Part 2
Six Months later...
Buffy leisurely ambled towards home after her last class for the day at Hemery High School, as a rule she usually would have caught a ride with her brother and his band friends, but she had been deferred by her best friend Cordelia's most recent spectacle. However there was an unanticipated benefit to walking home all alone, she could spend infinite amounts of time wallowing in her own maudlin thoughts. Ever since Angelus had left Los Angeles for Europe and The Master's court, she had felt incomplete and so disoriented without him there; even her interest in spells and using her inherited magickal capabilities had wavered.
As a corollary of her self-involvement, Buffy did not notice the furor or that anything was wrong at her home until she was more or less out front of it. That was when she ultimately observed that there was an ambulance parked in the undersized driveway, blocking in Oz's antediluvian blue van.
She discarded her expensive designer book bag - a hand-me-down from Cordelia - on the front lawn and rushed into the house. She had scarcely gotten inside the front passageway when she slammed into into a unyielding, traumatized body of her brother. Pushing past her brother she looked intently into the small living room and she was shaken to find that there were paramedics working on her mother. At least she at long last understood why her brother was in a catatonic state, it was for the most part a disconcerting vision.
A small amount of minutes passed unhurriedly, making it seem as though she and Oz had been standing there holding hands and gawking, but at long last she saw them load her mother up onto a gurney and begin to wheel her towards the ambulance.
As they moved past the two teenagers one of the ambulance attendants spoke. "We're taking your mother to Saint Agnes hospital now. She's still unconscious and we need to get her examined by a doctor as soon as possible."
"Okay," Buffy replied when it became evident that Oz wasn't going to or couldn't do it himself. Buffy watched the paramedics leave and then she turned towards her older brother. "Oz... you're going to have to tell me what you know about mom."
Oz in due course took in a excruciatingly painful gulp of air, "I c-came home and s-she was l-lying on the f-floor."
Buffy just gazed at Oz and endeavored to stop the tears from inundating her eyes and giving into the inclination to sink to the ground and blubber like a baby. With her mom cataleptic and on her way to the hospital and Oz pretty much out of it, she had to put aside her own feelings for the moment - which was not an easy thing for her to do - and take charge.
"Oz, we need to get to the hospital."
"The van," he choked out.
"I know... but are you okay to drive?"
Oz shook his head virtually indiscernibly, "You drive."
That is when Buffy become conscious of just how out of it Oz actually was, even her own driving instructor hadn't wanted to get into the car with her. In the end Angelus had taught her to drive and although she had passed the test, she still wasn't all that safe on the road.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
Oz merely handed her the keys to his pride and joy and walked out of the front door of the house. A split second later Buffy followed him out, making sure the house was locked up and snatching up her book bag before climbing into the driver's side of the antique automobile and driving off towards the hospital.
The wait at the hospital seemed to go on and on for an eternity and no one would tell them anything about their mother's condition. Oz was of course still in his semi-catatonic state which forced Buffy to deal with her anguish and mystification all alone. Hours passed ever so slowly and Buffy began to grow even more apprehensive with each passing second and precisely when she thought that she couldn't take the waiting anymore, a doctor walked into the waiting room.
"Are you two here for Joyce Summers?" he asked them.
Oz still sat there blankly, so Buffy was forced to once again answer for the both of them. "Yeah, she's our mother."
"Is one of you over eighteen? We need to do some extra tests and we need someone to give consent," the doctor replied matter-of-factly.
Buffy immediately got nervous, the doctor hadn't introduced himself and the first words out of his mouth had been tests and consent. Whatever was wrong with her mom had to be really serious.
"Oz turned eighteen last week, but... he's not exactly dealing well with this."
The doctor looked the young man up and down and then sighed loudly. "I need someone who can deal with this now. What about your father?"
"He's somewhere in Europe... I think."
"Is there anyone else?" the doctor pushed. If there wasn't he was going to have to force the boy to sign those forms no matter what the legal implications, his patient needed those tests.
"The only other family we have is in San Francisco. My cousins," Buffy told him nervously.
The doctor nodded, "You can call them from the nurse's station."
Buffy unhurriedly got up and followed the doctor to the nurse's station and moment by moment the feeling of impending doom grew within the pit of her stomach. If the doctor was this anxious then something was deadly wrong.
Phoebe Halliwell was fatigued, between her college classes, helping Piper to staff the club and the whole Charmed One thing she never seemed to have a moment to unwind. At least until now, she had everything done - school work, the night off and no ugly demons needed to be vanquished - plus she had the whole manor to herself and she was going to simply do nothing. Laying down on the comfortable couch in the living room, she simply listened to the muted sounds of the light rain tapping on the roof and prepared to take a nap. Then the phone rang.
"Damn it. Why me?" she yelled to the empty house.
Sighing, she got up and grabbed the handset of the cordless phone. "What?"
"Pheebs?"
"Buffy? What's wrong?" Phoebe asked immediately concerned. The only time she heard from her aunt or cousins - besides birthdays and Christmas - was during a dire emergency. Not that it was a surprise, Joyce was the black sheep of the family and had never gotten along with Grams or their mother, Patty.
"Mom's in hospital. The doctor needs..." Buffy finally broke down.
Phoebe felt sorry for the kid but before she could say anything to comfort her, a masculine voice filtered down the telephone line.
"This is Doctor Braxton from Saint Agnes' hospital. I need for you to give consent for your aunt to have some tests."
"Sure. What do you need me to do?"
"Verbal consent will now for now, but we still need written. Do you have access to a fax machine?"
