Hello everyone! Sorry that this has taken so long to get out, but since the last time I posted I've built and torn down three sets, performed in a show, designed lights for another, finished Across The Pond, planted a garden, am now harvesting from said garden, celebrated an anniversary, wrote two fic-a-thon stories, been catching up on Stargate since I just got Sci-fi, started a website, and a myriad of other projects. So life has been a little busy.

The next chapter should be up in about two weeks. I've done some planning and I think there are, at most, ten more chapters to this fic. But a sequel is already swimming around my head. (not to mention about a half dozen other fics)

A word of caution, don't bitch to me about the lack of updates. I'm busy, I have a life, if you can't deal with it, stop reading my story. I happen to be a teacher who scares her students so back off or I will become nasty. I'm well aware that there was a long period between this update and the last, but I never start something without the full intention of finishing it. Just be patient, it's a virtue after all. For those who were infinitely patient with me, thank you.

Review Responses:

CinnamonGrrl, Harry2, Ezmerelda, chelle 86, La Vito, Kyra2, dawn of the new world, krazy babe, alien, comix mayday, kalika55, thank you guys so much for your reviews!

Catlimere, I'm glad you enjoyed Scott and Logan teamed up in the last chapter 'cause I have more torture prepared for the future. Hee hee, you'll see what I mean in this chapter. And I'm glad that Logan's beserker rage worked, I was a little worried about it, especially since fight scenes aren't really my forte. And ever since Krisztina sent me the cd she uses for her fic I've started gathering songs for this one, and Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life" just happened to be one of them. I had the exact same thought's about it. The theme song to Tru Calling - Full Blown Rose's "Save Me" - is really good too.

organized-chaos, the angst monkey? Hee hee, I like. He does some dancing in this chapter too. Just because I like his little dance. :)

glitzydancingshoes, I had wondered exactly how to word that bit you questioned about. But think of it like this, I always sleep on my stomach but my head is turned to the side so I just thought of her head being turned so he could see her face.

Sabia, details is always one of my weakest points, that and fight scenes. I'm working on it though, although with this fic I'm mostly concentrating on Buffy and Logan.

I'll shut up now and let you read....

Chapter Eighteen

The first thing that Buffy was aware of was a faint beeping that seemed to correspond with each beat of her heart. She detected the faint scent of disinfectant and got a sickening feeling that she was in the hospital wing. Knowing that the sooner she fully awakened and got up, the sooner she'd get out of there, she slowly opened her eyes.

A cheery room filled with flowers, balloons and cards greeted her. The sun shined brightly through the window causing her to blink several times to adjust. Nothing gave off the indication that she was in a hospital room except for the monitoring machines. The bed was a normal one and she even had her favorite kitty pajamas on.

Sensing another presence, she turned to see Logan sprawled out in a large armchair, asleep. She noticed his disheveled look and the dark circles under his eyes. A soft smile graced her face as she guessed he must have gotten little sleep while she had been out.

Which brought up another thing, what exactly happened? She remembered fighting the demons and then something hitting her in the back. Buffy scrunched up her nose in thought but everything after that was black until a few moments ago.

Buffy looked up when she heard someone enter the room.

"How are you feeling?" Jean asked.

"Fine. A little confused, but fine. How did you know I was awake?" Buffy asked in a hushed voice so as not to wake Logan.

"The monitors have remote feeds so that I can still observe. Your heart rate sped up indicating that you had finally awakened. What are you confused about?" Jean asked as she unhooked Buffy from the machines and the I.V.

"What happened and how long have I been out for starters," she said.

"You were hit by one of Scott's uncontrolled beams. If you had been anyone else you would have been vaporized. As it was, it tore all of the skin off of your back and some of the muscle. You would have died without your healing abilities. You've been unconscious for over four days, it's now Wednesday afternoon."

"Wednesday?" Buffy asked in surprise. "What about Fred and Wes, did they..."

"They called yesterday morning. Everything is fine in L.A."

Buffy breathed out a sigh of relief. "That's good to know. Where am I? This doesn't look like any hospital room I've ever seen."

"Because it's not," Jean said with a smile. "As soon as you were passed any danger of infection, Logan insisted on moving you out of the hospital wing. He said you'd be more comfortable in a real room. So we converted the closest empty room to the medical wing. He even brought down a few things from your room, including..."

