Impact

When Buffy arrived at the hospital that morning, the doctor was in with Giles. She walked into his room just as the doctor was arguing and losing the battle to try and convince Giles to stay in the hospital. Buffy hid a grin behind her hand as she entered behind the doctor, and winked at Giles. He could win an argument without saying a word.

Giles was sitting up in the bed, a robe thrown around him. The doctor held a yellow pad in his hands bearing two words that must have been written by Giles. No easy feat considering that Giles was left-handed, and would have had to use his right hand to scribble the words, “GO HOME.” Home, of course, being the hotel for now.

“Mr. Giles, I cannot in good faith let you leave now. Yes, you have made a remarkable recovery thus far, but you are still far too weak and unstable.”

The doctor had not seen Buffy enter the room, so he was momentarily startled by her input. “I’ll take care of any of his needs.” She stood in the doorway, arms crossed in front of her chest, giving him her signature Slayer gaze. It brooked no argument. Giles smiled. He knew without a doubt he’d be checking out momentarily.

“Just give me a list of his medications and such, and I’ll take care of it.”

“What about changing his bandages?” The doctor hardly thought that Mr. Giles would be in capable hands with this little lady.

“Trust me doctor, I’ve had ample experience at changing bandages.” Then she frowned. Perhaps that wasn’t the best thing for her to have said. “Doctor, you can’t keep him here if he doesn’t want to stay. I’m sure he can sign whatever forms you need him to that says he’s leaving despite your wishes.”

Giles was trying to stand, with some difficulty. Buffy rushed over to assist him, and he gave her a grateful look. They both stood there beside the bed, Giles leaning heavily on her. “Where to?” She arched her eyebrows at him. He nodded towards the closet. “Ah, you want some clothes?” He nodded. “Well, sit here on the bed, I’ll get them.” He sat down heavily. He was weak. As Buffy scrounged in the closet the doctor used Giles’ current predicament to illustrate his point that Giles should remain where he was. Buffy’s anger began to flare. She grabbed some clothes out of the closet that Xander had brought earlier just for this purpose, and turned around to face the doctor again, interrupting his tirade. “This discussion is over, doctor. Giles is going now. I promise you he will remain in bed, resting.” She turned her fiery gaze on Giles, showing him that she wasn’t kidding. The corner of his mouth twitched, and then he nodded his assent.

“Fine.” The doctor finally gave up the fight. “I’ll send the nurse in with your instructions. And I’ll want to see you in a few days, if you’d be so kind to grace my office.” The sarcasm was not appreciated by Buffy or Giles, but their point had already been made. The doctor strode out, grumbling under his breath.

Buffy turned and looked at Giles. He was a mess. The bandages from his head had been removed, and his hair was very short in places from when they had to shave him before. His chest was also wrapped in dressings to keep his ribs from moving, and his left arm wore a thick white cast. What was Buffy getting herself into?

Her momentary panic was short lived, however, when a nurse walked in. She was a different one then they had met before, but now that Giles was out of ICU, there were new faces.

The nurse had been informed by the doctor of Giles wishes, so she was prepared. “Need some help getting dressed?” Giles smiled gratefully.

“I’ll just go phone Wesley to come pick us up, okay?” Buffy gave the nurse his clothing, gave him a quick smile, and headed out of the room. She stopped off at the front desk to get the doctor’s instructions, and get the release forms that Giles would need to sign, before calling for their ride. Wesley wasn’t surprised by the request, and promised to be there shortly.

When Buffy finally returned to the room, Giles was all dressed and sitting in a wheel chair ready to go. Nurse Bunny stood behind the chair. She told Buffy she wanted to help see Giles off, and offered to push the chair. Buffy and Giles thought it was sweet of her to offer. Giles hastily signed the release forms, and then they were off. Bunny slowly pushed him down the hall, with Buffy at his side.

Buffy could tell that Giles was still in a bit of pain. His face was pale and he was squinting beneath his glasses. She thought she should make conversation to try and distract him.

“Your books are still scattered everywhere in the lobby. You won’t believe this, but I actually took one up to my room last night to do some resear…er…to read, to help me fall asleep. It worked.”

He smiled at her.

“It was the Shanshu….recipe book. That one, you know, Japanese cuisine? Very hard to understand.”

Giles nodded, and reached out with his good hand to hold her’s in his. She held his gently, but he squeezed her fingers to try and tell her he understood. Both were oblivious to everyone and everything around them. They were the only two in this world that existed. So neither noticed when Bunny’s eyes clouded over into a yellow haze. By the time she deposited Giles into Wesley’s car, her pupils were back to normal.

Buffy was surprised to see Xander behind the wheel. Where was Wes, she wondered? Her thoughts were interrupted by the nurse bidding them goodbye.

“Take could care of him, now, okay?” Bunny smiled at Buffy, giving her a small hug.

“I will, I promise. Will you please tell Lilly goodbye and thanks for me?”

“You bet I will. Take care Mr. Giles.” Bunny shut the car door and watched them drive off.

Now she knew where the book was. Funny how life threw you roses once in awhile!

In the car, Buffy tried to make Giles as comfortable as possible. She held his good hand in her lap, and he rested his head against her shoulder. “Hey Xan, where’s Wes?”

“Good to see you too!”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

“I know.” Xander gave her a teasing smile. “Wes is working on some kind of case. In fact, he is trying to track down a nurse you know. She’s off for the next day or so, but they can’t find where she lives, or get in contact with her.”

“What nurse? And what’s the big?”

“I don't know now what it’s about. Willow knows a bit. She tried to find some info for Angel on her computer, get the nurse’s address. But it was just a P.O. box, with no phone number listed, which I thought was kind of weird being as this nurse is supposedly fairly new at the hospital. You’d think she’d have to have a phone number where they could get a hold of her.”

“Well, maybe the front desk has her number or something. Peggy seems pretty resourceful.” Giles had fallen asleep against her shoulder. She would have thought it sweet, except for the fact her shoulder was also falling asleep. The nerves were all tingly, but she didn’t want to wake him, so she’d just have to suffer. “You said we know her, what did you say her name was?”

“Oh, I didn’t. That’s the funny thing.” Xander got quiet for a moment, recalling Anya. She wouldn’t have taken the name of the nurse well. “It’s Bunny.”

“Bunny? But she is the nurse that just dropped us off at the car. She is working today.”

“Really? Well, Angel must have gotten that wrong then. We’ll have to tell him as soon as we get back.”

“I wonder what the problem with her is.” Buffy mused. “She’s such a nice lady. Lilly was wonderful too. They were both quite patient with Mr. Stubborn here.”

“Probably easier to be patient with him when he can’t talk.”

“Thanks for pointing that out Xander.”

Xander glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Giles sleeping against his friend’s shoulder. “It’s about time you know.”

Buffy met his eyes in the mirror. “What do you mean?”

“You and him and the coziness. It’s about time.” He smiled at her. She blushed, and then looked at her Watcher resting against her. “Yes, it is.” She brushed some hair off of his forehead, and then rested her cheek against the top of his head the rest of the way back to the hotel.

Between Xander, Gunn, and Wesley they managed to get Giles in a bedroom downstairs. He was exhausted from the exertion, and after the guys helped put him in a pair of pajamas and Buffy changed his bandages, she gave him some medication and he again drifted off to sleep. It was hours later when Xander remembered to tell Wesley about nurse Bunny.

TBC