[Reviews - 10]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 2285 times

- Text Size +




Twenty minutes later, Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya were sitting in the hospital, waiting for Dr. Roberts.

“Did you call Dawn?” Xander asked Willow.

“I tried, but all I got was her voice mail, and this is not news you want to break through an answering machine. Besides, I think it’s better to know a little more about the situation before we talk to her. But I did leave her a message to call me back A.S.A.P.”

They all nodded, knowing that she was right. They still didn’t know what to expect, and it would be cruel to give Dawn false hopes after everything she had been through.

“How about Giles?” Xander asked again as he kept walking back and forth across the waiting room, letting them know how nervous he really was.

“I called him on the way here,” Tara answered. “He is on his way. He’ll be on the first flight, so he’ll be here tomorrow.”

Again they all nodded and went back to silence. Xander kept walking; Willow couldn’t get her eyes away from the doctor’s door as Tara held her hand, not knowing what else to do to make this easier for her. It was Anya who broke the silence abruptly. “And how about Spike? Did anybody call him?”

“Well, I haven’t called him yet. You know the situation, and I don’t want to break this to him until we know for sure what to expect. I guess I’ll call him after we talk to Dr. Roberts,” Willow said in an apologetic way as she knew that he had a right to know what was going on.

“I just think he has a right to be here. After all, he is…” Anya couldn’t finish her sentence since the door finally opened and a tall brunette wearing a white coat came out.

“Please come in,” she indicated to them. After they were all seated in her tiny office, she gave them a warm smile as she proceeded to explain Buffy’s condition to them. “First of all, relax and lose those funeral faces- this is good news. Buffy woke up after 5 years, beating all the odds. So I would say that this is very happy news.”

As she smiled at them, they all smiled as a heavy weight had been lifted from them, and unconsciously, they all smiled at each other, Tara squeezing Willow’s hand gently.

“However,” the doctor continued with a more serious face. “We still don’t know where are we standing. We need to run some more tests to be able to determine her real condition.”

“But is she ok?” Willow asked, concerned.

“It’s hard to know right now. She woke up disoriented and scared, which is perfectly normal considering the situation. Physically, I can tell you she seems fine. She is a very strong woman, especially after being inactive for that long.”

“Can we see her?” Xander asked.

“I’m afraid not at the moment. As I mentioned to you before, she was very confused and disoriented, and we had to sedate her.”

“You put her back to sleep?” Xander asked, furious. “What’s your problem? She has been sleeping for the past 5 years, and the minute she wakes up, you decide to put her back to sleep?”

“I understand your frustration, but let me assure you that what we did was in her best interest. Just imagine the shock of waking up suddenly one day after 5 years, not knowing what happened or even where you were? We don’t know what’s going on in her brain, if she is even aware of her situation. There is a very good possibility that she would suffer some time of amnesia, which could be mild and temporary or…”

“Or what? Are you telling us that she could lose her memory forever?” Willow asked in shock as Tara gently put her arm around her shoulders.

“We don’t know yet, but right now it is a possibility. You have to understand this is new territory for us. There are only very few reported cases of patients that made it back after so long. So unfortunately at this point, everything is possible. We don’t exactly know the repercussions she could present.” She saw the broken look on the four peoples’ faces sitting in front her. “But we have every reason to believe that she is going to be ok. I’m hoping for the best. I have never seen such a strong woman. If she was able to come back, I’m confident she’ll be alright.”

“When will we know what to expect?”

“Tomorrow we’ll begin running some tests, so hopefully by tomorrow night we will have a more accurate diagnosis. However, there are some things that I can already tell you, like for example she is going to be needing physical rehabilitation for her extremities since she hasn’t use them in so long. So even if Buffy is fine, she won’t be going home right away. Also, I must warn you to be very careful with the information you decide to give to her, considering the trauma of being away for so long. I would strongly recommend that you keep shocking news away from her. We need to slowly bring her back to this new reality.”

“So we lie to her?”

“No, I’m not suggesting that you do so. All I’m saying is that she’ll need all the help she can get to make it back in the best possible way. What I’m recommending is that at first try to have things be as similar as possible of what they used to be before her accident. That way she will feel safer, and gradually, we can start giving her the information and filling her in.”

“Ok, I understand. Thank you, doctor,” Willow said with a warm smile. “So when do you think we can see her?”

“Tomorrow afternoon, we’ll know if she is in any condition to receive visits. Something that might help is if you bring her some personal belongings, like maybe some pictures.”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll bring some of her stuff tomorrow.” Willow shook the doctor’s hand, and they all left her office, still clueless and in shock.

After leaving the hospital, they all went to the Summers house to discuss the situation and to wait for Dawn’s call.

“So I guess Spike is out of the question?” Xander finally said.

“Well, you heard the doctor,” Tara said as she let herself fall onto the couch right next to Willow, who was now dinking drinking some coffee.

“But he needs to know!” Anya exclaimed.

“Fine, I’ll talk to him tomorrow and explain the situation. I’m sure he’ll understand,” Willow said, exhausted. “Xander, can you come with me? I think I’ll be needing backup.”

“Yeah, I’ll go.”

Suddenly, a loud ring made them all jump out of their skins. It wasn’t until the second ring that Willow realized it was her cell phone. She opened it and saw the Caller ID. “It’s Dawn,” she whisper to the rest, who gave her sympathetic looks as she held her breath and answered. ”Hello, Dawnie. Yes, I need to tell you something important. Yes, where are you? Good, you better be sitting down...”




[Contribute to Round Robin]

You must login (register) to review.