Buffy sat against the white wall, rocking back and forth as usual, as her eyes traveled unfocused over the other occupants of the ward. Dressed in baggy white pants and a hospital issued top, she waited. There was nothing to do but wait.
She woke up in the morning in her locked room and waited for the nurses to escort her to the lounge so she could wait for breakfast and her pills. After breakfast, she waited again for any visitors that may or may not come and finally she waited for dinner and to be locked back in her padded white room where she could relive her past glory days when she wasn’t left in a corner and ignored for most of the day.
But most of all, she waited for him.
It had been four years, eleven days, seven hours and twenty-seven minutes since he’d gone away and in all that time… she waited.
The nurses sat at their station as they kept a watchful eye over their patients. One in particular always caught their eye. A pretty little brunette woman with pain-filled green eyes. She never spoke to anyone but herself and when she did it was always snippets of conversations or a name. ‘Spike’ or ‘William’ came up the most frequent and they had been told by friends and family of the young woman that it was her husband that had died a tragic death.
“Buffy?” Nurse Hargis nudged the woman softly as not to startle her before cupping her cheek to bring unfocused, glassy eyes to meet her own brown ones.
Buffy blinked at the woman kneeling in front of her. Instinctively she held out her hand for pills to be dropped into it. When nothing happened, she held out her arm for an injection of some sort.
“No, nothing like my dear. I was wondering if you would like to go outside and sit in the garden for awhile?” The kind- hearted nurse didn’t wait for an answer. Instead, she lifted the too- thin girl up and gently led her to the patio outside the institution. Seating her on a nearby bench, Kathy Hargis rubbed the poor girl’s shoulders in a comforting manner.
“He used to do that for me” Her tiny voice managed to croak out.
“Rub your shoulders?” The nurse kept her voice calm as she gently prodded the woman for more information.
“Yeah, he was in love with me and I cast him aside for so long, but I really did love him at the end there.” Buffy let a small smile play over her lips as she remembered the pesky bleached-blonde.
“What happened to him, sweetheart?”
“He died. Internal combustion or something like that. He burned up from the inside and it was all my fault.” Tears speckled her eyes as she fought back the tears she’d already cried out four years ago.
“I’m sorry my dear but do you think he would want you in here instead of living your life?” They were interrupted by a younger brunette holding a small boy before Buffy could answer.
“Mommy!” The little boy squirmed in the woman’s arms before running to Buffy.
As she engulfed the little curly-haired, blue-eyed boy she knew what the meaning of her life was…and he was currently giving her the biggest bear hug of her life.
“How’s my little boy? Are you being good for Auntie Dawn?” Buffy threw a bemused smile towards her younger sister, who was currently checking out a male nurse.
“I’ve been extra good mommy. When are you coming home?” The question made her eyes tears on impact every time he asked. Her arms wrapped just a bit tighter around his tiny form as he gazed with those oh-so-familiar blue eyes.
“Soon, baby, soon. I want to come with you, see all of your friends…”
“Make me grill cheese” He gave her a wide grin before winding his tiny arms around her neck as she nodded to him. “Auntie Dawn don’t make it right.”
“That’s doesn’t baby, not don’t.” Buffy’s million dollar smile played over her face at his pouting grin. In that moment he looked more like his father than she’d ever believed possible.
“I’ve missed so much with him. I want to go home.” She looked at the nurse expectantly.
“I’m sorry Mrs. Pratt but you need to have that cleared with your doctor and therapist before you can go. Talk to them at your next appointments and see what they say dear.” Nurse Hargis rubbed her shoulders again, this time in a sympathetic manner as she watched the young mother enjoy what little time she had with her son.
“Where’s the rest of the gang?” Buffy asked, not really wanting to know the answer. The past couple of years her friends had mostly stopped coming to visit her in the ‘loony bin’. Giles had been the first to stop. He’d moved back to England and away from his problem slayer, instead focusing on the new potentials who’d reverted back after Spike had ended the apocalypse. She hadn’t spoken to her watcher in nearly three years…the day she’d been brought to the mental hospital.
