LITTLE MISSY THE MARKER
Summary: Spike, Buffy and the gang anxiously wait at the hospital for news on Dawn. Surprises abound when Doctor Benjamen Noxen explains Dawn’s precarious situation to them. A long shot horse may show up at the last moment to save the day. Who will it be?
Chapter 20: ‘It Is Always In The Blood’
“Make her wake up! Please, Will, make her wake up!” Buffy wailed again as she cradled Dawn’s sweet head in her arms. She ignored the spreading pool of blood that now spilled down from Dawn’s neck or head, matting her dark hair together.
“Buffy, honey,” Cordelia rasped. “We need to get the little girl to the hospital. Larry, Spike, pick Dawn up, gently and carry her to the car. I’ll drive her to the hospital; Buffy and Spike should ride with us.”
Buffy was in a daze as she just kept chanting ‘wake her up’ and ‘her pretty pink dress; it’s all dirty now.’ Cordelia Wilkens could tell that trying to ‘reason’ with Buffy was hopeless.
“Spike!” Cordelia shouted, waking the blond man from his horrified stupor. “Get that child in our car and let’s get her to a hospital!”
Spike unwrapped his arms from about Buffy and placed them about Dawn’s still little body. “Let me pick her up, Princess,” he whispered as he tried to disentangle Dawn from Buffy’s strong arms.
“Oh God, be careful. Don’t hurt her,” Buffy whimpered pathetically as she reluctantly allowed her lover to take the child in his arms.
Once Spike had succeeded in carrying Dawn to the car, Xander leaned down and took Buffy by the arm. “Let’s get you into Wilkens’ car, huh, Buff? You can hold Dawn in the car, okay?”
“Okay Xander,” Buffy murmured in a childish, shell-shocked voice. “I can hold Dawnie in the car,” she repeated in a hollow tone.
The emergency room of Mercy Hospital had been a nightmare for Spike and Buffy. When the admitting nurse kept questioning the couple about what their status was concerning ‘the child’ Buffy nearly snapped and went for the woman’s throat.
“What do you mean? Status? The child?” Buffy ranted at the poor nurse. “Her name is Dawn and we love her, and that’s that! She’s…..” Buffy glared at the nurse then glanced over at William who looked as if he was going to be sick. The terrified, sick look on William’s face broke Buffy and she burst into incoherent sobs.
“The child’s name,” Larry Wilkens began evenly, “is Dawn Summers,” he continued, knowing full well that Dawn was not Buffy’s sister in any way. “Miss Buffy Summers here is the girl’s sister and guardian, here in New York. Mr. William Jameson is Miss Summers’ fiancé. I would appreciate it Miss,” Larry glanced at the nurses’ name tag, “Miss O’Hara, if you would get this show on the road. Dawn needs help, immediately.”
“Of course Officer Wilkens,” Nurse O’Hara replied in a clipped, no-nonsense tone.
“Doctor Benjamen Noxen is on duty tonight,” the nurse continued, all business now. “Orderly,” she called to a young man who was watching the goings on. “Take this girl, Miss Dawn Summers, to an examining room. Immediately Warren!”
The orderly hopped to and wheeled Dawn’s stretcher down the hallway to an empty room.
“I want to go with her,” Buffy whimpered softly to William. Somehow Buffy had somewhat pulled herself back together again, fairly quickly.
“Course Princess,” Spike replied, tenderly, as he took Buffy’s arm to lead her down the hallway.
“No,” Nurse O’Hara cried suddenly. “You cannot go in until the doctor has seen to the girl. Just wait here,” the sullen woman ordered everyone in general. Then she followed the orderly into the room at the end of the hallway and shut the door behind her.
Spike sat holding Buffy, continuously stroking her neck, shoulder and arm with his left hand. He stared at the end of the hallway, anxiously, trying to be brave for Buffy, but…..
“You need a smoke,” Buffy muttered under her breath, her green eyes never left the end of the hallway. “Have a smoke,” she ordered in her dazed whisper.
