Thank you for reading.
The Dawning of Faith
Chapter 28
The doors collapsed with a scream of tortured metal, and the vampires stormed into the mausoleum.
"What do you mean, too late?" Buffy demanded.
"I mean that you can't get there in time to help. It's up to Dawn, now." Willow told her.
Dawn clutched Faith fiercely to her, and then she raised her face to the oncoming vampires, and her eyes blazed.
"How can you be sure?" pleaded Buffy.
Giles' phone rang.
"Yes?" he answered, and he listened for a moment before answering. "Tell Leticia that we will let her know what is happening as soon as we are able, and that we do have a precise origin for these surges… I can't say just yet, it might very well be tragic, but we simply don't know yet. Please ring off to clear the line, and a bit of concerted prayer would not go amiss." He pressed "end".
"Leticia is hysterical, there has been a huge eruption of magical energy, and while it is indeed that pure essence from before, it is positively raging."
"Good," said Willow.
"Will, there has to be something we can do," protested Buffy.
"Not right no-"
All of the windows in the kitchen blew out as a concussion of air pounded through the room, and everyone struggled to regain their feet.
There on the floor atop the forgotten flowers were Dawn and Faith, and power was purely sheeting from the form of the redhead. Faith opened her eyes and stirred weakly.
"Are these for me, baby?" she asked as she looked at the scattered blossoms. "They're beautiful… the vamps!" she cried suddenly. "They're in! They're coming!" Faith's eyes fluttered closed.
"Help her…" Dawn pleaded.
"Buffy, get her to the infirmary," Giles said, "we'll get some blood started, it's the best we can do right now and Richard should be here soon. Dawn got her here alive, let's keep her that way."
"I'll take her, Dawnie," Buffy told her sister, "this will be okay. Faith's tough." Dawn allowed Buffy to lift Faith from her arms, and Buffy ran for the infirmary with her, Giles doing his best to keep up.
"What happened to the vampires?" Willow asked.
"I doubt I could tell you," Dawn answered grimly.
"That's my Dawnie," Willow answered, her dark eyes glittering.
The welcome and building shriek of a Scuderia's engine shredded the night. Dr. Blake traveled in style, and he traveled very, very, fast.
"Just put her there, Buffy," Giles said as he placed a unit of blood on the hanger.
"She's breathing," Buffy told him, "her pulse is really thready, though."
"Blood loss, no doubt; well she's accustomed to that," he muttered as he worked. He stuck the line into Faith's arm and opened the flow wide. "Let's just help it a bit," he said as he gently squeezed the bag.
"I really want to take a crew to Shady Rest," Buffy said fervently.
"Let Kennedy and Amanda do it, Dawn needs you, Buffy," Giles replied.
"Yeah," said Buffy as she ran back to her sister.
Willow was helping Dawn to stand when Buffy got back to the kitchen, and the power swirling in the room made it hard to breathe.
"She's alive," Buffy announced, "Giles is giving her blood, and Dr. Blake will be here soon."
In fact, Dr. Blake's arrival was heralded at that very moment by a blaze of light and an angry crackle of exhaust overrun as the blood-red Ferrari shuddered to a halt out front. Blake shouldered through the door with his bag in his hand and a very pale nurse in tow.
"Where?" he demanded.
"Infirmary," Buffy replied.
Dr. Blake wasted time on nothing at all.
"Move it!" he commanded as he entered the room. He plugged in his stethoscope and listened as he examined the bandage. "Lisa, check for more wounds," he told the nurse as he gently probed the bandage. "What happened?"
"Crossbow bolt," Giles supplied.
"Damn good work on the dressing," he muttered, "we'll leave it alone for now, but we have to get more blood into her, and fast. Get me a cutdown kit." LeAnne passed it to him, and Lisa slit Faith's pants from ankle to waist and folded them out of the way as Dr. Blake flooded the crease of her thigh with antiseptic and took up the scalpel.
"I need to be there," Dawn said.
"Dawnie, Dr. Blake is there with his nurse, there's nothing you can do," Buffy told her gently.
"I can be there," countered Dawn.
There was no gainsaying that, and so Buffy and Willow helped Dawn to the infirmary.
Dawn turned white when she entered the room. A line was running into each side of Faith's groin, and there were two bags attached to the tube in her arm. Dr. Blake was minutely examining the dressing on her shoulder, and blood was everywhere.
Blake stood, and heaved a huge sigh.
"She'll make it," he announced, "but whoever put this dressing on her saved her life. A few more minutes and she'd have been gone. I'll take her in to do the surgery, but right now we'll just get her stabilized. And let's get two more units in the oven. But I know my girl here. She'll pull through. "
Buffy caught Dawn as she collapsed.
"Other bed," Blake told Buffy, "put her feet up on a couple of pillows. What's up with these two, Giles?"