Xander had been next. He and Andrew had moved in together three years and less than two had pledged themselves to one another in a commitment ceremony. They had moved out of the state as well and she hadn’t heard any news of the pair since then.
Willow came occasionally, well when she wasn’t busy with Kennedy or teaching at UCLA in computer science. The upbeat redhead had told her once that she needed to forget Spike and move onto the living. It had been the last time she’d been.
Her only visitors the past year were Dawn, William and surprisingly, her father. When Hank Summers found out his eldest daughter was institutionalized again, he’d realized two things. The first being that his little girl had grown up and was a mother herself and the second was that he never wanted to miss another event in her life. So, he came religiously every Saturday morning at eleven.
“Um, Buffy, there’s something I should probably tell you. There’s someone waiting inside to see you but don’t freak out, ok?” Dawn shifted nervously from foot to foot as she gauged her sister’s expression.
“Is it Giles?”
“Not exactly.” The younger Summers sister refused to meet the unwavering gaze of the eldest as she fought to contain the knowledge of the visitor.
“Dawn just tell me who the hell it is!” Quickly realizing her mistake, she turned to the wide-eyed boy. “Don’t ever use that word. It’s a bad word that little boys shouldn’t EVER use.”
“Mommy, you said a bad word.” Little William Summers-Pratt was astonished at his mothers slip.
“I know baby and if your auntie doesn’t tell me who is waiting there might be more.”
“Just wait a second, ok? Don’t go all slayer on everyone.” With that Dawn retreated back through the sliding doors and into the polished institution.
After what seemed like hours, Dawn emerged again pulling a brunette man behind her.
“Hello pet”
Buffy’s hazel eyes widened for a moment before she handed William off to Nurse Hargis and promptly fainted.
10 minutes later
“You alright there luv?” His cerulean eyes gazed into her own as he expertly checked her for any damage done.
“Is mommy dead?” William piped up from his spot a couple feet away in the nurse’s arms.
“No, your mother is not dead mate, she’s just bloody unconscious.” He tapped her forehead once to bring her out of her stupor and was met with a fist to the nose for his efforts. “Bloody hell pet! I bruise easily!”
“Um, Buffy, you might not want to punch him anymore. He’s right, he does bruise real easy now, he even gets sunburned.” Dawn motioned pointedly at the blinding sun overhead and back to the former vampire.
“Y-you aren’t a vampire anymore?” Her eyes grew even wider as she took in the fact that Spike was standing in broad daylight wearing nothing but a pair of blue jeans, polo shirt and loafers. Well, save for the platinum wedding band adorning his left ring finger.
“Not as of late luv. I can explain ‘bout the whole absence thing…”
“He was a ghost! Oh, and he haunted Angel but now he’s not a ghost cause he wouldn’t be standing there if he was and why aren’t you kissing her you idiot?” Dawn glared at the former master vampire as he stood mere inches from his wife.
As if on instinct his lips met hers and his fingers acquainted themselves with the silkiness of her hair as they entwined themselves in it.
“Fuck I missed you pet, never going away ever again. Gonna give the next soddin’ amulet to the whelp or watcher-boy to wear.”
“A-are you real?” Her slayer-enhanced hearing focused on his now-beating heart as he pulled her even closer to him.
“Do I feel real? Real as on our wedding night?” She nodded her head and tucked it into the crook of his neck.
“I still can’t believe you guys found a priest willing to marry you the night before a freakin’ apocalypse!” Dawn watched the sweet display before her and motioned William over to interrupt his parents as he squeezed in between them.
“Missed you too, little man. Can’t believe we made him that last night kitten, seems ages ago.”
“Stay with us?”
“Forever and a day luv, forever and a day.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Ok, if you read the summary, I already know it sucks. Got the memo and framed it. Reviews would be awesome