Chapter Nine: One Week Later

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Angel watched Spike. There had been no movement, no activity coming from the bleach-blonde... whatever he was now, for almost a week now. He was fuming. He was still mad at Buffy, at the things she had said. The last time they'd met they'd left on good terms, no petty arguments. Of course, she had just been through the worst fight of her life. Still, that wasn't an excuse to take her anger out on him. Yeah, he had avoided the subject of Spike, for good reason too. He didn't want her to know he was here. There were still too many questions surrounding Spike, especially how he got here. He almost regretted calling Giles and inviting them here. Almost.

He left the room. Told Gunn to stay on guard. As he closed the door, he saw Faith leaving another room. "Faith!" The dark-haired slayer turned and gave Angel a smile and a nod.

"Hey, Angel. What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Uh, just checking on someone. How's your friend?" He asked.

"Doing better. He took it in the gut with a sharp, pointy object. He's tough," she told him.

"He must be to put up with you," Angel joked.

Faith turned to him sharply. "We're not together."

"Oh, I just thought..."

"Thought wrong, vampire." They walked along to the elevator. Angel pressed the call button. "So, talked to Buffy lately?" She asked.

"Innocence isn't a good color on you, Faith," Angel replied.

Faith rolled her eyes. "Guilty. So, what's up with you guys? Haven't kissed and made up yet?"

"She just... she makes me crazy," he said, his fists balling.

Faith nodded, "I get you. Been there, deranged that. What I don't get is, why you're so worked up over it. I thought you didn't love her anymore."

"I don't, I mean..." the elevator dinged and they entered it. Angel punched the button for the eight floor. "I still love her. I'm always going to. I'm not in love with her anymore. I just don't like the idea of her loving Spike."

Faith shrugged. "Doesn't matter much now, he's dust in the wind." The elevator stopped and Faith paled from the motion.

"Are you okay?" Angel asked.

"Yeah. I uh, haven't been feeling so hot. Must be my nerves, finally catching up with me after our victory," Faith took a deep breath and stepped out of the elevator. "Listen, fang boy," she said before the elevator door closed. "You both are going through the same things, believe me. It's been over a week. Talk to her. "

"If she doesn't bite my head off first," Angel grumbled.

"Don't tempt her," Faith winked. And they parted ways. Faith walked towards her room. She became dizzy and had to lean against the wall. "Whoa," she said. She shook it off then broke into a run so she'd make it to the bathroom before she vomited on the floor.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


Xander walked down the hallway. 'Stop,' he told himself. 'You have to stop thinking about Anya. You can't bring her back. She's gone, accept that.' Maybe, he should ask Willow, she'd know what to do. He stopped walking when he heard the sound of someone retching.

"Hello?" he said knocking lightly on the slightly opened door. He walked in the dark room "Are you all right in there? Do you need a hand? Or perhaps a bucket?" He switched on a light and good thing too because half a step further he would've ended up in someone's regurgitated waste. He looked around the room, the bathroom light was on, and the person was still heaving up probably everything they'd ever eaten. At least that's what it sounded like. He carefully stepped around the foul mess, and went to the bathroom. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Go away!" The person yelled. He heard a flush. He knew that voice.

"Faith?" Xander stepped back as she flung the door open. Faith stood there, pale and gaunt. She rolled her eyes at Xander, and pushed him out of her way. She sat on the edge of her bed, contemplating on whether or not she had to throw up again. "Are you sick?" Xander asked.

"No, I like puking my guts out for fun," Faith said sarcastically.

"Hey, I don't know what floats your boat," Xander said. He went into the bathroom as grabbed a towel. He began mopping up the throw-up he nearly stepped in.

"And who says chivalry's dead?" Faith mumbled.

Xander wiped up the last of the vomit. "I don't think cleaning up your gross mess qualifies as being chivalrous, but you're welcome."

Faith groaned and cradled her head in her hands. "I feel like shit."

"You look like it too. But in a good way," Xander said after receiving a death glare from the sick girl.

"Have you talked to Buffy, lately?" Faith asked.

"No, why?" Xander asked curiously.

"No reason. You think you can get a girl some water?" She asked.

"Yeah," he jumped up and got a dixie cup and filled it in the sink. "`You know maybe you should go and see the doctor."

"No, I'll be fine."

He handed her the water and she stared at it. "Yeah, you look it."

She finally sipped at the liquid. She checked the clock on the wall. "Damn! Robin's getting out of the infirmary today." She got up to change her stained shirt. She pulled it up over her head and a wave of nausea rushed over her.

