Author's Note: Okay, I made a seperater with a line of periods because no matter what else I do it won't separate the paragraphs.

Chapter Four

"Help! Please, somebody help!" Xander screamed as he entered the ER. A rolling bed was rushed to him and he carefully laid her down. The white sheets were instantly stained with blood as it flowed from her body. He walked along the side and Willow was close behind as they rolled it down the hall.

"What happened?" one of the nurses asked.

"We found her at home. She fell onto a broken table leg," Xander explained.

"A table leg?"

"Yes a table leg."

They pushed her through the double doors that they knew they couldn't pass through. One second they were walking and the next they were waiting on the other side of the door to hear something about her condition.

"I'm gonna call Buffy's mom." Willow jogged to the payphone just outside the ER doors and dialed the familiar number. She didn't really think of what to say or how to break the news so she was shocked and disappointed when she just blurted out, "Joyce, it's Willow. Buffy's in the hospital." How could she sound so inconsiderate? But this is a panicky situation and her best friend is kind of in serious danger right now so how could she be expected to break this news easily, if there is such a thing. "She's with the doctors now… We're in the emergency room… No Spike isn't with us… Okay we'll try and find him… All right, bye." Willow hung up the phone and started pacing. Buffy had never been seriously injured like this before. Plus she was pregnant. What was going to happen?

In the middle of pacing she realized she lost her other best friend. "Xander?" She rounded the corner towards the spot where she left him. He was still standing there, looking down as if he was ashamed. When she got closer she realized he was staring at his hands with a vacant expression. "Xander?" Willow asked. She looked at the blood on his hands and then back at his face. "Xander?"

"It's so real," he forced out, his stare remaining on his hands.

"What's real?"

"This. The blood. Buffy. I always knew her getting hurt was a possibility but I didn't think anything like this would happen. It's like how you could get hit by a car but you never actually think about it until it happens."

"I know what you mean." Willow put her arm around Xander in comfort. He rose his head and stared at the doorway. "Joyce is going to be here soon… do you think you could change into some less your-daughter-is-seriously-injured clothes?"

"Oh God Joyce," just like that he snapped out of his daze, "I need to change. I'll be right back."

"Wait, Xander." He stopped in step. "Can you try to find Spike?"

"What? My best friend is lying on a bed with a hole in her stomach and you want me to look for her pet?"

"She's gonna be in there for awhile and she'll want to see him when she gets up."

"But-"

"Alexander Lavelle Harris."

This made him freeze. Having his name said in full meant that she was in no way backing down. "Okay I'll take a look. But only for ten minutes."

"Thirty."

"Fifteen."

"Twenty."

"Deal," he consented.

"Now hurry before- Joyce!" Willow exclaimed when she saw the familiar woman enter the hallway.

Xander saw her and did the first thing he thought of, which was removing his shirt. He pulled it over his head and shuddered when the cold air touched his bare skin. Why is it always so cold in hospitals?

"Where is she?"

"She's still inside. We haven't heard anything yet," Willow replied.

Joyce was in tears and breathing unsteadily. Her gaze roamed the small area as she tried to wrap her head around the situation. Her thoughts stopped when she noticed Xander's naked upper half. "Why aren't you wearing your shirt?"

"Because I… ripped it… on a tree. I'm actually running home to get another but I'll be back in half an hour." With that Xander ran to his car and sped off. He got home, washed his hands, put on a blue sweater and then drove to Spike's graveyard. He walked straight for his crypt, thankfully not encountering anyone on the way there. He knocked once and opened the door.

"Please, feel free to enter," Spike said sarcastically. He had a bottle of whiskey in his hand when he plopped down in his chair. "I don't come bargin' into your hole in the wall so-"

"Really don't have time for this."

"Well, let's do everythin' on your-"

"Buffy's in the hospital."

Without thinking, Spike let go of the bottle and it erupted when it hit the floor. He paid no attention to the alcohol pooling in his living room and asked, "What happened?"

"She was stabbed with her stake. Right now she's-" Spike ran out at full speed before Xander finished his sentence. "Hey, I have the car."

……………………………………………………………………………………………...

Spike rushed inside the hospital doors and saw Joyce and Willow hunched over in their chairs. Joyce's head was looking at the ground while Willow's eyes roamed. "Spike."

Joyce looked up and saw the panicked vampire. She stood and held her arms out. Spike went right in and gave her a comforting hug. "How is she?" They parted. "Where is she?"

"She's still in the emergency room. We still haven't heard from the doctors." Joyce's hands were nervously rubbing against each other.

Xander jogged in and took a breather. "You run way too fast."

"You're too slow."

"Not all of us here are vam- runners," Xander replied, catching himself before finishing the word "vampires."

"There's lots of things you aren't Harris."

"One being undead."

"Okay, you can stop now," Willow insisted.

Xander shot Spike one more scowl before looking to his best friend. "Where's Giles?"

"He's on his way."

"Which means he'll be here by tomorrow with that wind up toy he drives."

"Excuse me," Spike said as he approached the desk. A nurse with short, curly brown hair was sitting behind a computer, typing away on the computer.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Do you have anythin' on Buffy Summers? She was just brought in fifteen minutes ago."

