Chapter 7 - Hospital Visiting
Last night was …. Good. Buffy and I just sat and watched TV, content to be close, without passion taking over. It's what was missing before. The just being-together. Of course, we were both thinking about Willow. Blind. It's a huge thing to take in. I know they're going to do tests, try to find out if it's going to heal, but … If the healing we saw was done by the magic, the dark magic that filled her before Jenna took it away, then maybe she's got to get it back to heal herself. And, if she does, then will she stop at healing? And wasn't healing one of Tara's things? And she never dabbled in anything other than the purest forms of magic. I've always said that magic has consequences, and that amount of healing, unless it came from the purest source, will have consequences we can only imagine.
Today's been a standard day at work. Or at least what passes as standard without Dawn. It seems so strange that I can miss someone when almost no one else even remembers her being there. I wondered why we remembered, when others didn't. It's not just that we were closer to her, because her best friends don't remember, and Anya does. I think it's just that we were present when she left. I think Giles agrees; he nodded in that way he has when I suggested it last night.
Considering my reason for being in the school is Dawn, it seems odd to still be here. I look around at the other kids, and I know why. There're lots of them, just as vulnerable as she was. They need Buffy and me to keep their school safe. And, we're going to try.
There's something unwholesome nesting in the basement, but, so far, I haven't seen enough to identify it. There's some nasty, slimy residue in one of the storage rooms, so I've been making a point of checking regularly. It's late in the day, the kids have gone, and I've just been down for another check. Still nothing definite. I check the time, and realise I've got to get back upstairs.
I had a call earlier. The local police want to talk to me about some incidents. Apparently some kids have reported stalkers, and they want to know what sort of set up we've got here, with a view to reviewing the tapes we have to find the culprits. That means I'm going to have to stay late tonight, and Buffy wants to go and see Willow. I suggested we go out after - maybe see a film, or have a meal. Depends how she feels after Willow. I think a film would be best, give her something else to think about. She's going to call me when she's finished at the hospital, and we'll decide then.
Officer Dayton - I think his name was - is due in five minutes. I've just got time to put on a pot of coffee.
I've just set the coffee maker going when there's a knock at the door. I call over my shoulder for him to come in, while I dispose of the old filter paper. Before I can turn round, I feel a pain in my back that I recognise immediately. Standing over me as my legs buckle are a man I don't recognise, and Dawson. She makes sure I see her before they zap me again, and I feel I have her face burned onto my retina before everything goes black.
*-*-*
Giles is at the hospital when I get there. He and Willow are chatting quietly when I go in. Everything seems remarkably calm.
"Hey, Will," I say, trying to sound upbeat.
"Hey, Buffy. How ya doin'?"
"I'm good," I reply.
Giles nods at me, gesturing me to sit on the other side of the bed from him.
"Giles told me about … your sister. I'm sorry, I don't remember her."
"Oh."
"It all fits with Spike's theory that only those of us present when she left us can remember her," Giles says with a distinct note of surprise.
"So, how are you, Willow?" I ask. What a stupid question. What can she say? Blind? Fortunately, she doesn't seem to notice.
"I'm ok," she replies. "They did some tests today, and more're scheduled for tomorrow. They're trying to work out whether the whole 'blindness' thing is temporary or not."
"Oh," is all I can manage. I'm torn between wanting to give her the biggest hug, and running from the room and never coming back.
Giles obviously recognises that conversation's difficult, so he clears his throat.
"I've been thinking, Buffy. From what Dawn said, it won't be long until she's back. Logically, though, she'll be vulnerable. If she needed to come to this time when she was, what, fourteen? That means she must have lived the rest of her life to that point in her own time. Now, say, for the sake of argument, that those who wanted to destroy the key, destroyed Dawn before she became the Key, what would happen?"
Now, that takes a bit of understanding. I let the words filter in slowly.
"Giles, what do you mean? If something happens before she's fourteen, could that change the last few years? Oh, …"
Light dawns. "You mean, those who wanted to destroy her, could do it in the future, before she's fourteen, and then when the Orb's destroyed, no key to counteract it?"
He's nodding, with that solemn expression that means he's worried.
"So, we'd better find out who Dawn really is, or will be as soon as possible, and find her. You and Spike have got to keep her safe a bit longer. But, the good news, is that I had a call today. The doctor who did all those tests on you? He's hoping to get results of the DNA tests tomorrow. Apparently they weren't due to be done for a week yet, but he pulled a few strings and got them moved up the queue. He's got three samples - there're yours and Spike's, and a third which he was confused about. Of course, he doesn't remember Dawn, and the label on the sample somehow got lost, but I'm sure it's hers. It was with the other two. I'll let you know as soon as he calls."
"Good, but it won't necessarily tell us who she is. All we can get is how closely related to me she was," I point out.
"More than likely, but it'll give us a starting point. Then, it's just got to be detective work."