“Okay baby,” Spike sighed heavily. God, but he ‘did’ need a smoke that was for sure.
“Willow, will you sit with Buffy?” Spike asked the nervous red-haired young woman.
“Of course Spike,” Willow stammered in her childish voice. Her man, Daniel, quickly joined her as she sat next to Buffy and took her in her arms.
“It’ll be okay, honey,” Willow assured Buffy with the optimistic conviction that she was known and loved for.
“It has to be,” Buffy mumbled half-heartedly. “The little doll brought William and me back together. Oh, Wills, she just has to be okay.”
Buffy broke down and began to sob, uncontrollably, as Spike watched helplessly. He wanted to go to Buffy; comfort her and tell her everything was going to be alright. The only problem was, Spike wasn’t too sure that Dawn was going to be alright at all. Not in the least.
Willow scowled at Spike and silently ordered him to continue his smoke. He did, nervously pacing back and forth; somewhat like an expectant father, waiting for his first child to be born. (insert anvil warning here!)
It seemed like hours, but it had been perhaps twenty or thirty minutes when one Dr. Benjamen Noxen finally emerged from Dawn’s room. The doctor was a good looking younger man; for some reason Spike felt intimidated by this medic. Intimidation was something William ‘Spike’ Jameson was completely unused to, that was for bloody sure!
“Mr. Jameson? Miss Summers?” Dr. Noxen asked the two blonds with a raised brow. “I understand you are Dawn’s guardians?” The doctor smiled at Buffy but frowned at Spike for some reason.
“We are,” Spike blurted gruffly as he eyed the young doctor with suspicion. “What’s wrong with Dawn and can you fix her?”
Spike realized, of course immediately, that he’d come off sounding like an incredible arse. His tone had been harsh and blustery; this doctor was only trying to help Dawn and all of them now.
“Mr. Jameson, you need to settle down now,” Dr. Noxen muttered arrogantly. Or so Spike felt. Spike pulled Buffy up from her seat and wrapped his arms about her, possessively, as if to let this young whelp of a medic know who the beautiful blond goddess belonged with.
“What’s wrong with Dawn?” Buffy asked, her voice barely a whisper. She clung to William, desperately trying to gain some emotional strength from her lover.
“Well,” Dr. Noxen began with a frown, “the girl is strong, physically; that’s not the problem.”
“What the bloody hell is the problem then?” Spike growled impatiently. He was becoming pretty fucking fed up with all of this secretive crap from this git and he was about to…..
“Dawn has lost a lot of blood, Mr. Jameson,” Ben Noxen stammered almost apologetically. “Not that this in itself is the main problem,” the doctor added quickly.
“A simple blood transfusion could help the child, that way. We are doing incredible things with blood transfusions, these days,” he continued evenly. “It’s just…..”
“I’ve read about those,” Willow interjected excitedly. “They can take blood from another person and pump it into the patient, right?” The red-head gazed at the good-looking doctor with wide gray eyes.
“Yes, exactly,” Dr. Noxen replied with a nod. He seemed to be impressed by the younger, slim red-haired woman with the lovely gray eyes.
Daniel Osbourne must have noticed Dr. Noxen’s interest in his girl. Before anyone could say another word, Danny hurried over to the couple and placed his right arm about Willow’s slim waist.
Dr. Noxen backed down, just a little bit before he spouted, “do you think you all could be tested? For a match, I mean,” he continued. “Dawn has a rare type of blood; it’s an A blood type. There’s not any of it in stock, unfortunately. We’ll need to take a sample of all of your blood; just to find a possible match. It’s all in the blood, after all,” he finished with another deep sigh.
Spike and Buffy looked at each other and nodded at the doctor. “Test us,” Spike stated evenly as he began to lead Buffy to follow the doctor.
“Test me,” Willow squeaked in her little girl’s voice. “Me too,” Daniel offered as he took Willow’s arm and followed Spike and Buffy.
