Speaking

Word Count: 150

"Hey, Dr. Hawk."

He had been checking her pulse when Kathleen whispered. He dropped her hand in surprise. "You're awake."

She smiled tiredly. "Little."

"Let me check your pupils." They dilated perfectly. "You're healing very nicely, Kathleen."

She didn't meet his eyes. "Did they say what got me?"

"You don't know?" Hawkeye was skeptical.

Kathleen shook her head hesitantly. "Don't remember."

"Xander told me it was a mugger, a druggie desperate for cash."

"Did . . . get 'im?" She was succumbing to sleep.

"Not yet."

She moved to get out of bed. "Get 'im," she mumbled.

Hawkeye held her down. "Oh, no you don't. I just stitched together every major organ in your abdomen. You are not going to chase anybody for a couple weeks, let alone the day after your surgery. Let the authorities handle it."

"Am 'thority," his patient slurred.

"Rest, Kathleen." Laura stood in the doorway. "We got him."

Screaming II

Word Count: 100

Hawkeye dragged Xander outside. Xander let him. "Tell me what happened. A mugger doesn't leave the marks of a mountain lion."

"You don't want to know."

"She almost died!"

"She wouldn't have been the first and she wouldn't have been the last," Xander retorted.

"I want to know."

Xander sat tiredly on the grass. "A Bride of Dracula. Vamp could shape-shift into a big cat."

Hawkeye shook with frustration. "I want the truth!"

"Fine! A mountain lion escaped from some idiot who kept it as a pet. Kathleen got in its way."

"Now you are lying."

"Make up your mind!"

Shocking II

Word Count: 100

Dr. Hawkeye Pierce sat in the car alone. Xander and five girls stood at various sentry points surrounding the car. He had been given explicit instructions. He was not allowed to leave the car. He fiddled with the small container of Holy Water Xander had asked him to pick up in preparation for tonight.

Something happened to Hawkeye's left. Two girls ran into the woods, minutes later they returned with a struggling man in between. They braced him again the car.

"Holy Water?" Xander reached into the car.

Hawkeye handed it over.

And watched the man turn into a monster.

Speaking II

Word Count: 100

"Dr. Pierce? Dr. Hawk?"

"Did we break him?"

"Told you he was too old to learn about vamps."

"His heart couldn't take it, maybe?"

"Dr. Hawk? You in there? Blink if you hear me."

"We did break him."

"What are we going to do with Kathleen if he's broken? How do we explain to a hospital how she'd been stitched?"

Kathleen.

His patient.

Needed him.

Kathleen.

Hawkeye slowly shook his head. "The man . . . turned . . . into a . . ."

"Vampire?" Xander offered.

"Then . . ."

"Went poof?" Laura filled in.

"You were telling the truth."

"Now, he believes," Xander threw his hands in the air.

Seething II

Word Count: 100

Death had always been his personal enemy. Hawkeye had become a doctor to fight it. He had been good at stealing young men back from Death, exceptional even.

All along Death must have been laughing at him.

Because little girls had been out there, protecting humanity.

Dying.

Alone.

With no one fighting for them.

Saving them.

Their cause was more than ridiculed; it was ignored and rationalized away.

Still they fought, one after another through the centuries.

How many Slayers had died in his lifetime? How many had saved the world and he hadn't even heard a whisper?

No more.