FF Tell me I was dreaming (4/?)

["Christeen Demons" <Shyfox30@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Okay guys, here we go again.:-) Miss me?:-)

Disclaimer...they belong to Joss.:-)

Chapter Four: Quiet confessions.

Sometimes late at night I lie awake and watch her sleeping.
She?s lost in peaceful dreams so I turn out the lights and lay there in the 
dark.
And a thought crosses my mind, if I never wake up in the morning.
Would she ever doubt the way I feel about her in my heart.

If tomorrow never comes, Will she know how much I loved her?
Did I try in every way, to show her every day that she?s the only one?
And if my time on Earth were through and she must face this world without 
me.
Is the love I gave her in the past, going to be enough to last if tomorrow 
never comes?
Garth Brooks

Willow could hear the sounds of the machines, even before she saw the still 
figure lying propped in the hospital bed. She wheeled her way over to where 
she lay, feeling her heart bleed as she took in the sight of her. Tubes ran 
from her nose and mouth, to a machine that apparently regulated her wife?s 
breathing, wires ran from her arm to the heart monitoring machine that was 
giving off a set of beeps that was strangely soothing to Willow?s otherwise 
agitated nerves.

She reached for the hand that was lying closest to her on the bed, and 
traced it with a cautious finger, relieved to find it warm to the touch. 
Buffy looked so pale...so...lifeless, that any sign of life was a good 
thing. Her fingers closed reflexively around the warm digits, like a 
lifeline that tugged painfully at her heart.

?Buffy.? Willow whispered silently, almost afraid to make a sound that would 
cover the unnatural sounds of the machines. She fell silent again, as she 
watched her lover breathe, fixated on the sight of her chest moving up and 
down. She brought the relatively undamaged hand to her lips and kissed it 
gently, glancing down at the pale colored patch
of skin on her wife?s finger where her wedding ring had been.

Then her eyes tracked back up the bed, from the crinkled white sheet to the 
pale, nearly lifeless and bruised face of her wife. She couldn?t stop the 
tears that slid from her eyes, and wondered idly if she?d ever stop crying. 
They had been through so much, in such a little span of time that it kind of 
felt like she was on the Cyclone at Coney Island, a roller coaster she had 
been on once, when her parents had taken her with them on a trip to New York 
City. She wondered briefly if the ride would ever stop, and then rushed 
with her prayer that it never would. The highs in her life with Buffy were 
so very much worth the lows.

?I know you?re in there.? She whispered to the pale still form, who looked 
more like a Mummy than her wife at the moment, as her head was covered in 
bandages. ?I?m not going to let you go without a fight. I love you too 
much for that.? She brushed her fingers gingerly over the bruised cheek, 
before turning her attention to the silver chain she
still held loosely in one hand. ?So, I?m just going to stay right here and 
keep you company. I?m gonna babble so much it will drive you crazy and then 
you?ll have to wake up just to kiss me so I?ll be quiet.? She didn?t know 
it, but her resolve face had just then completely taken over her face.

Joyce watched in silence from the doorway, feeling like an interloper on the 
quiet communication. She wasn?t really sure that she could call it that, 
considering it was all one-sided. But if she didn?t know any better, she 
would swear that she could see her daughter listening with all her might. 
She decided that maybe they?d be all right left on
their own for a while, and slipped out of the room, wondering if the 
cafeteria would still be open. She could use a strong cup of tea right 
about now.

Willow never even noticed her Mother-in-law?s departure, her entire focus 
centered on her wife. ?Joyce gave me this to hold onto for you, but I think 
it looks better on you than it does on me.? She quipped gently, forcing a 
smile as she gently put the silver chain around
Buffy?s neck. She fastened the clasp, careful not to lean on the bed, or 
put pressure on the all too fragile looking body, then leaned back examining 
the way the cross looked shining under the fluorescent light of the hospital 
room. She tucked it carefully under the loose
fitting smock Buffy was wearing, then petted it once, feeling unreasonably 
better knowing it was there.

******

?How are you holding up?? The rich softness of his voice caused Joyce to 
tense up a brief milisecond before she put the styrofoam cup down on the 
cafeteria table and picked her head up, looking at the love of her life 
through blood-shot eyes.

?Both of my daughter?s are in the hospital. Buffy is in a coma, and Dr. 
Wiseberg is worried about what all of the stress that Willow is undoubtedly 
going through is doing to the baby. I?d say other than that, I?m just 
peachy.? Her voice was more tense and angry then she would have liked, and 
she felt guilty for the flinch she saw edge over Giles face before it 
disappeared. ?I?m sorry. I didn?t mean to snap at you. I?m just...? She 
closed her mouth, feeling frustration and an overwhelming anger building 
inside of her.

?Worried...angry...and undoubtedly very upset. I don?t blame you.? She 
could see his calm reassurance shining through the dark layers of his eyes, 
and for some reason felt unaccountably more upset that he wasn?t outwardly 
falling apart like she was.

?I wish I could just get my hands around that conniving, little...to think I 
actually invited her into my house once.? Joyce enjoyed her visions of 
strangling the life out of Faith immensely. The enjoyment in her eyes of 
the vision caused Giles to squirm uneasily. ?Did you find any traces of her 
at all??

?None.? Faith, to everyone?s surprise, seemed to have disappeared. There 
wasn?t any sign of her body, anywhere. It?s almost like the other Slayer 
had got up and walked away from the site...but that was impossible wasn?t 
it? She had to have been as badly hurt as Buffy had been from that fall. 
?Xander, Oz and I have examined the scene thoroughly, but we have found no 
traces of where she might have landed. I can?t quite figure it out...it?s 
like she just disappeared.?