"Yeah, but my sister is the only one who can use the thing," Phoebe told him thinking of Prue.
The doctor sighed, "Look I'll give you my number and the second your sister returns home have her call me and we'll figure out what to do next."
"Okay," Phoebe told him as she wrote down the doctor's instructions. All the time she was wondering what was wrong with her aunt and how serious was it to warrant this extent to get permission for some tests.
Angelus stared out into the darkness that encased the estate and buildings that The Master had acquired for them when they had arrived at the court, which had now positioned itself provisionally in the English countryside. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but something was going on that was making him feel off his game and that was never a good thing when he was around The Master.
Everything was going well - or at least as well as he could hope for when dealing with the court - he had as expected been raked across the coals due to his choice for a mate, they did not approve of a Master vampire bedding a human; it didn't matter to them that she was destined to be one of the most powerful witches ever born. Then he'd had to deal with The Master's anger over the death of Darla and the fact that he'd broken the rule and killed his sire, but on top of that he had done to protect his human.
Spike wandered into Angelus' bedroom and came up behind him. "What are you doing now, Peaches? You're supposed to be ready for The Master's fucking ball and not standing around in the nude staring out the window."
"Something's not right."
Spike sighed as he let his hand trace the contours of his grand-sire's virile body. "Ever since you left Fluffy back in LA, you have not been yourself."
"That's it. Something is wrong with Buffy," Angelus said softly.
"Fucking hell, Peaches," Spike said removing his hand from Angelus' body. There was a time where his merest touch had aroused the demon before him, but that was pre-fluffy. Sighing he sat down on the king-sized bed, "Did you ever think that you are imaging this feeling? Fluffy is probably fine and hanging out with vapid bitch friend of hers and since you're missing her like hell, you're projecting your own feelings."
Angelus turned away from the window and walked slowly over to his closet, "You may have a point, my boy."
"Of course I am," Spike answered slightly placated by Angelus' term. "Now let's go before Nest has us staked."
Sighing Angelus preceded to dress in his usual leather and silk ensemble. He tried in vain to put his thoughts and worries about his beloved mate aside as he prepared for another night of The Master's sanctimonious lectures.
The hours dragged on and on, but Buffy and Oz refused to leave the hospital in case their mother needed them. That basically entailed for them a night of uncomfortable silence and sleeping on the hard plastic seating. The worst thing of course was that they had heard nothing from the doctor since he had gotten his precious permission for the tests. And with Oz still silent, Angelus off chasing after The Master somewhere in Europe and her best friend in the middle of her own teenage angst, Buffy felt completely and utterly alone.
"You are not alone, you know," a British voice came out of nowhere.
Buffy looked up, her pretty young face stained by the endless flow of tears that she had cried. "Giles," she sobbed as she leaned her head onto her whitelighter's shoulder and let her sorrow completely out.
Giles just let her cry, unable to offer any words of comfort to the distraught girl who was like a daughter to him and her brother. The council of elders hadn't told him for certain how this situation with Buffy's mother was going to pan out and Giles didn't want to be the one to offer false hope to the two teenagers that he had watched grow up.
"Miss Summers?" the doctor said entering the waiting room.
"Yeah," Buffy answered noting the doctor's suspicious glance at Giles. "This is Mr. Giles. He's a friend of my mother's."
"Speaking of your mother, she became conscious after the last round of tests, but we sedated her and she's now resting. Since neither of you will be able to see her until at least evening, I suggest you *all* go home."
Buffy and Giles nodded their ascent as the doctor left them once more. Taking a quick look at her brother she noted that Oz hadn't moved yet.
"Giles do you think that you could orb Oz down to the van? I'm not sure I can get him to move."
Giles laid a sympathetic hand upon her shoulder, "Certainly. I will also accompany both of you home."
"Thanks," Buffy managed to choke out as Giles touched Oz's hand and they shimmered out of view. Buffy took a few private moments to compose herself and then headed down to the hospital parking garage where they waited for her.
As soon as Giles made sure that his youngest charge and her brother were home safely, he headed back to the council chambers. The council was not in session when he arrived, but he did not return to earth and Buffy. He felt that he could not return to the teen without sound knowledge of her mother's fate. Thinking that he would have to wait until the council reconvened, he was surprised by not displeased when an old friend appeared from nowhere.
"Leo?"
"Rupert."
He looked into his old friend's eyes and knew that Buffy was not going to like her mother's fate. "Joyce isn't going to survive this is she?"
"I'm sorry," Leo replied. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the council asked me to do it."
Rupert was inwardly desolate, not only because of Buffy and Oz's sorrow that would come from the death of their mother. It was his own personal sorrow that cause the hole to widen in his heart. Unbeknownst to everyone - her children, her family and the elder council - he and Joyce had fallen in love. It wasn't something that either of them had planned and it was long after Joyce's last marriage to hank Summers had crumpled. After Hank had left his wife and tiny daughter, it was only natural that he and Joyce had grown closer and then one night nature had simply taken its course.
They had hidden their relationship for the last fifteen years simply because the council did not approve of whitelighter/witch relationships. However even after Leo and one of his charges, Piper - Joyce's very own niece -had come out about their relationship, it didn't change her mind. So now his sorrow and frustration would always and forever be his own private hell.
"Do you want some company when you tell them?" Leo asked sympathetically.
"No... it's something I need to do," Giles replied his voice devoid of all emotion, before he orbed away.
Leo sighed to himself, he saw the signs and realized that his friend was in love with his elder charge, Joyce. Shaking his head he orbed himself back to San Francisco to inform his charges of their aunt's imminent death.
TBC...