Hey guys. Sorry for the lack of updates as I promised, so I'm posting chapter 3 and 4 right now =)
don't forget to review! I'd love to know what you're all thinking!
-_-_6 minutes later, in the hospital_-_-
"Doctor! She needs a doctor!" Buffy came running into the hospital struggling to carry Kennedy. A nurse ran over to her and guided her over to a gurney.
"What happened?" The nurse asked as one of her colleges began to take her pulse as another began pushing the gurney down the hall.
"I don't know… She's a friend of mine. I found her in the park about 10 minutes ago. I-Is she going to be alright?" Buffy walk along side the hospital staff as they headed for an available operating room.
"Miss you are going to have to wait out here." The nurse stopped Buffy and left the others take Kennedy into the back room. She was obviously struggling to hold onto any life she had left in her.
"But-"
"Only hospital staff is allowed in the operating room." The nurse gestured to the 'Staff Only' sign. "I'm sorry but you are just going to have to wait in the Lobby like everyone else. Now, if you will excuse me, I have lives to save." The nurse began to walk through the double doors, while nodding to the large security man that was standing by.
He walked over to Buffy and began escorting her out to the Lobby when she smacked his hands off her.
"I'm going, I'm going… No need to get all handsy about it…" She then walked outside and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket, dialing Xander's phone number.
"Did you find her?" Xander asked without even thinking about who might have been calling.
"Yea. She… uh-"
"Here, I'll put you on speaker…"
"No Xander, I-" Buffy didn't want to have to explain how she found Kennedy, especially because Willow was now able to hear.
"Buffy? Where is she? Can I talk to her?" Willow foreword, leaded off the wall and spoke straight at the phone.
"Willow… I found her about 10 minutes ago. In the park…" Buffy swallowed hard and tried to find the easiest way to say what she had to say. "Kennedy was-"
"Buffy… Put Kennedy on the phone…" Willow's eyes were threatening to fill with tears.
"She…" Buffy mustered up all the courage she had inside of her and said exactly what happened. "Willow, I found Kennedy in the park. She was collapsed on a park bench…"
Willow took a deep breath and held it.
"She was attack by a Bringer and…"
The tears overflowed Willow's eyes.
"He stabbed her and ran off… I didn't see him. It looked like he was long gone." Buffy was afraid that her friend would be in a balled-up state of tears. But it was just the opposite. Willow was in complete shock at this point. She lets the tears fall in silence as Xander held her close. "But she's going to be okay now. I brought her to the hospital and they're taking care of her right now… Okay?"
"Which hospital…" Willow's voice was stern and low.
"Um… St Vincent. On 22nd street." The line went silent. "Willow? Xander?" She looked at her phone, only to see that they had hung up on her.
Willow stood and straightened her shirt while heading for the door.
"Xander, can you drive?"
"Uh, yea." He grabbed her keys off the ground and followed her out to the car. "Willow," he stopped her just before she got in the car, "Are you sure you want to do this right now? I mean… We don't even know anything for sure yet."
"Xander, I've screwed so many things up with my relationships. Oz left out of love for me; in fear that he would hurt me. And Tara left me in fear I would hurt others by getting too caught up in magic. And I never took the time to actually appreciate that… until she was lying dead in my arms…" Willow's gaze fell to the ground and her eyes became submerged in tears. She clenched her teeth together, barely holding herself up. "And now the one person who actually makes me happy again is dying on the other side of town all because I-" Her throat seemed to close as she tried to hold back any more tears.
Xander caught that she was blaming herself for everything, even though he was only slightly sure at what was going on with the couple.
"You, what?"
"She went out and nearly got herself killed… all because I could tell her that I love her." Willow now spoke with so much confidence, it caught Xander off-guard.
He wiped the tears off her cheeks and she fell into his arms.
"It's okay, Will… It's going to be okay." He held her close as she bawled endlessly into his shoulder. "And Will," She lifted her head up and looked him in the eye, "It's not your fault that Kennedy over reacted. She did it because she's in love with you too." She looked at him in confusion for a moment, "She told me so."
"She told you? Since when have you and Kennedy been all buddy-buddy?"
"You know how good I am with the ladies…" Willow giggled a little, "And also how good I am with the heart-to-hearts."
"Yea… Have my own experiences with those…"
"I remember… I was there haha" The two of then laughed a little and got into the car.
After several minutes of weeping and comforting, they managed to both get into the car and began driving to the Hospital.
By the time they arrived, Willow had calmed down slightly, but her nervousness had grown immensely.
The two of them walked into the Lobby, found Buffy, and they all sat together in silence as they waited for any news on what was going on with Kennedy.
-_-_Inside the Operating Room_-_-
"We need to stop this bleeding." One doctor leading the operation was calling the orders as the team of other doctors tended to Kennedy. The people in the room consisted of the leading doctor, a nurse, two women (the younger of the two was there mostly for observation purposes), and one man.
Kennedy's ears seemed to be failing her, causing every noise to make it seem like she was underwater. Her vision had gone almost going hazy from the panic that was plaguing her mind and body.
"It seems that she has something lodged in her wound…" The younger woman had noticed a small shiny object beneath his fingers while she was trying to stop the bleeding.
"Forceps." A short, stout woman demanded. She pushed them into the wound and pulled out the small metal object, placing it in a metal tray with a clank. Kennedy felt the cold metal forceps dig into her, and she writhed in pain.
