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Author's Chapter Notes:
Sorry this took so long! I was busy with work and enjoying summer I didn't get around to it. Here's the next installment, only two to go! Next chapter is last, and then there's an epilogue. Or maybe just the epilogue. Tell me what you think.
Life 13 – It Doesn’t Matter

It doesn't matter what I want
It doesn't matter what I need
It doesn't matter if I cry
Don't matter if I bleed.
You've been on a road
Don't know where it goes or where it leads.

It doesn't matter what I want
It doesn't matter what I need
If you've made up your mind to go
I won't beg you to stay.
You've been in a cage
Throw you to the wind, you fly away.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Thirteen hours later and there was still no word from Dawn. No word from the police, and certainly no word from the elusive Mr. Ted. All we knew for sure was that my baby sister was nowhere in the hospital and Ted was somewhere out there after attempting to kill me and raping me. So naturally, I was sitting in my hospital bed in the middle of hyperventilating with Spike trying to calm me but going through his own situation. Giles was out in the lobby talking to a police officer, but he knew nothing, I could tell by the dejected and over-enraged look that was gaining momentum with each word the police officer uttered.

“Spike…” I finally managed to choke out, the ability to breathe coming back to me for a second. “Spike… she’s gone.”

Spike’s eyes snapped to mine and he shook his head, “No, baby. She’s not. She’s just at the park or went to Janice’s.” We both knew that was a lie. Janice’s was the first place we checked, then mom’s house, and the Bronze and Weatherly and every other place Dawn could have went.

I let the tears that were building up at the corners of my eyes spill over and clutched at Spike like a lifeline. “She’s gone and it’s my fault.”

Shaking with anger at Ted, Spike tilted my chin to look at him almost forcefully and the anger in his eyes startled me for a moment. “It is not your fault. You did nothing wrong here, luv.” Off my look Spike sighed. “Buffy, you and Dawn were victims in all of this.”

I laughed bitterly, “I know that, Spike. What I did was not kill him. I should’ve killed him in his sleep years ago, yet I didn’t. How pathetic am I?”

Spike just shrugged and pulled me closer.

At that precise moment I heard a strangled yell from the hallway and looked up in time to see Giles’ fist firmly implant itself in the wall. The young cop looked on helplessly and three orderlies ran to help him extricate his hand and bandage it up.

Looking at Spike I heard his muttered, “Da seems to think the wall is to blame.” I let a small smile grace my face at his words but my insides were still yelling at me that Dawn was in trouble and it was all my fault.

******

Willow, Xander, Oz, Cordy, Tara, and Callie were crowded around my hospital bed the next day. Spike was off getting all of us coffee and I was calmed somewhat by having all my friends around me, but every time I heard the word ‘Dawn’, ‘Ted’ or ‘kidnap’ I started crying all over again. And every time the sound of a siren rang through the air, all my senses jumpstarted that it could be her.

“Miss Summers?” I looked up to see a shuffley looking orderly obviously nervous with whatever news he had.

Glancing at his nametag, I smiled reassuringly, “Yes, Patrick?”

“The doctor needs to run some tests on you, because of the high stress happening lately.” His gaze slid to every person in the room before resting back on me, “They need to leave though.”

Willow nodded and began to stand up, but my voice stopped her, “How long will they take?”

“Umm… about two hours.”

My whole demeanor crumpled and I let out a ragged breath, “I don’t know if I can handle two hours of tests right now, Patrick.” Xander got up and gave me a tight hug and then one by one they all left and I was alone to be poked and prodded til I screamed.

******

Halfway through said tests was when the good news came. It wasn’t exactly miraculous news but it was news. The young cop, who I now knew was Lt. Forrest, had gotten reports that a young brunette girl was seen in a white Toyota heading towards the warehouses over on 53rd and 54th. The problem was that had happened at the beginning when we hadn’t even realized Dawn was missing, and in that one stretch of warehouses there was approximately 40 or so buildings all with two or three story’s and weird basements and secret rooms. The search apparently wasn’t going well, but still, the breakthrough help me get through the rest of my tests without complaining once.

******

When I was finally finished and allowed to lie down and rest, I fell asleep with Spike’s arms around me.

Waking up suddenly about 20 minutes later to a sound that was distinctly like a bunch of people screaming for joy, I sat bolt upright and saw everyone in the lobby cheering about something.

Getting up I weakly walked over and looked out the door. When Spike saw me, he walked over and hugged me, spinning me around. Grimacing in pain when he put me down, I looked up at him in confusion. “What’s all this about?”

Spike grinned, “They found her! She’s on her way here now in an ambulance.” I stared at Spike shell-shocked for a moment before I burst into tears and wrapped my arms tightly around Spike’s neck. “Told you she’d come home to us, luv,” Spike whispered into my hair, whilst pepping it with kisses.

