Disclaimer: I own no one in this except the doctor.

Authors Note: I apologise for this chapter, it's not the most interesting chapter, especially after the last two, but it gets better after this. This chapter is just necessary.

On any normal day of the week the hospital would be very busy, doctors rushing all over the place helping people left right and centre. Patients would rush through the door one by one, some leaving some not so lucky. Some were victims of horrible vampire or demon attacks although there were always the victims of the normal accidents, such as car accidents and muggings.

On this particular day though there was such a steady flow of patients, very few that were critical, giving the doctors a chance to spend more time with their patients. A doctor named Alice Baker was taking her time stitching up a nasty cut on a young teenagers forehead. The girl had come in with two others; one was a male who had refused to get out of the ambulance, a look of sheer terror on his face. It had taken two orderlies and a sedative to finally calm him down. Doctor Baker was just about finished stitching up the cut when the teenager began to steer. She flickered her eyes open briefly, only to close them again. Her head was pounding and the bright light in the room just intensified the pain. She forced her eyes to open again, her gaze focusing on Doctor Baker's smiling face.

"Hello Dawn" She said softly. "How are you feeling" Dawn placed a finger beside the cut and winced.

"My head hurts" She whispered.

"I imagine it does, you must have hit your head quite hard. Do you remember what happened" Dawn found it hard to remember or focus on anything, but Xander's pale face flashed across her mind and she suddenly remembered everything. He had hit her. She had to check that memory again before she could let herself believe it. She touched her jaw the physical reminded that her memory was right.

"I don't know...I was hit, but..." She cut herself off, not wanting to finish the sentence. The doctor finished off Dawn's stitches and moved on to the bruise on her jaw.

"Who hit you?" The doctor asked. Dawn didn't answer, she was suddenly over come with anger towards Xander, how could he have done something like this to her.

"I don't know," He whispered. The doctor recognised the way Dawn had responded. It was in the same tone she had heard so many times before, mainly from wives who had been beaten by their husbands, but didn't want anyone to know.

"Was it the guy who came in with you?" Dawn again didn't answer, but by doing so she had silently answered. "You can tell me"

"He would never hurt me, he never has before" Dawn said frantically, but also in a tone that sounded like she was trying to convince herself rather than the doctor. Doctor Baker put a hand on Dawn's shoulder to calm her.

"But he did, it's all right you can tell me"

"There has to be something wrong with him" Suddenly something that Xander had said came back to her "He said they kept telling him to do it. I don't know who they are, but..."

"It's okay," The doctor said with a reassuring smile and a gentle squeeze. "We know there's something wrong. We guessed when he refused to let anyone near him when he came in with you. We're having our psychiatric nurse talk to him" Dawn's eyes went wide; she did not like the word psychiatric. That always implied insanity.

"You think he's crazy" Dawn asked.

"He may be suffering from some kind of mental disorder, but we'll have to wait and see what the nurse says"

Dawn fell silent, the only other questions she had were not going to be answered by the doctor. She turned her head away and wished that Buffy was with her, she felt so lonely without her.

There was s soft knock on the door, followed by the door opening slightly. Tara's head appeared in the gap with a smile and a drink of water.

"Hi Dawny" She said in her usual soft voice. She entered the room properly and went to stand by Dawn's bed. "How are you feeling, sweetie" Dawn placed a finger by the stitched up cut and winced a little.

"Just a bit of a headache, but I'm fine" She said with a reassuring smile. "But how's Xander?" Tara's smile sagged a little, but for Dawn's sake she kept it up.

"I spoke to the psychiatric n-nurse and she says they're going to have to commit him to the psychiatric ward. He got...rather v-violent when she was talking to him. They were f-forced to sedate him when he tried to attack the nurse" Dawn's face was a mixture of terror and shock. Her mind was having a hard time trying to get around what was going on. Xand was not the violent type, why would he suddenly attack people.

"Have you...Have you told Buffy, Anya and Willow yet" Dawn asked, her voice shaking as she spoke. Tara shook her head.

"I'll call them in a minute" Dawn nodded. Tara ran a hand gentle through Dawn's hair, wanting to ease her mind a little.

"Are you doing to tell them everything which happened?" Tara bit her lip. Thoughts of what to say to Buffy had been running through her mind ever since she arrived at the hospital, but she still hadn't decided exactly what she was going to say.

"I might leave out the part where Xander hit you, but I don't want to lie" Dawn understood that. Tara ran a hand through her own hair and played with the ends nervously.

"I'll go call her now in fact" She leaned in and gave Dawn a kiss on the cheek, gave her best reassuring smile and left. Dawn relaxed on the bed the best she could and closed her eyes.

Tara sat on a hard plastic chair in the waiting room of the hospital, fiddling with the hem of her top. She had called Buffy over two hours ago, informing her to come straight to the hospital. The moment she said it was Dawn whom was hurt Buffy said she was coming back immediately and hung up. Tara had not gotten the chance to explain what had happened, which meant the little butterflies in Tara's stomach were still swimming around.

She had spent the last hour sorting out in her mind what she was going to say when Buffy came through those doors. Lying to her was wrong, but she couldn't leave out such information like how Dawn ended up with a bruised chin and a gash on her forehead, Buffy would demand to know. In the end Tara decided to tell the whole truth and pray Buffy would understand.

After another half an hour of sitting and biting her nails, Tara finally saw Buffy, Willow and Anya run towards her from the entrance. She stood up and tried her best to smile.

"Tara what happened" Buffy asked desperately, coming to a halt mere inches from Tara, who took a deep breath and began.

She started at the beginning explaining how she had stopped by the house and found Dawn unconscious. Upon hearing this Buffy's hands balled up in to fists. Tara continued with how she should Xander huddled under the kitchen table and how he kept saying he heard voices telling him to do things, like hitting Dawn. Willow stopped breathing at this point, but managed to start again once Tara continued, but what she said next almost broke Anya's heart. She told them about how Xander had tried to slice his head open to get rid of them. All three girls found it hard to believe that the person they were hearing about was Xander. True they had been through and a lot and had seen some truly unbelievable things during the years, but that didn't seem to take away any of the pain they felt right now.

"They're keeping him here in the psychiatric ward, room 215" Tara finished off. Anya instantly sprinted away from the group and over to the elevator, but Buffy grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Wait a minute Anya, just calm down" Anya yanked her arm free.

"He needs me" She yelled, tears streaming down her face and her hands shaking.

"I know, but you're going to be off now help to him in the state you\re in now, you have to calm down" Anya took a few deep calming breaths and nodded. She knew Buffy was right, so just couldn't help feeling this way. She knew this was the way you were suppose to act when your loved one needed help, but also knew Buffy was right, he needed to calm down. "You're right I'm fine, now let's go" Buffy shook her head.

"I have to see Dawn" Anya nodded as she calmly walked over to the elevator. Willow stayed with Buffy, her head lowered and her eyes staring blankly at the floor. She wanted to see Xander as much as Anya did, but she was afraid. She had seen Xander through nearly everything, but this was one thing she had never had to deal with and a part of her was afraid at what she'd find when she entered the room. Judging by what she just heard she would not see the Xander she was used to seeing every day and with that knowledge she let a tear fall from her eye.

TBC

If you could review this that would be super, if you can't or don't want to I understand.