"Faith is her partner; Dawn is the one who rescued her."
Blake went to Dawn's side and quickly examined her.
"No wounds, not the bleeding kind anyway, she's dehydrated though, and shocky. Lisa, start an IV of Ringer's. How did Dawn save Faith?"
"Can't say," Willow told him.
"Huh. Well whatever it was really did a number on her. So these two are together?"
"Bet your ass, Doc," Buffy confirmed.
"Good," Blake muttered, "Jesus, I wish they could breed…"
"Richard?" asked Giles hesitantly.
"For God's sake Rupert, LOOK at them! So I see death every day, does that mean I can't appreciate beauty when I see it? Neither of them is conscious, and even I can feel the connection. Shit."
"He's right you know," volunteered Lisa.
"I'm always right," grumbled Blake. "In a couple hours I'll take Faith to the O.R. and fix the hole in her subclavian artery, I could probably do it here but I won't take a chance with her; not with her. And then we'll do an MRI just to check. Her arm feels a little stiff, might have some nerve damage, but that will heal soon enough. God DAMN, I love working on these girls. Get them to me alive and they stay that way." He scrubbed his face on his sleeve.
"Shit, now I have to change," he grabbed his bag and went into the bathroom.
"He really loves Faith, you know," Lisa told them, "he scared the hell out of me on the way here."
"Isn't he worried about getting a ticket?" Buffy asked.
"No." Lisa answered.
In the bathroom, Dr. Blake cried into his hands for a time, rinsed his face in cold water, put on a fresh top, and returned to the Infirmary.
"As long as I'm here, is there anyone else I can see?" Blake asked as he returned to the room.
"A few aches and sprains," Giles said, "nothing worthy of your talents, Richard."
"Every one of these girls is worth everything I have," countered Blake. "Bring 'em."
"Faith?" said Dawn as she struggled awake.
"She's going to be fine," Blake assured her. "In a couple hours I'll take her in and fix her up. I'll keep her overnight and in a few days she'll be as good as new." Blake kissed Dawn on the forehead. "I'm glad to know somebody paid attention in class. Best combat dressing I ever saw. And before you ask, yes, you can stay with her at the hospital; I want to keep an eye on you too. Lisa, give me a hand rolling her over beside Faith. That will do her more good than I can."
"Now, I want somebody to assure me that whatever hurt my girl is dust in the wind," Blake said.
"Oh," Willow promised, "they're quite a bit less than that."
"Ooo-rah," muttered Dr. Blake. The first slayer to seek his help tentatively entered the room. "Don't be shy, sweetheart," he told her, "what seems to be the problem…"
"I can't thank you enough, Richard," Giles told him as the ambulance pulled up. "How can I possibly repay you?"
"You can call me the second any of these women gets hurt for the rest of my life," Blake told him, "I don't give a damn if it's a splinter. You call me, Rupert. Got it?"
"You were quite plain, yes, Richard," replied Giles as he extended his hand.
"No, you fuckin' moron!" shouted Dr. Blake. "No siren, just drive smooth, and if you shake anything loose I'll cut your balls off!"
"I'll ride with the girls, Doctor," said Lisa earnestly.
The Scuderia howled off into the night.
"He never puts a wheel wrong," Lisa explained, "but he still scares the shit out of me."
"Quite," agreed Giles. "Buffy, Willow, are you coming?"
"Both my sisters are on the way to the hospital, and you ask if I'm coming along?" Buffy said.
" 'Rhetorical' means nothing whatsoever to you, does it Buffy?" Giles asked.
"Wasn't that a Beatles album?"
"Get in the car, Buffy," sighed Giles.
"You shouldn't tease him like that Buff," whispered Willow as they got into the Lincoln.
"Keeps him on his toes," Buffy countered.
"It was a gardening accident," Dr. Blake told the admissions clerk. "Write it down just like that. Can I make it any plainer for you?"
"No, sir," said the clerk, "that's plain enough for me."
"Fuckin' protocol Nazis, none of their Goddam business why I admit a patient…" muttered Blake as he followed the gurney carrying Faith to surgery.
"Okay, things went great," Dr. Blake said as he entered Dawn's treatment room later that evening. "Dawn, I wish everyone else listened as well as you did. Most of the time was spent digging the packing out." Dawn looked scared for an instant. "And that is precisely the way it should be!" he fairly shouted. "Gauze is cheap, life is precious. You have a bleeder you pack it off, for the love of God. She had a hole shot through her; does it make sense to you to be gentle after that?"
"You did good, Dawn. Nobody could have done better. Love the girl, you both deserve it." Blake hurried off.
"Nobody else could have done it at all," Willow said plainly.
"Will somebody please explain to me how Dawnie is a vat of tar?" Buffy asked