Title: Webs: Origins - Part 2
Author: Wesley (With input and insight from Stone Cold)
Rating: WARNING PG-13/R (For Violence and Adult Language)
Feedback: For the love of God YES!!!! I need Feedback, its my motivation!!! Plus kudos give me a happy :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Jack-Diddly
Notes: I wanted to bring together my two favorite
worlds, Buffy and Spider-Man, so here we go. Italics indicate thought, where
as * text* indicates a flashback. This Story line is set in Season 4/5.

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As long as there
have been demons, there has been the Slayer. One girl in the entire world, a
Chosen one, born with the strength and skill to hunt vampires and other
creatures of the dark. When one Slayer dies, the next is called.
*********************************************************

Part 2: ...said the spider to the fly

[-Sunnydale Hospital - 6:15 p.m.-]

White walls and bland floor tiles stared back at Xander from the sterile hospital room Willow lay asleep in. The doctors and nurses had all emphatically reassured him that his dearest child hood friend would be all right but despite their chipper disposition, Xander couldn't get past the sickness in his stomach. Willow was settled in the bed peacefully, her head crooked slightly to the left with her glazed eyes looking at nothing. The look on her face was so serene to Xander, unlike the white squall of worry behind his eyes. The doctor had told him she had a concussion and was still rather dazed. They also informed him that the red head would have to stay in the hospital for at least twenty-four hours.

Xander had called Giles at the college library to let him know of the day's happenings. Giles was working there as a consultant for various texts on Demonology and he promised to find Buffy and Tara as well. Xander admired Giles. He probably would not admit it to... well, ANYONE but it was true none the less. Xander appreciated the way the man had always been so stern yet understanding.

One of the nurses noticed him standing at the door to Willow's room.

"Friend of yours?" The nurse asked through a glittery smile.

"Huh?" Xander asked at the woman's sudden vocal intrusion. "Oh, sorry. Yeah, she's my best friend. Accident at the school, concussion." Xander muttered distractedly.

"Try not to worry to much, I'm sure she'll be fine." The nurse reflexively assured.

Xander started scratching at the back of his hand as he glanced at the white clad woman's name badge. "Thank you, Carol." He said managing a smile.

The nurse noticed the small red bump he raking at with his nails. The little welt on the back of his hand had been itching ever since they loaded his friend into the ambulance. The middle-aged nurse asked what had happened.

"Just the remains of a spider having a Xander snack." Xander said.

"Well Xander," She started, "it looks like you're having an allergic reaction there. I think you should see one of the doctors." Reluctantly Xander had left his post at Willow's door and followed Carol to one of the ER doctors.

An elderly gentleman with snow white hair and a grandfather's smile examined Xander's hand carefully, "There doesn't seem to be any striation around the bite, son. Looks like an allergic reaction. I'll have the nurse disinfect it and put a bandage on the bite. A shot of antihistamine should stop the itching and any further reaction. The nurse will take care of that for you too." The doctor granted them both a kind smile and with a nod of his head dismissed the nurse.

Once again, Xander Harris followed her to one of the cookie-cutter patient treatment rooms. The nurse dressed the spider bite in gauze for the dark haired boy.

"Okay Hon, I'm gonna go get the shot of cortisone and we'll have you fixed up as good as new." The nurse said through shining eyes.

Xander's stomach clenched like a fist when she mentioned the shot. He was definitely not a fan of needles. Oh he wouldn't run from them, he would take it like a man (or at least a brave little boy) but that didn't mean he had to like it.

He remembered the last time he had gotten a shot. He, Willow, and Oz had been patrolling with Buffy one dark and blustery night and a particularly nasty demon had decided they would make a yummy snack. The group fought valiantly and eventually Buffy relieved the demon from the burden a head can present. Unfortunately for Xander, the thing had thrown him into one of the cemetery's many iron fences before the decapitation. The fence had been covered in ruddy scales of rust that mingled with the coppery red of his blood when the flesh of his head split on the fence. There had been a trip to the hospital that night, and the doctors insisted on a tetanus shot.

Xander cringed at the memory.

