Buffy caught sight of the vamps and the students, receding quickly into a corner. "Giles, get these kids out of the way. Willow, Cordy, help him keep the vampires away from them! Xander, Oz, Angel, stay with me! Whatever happens, stay together!" The teens piled into a corner while Buffy and her friends whipped out stakes and defended the people against the oncoming creatures of the night. Buffy drop kicked and staked the first vampire and the fight began.

Angel slipped a stake out of his sleeve and dusted two vampires, punching another before stabbing him through the heart. Xander staked a vampire then took a kick to the face and went down. Oz took out the vampire that was trying to bite Xander and stood nearby to give his friend a chance to get up. Xander shook his head to clear it and wiped a bit of blood from his lip.

"Thanks man. I thought that one had me." Xander breathed jabbing a vamp with his stake.

"I got your back, bro," Oz replied, kicking another backwards into the stage as Xander staked him.

Buffy was in a war of her own as she was attacked by ten vampires. She dropped three, and then another two as more rushed into the mêlée. She finished off the crowd that surrounded her after nearly being taken down at least twice. She looked over and saw Giles, Will, and Cordy struggling to keep her classmates safe. She yelled out to Giles as she was attacked once more.

"Get them out of here, Giles!! NOW!" she shouted as she back flipped over the head of a female vampire and staked her from behind.

She heard Giles shouting orders at the students as she was grabbed from behind and tossed headlong into the corner of a table, which flipped over and landed heavily on top of her. The last thing she heard was: "Come on! Out that door! Now! If you wish to live another day then run!", as Giles led the panicked teenagers from the building. The students fled down the street in either direction to the safety of their homes. And everything went black, voices floated in her head but she couldn't male sense of them, then they stopped; everything stopped. Giles, Willow and Cordelia jumped into the fight. The rest of the battle was a big blur as the remainder of the vampires was turned to dust by the brave teens. They all were breathing heavily and were very tired and dirty. Oz had a slanted cut across his eyebrow and Cordelia had a bruise forming on her cheek.

All of a sudden Willow screamed. Everyone rushed over to where she stood, what they saw made them stop in their tracks. A left side sticking out from under a large table; a thin stream of blood was trickling out from underneath.
"Dear lord," Giles breathed. "Buffy..."
"Oh my god; oh my god." Willow buried her face in the front of Oz's shirt. He wrapped his arms around her, staring in disbelief. Angel rushed over and shoved the table off and it went flying across the room and shattered on the opposite wall. Xander looked at his friend's prone form in horror.
Angel knelt down beside her, gently placing two fingers on her throat. He uttered a quick sigh of relief, "She's alive."
"Thank god," Giles muttered.
"How did this happen?" Willow asked quietly.
"See the blood on the corner of the table? I think she hit her head or something. We need to get her to a hospital. She's losing a lot of blood from that cut and being crushed under that table for who knows how long probably didn't help... god, that's a lot of blood." He said staring at the pool under Buffy's head, no thoughts of food on his mind.
"Can you carry her, Angel?" Giles asked. Angel nodded.
He picked Buffy up, gently cradling her limp body, careful not to hit her on anything as they raced towards Sunnydale Hospital.

They burst through the doors of the emergency room and halted in front of the desk.
"She hit her head. She's lost quite a lot of blood. She needs help." Giles explained, looking worriedly down at his unconscious Slayer.
"Alright, bring her this way, sir," the nurse said, leading them into a room. "I'll get a doctor and be back in a moment." She walked out of the room and was back in less than a minute with a doctor.

Giles was pacing up and down, through the rows of chairs in the waiting room; Angel, Xander, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia were sitting on chairs, watching him. Angel was kind of just sitting there with his head in his hands, trying to hide the tears in his eyes. Willow had finally stopped crying and was staring blankly at the opposite wall. Finally, Xander couldn't take Giles' pacing anymore.

"God, Giles, stop pacing!! You're going to wear a hole in the floor. I mean, I know you're worried and everything, we all are, but for the love of god, sit down!"

"Oh, right, of course. Thank you, Xander." Giles said distractedly, sitting down next to Oz. He wasn't sitting long when a doctor came out of Buffy's room and walked towards them.

"How is she? Is she okay?" Angel asked quickly.

"I'm sorry, but your friend is in a coma. She lost so much blood, and she hit her head pretty hard. There was extensive trauma."

"Oh my god," Xander whispered. Willow began to cry again, sitting down on the floor and burying her face in her sleeves, rocking back and forth like a lost little child. Oz crouched down beside her and held her to him. Cordelia walked over and hugged Xander, who was staring distraughtly at the doctor.

"You can go in and see her whenever you're ready." The doctor said quietly. "I'll come in to talk to you when the test results and x-rays come back. I am so, so sorry."

Buffy's friends walked somberly into the hospital room, on the bed lay Buffy; her face looked swollen and was black and blue in various places, a thick, blood stained bandage was taped to her head. Willow sat on one of the chairs in the room, staring in disbelief at her friend, tears running down her cheeks. She took Buffy's hand in hers, looking up at Oz.

"She doesn't even look like the same person. Why doesn't she look like Buffy, Oz?" Willow whispered chokingly.

"I- I dunno, bruises, trauma, a lot could make her not look Buffy-ish." Oz said, hugging Willow, as he sat on the arm of her chair.

"She'll be okay, Will, she's the Slayer; the Chosen One... she has to be okay." Xander tried to sound reassuring, leaning his head against the wall so as not to let Willow or Cordy see his tears. Coredelia walked over behind him and placed her arms around him gently. Xander turned around suddenly, looking desperately at Giles, "This isn't fair! Of all the people in this world, Buffy is the LAST person who deserved this! She saves the world and this is what she gets? A hospital bed and Sunnydale's finest? It's not fair!" Giles wrapped Xander in his arms, like a father, holding his son. When Giles released him he slid down the wall, placing his head on his knees, no longer bothering to hide the fact that he was crying.

"No, you're right, it's not fair. But life generally isn't fair, Xander," Giles said quietly.

Angel stared sadly down at the girl he'd met less than a month ago, but already knew he was falling for. He brushed a stray hair out of her face. 'Look at them, Angel.' He thought to himself, 'She barely even knows you, look at how devastated they are. They love her so much; you don't even deserve to be around her. You're a vampire, she the Slayer, she deserves better than you.' He gently ran a hand along her cheek. He didn't deserve to be in the presence of such caring people, but he couldn't leave. He knew that he couldn't leave. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed Buffy. He loved her... and he hated himself for it.

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N: COME ON PEOPLE! REVIEW!!!