A Shock at the Hospital

"Baby?" Willow whispered, tears beginning to flow again. She heard voices on the lawn.

"Tara? I-I'm gonna get help." She gently laid Tara down and ran out of the room. She arrived on the lawn to see a couple of men dressed in blue, medical equipment beside them, Xander standing close by. "Help!" she shouted, getting their attention. Xander ran up to her.

"It's okay, Willow, the people are already here. They already know Buffy's been shot…"

"Tara!" she said through blurry eyes. "Tara's been shot." Confusion overtook Xander's features. "Help!" Willow screamed again at the medics. One medic who had still been in the ambulance approached her in a jog, yelling from across the lawn, "What's wrong?"

"It's Tara, she- she's been shot!" she answered him. She still didn't believe those words.

"I'm going to need you to tell me where she is," he replied in a smooth voice, most likely trying to calm her.

"Upstairs," she responded. "Wha- what do we do?"

The medic returned to the ambulance.

"What are you doing?" she called after him.

"Helping your friend."

The medic exited the ambulance, carrying a stretcher. There was another medic holding the other end of the stretcher, along with an oxygen tank.

"My girlfriend," she corrected.

"Show us," the first medic said as he passed her.

Willow slipped by them, running up the stairs and into her room. "H-here! Is- is she gonna be-"

"Stand back," Medic #2 commanded.

"O-okay," she stuttered, moving out of their way.

Medic #1 took a stethoscope from around his neck, quickly placing the stubs in his ears and the circular part on Tara's chest. "It sounds wet," he said quickly, speaking to Medic #2.

Medic #2 attached a small plastic thing to Tara's finger, a long wire connecting it to a blood pressure monitor on the oxygen tank. It read 27/30.

"Is… is that bad?" Willow asked, voice quavering.

The medics ignored her. "We need to get her to the hospital, ASAP," Medic #1 said firmly, and, with Medic #2's help, they laid Tara on the stretcher, attaching the oxygen mask to her face.

"Oh God, Tara."

Within moments, they were out the door, Willow standing there helpless. Her face… so pale…

Returning to reality, she realized the room was empty. She ran back downstairs just in time to see them close the back doors of the ambulance, Tara and Buffy both on stretchers inside.

Xander stood in the middle of the lawn, next to the blood-slick patch on the grass where Buffy had been, watching the ambulance drive down the street. He noticed her standing on the doorstep and called to her, "I think it'd be better if I drove..."

Tara and Buffy had been rushed to separate rooms on floor 3, but both Xander and Willow were forced into the waiting room. Now they sat side-by-side, the small, brightly lit room oddly empty.

"So what happened?" Xander asked, hand massaging his forehead.

"I don't wanna talk about it," whispered Willow, looking away.

"Don't you think it'd be best if we-"

"Then start talking!" she growled back. I need to be with Tara! Her eyes were already beginning to burn again.

"Okay…" Xander said slowly. "Let's see, where to start… how 'bout when Warren showed up with a gun?"

Willow's eyes flashed, and for a second she felt magic, but then realized it was just anger. I don't have magic anymore. The realization hit her full force, and for a moment she lost her breath. Xander's words registered in her mind. "Warren? You let Warren kill Tara?"

Xander, taken aback by her words, blurted, "Kill? Wha-"

"I said I don't want to talk about it!" she repeated, getting up.

"Where are you going?" Xander asked, standing up and grabbing her arm.

"Where do you think?" she said dryly. Then she shrugged out of his grip and jogged down the white, linoleum-floored hall. If Tara dies… my magic will stay gone. What have I done? Banishing these thoughts, she slammed the door to room 317 open. There was only one nurse in the room, cleaning up, and no Tara.

"Wh-where is she?" asked Willow nervously. Oh my God, she's dead!

The Asian nurse looked up at her, thin brown eyes crinkling in a smile, "She was moved to room 403 for immediate surgery."

Willow was out the door and back in the waiting room in no time, pressing #4 on the elevator. Xander hadn't been in the waiting room, so she assumed he was checking on Buffy. Come on, come on! The elevator was moving too slowly for her liking.

Floor 4 was announced with a metallic ding and the doors slid open to reveal an identical waiting room as the floors below it.

"403, 403," Willow whispered to herself, quickly finding it down a déjà-vu-worthy white, linoleum-floored hall.

A doctor and four other nurses dressed in green lab coats were leaning over Tara. They looked up as she entered, and the nearest nurse said, "There is no one allowed in-"

"I need to be here," Willow pleaded with the woman.

"I'm sorry, but-"

Willow shouldered the woman out of the way, eyes taking in the doctors working on Tara, and Tara lying there, countless tubes connected to various machines. My Tara...my love. What have I let happen to you? She sat down in a chair in the corner and listened to the doctor's conversation.

A blonde-haired male nurse whispered, probably not to be overheard but failing, "Good thing we just got this heart in from L.A. The girl would have died without it."

Oh, Goddess. She needed a new heart… Please, Tara, be alright.

The door swung open and Xander walked in. "Will…you shouldn't be in here."

"But, I need to be with-"

"I know," he cut her off. "The doctors need to concentrate, and they could do that better alone."

"It's just-" the tears began to flow again, and Xander held her.

"It's okay," Xander comforted. "She's gonna be alright, Will."

Slowly, he guided her out into the fourth floor waiting room where Willow cried herself to sleep in his arms.

"Willow," it croaked at her. "Willow," the frog ribbited. She screamed. Frogs… everywhere! "Willow, Willow, Willow."

She snapped her eyes open.

"Willow?" Xander repeated.

"Huh? Wha-" Willow rubbed her eyes, removing the sleep that had accumulated in the corners. She took in the waiting room, and it all came rushing back to her. "How's Tara?!"

"They said you can go see her now. Room 426. She's still weak bu-"

She was up before he could finish the sentence.

Willow all but ran down the hall, passing numerous doors until she spotted one with a 426 placard on it. She peered in through the small window set in the door, and spotted Tara lying on a white hospital bed, beige lamp casting dim light in the room. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be sleeping. Willow pushed open the door as quietly as she could, not wanting to disturb her love.

"Tara?" Willow whispered. She walked to the bed and softly grabbed Tara's hand. "Baby?"

Tara's still face smiled and whispered something, but Willow couldn't hear. Her eyes were still closed, so Willow wasn't sure if she had even awoken.

She leaned her head closer. "What, baby?"

"I'm not Tara." Her eyelids snapped open to reveal completely obsidian eyes, and Willow screamed.