Disclaimers and challenge details can still be found at the beginning…
Thanks again to all of you who take the time to let me know what you think of the story—your reviews and emails (feedback in all its lovely forms) are always appreciated! Also, I know the updates aren't coming as quickly as some of you would like, but they are coming *g* so thanks for sticking with me!
Thanks to Specks, who helped me sort out where I was going after my train of thought derailed, and a huge debt of gratitude to Ky, whose suggestions are always "on" and whose 'super quick' beta work astounds me!
***
Walking into the brightly lit ER, Willow looked at Buffy sympathetically. The slayer was biting her nails nervously and looked as though she wanted to bolt from the room. Linking an arm through Buffy's, she led the blond toward the information desk and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this? I know you're worried about Doyle, but you hate hospitals…"
"No, it's okay, Will," Buffy lied.
Taking in the dingy white walls and the battered and scarred metal seats occupied by the sick and injured or by the distressed friends and family of the sick and injured, she felt far from okay. The vague antiseptic smell that tainted the air reminded her of Celia, her favorite cousin… Celia's hospital room had that smell and it just seemed to grow stronger the sicker she had become. Even now, years after Buffy had defeated the monster that ultimately killed Celia, that smell sent shivers up and down her spine.
Trying to shake off her unease, she looked around the crowded waiting room nervously, searching for any sign of Doyle or his friends before looking back at Willow. Seeing the look of concern on her friend's face, she clarified. "Okay, so hospitals still give me *major* wiggins…" she shrugged and continued, "but it's… it's not as bad now. Really. Besides, I'm worried about Doyle. He was so pale, Will, and I don't even know how long..."
"Can I help you?" The harried receptionist interrupted her impatiently.
"Oh, we're looking for a friend that was brought in by ambulance a little while ago…"
"What's your friends name?"
"Doyle." Buffy responded as the woman sorted through a stack of medical charts on the desk.
"Ah," she stopped, and opened up one of the files from the middle of the stack. "Doyle, A.F. Neck trauma and blood loss, right?" Not looking at the girls for confirmation, she closed the file and set it back down on the pile. "You can have a seat with the others," with a wave of her hand, she gestured at the back of the room, where Angel and Riley could be seen. "Someone will let you know when there's news," she informed them as she turned her attention to the next person in line.
"Well, let's go sit, Willow."
Leading her friend through the packed waiting area, Buffy checked her watch.
It had been nearly an hour since she'd found Doyle. He'd been carted away in an ambulance less than ten minutes after that, and the drive to the hospital was a short one, no more than another 10 minutes. If the doctor's hadn't brought any news after nearly forty minutes, it was probably a good sign…
Suddenly needing reassurance, she asked Willow, "It's a good sign, right? I mean it's been nearly an hour and if there's no news yet… Then, at least he's still… right?"
Giving Buffy a quick hug, Willow tried for an optimistic tone, "He'll be okay, Buffy."
Buffy flashed a sad smile, "Thanks, Will. It's weird… People get attacked by vampires all the time in Sunnydale; a lot of them die. I always feel guilty about it, but usually they're just faceless victims. It's so much harder to deal with when you know the person…"
Reaching the back of the waiting room, Buffy settled into a seat across from Riley, giving him a sympathetic look as Willow sat down beside her. Turning her attention to Angel, she couldn't believe how different he looked now. His hair was sticking up all over his head in unruly spikes and he was drawn and pale; none of the vitality she'd felt radiating from him earlier was present. Bathed in the harsh fluorescent lighting of the ER he looked thoroughly washed out. His obvious distress added a fresh new layer to the guilt she was already shouldering. Since she didn't know how to comfort him without resorting to lies or platitudes, she didn't even try.
"Angel?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you… Uh, did they say anything yet? About how he is?"
"It's bad, Buffy." Angel answered gravely.
"Oh God! He's not…"
"The doctor's haven't told us anything," Riley interjected, trying to calm Buffy while shooting an exasperated look at his friend. "Angel rode over with him in the ambulance, but we don't really know anything yet."
"Oh." Not knowing what else to say, Buffy settled back in her seat and waited for news.
She was nearly asleep when she finally heard someone call Doyle's name. Blinking away the lingering exhaustion, she noticed Willow dozing next to her even as Angel bolted out of his seat and raced to the front of room. Riley turned to her and extended his hand,
"Coming?"
Deciding to let Willow rest while she could, Buffy nodded and took his hand, allowing him to lead her.
