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Chapter 12


-Warning Character Death-

Four days later...

When had her bed become so uncomfortable? It was all lumpy and there was something holding her arm down, and her leg felt like something was sitting on it. And it was entirely too bright. She didn’t remember her room ever getting this sunny. It hurt her eyes a little and she hadn’t even opened them. Man, she was tired. She wasn’t *really* awake yet, so she might as well turn over and go back to sleep. After a few tentative tugs, she managed to tug her arm over as she shifted in the bed. This elicited a dull thud and a very loud yelp, which only served to confuse Buffy.

She slowly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly against the still too bright light in the room and became even more confused. This was not her room. She was not in her bed at all. And why the heck was Spike staring at her like that and holding one hand to the side of his head?

“Buffy?” Spike hesitantly spoke. He sounded almost like he wasn’t sure it was her. “God, Buffy, you’re awake!” Spike blurted out as he practically jumped out of his chair and enveloped her in a giant hug. Buffy could only lay there, stunned and trying to figure out what the hell was going on. After a few seconds, Spike released her and stood back up.

“Oh, hell, sorry! Did I hurt you? Stupid question, of course I did.”

Buffy stared at Spike and tried to ask what was going on, but found her throat very dry and sore. Strange, jumpy, rambling Spike immediately got her a cup of water. After a few sips, she found her voice again and scratched out, “Why are we in the hospital?”

Spike froze and Buffy saw confusion mar his brow before it succumbed to a very pained look. His eyes became evasive and his demeanor closed off.

“Spike?” Buffy poured resolve into the way she spoke his name, forcing his eyes back up to her own. He held a questioning look for a moment before he finally responded.

“What’s the last thing you remember, Buffy?”

She thought for a second. “Um, we were stuck on the highway in the fog. I fell asleep on Angel’s lap.”

Spike slowly sank back down into the chair next to the bed, and didn’t look to be forthcoming with any information at the moment. Buffy looked around the small hospital room. There were several plants and flower arrangements on the counter. There was a cot in the corner that looked to be mostly unused. Spike’s duffel bag was sitting on it, with clothes trailing out of the top.

She shifted to get comfortable again, and took note that the thing holding her arm down was actually a cast, and the arm was completely bruised, all purple and yellow. Her other arm housed an IV and sported the familiar bruises telling of blood draws. A little wiggling revealed that her "heavy" leg was also in a cast. Ugh! There was a catheter!

That was when she noticed something was missing.

Her good hand quickly lifted the covers so she could double check. She pushed and felt her abdomen. But rather than the comfortable roundness, it was all mushy and... “Ow!” That hurt like hell!

Spike jumped up yet again and after seeing where her inquiry had taken her, he reached out and gently pulled her hand away, tucking the cover back around her. She could only manage to stare at him in confused horror.

“Now, Pet, no messin’ with the incision. That nurse’ll have my hide if I let you pull that open.”

“Why...how...why?” Buffy’s words became more and more panicked with each one she spoke. As her disjointed questions continued, she tried to shift out of bed. She had to find them. She had to find Angel. Had to...“find them!”

“I brought you some coffee. It’s dreadful as usual, but... Buffy!”

She suddenly found herself enveloped in another giant hug. This time it was Giles. Where had he come from?

“Buffy, oh thank heavens, I was afraid we were going to lose you as well.” Giles pulled back some, though his enthusiasm didn’t fade any. She began struggling anew, not really processing his words. “Buffy...Buffy, calm down. You can see him as soon as you’re cleared to be moved,” he said as he tried gently to restrain her without hurting her. As the words registered, she paused her movements.

Him? Angel? She had to be moved to see Angel?

“Where’s Angel? Where are my babies? Why the Hell won’t anyone tell me what’s going on?!” she bit out forcefully.

“Oh dear lord,” Giles mumbled. “We assumed you knew...”

“She doesn’t remember anything,” Spike softly informed him. He had taken up a position standing at the window and he was staring through the blinds, his hands in his jeans pockets. “She fell asleep in the car.”

“Knew what??? If I don’t get some answers in the next three seconds I swear...”