"Whoa there," Xander was at her side in a flash. "Seriously, are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm..." Faith fainted dead away into Xander's arms.

"Yeah, you're going to the doctor right now," Xander picked her up in his arms and carried her off.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


"This is crazy," Angel said as he read the paper Fred had given him.

"Crazy, but very, very true," Giles said taking his glasses off and cleaning him.

"Are you positive that this will happen?" Angel asked.

Wesley nodded. "One hundred percent. In fact, the some of the plans have already taken effect."

"They have?" Giles asked. "I don't think Spike isn't going to return anytime soon, or else he already has..." Giles said seeing the guilty looks of Angel, Wesley and Fred. "When were you planning on saying anything?" He asked Angel.

"That's not the point. The point is, the rest of this prophecy is going to come true. I need to do something about it," He turned to leave and Giles caught him on the arm.

"You haven't told Buffy about Spike, have you Angel?" The ex-watcher asked.

"No, I'm not going to, and neither are you," Angel in a warning tone. "It easier this way. Not getting her involved."

Giles nodded, no doubt not liking it but understanding. "Where is he?"

"In a secure location."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


Xander and Willow hung around outside in the lobby while a doctor examined Faith. He had run into Willow and Buffy while getting Faith to the doctor's They helped him get her to the hospital wing. They saw Robin leaving and Buffy offered to take him to his room.

"Want a soda, Will?" Xander asked. The red head said no and they sat in silence.

"Hey, look at that," Willow pointed out two guards stationed at a room down the hall. "What are they doing there?"

Xander shrugged. "Maybe they're keeping someone there."

"Like who?" Willow and Xander watched as a doctor showed a clearance pass to the guards before entering the room. Then a muscular looking black man in a suit spoke to the two guards.

"who's that?" Xander whispered.

"I dunno," Willow whispered back. "I wonder..."

"Wonder what?"

" Well, the last time I was here, you know to re-ensoul Angel, something was wrong with..."

"With who?"

Willow furrowed her eyebrows, "Cordelia. She seemed different."

"Different? Willow, we haven't even seen her since we've been here," Xander pointed out.

"You're right. Xander, what if something happened to her and Angel's hiding it from us? We have to find out if she's all right," Willow stood up and walked to the room the guards were in front of. "Come on," she mouthed to Xander. He tried being casual, but Xander was anything but smooth.

"Where are you going?" The guards stopped them from entering. One of the guards, the bigger of the two, Xander thought, grabbed him by the arm.

"Going? We're... er..." Xander looked over at Willow helplessly. "We're... uh... going..."

"Uh, we're going to see a friend... um... Angel sent us," Willow smiled trying to be convincing.

"Mr. Angel? Do you have clearance?" The other guard asked.

"Clearance?" Willow squeezed.

"Hey," Xander shrugged off the guard. "We don't need clearance, we're his friends."

"I don't care if you're his mother," the guard grabbed Xander's arm and twisted it behind his back. I need to see a clearance." The big guard said.

"Okay ow," Xander struggled against the guy's meaty grip. The two friends glanced at each other thinking of a good lie, when Willow saw Wesley come around the corner.

"Wesley!" Willow called.

Wesley walked over to the two. "What are doing here?"

"Faith fainted and Xander brought her down here," the witch explained.

"Is she all right?"

"She's fine, but we wanted to see Cordelia," Willow said.

"Yeah, but Bluto and his friend here, won't let us through," Xander said. "Ow!" The guards smashed him hard against the wall.

Wesley stepped between the two. "Let him go," he menaced.

"Sir?"

"Now," Wesley's eyes were hard as he stared down the guard.

"Yes, sir." The large guard let him go. Xander stretched his arm out and glared at him with his one eye.

Wesley cleared his throat. "Now, you'd both better go. You're not allowed here."

"But, Cordelia..." Willow trailed.

"Cordelia isn't here. I suggest you leave," Wesley said and opened the door and left them bewildered.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Buffy closed the door to Robin's room. She got him settled in his bed. He asked for Faith and she had told him that she had gone somewhere with Willow and Xander. She walked down the hallway, stopped at Giles' room. He wasn't there. She wanted to talk to him, but then again she didn't want to hear his opinion on Spike, she already knew it. Dawn wasn't in her room either. Andrew talked her into going off to explore the rest of the firm, like he had been doing. It didn't matter much, Buffy had kind of been dodging a sisterly talk and she figured Dawn didn't want to talk either. So, she walked alone, as usual. Until a familiar shadow caught her eye.