They arrived at Angel's side in time to hear him assure the doctor that Doyle had no family in Sunnydale.
"Look, Dr. Wolfe, his whole family is still in Ireland. We're," he gestured at Riley and back to himself, "his fraternity brothers at UCS. How's he doing?"
Looking down at the chart in his hand, the doctor rolled his shoulders, trying to relieve tension. He suspiciously swept his gaze over Buffy and Riley before locking eyes with Angel again.
Meeting the young man's gaze levelly, Dr. Wolfe cleared his throat and began, "Your friend suffered rather significant blood loss. Over a third of the blood in his system was lost and very rapidly by all indications. When he arrived, he was already in the throes of hypovolemic shock and acute post hemorrhagic anemia. His body's natural responses had already kicked in and there was decreased tissue perfusion in the peripheral organs…"
"Wait!" Angel interrupted. "Laymen's terms, please. What's wrong with him? Is he going to be ok?"
"Right, laymen's terms," Dr. Wolfe sighed, "When patients have serious traumatic blood loss, the cells are deprived of oxygen and begin to die. Their blood pressure drops, their organs begin to die, and finally, the patient dies."
Listening attentively as the doctor painted the bleak picture for them, Angel became even paler and Buffy gasped when the man matter-of-factly made this last announcement. Riley merely nodded.
Feeling queasy, Buffy sank numbly into a vacant chair as Angel did the same. Seeing the stricken look on his face, she reached over and grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as the doctor continued speaking.
"Mr. Doyle lost nearly half the blood in his body, which is bad enough, but he also lost it *extremely* quickly, which only made things worse. Because of the rapid blood loss he went into severe shock. His body started to shut down... It happens pretty frequently in cases where there's severe traumatic blood loss… To compensate, his body stopped supplying as much blood to the peripheral organs," seeing blank looks on the faces staring back at him, Dr. Wolfe clarified, "such as the kidneys and pancreas, in order to maintain the function of the vital organs: heart, lungs, brain. Our first step was to administer a purified hemoglobin solution to reintroduce as much O2 into his bloodstream as quickly as we could. Then we began rapidly infusing whole blood to restore his blood pressure. We're also pushing saline and antibiotics intravenously. The puncture wounds on his neck are relatively clean—considering the amount of blood loss, the wounds are fairly shallow and there's not going to be any residual tissue damage. We've updated his tetanus shot, to be safe. We're doing everything we can for him…"
Tightening his hold on Buffy's hand, Angel asked again, "Is he going to be okay?"
"We won't know for sure until he regains consciousness and we can determine if there's any mental impairment. We'll also need to continue monitoring his organs for a few days to be sure there's no lasting damage. But, given the fact that he's made it this far… I'm optimistic. If you'll excuse me, there are other patients waiting…"
Sagging visibly in relief, Angel closed his eyes and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. Letting his head hang for a moment, he took a deep breath before turning his head to look at Riley.
"Will you call and let everyone know he's going to be ok?"
"Don't you think we should wait, Angel? The doctor said he's optimistic, but that's not a guarantee…"
"Look, just call and give them the update, will you, Ri?" Angel snapped.
Opening his mouth to reply, Riley saw the look of frustration on his friend's face and decided not to push. Instead he just nodded and pulled out his cell phone, walking away as he dialed.
Still gripping Angel's hand tightly, Buffy looked at him and smiled.
"I'm glad he's going to be okay," she said.
"Me, too," he sighed, absently tracing the contours of her hand with a finger.
"You seem very close," Buffy continued, "Is your whole fraternity that way?"
"Yeah, we're all pretty close, but Doyle… He's really more like a brother to me."
"He seems like a great guy," Buffy offered.
"He really is, you know…"
"Uh, guys?" Willow interrupted as she walked hesitantly toward them. Looking sleepy and a bit disheveled, she held up a cell phone, "There's a phone call for Doyle… but, it can't be the same Doyle, cause she says she's his wife… What should…"
She didn't get the chance to finish her question before Angel was on his feet. Releasing Buffy's hand, he quickly snatched the cell phone out of Willow's grasp.
"Harry? It's Angel… No, he can't talk right now…"
"Oh God…" Buffy bolted out of her seat and down the hallway with Willow, still shaking of the last vestiges of sleep, chasing after her.
***
Catching up to her distraught friend by the vending machines, Willow put a hand on Buffy's arm.