Giles shook his head, mystified and just as upset as Joyce was that they 
hadn?t been able to locate the other Slayer. He shuddered to think she was 
still out there, just waiting for another opportunity to take a crack at his 
Slayer. In her present condition, she would be no match for Faith in a 
fight.

Giles took a deep breath, glancing around the mostly empty cafeteria to 
ensure that no one was close enough to overhear them ?You know there?s 
something else that we need to consider.?

?What?s that?? Joyce asked, an eyebrow arching enquiringly on her forehead.

?While I?m confident that Buffy?s going to make a full and speedy recovery, 
we just might have a problem with that.?

?What do you mean?? Joyce asked, totally taken aback by Giles statement.

?Buffy doesn?t heal like normal people. A bruise disappears overnight, a 
cut...depending on how bad it is, or how deep...in a day or two. Dr. Greene 
is probably going to notice that. I?m not sure if there?s anything that we 
can do to prevent that. And he?s probably going to have a lot of questions. 
Questions I?m not sure that we can answer.?

?Okay...I can see that. But she has so many injuries, surely her body is 
going to take a while to heal them all, even with Super Slayer healing 
ability.? Joyce said the last bit in a whisper, but it still caused Giles 
to scan the room, worriedly. ?Maybe he won?t notice??

Giles shook his head slowly. ?Doubtful. We?re just going to have to figure 
out a plausible story to tell him.?

Joyce looked at him, worry filling her expression. What could they say? 
Buffy comes from a long line of healers? Undoubtedly true, based on the 
stories she had heard as a child, and from the fact that Buffy was a Vampire 
Slayer. But not exactly something that the doctor would believe, was it? 
She wasn?t sure what they were going to do when
asked, hopefully they could find some way to bluff their way through it.

******

Sunlight dabbled across her cheeks, and she woke up to the tweetering of 
birds outside her window. Her hand reached out and traced the warm flesh 
that was curled protectively around her stomach, and she smiled at the feel 
of the warm weight that rested comfortably on top of her. Breath breezed 
across her face, as her wife exhaled then opened a pair of
sleepy blue eyes. A warm smile was quick to follow, as the newly awakened 
sleeper stretched mightily.

?Did you sleep okay?? Green eyes with a shade of worry in them, examined 
the lithe form of her wife carefully.

?Like a rock.? Came the sleepy but exuberant reply, as blue eyes shifted to 
rest warmly on the small form that had crawled into bed with them the night 
before, clutching her teddy bear tightly to her. ?Think she?s okay?? A 
strong but gentle hand caresed a tiny head full of reddish blonde hair.

?Yeah. She just had a bad dream. She?ll be all right.? Their daughter had 
scared the living daylights out of them the night before. They had been in 
the middle of a very pleasant daze, when the sharp shriek, that only their 
daughter could make, shattered their mood in a heartbeat. Buffy had 
collected the tear streaked red-head, who was sucking her
thumb with one hand, while the other clung onto the tattered form of her 
Pooh bear, and taken her into bed with them.

?Yeah, but it was so strange. It?s like she thought I had died or 
something.? Buffy commented, looking down at her daughter who was still 
clutching at her skin fretfully with two tiny fingers. When she had entered 
her daughter?s bedroom, the red head had looked up at her with such a lost 
puppy expression that it had nearly broken her heart. Big wet tears had 
dripped out of those big blue eyes and it had caught her flat footed. The 
little arms had gone up, just waiting to be picked up, and Buffy had swept 
her up into her arms, holding her daughter tightly to her chest.

The little girl had clung tenaciously to her for the rest of the night, 
crying when Willow had tried to move her so Buffy could get more 
comfortable. So she had merely wrapped her arms around the small frame, 
watching as she sniffed and hiccoughed her way towards the sandman?s door, 
before the blue eyes had drifted closed and the small mouth?s
movements on the tiny thumb had slowed to a halt.

?She looks alright now though.? Willow replied, running her fingers through 
the soft and sweaty hair, as she studied the peaceful pose.

?Yeah.? Buffy murmured, rubbing a gentle hand in a massaging motion over 
the tiny back. Their hands merged over their daughter?s sleeping form, and 
their eyes rose to meet each others, conveying their love for each other and 
their child. Was there anything she wouldn?t do for the both of them? One 
look into Willow?s eyes gave her the answer.

*****

Willow was startled awake by a low melodic humming, coming from a chair 
beside her. Surprised to find she had fallen asleep in the first place, she 
picked up her head, feeling the crick in her neck from falling asleep in 
such an awkward position, and stared in amazement at the older woman.

There was such a presence around her, an air of calm gentility that it set 
Willow completely at peace as she examined the other woman?s appearance. 
The older woman sat poised, as if she were in front of a camara or at a book 
recital, her long frame folded into the chair as if it were made 
specifically for her. Long, greyish-white hair was tied
into a bun, and the still bright blue eyes rested peacefully and quite 
calmly on the occupant of the bed.

Willow knew immediately who it must be, but she was surprised that the 
elderly woman had arrived here so quickly. ?Nana??

?Came to see how my granddaughters were doing.? The vibrant eyes rested on 
her for a half of a second, appearing to size her up with that one look, 
before moving her attention back to the form lying so still in the bed. 
?She?s going to be just fine you know.? Nana said, the sound of strong 
determination and belief in her voice.

?How do you know?? Willow asked, her eyes filling with questions.

?Because...she has a destiny that she has yet to fulfill. She will remember 
that and fight to come back. They always do.?

?I want to believe that.? Willow said, not feeling so sure herself at the 
moment, as she took in the sight of all of Buffy?s wounds.

?Then believe it, child.? The older woman said, catching Willow up in the 
strong pull of her azure eyes. ?She comes from a long line of fast 
healers.? A sparkle of amusement lit the blue, catching the redhead off 
guard.

...to be continued.:-)




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