The world was dark. It was hard to breathe. Finally the air began to clear,
and the Scoobies ventured out from under the overhang that had protected
them from the rain of debris from the falling tower.
As the ruin settled, coughing broke the silence. Only Spike was immune to the dust. Unfortunately, as the dust cleared, the sun's rays began to penetrate to the ground. His eyes focussed on the motionless Slayer, he ignored the sun, ignored the burning until a tiny hand pulled him back into the shade.
"Spike, stay here!" Dawn hissed at him. "You want to go up in a ball of fire?"
"Maybe." Spike whispered. "If... I have to know, Niblet." Even talking to Dawn, his eyes never left Buffy.
Dawn finally looked away from the blond vampire to where her sister lay, dusty and quiet. Suddenly cold, she shivered. Unnoticed by her, tears began to make tracks through the dust on her face.
"Yeah."
Spike tore his eyes away from the horrible sight in front of him to look at Dawn in shock.
Opening his mouth to try and convince her she had too much to live for, he was silenced by Dawn.
"Don't." Dawn took a steadying breath, her own eyes never leaving the scene in front of her. "We'll wait for Willow to tell us."
Even as she spoke, Xander and Willow had cleared enough rubble to reach Buffy. Willow immediately knelt down beside the Slayer. At this, Dawn shuddered again and looked away.
Dawn studied the rest of the scene, the rest of the Scoobies. Anya leaned against a tank in a relatively clear area. Xander had deposited her there before going to help Willow. Anya took deep breaths of the rapidly clearing air, and looked around as if she'd never seen anything so beautiful. Every once in a while, her eyes strayed to Xander, hovering ineffectively over Buffy, and she'd blink rapidly. Tara waited at the entrance to the path Xander and Willow cleared. She fidgeted, obviously desperate to help, but unable because of her broken hand. Giles...
Dawn wrinkled her brow as she realized Giles was nowhere to be seen. She was turning to ask Spike, when she saw a vaguely human-shaped bundle to one side of the shaded nook.
Spike jumped when Dawn suddenly pulled away from him. His own eyes had never left Buffy, and his ears were strained to hear anything - a breath, a gasp, a heartbeat. He almost pulled Dawn back to his side, as if she was his life preserver, before he got himself under control.
He looked to see what had captured her attention, only to see her kneeling by the side of the Watcher.
"Bugger," he muttered as he rushed to help Dawn with Giles.
Dawn's heart was filled with fear when she saw Giles, but her hands never trembled as she reached out to turn him over.
Giles had stood, strong and silent, watching Buffy tumble through the sky. When she hit the ground, he hit his knees. Then just as silently, he collapsed onto his face. In the dust and confusion, no one had noticed him lying senseless on the ground.
As Dawn turned him over, filled with fear at possibly facing another death in her extended family, he moaned. She jumped back, startled, letting him thud back onto his chest.
"Nice bedside manner, Niblet," Spike said, feebly trying to break the tension.
"Shut up, Spike," Dawn said distractedly, not noticing how her words, her tone, caused the vampire to suck in a deep breath and look back at the Slayer.
Dawn leaned forward to aid the obviously alive Watcher. "Giles, you okay?" she whispered. Her hands reached out to turn him over again, but then paused. "Giles, please answer me. I want to turn you over, but I don't want to hurt you."
She was answered by another moan, and Spike went to the other side of Giles supine body.
"Come on, Watcher," he joshed in his Cockney accent. "Let the girl know you are okay."
"Spike, I shall let the girl know when I know, and not a moment before," came the mumbled answer.
"I think he'll be fine, Niblet," Spike said dryly.
Dawn kept her attention on the Watcher. If she was busy with Giles, she wasn't thinking about Buffy falling so far, hitting so hard, then not moving at all.
Giles pushed himself up on his elbows and knees, gingerly testing every limb for injury. The only real injury was the spear wound he'd sustained during the attempted run for freedom. He could feel that the stitches had broken open at some point and blood was seeping through the bandage. With Dawn's help, he moved into a sitting position, leaning against the back wall of the structure that had protected them during the final collapse.
"What happened?" he asked his companions.
Assured that the Watcher would live, Spike turned to face the scene playing out in the pile of rubble, allowing Giles a view of the tableau.
Willow still knelt by Buffy's side. Xander had stopped hovering, and sat in a clear spot near Buffy's body, his head buried in his knees. Tara had picked her way through the wreckage to stand behind Willow, hands on the redhead's shoulders in a gesture of support.
"Dear lord," Giles whispered, suddenly remembering what had brought on his collapse.
He felt like he was alone in the world. It seemed like everyone had faded away, all the sound a distant memory. As Buffy fell, his eyes tracked her. She seemed to fill his field of vision. Then, after an eternity, the moment of impact. Even then he didn't close his eyes. He stared, willing her to move, to twitch, any little movement to telegraph life. Nothing. Suddenly sound rushed back to him. The collapsing tower was like a roar, and a wall of dust blocked his sight of his Slayer. The world went grey, then black. No longer aware of anything, he crumpled to the ground quietly, unnoticed by anyone.
Shaking his head to clear the memory, he saw Dawn and Spike watching him with concerned faces. He felt the need to reassure, them, even the vampire.
"I was... I was watching. I'm the watcher, it's my job." He said defensively. His eyes stared into the distance. "No one else was watching. Willow and Tara, Xander and Anya, you two, only I watched. I had to. She'd be all alone if I didn't." He didn't noticed the silent tears on the faces of his audience, or how Dawn's tiny hand crept into his, or how Spike laid a cool, comforting hand on his shoulder. They sat silently, staring at the still tableau in front of them.
Giles drew in a deep breath and looked Dawn squarely in the eyes. "It's okay, Dawn. I didn't mean to scare you. I was watching, and I ... I forgot to breathe and I passed out. I'm okay."
"No, you're not. None of us are."
Suddenly a siren broke the moment.
Willow and Tara jumped. Xander looked up. Even Anya managed to look at Buffy without blinking rapidly.
"I think we've got her stabilized." Despite the siren, Willow's exhausted voice carried to everyone.
It seemed everything went from slow motion to twice the normal speed. Dawn jumped to her feet and rushed to where Willow and Tara stood swaying. Xander grabbed her before she ran right into them in a desperate attempt to get to her sister.
"No, Dawn!" Xander finally shouted to keep Dawn from struggling. "Let them be. They are exhausted, and Buffy's just barely stable. They got her so she would make it to the hospital, but that's all they can do right now."
"She's alive?" Dawn whispered, eyes never leaving her sister.
"Oh, god," Xander moaned, finally realizing why Dawn was so panicked. "Yeah, Dawnie. She's alive. She was alive, but unconscious when we got to her. Will checked her out, you know, magically. She said Buffy was bleeding internally. She called Tara over, and they worked on her, I guess to stop the bleeding. When the siren went, Tara pulled out, and said they had to stop, they were too exhausted. But they fixed her enough that she'd make it to the hospital, that the Slayer powers could start to heal her. So she's going to be fine. Eventually."
The sirens came closer and closer while Dawn assimilated the information. Her sister wasn't dead. She wasn't alone. They all came through the end of the world, again. Finally shaking herself back to reality, she could see Buffy's chest rising and falling as she breathed shallowly. Tearing her eyes away from her sister, she looked around at everyone.
Willow was exhausted. She was leaning on Tara's left side, eyes closed, face ashen. Tara had her left arm around the shorter, slighter woman, and her right hand pressed to chest for support and protection.
Xander was slowly making his way back to Anya. She was smiling at him, but her eyes were glassy with pain and shock.
Giles had collapsed back against the wall, a stunned look on his face. He'd been sure he was watching his Slayer's last moments. Now that she was going to pull through, he felt he could breath again. He tried it, a deep breath, and grimaced in pain. The blood from the wound in his side had seeped through the bandage and was visible on his shirt. Spike was covered with blood and bruises from his fight with Doc and his own fall from the tower. He was able to move more easily every moment, thanks to his vampire healing abilities. One look at him, though, and the paramedics would drag him into an ambulance. That couldn't happen. He'd burst into flames on the gurney between the shade he stood in now and the ambulance.
