CHAPTER 7

Historical Note: By now, the story takes place in the end of the fifth season of Buffy, and the fourth season of Angel.

Author's Note: Ok, in advance, It may be a little longer posting new parts. It's true, a few chapters on this one have been pre-written as well, but I still have to go through and edit, and sometimes make a few changes. Plus, Mid-terms are coming up, so I may be kinda busy, but I'll try my best!! Please come back every few days and see if I've posted more tho! I just got another opinion, thanks soo much! But that only brings me up to 2 opinions about the Cordy/Connor thing. One says yes cause it'd be interesting, one says no cause it was gross to see the first time around. I need people's advice here. I'm begging you, I mean, on my knees! Lol. PLEASE e-mail me and met me know!

Author's Note/Historical Note: This part takes place three months after where the second one left off. Angel is still missing, leaving Buffy to deal with the Hyperion Hotel, and to raise Connor. Cordelia has also gone missing, and the crew is searching for her as well. Also, Joyce gets terminally ill, forcing Buffy to go back to Sunnydale and take care of things for awhile not knowing she'd end up doing it permanently.

When Buffy walked into her mother's hospital room the next day, there was a doctor in the room talking with her mother.

"Mom, what's going on?" Buffy asked as she walked into the room. The doctor and Joyce both looked towards Buffy's direction.

"Buffy, come sit down," Joyce said. As Buffy walked over to the bed and sat down, she realized bother the doctor and her mother's face was serious.

"W-what's going on?" she asked. Joyce reached out and took her hand.

"Buffy, the CAT scan came back, and the doctors found a tumor in my brain," Joyce told her slowly.

"What? How bad is it?" she asked the doctor quickly.

"We have a better chance at beating this if we get her into surgery as soon as possible," the doctor explained. Buffy nodded.

"When?" Buffy asked in a shaky voice.

"Hopefully tomorrow." he said.

"Good," she said. She looked at the doctor, then back at her mother. "I-I'd better get going. I left Dawn at home with Angel," she explained as she got up and quickly headed towards the door.

"Tell Angel I say hi," Joyce said. Buffy turned around and nodded before leaving the room. She felt like everything around her was spinning. How could this be happening? She felt as if her knees were about to give way, and decided to sit down in one of the chairs on the lobby. She couldn't hold in the tears any longer. She put her hands up to her face and began to cry. She was having a hard enough time back in L.A. she didn't need this on top of it. All of a sudden, a nurse walked over to Buffy and put her hand on Buffy's shoulder.

"Are you alright?" she asked concerned. Buffy looked up and wiped the tears away as she got up.

"Yeah, I'm-I'm fine," she said before walking out of the hospital. But she was far from fine. She felt her whole world began to crumple before her, and for once on her life, she felt powerless.

* * *

A Few Months Later…

"Here we are," Buffy said as they walked into the Hyperion hotel. The following months after the surgery were hard on everyone. After the operation, Joyce seemed to be making slow recovery. Buffy decided to stay in Sunnydale while her mother recovered from surgery. Angel stayed with her as well for a while, but he had to go back to L.A. for a few days at a time to keep the crime down back in L.A. Joyce had been doing well until one day; Buffy came home to find her mother dead on the couch. Joyce's death had hit everyone hard, and after the funeral, Buffy and Angel decided to take Dawn back to L.A. with them. They had just gotten back from Sunnydale, and were beat from the past weeks events.

"I can give you the tour in the morning. For now, why don't we just get you settled in, in your new room," Buffy suggested.

"Ok," Dawn said in a low voice. Buffy put her arm around her sister as the two of them headed up the stairs.

* * *

Back downstairs, Angel checked around and made sure everything was all right when Wesley walked into the room.

"How are they doing?" Wesley asked as he walked over to Angel. Wesley had finally come around, and was now living back in the room he had turned into an apartment when they had first moved into the hotel.

Angel sighed. "Better than I thought. Although, I think Dawn's taking it harder than Buffy is,"

"I can only imagine," he said.

"What about her house?" Wesley asked.

"Oh, uh, Giles is taking care of it. As far as I know, a lot of the stuff is coming here," he said. Wesley nodded.

"I know the room is kinda bare, but we're going back and getting the rest of our stuff tomorrow," she explained as she sat on the edge of the bed. Dawn nodded.

"It's ok," she said.

"Dawn, I know you didn't want to move here, that you wanted to stay back in Sunnydale, but I'm going to make it work here," she assured Dawn.

"Are we going to be able to see Giles, Willow, Xander and the rest of the gang?" she asked.

"Of coarse. And, once we get you settled in here, you can go and visit if you'd like," she offered.

"Ok," she said in a tired voice. Buffy noticed and smiled as she tucked a strain of her sister's hair behind her ear.

"I'm going to go, and let you get some sleep. Mine and Angel's room is just down the hallway if you need anything," she said.

"Thanks," Dawn said. Buffy smiled at her sister once more before getting up and walking towards the door.

"I love you Dawn," Buffy said in the doorway as she turned around.

"I love you too Buffy." Dawn said.

* * *

Buffy walked into her bedroom where Angel was already putting his things away. He stopped when Buffy walked into the room and shut the door behind her.

"How's she doin'?" Angel asked as he walked over to her.

"She's still taking it kinda hard. It's going to take a while to adjust, but she will," she assured him as she plopped down on the bed. Angel followed her gesture and sat down beside her.

"How about you?" he asked.

"I just can't believe she's gone," she admitted. "I mean, I keep having the urge to pick up the phone and call her, but then I remember that she's gone," she said.

"It's just so weird," she added.

"Is they're anything I can do to help?" he asked. Buffy shook her head.

"I just want to get some rest," she admitted. Angel nodded.

"Ok, good idea," he said as he rubbed her back. The two then got ready for bed, and before she knew it, Buffy was asleep.