From: owner-buffyfic@xmission.com (Buffyficdigest) To: buffyfic-digest@xmission.com Subject: Buffyficdigest V1 #1 Reply-To: buffyfic@xmission.com Sender: owner-buffyfic@xmission.com Errors-To: owner-buffyfic@xmission.com Precedence: bulk Buffyficdigest Wednesday, October 29 1997 Volume 01 : Number 001 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 29 Oct 97 17:04:17 -0600 From: "Kimela M Wilker" Subject: BUFFYFIC: BUFFYFIC Pleasant Dreams 4/? Story: Pleasant Dreams Author: Kimela E-mail: Kimela@writeme.com (Comments and Suggestions are always welcome!) Distribution: Zandarah and Anya, others please ask. Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, they are property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc... Pleasant Dreams Part 4 It had been one of the longest days of Willow's life. The ride to the hospital with Officer McCann had been horrible. He had asked her all sorts of embarrassing questions about Xander, about her, about their relationship, but mostly about their activities from the night before. He was unimpressed by her tale of Xander's nightmare-all he wanted to hear was what sort of drugs Xander might have ingested. The questions hadn't ended when they reached the hospital. Instead, McCann had started asking them all over again, this time with one of Xander's doctors listening in. Neither one had believed Willow when she again insisted that she and Xander had done nothing wrong. The doctor even warned her that they were doing a blood test and the results would confirm what they already suspected. "You're only slowing down his treatment," they had accused her. They hadn't stopped hounding her until the lab results came back negative nearly an hour later. Neither one apologized as they finally allowed her to go join Buffy and Anna in the waiting room. For the next couple of hours, the three women had waited without word of Xander's condition. Then Buffy had lost her patience, cornered one of the nurses and convinced her that `a little information would be a good thing.' The nurse didn't know much, but she was able to tell them that they had given Xander some sedatives to calm him down after he had attacked one of the other nurses for checking his blood pressure. She had promised that she would keep them better informed of his progress. A flurry of activity in the middle of the afternoon had alerted the women that something had gone horribly wrong. "He's going to be okay," the nurse assured them, making sure they were calm before she continued. "He stopped breathing and his heart stopped momentarily, but he's a fighter and they've got it going strong again." His heart stopped? Willow couldn't accept it. Xander was young, strong, and until today, healthy. How could his heart have stopped? When they had been informed, a few minutes later, that Xander had slipped into a coma, Buffy managed to convince the nurse to let Anna sit with him. Anna hugged the two girls and disappeared into her son's room. Soon after that, Buffy left. She had to return the car to Giles and meet her mother for dinner. She promised Willow that she would be back as soon as her slayer duties allowed. Willow had called home shortly after five to alert her parents that she would not be home for dinner. The Rosenbergs immediately came to the hospital to wait with their daughter. Xander had practically been part of the family for years, and they wanted to be there to support Willow. They stayed until it became clear that they would not be allowed in to see him. They tried to convince Willow to come home with them, but she was determined not to leave until she had seen him, and knew for sure that he would be okay. Her parents gave her permission to stay as long as she wanted, and offered to come get her if she changed her mind, no matter how late she wanted to call. Anna had to leave shortly after nine. She wanted to skip work and stay with Xander, but she couldn't afford the loss of pay, especially not with new bills to consider. She stopped to see Willow in the waiting room before she left. She had little news to report about Xander's condition, only that he had opened his eyes, but was still unresponsive. Doctors had been in and out of the room all day, running all sorts of tests, but they had yet to find out what was causing Xander's state of being. It was only after Willow had paced the waiting room floor alone for several hours that one of the night nurses at last took pity on her and allowed her access to Xander's room. It was a shock to see him lying still and pale on the hospital bed. He had been hooked up to all sorts of monitors, and the doctors had tied his limbs down to keep him from pulling wires loose and to keep him from fighting with the hospital staff should he have another seizure. Even more unnerving to Willow was that his eyes, which normally sparkled with vitality, appeared dull and lifeless. She sank down in the chair beside his bed, the stress of the day taking its toll. Even now that she had seen him she wasn't able to truly relax. She didn't think she would be able to rest until she found out what was wrong with him and was positive that he would be okay. She watched him closely, feeling slightly better each time his chest rose and fell. "What will I ever do if you're not okay?" she asked him silently. "I don't think I could live without you. You have no idea what you really mean to me, do you? Of course you know that you are my best friend. You are the best friend I could ever ask for. You're there for me whenever I need you, wherever I need you. There is no one in this world that I trust as completely as I trust you, Xander. I don't know if I will ever love anyone quite the way that I love you. I don't know if I even want to. I know you don't love me the same way, but that doesn't even matter." Willow wished she had the nerve to really tell Xander how she felt-when he was actually awake and well enough to listen. She supposed that it was pretty pathetic that she felt comfortable telling him pretty much anything other than how she adored him. She knew that he would never intentionally hurt her, but she was so afraid that the admission would push him away, make him feel uncomfortable being around her. That would hurt more than anything else she could imagine. She needed him to be close. Actually, right now, what she needed was to be close to him, needed to assure herself that he was truly going to live. She crawled onto the bed next to him, careful not to dislodge any of the monitors. The heat his body emitted indicated that he was still fighting to stay alive. She stroked his hair and stared down at his face. "Come on, Xander," she whispered. "You've got to wake up. I need you..." Exhausted from a day of constant worry, she laid her head against his chest and fell asleep, listening to the rhythmic beating of his heart. - - ------------------------------ End of Buffyficdigest V1 #1 ***************************