"Are you okay?"
"He's really married, isn't he?" Tears threatening, she looked at Willow for confirmation.
"Well," the redhead hedged, "Maybe not. She could have just said that… I mean, I can call up Giles and pretend to be his wife if someone else answers the phone, too."
"No, Angel knew exactly who she was when you said wife… She must really be his wife, Will. God, she even called earlier, when they were putting him on the stretcher, but I didn't want to believe her…"
Not sure what to say, Willow just gave Buffy a hug.
"I have the worst luck with dating," Buffy lamented.
"That's not true; if you're date's human, I've still got you beat…" a familiar voice sounded from behind them, "There was the praying mantis teacher, the mummy girl, my vengeance demon Prom date, and, oh yeah, let's not forget Cordelia!"
Turning around, Buffy and Willow were surprised to see Xander standing there.
"Xander?" Taking in his appearance, Willow asked, "What happened to you? Are you okay?"
"Oh, you mean all this?" he grinned, gesturing to the bandages on his head and his black eye. "Yeah, I'm okay… Just a few stitches and a black eye from my 'Welcome back to the Hellmouth' car accident when I got back into town tonight. It's cool though-- chicks dig scars, right? They're manly, aren't they?"
"Right," Willow agreed, "Very manly…"
"Wait… 'Welcome back to the Hellmouth' car accident? What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"Oh… Well, I was driving back into town when something ran out onto the road in front of my car. I thought it was a person, so I swerved and ended up hitting a tree. Turns out I shouldn't have bothered…"
"Huh? Why would you say that, Xan?"
"It wasn't a person, Buff, it was a demon… a great big scary scaly demon running out of the museum with a bunch of his scary scaly demon buddies..." Trying to lighten the mood he teased, "I'm guessing a certain Slayer's been slacking off this summer," but at Buffy's glare he quickly amended, "or not."
"Did you say they were coming out of the museum? A bunch of them?" Willow asked. At Xander's nod, she turned to look at Buffy, "Buffy, we need to get to Giles'."
"You're right, Will," she sighed, "A bunch of demons at the museum and a citywide power outage are definite signs of an impending research party."
Linking arms with both Xander and Willow, she steered them out of the hospital, "Let's go start saving the world… again…"
***
TBC…
Thanks again to all of you who take the time to let me know what you think of the story—your reviews and emails (feedback in all its lovely forms) are always appreciated! Also, I know the updates aren't coming as quickly as some of you would like, but they are coming *g* so thanks for sticking with me!
Thanks to Specks, who helped me sort out where I was going after my train of thought derailed, and a huge debt of gratitude to Ky, whose suggestions are always "on" and whose 'super quick' beta work astounds me!
***
Walking into the brightly lit ER, Willow looked at Buffy sympathetically. The slayer was biting her nails nervously and looked as though she wanted to bolt from the room. Linking an arm through Buffy's, she led the blond toward the information desk and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this? I know you're worried about Doyle, but you hate hospitals…"
"No, it's okay, Will," Buffy lied.
Taking in the dingy white walls and the battered and scarred metal seats occupied by the sick and injured or by the distressed friends and family of the sick and injured, she felt far from okay. The vague antiseptic smell that tainted the air reminded her of Celia, her favorite cousin… Celia's hospital room had that smell and it just seemed to grow stronger the sicker she had become. Even now, years after Buffy had defeated the monster that ultimately killed Celia, that smell sent shivers up and down her spine.
Trying to shake off her unease, she looked around the crowded waiting room nervously, searching for any sign of Doyle or his friends before looking back at Willow. Seeing the look of concern on her friend's face, she clarified. "Okay, so hospitals still give me *major* wiggins…" she shrugged and continued, "but it's… it's not as bad now. Really. Besides, I'm worried about Doyle. He was so pale, Will, and I don't even know how long..."
"Can I help you?" The harried receptionist interrupted her impatiently.
"Oh, we're looking for a friend that was brought in by ambulance a little while ago…"
"What's your friends name?"
"Doyle." Buffy responded as the woman sorted through a stack of medical charts on the desk.
"Ah," she stopped, and opened up one of the files from the middle of the stack. "Doyle, A.F. Neck trauma and blood loss, right?" Not looking at the girls for confirmation, she closed the file and set it back down on the pile. "You can have a seat with the others," with a wave of her hand, she gestured at the back of the room, where Angel and Riley could be seen. "Someone will let you know when there's news," she informed them as she turned her attention to the next person in line.
