Chapter 26
She was drowning. He was on a lifeboat reaching for her hand, but every time he thought he had her, a wave would pull her away, making him lose his grip.
“Help me,” she pleaded. “Don’t let me go.”
“I won’t. I promise I’ll keep you safe.” He watched frozen in terror as she was swept under.
“Buffy come back!”
He awoke to his hand being squeezed tightly. Disoriented from sleep, he lifted his head to see Buffy looking at him, her eyes wide with fear and panic. She was squeezing his hand as if her life depended on it.
“Buffy, love its okay. Try to calm down. You’re in the hospital. I’ll go get help.”
She’d awakened and the intubation tube was obviously frightening her. William left the room and called out for a nurse. “Help! She’s awake. She needs that thing out of her mouth.”
Two nurses came in and removed the tube after seeing that she could breathe on her own and of course having called Giles for his approval. “Your throat will be sore for a while.” Buffy nodded and watched silently as they left the room.
He rushed to her side as soon as they were left alone. Taking her hand in his he said, “You’re back.” A look of confusion crossed her face. “You didn’t wake up when you were supposed to. We were all scared.” He choked back a sob, overcome by the thought of almost losing her. “I love you.”
She wrapped him in her arms rubbing circles on his back, just as he had done for her when she’d been sick. “I’m here,” she whispered. “I’m right here.”
Their peace was suddenly interrupted when Xander barged in with Anya in tow. “Buffster! We heard all of the commotion. Good to see you back amongst the living!”
“Xander! Have some tact.” Anya pulled at her fiancé’s hand and widened her eyes at him.
Buffy couldn’t hold back the giggle that escaped her and then winced when her throat protested in pain. She shrugged when William gave her a look that was mixed with surprise and concern.
“Anya, with the talking about tact.” Xander supplied. “It’s funny because you know—she’s Anya.”
Anya gave him a reproachful look just as Tara walked in with Willow in tow.
“We overheard the good news from the hall. How are you Buffy?” The therapist made her way over to her client with a huge smile on her face.
“A little confused. Apparently I gave you all a scare, but I didn’t even notice anything went wrong.”
“Maybe we should give you some time to acclimate.” Tara turned toward the group. “Why don’t we give her some space? We can come back and visit later.”
“That’s wonderful advice Dr. Maclay.” Giles walked in the room making eye contact with Tara. “Why don’t you all follow it? I’d like to speak with Buffy for a few minutes.” He took a minute to look around at Buffy’s friends and felt a swell of happiness in his heart. It seemed she hadn’t shut herself off to everyone after all. One by one, her friends said their goodbyes and walked out until William was the only one left.
“William.” Giles gave him a stern look and silently waited for him to leave.
William looked incredulously from Giles to Buffy, and when neither said anything he stood up. “Call me as soon as he leaves.” He turned and pointed his finger at Giles. “Don’t overwhelm her!” He bent down and gave his girl a kiss. “I’ll be just outside in the waiting room. Holler if you need me. I love you.”
She gave him a closed lipped smile and squeezed his hand. “I’ll be okay,” she said in a raspy whisper.
When Giles was done speaking to her he went ahead and gave her a thorough check up, then the nurses went in to bring her ice chips and juice, the whole process was time consuming. It was decided that she needed her rest, and so visits were cut back to one person at a time. Her friends took way too long spending time with her, but he couldn’t argue because they had every right to see her. His patience could only go so far though, and he was getting ready to walk into her room to kick out whoever was in there with her when Xander came up to him and told him she wanted to see him.
When he finally walked back into her room she smiled at him and patted the space next to her on the bed. He smiled back, happy to see her in a good mood.
“I dreamt that you asked me to live with you.”
He smiled. So, what Red said was true, she really could hear me.
“All this stuff that’s happened,” she circled her hand in the air to explain what “stuff” meant, “has made me realize that I’m ready to move on and finally open up.”
“That so? How do you plan on doin’ that?” He felt his stomach tightening up in anticipation, was she finally going to let him in?
She smiled brilliantly; he’d never seen her look so happy. “By telling you that I love you.”
Overcome by emotion, William pulled her into his arms and kissed her fervently. She winced causing him to immediately pull away. “Are you okay, love? ‘M sorry. I didn’t think I just reacted.”
She laughed. “Me too. I forgot about this.” She pointed at her bandaged breast.
He placed his hand on her cheek tilting his head to the side. He felt sadness for all of the things she had gone through. “This all mean you’ll live with me?”
She nodded. “That’s what you do when you love someone isn’t it?”
He didn’t think his smile could get any wider. “I was thinking I’d sell my house. We could buy the one here. Start our lives together somewhere new.”
“Really! But what about Xander?”
“We can figure that out later. Talk to him an’ Anya.”
She smiled at him again and leaned in for another kiss. “I love you,” she whispered when she pulled away.
“Won’t ever get tired of hearing those words.”
“What about your job? You can’t leave work. I can’t ask you to drop your life for me, Will.”
“You didn’t. I offered. There are jobs here aren’t there? ‘Sides, I think it’s time I start making some changes. Was thinking of finally putting my college education to use.”
“I never asked you, what did you study?” She seemed genuinely interested, which pleased him because she had made such an effort to avoid any talk of his self-improvement in the past.
“English Literature. Must be a school ‘round here needs a teacher?”
“Okay.” She nodded. “Let’s do this. Let’s start our lives together as soon as I can get out of here.”
He smiled and nodded his head in agreement. They spent the rest of the night talking about their future plans. William felt like he was on top of the world. His dream of having her – all of her was finally coming true. They fell asleep together. Buffy’s good side cuddled into him. They looked so happy together that the nurse on duty didn’t have the heart to ask him to leave. She had never seen a more contented looking couple before.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I know what you're thinking.... and I'm sorry this update has taken so long. Life has been happening and I find it's become harder to keep up with my writing. I hope you guys are still following. Please let me know that you're still out there with REVIEWS!!!! Thanks to my wonderful beta Sanity Fair. You’re the best!