"Mr. Gordo!" Buffy said, grabbing the stuffed pig out of Jean's hands. She couldn't believe all that the man had done for her. Looking over at him she asked, "Has he been here the whole time?"

Jean nodded and said, "He only left to shower and bring things from your room. This is the first time he has slept since you were injured. I don't think he was able to rest until he knew for sure that you were going to be all right."

The blonde couldn't respond, she could only stare at the man who had looked after her in utter amazement. To her knowledge, no man had ever done something like this for her before. She had no idea what to make of it.

"I could tell you to stay in bed for another day and finish gathering your strength, but I doubt you'd listen."

"Probably not," Buffy agreed with a smile. "Then you are free to go, but try to take it easy for the next few days. And I would really prefer that you didn't patrol until this weekend," the doctor said seriously.

"Agreed. I think I'd like to go get something to eat."
"Did you want to wake Logan first?"

Buffy stopped to think about it and then shook her head. "Wolvie needs his rest. I'll see him when he wakes up."

"I'm sure you will," Jean murmured with a slight smirk on her face. Luckily for her, Buffy didn't hear it as she was already out the door in search of food.

Buffy sat down in the lotus position as she prepared to meditate. If only Giles could see her now - meditating willingly. A stab of pain filled her heart at the thought of her former watcher, but she brushed it aside to concentrate. She had just finished her Tai Chi kata that Angel had taught her what seemed like a lifetime before. She really hated to admit it, but she was tired already, and all she had done was eat and then the kata.

The tiny slayer hadn't realized how many people she had affected until the students and teachers had bombarded her. They all insisted on hugging her as if to assure themselves that she was fine. Rogue and Bobby had enveloped her in a huge bear hug and nearly didn't let go of her. There were so many people, that it took a while before she had been able to reach the kitchen to eat anything.

Only Scott had seemed a little cool towards her. When she had entered the kitchen he was leaving and only welcomed her back. Which, at the time, she had thought a bit strange, but her hunger overrode any serious thought about it.

She was just finishing up her meditation when the door to the training room swung open and she heard, "There you are!" Buffy opened her eyes to see Logan striding over to her. "I've been looking all over for you. How dare you leave that room and not wake me?"

The next thing she knew, she was being pulled to her feet and into his arms. "Don't you dare scare me like that again. I thought I had lost you," he whispered hoarsely into her hair.

"I'll try not to," she said glibly as she hugged him back.

He pulled back to look her in the eyes. "I'm serious. You could have died."

"Hello, immortal here," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Besides, death doesn't seem to take with me."
Logan's chest squeezed at her statement. He let go of her and turned away to hid the tears that threatened to fall. "I wish you wouldn't joke about death like that."

Buffy shuddered slightly at the sudden loss of contact. "I'm sorry, but it's the only way I can deal. Death surrounds me, it's my job, and if I always take it seriously then I'll drown myself in my own despair."

"I think I sort of understand," he said, turning to face her after a few moments. Deciding to change topics he asked, "And why aren't you resting? Jean said you were going to take it easy and I find you in the training room."

"I am taking it easy," Buffy replied indignantly as she put her shoes on. "I ate, said hi to some people, did a simple kata to stretch and loosen my muscles, and then I meditated. And I really wish I could patrol, but I promised Jean I wouldn't."

"I'll patrol if you're worried about it."

"No, it's my responsibility."

"I can take care of myself. I've patrolled with you before; I know what to expect."

"But I was with you," she said as they headed out the door and back upstairs. "What if it's more than you can handle?"

"I'll take Nightcrawler with me and he can teleport us out if we run into trouble," he countered.

She thought it over for a few minutes before nodding. "Fine. But just do a simple sweep of the cemeteries and the typical haunts. That's all."
"If it will help you rest easy, then yes."
"Thanks, Logan."

He draped an arm across her shoulders and said with a smirk, "Told you I could help."

She unconsciously slipped her arm around his waist and moved in a little closer. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. No need to rub it in."

"Have you talked to Cyke yet?"

"Said hi, that's about it. Why?"

Logan shrugged. "He took your injury pretty hard. Think he might feel responsible."

"I'll talk to him."

"Good. Now let's get something to eat. You lost some weight just lying around like that." Then he neatly jumped out of the path of the punch heading for his face.

"Hey Scott," Buffy said from her position on the couch in the common area. She had been waiting in ambush for the mutant ever since Logan and Kurt had left for patrol. "What's up?"
"Not much," he replied stiffly as he continued to make his way through the room.