"Well, let's go sit, Willow."
Leading her friend through the packed waiting area, Buffy checked her watch.
It had been nearly an hour since she'd found Doyle. He'd been carted away in an ambulance less than ten minutes after that, and the drive to the hospital was a short one, no more than another 10 minutes. If the doctor's hadn't brought any news after nearly forty minutes, it was probably a good sign…
Suddenly needing reassurance, she asked Willow, "It's a good sign, right? I mean it's been nearly an hour and if there's no news yet… Then, at least he's still… right?"
Giving Buffy a quick hug, Willow tried for an optimistic tone, "He'll be okay, Buffy."
Buffy flashed a sad smile, "Thanks, Will. It's weird… People get attacked by vampires all the time in Sunnydale; a lot of them die. I always feel guilty about it, but usually they're just faceless victims. It's so much harder to deal with when you know the person…"
Reaching the back of the waiting room, Buffy settled into a seat across from Riley, giving him a sympathetic look as Willow sat down beside her. Turning her attention to Angel, she couldn't believe how different he looked now. His hair was sticking up all over his head in unruly spikes and he was drawn and pale; none of the vitality she'd felt radiating from him earlier was present. Bathed in the harsh fluorescent lighting of the ER he looked thoroughly washed out. His obvious distress added a fresh new layer to the guilt she was already shouldering. Since she didn't know how to comfort him without resorting to lies or platitudes, she didn't even try.
"Angel?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you… Uh, did they say anything yet? About how he is?"
"It's bad, Buffy." Angel answered gravely.
"Oh God! He's not…"
"The doctor's haven't told us anything," Riley interjected, trying to calm Buffy while shooting an exasperated look at his friend. "Angel rode over with him in the ambulance, but we don't really know anything yet."
"Oh." Not knowing what else to say, Buffy settled back in her seat and waited for news.
She was nearly asleep when she finally heard someone call Doyle's name. Blinking away the lingering exhaustion, she noticed Willow dozing next to her even as Angel bolted out of his seat and raced to the front of room. Riley turned to her and extended his hand,
"Coming?"
Deciding to let Willow rest while she could, Buffy nodded and took his hand, allowing him to lead her.
They arrived at Angel's side in time to hear him assure the doctor that Doyle had no family in Sunnydale.
"Look, Dr. Wolfe, his whole family is still in Ireland. We're," he gestured at Riley and back to himself, "his fraternity brothers at UCS. How's he doing?"
Looking down at the chart in his hand, the doctor rolled his shoulders, trying to relieve tension. He suspiciously swept his gaze over Buffy and Riley before locking eyes with Angel again.
Meeting the young man's gaze levelly, Dr. Wolfe cleared his throat and began, "Your friend suffered rather significant blood loss. Over a third of the blood in his system was lost and very rapidly by all indications. When he arrived, he was already in the throes of hypovolemic shock and acute post hemorrhagic anemia. His body's natural responses had already kicked in and there was decreased tissue perfusion in the peripheral organs…"
"Wait!" Angel interrupted. "Laymen's terms, please. What's wrong with him? Is he going to be ok?"
"Right, laymen's terms," Dr. Wolfe sighed, "When patients have serious traumatic blood loss, the cells are deprived of oxygen and begin to die. Their blood pressure drops, their organs begin to die, and finally, the patient dies."
Listening attentively as the doctor painted the bleak picture for them, Angel became even paler and Buffy gasped when the man matter-of-factly made this last announcement. Riley merely nodded.
Feeling queasy, Buffy sank numbly into a vacant chair as Angel did the same. Seeing the stricken look on his face, she reached over and grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze as the doctor continued speaking.
"Mr. Doyle lost nearly half the blood in his body, which is bad enough, but he also lost it *extremely* quickly, which only made things worse. Because of the rapid blood loss he went into severe shock. His body started to shut down... It happens pretty frequently in cases where there's severe traumatic blood loss… To compensate, his body stopped supplying as much blood to the peripheral organs," seeing blank looks on the faces staring back at him, Dr. Wolfe clarified, "such as the kidneys and pancreas, in order to maintain the function of the vital organs: heart, lungs, brain. Our first step was to administer a purified hemoglobin solution to reintroduce as much O2 into his bloodstream as quickly as we could. Then we began rapidly infusing whole blood to restore his blood pressure. We're also pushing saline and antibiotics intravenously. The puncture wounds on his neck are relatively clean—considering the amount of blood loss, the wounds are fairly shallow and there's not going to be any residual tissue damage. We've updated his tetanus shot, to be safe. We're doing everything we can for him…"
Tightening his hold on Buffy's hand, Angel asked again, "Is he going to be okay?"
