A/N: Despite my dismal number of reviews, I shall go on! I have recently been reading Buffy the Cliche Slayer by Steve-0, which is a WONDERFUL parody. The absolute best part is the Woz puppy! Wow. So, Xander's behavior in this chapter is inspired by Fat Angel. Also, forgive me if this chapter sound a little parody-ish. I tried!

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In the small waiting room of the Sunnydale General Hospital sat five friends in cold silence. Dawn had her arms crossed over her chest and was scowling at the opposing wall. Buffy was continuously fidgeting nervously, occasionally casting fearful glances in Dawn's direction. Giles was alternating between short periods of reading a book and long periods of taking off his glasses and massaging his temples. Xander was compulsively eating Cheetos. And Oz was pacing back and forth before the whole group, his expression impossible to read. They had been exactly like this for nearly three hours, except for the fact that Xander had gone through two bags of Skittles and some brown sugar Pop-Tarts. Buffy swore she could see a path carved in the floor by Oz's nonstop pacing. Oz doubted Dawn had moved at all from her pouting position for the last three hours. Dawn was about to kill Giles if he did that damned glasses-cleaning-maneuver one more time. Giles wondered absently about Xander's newfound comfort food dependency. Xander was completely enthralled by his glorious cheese puffs.

Finally, as tension was really beginning to run high, a doctor walked into the waiting room. Oz spun around and walked over to meet him. Xander froze in mid-chew.

"Well, the good news here is that she'll make it," the doctor began. There was a collective sigh of relief from the five of them, and consequently Xander began to choke on his Cheetos. As Buffy promptly started vigorously patting him on the back in an attempt to help, Oz looked at the doctor.

"And… the bad news?"

"Well, she's still very weak, but her body is recovering rapidly. She has received stitches on her forehead, and she has a fractured rib, but fortunately there was no internal damage. Really the only way to heal a fractured rib is through rest, so she will have to stay here to be monitored for a night and when you do bring her home, she must stay at rest for three to six weeks," the doctor answered slowly. Now that Xander had returned to his original color, Buffy stood up.

"Can we go see her?" she asked.

"Yes, but only one at a time" the doctor replied. He gestured for them to follow him as he led the way to Willow's room. After a brief trip of Xander's to retrieve his forgotten Cheetos they walked the hall towards their destination. Giles nodded at Buffy, proceeded inside quietly, as though afraid to wake her. Willow was lying peacefully on the hospital bed and her eyes were barely open. She approached her friend carefully as she opened her eyes a little more and gave them a small smile. Buffy put her hand on Willow's hand, avoiding the IV.

"Hey, Wil," Buffy said softly. "How do you feel?"

"Less than comfortable, you know, with the chest pains and all, but I'm doing okay," Willow responded with surprising awareness.

"Look, I'm really, really sorry about this…" Buffy began.

"No, don't be," Willow told her, trying to sound reassuring. "It's not your fault."

"But it is! If I wouldn't have been so… so self-centered, so blind, none of this would have happened. I hate that life is this way…" she added, looking down at the sheets.

"Buffy, this is my fault. I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to even realize there was something wrong with me. And I should have thought about how it would affect you guys if something would have happened to me."

"It's starting to sound like therapy in here," Buffy commenting, sharing a grin with Willow. "Well, there're four more people out there who want to talk to you, so I guess it's time from me to go. Be strong, Wil." And with that, she left the room, sending Giles in after her.

"How was she?" Oz asked Buffy, obviously concerned.

"She seemed fine," Buffy told him. "A little shaken, but not too bad off."

"I just wish I could have done more…" Oz said, trailing off. The gang stood in silence until Giles came out, and Dawn glared at his hands as he furiously cleaned his glasses. She went in next, stomach churning. Willow smiled at Dawn as she entered the room.

"Dawnie…" Willow said lightly, lifting her hand a little. Dawn gave her a rare smile in return and looked for a place on her arm to touch that didn't have a bruise on it or an IV in it. Finally, settling on putting her hand on Willow's shoulder, she spoke.

"I was really worried. You know, life's been so horrible lately, I didn't think I could handle much more. I'm just so glad you're okay…" Dawn had another one of her teary moments and continued. "I don't know what I would have done if something would have happened to you."

Willow was getting misty too, but more out of guilt. She realized that after all the crap she had put poor Dawn through that she still wasn't completely hated. Willow slowly reached up and unhooked Tara's necklace from around her neck. She took Dawn's hand and put it in her palm.

"Tara's necklace…" Dawn said sadly. "You're giving this to me?"

"Take it as a token of my apologies," Willow answered with a slight smile. Dawn reached up and latched it around her neck

"Thank you… so much."

Dawn leaned down and gently hugged Willow, careful not to hurt her. With that, she walked away from the bedside and, discreetly snatching up a Jell-o cup on her way out, she gestured for Xander to go in.

Xander walked over to the bed and sat in the nearby chair. At a temporary loss for words, he nibbled on a cheese puff. He held out the bag.

"Cheeto?" he offered.

"Um, no thanks," Willow declined. She smiled again.

"Wil," Xander said, leaning forward with a more serious tone, "you know that we all love you, right? You know that even though Tara's gone, you'll always have us?"

"I know, Xander. Don't worry. I'll never forget about what I still have."

"Good, 'cause I was thinking during all of this that maybe we weren't telling you that."

"It's okay. Am I still yellow crayon Willow?"

"Yep. Still yellow crayon Willow," Xander laughed. He squeezed her hand and left, and Oz went in. Willow's smile was bright, but her eyes were full of something he just couldn't place.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," he answered sitting on the end of the bed.

"You're back," Willow stated. "Why?"

"You," he said plainly. Willow looked slightly taken aback by his bluntness. He looked her straight in the eyes. "You needed help. I helped."

Willow gave him a grateful smile. "I'm glad you found me when you did. The doctor said that without the bandage I might have lost too much blood. You saved my life."

Oz returned her smile. "See. I helped." He got up and walked over to the head of the bed. Willow reached up and touched his bare shoulder.

"Your shirt."

"Your bandage."

They smiled at each other again. Just then a nurse poked her head in.

"Sir, visiting hours are over."

"I'm staying here overnight. You have a chair. I'll sleep in it," Oz said firmly. The nurse sighed and left them alone.

"You don't have to do this," Willow reminded him.

"I know."

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Buffy opened the door to her house. It was about 11:00 at night, and she was exhausted. She let Dawn in before herself and was about to head upstairs when she noticed some one very out of place sitting on the sofa.

"Love! Look! I'm better. I changed."

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A/N: Fwahh. Bring in the Spikage.