Dawn herself was completely uninjured. She'd been tied up and protected for the entirety of the battle. A brief instant of guilt shot through her, but she pushed it aside. It was a good thing she was unhurt and finally thinking clearly. Someone had to give all these people orders.
Quickly, in a loud enough voice that everyone could hear, she started telling everyone what to do.
"Okay, Buffy, Tara, Giles and Anya need to go to the hospital. Xander and Willow, I know you won't leave Tara and Anya anyway, so you go with them and keep and eye on everyone. Spike, is there a sewer entrance you can get to without frying?"
Shaken from his reverie, Spike nodded and turned to face Dawn.
"Okay, you should get going before the EMT's get here and try to carry you to the ambulance. We'd also better get our stories straight before the cops get here. What were we all doing here?"
"Lost cat?" Willow piped up in a tiny voice.
"Okay, that'll work. It's weak, but it's Sunnydale. Cops here will believe anything. Everyone got it?"
Giles cleared his throat. "Dawn, you should go with Spike. It'll be less suspicious if the cops find you at home when they go to tell you of your sister's injury."
Dawn looked mutinous and opened her mouth to argue, when Spike and Xander both added their agreement to Giles' suggestion.
"Yeah, Dawnie, you don't need to be here."
"Niblet, come on home, get changed, we'll meet them at the hospital."
Shaking her head with amusement over Spike and Xander agreeing on anything, Dawn shut her mouth and walked toward Spike.
"Okay, where's this sewer entrance?"
Spike pulled his coat up over his head and darted from patch of shade to patch of shade until he reached a cave-like opening just beyond the gate. There he waited for Dawn to catch up.
By silent agreement, they waited in the deep shadows until the ambulances had taken away their injured friends. Then they turned toward home.
A few steps in, Spike realized Dawn hadn't followed him.
"Dawn?" he questioned.
"Um, no flashlight, can't see in the dark. Not a vampire, remember?"
"Sorry, Niblet," he laughed.
He reached back for her hand. To his vampire sight, she was as clear as if she stood in daylight. All she saw was a disembodied hand reaching out for her. With a little yelp, she jumped back.
"Sorry, you scared me," she said sheepishly as she put her hand in his.
They limped through the tunnel, Dawn occasionally stumbling in the darkness.
Her voice suddenly echoed through the tunnel, causing Spike to jump this time.
"We should go to your crypt first."
Spike recovered from being startled, and tried to play it cool. "Why?"
Despite his quick recovery, Dawn noticed and had to smother her giggles before she could answer.
"You...you need blood to speed up the healing, and a change of clothes. You'll look pretty suspicious covered in bloody clothes."
"When did you get so smart, Niblet? I really don't want to be your sister when you start sneaking out to see your boyfriend."
"You think I didn't learn a few things, watching Buffy fool mom about the slaying and Angel for so many years? I used to go into Buffy's closet when she was out. She had a hiding spot under the floorboards where she put her slaying supplies, and any clothes that got wrecked. I used to try on some of the stuff that wasn't too nasty. You know, the stuff with just a little bloody, or ripped. She'd hide the clothes until Mom was out, then she'd smuggle them into the neighbours trash. I knew about the slaying like, years before Mom. It's a good thing Mom never read my diaries. She'd find out more about Buffy..." Dawn trailed off, a confused and sorrowful look on her face.
"What's wrong, Niblet?"
"It's confusing. Mom couldn't read my diaries, 'cause they didn't exist. But I'm here now, and they were here, so they must have existed." Dawn was silent for a moment. "I wish I didn't burn my diaries," she said in a small voice. "I keep looking for them, trying to prove that the stuff we remember really happened. Trying to prove that I really happened."
They trudged silently towards the door that marked Spike's crypt.
"What am I now?" Dawn asked, as Spike fumbled for the key.
"Huh?" Spike asked, dropping the key and facing Dawn.
"Well, I was Dawn. But I was the key. But now the door is gone, kinda, so am I still a key? Am I still going to have crazy people come up to me and say I'm all green and glowy?" Dawn was panicking now, at the thought of having to protect herself forever.
"Calm down, Dawn!" Spike took the hyperventilating girl back in his arms. When she finally started breathing normally, he released her. He took a moment to open the door to his crypt. In the dim light from the open door, he looked at her and sighed.
"I don't know, Dawn. I don't know the answers to those questions. But they are important questions. When Giles starts feeling better, ask him. He'll heal that much faster with a project to work on."
Dawn finally laughed weakly. "I guess I'm getting ahead of myself. I mean, we only saved the world, like, an hour ago. We do need a bit of a rest and recovery before the next big catastrophe."
Spike hurried into the crypt, heading directly for the fridge. Using his vampire abilities always left him starving. Dawn was right - without blood he wasn't good for much of anything right now.
He drained two plastic bags from the blood bank before he felt enough like himself to check out his clothes. He grimaced as he took in the ripped shirt and jeans. Thinking back to the fight, his eyes widened. Hurriedly, he pulled off his leather duster.
"Shit!"
Dawn hurried up to Spike, grabbing a stake from a pile near the door on the way.
"Spike! What's wrong?" she exclaimed.
"Bugger all! That damned ass!" Spike held up the coat. "That poxy pillock of a demon sliced my coat!"
Dawn couldn't help it. All the stress and fear and overwhelming panic finally got to her. She slid to the floor, laughing, hiccupping, crying, and plainly having hysterics.
Spike tried to comfort her. He tried joshing her back into sanity, he tried rubbing her back, he tried yelling at her, and he even tried slapping her, gently of course. Finally, he just left her where she lay. He quietly changed, poking his head out every once in a while to look at her worriedly.
By the time he was dressed and ready to go, Dawn was calming down.
"Sorry Spike. I just..."
"It got too much for you, I guess. You feel better now?" Spike asked matter of factly.
"Yeah." Dawn paused. "There's still so much to figure out, but I think I can hold it together now."
"That's good, 'bit. Cause we really need to get to the Summers' homestead before the cops show up.
************************************************************************
The ambulances pulled up to the emergency doors of the hospital. Anya and Giles were in the first, Tara and Willow in the second. Buffy had her own ambulance. One look at her and the paramedics immediately set to work. Their frantic calling made Xander nervous. Just as they finally got her loaded and en route to the hospital, the first of the cop cars arrived.
Xander was staring after the departing ambulances with a lost look on his face. A female officer came up to him and laid a gentle hand on his arm. He was totally unaware of her approach, and jumped and screamed when she touched him.
"It's okay, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she soothed.
"Um, sorry," Xander said, shamefaced. "I didn't hear you come up."
Opening her mouth to question him about the unusual events, the cop watched as his eyes left her face and gazed wistfully after the departing ambulances. "Your friend in there?"
"My friends are in all of the ambulances that pulled out." Suddenly putting his attention back on the cop, he pleaded. "Please, can you just take me to the hospital? I need to find out how they are doing. I'll answer any questions you have there."
Looking into the desperate eyes of the attractive young man, the cop acquiesced immediately. "Sure, hop in the car. I'll just tell my partner where I'm going."
The ride to the hospital was silent. Officer Tavish, as she'd introduced herself, seemed to know that Xander wouldn't be useful for questioning until he was sure his friends were okay. With the sirens blaring and the engine racing, they pulled up just as they were unloading Buffy.
Xander ran inside the wide doors, looking around wildly for his friends.
"Mr. Harris?"
Xander spun when he heard his name. A nurse stood nearby, looking at him with a quizzical face.
"Huh? I mean, yeah, I'm Xander Harris."
"Your friend Willow said that you'd be along shortly. She and her friend are right through here." The nurse led him to a curtained off cubicle.
