REPRECUSSIONS
Disclosure: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created like Kelli.
CHAPTER 18- HEALING HURTS LIKE HELL…YA KNOW
Years later when any of her grandchildren would ask her about what happened after Robin Wood's axe had nearly killed her Buffy would only say that she didn't remember anything from seeing Robin swing the axe to waking up in the infirmary.
She awoke with a start, nearly shrieking in shock before a painful constriction in her chest reminded her of what had come before to place her in this position. She glanced down and blushed instantly, realizing that somewhere along the way she had entirely lost the services of her shirt, jeans, and bra while her injured shoulder was heavily bandaged. She started to push herself up to rest on her elbows but a small cry escaped her lips as her still healing right shoulder was stretched just a little too far and she very nearly passed out from the pain before she slowly laid back down. With her nerves a bit calmer she took stock of her surroundings.
She was lying in what looked to have been someone's bedroom at one time, with a chest of drawers leaning up against one wall with its drawers all open, a privacy screen folded up in one corner and several stacks of medical supplies strewn all about, with a cold plate of food lying on the nightstand beside her. What she found most interesting was twofold, first she had only glanced up momentarily out of frustration before she noticed a giant mirror affixed to the ceiling and her tired and weary face reflected in it and that she was resting in a bed fitted with what felt like silk sheets. Screwing her face up in wonderment at the thought of what type of person would have silk sheets and a large mirror on the ceiling Buffy was about to crawl cautiously out of bed and look for some clothes when a still battle ready Riley Finn appeared in the doorway.
"R…Riley," Buffy asked softly, with her voice still a bit shaky after all of the loss of blood and sleeping for she knew not how long.
"How are you feeling…," Riley asked, his voice full of concern, as he kept his place in the doorway, almost seemingly locked in a silent debate within himself questioning what his next action should be. Silent seconds ticked by before he apparently resolved his internal conflict and took a couple of steps into the room, pulling a chair close to the bed and taking a seat.
"Just peachy…okay I feel like I'm about two seconds away from tossing my cookies but…," Buffy started to reply at first with a faux smile on her face before her weariness took over and she blanched as a sickly feeling landed in her stomach.
"You already did that…twice, Sam's going to have my head for that…," Riley mumbled back sheepishly in reply as Buffy pulled the covers up a bit more so that only her neck and head were visible above them.
"Sorry about that…," Came Buffy's quick reply before she blushed and smiled as she cast her gaze anywhere in the room but at Riley's face, hoping that she hadn't gotten him into to much trouble.
"Don't worry about it Buffy, Sam will understand once I explain to her what happened…," Riley started to say to try to quell Buffy's fears before she rolled her eyes and cut him off.
"Oh yeah, like that's your strong suit ya know…uh not to sound ungrateful or anything but where am I…where are my clothes, and where's Spike," Buffy joked at first with another much more dramatic rolling of her eyes before her look became pointed as she directed her gaze directly towards Riley.
"Um…you're in one of the larger homes in the Sunnydale area that the Initiative has turned into the infirmary, your clothes were so caked with blood that they were a lost cause…and as for assface…I mean Spike, he's…well he's…," Riley stammered out with a sheepish grin on his face as he slowly shook his head and tore his gaze away from Buffy's before he was interrupted by a weak entry from the doorway.
"Feeling like a bloody wheel of Swiss cheese at the moment…," A very pale looking Spike choked out, almost in a whisper, from the doorway as the fears residing in Buffy's stomach hit their high notes at the sight of Spike's sickly form leaning very heavily on the doorframe.
"Spike…," Buffy gushed out, almost alike in her whisper, as a relieved but still pained smile spread quickly across her face before warm tears introduced themselves to the world as they gracefully bounded down her cheeks.
"You're not supposed to be out of bed…," Riley grunted out through a clenched jaw as his words conveyed concern at the sickly condition of the vampire but in the not so distant expanses of his mind he had hoped that the vampire that had fully taken her away from him had finally met his demise. But it was not to be.
