Sunnydale Hospital
Sunday
9:30 am
Giles and Willow walked into Buffy's hospital room after Xander had
left. "Hey, Buffy. How are you feeling?" Willow asked.
"Probably similar to you," Buffy answered. "Except you turned out to
be much stronger than me. It must be the witch in you."
"I don't know about that," Willow shrugged. "You did get pretty run
down before the curse."
"And Giles," Buffy said. "You managed to save my life again, thanks
doesn't seem quite enough."
"Well, I don't know if I'm the one you should be thanking," Giles
replied. "Wesley found the spell, after all. I just performed it."
"You're too modest, Giles. I know you, and I know you probably haven't
slept in over 24 hours, have you? None of you have, and I owe all of
you my life.... But enough sappy stuff. I just had a thought. Are
Forrest and Graham and the others okay?" she asked.
"We pulled them out of the building before it blew up," Giles replied.
"The warlocks had knocked them out, but they woke up when the building
blew. They were fine. They're taking care of the rest of the demon
activity around town now, I imagine."
"Good, I'm glad they're okay," Buffy said. "I know the Initiative has
caused a lot of problems, but they mean well. It wasn't their fault
Professor Walsh was playing Dr. Frankenstein. Wait a second. I'm a
little slow on the uptake this morning, but .... Charlotte blew up the
Bronze????"
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Charlotte and Oz returned to the Hospital as Willow and Giles were
exiting Buffy's room. "She wants to talk to you," Willow said to
Charlotte, with a smile. "I should warn you, Buffy _really_ liked the
Bronze."
"Oh," Charlie giggled. "Oops!" The entire group dissolved into
much-needed laughter, including Joyce, who Cordelia had filled in on
the events of the evening.
"You want to join me?" Charlie asked Joyce. "That is if you don't mind
if your daughter and I talk a little Slayer business."
"I would be thrilled just to be able to make sure she's okay," Joyce
said, gratefully.
Willow asked Oz, "So have fun getting rid of the big, bad demon?"
"Fun, I dunno," Oz shrugged. "It was an.... um... stress-reliever?" At
Willow's questioning look, he elaborated. "Charlotte wanted to make
sure that he wasn't going to come back. So we chopped him up into
pieces, and buried the pieces all over town."
"Okay, so not a mental image I needed," Cordelia commented, wrinkling
her nose in disgust.
"Well, er, it was... thorough," Giles offered helpfully.
"It was a good way to work out my anger at what he did to you," Oz
said to Willow. "Although I think I need a shower, and my van needs a
good washing."
"Well, if you're ready to go, drive me home?" Willow asked, as she
stifled a yawn. "I think I need some sleep."
"Sure, I can do that," Oz said, and the two walked out hand in hand.
&&&&&&&&&&&
"So?" Cordelia walked over to where Xander was standing, watching the
rest of the group. "You okay?"
"Fine, Cordy," Xander said. At her raised eyebrow, he
smiled, "Really, I promise. You haven't heard what happened?"
"At Giles'?" Cordelia replied. "Not really. I heard that Angel killed
Adam, and that you and Anya were there, but not much else. You haven't
thrown Angel any die looks, so I'm curious as to what happened."
"Well, Anya and I showed up at Giles' house right before Adam did. We
kept him out for a little while, and Anya took Willow upstairs. Adam
broke down the door, and went through Oz and Wesley, leaving them both
dazed or unconscious. I was ready for him, or so I thought. But in
true Xander-fashion, I got my ass kicked by the big, bad, demon. I
was pretty much contemplating whether it would be fun to be dead,
when Angel and Charlotte showed up. Angel killed Adam just as Adam
was about to kill me. Now I really hope you grasp the irony of that
fact."
"Wow," Cordelia said. She was silent for a moment, and then said,
"So...and I really sound like a broken record here, but are you okay
with it?"
"Surprisingly, I think so," Xander replied. "I get that there's a
difference between the demon who tortured me and the person who saved
my life. I can deal with him being around."
"I'm glad to hear that, Xander," Cordelia said. "The gang wasn't the
same without you. Now maybe things can calm down for a little while."
Xander replied with a disbelieving lookk, and she said, "Okay, so
maybe not, but a girl can hope, can't she?"
"What are you hoping for, Princess?" Doyle said, walking up.
"A non-psycho town," Cordelia replied. "Xander, this is Doyle."
