Shattered Souls

Tara chuckles as she watches Buffy snarl her nose as she cleans up after Phoenix. Shaking her head, she turns back to Anya who is making nachos for them to munch on. “I’m going to have to get a pooper scooper for Buffy at the pet store.”

“She’s not having much luck with the shovel?” Anya chuckles as Tara rolls her eyes.

Tara groans as the phone rings. “Hello, Summers’ residence.” Tara smirks as Anya grates more cheese.

“Is Buffy there?” Jonathan asks worriedly.

“She’s busy right now, can I help you?” Tara frowns trying to place the voice.

“This is Jonathan, I really have to speak with her.” Jonathan quickly rattles off. “It’s about Warren.”

“What about Warren?” Tara hoarsely questions. “I was hoping the police might have found him by now.”

“NO! He’s still loose. I just saw him buying a gun. I…” Jonathan keeps talking unaware that Tara dropped the phone.

“BUFFY!” Tara screams barreling through the back door towards the slayer, Phoenix running out behind her barking excitedly before growling deeply, making a beeline towards the slayer.

Buffy snaps her head up in surprise, wondering what the hell is going on.

“OPEN YOURSELF, NOW!!!” Tara screams running towards the slayer as she sees movement behind Buffy, watching as Phoenix runs towards the movement. Everything seeming to move in slow motion, as she feels the slayer opening herself at the same time Warren comes into view, a gun pointing straight towards Buffy. “NOOOOOO!!” Tara screams, using the slayer’s power to slam into Warren at the same time he pulls the trigger.

Buffy turns towards where Tara’s looking, unconsciously dropping her walls completely as she watches Phoenix launch her small body at Warren at the same time he pulls the trigger on the gun pointed at herself. Trying to drop out of the way, Buffy cries out in pain as the bullet slams into her shoulder, spinning her around.

Anya screams as she comes out of the kitchen a few seconds behind Tara, watching everything happen, not able to do anything as she watch’s Buffy get shot and spinning around to collapse on the ground at the same time Tara blasts Warren with magic as Phoenix clamps her jaw on Warren’s thigh, growling as she shakes her head viciously.

Tara runs towards Warren, readying a spell to knock the gun from his hand, that somehow he was able to hold onto after she hit him with the first magic blast, eyes opening wide as he turns the gun on her, Tara sends the spell at him at the same time he pulls the trigger. Grunting as the bullet rips through her side, Tara forces herself to continue towards the man, unable to concentrate enough to do any more magic, she reaches him, slamming her foot between his legs as hard as she can, before collapsing, grabbing her side.

Anya cries out, looking from one woman to the other, seeing blue eyes begging her to check on Buffy, Anya stops at the slayer first, dropping down beside her. “Buffy??!!” Anya cries, gently turning her over, whimpering at the blood soaking the slayer’s shirt. Pressing her hand against the wound, she reaches up with a shaking hand, feeling for a pulse, sighing quietly as she feels the slayer’s heartbeat. “Buffy? Please.” Anya whispers, reaching up with a shaking hand, brushing the slayer’s hair from her face.

Tara turns her snarling countenance back on Warren, who’s whimpering as he grabs his balls with both hands, unable to fend off Phoenix who’s snarling and growling at him. “Good, girl.” Tara whispers, trying to stand. Groaning at the pain in her side, she slowly crawls her way the couple yards to the gun, shoving it further away for the time being before working her way towards Anya and Buffy. “Anya?” Tara whispers worriedly.

“I don’t know.” Anya whimpers. “Can you heal her?”

“I’m too unfocused to be of any help.” Tara admits the pain obvious in her voice. “Get the phone, call the hospital and the cops.” Tara shifts the last bit of distance, taking over for Anya by putting pressure on the unconscious slayers shoulder.

Anya stands starting to run back to the house, when she hears the sirens. Turning surprised eyes back to Tara. “Somebody else must have called them?” Anya half questions half states.

“Go out front, flag them down.” Tara swallows hard, trying to ignore the pain in her own body as she looks down at Buffy. “Anya!! Get Phoenix in the house, I don’t want her to go after whoever might be coming to help.”

Anya nods, calling to the dog, quickly getting her to go in the house before shutting the door and running around the front to wave down the police cars and ambulance.

Anya runs back towards Buffy and Tara, frowning as she notices the amount of blood coming from Tara’s wound. “Lay down, Tara.” Anya begs as she takes over putting the pressure on the slayer’s wound watching as Tara turns even paler, before slowly falling over. “HURRY UP!!” Anya screams at the paramedics and policemen running into the yard.

“We got it, ma’am. Give us room.” The first paramedic orders as he quickly inspects the wounds, putting a pressure bandage on Buffy’s wound as another paramedic works on Tara.

“What happened?” The Sergeant questions as he watches the woman shake, her scared eyes watching the paramedics work on the two women.

Anya looks at the Sergeant with shell shocked eyes. She points towards Warren who’s still whimpering on the ground. “He came out of nowhere with that gun.” Anya shifts her hand to point towards the gun. “He shot Buffy, as Tara tried to come help, he shot her. Tara kicked him in the balls.”

The Sergeant tilts his head as he looks at the man, seeing what looks like a good bite on his thigh. “The bite?”

Anya looks up at him, silently begging him, even as she can hear Phoenix howling and barking in the house.