"I'm not supposed to be a lot of things soldier boy…don't rightly care anymore what I'm supposed to be, only person that has that say is Buffy," Spike growled back in a halfhearted attempt to regain the aura of being the big bad in charge and terrifying the scared villagers around him that he had possessed years earlier but now in his dilapidated condition he looked to Buffy more like a sickly droopy eyed teddy bear with an overbite and nicotine addiction. All in all at that particular moment in time he was the most beautiful sight her eyes had ever beheld, completely surpassing the look on her mothers face after she caught site of who was standing on the doorstep after she had returned from her self imposed exile in Los Angeles after Angel's death.
"You should have at least…," Riley began to plead with a nervous twitch in his left hand, signaling to Buffy that he was trying his best to keep his temper under control, before Spike got involved.
"Bugger off ya bloody tosser…can't ya see that we need a little time to get reacquainted," Spike interjected with a rather pessimistic scowl on his face as he glared across the bed at Riley, supremely tempted to slip into his game face for a few seconds to add further emphasis to his words but he stopped the instant that he felt his angels hand on his arm.
"Spike please…be civil…," Buffy muttered under her breath with a very commanding look locked into her gaze as the light touch on Spike's arm changed to her locking her hand around his wrist and pulling him closer.
"I am pet…but Captain Cardboard here is…," Spike started to say with the sexy smirk that he gave only to Buffy before Riley could stand no more, threw his hands up in defeat, and marched from the room, muttering curses against every vampire in the world as he went, nearly slamming the door shut behind him in utter frustration and contempt for what he guessed would soon be played out in the bedroom behind him.
"You okay…I mean really, no kidding or joking around," Buffy asked with a worried look on her face as she pulled back the covers to allow him entrance.
"My my…dinner and a show…you spoil me slayer," Spike joked with an impish smirk on his face, one that always got Buffy's blood pumping as his gaze flickered momentarily across the bed to the plate of untouched food on the nightstand before he slid into bed next to her.
"Shut up…," Buffy shot back with her best look of anger that she could muster given her current state of her eyelids starting to droop a bit.
"Mmm…make me," Spike mumbled back with a wide grin splashed across his face before he leaned in and lightly nibbled the side of Buffy's neck, receiving a relieved giggle for his efforts.
"Would you please sit still, you've just come out of surgery and…," An older doctor pleaded with a scared look on his face as Faith continued to strain against the straps holding her down to the gurney.
"Let…me…go," Faith growled back with an angry sneer on her face as she fought through the searing pain in her right shoulder, not caring if she tore the new stitches or not, to try to sit up.
"Listen to them Faith," Angel stated with a very clear and commanding expression on his face as he hovered above Faith's bed as she shook her head in an attempt to clear out the cobwebs left over from the anesthesia used in her surgery.
"You can't help Wesley right now sugarplum…the doctors and clerics are in there working on him right now, they'll have him patched up and scowling at us over a cup of tea in no time," Lorne added with a halfhearted smile on his face as even he knew that his words of comfort rang hollow at that moment he felt that he had to at least give it a shot.
"But I can't just…he can't…I didn't…I've never…I…," Faith mumbled out quickly as it was evident that a mess of jumbled emotions and feelings that had struggled valiantly to come to the forefront for some time were finally able to show themselves, albeit all at the exact same time.
"Would you shut up already…I can barely hear myself think with you blabbering on like this…," Lilah groaned with an annoyed scowl on her face as she turned away from the doorway before returning her gaze to the door directly across the hallway, her countenance softening clearly along the way.
"No I will not…," Faith started to nearly scream out before her teeth snapped together and she fought to keep from crying out in pain as Angel poked her hard in the shoulder near where the stitches were located.