"Nice to meet you," Xander said shaking Doyle's hand. "I'd introduce
you to Anya, but she passed out," he pointed to a nearby chair where
Anya had curled up and fallen asleep. "And I think she has the right
idea, so I'm probably going to take her home." He walked over to
where Anya was sitting and woke her up gently. She glared at him but
let him lead her back out to their car.
&&&&&&&&&&
10:30 am
"Sleep sounds good," Cordelia said, leaning back against Doyle's chest
as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Charlie, you ready to go?" Doyle asked Charlotte, who had walked back
out of Buffy's room with Angel earlier and was standing talking to
Giles and Wesley.
"I'm not sure if Buffy has anything else she wanted to talk to me
about--" Charlotte started to reply.
"Charlotte!" they heard Buffy call.
"Guess so, I'll be back soon," Charlotte said. "If you guys wanna go
ahead, I can walk myself home," she suggested as she re-entered the
hospital room.
"I'll take you home as soon as Charlotte's done talking to Buffy,"
Doyle said to Cordy, as Charlotte returned to Buffy's room again.
&&&&&&&
10 minutes earlier....
"Mom, I'm fine," Buffy said irritably, batting away her mother's
fussing hands. She'd fixed Buffy's pillow five times, and had asked
fifty times if she could get her anything. "Seriously, unwig already
please."
"Buffy, you almost--forget almost. You died, more than once last
night. I apologize if my having trouble with that fact is annoying
you," Joyce replied angrily.
Buffy sighed, and said, "Charlotte, Angel, would you give me and my
mom a minute, please?"
"Sure Buffy," Angel replied and he and Charlotte left the room to give
the two Summers women some privacy.
"Okay," Buffy said. "Go ahead, spill. Yell, scream, whatever."
"I'm not going to yell, Buffy," Joyce replied. "I just can't get used
to this, no matter how many times I see you in this hospital.
Watching you lying there last night, hooked up to those machines, it
was my worst nightmare. Even worse than telling the doctor to take
you off life support. Having to wonder if I was doing the wrong
thing, if you'd be gone forever."
"I'm sorry that you had to go through that, but I can't do anything to
change it. And I can't promise you that it won't happen again. And I
can't let you pretend that you can protect me, because you can't.
Don't backtrack again, don't make us have the same arguments every
time I get hurt. I'm too tired to run through those old arguments."
"Buffy, it would help if you'd talk to me," Joyce said. "It's not
right to just brush it off and say, 'oh well, slayer's life'. Keeping
it all bottled up, it can't be healthy. If we could talk about what
happened, I wouldn't feel so helpless. At least I could listen, that
would make me feel useful."
"I don't want to talk about it," Buffy said. "I don't do that. I kill
the demon, I stop the evil. If I get hurt in the process, I can't
dwell on it. If I did that, analyzed every awful thing that happened,
I would go insane. The things that happen to a Slayer, they're just
beyond getting your brain around.
"What would you want to know, anyway? What it feels like to get on
the wrong side of a warlock's curse? The feeling of being ripped
apart, piece by piece, over and over again until you want to die?
Hearing every screaming voice in hell in your head, refusing to go
away? Feeling every part of you that's sane slipping away and
fighting like hell to keep them from getting that too?
"WHAT!? WHAT is it that you want to know!" Buffy exploded finally,
and threw a nearby vase of across the room, shattering it. She was
crying now, tears of anger and grief. Joyce reached for her, but
Buffy pushed her away. "NO! she yelled. "I just want to move on, and
this isn't the way."
Joyce sighed, and said, "Fine. If you won't let me help, maybe you'll
let someone else, Buffy. Just don't ignore it. If you do, it will all
catch up with you when you don't need it to."
Joyce went out to the hall. Angel was standing right outside, and she
could see the concern on his face. "She's really hurting right now. I
know I haven't been the most supportive of you two in the past, but I
never doubted that you love her. Don't let her push it all aside and
pretend like there's nothing wrong. It wouldn't be good for her."
"I'll do everything I can to help her, Joyce," Angel replied. "But
she's stubborn. Nobody can make Buffy do something she doesn't want
to do," he added with a smile.
"I know, she got it from her father," Joyce rolled her eyes and walked
over to a nearby chair.