“I”ll give it a go,” Giles mumbled in his genteel voice. His lady, Jennifer followed right behind.
“I”ve no idea what type of blood I have,” Anya whispered, “but I’ll give it my best shot.” Xander didn’t say a word, just fell into step behind his lover and followed her into the doctor’s office.
“I can’t give blood,” Faith sighed impatiently. “I’m pregnant and…..”
“I’ll give it for both of us,” Riley grunted, bending down to give his wife a quick kiss.
“Well, go on,” Cordelia gently ordered her husband. “I can’t give blood either because of the baby,” she tapped her tummy in a delicate manner. “You can, of course,” she grinned at Larry Wilkens.
Mitch and Lars slunk along behind the others, a bit reluctantly. For all of their macho posturing, the two tough guys were really basically marshmallows inside. They followed the others; willing to help out the little girl that had captured all of their hearts.
The somber group waited, impatiently, in the waiting area. They all secretly hoped that it would be their blood type would match Dawn’s and help save her.
Doctor Noxen came out of the small lab nearby, followed by Nurse O’Hara. The doctor looked unhappy, no make that sad as he slowly walked over the anxious group of people.
“I’m sorry,” Noxen sighed heavily, shaking his head in defeat. “None of your blood types matched Dawn’s and…..”
Buffy burst out into tears again; soon to be followed in sobs by Anya, Willow and Cordelia.
“Doc, you can get some A stuff, somewhere, right?” Faith asked the medic gruffly. “After all, there’s gotta’ be some schmoe that has the same…..”
“What about the staff on duty?” Jenny asked in her soft, soothing voice.
“Their blood types are on record here, per procedure,” Dr. Noxen muttered in reply. “I’m afraid none of our staff has the right blood type. I’m so sorry,” he offered helplessly.
‘Oh, God, he sounds so fucking defeated,’ Spike realized in stunned despair. ‘He’s gonna’ give up on my Bit and…..’
Spike pulled Buffy even tighter to his own trembling body and buried his face into her soft, warm hair. He loved this tiny woman, so bloody much and he loved Dawn like a daughter, because of Buffy.
“Look, you’re all exhausted,” Dr. Noxen stated the obvious as he glanced from one anxious face to another. “If you won’t go home and get some rest, then at least grab a bite to eat and some coffee. There’s a pretty good diner, just across the street from the hospital,” he continued evenly.
“I could sure use a drink,” Xander muttered as he took Anya by the arm to go.
“Me too,” Riley added, wrapping his arm about his pregnant wife’s strong shoulders.
“Let’s go Danny,” Willow ordered her lover gently. “I think we should all go get a meal and…..”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Spike and Buffy cried simultaneously.
Buffy looked up at William, her green eyes shown with all of the love and adoration she had for him. “We’re not going,” she repeated to the others.
“I’ll bring you both back a sandwich and coffee,” Willow blurted out; Daniel nodded in agreement behind her.
After the rest of the group had left, Buffy sat on William’s lap, sobbing, intermittently, into his shirt.
“It’s our fault,” Buffy murmured between sobs. “We should have told her the truth from day one. That her daddy is dead and….”
“Mr. Jameson, Miss Summers,” Dr. Noxen rejoined the couple after being gone for an hour or so.
Spike stood up, actually picking Buffy up in his arms at the same time. “The Bit, is she….” Spike stammered hoarsely; his own voice was rough from nerves, tears and chain-smoking.
“No change, really,” Dr. Noxen offered with a silent apology. “I just wondered, the mumbles a name, off and on. She keeps saying something like ‘charger’ or so. I was hoping it might be a little friend of hers?”
“It’s a horse,” Buffy replied flatly, “a big stupid, beautiful race horse that Dawnie loves so very much.” Buffy burst out into a new torrent of tears and clutched William desperately.