"Not now Lilah…Lorne's right Faith, none of us can do anything for Wesley until he's out of surgery and even then we have to wait for him to wake up," Angel snapped at Lilah at first before he calmed down a bit and tried to soothe the rogue slayers frazzled nerves.
"But what if he wakes up early…doesn't know where he is…tries to come looking for me…," Faith trailed off at the end as she spoke in a halting speech with Angel slowly nodding his head as the reasoning's behind her words had become clear to him and he didn't want to hear another acid laden comment from Lilah on the matter anytime soon.
"Don't worry Faith, after we're sure that Wesley's out of danger I'll personally see to it that you both share a room…," Angel said softly with a deep look of concern on his face before he was interrupted by Fred as she rushed into the room, not caring to pause and wait for Lilah to get out of the way as the former lawyer was very nearly bowled over in the process.
"Angel, we need to…oh my God, what happened," Fred exclaimed with a frantic look of worry on her face before she noticed the state of the occupants of the room and very nearly forgot her bit of news. Lilah stood in the open doorway with her arms crossed and glaring daggers into the middle of Fred's back. Lorne rested in a chair that sat up against one wall with a teetering icepack on one knee while he pressed another one to his forehead, being careful to not let his horns puncture the bag. Angel had pulled up a stool beside Faith's gurney and was trying to calm her down while not letting on how much his own undoubted multitude of cuts and scrapes was hurting him.
"We had a little run in with another one of those cheery secretive governmentally backed shadow organizations that shoot first and ask questions...well never," Lorne answered with a soft moan as he tried his best to retain his usually cheerful outlook on life while delivering bad news.
"Funny…us to…except we didn't end up as bad as you guys did…wait, where's Wesley…Angel," Fred joked at the beginning before she did a sweep around the room with her eyes and noticed that they were two short.
"He's in surgery right now…he took a bullet for Faith…but she got hit to," Angel replied with a sad and worried smile on his face before he couldn't keep it up any longer and slumped his shoulders and turned away. For a second Angel almost expected Fred to cry, and in truth she almost did, but Gunn's timely arrival, looking like he had just crawled through five miles of smelly and dusty debris, kept her from getting any further.
"We've got a situation here Angel, Buffy's little sister Dawn was hurt in the explosion and she hasn't woken up yet, Willow is with her but I thought that I should tell you before the clerics and doctors got to far along," Gunn said with a very grim scowl on his face as he picked up a spare towel and began to wipe the dirt and grime from first his neck and then his face.
"Dawn's here…Willow to, why didn't anyone tell me…Lilah double the guard on their room and don't let Willow leave Dawn's side for any reason," Angel announced with a very firm tone to his voice as he stood up and walked away from Faith, leaving her to stare off after him with a confused look on her face.
"Oh this doesn't look good," Kelli stated with a scared look on her face as she and Molly stumbled out into the parking garage to find it looking like a disaster area.
"You can say that again…," Molly mumbled back in reply softly with a very worried look on her face as she made her way into the garage and looked around before she spotted two people hurrying towards them, both armed.
"Who are you," The younger of the two people hurrying towards them shouted with an almost accusing scowl on his face as he lifted his sword up high, ready for anything.
"Easy Connor, they're unarmed…and from the looks of it in no position to walk let alone attack us," Oz cautioned with a concerned frown on his face as he lowered his axe and laid a restraining hand on Connor's arm.
"But…," Connor protested with an unsure and unconvinced look on his face as his gaze swept back and forth between Oz and Kelli and Molly.
"Of course not…we won't attack you, see we can barely walk," Molly pleaded with as innocent of smile on her young face as she could get as she feebly held up her shackled hands for Connor and Oz to see.
"Well they don't…look…dangerous," Connor mumbled softly with a still edgy but slightly more calm look on his face and body language as he lowered his sword, but only barely.
"Because we're not…we're just potential slayers, not even the real…," Kelli let spill out with a scared smile on her face before Molly cut her off with a loud clearing of her throat and angry glare over her shoulder.