Willow slumped in a chair beside the gurney Tara was on. She looked really rough, with a pale face and tight lines of exhaustion around her mouth.
Xander gently placed his hand on her shoulder, quietly calling her name to warn her of his arrival.
She didn't jump when he touched her, but he got the feeling she was surprised. She was just too tired from trying to heal Buffy to be startled.
Willow slowly lifted her head up to meet Xander's eyes. She gave him a small smile, then returned to her perusal of her lover's sleeping form.
"How is she, Will?"
"She'll be fine. She's back to herself again. They gave her something to knock her out while they reset her hand. The doctor was really unimpressed when he saw that she'd removed the cast. She'll have to stay overnight for observation, but at least she won't have to be in the psych ward this time."
"What about you?"
Willow held up her hand. An IV was sticking out of it. "I looked so bad they put me on IV fluids. It's good though, I can stay with Tara this way. They are trying to get a semi-private room for Tara, Anya and I. We'll head up together once Tara's hand gets set."
At the sound of his fiancée's name, Xander dropped his hand and started edging for the door. "I ... uh, I need to check on everybody else, too. I'll be back soon, okay?"
Willow finally gave him a full grin as she took in his desperation to get to Anya.
"She's in the cubicle right beside us. Giles is on the other side of her." Willow's face fell as she whispered, "I don't know where they took Buffy."
"She'll be fine, Will. You and Tara made sure that she'd be fine. Don't worry about anything but yourself and Tara right now, 'kay?"
"'Kay."
Xander darted away, and into the next cubicle. Anya sat upright on the gurney, complaining to the doctor about the light he was shining in her eyes.
"Listen, my head hurts, all I want to do is sleep, why do you keep asking me silly questions like what's today's date and who is the president, and shining that horrible bright light in my eyes?"
"Anya," Xander breathed, his relief apparent in eyes and voice.
"Xander, make this man go away and let me sleep," Anya pouted, looking at Xander.
Xander smiled at her reassuringly, then turned worried eyes to the doctor. "How is she?"
Thankful to be dealing with a sensible person, the doctor directed his comments to Xander. "She'll be fine. I suspect she has a concussion. She answered all the neurological testing questions correctly, except she told me she was a thousand years old. However, her eyes are dilating at the normal rate, so it's a pretty mild head injury. I'd like to keep her overnight just to be on the safe side. I understand there were several other people who came in from the same accident site. Would it be okay if I put her in a room with a couple of other patients? Does she know Ms. Rosenberg and Ms. McLay?"
"Yeah, they're friends of ours. Put them all together. Um, it's just for the one night, right?" When the doctor nodded an affirmative, Xander breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, they can stand that much togetherness."
The doctor left to verify the arrangement, and Xander turned to Anya.
"How are you, An?"
"My head hurts and I want to go home, "Anya said in a small voice.
"I know", Xander said, moving towards the frightened girl and putting a comforting arm around his shoulders. "But you have to stay here tonight. I need you to look after Willow and Tara while I find out how Giles and Buffy are. Besides, as long as you are here, I'm not going anywhere."
Anya gave Xander a tremulous smile. "The world didn't end, did it?"
"No, honey, it didn't."
"We're getting married, 'cause the world didn't end."
"Yep, we're getting married."
"I want my ring!" Anya cried, holding her hands out.
Xander laughed. He always knew they'd save the world, so he'd carried the ring with him into the battle. He'd known Anya would ask for it sooner or later. He pulled out the box from his pants pocket, opened it and reverently slipped the symbol of their love onto her finger.
Anya pulled her hand back and held it up to admire the ring. "It is beautiful. An appropriate and traditional symbol," she said seriously.
Xander smiled. "Glad you approve." The nurse entered with a wheelchair to take Anya upstairs to her room. Anya held her hand out, wiggling the fingers to catch the nurse's eye.
"Look! I am wearing a diamond engagement ring! That means I'm going to be married soon. Then we will buy a house and have small, pink babies." Xander grinned to himself as the nurse pushed the wheelchair away.
Certain that Anya was going to fine, Xander opened the next curtain. Giles lay on a gurney on his side, grimacing in pain as a doctor re-closed the spear wound he'd torn open.
Xander's face paled. That was really gross. He muttered an apology and waited outside the curtain for the doctor to finish. As he waited, Tara and Willow went by in matching wheelchairs on the way upstairs. He told them about proposing to Anya, warning them about her overwhelming excitement and pride in her new ring. They squealed in delight, anxious now to get upstairs and start planning the wedding.
Finally the doctor exited the curtained area, leaving Giles alone. Xander hesitantly ventured back into the small space.
"How ya feeling, G-man?" Xander questioned.
"Fine, Xander," Giles sighed. "How is Buffy?" The health and well being of the Slayer was the only thing on his mind.
Xander flushed. "I ... don't know anything yet. I've been finding out about you guys. This nurse told me that you were all over here," he babbled.
"There's nothing to feel guilty about," Giles comforted. "Buffy's strong. She'll be fine, I'm sure. It's probably best to let the doctors work on her without our pestering anyway."
Xander still felt guilty, but passed on the information he did know. "The girls are all upstairs, just overnight. They are all in one room together. And, uh...Anya and I are engaged, so the girls are pretty well occupied with that."
Giles looked at his young friend in surprise. "Engaged? Congratulations!"
The younger man smiled sheepishly. "I asked her before we left last night. She ... she slapped me. She thought I was trying to be all tragic and romantic because I thought we were going to die and I wouldn't have to go through with it. Then I explained I was asking 'cause I was sure we weren't going to die, and she thought that was really romantic, so she said yes, then she said wait 'til after. 'Give it to me when the world doesn't end," she said. So, just a minute ago, as soon as she parsed through the fact that the world didn't end, she demanded her ring."
"That sounds like Anya," Giles said dryly.
The men sat silently for a moment before Xander shook himself free from his pleasant musings about his fiancée. "So, G-man, what did the doctor tell you?"
"That I needed to stay overnight for observation. I imagine I'll be upstairs near the girls," he sighed. "He also mentioned that they had a number of casualties come in from the accident. It seems that a few of Glory's brain sucking victims were injured in the collapse. They seem to have had a miraculous recovery from their psychological problems, however."
"So killing Glory gave everyone their brains back, eh?" Xander commented.
Giles' head shot up and he caught Xander's eyes. "Did Buffy... I mean, did you see..." he trailed off.
"Yeah, Giles, I saw it. Buffy beat Glory, and then she deliberately killed Ben."
************************************************************************
After another dash through the sunshine, Dawn and Spike finally arrived at the Summers' home. He glanced at the clock in the hallway. "Okay, 'bit, it's 5:56 am. We need to give the cops a convincing show. You go do a quick wash up and change into your pjs and crawl into bed. Make it look like you just woke up. I'll set up down here."
Dawn simply looked at the blond vampire, a look of utter confusion on her face.
Spike sighed. "Look, Dawn we were all here, hanging out, watching movies or something, right? Then you notice your cat is missing. You freak out, you won't go to bed without your kitty. So you send everyone out to look for her. I stay behind to look after you, keep an eye open in case the kitty comes back. I finally get you to go to bed, and I fall asleep down here. Neither of us have any idea what happened to Buffy and the Scoobies, right? So the house has to look like we were hanging out. Right now, it's too clean. And you have to look like you just woke up, but you are worried about your kitty, so you look upset and worried. So you need to be less dusty, more mussed up, and your bed needs to be slept in."
"And you implied I had a knack for coming up with good covering stories," she complained as she headed upstairs to carry out his orders.
"Hurry up, 'bit, it won't be long 'til the cops get here to tell us their version of what happened."
