CHAPTER THREE

VISITING HOURS

The night was slowly creeping by and still no Buffy, Angel was beginning to worry; Buffy had never been late for him before. Every single night she had come to talk to him. Morning rose, resigned that Buffy was not going to come; he slowly took of his T-shirt and got ready for bed. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, his heart leaping with joy knowing who that was going to be, he walked over to the door and opened it. Standing outside was not Buffy but Willow. Willow could see the shocked expression on Angel's face and said in a very tentative voice "Hi Angel"

"Willow" he said, "This is a surprise, I was expecting"

"Buffy" she said and her voice grew more tearful, Angel took hold of Willow's hand and led her over to the bed, he sat her down and looked straight into her eyes "Where is Buffy"

"Oh Angel, she's in hospital" cried Willow, that made Angel's blood chill like the night air.

"She's going to be ok right," he said in a careful voice "What happened, who put her in there" his voice was growing angry and through clenched teeth.

"Some demon, Giles is reading the stuff about him right now, he stabbed her" she said in a small voice

"Stabbed" said Angel in a hollow voice, his face grew whiter "I've got to see her"

"You can't Angel," said Willow "They won't let any of us see her, she is still under treatment and besides it's day, you'll burn up like a crisp"

Angel eyed the dark blanket on his bed "I don't care" he said through clenched teeth "Buffy needs me"

Willow looked at Angel with sad eyes "I guess we can wait, in the waiting room"

Angel leapt up, so did Willow, Angel put the blanket over him, Willow would of thought it was funny if the situation hadn't been so serious. She called Giles and Xander on her mobile "Yeah I've told Angel, he wants to see her, ok, but we need a car, he's only covered by a blanket"

Soon enough Giles's British car was parked were Angel lived, with Xander in the back seat, they all got out to help Angel get into the car. Giles drove to Sunnydale hospital saying "Good job it's Saturday"

They parked into the Sunnydale hospital car park and still helping Angel with the blanket they walked through the automatic doors as the doors closed behind them, Angel could see that all the windows were shut, no sign of light was coming into the room so he took off the blanket and rushed over to the secretary desk "Buffy Summers" he said quickly

"Buffy Summers" said the secretary "Yes stabbing last night"

Just to hear the word stab made Angel's blood boil "Is she ok"

"We are not certain yet, her injuries are very grave but she's sleeping now," said the sectary "What is your relation to Buffy"

"I'm her boyfriend," said Angel

"Yes" said the secretary "Ok, all of you can go on in as your friends"

A nurse led them through to Buffy's room, Buffy was still lying unconscious in her bed, her hands spread over the blanket, and she was hooked up to a breathing machine.

Angel sat on the chair nearest her, while Willow sat next to him, Giles and Xander on the other side. Angel took hold of Buffy's poor hand, which was as cold as ice, he tried to warm with his own hand but his fingers were like ice too, cursing himself for how little humanity he had. He rubbed Buffy's hand with one of his fingers. Giles had hold of the other hand. Willow and Xander were looking at Buffy's face; it was bruised by the night before. "You can't die Buffy, I can't live without you," he said in a hoarse voice, everyone looked at Angel; his eyes were filling up with tears as he looked upon the helpless Buffy. Angel was cursing himself for not being there at the time maybe he could of stopped this. If it wasn't for him, she could of lived and been all right. As this terrible though occurred to him, he buried his face in her hand and cried all over it muttering "I'm sorry Buffy, I'm so sorry"

Giles and Willow sighed, suddenly something clenched hold of Angel finger, Angel looked hardly daring to believe, he looked at Buffy's face. Her eyes opened very drowsily and for a moment she didn't know where she was, she looked to the right and saw Angel's face "Angel" she whispered

"Buffy" he said in a breathless voice, Buffy gave him a little smile then turned her head down to Willow "Willow you're here too, where's Xander and Giles" her voice was weak.

"Right behind you pal" said Xander, Buffy turned her head and looked at Xander and Giles, she noticed that each one of them had tears in their eyes.

"You're all here" she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't kill the demon"

"That's ok," said Giles "Maybe it was good you didn't kill the demon, it might hold the antidote"

Buffy smiled a weak smile, then she said "I'm cold"

In one movement, Angel put his arms around her chest, Willow placed her arms around her legs. Giles was massaging her arm and Xander was joining with the legs trying to make her warm up. They stayed like that for a very long time.