Realisation dawns (4)
Its been 1 year since she's heard the voices and had the dreams, she feels fine and her life is perfect, Spike and her had a baby boy which they named James, he's 2 month old which light blond hair and bluey green eyes.
'Hey sweetie' Buffy says walking into the living room where Spike is holding James,
'Hey Babe' he hands Buffy James and sits her down on his lap, with James on hers, they turn the TV onto cartoons channels and watches as James's eyes are glued to the TV, soon after he is fast asleep on his mothers lap, Buffy slowly stands up and takes him upstairs to bed, she comes back down to find Spike sprawled out on the couch watching TV, she walks into the living room and sits in between his legs, and lays her head on his chest, he strokes her hair softly, as she draws imaginary patterns in his chest with her finger, after an hour the TV, is off and Buffy has fallen asleep Spike is watching her sleep, when he decides to take her to bed, he picks her up and she moans at the sudden moving, she flutters her eyes open to see she is being carried by Spike up the stairs he smiles down at her and finally gets to their room, he lays her down on the bed and sits down next to her, she curls up into him, both still dressed and falls back to sleep, Spike following soon after.
'Think its time to believe that its over she's been like this for 4 years, longest anyone has stayed like it for, time to let her go'
Buffy shoots up in her bed at the voices that have returned she looks around her room with tears in her eyes, Spike shuffles in his sleep and wakes slowly seeing she is awake and looking scared he wraps an arm around her waist,
'Luv, what's wrong?' he asks, Buffy takes a deep breath and sighs, she looks at him and smiles,
'Nothing bad dream' she lays back down curling up in his embrace, she closes her eyes and falls back to sleep.
'Give another week, her family still have hope...'
'Alright'
Buffy eyes move under her eyelids, she slowly starts to move in her bed, she feels the side of the bed for Spike but no ones there, she slowly open her eyes, when she looks at her surroundings she shoots up in her bed and tears fill her eyes,
'Wh... what, where am I?' she asks herself as tears fall from her eyes, a male nurse runs into the room, and with wide eyes a small smile appears on his lips,
'Your awake' he gasps out, he's been this sleeping beauty since she fell into her coma 4 years ago, Buffy looks at him confused and scared,
'Wh... what where am I? What the hell is going on, where's Spike?' she ask with tears falling down her cheeks, the MN edges near her and puts out his arm,
'Miss Summers, Buffy, you're in the hospital, you've been in a coma for the last 4 years, and Spike... he... he's gone' he says reaching for her shoulder, Buffy flinches at his touch and more tears fall,
'What?, no that's not true I... I haven't been in a...' her eyes widen as all her dreams and all the voices rush into her head, she drops her head into her hands and her eyes fill with tear after tear as she cries silently, the MN stands closer to her,
'Bu...Buffy, you're very lucky, if... if you hadn't of woken up the end of the week...' she lifts her head, and looks at him,
'You would have pulled the plug' she finishes remembering her last dream, he nods sadly, she sniffs back her tears and starts to get out the hospital bed,
'Uh Buffy you shouldn't move so soon' the doctor advises Buffy looks at him,
'Ha yeh I haven't moved for the past 4 years why start now right' she says bitterly, she looks down, 'I'm sorry' she says quietly, the MN nods and smiles,
'It's ok Buffy, you've been through a lot,' he says, she finally crawls out of bed, and stands on her wobbly legs, which feels weird because in her 'dreams' it was so easy and normal, she leans on the bad as the MN comes round to help her,
'I should call your family, they'll be so happy, their the ones who kept you alive, if the hospital had their way you'd be...' he stops himself from saying the word, and carries on, 'Well they fought for you' he finishes Buffy smiles sadly,
'Ok go' she says pulling away from him, he walks to the door and looks back at her,
'I'm glad you're ok, I've been in everyday to check on you, you're the strongest woman I've ever met' he says before walking out the door, Buffy flops back down on the bed, tears forming again in her eyes,
'Spike... Spikes gone' she says swallowing the lump in her throat, as her tears fall from her eyes once again.