Spike headed into the kitchen, grabbed bags of chips and opened them directly into the garbage can. He grabbed a couple of handfuls of the salty, oily snacks and ran back to scatter them lightly around the living room. On his next run into the kitchen, he gathered up a six-pack of Coke, with a couple of diet sodas for good measure. He'd never been in a mixed gender group where most of the girls weren't drinking diet pop. Even among his vampire acquaintances, the female vamps tended to bite the slim victims. As if a fat person had fattening blood, he scoffed mentally. Most of the pop he emptied down the sink, but he left a couple half-full, carrying them into the living room and placing them on convenient tables. Finally, he grabbed an afghan from the back of the couch, and laid down under it, trying to look as if he'd been sleeping.
Upstairs, Dawn quickly washed the surface dust off her face and arms. She quickly stripped out of the medieval style dress Glory had forced her to wear, and, carrying it gingerly between two fingers, threw it into the hamper, piling other clothes on it so she didn't have to see it again. She looked longingly at the shower, but if she was supposed to be asleep, she couldn't very well have wet hair. Instead she settled for brushing the dust out. Grabbing a robe from the back of the door, she headed back to her room to get into her pyjamas. Flipping the covers back on her bed, she laid down and covered herself up, trying to look as if she'd been sleeping.
************************************************************************
Giles was settling in his room while Xander was getting frustrated, trying to convince the nurses to give him information about Buffy's condition. The nurse at the emergency desk first refused to give him any information at all, claiming they could only release information on a patient to the patient's family.
"As soon as we get in touch with Miss Summers' mother, we'll ask her if we can tell you."
Xander grimaced. "I'm afraid Miss Summers' emergency contact information must be out of date; Joyce died about a month ago. Look, ma'am, all of my friends are in various rooms of this hospital. I just need to find out where Buffy is so I can tell her little sister." Xander trailed off when the nurse continued to shake her head.
A gentle hand rested comfortingly on his shoulder. "Tell the guy what he wants to know." Officer Tavish ordered softly.
A mutinous look on her face, the nurse turned to the computer, muttering about rules and troublemakers. "I'm afraid there's not a lot I can tell you." She waved a hand to silence Xander, who was opening his mouth to argue with her. She turned the monitor so he could see the screen himself. "Here, this means that she arrived unconscious, with injuries consistent with a fall. She was intubated to help her breathe, and they took CAT scans to see if there was any brain injury." The nurse's voice died off as she read the last line of the chart before translating it for Xander. "They found serious bleeding and injury to her brain. She's in surgery right now, with Dr. Kriegel, the neurosurgeon on staff."
************************************************************************
Spike, too tense to keep lying on the sofa, was about to get up and check on Dawn when a light tap at the door made him freeze. He bolted for the door, about the fling it open when he remembered he was supposed to have been asleep. He forced himself to wait for a second tap before opening the door with a yawn.
Two cops stood on the front porch, looking uncomfortable. "Is this the Summers' residence?" the taller of the two asked.
"Yeah," Spike said. He figured the fewer words he spoke the better. Lies always were most believable without too many details.
"Are you Mr. Summers'" the cop questioned.
"No, I'm just the babysitter, mate."
The cop looked concerned. Spike's appearance and cocky attitude didn't jive with the word 'babysitter' in this man's mind.
Spike read the cop's disbelief, and quickly back-pedalled. "We were all over here, watching movies and relaxing, and the Sl...Buffy's kid sister realized her cat was missing. The kid gets all worked up, and nothing would help but for everyone to go out looking for this cat. Buffy asked me to stay with Dawn, 'cause the kid's upset, and it's late, while they look for the cat."
"Why you?" the cop challenged, obviously very confused.
Spike used all his acting skills to look injured and sheepish. "I, uh, I got in a fight a few days ago. I'm limping and slow. They figured wouldn't be much use out there, trying to catch a cat." Looking at them sideways, Spike saw the cops exchange a glance. The shorter officer shrugged, apparently choosing to accept Spike's story. The vampire was glad he didn't need to breathe. A huge sigh of relief would have given the game away.
"May we come in?" the short cop asked politely.
In answer, Spike simply opened the door a little wider. The cops pushed past him, into the living room. Spike was glad he'd taken the time to make it look like a party had gone on the night before.
"Is something wrong, officers? Did something happen last night?" Spike asked, trying to play the part of the uninformed and worried friend.
The cops again exchanged at speaking glance. Spike was rapidly getting tired of these looks, and was tempted to ask if they wanted to get a room. Of course, that probably wouldn't make the cops any friendlier.
Eventually the shorter cop turned back to Spike. He was obviously the more friendly and considerate of the two. "I don't mean to pry, but...why did the girl need a babysitter? I mean, where are her folks?"
Spike sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "The girls' dad split years ago, before they even moved to Sunnydale. I've never seen him around or heard that he's been to visit, so I'm guessing he's not real involved in their lives. And Joyce, ... she passed away real suddenly last month."
The cop's mouth turned downward into a frown. Whether it was a frown of disapproval or sympathy, Spike couldn't tell.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, sir, but there was an accident last night. An industrial accident at a warehouse not far from here. I'm afraid Miss Summers was hurt pretty badly, along with several others. I don't know if they are your friends or not, but since no one came back last night," the cop paused for Spike's nod of agreement, "I'm assuming they are."
"Is Buffy ... I mean, is everyone okay?" Spike asked, his voice cracking.
"I'm afraid we don't have very much information yet. There are officers on the scene now, trying to figure out what happened. I do know that everyone at the scene was taken to Sunnydale General. You are more likely to find answers there. I'm very sorry, sir."
Bad news delivered, the cops turned to leave. They had other houses to visit, other bad news to break. This was first on the list, because Buffy was in the most serious condition of all of the surviving victims. If the worst happened, hopefully her family would have time to say goodbye. On impulse, the shorter cop turned around again on his way out the door. "Tell the little girl we're sorry," he requested softly.
Spike watched the cop car pull away from the curb, then turned to go upstairs to get Dawn. She was standing right behind him, having crept down the stairs as soon as she heard the cops leave.
"Bloody hell, you scared me 'bit!" Spike yelped.
A small grin crossed Dawn's features. It was pretty heady stuff, scaring a vampire. The smile didn't last long, however, as she asked worriedly, "what did they say?"
"Just that there had been an accident, that Buffy had been hurt. They weren't sure about anyone's relationship yet, so they haven't had time to interview anybody, or they are just too low on the totem pole to be told." Spike ran a hand through his hair, a common nervous gesture for the vampire. "They said we should go to the hospital, Niblet," he told her softly.
Dawn gasped quietly. The fear of possibly losing her sister hit her again, like the force of Olaf's Troll Hammer. Spike rushed to comfort her.
"Don't forget, your sister is the Slayer," he stressed. "I'm sure to the cops, her injuries look a lot worse than they really are. Glinda and Red got her stable, they said so. Stable enough that the Slayer powers could kick in and start healing her. She'll be fine, Dawn. The cops, they're just playing it safe."
"Please, can we go to the hospital now?" Dawn begged in a tiny voice.
After a quick dash back to the sewer, Spike again found himself moving through the familiar darkness. At least this time Dawn had a flashlight, so she wasn't stumbling around blind, and he had a blanket, so the dash through the sun was quite as painful. The sewer had an exit right within the hospital building itself, so he didn't have to face the morning sun again.
All too soon they found themselves at the hospital. Despite the flashlight, at some point during the trek, Dawn's tiny hand had found it's way into Spike's. They both needed that comfort right now.
Once inside the hospital, Spike and Dawn made their way to the emergency ward, looking around for any sign of their friends on the way. They finally found Xander, sitting with a female cop, looking very lost and scared.
"Xander," Dawn called.
The young man jumped to his feet and pulled Dawn into a hug. "You okay, Dawnie? Hey Spike, everything go okay?"
"No problem at home, but it sounds like you had a bad night," Spike replied, trying to keep up appearances for the officer avidly watching the exchange.
"What? Oh, yeah, the worst," Xander sighed, suddenly realizing they were surrounded by curious onlookers.
