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Blank green eyes searched around the bright white hospital room. Only those green eyes could not see how bright the light. Or even the blue eye's of the girl that was now so scared that words were escaping her. "Tara!"
That snapped the other girl out of her stupor. "Willow. I'm right here." She quickly took her girlfriend's hand in her own. "Everything is going to be all right. You'll see." She regretted the words as soon as she had said them.
"But I can't see!" The voice was so full of anger. "I can't even move my legs. What is going on!"
The shouts brought the nurse back into the room. "The doctor is on the way. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to go back to the waiting room."
"Just a second." Being more forceful than she ever had, she turned back to her girlfriend. "Willow, you were in a car accident. You are in the hospital. If I could, I wouldn't leave your side. But for now, the doctors are going to have to do their thing. But I won't leave until I know you are going to be all right. I promise I will never leave you again."
Willow actually smiled a little at the words. "You really promise?" Tears were forming in those distant green eyes.
"I promise." Tara smiled, forgetting that Willow could not see the smile. She also gently squeezed her hand. "I'm going to go now. But I will be here when you can have visitors again."
"Thank you." Willow sighed as the nurse came up and started to take her vital signs.
Tara quietly snuck out of the room. She was lost as how to get back to the waiting room. Her mind was a blank. The one thing in the world that made her happy was lying in there hurt. She was simply not functioning.
A man in a white uniform came up beside her. "You look lost. Can I help you?"
"Waiting room." That's all she could manage to say. Without saying a word, the man gently took her arm and steered her into the waiting room and back into the crowd of her friends. Oddly enough, her brother was the first to approach her. "It's bad."
Donny took the look in on her face and her words. "What happened?" For the first time since she was five, Donny took her into a hug. "It will be all right."
Two shocks had occurred on this day for Tara. The first was turning out to be a pleasant surprise. For whatever reason, her brother was turning into a nice guy. But the second, she may never recover from it. She waited until Donny pulled back so that she could look at Willow's and her friends gathered around. "She woke up when I was in there."
"And that's of the good, right?" Xander asked.
"Yes, but..." she trailed off as tears were quickly forming in her eyes. "She can't see. And she said that she couldn't feel her legs." And with that, Tara collapsed to the ground.
***
"Damn!" Angel had to pull over to the curb. His car would not go any more. "Must have been more damage than I realized." He mumbled all of this to himself.
A little white Ford Escort pulled up behind his shiny red Chevy Thunderbird convertible. His eyes widened as a familiar figure stepped out of the driver's door. "Car problems?"
"You could say that." He eyed Darla carefully. She was the last person that he had thought he would see out here. He had taken a bunch of back roads to avoid possibly being seen by the police or at the very least running into anyone he knew.
"Need a lift?" She walked up to him and smiled.
He could feel all the old feelings flooding back. If things had gone differently, and she never had moved away, he probably would never have become the jerk that he was now. And he would not possibly be in this big time mess. "I actually need to get the car fixed."
"Mommy and Daddy not know that Junior has the car?" Darla kept her smile going.
Angel raised his eyebrows. This was the last thing he expected from her. But it was nice. Someone actually standing up to him and putting him in his place. Well, besides Spike. He just hated the guy so it didn't count. "Something like that. You got a cell phone on you?"
"What, rich little kid doesn't have his own?" Darla reached into her purse and handed him the requested item.
"Mine's in the shop." Angel dialed. He turned his back so that Darla could not hear what he was saying. He handed her back the phone. "Thanks."
"Any time." She started to go. "Want some company? I assume you're going to be waiting for a tow truck or something."
"Something." Angel wanted nothing more than to have her stay. He felt that they had a lot to talk about. "But it's going to be a while. Why don't you continue onto wherever it is you were going."
Darla shrugged. "You're loss."
Angel watched her as her hips swayed back and forth. He could not think how stupid he was to let her be getting away like this. But he had a mess to clean up. And Drusilla would have to answer for this. If only eventually.
A cloud of dust rose as she took off so fast. He watched her till her car was out of sight. He sighed heavily. This was going to take a little while.
***
Tara's eyes slowly fluttered open to see a group of very concerned faces. "I'm fine." She tried to stand up, but was gently forced to stay sitting by her big brother.
"You stay. I'm going to go home." Blue eyes looked up at him questioningly. "I'm going to take care of mom. You stay. Take care of that girl of yours."
"Thank you." He smiled back at her. She watched him slowly make his way out of the hospital.
Spike pulled Buffy to the side. "Look, I have to go and check on something. You be all right here?"
"What are you up to?" Buffy didn't like him leaving.
"I've got an idea on who's behind all of this." He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "But it's something that I've got to do alone. I've got my phone. Call if you need me."
"Spike..." She trailed off as he was already out the door. And in walked her mother. "Mom?"
"Hey, honey." She came over and wrapped her daughter in a tight embrace. "Mr. Giles called the house. He couldn't find you and told me about your friend. I figured you'd still be here. How is Willow?"
"Not so good." Buffy sighed. "She can't see and she can't feel her legs. But they haven't told us anything for awhile."
"I'm so sorry!" Joyce shook her head. "This is so tragic. Especially for someone so young."
"I agree." Giles slowly made his way over to where the mother daughter were standing. "I'm Rupert Giles. You must be Mrs. Summers. It's nice to meet you. I just wish it were under better circumstances than this."
"Any accident is terrible." Joyce eyed the librarian carefully. "But when young people are involved."
"Well, my niece is pretty strong." Giles sighed. "I'm sure she'll be able to pull through just fine."
"I'm terribly sorry!" Joyce's eyes got wide. "I didn't know that she is your niece."
"Quite all right, I assure you." Giles smiled back at her.