"Sit and talk to me."
"Ah, isn't there someone else you'd rather talk to?"

Buffy looked around the empty room. "Who?"

"I could send Rogue down," Scott suggested.

"But I want to talk to you."

He tensed. "Why?"

"Just sit and talk to me."

Scott sighed and sat at the opposite end of the couch. "What did you want to discuss?"

"Why you're avoiding me," she said as she moved so she was sitting next to him.

"I'm not..."

"Yes, you are." When he didn't respond she asked, "What's wrong? Hate me now that I've brought my world into yours and it's uglier than what you had originally thought?"

"No! Never. It's just... It's my fault you were injured. Despite all of my training and the precautions we've taken, I'm a liability in a fight. I shouldn't even be a x-man."

"But I'm fine, Scott."

"Yes, but you're immortal. I would have killed anyone else. I don't think I can take the risk anymore."

"Scott, you can't quit. You have the ability to do a lot of good, don't let this one incident stop you. If you do quit, what about the people you could have saved. How many demons did you kill that night?"

"At least twenty," he answered softly.

"Then there are twenty less demons out there trying to kill innocent humans. Not to mention you helped stop an apocalypse. You literally helped save the world because of your gift."

His brow furrowed as he thought about what she said.

"You can't keep beating yourself up over this," she added.

"Maybe you're right, but I still need to think about it."

She smiled. "Good. Now, you wanna watch a movie?"

"Sorry, but I have papers to grade," he said as he stood. "I'll talk to you later."

"Ok. But if you decide you still want to fight, I'd like to do some training with you and Logan."
"At the same time?"

"Yes, at the same time."
"You're braver than I thought," he said with a slight smile.

"Thanks," she said wryly. She snuggled down into the couch and began flipping through channels as she waited for Kurt and Logan to get back.

"I shall see you in the morning," Kurt said before heading up to his room.

"See ya, elf," Logan said. Hearing the tv on at such a late hour, he went to investigate.

A smile came unbidden to his lips when he saw Buffy curled up asleep on the couch. He turned off the tv and easily picked her up and carried her upstairs. It seemed strange that he had done the same thing only a week earlier after she had cried herself to sleep in his arms after denying the need for help; and now she had fallen asleep waiting for him to return from lending a helping hand.

"How was patrol?" She sleepily asked as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Quiet. Only two vampires that we quickly dusted."

"Good," she said and rested her head on her shoulder.

He carefully opened the door to her room and crossed to the bed. After pulling back the covers, he gently set her down.

"Stay," came her soft voice in the dark.

"Will you be here when I wake up?"

"Yes."

Logan went and shut the door, then removed his boots and belt. He laid down next to her and she snuggled against him.

"Mmm, nice and warm," she mumbled before falling back asleep.

He wrapped his arms around her and quickly followed her.

Logan awoke to the sweet sound of Buffy's voice. It didn't take him long to figure out that she had called L.A.

"Yes, Wesley I'm fine... All better... No, she won't let me yet... How bad was the thing on Monday?"

He let her side of the conversation fade out as he watched her. He had a hard time believing that such a beautiful creature was contemplating a relationship with him. At least, he thought she might be, he wasn't entirely sure. She was more vulnerable around him, allowed him to comfort her, and wanted to sleep in his arms; but refused to discuss her feelings for him. It was all very confusing.

Logan had already figured out that he loved her. He had been in a near panic when she wasn't in her bed when he woke up that morning. Even though she was staying to guard the hellmouth, he still feared that she would disappear. At times, she seemed to be too good to be true.

Buffy hung up the phone and turned to catch Logan staring at her. "What? Do I have bed hair?" She asked, one hand going up to her head.

Reaching out, he stopped her and brought her hand back down, but didn't let go. "No. You look perfect."

She blushed slightly and said, "I bet you say that to all of the girls."
"No, just you."
"Well... Things are fine in L.A.," she said in a rush. "Apocalypse averted, no one hurt, all is right with the world. Are you hungry? We slept through breakfast."

"Is it that late?" He asked, going with the subject change.

"Yeah. You were busy catching up on all of that sleep you lost while I was unconscious," she said lightly as she climbed out of bed.

"How'd you know that?"

"I have my ways," she said before slipping into the bathroom to change.

"That you do," he murmured to himself.