Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow

Previously:

Faith looked outside, only to find nothing there. She went to step forward, but her foot landed on something soft. Looking down, she saw she was standing on someone's hand. She audibly gasped and stepped back. Lying on the front porch was a bleeding and broken man, seemingly unconscious. Kneeling down beside him, Faith gently turned his head to get a look at his face. "Oh shit," she muttered when she saw him. It was Robson.

Chapter Fifty-Five:

"Kara?" Giles said as he kneeled down beside the sleeping slayer and gently shook her shoulder. "Wake up," he whispered gently, smiling down at her. Kara stirred, turned her head, and opened her eyes.

"Hey," she said, sitting up in her chair and rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?"

"A little after eight in the morning," Giles answered, standing. Kara followed suit, stretching her stiff legs.

"Why'd you wake me up then?" She grumbled, yawning.

"Faith found Robson on her doorstep this morning," Giles replied. Kara looked up at him in surprise.

"Really? Was he dead?" Kara asked.

"No, he's very much so alive. We brought him to the hospital an hour or so ago. The doctors think they'll be able to release him by tomorrow morning," Giles responded.

Kara nodded. Turning back to Kennedy, she leaned down and kissed her girlfriend's forehead. "I'll be back soon," she whispered, smiling down at her and gently tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "So they didn't rough him up too bad then?"

"Doesn't appear so. Granted, he won't be winning any beauty contests anytime soon. But he's extraordinarily lucky," Giles said as he and Kara slipped out of Kennedy's room. The hospital was fairly quiet, it being Christmas day. Together, they walked down the hallway toward the elevators.

"Has he said anything?" Kara asked, hitting the down button. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. They stepped inside and the doors slid closed silently.

"No, he's been unconscious," Giles answered. "Hopefully he'll be able to tell us a little more about the First's operation when he wakes up."

"Yeah, that'd be nice," Kara said. The elevator settled to a halt and the doors slid open. Stepping out, Giles led her down another hallway. She could see several members of the Scooby Gang gathered outside one of the rooms. "We've been in this hospital a lot recently," Kara commented.

"More than I like," Giles agreed.

"Hey," Faith said, nodding at them as they approached. "The doctors are done with him."

"He's still unconscious though," Buffy said, yawning widely. Kara smiled over at her parents. Buffy was leaning against Faith, her eyes drifting closed every once in a while. Faith seemed wide-awake though and would nudge Buffy whenever she started to fall asleep. Dawn and Joyce were sitting next to them, both women practically dead to the world. None of the others had shown up yet. They were most likely still asleep.

"They said someone can go in and see him," Faith said. "But we figured we'd wait for you Giles."

"Yes, I would like to see him first," Giles said, smiling at them kindly before turning and entering the room.

"How's Ken?" Buffy asked, sitting up a little in her chair as Kara sat across from them.

"No change," Kara said, leaning back and sighing, rubbing her face with her hands.

"I'm sure she'll wake up soon," Faith said reassuringly.

"Yeah? You didn't wake up for eight months," Kara pointed out. She noticed Buffy shift a little in her seat and look down at the ground.

"I remember," Faith said lowly, looking over at Buffy. Leaning over, she reached up and tangled her fingers in Buffy's hair. "It's okay, B," she whispered.

Buffy looked over at her and smiled sadly. "I know. I just feel bad about all that."

"Don't," Faith said sternly. "If you hadn't done that shit, we wouldn't be here today, would we?" Faith pointed out before leaning in and capturing Buffy's lips in a quick kiss.

"How sweet," Kara muttered amusedly. Faith and Buffy pulled away and glared over at her.

"Shut up," they said in unison.

.......................

Several hours later, Xander and Anya arrived to check in on Robson. Shortly after, they left to go open up the Magic Box. Though it was Christmas day, Anya insisted on opening up. All of the other stores in town were closed for the holiday, thereby, the Magic Box wouldn't have any competition. Anya thought it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Customers would have no choice but to come and spend their money there. Xander had his doubts, but he didn't say anything, as he didn't want to be sleeping on the couch that night. The Scooby Gang was going to meet up later for dinner at Buffy's house, as usual, considering Joyce was the only one who could actually cook well.

Willow and Tara had yet to arrive. They phoned the hospital after receiving Giles' message, but wanted to spend the day out. They agreed to come later in the afternoon. Though Spike was concerned, he didn't want to venture going out during the day for someone he didn't know particularly well. Dawn and Joyce had left to start preparing dinner, leaving Buffy, Faith, Kara, and Giles. Faith and Buffy had just gone down to the cafeteria and Kara was making her mind up about whether to return to Kennedy's room when Giles burst out of Robson's hospital room.

"He's awake," Giles said excitedly before disappearing back in the room. Kara jumped up and followed him.

"How're you feeling?" She asked as she walked up to Robson's beside. The man looked terrible, but most of his wounds were superficial.

"Been better," Robson croaked out, smiling a little.

"What happened?" Giles asked, pulling up chairs for Kara and himself.

"I was trying to track down the potentials I mentioned to you," Robson said to Giles, coughing a bit as he spoke. "The First's bringers caught me."

"You've been with them this whole time?"

"Yeah. They've been traveling around, killing any potentials they could find. When you all did that spell though, they stopped," Robson replied.

"How do you know about the spell?" Kara asked in surprise. Robson smiled.

"They asked me about it. The bringers tortured me for information. When they found the potentials were fighting back with the strength of slayers, they freaked. Wanted to know what happened. I guess they thought I did it. Anyway, that's how I found out," Robson answered.

"They brought you back here?" Giles asked.

"Yeah, not too long ago. Something happened a couple of days ago that shook things up though. The guards were pulled off me and I managed to escape," Robson said.

"Probably the death of Caleb," Giles theorized "The First wasn't expecting that. I imagined it caused a great deal of turmoil."

"Who was Caleb?" Robson asked, trying his best to look confused.

"One of the First's men. Buffy and Faith beheaded him," Kara answered, chuckling a bit at the memory. Giles smiled over at her, shaking his head.

"Rest up," Giles said. "The doctors believe you'll be well enough for release tomorrow. Prove them right," he said, pulling himself to his feet.

"Yeah, we'll be right outside if you need anything," Kara said, following Giles out of the room.

"I can't imagine what that man went through," Giles said, once they had exited the hospital room and were out of earshot.

"I know," Kara said, shuddering slightly. "I'm surprised they didn't kill him."

"So am I," Giles replied. "They must have assumed he knew more than he did."

.........................

The sun was starting to sink in the sky when Willow and Tara arrived at the hospital with a bouquet of flowers to brighten up Robson's hospital room. Giles and Kara were still there. Buffy and Faith had left not long ago. "How's he doing?" Willow asked as they approached.

"He'll be fine," Kara said, smiling at the witches.

"We brought flowers," Tara said. "Should I put them in his room?"

"I imagine he'd appreciate that," Giles said, smiling at the gesture. Tara nodded and quietly entered Robson's room so as not to wake him. She sat the flowers on the windowsill and turned, looking over at the sleeping man. Tara gasped a little when she saw him, her eyes turning dark.

"Something's not right here," she muttered to herself. "Not at all."