Chapter Eleven
Xander and Dawn stayed behind, as Willow and Giles escorted Buffy up to the hospital.
Buffy had fallen strangely silent, as the three of them rode in a cab, towards the hospital. Willow held Buffy's hand, and Giles watched, as Buffy stared out the window.
Buffy's thoughts were meshing into one again, as she weighed the events of the last few days. Angel had told her New Year's, that she had her happily ever after, but did she really? She had no doubt Brian loved her, and Buffy loved him back, but was that love strong enough to get them through the obstacles that they might end up having to face if Brian has cancer?
Buffy sighed, as she watched the buildings fly by. Angel had tried to move on, only to end up having to kill her. Buffy had thought she had finally moved past Angel, and yet, every time she had thought that, fate seemed to step in.
Falling asleep in Angel's hotel room, was the closest to being the normal girl she had so longed to be, it was almost scary. Brian had swept her up in the moment and she had married him, believing she would finally leave her Slayer past behind her. She would be Normal Buffy again.
But when Angel kissed her this morning, she realized, she had been lying to herself. Again. That fleeting moment, had been the closest to true happiness, Buffy had felt since she had married Brian. She knew that she would always love Angel, and that she wouldn't be happy, until she could be with him forever. So, Buffy realized, the time had finally come to separate from Brian. But he's such a good person, Buffy told herself, trying talk her way out of it, But he's also so job oriented. He's never been there when I really, truly, needed him.
Buffy leaned her head, against the back of the seat and took a deep breath.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Willow asked.
"Huh?" Buffy turned to her friend.
"You've been staring out the window forever, care to talk about it?"
Buffy faked a smile. "Just thinking about Brian."
"I'm sure the young man is going to be fine, Buffy," Giles offered his encouragement.
"I hope you're right, Giles," Buffy said as the cab pulled up in front of the hospital, "I certainly hope so."
Giles exited the car, and walked around to Buffy's side, offering to help her out of the car. Willow paid the fare, and followed the Watcher and Slayer inside.
The three friends, walked down the long hallway that led to Brian's room, Willow holding one of Buffy's hands, while Giles wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
Opening the door, Buffy saw Brian lying in the bed, peacefully sleeping. Buffy walked over and carefully brushed his face. Feeling her touch, Brian moved his head towards her, and slowly opened his eyes.
"Hi," he said sleepily.
"Hey," Buffy said softly as she touched his face.
Brian turned his head to face his other two guests.
"Willow, Giles," he acknowledged, "I'm glad you came with her."
"Yes, well, I wouldn't have had it any other way," Giles told his son-in-law.
"How are you feeling," Willow asked as she walked over to Brian's other side.
"Like crap, but otherwise fine," Brian smiled at his attempt at humor. "They took a sample and did some tests, and the doctor said they had some results."
"Do you know what they are?" Buffy asked as she squeezed Brian's hand.
Brian shook his head. "No, I told them to wait till you were here. I wanted to find out with you."
Buffy smiled at her husband, and kissed his hand. Brian reached down beside him, grabbed a controller, and pushed the nurse's button. A few seconds a later a nurse walked in.
"Tell Dr. Preston, I'm ready now," he told her as she nodded her head and walked out the room again.
"I certainly hope it is good news," Willow said.
"Yes, it would be the best news in days," Giles agreed.
A moment later, Dr. Preston walked in and acknowledged everyone.
"I see you gathered your family around you," he said as Giles moved towards Buffy and Dr. Preston stood at the foot of Brian's bed.
"Well, doc," Brian said as he held Buffy's hand, "What's the prognosis?"
Dr. Preston took a deep breath before he spoke.
"Well, as you know, we took a lung sample, and performed a CAT scan to get a better look at your lungs."
"Yeah, I'm still sore form the probing," Brian said, trying to lighten the ever growing tension.
Dr. Preston chuckled, as he continued. "Yes, well we performed a test to determine if there were any cancer cells in the tissue, and well, I'm sorry to say that the news is not very good."
Buffy closed her eyes, and her breath hitched.
"It appears that you do indeed have lung cancer."
Buffy instantly sunk into Giles's arms, Willow grabbed Brian's hand, and Brian squeezed his closed eyes.