Uncaring of appearances, Dawn asked the question on everyone's mind.
"How's Buffy?"
As the ruin settled, coughing broke the silence. Only Spike was immune to the dust. Unfortunately, as the dust cleared, the sun's rays began to penetrate to the ground. His eyes focussed on the motionless Slayer, he ignored the sun, ignored the burning until a tiny hand pulled him back into the shade.
"Spike, stay here!" Dawn hissed at him. "You want to go up in a ball of fire?"
"Maybe." Spike whispered. "If... I have to know, Niblet." Even talking to Dawn, his eyes never left Buffy.
Dawn finally looked away from the blond vampire to where her sister lay, dusty and quiet. Suddenly cold, she shivered. Unnoticed by her, tears began to make tracks through the dust on her face.
"Yeah."
Spike tore his eyes away from the horrible sight in front of him to look at Dawn in shock.
Opening his mouth to try and convince her she had too much to live for, he was silenced by Dawn.
"Don't." Dawn took a steadying breath, her own eyes never leaving the scene in front of her. "We'll wait for Willow to tell us."
Even as she spoke, Xander and Willow had cleared enough rubble to reach Buffy. Willow immediately knelt down beside the Slayer. At this, Dawn shuddered again and looked away.
Dawn studied the rest of the scene, the rest of the Scoobies. Anya leaned against a tank in a relatively clear area. Xander had deposited her there before going to help Willow. Anya took deep breaths of the rapidly clearing air, and looked around as if she'd never seen anything so beautiful. Every once in a while, her eyes strayed to Xander, hovering ineffectively over Buffy, and she'd blink rapidly. Tara waited at the entrance to the path Xander and Willow cleared. She fidgeted, obviously desperate to help, but unable because of her broken hand. Giles...
Dawn wrinkled her brow as she realized Giles was nowhere to be seen. She was turning to ask Spike, when she saw a vaguely human-shaped bundle to one side of the shaded nook.
Spike jumped when Dawn suddenly pulled away from him. His own eyes had never left Buffy, and his ears were strained to hear anything - a breath, a gasp, a heartbeat. He almost pulled Dawn back to his side, as if she was his life preserver, before he got himself under control.
He looked to see what had captured her attention, only to see her kneeling by the side of the Watcher.
"Bugger," he muttered as he rushed to help Dawn with Giles.
Dawn's heart was filled with fear when she saw Giles, but her hands never trembled as she reached out to turn him over.
Giles had stood, strong and silent, watching Buffy tumble through the sky. When she hit the ground, he hit his knees. Then just as silently, he collapsed onto his face. In the dust and confusion, no one had noticed him lying senseless on the ground.
As Dawn turned him over, filled with fear at possibly facing another death in her extended family, he moaned. She jumped back, startled, letting him thud back onto his chest.
"Nice bedside manner, Niblet," Spike said, feebly trying to break the tension.
"Shut up, Spike," Dawn said distractedly, not noticing how her words, her tone, caused the vampire to suck in a deep breath and look back at the Slayer.
Dawn leaned forward to aid the obviously alive Watcher. "Giles, you okay?" she whispered. Her hands reached out to turn him over again, but then paused. "Giles, please answer me. I want to turn you over, but I don't want to hurt you."
She was answered by another moan, and Spike went to the other side of Giles supine body.
"Come on, Watcher," he joshed in his Cockney accent. "Let the girl know you are okay."
"Spike, I shall let the girl know when I know, and not a moment before," came the mumbled answer.
"I think he'll be fine, Niblet," Spike said dryly.
Dawn kept her attention on the Watcher. If she was busy with Giles, she wasn't thinking about Buffy falling so far, hitting so hard, then not moving at all.
Giles pushed himself up on his elbows and knees, gingerly testing every limb for injury. The only real injury was the spear wound he'd sustained during the attempted run for freedom. He could feel that the stitches had broken open at some point and blood was seeping through the bandage. With Dawn's help, he moved into a sitting position, leaning against the back wall of the structure that had protected them during the final collapse.
"What happened?" he asked his companions.
Assured that the Watcher would live, Spike turned to face the scene playing out in the pile of rubble, allowing Giles a view of the tableau.
Willow still knelt by Buffy's side. Xander had stopped hovering, and sat in a clear spot near Buffy's body, his head buried in his knees. Tara had picked her way through the wreckage to stand behind Willow, hands on the redhead's shoulders in a gesture of support.
"Dear lord," Giles whispered, suddenly remembering what had brought on his collapse.
He felt like he was alone in the world. It seemed like everyone had faded away, all the sound a distant memory. As Buffy fell, his eyes tracked her. She seemed to fill his field of vision. Then, after an eternity, the moment of impact. Even then he didn't close his eyes. He stared, willing her to move, to twitch, any little movement to telegraph life. Nothing. Suddenly sound rushed back to him. The collapsing tower was like a roar, and a wall of dust blocked his sight of his Slayer. The world went grey, then black. No longer aware of anything, he crumpled to the ground quietly, unnoticed by anyone.
Shaking his head to clear the memory, he saw Dawn and Spike watching him with concerned faces. He felt the need to reassure, them, even the vampire.
"I was... I was watching. I'm the watcher, it's my job." He said defensively. His eyes stared into the distance. "No one else was watching. Willow and Tara, Xander and Anya, you two, only I watched. I had to. She'd be all alone if I didn't." He didn't noticed the silent tears on the faces of his audience, or how Dawn's tiny hand crept into his, or how Spike laid a cool, comforting hand on his shoulder. They sat silently, staring at the still tableau in front of them.
Giles drew in a deep breath and looked Dawn squarely in the eyes. "It's okay, Dawn. I didn't mean to scare you. I was watching, and I ... I forgot to breathe and I passed out. I'm okay."
"No, you're not. None of us are."
Suddenly a siren broke the moment.
Willow and Tara jumped. Xander looked up. Even Anya managed to look at Buffy without blinking rapidly.
"I think we've got her stabilized." Despite the siren, Willow's exhausted voice carried to everyone.
It seemed everything went from slow motion to twice the normal speed. Dawn jumped to her feet and rushed to where Willow and Tara stood swaying. Xander grabbed her before she ran right into them in a desperate attempt to get to her sister.
"No, Dawn!" Xander finally shouted to keep Dawn from struggling. "Let them be. They are exhausted, and Buffy's just barely stable. They got her so she would make it to the hospital, but that's all they can do right now."
"She's alive?" Dawn whispered, eyes never leaving her sister.
"Oh, god," Xander moaned, finally realizing why Dawn was so panicked. "Yeah, Dawnie. She's alive. She was alive, but unconscious when we got to her. Will checked her out, you know, magically. She said Buffy was bleeding internally. She called Tara over, and they worked on her, I guess to stop the bleeding. When the siren went, Tara pulled out, and said they had to stop, they were too exhausted. But they fixed her enough that she'd make it to the hospital, that the Slayer powers could start to heal her. So she's going to be fine. Eventually."
The sirens came closer and closer while Dawn assimilated the information. Her sister wasn't dead. She wasn't alone. They all came through the end of the world, again. Finally shaking herself back to reality, she could see Buffy's chest rising and falling as she breathed shallowly. Tearing her eyes away from her sister, she looked around at everyone.
Willow was exhausted. She was leaning on Tara's left side, eyes closed, face ashen. Tara had her left arm around the shorter, slighter woman, and her right hand pressed to chest for support and protection.
Xander was slowly making his way back to Anya. She was smiling at him, but her eyes were glassy with pain and shock.
Giles had collapsed back against the wall, a stunned look on his face. He'd been sure he was watching his Slayer's last moments. Now that she was going to pull through, he felt he could breath again. He tried it, a deep breath, and grimaced in pain. The blood from the wound in his side had seeped through the bandage and was visible on his shirt. Spike was covered with blood and bruises from his fight with Doc and his own fall from the tower. He was able to move more easily every moment, thanks to his vampire healing abilities. One look at him, though, and the paramedics would drag him into an ambulance. That couldn't happen. He'd burst into flames on the gurney between the shade he stood in now and the ambulance.