Angel chuckled, and thought *Somehow I think you two are more alike
than either of you would ever admit.*
&&&&&&&&
End Fourteen
Sunday
9:30 am
Giles and Willow walked into Buffy's hospital room after Xander had
left. "Hey, Buffy. How are you feeling?" Willow asked.
"Probably similar to you," Buffy answered. "Except you turned out to
be much stronger than me. It must be the witch in you."
"I don't know about that," Willow shrugged. "You did get pretty run
down before the curse."
"And Giles," Buffy said. "You managed to save my life again, thanks
doesn't seem quite enough."
"Well, I don't know if I'm the one you should be thanking," Giles
replied. "Wesley found the spell, after all. I just performed it."
"You're too modest, Giles. I know you, and I know you probably haven't
slept in over 24 hours, have you? None of you have, and I owe all of
you my life.... But enough sappy stuff. I just had a thought. Are
Forrest and Graham and the others okay?" she asked.
"We pulled them out of the building before it blew up," Giles replied.
"The warlocks had knocked them out, but they woke up when the building
blew. They were fine. They're taking care of the rest of the demon
activity around town now, I imagine."
"Good, I'm glad they're okay," Buffy said. "I know the Initiative has
caused a lot of problems, but they mean well. It wasn't their fault
Professor Walsh was playing Dr. Frankenstein. Wait a second. I'm a
little slow on the uptake this morning, but .... Charlotte blew up the
Bronze????"
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Charlotte and Oz returned to the Hospital as Willow and Giles were
exiting Buffy's room. "She wants to talk to you," Willow said to
Charlotte, with a smile. "I should warn you, Buffy _really_ liked the
Bronze."
"Oh," Charlie giggled. "Oops!" The entire group dissolved into
much-needed laughter, including Joyce, who Cordelia had filled in on
the events of the evening.
"You want to join me?" Charlie asked Joyce. "That is if you don't mind
if your daughter and I talk a little Slayer business."
"I would be thrilled just to be able to make sure she's okay," Joyce
said, gratefully.
Willow asked Oz, "So have fun getting rid of the big, bad demon?"
"Fun, I dunno," Oz shrugged. "It was an.... um... stress-reliever?" At
Willow's questioning look, he elaborated. "Charlotte wanted to make
sure that he wasn't going to come back. So we chopped him up into
pieces, and buried the pieces all over town."
"Okay, so not a mental image I needed," Cordelia commented, wrinkling
her nose in disgust.
"Well, er, it was... thorough," Giles offered helpfully.
"It was a good way to work out my anger at what he did to you," Oz
said to Willow. "Although I think I need a shower, and my van needs a
good washing."
"Well, if you're ready to go, drive me home?" Willow asked, as she
stifled a yawn. "I think I need some sleep."
"Sure, I can do that," Oz said, and the two walked out hand in hand.
&&&&&&&&&&&
"So?" Cordelia walked over to where Xander was standing, watching the
rest of the group. "You okay?"
"Fine, Cordy," Xander said. At her raised eyebrow, he
smiled, "Really, I promise. You haven't heard what happened?"
"At Giles'?" Cordelia replied. "Not really. I heard that Angel killed
Adam, and that you and Anya were there, but not much else. You haven't
thrown Angel any die looks, so I'm curious as to what happened."
"Well, Anya and I showed up at Giles' house right before Adam did. We
kept him out for a little while, and Anya took Willow upstairs. Adam
broke down the door, and went through Oz and Wesley, leaving them both
dazed or unconscious. I was ready for him, or so I thought. But in
true Xander-fashion, I got my ass kicked by the big, bad, demon. I
was pretty much contemplating whether it would be fun to be dead,
when Angel and Charlotte showed up. Angel killed Adam just as Adam
was about to kill me. Now I really hope you grasp the irony of that
fact."
"Wow," Cordelia said. She was silent for a moment, and then said,
"So...and I really sound like a broken record here, but are you okay
with it?"
"Surprisingly, I think so," Xander replied. "I get that there's a
difference between the demon who tortured me and the person who saved
my life. I can deal with him being around."
"I'm glad to hear that, Xander," Cordelia said. "The gang wasn't the
same without you. Now maybe things can calm down for a little while."
Xander replied with a disbelieving lookk, and she said, "Okay, so
maybe not, but a girl can hope, can't she?"
"What are you hoping for, Princess?" Doyle said, walking up.
"A non-psycho town," Cordelia replied. "Xander, this is Doyle."
