Chapter 3

"It isn't about who you were or who they were. It doesn't matter if you did something wrong or not. It's all about power," Buffy said as she stared into the eyes of each girl in her group session. Her shoes tapped against the tiled floor as she walked around the quiet room.

Buffy gazed into the faces of the girls who sat in front of her. Many of them came to Caritas broken and defeated from years of abuse. The teen center offered hope and sanctuary. Buffy had started working for the group home just after graduating from UC Sunnydale with her B.A. in sociology. It was a hard job, but if she reached one life, it was worth it.

"Power over you. Now you can continue to let them have that power over your life and the choices you make, or you can be strong. Strong enough to move on. Are you ready to be strong?" Buffy said directly at a young woman named Kennedy.

The girl stared at her briefly before she averted her eyes. Buffy smiled and headed back to the front of the room, picked up a red dry erase marker, and started to write a word across the clean white board just as the door swung opened.

Lorne, the center's director, poked his head in. "Buffy?"

Buffy turned and smiled at her boss. "Hey, Lorne, we were just finishing up our session."

"Looks like I missed a good one," he said to none of the girls in particular. "Mind if I borrow her for a minute?" The girls shook their heads and eyed the director of the group home curiously.

"What is it, Lorne?" Buffy said as she put the marker down.

"If you can step out in the hallway, I'll explain."

Buffy nodded and flashed him a nervous smile. Lorne never pulled her out of a session unless it was an emergency. The first thought that crossed her mind was Emma. Was she sick? Hurt? Buffy's heart begin to pound in her chest as she walked out of the room. Once she was at the door, she turned to the class and asked them to pull out their journals and write down their thoughts.

"What's up?" Buffy said when they were alone.

The corner of Lorne's lips lifted into a reassuring smile. "I need you to come with me. You have some visitors," he said, placing his hand on the small of her back.

Buffy studied the expression on Lorne's Emma. Angel./i

"Lorne, what's going on? Is it Angel?"

Lorne remained uncharacteristically silent. Buffy wanted to yell at him and force him to spit out whatever he was holding back. She was on the verge of doing just that, when she saw two officers standing just inside Lorne's office. Their uniforms were crisp on their tall slender frames. Buffy's knees grew weak.

"Just breathe, turtle dove, it'll be all right," Lorne whispered.

Buffy could barely hear him as the blood began to rush from her head. The ringing in her ears drowned out the officer's polite introductions.

"Whoa, check out the meat," Faith said, as she walked through the buildings wide double doors carrying a drink tray with two cups of coffee in one hand and a bag of bagels in the other. She eyed the two men as if they were candy and whistled under her breath.

"Faith, can you take over Buffy's class? I'll explain in a minute," Lorne said.

Faith glanced between Buffy and the uniformed men, noticing for the first time their grim expressions and the stricken look on her co-worker's face. "Sure thing, boss." Faith nodded as she walked past the group. She turned to stare at them one last time before she slipped through the classroom door.

Buffy's eyes darted between both men . She knew it was the moment that all military wives dreaded. Her knees wobbled as she stared at the two men and waited to hear the news.

"Ms. Summers," the taller of the two began somberly.

Buffy turned her head toward the officer, but her eyes refused to meet his. Instead, she focused on the spot at the center of his forehead. He had a pimple, small and red in the middle of his sunburned skin.

"We regret to inform you that your husband was bravely killed during a mission on Tuesday..."

Buffy shut her eyes tightly. She couldn't hear anything over the beating of her own heart. Her nails dug into Lorne's skin as she gripped his arm. The officer continued to speak, but Buffy couldn't concentrate on his words. She began to shake her head rapidly back and forth, ignoring him.

She didn't believe them. She had just gotten a letter from Angel. He called her a few days before. She missed his call because she'd left her phone lying on the bed. When she got home, the tiny message indicator on her cell was blinking, letting her know she had a message. Buffy had been pleasantly surprised to hear him on the recording.

She remembered the sound of his voice as he told her he loved her. The message was still saved on her phone. She didn't want to erase it, savoring his brief message until she was lucky enough to get another.

"No." She choked back a sob as her knees finally buckled.

Spike blinked his eyes against the bright lights as he resurfaced from his sleep. He wanted to move, but he couldn't find the will or strength to try. He could hear steady slow beeps around him and wondered where the sound was coming from.

Across the room, Spike saw a boxy wood framed chair with a patchwork cushion. The chair was next to a window with matching drapes. The walls were the same blue-green color as everything else in the room. On his left, he saw another bed with a thin curtain pushed back. It was neatly made and appeared to be unoccupied.

iI'm in a hospital./i Spike struggled to push himself up. For the first time since he opened his eyes, he noticed the I.V. stand and the heart monitors beside him. Frantically, he pulled at the tubes poking out of his skin. At that moment, the heart monitor began to beep faster and the fluorescent green lines on the screen jumped to life. A few moments later, a nurse ran into the room, her face etched with concern.

"Just calm, calm," the pretty brunette said in broken English. She placed a small hand on Spike's chest and tried to push him down.

"Where am I?"

The nurse looked at Spike sympathetically as she tried to sooth him. "Hospital."