~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~4 days later, Med Center, TC,

A beautiful blonde girl lies on a bed, silenced by the coma that has claimed her consciousness. Her hand is held by that of her love, a boy who hasn't seen the outside of the room, save for the tiny window, since his girlfriend lay here.

In this dark room, the only sound to be heard is that of a hoarse voice talking to the girl, begging her to wake up. He keeps watch over his angel, keeping her safe from the nightmares that he's sure claims her. He can't sleep, for if she wakes while he's gone, he will never forgive himself.

"Luce, it's raining again...if you wake up, I won't even pretend to be mad when you make me stay out and dance in it." Xander tells her, his eyes sore from lack of sleep. "Please, babe, wake up. Please..." he trails off, leaning forward and kissing her forehead.

"I need you, Lucy. Just wake up, ok? Then we can have that dance that I promised you."The door swings open, and Max and Alec walk in, hand in hand.

"Hey, Xander." Alec says softly, taking in the sight of a battered Lucy lying on the bed. Max, uncomfortable seeing her new surrogate little sister like this, preoccupies herself with rearranging flowers in a vase on the nightstand.

Xander nods a hello, not taking his eyes off his girl. Max and Alec exchange worried glances. "Xander, you need to get some sleep." Max says, patting his shoulder comfortingly. He shakes his head, and she goes into drill Sargent mode. "You listen to me, Xander. When Lucy wakes up, she'll play hell if you aren't rested up enough to talk to her. At least climb in the bed and get some sleep." she says, and he nods softly, bringing his bloodshot, watery green eyes to meet hers.

"Thanks, guys." he says, yawning tiredly.

"No problem. Just make sure our hero wakes up soon, ok?" Alec asks.

"Will do." Xander says sleepily as he crawls next to Lucy, barely hearing them walk out of the room over memories of their first meeting. He laces his fingers with hers, and pulls the blanket up further. "I love you, Lucy. Always will."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Dream Sequence, Xander's subconscious

~Where the hell am I?~ Xander wonders, looking up a flight of stairs as music plays softly around him. He looks around, realizing that it's a ballroom. ~Ok, now the question is why the hell am I here?~

"Because I wanted you to be." a voice calls down to him, and he raises his head, running to Lucy's side and hugging her, just needing to hold her, to make sure she's real. He kisses her, happier than anytime he can remember in this moment.

"I missed you so much, Luce." he whispers as they start to slow dance. He leans his forehead against hers.

"I missed you, too." she whispers softly. "I can hear you talk to me, though. I like when you tell me stories." she says, smiling. "My brave little soldier boy."

"I'm glad. Where are we?" he asks, worried for a fleeting moment that they might be dead.

"No, we aren't dead, Xander. I don't know where we are, but I like it now." she tells him. "I'm trying to wake up. I swear. My body just won't let me." she tells him, a single tear falling down her cheek.

"Don't cry, Luce. It's all right, I'm here now." he tells her, pulling her close.

"I have to go...they won't let you stay." she whispers, more tears spilling onto her cheeks. "You have to go back."

"No, I can't." he says sternly. She nods her head, and he leans his head against her shoulder.

"You have to go back to the real world." she says, crying softly. "Don't worry..I'll join you soon."

"Promise?" he asks, and she nods.

"Pinky promise." she says, her hand slipping out of his as some force pulls them apart. The ballroom blurs, and the last thing he sees before his world fuzzes white is Lucy waving to him, wiping away a tear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Med Center, TC

Xander wakes with a start and looks at the clock. 3:48 a.m. He sits up, grabbing a soda that somebody left on the bedside table for him, and taking a swig.

~"I can hear you talk to me, though. I like when you tell me stories."~ Lucy's voice rings through his head. He sits down on the chair next to the bed, holding her hand.

"Well, there was this one time I went on a mission to the Amazon, and..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~HQ, Terminal City

"Max, we got everything we need for the mission tonight." Mole tells her, and she nods, staring into space. He smirks, wanting to see how much he can get away with. "And I have some of the X10's on it."

"Yup." she mumbles, trying to read the maps but so out of it they're upside-down.

"And I'm taking them out for beer afterwards." he grins, picturing little Bobby slugging 'em down.

"Great."

"And then we're gonna tell all the human kids that Santa doesn't exist." he laughs, and she looks up, her face wrinkled in confusion.

"What?" she asks, then sighs. "Sorry, I'm just worried about Lucy. I know you'll do great on the mission."

"We're all worried about the kid...she's a fighter, though." Mole says, truly worried about Lucy, the girl who was so nice to him. "She'll be fine, don't like make yourself blow up." he says gruffly, worried about sounding too sentimental and looking around nervously to see who heard.

"Ya think?" she asks, and Alec comes from behind her and wraps his arms around her waist.

"She'll be fine. Let's go visit her." he tells Max, and they kiss, ignoring the look of surprise from Mole, and the fact that his ever-present cigar drops to the ground, where Joshua picks it up for him.

Mole grabs the cigar from Joshua, still staring at the retreating figures of Max and Alec. "I never thought they'd actually get together." he says, and Joshua laughs, more of a bark than anything.

"We all knew. Lucy made them see it. Not blind anymore." he says, and Mole looks at him like he's just noticed he's there.

"You don't say...hey, wanna play cards?" he asks, and Joshua shakes his head.

"Joshua going to paint Lucy." he says, and Mole nods, walking to a group of X's who were sure to play with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: so, what'd ya think? Tell me, even just to say, 'wow, this wasn't totally nauseating!' I don't care!!!! SO REVIEW...please? *puppy dog lip*

DISCLAIMER: not mine...wait a second *asks Fox networkers, they shake their heads smugly*...okay, so still not mine.

Luv ya!!

Molly Jeane :D