Buffy just stared at the two adults like they were on drugs or something. How could the two of them be flirting with one another at a moment like this. Especially when one of them was her mother. Eewww!
***
Oz had his arms wrapped tightly around Faith's waist. It was somewhat to show that he cared. But it was mostly to keep the girl from going out and doing something stupid.
"Let me go." Faith did not shout. She only used the forced kind of words. "One of the people I grew up with is in a hospital bed. She may not be fighting for her life anymore, but she may be screwed up for the rest of her life. The person behind that pain deserves some pain of their own."
"I agree." Oz's grip tightened a little. "But not by either of us." Finally he did let go. But he turned her around and held her by the shoulders. "No matter how much we may want to."
Faith stopped struggling against his grip. "You?" Her eyes widened a little. "No offense, but you seem to be the mellow sort of guy. Not that you would want to see anyone get hurt. But I have trouble seeing you wanting to go and hurt someone back."
"It takes restraint." Oz looked into her eyes. "Just like it took restraint in not kissing you for the first time."
Now Faith smiled. "Sweet talker. Even in such crappy circumstances. Man! I just wish I knew if she was going to be all right and if whoever did this was going to get whatever is coming to them."
***
Anya watched as Xander came and sat next to Tara as soon as Donny left. A little pang of jealousy went through her. But that was simply stupid. After all, Tara and Willow are in a gay relationship. Xander is not a girl.
Slowly, she came and sat next to her boyfriend. She did not know what to say or what to do. So, she simply put her arm on his shoulder and kept it there as Xander and Tara talked.
"Willow is strong." Xander tried to sound sure of himself. "She's always been the one that took care of everyone else. It's just now our time to take care of her."
"But..." Tara could not bring herself to say it. But she could think it. What if those green eyes remained sightless. What if she could never walk again. What if Willow could not accept those things about herself and gave up on life. What if her everything was simply taken away.
"There are no buts." Xander put his hand on hers. "Me and Will go way back. We have this connection. And I'm telling you everything is going to be all right. Just give it some time. She just needs some time to heal. You'll see."
That's when the doctor came in, interrupting all of the conversations going on at once. "Mr. Giles?" Giles made his way over to the doctor. The man spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. "Miss Rosenberg sustained an injury to her spine that we were not able to detect at first. There seems to be a great deal of bruising around several of the vertebrae causing swelling. This swelling is what is making it feel like she has no sensation to her legs. This may or may not go away on its own."
"Dear lord!" Giles sighed knowing he had interrupted. "I'm terribly sorry. Please continue."
The doctor smiled sadly. "As far as her sight, it appears that there was some internal bleeding. We had suspected it, but again were not sure until she awoke to tell us. The bleeding is pressing against her optical never. There is a surgery that could be perform to lesson the pressure. But it has it's risks."
"Of course it does." Giles again sighed heavily. "Are there risks if the surgery is not performed?"
"Well, the pressure could lead to a blood clot." The doctor paused for a second. "If the blood clot gets away, it could go to the lungs or the heart and that would cause your niece to stop breathing. So, I would suggest the surgery. The biggest risk with the surgery would be that she becomes permanently blind. As far as her back, we'll just have to wait and see if the swelling goes down on its own. It could also require surgery. But the internal bleeding needs to be taken care of immediately. Since her parents are not here, you will have to sign the consent forms."
"Of course." Giles made his way over to the nurses station and filled out the paperwork. He slowly returned. "I know that everyone heard. It seems the next few hours are going to be telltale if Willow will see or walk again."
"When is she going in for surgery?" Tara asked.
"They have scheduled it in a half an hour." Giles smiled sadly. "Time seems to be of the essence."
"Am I going to be able to see her?" Tara was close to tears again. She stood up from her sitting position. "I need to see her before she goes for surgery."
Giles nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
Tara felt someone come up from behind her. She turned around to find herself looking into the eyes of Faith. A little smile played at the corners of her mouth. "I have you to thank for us getting together." One tear rolled down her cheek.
Faith reached up and gently wiped it away. "And you'll be staying together. Or I'll be getting a little upset."
"That's not gonna happen." Tara got all sad looking. Faith started to say something. "The reason that Willow's even here is my fault. I shouldn't have thought that I could be happy."
"What are you talking about, girl?" Faith looked at her with confusion on her face. "Everyone deserves happiness. And how in the hell is this your fault."
"Not me, exactly." She sighed heavily. "Dad said that we couldn't see each other anymore. I knew he would not want me happy. He was going to make Willow's life very difficult if we did. And I guess he's right. She was so upset when she left. And I didn't even really get to say goodbye."
Anger flashed in Faith's eyes. Her whole body tensed up. "What kind of a jerk father do you have? I thought mine was bad. I think we're going to have to have a little talk."
"No!" Tara shook her head for emphasis. "It'll only make things worse." There was a little smile on her face. "Besides, I've now got Donny on my side. Thanks to Oz."
Faith smiled and looked at her guy. "He is something else, isn't he?"
Tara nodded. Giles came up and put a hand on her shoulder. "It took some doing, but I convinced them to let you see her. She'll be a little out of it. They've already started to sedate her. But you can be there for her."
"Thank you Mr. Giles." Tara kissed him on the cheek and hugged him quickly at which his cheeks reddened a little.
***
It was the hardest thing that she had ever done. But she was glad she was doing it. She sat with her girlfriend's hand in her own. She was trying to keep her own hand from shaking.
For a brief moment, Willow opened her eyes. "Tara?"
"I'm here." Tara bent down and kissed her on the forehead. "I told you I wasn't going anywhere."
"And I know you always keep your promises." Willow smiled sleepily at Tara. "Thank you."
"This is nothing." Tara again kissed her on the forehead. "I love you."
Willow's eyes brightened. Neither had said those words. Not out loud. "I love you too."