She sorted through her paper work she had on her desk. She moved to another pile and still didn't find whatever she was looking for. "No I'm sorry I don't have any news. The doctors are doing everything they can."

"Is that written on some paper back there?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Well I'm just wonderin' if there's a note of things to say to piss people off that are tryin' to find out how their families are doing when they've had something shoved through their stomach."

"I'm sorry you're upset sir but I-"

"Upset? You think I'm upset? This isn't upset, this is terrified. The woman I love more than anythin' that crawls on this planet is through those doors, being worked on by the doctors and I'm left here with you who has no information on how she's doing. Are you glued to that chair? Can you not get up and find something out?"

"Okay Spike, let's remove the fangs from the nurse before you get really worked up and change," Xander insisted as he stepped between him and the desk.

Spike gritted his teeth and returned to the waiting area. He didn't sit. He couldn't. All he could do was run all these outcomes through his head and none of them ended well.

"Could you tone down the pacing?" Xander asked him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I makin' you uncomfortable?"

"No you're just making me more antsy."

"Forgive me for not carin'."

"I'll get right on that." Joyce and Willow did their best to ignore the tension between the two but that didn't make it stop. "Where were you Spike?"

"What?"

"Where were you when this happened to her? Weren't you two supposed to be together tonight?"

"You sayin' this is my fault?"

Xander rose from his chair and stood about three feet from Spike. "Well this wouldn't have happened if you actually did what you said you would do."

"I did. I showed up at eight just as planned but she wasn't there. Forty minutes later she's still not home so I went lookin' for her."

"And you just gave up and started drinking the night away, not knowing where she was?"

"I figured it'd be better to stay put at my place than to walk around lookin for her when she could just as easily go to my crypt."

"How responsible of you. If your child ends up wandering off are you just gonna sit and wait or will you look for ten minutes and hope for the best?"

"Okay enough!" Willow yelled. Everyone in a fifty foot radius paused and looked over to where the scream came from. Willow grabbed Xander and Spike by the arm and walked them outside to the parking lot. "What is the matter with you? Buffy is lying on a bed, bleeding through her abdomen and you two are getting ready to throw punches. Could you be any more inconsiderate? Joyce is sitting right there wondering if her daughter is even going to live through the next minute and you two are only interested in swapping retorts. Well here's an idea. Have your fist fight out here away from everyone who's actually worrying about their loved ones that are hidden behind those doors and then when you've worked through your little problem you can come in and behave like civil human beings." Xander opened his mouth to say something but Willow beat him to the punch, "Don't say it Xander. I mean it." He closed his mouth and hung his head. Willow angrily looked at the two of them and headed towards the hospital without another word.

Xander and Spike gave each other angry looks but remained silent. "Xander. Spike," someone said. "How's Buffy?"

"We don't know," Xander replied.

Spike shook his head and walked back inside with the other two following. Willow remained stern when she looked at Spike but she ran to Giles and hugged him once he entered. "Hello Willow."

"Giles, I'm really scared."

"And we don't know anything?"

"Are you the family of Buffy Summers?" a nurse asked. She had straight, red hair down to her shoulders.

"I'm her mother," Joyce quickly answered as she stood up. "How is she?" Her eyes began tearing up as some more possible outcomes quickly lapsed around her brain.

"She's in critical condition. She's lost a lot of blood and we're doing our best to save the fetus."

"How are they doing?"

The girl took a breath and said, "The doctor's are doing all they can. I'm sorry but all you can do is wait and hope for the best." She looked at the five faces that were unsatisfied with the information they were given and sadly turned away.

Everyone sank into a chair. When they answer "how are they doing?" with "the doctor's are doing all they can," it's not usually a good sign. That means they're afraid to tell you how bad it is.

"All I can think about is how happy she was this morning before going to school." Everyone looked at her but remained silent. "She had her hair in a ponytail and ate a bowl of Frosted Flakes for breakfast." Here come the tears. Willow placed her hand on Joyce's back in attempt to comfort her even though she herself was brought to tears.

Spike got up and walked out to the parking lot. Willow gave Joyce one last embrace and then followed the bleach blonde outside. "Spike?" He was standing on the sidewalk a couple feet to the left of the doors.

"I remember the first time I saw her." Willow moved in closer. "She was at the Bronze, dancin'. I was gettin' a drink and then I saw her. Her smile growin' with every note." He moved his gaze from the floor to the Willow. "That was it. I was done for."

"You first met her at the bronze? I thought you met patrolling."

"Well yeah, that's when we actually talked. But I first saw her the night before. You think it was just coincidence we were in the same graveyard?" Willow had a hint of a smile. "Ya know when she found out I was a vampire, I thought I would never see her again. I told her a few nights after we met and she ran off. Couldn't even run after her. I was paralyzed. But then the next night she entered my crypt and didn't say anythin' to me. She just grabbed my face and kissed me. Said that no matter how much she told herself that she couldn't be with me, she couldn't get her heart to stop pounding every time she thought of me. And she didn't want to miss out on one of the greatest loves of her life." Now Spike started to tear up and a few drops actually stained his cheeks. "And now she's lyin' in a hospital and I can't do nothin' for her."

"You're waiting. That's all you can do."

"Thanks red but that's not exactly helpful."

"I didn't say it would fulfill your need of wanting to do something. It's just… all we can do."