Dawn herself was completely uninjured. She'd been tied up and protected for the entirety of the battle. A brief instant of guilt shot through her, but she pushed it aside. It was a good thing she was unhurt and finally thinking clearly. Someone had to give all these people orders.
Quickly, in a loud enough voice that everyone could hear, she started telling everyone what to do.
"Okay, Buffy, Tara, Giles and Anya need to go to the hospital. Xander and Willow, I know you won't leave Tara and Anya anyway, so you go with them and keep and eye on everyone. Spike, is there a sewer entrance you can get to without frying?"
Shaken from his reverie, Spike nodded and turned to face Dawn.
"Okay, you should get going before the EMT's get here and try to carry you to the ambulance. We'd also better get our stories straight before the cops get here. What were we all doing here?"
"Lost cat?" Willow piped up in a tiny voice.
"Okay, that'll work. It's weak, but it's Sunnydale. Cops here will believe anything. Everyone got it?"
Giles cleared his throat. "Dawn, you should go with Spike. It'll be less suspicious if the cops find you at home when they go to tell you of your sister's injury."
Dawn looked mutinous and opened her mouth to argue, when Spike and Xander both added their agreement to Giles' suggestion.
"Yeah, Dawnie, you don't need to be here."
"Niblet, come on home, get changed, we'll meet them at the hospital."
Shaking her head with amusement over Spike and Xander agreeing on anything, Dawn shut her mouth and walked toward Spike.
"Okay, where's this sewer entrance?"
Spike pulled his coat up over his head and darted from patch of shade to patch of shade until he reached a cave-like opening just beyond the gate. There he waited for Dawn to catch up.
By silent agreement, they waited in the deep shadows until the ambulances had taken away their injured friends. Then they turned toward home.
A few steps in, Spike realized Dawn hadn't followed him.
"Dawn?" he questioned.
"Um, no flashlight, can't see in the dark. Not a vampire, remember?"
"Sorry, Niblet," he laughed.
He reached back for her hand. To his vampire sight, she was as clear as if she stood in daylight. All she saw was a disembodied hand reaching out for her. With a little yelp, she jumped back.
"Sorry, you scared me," she said sheepishly as she put her hand in his.
They limped through the tunnel, Dawn occasionally stumbling in the darkness.
Her voice suddenly echoed through the tunnel, causing Spike to jump this time.
"We should go to your crypt first."
Spike recovered from being startled, and tried to play it cool. "Why?"
Despite his quick recovery, Dawn noticed and had to smother her giggles before she could answer.
"You...you need blood to speed up the healing, and a change of clothes. You'll look pretty suspicious covered in bloody clothes."
"When did you get so smart, Niblet? I really don't want to be your sister when you start sneaking out to see your boyfriend."
"You think I didn't learn a few things, watching Buffy fool mom about the slaying and Angel for so many years? I used to go into Buffy's closet when she was out. She had a hiding spot under the floorboards where she put her slaying supplies, and any clothes that got wrecked. I used to try on some of the stuff that wasn't too nasty. You know, the stuff with just a little bloody, or ripped. She'd hide the clothes until Mom was out, then she'd smuggle them into the neighbours trash. I knew about the slaying like, years before Mom. It's a good thing Mom never read my diaries. She'd find out more about Buffy..." Dawn trailed off, a confused and sorrowful look on her face.
"What's wrong, Niblet?"
"It's confusing. Mom couldn't read my diaries, 'cause they didn't exist. But I'm here now, and they were here, so they must have existed." Dawn was silent for a moment. "I wish I didn't burn my diaries," she said in a small voice. "I keep looking for them, trying to prove that the stuff we remember really happened. Trying to prove that I really happened."
They trudged silently towards the door that marked Spike's crypt.
"What am I now?" Dawn asked, as Spike fumbled for the key.
"Huh?" Spike asked, dropping the key and facing Dawn.
"Well, I was Dawn. But I was the key. But now the door is gone, kinda, so am I still a key? Am I still going to have crazy people come up to me and say I'm all green and glowy?" Dawn was panicking now, at the thought of having to protect herself forever.
"Calm down, Dawn!" Spike took the hyperventilating girl back in his arms. When she finally started breathing normally, he released her. He took a moment to open the door to his crypt. In the dim light from the open door, he looked at her and sighed.
"I don't know, Dawn. I don't know the answers to those questions. But they are important questions. When Giles starts feeling better, ask him. He'll heal that much faster with a project to work on."
Dawn finally laughed weakly. "I guess I'm getting ahead of myself. I mean, we only saved the world, like, an hour ago. We do need a bit of a rest and recovery before the next big catastrophe."
Spike hurried into the crypt, heading directly for the fridge. Using his vampire abilities always left him starving. Dawn was right - without blood he wasn't good for much of anything right now.
He drained two plastic bags from the blood bank before he felt enough like himself to check out his clothes. He grimaced as he took in the ripped shirt and jeans. Thinking back to the fight, his eyes widened. Hurriedly, he pulled off his leather duster.
"Shit!"
Dawn hurried up to Spike, grabbing a stake from a pile near the door on the way.
"Spike! What's wrong?" she exclaimed.
"Bugger all! That damned ass!" Spike held up the coat. "That poxy pillock of a demon sliced my coat!"
Dawn couldn't help it. All the stress and fear and overwhelming panic finally got to her. She slid to the floor, laughing, hiccupping, crying, and plainly having hysterics.
Spike tried to comfort her. He tried joshing her back into sanity, he tried rubbing her back, he tried yelling at her, and he even tried slapping her, gently of course. Finally, he just left her where she lay. He quietly changed, poking his head out every once in a while to look at her worriedly.
By the time he was dressed and ready to go, Dawn was calming down.
"Sorry Spike. I just..."
"It got too much for you, I guess. You feel better now?" Spike asked matter of factly.
"Yeah." Dawn paused. "There's still so much to figure out, but I think I can hold it together now."
"That's good, 'bit. Cause we really need to get to the Summers' homestead before the cops show up.
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The ambulances pulled up to the emergency doors of the hospital. Anya and Giles were in the first, Tara and Willow in the second. Buffy had her own ambulance. One look at her and the paramedics immediately set to work. Their frantic calling made Xander nervous. Just as they finally got her loaded and en route to the hospital, the first of the cop cars arrived.
Xander was staring after the departing ambulances with a lost look on his face. A female officer came up to him and laid a gentle hand on his arm. He was totally unaware of her approach, and jumped and screamed when she touched him.
"It's okay, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she soothed.
"Um, sorry," Xander said, shamefaced. "I didn't hear you come up."
Opening her mouth to question him about the unusual events, the cop watched as his eyes left her face and gazed wistfully after the departing ambulances. "Your friend in there?"
"My friends are in all of the ambulances that pulled out." Suddenly putting his attention back on the cop, he pleaded. "Please, can you just take me to the hospital? I need to find out how they are doing. I'll answer any questions you have there."
Looking into the desperate eyes of the attractive young man, the cop acquiesced immediately. "Sure, hop in the car. I'll just tell my partner where I'm going."
The ride to the hospital was silent. Officer Tavish, as she'd introduced herself, seemed to know that Xander wouldn't be useful for questioning until he was sure his friends were okay. With the sirens blaring and the engine racing, they pulled up just as they were unloading Buffy.
Xander ran inside the wide doors, looking around wildly for his friends.
"Mr. Harris?"
Xander spun when he heard his name. A nurse stood nearby, looking at him with a quizzical face.
"Huh? I mean, yeah, I'm Xander Harris."
"Your friend Willow said that you'd be along shortly. She and her friend are right through here." The nurse led him to a curtained off cubicle.
