"This is everything," Dawn said, putting down Xander's sleeping bag, then dumping the bag he had brought from Africa onto the floor beside Willow. In her opinion, it was far too small a bag to contain everything one needed to trek across Africa, but she supposed Xander knew better than she did about that, considering he'd been the one actually doing the trekking. At least Willow wouldn't have much to test for magical residue.
Willow immediately picked up the sleeping bag, put it on the bed beside Xander, held her hands out over it, and closed her eyes.
"It's not this," she said after a few moments of silence. Kennedy grabbed it and put it in a corner, which was when Dawn realized that Faith was in the room, propped up against the wall in that same corner.
"Hey, Faith," she said, trying not to sound suprised. Faith and Xander had worked together finding Slayers in the US for a couple of months before Xander had requested to go to Africa. Dawn had never heard the whole story - or even half of the story, she suspected - but she did know that it had been Xander's choice to go, and that Faith had decided not to go with him.
Faith just nodded at her, so Dawn turned back to Willow, who'd started checking each item from Xander's bag. She got more and more frustrated as she did so, and at the end closed her eyes, put both hands on Xander's leg, took a few deep breaths, and shook her head.
"Are you sure this is everything?" she asked after a few moments.
"I'm sure," Dawn said. "He really didn't bring much."
"Well," Willow said, opening her eyes. "The only thing that has any magical residue at all is this...this...what is this?" She held a wooden block out towards Dawn.
"That's his neck support," Dawn said. "I tried to lend him a pillow, but he wouldn't take it - he said he got used to this in Africa, and now it feels more comfortable than a pillow. And he sure fell asleep fast."
"Hmm," Willow said, pulling it back towards her and hefting it in her hands. "There's definitely something magical going on here, but it feels..." She was quiet for a long time, and the rest of them let her think, not wanted to distrupt any thoughts she might be having about saving Xander. Before she said anything else, the door opened again, and Dr. Cameron came in, followed by Dr. Chase.
"We need to borrow Xander," Dr. Chase said.
"What for?" Dawn said, then felt herself turn red when he smiled at her.
"We need to run some tests," he said.
"What tests?" Kennedy said. "What do you think is wrong with him?"
"We're going to do an MRI and CAT scan," Dr. Cameron said, "and we need to draw some blood."
"So you have no idea what's wrong with him," Kennedy said, her hands on her hips.
"We have a few ideas," Dr. Cameron said, looking slightly embarrassed.
"That's why we need to do the tests," Dr. Chase said. He didn't look embarrassed at all, just slightly amused.
"Let them do their jobs, Kennedy," Faith said from her corner. Dawn saw Dr. Cameron jump at that, and felt better about not noticing Faith when she first came into the room.
"Can we come with him?" Dawn said, not liking the idea of Xander all alone in this hospital. What if he woke up inside the MRI tube or something?
"Uh...one or two of you, maybe," Dr. Chase said, looking around at all of them.
"Faith, why don't you and Dawn go," Willow said, and Dawn looked at her in surprise. "Kennedy and I will stay here and...stay here." She was still clutching the neck support to her, almost as though she were afraid to let it go.
Faith shrugged, as though she didn't care one way or the other, but as the two doctors wheeled Xander's bed out of the room, she almost reached out to touch him, then jerked her hand back as though burned. Dawn followed after them, wondering even more why Xander had gone to Africa in the first place.