“Oh,” Dr. Noxen mumbled sadly. “Like I said, I’d hoped that it might be the name of a little friend. Someone who could come down and ‘talk’ to Dawn. The brain is an amazing thing,” he continued seriously.
“Dawn has completely shut down; not just from loss of blood, but because her brain has shut her down, emotionally. The brain acts like a protector for the mind and body. If something is hurting a person; man, woman or child, the brain will shut down and blank the emotional pain out.”
“I don’t get it,” Spike barked in frustration due to a lack of rest, hunger and nerves. “Are you saying that the Bit’s brain is trying to block out what happened at the track today? That’s why she won’t wake up?”
“Yes and no,” Dr. Noxen replied with a shrug. “We do not know that much about the brain, yet. This is speculation, not much more. Dawn seems to be trying to stay ‘asleep’ for a reason, and not just because she needs a blood transfusion. Which, by the way, we are notifying potential donors we have on record here. We hope to find a match, and soon,” the doctor finished with a slight scowl.
This information did nothing to soothe Spike and Buffy’s frayed nerves whatsoever. When Dr. Noxen left them, Spike placed a kiss on Buffy’s damp cheek.
“It’ll be okay, baby,” he cooed lovingly, “the Bit will pull through this. She has to.”
“She does,” Buffy murmured tearfully. “I love her, Will, just like I love you. If she comes through, I want to…..”
“She ‘will’ come through this,” Spike rasped huskily.
“Well, well, well, isn’t this loverly,” Angel O’Connor barked from the just mere yards away from Spike and Buffy. Neither of the blonds had heard or seen the big Irishman enter the waiting area.
“What the fuck do you want, O’Connor,” Spike growled harshly as he sat Buffy down gently on the waiting couch. “You’ve got a lot of bloody nerve showin’ up here! After…..”
“Nerve I’ve got plenty of Spike,” Angel spat with contempt. “I didn’t come here to see you two makin’ goo goo eyes at each other. I came to see how the little girl was doing. I…..” his deep voice trailed off when he saw the look of hate in Buffy’s green eyes.
“Get the hell out of here,” Buffy cried, sounding just like a mama lioness. “You caused this, Angel. You hurt my little girl and I could kill you, right now for it!”
“Not if I rip his head of first!” Spike roared as he took a menacing step towards Angel.
Right at that moment, Dr. Noxen chose to return to the waiting room; as did Xander Harris. Xander carried two boxes of take out food from the diner, but he nearly dropped them when he saw Angel O’Connor in the room.
“You’ve got a lot of balls to be here, Angel,” Xander hissed angrily at his former boss. The dark-haired man sat the food down on a small table and turned to face the bigger, stronger man.
“Seems Angel here has grown a conscience and some balls,” Spike spat with contempt. Xander had stepped in between Spike and Angel, causing the blond man to step back a foot or so.
“Look,” Angel began quietly, “I fucked up; I get that. I thought I should come down, check on the kid. If I’m not wanted then…..”
“What blood type are you?” Dr. Noxen interrupted in a professional, even tone.
“What?” Angel asked; confused as usual by anything that didn’t include betting, money or women.
“Do you know your blood type?” Dr. Noxen asked, a little more anxiously this time.
“No,” Angel grunted with a smirk. “Why the hell would I know my blood type?”
“But we can find out, right Doc?” Xander asked with a wicked chuckle. “Right Spike?”
“Too right,” Spike answered his best friend, besides Buffy of course. Spike’s mouth was twisted in a really evil smirk as he strode over to Angel, Xander in tow.
“Right this way, gentlemen.” Dr. Noxen commanded a slight smile on his own mouth. He led the three men; Spike, Xander and a somewhat dazed, slightly struggling Angel into the now familiar lab.
Spike exited the lab and rejoined Buffy, about ten minutes after he and Xander ‘persuaded’ Angel into being tested.
“Where’s Xander?” Buffy asked her lover in a broken voice.
“In there,” Spike pointed at the lab and chuckled slightly. “He’s helpin’ old Angel out,” he finished with a smirk.
