one last chance

chpt 19

a/n so i feel like i should go down on my knee's and big forgiveness for my (really) long delay. I appologise and as a token of forgiveness here is three chapters i manged to plunk out. suddenly the insperation i lost found me again. Enjoy!

Chapter 19

Buffy still kneeled at the ground holding her sisters hands when the ambulance arrived. The small street in front of the school and Summer’s home soon became illuminated by the sharp glaring lights of the emergency teams and various portions of England’s police forces. Buffy kept numb to the activity around her until a kindly EMT gently touched her shoulder, telling her she needed to let go.

As Dawn’s hand fell from hers Buffy stood and turned to view the rest of the scene. Snatches of conversations rolled to her ears.

“…Rurpert Giles, Headmaster of the school right there. I live with the victim and her sister….”

“…Willow Rosenberg, I’m the school nurse and a teacher… friend of Dawn and Buffy…..”

“……………. Xander, Alexander Harrison, I teach here, friend of the family….”

“I’m Robin Wood, Headmaster of the sister school in America….. here with my students on an exchange learning trip…”

“Faith Lannigian, teacher at the sister school in America, the second chaperone…”

The voices blended together in her head, one mixing to another. She smiled slightly when somehow Faith’s changed last name. Due to Willow’s amazing computer skills and the complete destruction of Sunnydale she had been able to write out several of the more unwanted parts of the past seven years from official record. She had even been able to give Faith a new last name and history. Willow gave them all the creds they needed to become teachers. According to official record they all graduated from SCU Sunnydale with teaching degree’s in various subjects one would want in starting a private school.

“Ma’am.” A voice spoke to Buffy, a man in a EMT uniform looked down at her, “We’re about to leave for the hospital. Would you like to ride with.”

Buffy nodded dumbly. She rose to begin to make her way to the waiting ambulance. She some how remembered she was still clad in just her robe. She turned to look back at Spike talking to an officer. When he made eye contact with her he turned and walked away from the bufused officer. He came up to her and gathered her in to his arms.

“Go,” he whispered into her hair, “I’ll be there soon, me and the whole gang. I’ll bring some cloths, for you and the Lil Bit.”

Buffy nodded dumbly into his chest before she turned to climb into the flashing vehicle. She held her sisters hand although the ride to the hospital, muttering incomprehensible words to her unconscious body. She didn’t know if she tried to comfort Dawn or herself. The ambulance careened into the emergency bay, the second ambulance following close behind carrying the driver.

The emergency team hurried into the hospital bay, Buffy running behind them. Doctors and other orderlies gently pushed her out of their way.  She dumbly stepped back and watched her sister. Dawn’s left leg lay on the gurney at an unnatural angle. She heard the slightly sickening crack of the bone as a doctor set the leg before more damage could be caused.

A nurse came up to Buffy and took her hand to gently lead her to a close by waiting room. She sat numbly on the nearest chair. Five minutes hadn’t gone by before Spike walked in followed by Willow, Kennedy, Giles and Xander. Spike pressed the bag he carried into Buffy’s numb hand and steered her toward the bathroom where she could change. She pulled out underwear, a bra, jeans and a loose blouse. She dressed still in a daze. Once she stepped out of the stall she stared at her image in the mirror. The past hour, two hours, she didn’t know how much time had passed seemed to age her. Her skin more drawn, the bags under her eyes that never completely faded after the events two years previous became more pronounced, her lips pressed in to a thin bloodless line against her pale skin. She shook her head to clear it and splashed some water on her face.

As she walked back out to the waiting room she saw the Scoobies clustered in a tight circle in a corner.

“Giles, the police? How’s our situation?” She asked, entering their midsts.

“Buffy,” He responded, “don’t worry about that now,”

“No Giles,” she cut him off, “I can’t just sit here and wait. I have to think about something else, do something.”

Her mentor and father figured nodded his understanding, “Well Willow assures me our records are impossible to identify as false.”

“They are.” Willow jumped in, “All the Sunnydale paper records were destroyed and I was able to hack in and change all of the electronic ones. Plus the school is a ligament academy and only the girls and guys under 18 are registered. Faith and Robin are currently re-arranging sleeping arrangements- discreetly- of course so all the registered students are sleeping at the school. That’s only a just in case measure.”

“We’re covered Buff, no one is going to blow the horn and yell crazies.” Xander assured her.

“Good, what are we saying about Angel and gang?” Buffy asked.

“Teachers. Lorne stayed out of site around the cops so we don’t need to be worried about that.” Willow said, showing once again her abilities with computers,  “Mr. Liam Angel and his fiancé Ms. Cordila Chase are history and art professors respectively at the London school, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gunn teach math and phy ed at the Cleveland school. Mr. Wesley Price teaches history and government. Faith is a science teacher. It’s taken care of.”

After Sunnydale it was decided due to the heavy cross continental travel to fudge some official documents as Willow termed it, to create an identity for Angel in case it was ever needed. Anticipating the possibility of adding the others to the list of teachers at the schools, even just for a cover purpose, Willow gave them those added bonuses to their files. The only person who didn’t have things added to a file was Robin.

“Good.” Buffy repeated, glad she didn’t have to worry about that. She glanced toward the door just as a young doctor walked in.

“Buffy Summers?” he asked.

“I’m Buffy. She said walking up to him. Subcounciously she wrapped her arms around her self as if to protect her body from the words the doctor might say.

“Well we have good news about your sister. She is going to be ok. She suffered minor cuts and bleeding where broken glass hit her. She also received a broken leg and several broken ribs which should heal fine given time.” At the doctors words she sighed in relief, his next words only making her body tense once again. “However, there is some bad news. Her face was mostly protected by her arm from the glass, however, several shards became embedded around and in her eyes. She will always have some scarring around the orbital bone.”

“That’s it though? Right? Just a few scars?” Buffy frantically cut the doctor off. She didn’t want to hear what he had to say. He said Dawn would be alright. She was going to be alright.

“No, I’m sorry Ms. Summers, the shards that entered her eye were very, very small. However they were big enough to cause peranant damage to not only the rod and con cells of the eye but they were able to damage the optic nerve as well. Now we don’t know if she is fully blind, she may be able to sill make out shapes and movements…”