We sit and chat about lots of things, but avoid the whole issue of Willow. She's scared, I can feel it, but she's trying so hard to hide it. I can see Giles has something on his mind, and I'm hoping he's planning on sharing when we leave. I have to admit, I'm relieved when someone points out it's time for Willow to eat. It gives me an excuse to leave, and I'm glad that Giles decides to go too.
We walk down the corridor towards the elevator. "What did Jenna tell you?" I ask.
"Quite a lot," he replied. "Do you feel like a coffee? I can fill you in. Is Spike meeting you here?"
"That'd be yes to both. I've got to call him when we're through."
We make our way to a coffee shop adjacent to the hospital. We take our drinks to a corner table, and Giles suggests I call Spike. I do, and I'm surprised when there's no response. I try his mobile, and again, there's no reply. He's probably just gone to investigate the slime in the basement again. I'll call again later.
"So, what happened with Jenna?"
"Well, she did as she said she would. The magic Willow had stored was strange, though. It wasn't magic from any source Jenna recognised. It wasn't dark, well, not recognisably so, but neither was it earth magic. She assumes it came from another dimension, somehow. That was the reason that it had such an effect on her. She was prepared for something she recognised, and she got something unknown. It may even be that it had an element of dark within it, but that would have been used when Willow took Dawn. Fortunately for Willow, she doesn't remember that incident at all. I assume that's simply the Dawn factor. She doesn't know she tried to hurt your sister this time, although her memories of trying to end the world the first time are complete. She just knows that she went to the hut, and burned it down. She thinks it was just the misery of living without Tara. I haven't done anything to persuade her otherwise. She's on a knife edge just now, and she doesn't need anything interfering with her balance."
I nod. It's going to be hard. When I'm missing Dawn, it's going to be hard to be close to Willow and remember that she tried to kill her - not once, but on three different occasions. Still, she remembers two, so maybe the third time won't make a lot of difference.
"So, DNA results tomorrow?" I ask to change the subject.
"Yes, I hope so. We would expect, if Dawn shared her parentage with you, that she would have about half of her DNA in common with you. Lesser percentages will denote a more distant relationship. So, depending on the percentage we come up with, I'll be expecting you to put together a family tree of sorts. I'll want to know about aunts, uncles and cousins on both sides of your family. Then we'll have to consider the possibility that your father may have further children."
He smiles tolerantly at the expression I've made at that suggestion. My dad didn't do too well with the two (or is that one?) he already had, so I'm really hoping he hasn't got any more on the way.
Talking of babies on the way, I glance to the table next to us, where someone's reading a paper. I make a note of the date, and realise I'm late. As in, my period's late. Of course it could be the whole 'traumatised by Dawn leaving' thing, or then again, it could be the fact that on the night she left, we conveniently forgot the fact that Spike's no longer a vampire. We didn't use any precautions, and Spike nearly had a major crisis of conscience when it dawned on us. I make a mental note to buy a test kit, just in case. Of course, we don't even know how our sort of demon procreates anyway. Or even if we do. Spike did say that few demons use sex as a way of procreation. At least, not sex as humans understand it. Most have another way, some similar insofar as new little demons grow inside either mum or dad, and some very different, like vampires. I daren't ask Giles to find out, because that would mean discussing things with him that I know he doesn't want to hear.
We finish our coffee in silence, and I pull out my cell phone to call Spike again. There's still no reply, so I ask Giles if he'll drop me off at the school.
We pull up outside, and the car park is pretty well deserted. I recognise the Principal's car, and a couple of others, then spot Spike's where he normally leaves it, in a particularly shady corner. Giles is intrigued to see the school they decided to re-build on the Hellmouth, so he follows me inside. I head straight to Spike's office, and it's empty. I look inside, and there's a full pot of coffee ready, and the coffee maker's still switched on. I move to his desk, and check to see if there's a clue to where he might be. There's a scribbled note in Spike's handwriting to the effect that he was expecting an Officer Dayton.
I head across the corridor to the Principal's office. His secretary's still at her desk, and I ask her if she knows whether the police officer arrived to see Spike. She tends to keep an eye on comings and goings into the school, and I'm hoping she knows where Spike is. Unfortunately, she knows nothing.
The first flutterings of panic are making themselves known to me, and I leave Giles in Spike's office to try to work out how to review the surveillance tapes while I do a complete check of the school. He should be here.
I check the whole place, calling his name as I search, and I know my voice is becoming shriller with each shout. I return to the office, to find Giles has worked out how to see what happened. He's looking concerned too.
We both sit in front of the monitor, trying to find the right time-scale. It has to be some time after me leaving the school, but we don't know how much later. We quickly identify the right tape, and we look at it, again and again, and there's no sign at all. Except, there's a point where the tape doesn't flow normally - someone just disappeared instead of moving out of shot.
Someone's tampered with the cameras. Someone with the kit to stop the cameras recording for a while. And the only people I can think of off the top of my head who'd be able to do that are the Initiative, or whatever they're calling themselves these days. I remember the effect Dawson had on Spike, what he suffered the last time, and my blood runs cold. There's only one possibility I can think of, and that's that they've got Spike again.