"I'm very sorry, Brian," Dr. Preston said as Giles looked at him.
"Do you know how bad the cancer had progressed?"
Dr. Preston took a breath and shook his head. "The CAT scan, combined with the samples we tested, show that the cancer is very aggressive and could possibly have already spread elsewhere. We just haven't found it yet."
Buffy tried hard to stifle her threating hysteria, and gather her nerves. Bravely, she stood and asked Dr. Preston, "What, if anything, can be done?"
Dr. Preston faced Buffy and said, "Honestly, not much. We could try Chemo, but it has spread so fast and so hard, that it would prolong the obvious."
"So I'm going die, is that what you're saying doctor?" Dr. Preston turned back to answer Brian's question.
"You have a year, maybe less."
"Oh my Goddess," Willow sat down on the counter beside Brian's bed.
"The best we can do at the point, is to give you something for the pain, which doesn't necessarily stop all the pain."
"What about my job," Brian asked, sitting up in his bed, " Can I still work?"
"What is it that you do, Mr. Kelly?"
"I'm an architect."
"Trips to actual sites, might make matters worse, with all the building materials," Dr. Preston said. "It's not at all out of the question that it was those same building sites that may actually have caused your cancer. And it might also explain it's ferocity."
Buffy took a seat beside Brian and grabbed his hands.
"So what's the next step?" She asked, as she kissed Brian's hand.
"Well," Dr. Preston said, "First thing I'll do, is prescribe some medications for Brian, that should help control the pain. And then we will work on getting him discharged."
"Will he be released today," Giles asked as he stood and placed his hands in his tweed jacket.
"Probably in the morning is more like it," the doctor replied. He turned back to Buffy and Brian. "Again, I am so very sorry for all this."
"Thank you Dr. Preston," Buffy said with a sad smile. "You have been very open and honest with us, and I am grateful for that."
Brian nodded his agreement. "Yes, Thank you, Dr. Preston. You have been a very kind doctor."
Dr. Preston smiled sadly in response. "I'm going to go get your paperwork ready. I would like to check on you in a month. Perhaps things will be better then."
And with that, Dr. Preston excused himself, and left the room.
Everyone just remained in stunned silence. Brian had maybe months to live. Everyone was in shock. Buffy was close to tears.
"Someone needs to let Xand, and Dawn know what's happened," Willow said looking to Giles.
"Yes, perhaps I should go find a phone." Giles moved towards the door, but Buffy stopped him.
"No," she said sternly. "I should do it. I'll call Dawn. She should hear it from me personally."
Buffy looked at Brian, a tear falling down her cheek. "I'll be right back," she said as she left the room. Brian smiled at her as she walked through the doorway.
Buffy walked down to the nurse's station, and asked for a payphone. A nurse pointed down a different hall, and Buffy thanked her before following her finger down a long corridor.
Buffy made it to the payphone but passed it, heading for the elevators instead. She saw the sign marking the stairs and walked inside. Heading down a flight, Buffy reached into her purse, grabbed her cell phone, and a business card. She flipped the phone open, and glancing at the card, began to dial.
After three rings, a voice came on the line.
"You have reached Angel Private Investigations," began Angel's pre-recorded message, "Sorry I am not able to answer. Please, leave your name, number and the nature of you call, and I will speak with you as soon as I can. Thank you."
A long beep followed, signaling Buffy to leave a voice message. "Angel," she said as she tried to hold back the tears, "It's Buffy. I'm at the hospital. And it's really not good. I need to talk to you, please. Call me on my cell." Buffy could barely maintain her composure as she left her number on Angel's voice mail. After she finished leaving her message, Buffy slammed the phone shut, and braced herself against the stairway. Leaning her head back, she took a deep breath, before sliding to the ground in tears.
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Buffy walked back into the hospital room, and took her place beside Brian.
"What did they say," Willow asked.
"No one answered," Buffy lied as she looked at Brian's face.
Giles looked at Willow who shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, I suppose we should head back, and inform Xander and Dawn, of Brian's health."
"Yeah," Buffy agreed with Giles, as she continued to stare at Brian. "You be okay here, or do you want me to stay?"
Brian looked at Buffy and smiled sadly. "You should probably go with them. You need to be there to keep Dawn from falling apart."