Willow slumped in a chair beside the gurney Tara was on. She looked really rough, with a pale face and tight lines of exhaustion around her mouth.
Xander gently placed his hand on her shoulder, quietly calling her name to warn her of his arrival.
She didn't jump when he touched her, but he got the feeling she was surprised. She was just too tired from trying to heal Buffy to be startled.
Willow slowly lifted her head up to meet Xander's eyes. She gave him a small smile, then returned to her perusal of her lover's sleeping form.
"How is she, Will?"
"She'll be fine. She's back to herself again. They gave her something to knock her out while they reset her hand. The doctor was really unimpressed when he saw that she'd removed the cast. She'll have to stay overnight for observation, but at least she won't have to be in the psych ward this time."
"What about you?"
Willow held up her hand. An IV was sticking out of it. "I looked so bad they put me on IV fluids. It's good though, I can stay with Tara this way. They are trying to get a semi-private room for Tara, Anya and I. We'll head up together once Tara's hand gets set."
At the sound of his fiancée's name, Xander dropped his hand and started edging for the door. "I ... uh, I need to check on everybody else, too. I'll be back soon, okay?"
Willow finally gave him a full grin as she took in his desperation to get to Anya.
"She's in the cubicle right beside us. Giles is on the other side of her." Willow's face fell as she whispered, "I don't know where they took Buffy."
"She'll be fine, Will. You and Tara made sure that she'd be fine. Don't worry about anything but yourself and Tara right now, 'kay?"
"'Kay."
Xander darted away, and into the next cubicle. Anya sat upright on the gurney, complaining to the doctor about the light he was shining in her eyes.
"Listen, my head hurts, all I want to do is sleep, why do you keep asking me silly questions like what's today's date and who is the president, and shining that horrible bright light in my eyes?"
"Anya," Xander breathed, his relief apparent in eyes and voice.
"Xander, make this man go away and let me sleep," Anya pouted, looking at Xander.
Xander smiled at her reassuringly, then turned worried eyes to the doctor. "How is she?"
Thankful to be dealing with a sensible person, the doctor directed his comments to Xander. "She'll be fine. I suspect she has a concussion. She answered all the neurological testing questions correctly, except she told me she was a thousand years old. However, her eyes are dilating at the normal rate, so it's a pretty mild head injury. I'd like to keep her overnight just to be on the safe side. I understand there were several other people who came in from the same accident site. Would it be okay if I put her in a room with a couple of other patients? Does she know Ms. Rosenberg and Ms. McLay?"
"Yeah, they're friends of ours. Put them all together. Um, it's just for the one night, right?" When the doctor nodded an affirmative, Xander breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, they can stand that much togetherness."
The doctor left to verify the arrangement, and Xander turned to Anya.
"How are you, An?"
"My head hurts and I want to go home, "Anya said in a small voice.
"I know", Xander said, moving towards the frightened girl and putting a comforting arm around his shoulders. "But you have to stay here tonight. I need you to look after Willow and Tara while I find out how Giles and Buffy are. Besides, as long as you are here, I'm not going anywhere."
Anya gave Xander a tremulous smile. "The world didn't end, did it?"
"No, honey, it didn't."
"We're getting married, 'cause the world didn't end."
"Yep, we're getting married."
"I want my ring!" Anya cried, holding her hands out.
Xander laughed. He always knew they'd save the world, so he'd carried the ring with him into the battle. He'd known Anya would ask for it sooner or later. He pulled out the box from his pants pocket, opened it and reverently slipped the symbol of their love onto her finger.
Anya pulled her hand back and held it up to admire the ring. "It is beautiful. An appropriate and traditional symbol," she said seriously.
Xander smiled. "Glad you approve." The nurse entered with a wheelchair to take Anya upstairs to her room. Anya held her hand out, wiggling the fingers to catch the nurse's eye.
"Look! I am wearing a diamond engagement ring! That means I'm going to be married soon. Then we will buy a house and have small, pink babies." Xander grinned to himself as the nurse pushed the wheelchair away.
Certain that Anya was going to fine, Xander opened the next curtain. Giles lay on a gurney on his side, grimacing in pain as a doctor re-closed the spear wound he'd torn open.
Xander's face paled. That was really gross. He muttered an apology and waited outside the curtain for the doctor to finish. As he waited, Tara and Willow went by in matching wheelchairs on the way upstairs. He told them about proposing to Anya, warning them about her overwhelming excitement and pride in her new ring. They squealed in delight, anxious now to get upstairs and start planning the wedding.
Finally the doctor exited the curtained area, leaving Giles alone. Xander hesitantly ventured back into the small space.
"How ya feeling, G-man?" Xander questioned.
"Fine, Xander," Giles sighed. "How is Buffy?" The health and well being of the Slayer was the only thing on his mind.
Xander flushed. "I ... don't know anything yet. I've been finding out about you guys. This nurse told me that you were all over here," he babbled.
"There's nothing to feel guilty about," Giles comforted. "Buffy's strong. She'll be fine, I'm sure. It's probably best to let the doctors work on her without our pestering anyway."
Xander still felt guilty, but passed on the information he did know. "The girls are all upstairs, just overnight. They are all in one room together. And, uh...Anya and I are engaged, so the girls are pretty well occupied with that."
Giles looked at his young friend in surprise. "Engaged? Congratulations!"
The younger man smiled sheepishly. "I asked her before we left last night. She ... she slapped me. She thought I was trying to be all tragic and romantic because I thought we were going to die and I wouldn't have to go through with it. Then I explained I was asking 'cause I was sure we weren't going to die, and she thought that was really romantic, so she said yes, then she said wait 'til after. 'Give it to me when the world doesn't end," she said. So, just a minute ago, as soon as she parsed through the fact that the world didn't end, she demanded her ring."
"That sounds like Anya," Giles said dryly.
The men sat silently for a moment before Xander shook himself free from his pleasant musings about his fiancée. "So, G-man, what did the doctor tell you?"
"That I needed to stay overnight for observation. I imagine I'll be upstairs near the girls," he sighed. "He also mentioned that they had a number of casualties come in from the accident. It seems that a few of Glory's brain sucking victims were injured in the collapse. They seem to have had a miraculous recovery from their psychological problems, however."
"So killing Glory gave everyone their brains back, eh?" Xander commented.
Giles' head shot up and he caught Xander's eyes. "Did Buffy... I mean, did you see..." he trailed off.
"Yeah, Giles, I saw it. Buffy beat Glory, and then she deliberately killed Ben."
************************************************************************
After another dash through the sunshine, Dawn and Spike finally arrived at the Summers' home. He glanced at the clock in the hallway. "Okay, 'bit, it's 5:56 am. We need to give the cops a convincing show. You go do a quick wash up and change into your pjs and crawl into bed. Make it look like you just woke up. I'll set up down here."
Dawn simply looked at the blond vampire, a look of utter confusion on her face.
Spike sighed. "Look, Dawn we were all here, hanging out, watching movies or something, right? Then you notice your cat is missing. You freak out, you won't go to bed without your kitty. So you send everyone out to look for her. I stay behind to look after you, keep an eye open in case the kitty comes back. I finally get you to go to bed, and I fall asleep down here. Neither of us have any idea what happened to Buffy and the Scoobies, right? So the house has to look like we were hanging out. Right now, it's too clean. And you have to look like you just woke up, but you are worried about your kitty, so you look upset and worried. So you need to be less dusty, more mussed up, and your bed needs to be slept in."
"And you implied I had a knack for coming up with good covering stories," she complained as she headed upstairs to carry out his orders.
"Hurry up, 'bit, it won't be long 'til the cops get here to tell us their version of what happened."