"Nice to meet you," Xander said shaking Doyle's hand. "I'd introduce
you to Anya, but she passed out," he pointed to a nearby chair where
Anya had curled up and fallen asleep. "And I think she has the right
idea, so I'm probably going to take her home." He walked over to
where Anya was sitting and woke her up gently. She glared at him but
let him lead her back out to their car.
&&&&&&&&&&
10:30 am
"Sleep sounds good," Cordelia said, leaning back against Doyle's chest
as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Charlie, you ready to go?" Doyle asked Charlotte, who had walked back
out of Buffy's room with Angel earlier and was standing talking to
Giles and Wesley.
"I'm not sure if Buffy has anything else she wanted to talk to me
about--" Charlotte started to reply.
"Charlotte!" they heard Buffy call.
"Guess so, I'll be back soon," Charlotte said. "If you guys wanna go
ahead, I can walk myself home," she suggested as she re-entered the
hospital room.
"I'll take you home as soon as Charlotte's done talking to Buffy,"
Doyle said to Cordy, as Charlotte returned to Buffy's room again.
&&&&&&&
10 minutes earlier....
"Mom, I'm fine," Buffy said irritably, batting away her mother's
fussing hands. She'd fixed Buffy's pillow five times, and had asked
fifty times if she could get her anything. "Seriously, unwig already
please."
"Buffy, you almost--forget almost. You died, more than once last
night. I apologize if my having trouble with that fact is annoying
you," Joyce replied angrily.
Buffy sighed, and said, "Charlotte, Angel, would you give me and my
mom a minute, please?"
"Sure Buffy," Angel replied and he and Charlotte left the room to give
the two Summers women some privacy.
"Okay," Buffy said. "Go ahead, spill. Yell, scream, whatever."
"I'm not going to yell, Buffy," Joyce replied. "I just can't get used
to this, no matter how many times I see you in this hospital.
Watching you lying there last night, hooked up to those machines, it
was my worst nightmare. Even worse than telling the doctor to take
you off life support. Having to wonder if I was doing the wrong
thing, if you'd be gone forever."
"I'm sorry that you had to go through that, but I can't do anything to
change it. And I can't promise you that it won't happen again. And I
can't let you pretend that you can protect me, because you can't.
Don't backtrack again, don't make us have the same arguments every
time I get hurt. I'm too tired to run through those old arguments."
"Buffy, it would help if you'd talk to me," Joyce said. "It's not
right to just brush it off and say, 'oh well, slayer's life'. Keeping
it all bottled up, it can't be healthy. If we could talk about what
happened, I wouldn't feel so helpless. At least I could listen, that
would make me feel useful."
"I don't want to talk about it," Buffy said. "I don't do that. I kill
the demon, I stop the evil. If I get hurt in the process, I can't
dwell on it. If I did that, analyzed every awful thing that happened,
I would go insane. The things that happen to a Slayer, they're just
beyond getting your brain around.
"What would you want to know, anyway? What it feels like to get on
the wrong side of a warlock's curse? The feeling of being ripped
apart, piece by piece, over and over again until you want to die?
Hearing every screaming voice in hell in your head, refusing to go
away? Feeling every part of you that's sane slipping away and
fighting like hell to keep them from getting that too?
"WHAT!? WHAT is it that you want to know!" Buffy exploded finally,
and threw a nearby vase of across the room, shattering it. She was
crying now, tears of anger and grief. Joyce reached for her, but
Buffy pushed her away. "NO! she yelled. "I just want to move on, and
this isn't the way."
Joyce sighed, and said, "Fine. If you won't let me help, maybe you'll
let someone else, Buffy. Just don't ignore it. If you do, it will all
catch up with you when you don't need it to."
Joyce went out to the hall. Angel was standing right outside, and she
could see the concern on his face. "She's really hurting right now. I
know I haven't been the most supportive of you two in the past, but I
never doubted that you love her. Don't let her push it all aside and
pretend like there's nothing wrong. It wouldn't be good for her."
"I'll do everything I can to help her, Joyce," Angel replied. "But
she's stubborn. Nobody can make Buffy do something she doesn't want
to do," he added with a smile.
"I know, she got it from her father," Joyce rolled her eyes and walked
over to a nearby chair.
Angel chuckled, and thought *Somehow I think you two are more alike
than either of you would ever admit.*
&&&&&&&&
End Fourteen