“Buffy, please, calm down. Everything will be explained, but if you don’t calm down I fear the staff will sedate you,” Giles pleaded. Buffy sent him her best defiant look, before easing back into the pillow some. Her eyes continued shooting icy daggers.

“Perhaps we should let the doctor see to you first?” Giles offered. Buffy started to try again to rise, but his hand on her shoulder stopped her. “Very well,” he sighed. “What is the last thing you remember?”

“Highway. Fog. Sleep.” Buffy replied through clenched teeth.

“Nothing more at all?”

Buffy gave him another warning glare.

“There was an accident, Buffy. The fog...the driver didn’t see that traffic had stopped. The car was struck with quite a bit of force and it...it ended up under the truck in front of you. Jenny died instant...” Giles stopped as his voice broke off. He took several seconds to recompose himself, then seemed to search her face for some sign of something. A moment later he gave a small nod, as if affirming something to himself, and continued hesitantly, “As did...as did Angel.”

Buffy stared mutely at her surrogate father and tried to push the words he was saying through her brain. Her heart seemed to be fluttering at a stuttered pace and is was becoming hard to breath.

Not really registering what she was hearing, she looked to Spike to make things clear, but he was looking at Giles with as much confusion and anger as she felt herself . Maybe it was grief. Why was it so hard to tell?

Why couldn't she remember anything? She registered that she was probably in shock, but she had to know the rest. So she tried to take several breathes and will herself to focus.

“Tell me.”

“Though you couldn’t see it, nearly eighty vehicles were involved and three other people were killed that morning. The emergency personnel were already near you; however, with the position of the car, they had some difficulty extricating you. They could barely see more than your head for quite some time. By the time they managed to get you free, you were barely alive. You had lost a considerable amount of blood, had been in labor, unbeknownst to the emergency personel, and were dangerously close to delivering before they arrived here at the hospital, in which case they said you would have bled to death.”

“Are my babies ok?” Buffy asked in a very small voice.

“Buffy, you were badly injured. You suffered severe trauma to your entire body, and you were bleeding inside. Gabriel seemed to have been the most affected by the trauma," Giles paused and seemed to have difficult going on for a moment. But then he visibly recovered. "They were born very early, Buffy, and weakened by the entire ordeal." Giles signed deeply, and quaking emotional sigh. "Gabriel only survived a little over 24 hours. However, Michael is doing exceptionally well and the doctor has said that he is very optimistic.”

“You should see him!” Spike added, walking back toward the bed. His whole being seemed to brighten, he almost looked excited. ‘He’s itty bitty, but he’s strong as an ox, now! Looks a lot like Dawn, but in a handsome way,” he smiled.

Buffy glanced between the two men. She was at a loss for words and thought she was going to vomit. A small thought stopped her. “You named them?” she asked, sounding very hurt. Spike shrank back again and she looked to Giles for her answer.

“It was Spike’s suggestion, actually. He thought the best tribute to Angel would be to name them after, well, angels.”

“I’m sure you can change ‘em to whatever you like,” Spike hesitantly offered.

Buffy nodded mutely. After staring at her covers a while, she finally announced that she needed to be alone. Giles quickly excused himself to find a nurse now that she was awake. She waited for Spike to leave as well, but it soon became apparent that he wasn’t leaving.

“Please leave,” she whispered.

“No,” Spike responded resolutely.

Her head snapped up and she stared at him. “What?”

“You heard me. I’m not leavin’. You need a friend. You can cry and scream and even throw things at me if you can reach them, but I’m not leavin’ you,” he explained.

“Why? Why won’t you go?” Buffy begged, as tears began erupting.

Spike simply smiled at her. “Made a promise,‘til the end of the world’.”

Buffy’s emotional dam burst. It was the end of the world as she knew it. Her body started shaking as wild sobs tore through her. Suddenly Spike was there, gently holding her and encouraging her to cry all she wanted. She wept for everything, and everyone, and for what seemed like hours, until exhaustion overtook her and she drifted to sleep.
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a/n- the story certainly isn’t over, but I promise this is the last trauma to Buffy. *big sigh of relief*
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