What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?
Everything was silent.
It made her uneasy, all that silence.
She began tapping, the sole of her boot made a clicking sound on the tiled
floor.
This was taking too long, too long.
Buffy looked over at her mother. She looked so calm, so relaxed.
Joyce smiled reassuringly at her daughter. Her smile, though tired, said it
all. 'Everything's going to be all right, everything's going to be okay,
you'll see.'
Buffy smiled back at her mother.
As she did so she said a silent prayer.
And she waited.
Long, aching minutes passed before the doctor entered the room.
He was silent, his face, an unreadable mask.
Buffy reached out and took her mother's hand. Held on tight.
The doctor cleared his throat. "Mrs. Summers? We have your test results
back." he paused for a second. "Mrs. Summers I'm sorry to have to tell you
this, but I'm afraid that the results came back positive. You have
lymphatic cancer, and I'm sorry to say that it is quite advanced."
Buffy's heart plummeted to the floor. She wasn't even hearing what the
doctor was saying anymore.
She looked over at her mother, who was still sitting up. Still perfectly
composed.
"Thank you, doctor." was all she said.
After the doctor was gone, the silence crept back.
Joyce looked over at her daughter. "Buffy, sweetie go home. Get some sleep.
You have school tomorrow, and I need to rest."
"I love you, mom." Buffy answered, as she leaned over to kiss her mother
good night.
As she left the room, closed the door, and walked out into the hallway she
bit her lip.
Numbly she walked down the hallway, until she couldn't fight it anymore.
She leaned against a wall, not knowing what to do, what to think, or how to
feel.
Slowly tears dribbled down her cheeks.
Suddenly Angel appeared at her side. He pulled her gently into his arms,
and let her bury her face in his shirt.
He held her like that for a long minute.
"Cancer." she choked out, "My mom has cancer."
Gently he stroked her hair. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say to make
it better, Buffy."
Her voice was harsh, coming in between ragged sobs. "How can I fight this
Angel? What if she dies?"
"I know it's hard." he said to her, "But you can't fight this for her. You
have to fight with her."
She closed her eyes for a long minute, and leaned into his chest. "I'll die
if she dies."
Angel said nothing, he didn't even know what to say.
He just held her as she cried, sobbing as though heart was breaking.