After 15mintues of being on the phone and calming Buffy's family, he walks back into the room, to find that she isn't in the bed or anywhere in the room, he looks around worried and walks around the hospital to find her, finally he comes to the hospital dining room and sees her eating a load of food at a table, he smiles and walks over to her,
'You know you shouldn't be wondering around on your own and so soon' he says sitting next to her, she smiles slightly,
'Got hungry' she says taking another bite out of her sandwich, he smiles,
'I bet you are, you haven't eaten for a long time' he says sadly, she smiles,
'Well to me I only ate yesterday' she says with a slight laugh, he looks at her confused but just laying it down to not realising how long she was in the coma for, she finishes her sandwich and her drink and stands up to leave, he follows her to her room,
'Your family will be here as soon as they can' he tells her, she sits down on her bed and sighs,
'Thanx' she says, he sits next to her concerned,
'Are you ok... I mean I know you just got out a coma so of course you're not but, you seem I dunno not there' he says trying to explain himself as good as possible, she looks at him,
'What's your name?' she asks changing the subject,
'Riley' the MN says, but then carries on with what he asked, 'Now what's wrong?' he asks agin, Buffy sighs,
'Do... you know what happened to Spike?' she asks with fear in her voice, Riley looks down and sighs heavily,
'He... he left, 3 years after you feel into the coma, he visited everyday for those three years, but one day he broke and he couldn't stand seeing you like that any more, so he left' Riley explains, Buffy's eyes fill with tears again,
'So... so he left last year right I mean 4 years in a coma 3 years waiting for me to wake up so lat year he left?' she asks fighting back to tears, Riley nods,
'Yeah' he says Buffy takes a deep breath and lets it out,
'I... I remember' she says, Riley looks up at her confused,
'What?' he asks, she sighs again and looks down,
'I... I heard him say goodbye, I... I heard a lot of him for 3 years, then it stopped, the voices and the dreams stopped, I... I thought I was going cr...crazy, that the accident made me... but it was real, I...I was dreaming for 4 years.' By now she has broken down in tears, Riley looks at her then it hits him, she had been in a state of catatonia for 4 years, dreaming, and the dream probably seemed so real to her, he watches as she cries from the memories then the door rushes open and her mother Joyce Summers rushing through, she runs to her daughter and wraps her arms around her tightly, Buffy stops crying and wraps her arms around her mum missing her so much even though to her she had only seen her a week ago well in her dreams, her eyes cry with unshed tears, as her mother pulls away from the hug and looks at her, she kisses her head,
'Oh Buffy, I missed you so much' she says, Buffy smiles,
'I love you mum' she says, they hug again,
'I love you to hunny' she says, Riley steps out the room to greet the rest of the family, Dawn was crying from the news of her sister waking, she walks slowly through the door and se her mum and sister hugging she runs up to Buffy and throws her arms around her, Buffy wraps her arms around her sister,
'Dawnie' she says while hugging her, Dawns eyes dry and she looks at her sister,
'I'm so glad you're awake' she says Buffy smiles,
'Me too'
Two days later, Xander walks in, Buffy notices a lot had changed from when she last saw him or thought she saw him, his hair was longer, his shirt was scruffy and ruffled, his chin was hairy from him not shaving, he walks through the room and Buffy gets up to give him a hug she hugs him tightly and he does the same, she pulls away and looks at him,
'What happened to you Xander?' she asks worried, he sighs,
'Nothing' he walks back out the room without another word, or smile, she goes to follow him but Dawn walks in after he left, she looks at Buffy who has a confused expression on her face,
'He's been like that since the accident, he couldn't live with what happened to you and Willow' she says Buffy eyes widen,
'Willow?' she whispers, Dawn looks at her and realises she doesn't know, she takes her hand and walks over to the bed and sits next to her,
'Buffy you don't know do you? What happened that day?' she asks, Buffy shakes her head slightly, she can see tears form in Dawns eyes,
'Buffy, Willow and you got into a car crash, you went into a coma, and Willow...' she looks down and a tear falls from her eye, 'She... she was hurt bad, she... she didn't make it Buffy, she's dead' Dawn explains, Buffy eyes widen and tears fall straight away from her eyes,
'What?' she says barely above a whisper, 'No, Willow,' she drops her head into her hands, and Dawn wraps her arms around her and gives sister a hug,
'Shhh Buffy, it's ok' she says soothingly, Buffy looks up,
'What... how did Gunn take it?' she asks, still fighting back tears, Dawn looks down,
'He... he left, he couldn't stay, we... we haven't heard from him since no one knows where he is, he just took off' she explains, Buffy nods and another tear falls, she sniffs back the rest, and stands,
'I... I need to talk to Xander' she says walking towards the door, she sees Xander sitting in a chair staring off to space, she sits down next to him and puts a hand on his shoulder, he looks at her blankly,
'Xander?' Buffy says, 'Xander I'm so sorry' she says fighting back the urge to cry again, Xander doesn't say anything, his eyes fill with tears and he wraps his arms around her again,
'You're alive' he says like he hadn't realised, Buffy hugs him tightly,
'Yeh I am, Xander I am, I am so sorry, I love you' she says, he pulls away from the hug a little more with it now,
'I love you Buffy, don't ever do that again' she laughs a little and he smiles, Dawns eyes shoot open at the sight of his smile, he hadn't smiled for 4 years everything with him was all down hill since the accident he lost his 2 best friends in the accident and his best mates Gunn and Spike had took off, he was alone and never tried to fix his life, she smiled at the site of two best friends reunited.