She closed her eyes and let the noise around her fade away as she began drifting in and out of consciousness. The moment she laid her eyes to rest, her mind brought her back to that same photo of Willow and her holding hands. Her breath caught in her throat, and she shot up into a sitting position.
"Vital status?" the lead doctor asked while attempting to disinfect her stab wound.
"Her heart rate is going through the roof…" The same, short woman pointed out as the man next to her forced Kennedy back into a lying position.
"No… No! I have to go…" Kennedy began to try forcing herself off the bed, but she had no strength left in her. He continued to hold her down/
"I'm giving her a sedative…" The same male doctors said as he reached over to a rolling cart next to him to grab a syringe. He proceeded to inject a cloudy liquid into her arm.
"No…. I… I have to… Willow…" Kennedy's words trailed off, catching the attention of the young woman observing her reactions to.
"Willow? Who's Willow?" She asked as the others continued to work on her wounds.
"Willow… She's… I need… Willow." Kennedy tried forcing out any explanation that she could, but the sedative was working too quickly. The nurse who was speaking to her was quickly brought out of her thoughts by a loud voice across the table from her.
"Vitals?" The leader asked as Kennedy fell asleep.
"Heart rate is has increased." The older woman responded abruptly.
"Keep tabs on her heart rate… It's increasing at a dangerous rate." The leader pointed out to the rest of them.
"Temperature has reached 102." The nurse added.
-_-_In the Lobby_-_-
Willow had been pacing back and forth in the lobby for several minutes now. Her heart felt like it was going to explode it was beating so fast. She had her hands buried deep into the depths of her jean pockets, fiddling with a couple coins that remained in there.
She let out a deep sigh and ran her fingers through her hair, trying to keep herself as awake as she could.
"Willow, why don't you take a seat? The doctors will let us know the moment they figure everything out" Buffy was trying her best to calm her down. Willow was obviously at the breaking point of exhaustion, but she didn't seem to mind all that much.
"Buffy, it's my fault that there IS anything for them to figure out!" She stopped pacing and lowered her gaze to the floor, "If I would have just told her-"
-_-_ ER-
"She's flat lining!" The large male doctor announced as the nurse turned around and began charging a machine behind her.
"Defibrillator!" the lead doctor shouted.
"Charged… and… Clear!"
-_-_Lobby-
Willow's breath had caught in her throat for a moment.
"Kennedy…" She mumbled to herself as she turned towards the entrance to the wing of the hospital Kennedy was being held in. Noticing Willow's sudden outburst, Buffy got up and walked over to her friend.
"What is it, Will?" Buffy put her arm on the redheads arm, but Willow jerked it away from her touch. "Hey… Willow? Are you alright?"
-_-_ER
"Charged!"
"And… Clear!" The jolt sent Kennedy's body up off the table several inches, and she landed back down with a thud.
-_-_Lobby
Willow's breath caught in her throat once again.
"Kennedy's going to be just fine, Will." Buffy tried comforting her friend, who was only being held back from charging into Kennedy's room now by Buffy's hand on her arm. "Come on. Come sit with us."
"No." Willow pulled out of Buffy's grasp and headed off towards the ER.
"Willow!" Buffy knew chasing after her would do no good, so she opted for calling after her embarrassingly loud.
Willow stopped dead in her tracks. She felt a sudden pain in her chest unparallel.
-_-_ER
"She's gone…" One of the youngest doctors mumbled, obviously never before seeing one of her patients die before her eyes.
"I'm calling it. Time?" The leader of the operation pulled his facial mask down and sighed heavily.
"12:18"
"Alright… Good performance out there everyone. It was just no use..." They all began removing their gloves when-
*Beep…. Beep…. Beep….*
"What?" The largest man turned around and began walking back over to the machine.
"It must be a mistake…" The leader suggested. "A cross of wires in the machine, maybe."
"No…" said the young woman who was talking with Kennedy earlier, "She's back…"
"That can't be." The leader walked over to the table and put his fingers on Kennedy's neck, feeling for a pulse. "My god… She's alive…"
-_-_ Lobby
Willow regained control of her breath and took off down the hall as quick as she could. She got to the door and was ready to charge in, when a security guard came over and blocked her way.
"Miss I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside."
Willow closed her eyes and let her frustration well up inside her till she was almost ready to burst. She put her hand up to the man's chest and let the power start flowing through her.
"What the…" The man looked down into her eyes, only to see that they were black as night.
Willow was ready to throw the man across the world with her magic, but she stopped when she heard the commotion from within the room.
"M-miss… Please… Back up from the door." The guard was obviously shaken up a bit, but he stood his ground as best he could.
"Shh!" Willow put her finger to his lips and he stood there, frozen in fear of the small woman.
"Doctor… the bleeding has stopped…" The nurse put a piece of cloth over Kennedy's wound and removed it, revealing no blood on the white cloth.
"Impossible!" He walked over from the heart monitor and took a look. "Absolutely impossible… "
"Her heart rate is returning to normal." The eldest woman said.
"What the hell is going on with this Woman… She shouldn't even be alive after what she'd been through." The man wondered to himself.
"Must be a miracle…" Everyone in the room turned to see a small redheaded woman in the doorway.
*Cough…Cough-cough*
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