The nurse returned shortly with a needle full of cortisone. Xander clenched his eyes and held out his arm for the woman, but then she said something that filled him with a kind of horror that not even the Mayor could instill in him.

"I'm sorry Hon, but I'm gonna need to give this to you somewhere else... could you pull your pants down please?"

Xander nearly fainted, "Oh... dear... God..."

***

Xander sat, rather uncomfortably, outside Willow's room toying with the lens of his Minolta camera. When he had returned from his... incident... the nurse on duty told him that Willow had been asking for him. Xander cursed silently under his breathe for not being there. The nurse, whose badge read Evelyn, asked him to wait outside the room for the doctor.

An older doctor came out of Willow's room and approached Xander. "Young man, you're girlfriend should be fine. It looks like the head trauma was minimal, she caught the brunt of the fall on her shoulders. We still need to keep her here for at least a day to make sure there aren't any complications. Has anyone called Ms. Rosenberg's parents?" the doctor questioned.

Xander smiled sadly at the physician, "Doc, I'm not her boyfriend, just A friend. But I called her parents earlier, they should be here soon and..." Xander saw Tara coming through the ER's entrance ".. between me and her other friends, I think we can handle the little lady. Er.. at least I mean we can take care of her, not handle like ya know *handle* cause that would just be creepy and all... okay I'm shutting up now." The doctor simply gave the boy a confused smile and went about his affairs.

Tara moved toward him quickly, a look of worry chiseled on her features. Xander greeted her with a a small half-smile as Willow's newest friend approached. Behind her Xander saw Buffy, Giles, and even Riley emerge from the ER's automatic doors. They hurried to join Xander and Tara, with similar expressions curtaining their faces.

Xander noticed as Riley approached an buzz-like tingling sensation in the back of his mind. * Ack, what the hell is that? My luck I'm probably having an allergic reaction the the anti-allergy stuff. *

"Xander, wh-wh-what's the deal... is Willow okay?" Tara nervously questioned.

"Yeah Tara, she'll be okay, the old gal has taken worse bumps before. She has a concussion though so they aren't letting people in just yet. She's pretty wonked out and they want her to rest as much as possible." Xander scratched idly at the back of his hand. *That cortisone better work! I'm not going through THAT again!. *

"Doctor's said she will need to stay here about a day... you know the basic Hellmouth special." Xander smiled slightly to try and relieve some tension in the room.

"Um Xander ..." Giles started as he rubbed his glasses with an ivory handkerchief, "... where are Willow's parents?"

"I called them from the pay phone. I got the machine so I tried their cell phone. They're visiting some friends over in Angel Brook. They should be here in about 45 minutes or so." Xander informed them.

Willow's mother had been hysterical when she heard the news. One would have thought in the world of the Hellmouth, a visit to the hospital to claim a child would be routine, but nothing could compare to a mother's love. They would definitely pin the pedal on the way home, but even doing 90 the trip would take at least an couple hours.

"What exactly happened to her Xander? Giles wasn't to specific." Buffy lectured.

"Well I wasn't exactly given the best information EITHER Buffy ..." Giles defended.

"Children, Children..." Xander mockingly scolded, "... am I gonna have to separate you two?" Xander received discouraging looks from both Buffy and Giles at his witticism.

"Anyway, Willow was at a science demonstration at the college. I was supposed to meet her there to tell her some news... hence me being there. I'm not sure what exactly happened but there was an explosion and I got there just in time to see Willow's head crack the floor." Xander revealed through a choked voice. Then he felt Buffy's arms around him, and he hugged her tight. *If only I had gotten there a few minutes earlier! *

As if she had read his mind Buffy spoke, "Thank God you got there when you did. Any earlier and you could have been caught up in the explosion too! Just don't blame yourself Xan, there was nothing you could do." Xander offered her a smile to ease her mind. But underneath, Buffy's words stung like a venomous snake bite. *Nothing I could do. That seems to be the trend lately. *

"Thanks Buff."