“Let me guess, Angel tried to bolt, right?” Buffy sighed in disgust.
“No, Angel couldn’t bloody well bolt, really,” Spike muttered. “Xander sat on him and made sure he couldn’t, actually,” the blond man grinned.
Buffy giggled for the first time what seemed like ages to Spike. It warmed his heart and he pulled her to his body, protectively.
Spike settled his chin on Buffy’s soft head and stroked her back, affectionately. He held her so tightly, that he wasn’t surprised when she had to gasp for breath.
“When this is all over, baby,” he whispered tenderly, “you and me are getting’ married. Good and proper,” Spike ordered gently. “Now, I won’t take no for an answer, so…..”
“I say yes,” Buffy murmured softly in reply. “I’m not saying no, Will,” she continued in her breathy little voice he loved so. “I’m saying yes. It’s just that, I want Dawn to really be ‘our’ daughter, legally I mean. I want to go home, too,” her words were muffled into William’s shirt. I want us to start over, in California, kay?”
“I’ll see to it that we can adopt Dawn as our daughter. As for California? We’ll see, right?” Spike mumbled, his voice hoarse with all kinds of emotions that he could barely name.
“That sounds wonderful,” Buffy managed to murmur just before she stood up on her tippy- toes and kissed her man on his oh so handsome mouth.
Xander Harris came flying out into the waiting room, a look of pure joy on his handsome face.
“Angel! He’s a perfect match, the Doc says so!” Xander nearly tripped and fell into both Buffy and Spike.
“He is?” Buffy gasped in surprise.
“Yup!” Xander crowed happily. “The Doc says they can start the transfusion, right now! Dawn’s already hooked up to Angel’s arm, through some tube or something. Doctor Noxen is going to start the transfusion and….”
Xander watched with an open mouth as Spike and Buffy nearly ran, hand-in-hand, down the hallway to the lab.
“This’ll fix her?” Spike asked the young doctor anxiously. “Will this make her better?”
“It will help,” Dr. Noxen answered in a calm voice. “Mr. O’Connor here has strong, very good blood, really,” he added with a warm wink at Buffy.
“Hear that Buff,” Angel mumbled, somewhat dazed by all of this drama. “The doc says I’ve got good blood!” The Irishman’s handsome face was contorted in pain, but his smug smile shone through it.
“I hear him, Angel,” Buffy whispered, her gaze focused on Dawn’s pale face. She stroked the tiny girl’s arm, lovingly, with her right hand; while she wiped some tears off her own cheeks with her left one.
“If this works,” Spike choked out, not in the least embarrassed by the tears of relief that spilled down his cheeks. “If it works,” he continued, “then we’re jake; right Angel? Right?”
“Right, Spike,” Angel muttered harshly. “In fact,” the big man continued, painfully, “we’re more then jake Spikey. The doc there said that Dawn keeps mumbling something about The Charger. Well, he’s yours; your’s and Buffy’s now. I want you two to get the fuck out of New York; first chance possible. Just consider the nag a wedding present, understand?”
Spike stared at his ex-boss in shock; stunned that this monstrous man had finally chosen to do something ‘right’ for once in his miserable life. The blond ex-bookie didn’t know what to say; for once.
“Thanks, Angel,” Buffy murmured from her spot next to Dawn’s bed. “Looks like you have grown a soul, along with a conscience.”
Spike pulled Buffy up and flopped down onto the chair where she had sat. He pulled her on his lap and gently rested her head on his shoulder.
“So, what do you say Princess? Does California sound pretty good to you?” Spike llay the left side of his face against Buffy’s and half closed his eyes. He had a lot of thanking to do and he needed to start with the ‘big guy’ upstairs.
A/N: The epilogue to this will be posted in about two or three days. Technically, this story is finished, but I will tie up the loose ends.
Thanks for reading and please review, spufette.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you for reading and reviewing. This is the last real chapter. An epilogue will follow.