"We won't know for sure until he regains consciousness and we can determine if there's any mental impairment. We'll also need to continue monitoring his organs for a few days to be sure there's no lasting damage. But, given the fact that he's made it this far… I'm optimistic. If you'll excuse me, there are other patients waiting…"
Sagging visibly in relief, Angel closed his eyes and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. Letting his head hang for a moment, he took a deep breath before turning his head to look at Riley.
"Will you call and let everyone know he's going to be ok?"
"Don't you think we should wait, Angel? The doctor said he's optimistic, but that's not a guarantee…"
"Look, just call and give them the update, will you, Ri?" Angel snapped.
Opening his mouth to reply, Riley saw the look of frustration on his friend's face and decided not to push. Instead he just nodded and pulled out his cell phone, walking away as he dialed.
Still gripping Angel's hand tightly, Buffy looked at him and smiled.
"I'm glad he's going to be okay," she said.
"Me, too," he sighed, absently tracing the contours of her hand with a finger.
"You seem very close," Buffy continued, "Is your whole fraternity that way?"
"Yeah, we're all pretty close, but Doyle… He's really more like a brother to me."
"He seems like a great guy," Buffy offered.
"He really is, you know…"
"Uh, guys?" Willow interrupted as she walked hesitantly toward them. Looking sleepy and a bit disheveled, she held up a cell phone, "There's a phone call for Doyle… but, it can't be the same Doyle, cause she says she's his wife… What should…"
She didn't get the chance to finish her question before Angel was on his feet. Releasing Buffy's hand, he quickly snatched the cell phone out of Willow's grasp.
"Harry? It's Angel… No, he can't talk right now…"
"Oh God…" Buffy bolted out of her seat and down the hallway with Willow, still shaking of the last vestiges of sleep, chasing after her.
***
Catching up to her distraught friend by the vending machines, Willow put a hand on Buffy's arm.
"Are you okay?"
"He's really married, isn't he?" Tears threatening, she looked at Willow for confirmation.
"Well," the redhead hedged, "Maybe not. She could have just said that… I mean, I can call up Giles and pretend to be his wife if someone else answers the phone, too."
"No, Angel knew exactly who she was when you said wife… She must really be his wife, Will. God, she even called earlier, when they were putting him on the stretcher, but I didn't want to believe her…"
Not sure what to say, Willow just gave Buffy a hug.
"I have the worst luck with dating," Buffy lamented.
"That's not true; if you're date's human, I've still got you beat…" a familiar voice sounded from behind them, "There was the praying mantis teacher, the mummy girl, my vengeance demon Prom date, and, oh yeah, let's not forget Cordelia!"
Turning around, Buffy and Willow were surprised to see Xander standing there.
"Xander?" Taking in his appearance, Willow asked, "What happened to you? Are you okay?"
"Oh, you mean all this?" he grinned, gesturing to the bandages on his head and his black eye. "Yeah, I'm okay… Just a few stitches and a black eye from my 'Welcome back to the Hellmouth' car accident when I got back into town tonight. It's cool though-- chicks dig scars, right? They're manly, aren't they?"
"Right," Willow agreed, "Very manly…"
"Wait… 'Welcome back to the Hellmouth' car accident? What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"Oh… Well, I was driving back into town when something ran out onto the road in front of my car. I thought it was a person, so I swerved and ended up hitting a tree. Turns out I shouldn't have bothered…"
"Huh? Why would you say that, Xan?"
"It wasn't a person, Buff, it was a demon… a great big scary scaly demon running out of the museum with a bunch of his scary scaly demon buddies..." Trying to lighten the mood he teased, "I'm guessing a certain Slayer's been slacking off this summer," but at Buffy's glare he quickly amended, "or not."
"Did you say they were coming out of the museum? A bunch of them?" Willow asked. At Xander's nod, she turned to look at Buffy, "Buffy, we need to get to Giles'."
"You're right, Will," she sighed, "A bunch of demons at the museum and a citywide power outage are definite signs of an impending research party."
Linking arms with both Xander and Willow, she steered them out of the hospital, "Let's go start saving the world… again…"
***
TBC…