"Yeah they're much…wait a minute, did you say…potential…slayers, like Buffy and Faith," Oz quickly jumped in with a confused look on his face as he took a full step in front of Connor and completely dropped his axe down to his side.
"How did you…," Kelli uttered, staring now at both Oz and Connor with eyes wider than Molly had ever seen them, as she slowly made her way forward before another cough from Molly caused her to fall silent.
"I know all about Buffy being the slayer and Faith being called after Buffy died, I used to date a friend of hers…her name's Willow, maybe you've heard of…her," Oz started to interject with a hurried tone to his voice before he smiled inwardly as he saw a light turn on in first Kelli and then Molly's brain as both seemed to relax a bit.
"Heard of her…she picked me up from the airport, she's cool…except she hangs around with a real bitchy potential named Kennedy, I hate her," Kelli exclaimed with an excited smile on her face as it soon seemed that no matter what she did she could not stem the words from spilling continuously from out of her mouth. For a moment Molly looked as if she was about to strangle Kelli but then Oz caught the brunette potential nodding in agreement.
"Do you know where she is…it's kind of important," Oz asked with an impatient expression on his face as he could tell that Connor was quickly tiring of the game of twenty questions and was more interested in the odd vibe that the entire area was giving off.
"Sorry…," Molly replied, blushing deeply as she tried to avoid looking at Connor, before she continued, "I haven't seen her for awhile, but Kelli saw her last night."
"Molly's right, we came here looking for Buffy but…well, things didn't go so well," Kelli blurted out with an excited smile on her face at first before a frown came down over her features as she lifted her hands up together to show Oz and Connor the shackles.
"How did you get tied up like that," Connor asked finally as he cocked his head to one side and stared at the two potentials with an odd frown on his face, not knowing what to make of either one of them.
"This guy named Riley…part of some sort of terrorist group or something…knocked me out and when I came to I well…," Kelli answered with an angry scowl on her face as she quickly recounted the events that had led she and Molly to their current predicament as Oz and Connor stood quietly and listened.
"Riley's here…Riley Finn…damn," Oz murmured softly with a very unhappy and scrunched up look on his face as he turned around on his heel and slowly began to pace back and forth in front of an astonished Connor.
"Who's Riley Finn…," Connor asked with a confused look on his face as he picked his sword back up to a defensive position as Oz's body language was filling him with worry, a feeling that he hated immensely.
"One of Buffy's old boyfriends…and a member of one of those secretive and shadowy government agencies that has made it their missions to stomp out anything that's not completely human…even threw me into a cell a few years ago and got their jollies by forcing me to change," Oz replied with a bitter look on his face as he squeezed the handle of the axe in his hands tighter than he ever thought that he could.
"Buffy dated…that jerk," Kelli mouthed with an astounded and surprised look on her face before she closed her mouth and shook her head.
"It doesn't matter now though, I heard that she's dating someone that she really loves…," Oz added with a confused and somewhat concerned look on his face as he shook his head and lightened his grip on his axe.
"That's right, she's dating Spike," Molly informed Oz with a proud and happy smile on her face as she thought back to the time that she and Spike had gotten into a row about the characters on their favorite soap opera, never noticing how quickly Oz's jaw had dropped at the news and Connor had only shrugged his shoulders and mumbled something softly to himself.
"He's out of danger for now but I'm not sure if…," The head doctor started to whisper softly to Angel as he leaned in close before Angel raised a hand and cut him off.
"I understand…but I believe that this is for the best…," Angel replied with a very stern but yet oddly nervous look on his face as he stood there and gazed through the glass at two of his best friends in the world lying healing on two gurneys lying side by side.
"I'm here Wes…don't die on me…don't die on me…," Faith whispered softly with a relieved smile on her face as she rolled over and draped her left arm across Wesley's chest before she finally laid her head onto Wesley's left shoulder and drifted off to sleep.
END OF CHAPTER 18