she wasn't going to move on until you made it more than clear that there was no chance for the two of you."

"Wwillow you should hhave wanted to gget better for you."

Tara whispered before looking back at Buffy.

"Hey we're here."

Anya proclaimed as she walked in with Xander and Dawn. Xander was obviously dragging, and Dawn all but jumping literally oozing energy.

"How is she?"

Xander asked as he walked over to where the girls were.

"Stable."

"Tthey think that she should wwake up sometime ttoday."

Tara sounded absolutely drained and Buffy looked just as bad as Xander and Tara.

"Ok. We're here. Why don't we go down stairs and get something to eat? I mean she should be sleeping for a little bit more."

"Anya you can go but I really want to stay here."

"Buffy you are no good to Will if you pass out because of low blood sugar, Tara you too. We wont be going far just down stairs, just for a few minutes."

Dawn was actually able to get both Tara and Buffy to stand up and was all but dragging them toward the door. With a hesitant look at Willow, Tara took a deep breath understanding that if she passed out she wouldn't be able to do anything for Willow. Buffy seemed to be coming to the same conclusion. But she wasn't ready to leave Willow yet. Neither of them were.

"Hey you guys go ahead. I had something to eat at the house I'm just going to sleep on the couch."

Xander said and he watched as Dawn barely got Buffy and Tara out of the room. He then took the chair next to Willow's side and just watched. He thought he saw her flinch but his tired mind he figured was playing tricks on him.

" Oou Ouch."

"Willow."

Instantly Willow's good eye fluttered while the other remained swollen shut.

"Xander? Where am I?"

Willow rasped as one eye fully opened then quickly shut when the light caused her brain to all but explode.

"In the hospital. Do you remember why you are here?"

Willow scrunched her forehead for a moment then she sat up faster than Xander could stop her.

"Dawnie!"

"Is fine she made it to the hose and Anya took care of her. You're the person of the hour Willster every one's been waiting with baited breath for you to wake."

"Tara is coming. Xander. I wanted to make things better. How can I do that when I am in the hospital? Will she? Will she even want to see me. Wait. My lips? They taste like her chap stick. Why do I have Tara chap stick on my lips? Xander?. How? How can I fix anything right now? I wanted to have dinner with her. And and and now…"

Will's rambling seemed to have lost any direction and Xander gently pushed her back onto the bed and into a laying position before shhing her. He felt a guilty pleasure over Willow's distressed ramble. No matter what the ramble was about hearing it spill from Willow's lips was enough to fill his weary heart with electricity.

"Tara was here all night along with Buffy, and if the nurses ask I am your brother. That was the only way we could get any information from those evil doctors with the pointy needles. I hate the pointy needles."

"We should form an I hate Pointy Needles club."

"Yeah…Buffy would totally join, and Dawn, and Tara. Not Anya though she for some reason enjoys the pointyness. Nothing is more terrifying than her obsession with needles…well…"

Xander was beginning to feel more like himself when he realized that Will was as close to being all right as she had been in the past month. They were joking around which to him meant that she was going to be fine.

"I should probably get a doctor. And everyone is downstairs eating breakfast. Dawn had to drag Buffy and Tara out of here. They wanted to be here when you woke up."

Willow's eyes as she finally felt Tara;s presence. She wanted so much to see her but was frozen with the fear that she might do something wrong, that Tara was only there because she was worried about Dawn. She sat up again and this time pain racked through her entire body and she lost the ability to breath completely. As she froze, her muscles tensing in reaction to the pain alarms began ringing a nurse rushed in and realized what had happened and quickly ran to her side.

"Breathe. Come on I know you hurt. Just breath through it."

Her voice was soothing however she pulled out a needle which Willow flinched away from. That undid all of the work the poor woman had done in calming the redhead who by now though was managing to speak in rapid gasps.

"Nnnno I'm fine. Please I'm good see? All better. Can I go home now?"

Willow asked as she still cradled her left side. Her mind running a mile a minute realized that she probably had damaged internal organs and that was where this mind numbing pain was coming from.

"I'm going to go get a doctor. I believe that Dr. Kleeps is still here. She really does watch over her patients most of the time she even does rounds with the nurses and makes sure that the patients are doing as well in a hospital as they could."

Willow nodded and sat silently as the nurse went running down the hall.

"My head feels ucky."

"Wills Ucky isn't a word"

"It's a Willowy word. I think I'm on drugs."

Willow said as her voice began to come back and shifted from a rasp to a whisper and then some woman in a white coat appeared in the doorway.

"Well you are on drugs. Are you familiar with oxycotton? That's what I have you on. We'll work you off of it in a while but with your injuries being a little loopy is a good thing. Now please give me your name, and place of birth."

"Willow Rosenberg. I was born in Sunnydale."

"Ok. What month is it?"

"July."

"What color are my eyes?"

"Blue."

"What is six times twelve?"

"72."

"I think that you're going to be just fine. Now I want you to take it easy and sleep as much as you can. Sleep is the body's way of healing. I've got to head home now but I will be back in a few hours and I am always on call incase something happens. So I will leave this young gentleman to explain to you your condition."

Willow smiled.

"Gentleman? I'm her brother. Right Wills? I'm her brotherly brother."

"Ok. Goodbye Mr. Harris, feel better Ms. Rosenberg."

Willow chuckled and then grimaced when her chest decided to protest and her broken ribs screamed at her.

"Xander what's wrong with me?"

"Internal injuries. Then they said that you pulled a humpty dumpty and they had to find all the pieces and try to put you back together again. Something about broken ribs and the number two…..then what was that OH there was something about a knife. What did they say about the knife?"

"That Buffy would use it on Xander if Willow woke up and he didn't come down to tell her."

Buffy said as she crossed her arms walking in and then smiling at Willow. Tara was the next one in and Willow felt her chest explode. She was terrified enthralled and excited all at the same time which sent her heart rate through the roof. Glancing at the moniter and chuckling Xander missed the horror on Tara's face.

"Am I really tthat scary?"

Tara whispered as she walked next to Willow's side. Willow for her part was lost starring into Tara's eyes. She had tried for so long remember every detail about Tara but standing next to the real thing she realized how her memory could never do the beauty justice. Looking at her bed sheets Willow found herself lost in thoughts of why The blonde had left. She couldn't forgive herself, how could Tara?

"No.. You're the opposite of scary. But I."

"You are hurt and going to rest and worry about the past later."

"Rright. All that mmatters now is getting yyou better."

This time as she spoke Tara initated physical contact with Willow taking her good hand in her own, then running her free hand through the red head's hair.

"But I I am bad. I'm a bad Willow. I said bad things and I did worse things and I…"

"You are ggoing to listen to me tthis time. Jjust listen to mme Will. Trust me. Gget better now and wwell work through iit together later."

Will smiled at Tara. It was an almost sad smile but to Tara it was the most relieving thing that she had seen that day. She had come up early with Buffy to check on Willow. When she had seen a white coat running into Willow's room her heat had stopped beating.

Willow looked at Buffy who was sitting next to her smiling, then to Xander who seemed to be watching the scene with his Xanderness. She had her two best friends on either side of her and she didn't know where she stood with Tara but she had her Tara next to her. She had her Tara.

…

This chapter makes me smile...You guys know the drill I own nothing blab la bla, please review, blab la bla witty remark blab la bla.

Yours Truly

G. Laces