The tingle in the back of his head reemerged when Riley moved over and laid a hand on his shoulder. Xander had to fight the urge to slug the poor guy right there. He could feel his fist tighten into rock and his flesh crawled at Riley's touch. The uncontrollable urge of fear and adrenaline along beside the buzzing in the back of his dark haired head.

"Don't worry Xander, I'm sure she'll pull through." Riley said in monotone.

"Yeah, thanks." he allowed with great relief when Riley removed his hand. He was about to speak again when his stomach started to rumble.

"Xander... um if you want to um go get something to eat or... um..." Giles
started.

"Thanks Giles, I'm pretty hungry, I was supposed to take Willow out to lunch." Xander said, "How about you guys?" Xander asked. "I can run down and grab some Chinese or pizza or something and bring it back. You know a classic Scooby Gang shindig at Sunnydale Hospital?"

"I think that would be a good idea Xander." Giles responded. "Pizza everyone?"

"Yeah I think that'll be fine." Buffy said glancing at Riley and Tara.

Behind Buffy's eyes a well of emotion churned. Concern for her fallen friend floated at the surface of her mind. Anger as well. Anger at the fact that there was no demon to punish, no prophecy to blame, and no spell to undo. The very fact that this accident was one of the horrid facts of life was like a knife twisting in Buffy's gut. Yet, even beyond all that, something warmed her heart. Xander. Her goofy friend had been in the Hospital for over 3 hours and yet he still thought about bringing them food, about supporting the gang.

Buffy's mind was pulled back to reality by the feeling of Riley's hand tangling in hers. "It'll be okay Buff, Willow's a strong young woman." Buffy managed a small smile for Riley as she watched Xander walking out of the ER door.

[-Outside Ribitzi's Pizza Emporium-]

Xander walked along the sunlit Sunnydale streets, carrying with him 3 large pizzas; Supreme, Meat Feast, and Hawaiian Surprise, standard issue hospital duty food. Ribitzi himself knew each of the gang by name. *Ugh, I don't know why Buffy even likes this stuff * our dark haired hero thought to himself when the scent of anchovies from the Hawaiian Surprise touched his olfactory senses. Xander's face contorted into that of mild disgust *I'll be happy to drop these things off in the car. *

Xander left the pizza's in the car as he headed toward the Sunnydale Bugle. He had 3 rolls of film he wanted to drop off at The Bugle's in house photo labs. The Bugle had just opened 3 months ago, and thankfully for him were in dire need of photographers.* Who'da thunk I would have caught such a break. * Xander smiled to himself for the first time since witnessing Willow's accident. That was until the odd buzzing in the back of his head began screaming at him.

Xander collapsed to one knee from the sudden shock of sensation. After the stinging pain behind his eyes dulled, they caught a hint of movement in an alley across the way from him. There he saw a young woman, no more than 20, being dragged back into the dark pit. * Vampire * his mind rang out * He must have been hiding from the daylight in that alley. Probably got hung up before sunrise. Looks like fangoid wants some late lunch before sunset... well Mighty Xand-Man to the rescue. One Vamp... Daylight... no problem * Xander told himself, and then stepped toward the alley on shaky feet * No problem at all. * Xander entered the alley in time to hear the brunette start begging for her life.

"P...P...P.. .please... just don't hurt me, take whatever you want." The girl sniffled, holding her purse out toward her assailant like a magic shield. But alas her shield didn't make the boogie man disappear. The attacker simply sneered and moved toward her malevolently. He was about to descend upon her when a shuffling sound behind him caught his attention. He pivoted on heel to see a man standing there , his shadow creeping across the ground of the filthy alley, one Mr. Xander Harris. In his hand was a... wooden stick?

"Okay bloodsucker," He started, a faux Clint Eastwood impression tinged his forced voice as he spoke, "let the girl go and lets get this over with. I've got places to go, people to do, and things to see."

"Bloodsucker?" The greasy haired leather clad punk asked, as he pulled a 9mm Berretta from his jacket and aimed it straight for Xander's head. "Heh, I've been called lots a thangs bitch, but I think this is a first for Bloodsucka."

Only one word could appropriately express Xander's situation.

"Shit..."