"Angel."

He stepped out from behind her. "Hey."

"You following me?"

"Maybe."

They stopped and faced each other. Neither one looked at the the other, Angel shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Listen," Buffy broke the silence. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said the things I said."

"Yeah, shouldn't have." Angel replied. "But, you were right. Partly. I was avoiding talking about Spike and I did figure he had died. And yeah, I couldn't stand the thought of you being with Spike in any way."

Buffy kicked at nothing with her shoe. "I know. But you have to understand..."

"What he did," Angel finished. "I do. I still can't believe he saved the day.

That used to be my gig."

"It still is." They smiled at each other. Buffy and Angel walked together the way she had been heading before. "We're okay now, right?" Buffy asked.

"Always."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


"What do you want me to look for" Fred asked examining the tube of blood Wesley just handed her.

"Check if it's human," Wesley said.

"Okay." Fred left. Wesley and Giles busied themselves.

"Wes!" Gunn burst in. "We have a problem, in the infirmary." Wesley and Giles looked at each other.

"Let's go," Wes said as Giles and Gunn followed him out.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


"Let me go!" The blond squirmed in Bluto the Guard's grip. "Dawn tell them to let me go!"

"You shouldn't have stole those stethoscopes then, Andrew " Dawn retorted.

"I wasn't going to steal them, I wanted to hear my heartbeat," Andrew said.

"Dawn! What happened?" Xander and Willow jogged up to her and Andrew.

"Nothing," Dawn rolled her eyes. "Andrew tried to steal..."

"I wasn't stealing!"

"Whatever."

"Okay, okay, we'll take care of them from here guys," Xander said putting his hand on Bluto's arm to let Andrew go, but the other guard grabbed him and pushed him up against the wall. "Hey, no need for the roughness." Xander said.

"What is this?" Wesley, Gunn and Giles arrived at the scene. "Willow, what's going on?" Giles asked.

Willow gave him a withering look. "I guess these guards caught Andrew stealing..."

"I was not stealing!"

"Whatever. We heard the commotion and Xander tried to help."

"Let them go," Wesley said. Gunn checked Andrew and did find a stethoscope.

"I wasn't..." Andrew said and sheepishly hid behind Dawn.

"Is everything under control here?" Gunn asked. The guards nodded. "Then return to your stations."

"What are you two doing here?" Giles asked Willow and Xander.

"Faith collapsed. We brought her here," Xander explained.

"Good Lord, is she all right?"

"The doctor's said it's probably dehydration. But Giles," Willow dropped her voice to a whisper. "I think they," she looked at Gunn and Wesley who were talking quietly amongst themselves, "are hiding something in that guarded room."

Giles took his glasses off and cleaned them. "What do you suppose it could be?"

"Well, we think something happened to Cordelia," Xander said also whispering.

"Cordelia?"

"Yeah. And Giles? I don't like this place. There's a lot of negative energy here, I feel it," Willow said.

Suddenly an ear-piercing alarm went off. Doctors rushed into the room the guards were guarding. Wesley and Gunn rushed over too. So, Giles, Willow, Xander, Dawn and Andrew scurried to the room. The guards didn't let them in and the nurses had closed the blinds.

"What's happening?" Dawn asked.

"I- I don't know," Giles replied, cleaning his glasses again. Just then, Buffy and Angel arrived.

"Stay here," he barked at the gang and went into the room.

"How'd you guys get here?" Xander asked.

"We were coming to check on Faith when we heard an alarm. Angel practically flew here. Is there something going on?" Buffy asked. She noticed Giles' demeanor changed slightly.

"What if it is Cordelia?" Xander asked Willow. "And she's sick or dying."

"Where is Cordelia? I didn't even notice that she wasn't here," Buffy said.

"Because you've ben too wrapped up in yourself," Dawn muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"It's not Cordelia," Willow spoke up.

"What? Who is it then?" Xander asked getting impatient.

Willow closed her eyes. She couldn't get a read on the person in the room. There were too many people in there. She focused on the room. She saw all the doctors and nurses working diligently on the patient who was laid on the gurney. Angel, Wesley, and the black man she recognized from earlier, were all hovering near. She did feel Cordelia's presence, but not in that room. There, the person who laid on the gurney... The color drained from Willow's face. She opened her eyes, "Oh my god..." She met Buffy's eyes. They widened and the blonde shoved aside the two guards and threw open the door to the room. Then she blacked out.