Spike headed into the kitchen, grabbed bags of chips and opened them directly into the garbage can. He grabbed a couple of handfuls of the salty, oily snacks and ran back to scatter them lightly around the living room. On his next run into the kitchen, he gathered up a six-pack of Coke, with a couple of diet sodas for good measure. He'd never been in a mixed gender group where most of the girls weren't drinking diet pop. Even among his vampire acquaintances, the female vamps tended to bite the slim victims. As if a fat person had fattening blood, he scoffed mentally. Most of the pop he emptied down the sink, but he left a couple half-full, carrying them into the living room and placing them on convenient tables. Finally, he grabbed an afghan from the back of the couch, and laid down under it, trying to look as if he'd been sleeping.
Upstairs, Dawn quickly washed the surface dust off her face and arms. She quickly stripped out of the medieval style dress Glory had forced her to wear, and, carrying it gingerly between two fingers, threw it into the hamper, piling other clothes on it so she didn't have to see it again. She looked longingly at the shower, but if she was supposed to be asleep, she couldn't very well have wet hair. Instead she settled for brushing the dust out. Grabbing a robe from the back of the door, she headed back to her room to get into her pyjamas. Flipping the covers back on her bed, she laid down and covered herself up, trying to look as if she'd been sleeping.
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Giles was settling in his room while Xander was getting frustrated, trying to convince the nurses to give him information about Buffy's condition. The nurse at the emergency desk first refused to give him any information at all, claiming they could only release information on a patient to the patient's family.
"As soon as we get in touch with Miss Summers' mother, we'll ask her if we can tell you."
Xander grimaced. "I'm afraid Miss Summers' emergency contact information must be out of date; Joyce died about a month ago. Look, ma'am, all of my friends are in various rooms of this hospital. I just need to find out where Buffy is so I can tell her little sister." Xander trailed off when the nurse continued to shake her head.
A gentle hand rested comfortingly on his shoulder. "Tell the guy what he wants to know." Officer Tavish ordered softly.
A mutinous look on her face, the nurse turned to the computer, muttering about rules and troublemakers. "I'm afraid there's not a lot I can tell you." She waved a hand to silence Xander, who was opening his mouth to argue with her. She turned the monitor so he could see the screen himself. "Here, this means that she arrived unconscious, with injuries consistent with a fall. She was intubated to help her breathe, and they took CAT scans to see if there was any brain injury." The nurse's voice died off as she read the last line of the chart before translating it for Xander. "They found serious bleeding and injury to her brain. She's in surgery right now, with Dr. Kriegel, the neurosurgeon on staff."
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Spike, too tense to keep lying on the sofa, was about to get up and check on Dawn when a light tap at the door made him freeze. He bolted for the door, about the fling it open when he remembered he was supposed to have been asleep. He forced himself to wait for a second tap before opening the door with a yawn.
Two cops stood on the front porch, looking uncomfortable. "Is this the Summers' residence?" the taller of the two asked.
"Yeah," Spike said. He figured the fewer words he spoke the better. Lies always were most believable without too many details.
"Are you Mr. Summers'" the cop questioned.
"No, I'm just the babysitter, mate."
The cop looked concerned. Spike's appearance and cocky attitude didn't jive with the word 'babysitter' in this man's mind.
Spike read the cop's disbelief, and quickly back-pedalled. "We were all over here, watching movies and relaxing, and the Sl...Buffy's kid sister realized her cat was missing. The kid gets all worked up, and nothing would help but for everyone to go out looking for this cat. Buffy asked me to stay with Dawn, 'cause the kid's upset, and it's late, while they look for the cat."
"Why you?" the cop challenged, obviously very confused.
Spike used all his acting skills to look injured and sheepish. "I, uh, I got in a fight a few days ago. I'm limping and slow. They figured wouldn't be much use out there, trying to catch a cat." Looking at them sideways, Spike saw the cops exchange a glance. The shorter officer shrugged, apparently choosing to accept Spike's story. The vampire was glad he didn't need to breathe. A huge sigh of relief would have given the game away.
"May we come in?" the short cop asked politely.
In answer, Spike simply opened the door a little wider. The cops pushed past him, into the living room. Spike was glad he'd taken the time to make it look like a party had gone on the night before.
"Is something wrong, officers? Did something happen last night?" Spike asked, trying to play the part of the uninformed and worried friend.
The cops again exchanged at speaking glance. Spike was rapidly getting tired of these looks, and was tempted to ask if they wanted to get a room. Of course, that probably wouldn't make the cops any friendlier.
Eventually the shorter cop turned back to Spike. He was obviously the more friendly and considerate of the two. "I don't mean to pry, but...why did the girl need a babysitter? I mean, where are her folks?"
Spike sighed, and ran a hand through his hair. "The girls' dad split years ago, before they even moved to Sunnydale. I've never seen him around or heard that he's been to visit, so I'm guessing he's not real involved in their lives. And Joyce, ... she passed away real suddenly last month."
The cop's mouth turned downward into a frown. Whether it was a frown of disapproval or sympathy, Spike couldn't tell.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, sir, but there was an accident last night. An industrial accident at a warehouse not far from here. I'm afraid Miss Summers was hurt pretty badly, along with several others. I don't know if they are your friends or not, but since no one came back last night," the cop paused for Spike's nod of agreement, "I'm assuming they are."
"Is Buffy ... I mean, is everyone okay?" Spike asked, his voice cracking.
"I'm afraid we don't have very much information yet. There are officers on the scene now, trying to figure out what happened. I do know that everyone at the scene was taken to Sunnydale General. You are more likely to find answers there. I'm very sorry, sir."
Bad news delivered, the cops turned to leave. They had other houses to visit, other bad news to break. This was first on the list, because Buffy was in the most serious condition of all of the surviving victims. If the worst happened, hopefully her family would have time to say goodbye. On impulse, the shorter cop turned around again on his way out the door. "Tell the little girl we're sorry," he requested softly.
Spike watched the cop car pull away from the curb, then turned to go upstairs to get Dawn. She was standing right behind him, having crept down the stairs as soon as she heard the cops leave.
"Bloody hell, you scared me 'bit!" Spike yelped.
A small grin crossed Dawn's features. It was pretty heady stuff, scaring a vampire. The smile didn't last long, however, as she asked worriedly, "what did they say?"
"Just that there had been an accident, that Buffy had been hurt. They weren't sure about anyone's relationship yet, so they haven't had time to interview anybody, or they are just too low on the totem pole to be told." Spike ran a hand through his hair, a common nervous gesture for the vampire. "They said we should go to the hospital, Niblet," he told her softly.
Dawn gasped quietly. The fear of possibly losing her sister hit her again, like the force of Olaf's Troll Hammer. Spike rushed to comfort her.
"Don't forget, your sister is the Slayer," he stressed. "I'm sure to the cops, her injuries look a lot worse than they really are. Glinda and Red got her stable, they said so. Stable enough that the Slayer powers could kick in and start healing her. She'll be fine, Dawn. The cops, they're just playing it safe."
"Please, can we go to the hospital now?" Dawn begged in a tiny voice.
After a quick dash back to the sewer, Spike again found himself moving through the familiar darkness. At least this time Dawn had a flashlight, so she wasn't stumbling around blind, and he had a blanket, so the dash through the sun was quite as painful. The sewer had an exit right within the hospital building itself, so he didn't have to face the morning sun again.
All too soon they found themselves at the hospital. Despite the flashlight, at some point during the trek, Dawn's tiny hand had found it's way into Spike's. They both needed that comfort right now.
Once inside the hospital, Spike and Dawn made their way to the emergency ward, looking around for any sign of their friends on the way. They finally found Xander, sitting with a female cop, looking very lost and scared.
"Xander," Dawn called.
The young man jumped to his feet and pulled Dawn into a hug. "You okay, Dawnie? Hey Spike, everything go okay?"
"No problem at home, but it sounds like you had a bad night," Spike replied, trying to keep up appearances for the officer avidly watching the exchange.
"What? Oh, yeah, the worst," Xander sighed, suddenly realizing they were surrounded by curious onlookers.
Uncaring of appearances, Dawn asked the question on everyone's mind.
"How's Buffy?"