Our happy moment was cut short when the sound of sirens filled the air, growing steadily closer. All at once they stopped and, even from 2 floors up, the sounds of an emergency drafted up.

Closing my eyes, I walked over to the nurses’ station and inquired about Dawn. Of course, her simple reply was we don’t know anything yet and I’ll find out when she gets some news from downstairs. Sighing I went to sit with Spike as we anxiously awaited to hear anything about Dawn’s condition.

We didn’t have long to wait actually as Dr. Ben, as he said we should call him, came up to us. “Buffy, we’ve done everything there is to do now, but I’m afraid Dawn is not out of the woods. She’s experienced major head trauma, a brutal stabbing in three places, and multiple rapes. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but she’s in a coma and if she doesn’t wake up soon, I don’t think she ever will.”

Letting out a strangled cry, I held onto to Spike as tightly as possible and only faintly heard Giles ask if anyone could go see Dawn.

Dr. Ben sighed and nodded, “Only one at a time, and only family. Buffy, since you’re her only technical family, you can go see her.”

“I want to go in first,” a voice rang out down the hall and I lifted my head to see my father standing there looking both sad and hollow, and also enraged.

The doctor looked at him and then to me, before glancing back to him, “Are you any relation to the girl?”

My father laughed, “I’m her father. But how good of a father is a totally opposite question.” I choked slightly and stood up to wrap my arms around my father.

“You’re the best father in the world, Daddy,” I whispered, and he just let his tears fall onto my head.

“Buffy, I couldn’t save either of you. God, I’m so sorry, sweetie.” For the first time in my life I saw Hank Summers completely broken in front of me. He fell to his knees and sobbed into my shirt. Falling into his lap, reminiscent of the day he left, I cried into his shoulder, both of us holding on for dear life.

Finally we both pulled back, wiping blindly at the still running tears, and I nodded at him. “Dad, you go see her first.”

He stood up, helping me up in the process, and then let himself be led down the hall to Dawn’s room. Following close behind, I stood outside her room with tears streaming down my face as I watched Dad sit into a chair and take her hand, and then slowly let his face drop onto the bed beside her, and his audible sobs hurt my heart even more then the image of my baby sister laying in a hospital bed, bruised, and utterly broken.

An hour later, I was sitting in Spike’s lap in when Dad reemerged from Dawn’s hospital room, his eyes puffy and red, but looking marginally more calmer now that he had actually had the chance to talk to Dawn.

Nodding silently, I stood up and went into her room, but couldn’t take the couple of steps to cross the room to her bedside. I just stood inside the door for about 10 minutes, crying and digging my hands into fists. When I finally noticed tiny rivulets of blood seeping out of my fists I relinquished my hold and went to sit in Dad’s vacated chair.

Choking on a sob, I stared into the lifeless face of my sister. “Hey sweetie,” I whispered at last, moving a stray tendril of hair from her face. “You’ve looked better,” I joked, crying harder at my own humor. “God, this is so hard. I should’ve protected you, and here you are lying in a hospital bed hooked up to numerous machines and you’re not waking up. Why won’t you wake up? Please, Dawnie, please, just open your pretty brown eyes and look at me. Tell me what a mess I am and slap me. You know you want to. It would make all of this so much easier if you would just look at me.” I let my head drop onto her bed in much the same position Dad had done, and cried silently for a moment.

”They caught him, Dawn. He was in a bar bragging about leaving a girl to die in the basement of the old Grimlock’s warehouse and the bartender called the cops. That’s how they finally found you, and him. Lt. Forrest says he has a shot at life with all the stuff he’s done. I mean, abuse, rape, attempted murder on multiple occasions. They tell me it’s just the stuff to get him put away forever.” I paused then, not sure if she’d like the next part. “They said they can put mom away for about 15-20. She was aiding and abetting or something like that. Whatever it’s called, but apparently standing by while your children are beaten and raped is a felony. I haven’t had the chance to talk to Dad, but I’m sure Giles is filling him in on the details. He’ll probably want to press charges against mom. And you know what? I agree. She should rot in jail for a long time. Become Bertha the Mad Cow’s bitch or something like that. Really give us a good laugh, huh?”

Sighing as she continued to not move at all, I grew desperately angry. “Alright now you’re just being stubborn. I wasn’t allowed to stay asleep. They made me come back to this hard and painful world and now you have to too. It’s over Dawn, so stop hiding and help me here! We’re going to live with Dad. Me and Spike are going to have a normal relationship and we’re going to move on. It’s over now wake up!”

It was at that exact moment that Dawn opened her eyes. “Stop yelling, and stop crying Buffy,” She whispered. My eyes snapped up to meet hers and she smiled, “Make her pay. And make him pay. I want them to hurt like us.” Motioning for me to come closer, she kissed my cheek and then whispered in my ear, “I love you, sis.” When I looked down at her, her eyes were closed, and her monitor was flat-lined.

“DOCTOR!”





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