Buffy giggled as she knew Brian was right. Dawn would go to pieces the instant she heard that Brian was dying. He was the only guy, that Dawn had felt a strong kinship to in years. And losing Brian, would devastate Dawn.
Buffy leaned over and kissed Brian, before she walked over to Giles, who placed a loving arm around her shoulders.
"We'll see you later," Willow said as she hugged Brian and joined Buffy and Giles.
It wasn't until after he was sure that everyone was out of earshot, that Brain allowed his own fear and tears to flow freely.
8888
Angel unlocked the door of his office, a dreamy smile crossing his face. He felt like he was dreaming, but he knew it was all too real. Finally.
Finally, his dreams of Buffy that had sustained him all these years, were slowly become reality.
Angel hummed to himself as he placed his keys in a bowl on his cherry wood desk, and hung his leather coat on the coat tree behind him. He walked over to the coffee maker, that sat on a small table on the other side of the room, and began to pour himself a cup.
After adding sugar and Irish Crème, for flavor, Angel walked back to his desk. Seeing the flashing, red light on his answering machine, Angel pressed the button and continued to hum his made up song. Angel listened as potential clients left messages for help with cheating husbands, scam artists, and one call about a possible demon eating expensive cars.
The machine beeped as Angel took a sip of his coffee, and he almost spilled it on his peach colored shirt, when he heard a voice say, "Angel? "It's Buffy. I'm at the hospital. And it's really not good. I need to talk to you, please. Call me on my cell."
Setting his coffee on the desk, Angel grabbed a pin, and quickly wrote down Buffy's cell number. Then, he picked up his phone and dialed.
After several rings, Angel spoke into the receiver. "Buffy? What is it? What's wrong?"
8888
Giles was the first one to walk through the door of Buffy and Brian's house. Willow followed, with Buffy close behind. Hanging up their coats, the three of them walked into the living room, where Xander and Dawn sat on the couch watching TV.
"Buffy," Xander said as he saw Giles and Willow take a seat. Seeing the look on Buffy's face Xander knew the news couldn't be good. "Judging by the sour looks on your faces, I'm going to take a lucky guess, and say the news wasn't good?"
Buffy took a seat beside Dawn and grabbed her hand.
"Dawn," she said, taking a deep breath, "I hate to tell you this, but Brian has cancer. And the doctors say that he only has months to live."
Dawn jumped up and pulled her hand out of Buffy's grasp. "You're joking! Brian's not going to die! Please, tell her she heard wrong Giles!"
Giles looked down as Dawn turned to him. "I'm afraid, my dear, that Buffy is telling you the truth. Brian is terminally ill."
"NO! You're LYING!" Dawn yelled at Buffy before turning on her heels and running up the stairs, crying.
"Dawn!" Buffy cried as she heard Dawn run into her room and slam the door.
"Well," Willow said as she slapped her knees. "That went well."
Buffy started walking towards the stairs after Dawn, when her pocket began to vibrate.
Looking at the number, Buffy darted into the other room, out of range of the others.
Opening the cell, she heard Angel's voice.
"Buffy? What is it? What's wrong?"
Buffy clasped her mouth as she struggled to keep it together. "I need to see you," she managed to say.
"Do you know how to get to my office?" Angel asked, as his concern for Buffy became more obvious.
"Yeah," She replied. "I can be there in five minutes."
"Good. Meet me here. In Five."
"Okay, let me find a way to leave the house, which shouldn't be too hard right about now," Buffy quipped as she stifled another sob.
"Okay, just take your time, I'll be right here." Angel assured Buffy as she told him goodbye.
Buffy ended the call and walked back into the living room, tears streaming down her face.
"Guys, I'm goingto grab some air," she said as she took her coat from the tree. "Xander, you think you can hold the fort while I'm gone?"
"Yeah, sure, Buff. Anything you need."
"Good, I shouldn't be too long." Buffy slipped her coat over her back, and turned to the door.
"Hey Buff," Xander called out. "I'm really sorry to hear about Brian."
Buffy tried to smile as she said, "Thanks, Xander. That means a lot. Really." Then Buffy was out the door and down the steps in a flash, walking towards Angel's office.
End Chapter Eleven
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