"She's suffering from a bit of exhaustion and she'll need some stitches, but other than that she'll be okay."
Willow nodded as she listened to the doctor standing beside her, casting a sideways glance across the waiting room. Spike was curled up in one of the chairs, his eyes staring blankly across the room. Dawn was beside him, silent, having given up on trying to comfort the vampire nearly an hour ago.
"What about Buffy?" The redhead questioned, turning back to him. She was far less concerned with Hope's condition than she was about Buffy's.
The doctor sighed, running a hand through his dirty blonde hand. Not very reassuring. "We still have her in surgery. Her left lung was punctured and there was massive internal bleeding, not to mention the numerous broken bones."
"B-but she'll be okay, right?" Willow asked hopefully.
The doctor swallowed, refusing to meet her eyes. "It depends. If the surgery goes well, there's a chance she'll make it through the night. If not…" He trailed off, looking down at the clipboard in his hands like it was the most important thing in the world.
Willow's eyes fell. "Oh…"
The doctor sighed, then audibly cleared his throat. "Look, Ms. Rosenberg, they're probably finishing up with Hope about now. Why don't I get you the rest of the paperwork to fill out and then you can go in and see her, alright?"
"Wha..oh, yeah…" The redhead mumbled, taking the clipboard he handed off to her. She turned, making her way numbly back over to where Dawn and Spike were sitting. She sat down on the other side of Spike, placing the vampire between her and Dawn.
"What'd he say?" Dawn asked quietly, not looking up.
"Hope's doing fine. She needs some stitches and stuff, but she'll be okay. He said we could go in and see her in a few minutes…" she answered flatly, her eyes falling drifting to Spike. He didn't seem to be listening, or he just didn't care.
"Oh…" Dawn muttered, looking down. She didn't have it in her to ask how her sister was doing, something told her she wasn't going to like what she heard.
"Where's Buffy…"
Both girls looked down at the vampire, his voice startling them. He had been absolutely silent since they had arrived, not even speaking when the doctors had pried Hope away from him, even though she was kicking and screaming like it was the end of the world. He had just sat there, lost in his own little world. It had taken them nearly twenty minutes to coax him from the floor, and even when they had finally gotten him to stand up, they had to basically drag him over to the chairs and push him into one of the seats.
"Uh…well…" Willow began, running her hand over the back of her neck. "Th-they have her in the operating room now…"
"Is she going to be okay?" Dawn asked meekly.
Willow's eyes fell to the floor. "He said that is she makes it through surgery, there's a chance she'll make it through the night…"
An eerie silence fell over the trio. Dawn continued to stare blankly at the floor, and after a moment Willow turned her attention to the paperwork sitting in her lap. Spike merely curled up more, burying his head in the back of the chair. The waiting room was deserted, aside from them, which was really unusual for Sunnydale. Then again, not too many people got serious injured in the town, they just flat out died.
"No! Let me go!!"
The trio looked up, their eyes locking on the narrow hallway to the right of the receptionist desk. There were a few more shouts, then a loud thump followed by a sharp crash.
Willow shot up from her seat as Hope came rushing out into the waiting room, followed closely by two rather angry looking doctors. The blonde nearly tripped as she bounded over a row of chairs, skidding to a halt beside Willow. She came close to falling over the overly long legs of her sweatpants, but caught herself on the arm of the chair. She made a mental note to thank Willow for going back home to get everyone some dry clothes. She would have felt pretty stupid running through the waiting room in one of those silly gowns.
"Young lady, this is highly uncalled for." One of the doctors said in a gruff voice, stalking over to where she was standing.
"What's going on?" Willow asked, her eyes falling on the second doctor as he to walk up to them. He was nursing a black eye.
The first doctor answered quickly, sounding aggravated. "We were going to give her something to help her sleep, but she flipped out and started attacking the nurse."
Willow looked over at Hope, raising her eyebrows in question.
"I told them I didn't want to sleep…"
"Oh, honey." Willow cooed, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You haven't slept for like, three days. It's over now, remember?"
Hope pulled away from her, scowling. "That's not why." She spat.
"Then why?" Willow asked, her voice soft.
Hope swallowed, her eyes drifting over to Spike. He was staring at her, but in some odd way it was like he didn't see her. "I just don't want to, okay?" She mumbled, looking back up at the redhead.
Willow sighed, giving her a small smile. Turning back to the doctors, she gave them a small nod. "We'll keep an eye on her."
"But we should really…"
"She'll be fine." The redhead assured them, holding out the clipboard. "Let us know when you find anything else out, okay?"
The doctor sighed defeatedly, nodding as he took the paperwork.
"Look, why don't you sit down." Willow said, guiding the blonde over to the chair she had been previously occupying. "Dawnie, you should probably see if you can get a hold of your dad…"
"He probably won't pick up." The brunette muttered. "But we should probably call Xander and Anya."
Willow nodded. "Yeah. Hope, stay here. We'll be back in a few minutes, okay?"
"Yeah…" the teen mumbled, watching as Dawn stood and followed after Willow in search of a payphone. She sighed heavily, turning back to the vampire curled up beside her. "Spike?"
"Yeah kitten…" he muttered absently, not moving.
Hope shifted, in her seat, drawing her legs up underneath her. "Are you okay?"
"Hardly…" He said quietly, sounding miserable.
Hope swallowed, pitying him. "Thirty-six." Spike was quiet for a moment, but then looked up at her, making a face. She grinned. "Stitches." She said simply, lifting the bottom of her shirt to reveal a jagged line of black dashes running across her abdomen.
He couldn't help but smile a bit. "Those aren't somethin' to brag about. You're stupidest creature to ever walk the earth, you know that?"
"Yep." She replied, smirking as he reached over to ruffle her hair. She ducked away from him a bit, yawning.
The vampire drew in a long breath, his smile fading. "Tired?"
"No." she mumbled, settling into her chair and resting her head on his shoulder.
"You've always been a horrible liar." He stated.
"Sorry…"
He smirked a bit before leaning his head to the side to rest against hers. "Sweet dreams, kitten."
----------
"Spike? Spike."
"Hmmm…" the vampire mumbled, his eyes fluttering open. He found Willow standing in front of him, smiling slightly.
"Hey, Buffy's out of surgery…"
That caught his attention. He sat up, causing Hope to mutter in protest as she readjusted her head against his shoulder. "She alright?"
Willow sighed heavily. "They're not sure yet. They lost her a few times during the operation, but they managed to pull her back. She got through it, but they're not… they don't know if she'll make it through the night, Spike." She remained quiet for a moment, allowing him to take this in. "They said we could go in and see her now, but not for too long. They have to monitor her until she wakes up. I already went in and Dawn's in there now, so you can go in in a few minutes…"
"So she's not okay…" He mumbled, his eyes remaining on the floor.
"No, Spike. She's not." Willow said, sitting down beside him. "But the doctors said that if she had gotten here any later they wouldn't have been able to save her. Spike, if you hadn't carried her here she'd be dead right now. You gave her a fighting chance, and you know Buffy. She won't go down without a fight."
"I killed her…"
"No, Spike. You didn't." She assured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, Dawn should be coming out in a few minutes."
TBC…