The Sergeant sighs looking from the man that obviously came in trying to kill these women to the house where a dog had tried to protect it’s family. Nodding his head silently. “I can’t blame him for protecting you, I guess the perpetrator must have gotten bit before showing up here.” He gives the woman the reassurance she needs, with her two friends being shot, she doesn’t need the added heartache of having the dog taken away for protecting them.

“Her.” Anya whispers, the tears finally falling from her eyes. “Just a puppy, roughly five months old.” Anya admits quietly, her gaze back on the paramedics as they hook up IV’s and put the two women on stretchers.

“The other ambulance should be here in a few minutes. We’re going to go ahead and get this one to the hospital.” One of the paramedics states hurriedly as they lift the stretcher, partly carrying, rolling the slayer towards the ambulance. “Ma’am, it’s imperative that we get these women to the hospital as quickly as possible. Can you get there by yourself?”

Anya nods her head as she watches another pair of paramedics run into the back yard, gathering Tara, taking both women towards the waiting ambulances.

“Ma’am?” The Sergeant watches his partner cuff the suspect after gathering the gun, placing it in an evidence bag.

Anya turns haunted eyes towards the policeman. “I’ve got to get to the hospital. I have to contact Willow and Xander.”

The Sergeant sighs quietly, looking at the other set of policemen looking for any other evidence. “Jackson?” He calls to one of the policemen. As he looks towards him, he nods towards Anya. “Can you make sure she gets a hold of the people she needs to call and makes it to the hospital while we take in the perp?”

“Yes, sir.” The policeman walks towards Anya. “Sir, there isn’t anything else that we can find. Looks pretty cut and dried. Plus the fact the perp fit’s the description of last nights attempted robbery.”

“I noticed.” The Sergeant nods his head in acknowledgement. “Ma’am, Jackson will make sure you’re taken care of. We‘ll have to get signed statements, but we‘ll do that later.”

Anya whimpers quietly as the policeman wraps a comforting arm around her shoulders, urging her towards the police car.

*********************

Anya shakes uncontrollably in the waiting room, one of the nurses having gotten her a blanket as she realized the woman was in shock, wrapping her up gently before going back to her duties. Looking up every time someone walks by the door, Anya whimpers quietly at the thought of her two lover’s in the operating room.

********************

Willow almost crushes Christina’s hands as they run into the hospital. “Buffy Summers, Tara Maclay! Anything on them?” Willow almost screams at the nurse, her eyes filled with tears ready to drop at a seconds notice.

“Are you family?” The nurse question as she pulls up the names on the computer.

“They don’t have any family, they only have us, their friends and loved ones.” Willow snarls looking at the woman. “What’s their condition?”

The nurse unconsciously shifts away from the redhead before looking back at the computer, punching up the other name. “It looks like they’re both still in surgery, I don’t have any other information at this time.”

“I want to know as soon as you hear anything, ANYTHING, understand?” Willow narrows her gaze on the nurse, before practically dragging Christina behind her as she heads towards the waiting room. “Anya?” Willow hesitantly questions the ex-vengeance demon, dropping Christina’s hand as Anya’s haunted eyes look up at her, silently begging for everything to be put to rights. Willow whimpers before running towards the shop keeper, sitting down beside her to wrap the unresisting woman in her arms.

“He, he just showed up. We got a call, Tara ran out the door screaming for Buffy, and he shot them.” Anya whimpers, crying brokenheartedly. “He shot both of them.” She keeps repeating over and over again, shaking uncontrollably.

“I’ll see if I can’t get more information.” Christina whispers softly, catching Willow’s eyes for a brief moment, nodding silently at the thanks she sees reflected there.

“They’re strong, Anya. They’ll make it.” Willow whispers rocking the distraught woman, silently praying that they will be alright. Closing her eyes, Willow tilts her head against Anya, surprised at how small the woman seems at this moment.

“I can’t lose them, Willow.” Anya whimpers. “Can’t.” Anya curls up into a small ball, pressing herself against the redhead as she shakes uncontrollably.

Xander comes skidding to a halt outside the waiting room, sliding in, watching as Willow cries silently while trying to comfort Anya. “Anything?” He hoarsely questions as he walks towards the two women, kneeling in front of them, gathering them both in his arms as all three Scoobies cry.

******************

Xander paces nervously, looking occasionally over at his ex-fiancée as she finally fell asleep from pure exhaustion with a healthy dose of shock, leaning against, of all people, Willow. Biting his lip, he allows a small smile to cross his face at Willow’s new girlfriend Christina as she glances at him with concern as she holds Willow gently against her side. “I’m going to get some more coffee and snacks.” Xander finally whispers before turning and striding out of the waiting room.

Christina glances down at the table that already has quite a few snacks, sodas and partially drank coffee on it, shaking her head.

“It’s what he does in times like these.” Willow whispers, rubbing her cheek against Christina. “He does food runs to try and keep busy, to keep his mind off what’s happening.”

“I be a wishin’ there was somethin’ more I could be a doin‘.” Christina softly whispers, her accent extra heavy with the emotion coursing through her.

“Goddess, why can’t they at least tell us if the surgeries are going well?” Willow whispers looking up at the clock for probably the hundredth time. “We’ve been here for hours.”

“Want me to be a seein’ if I cain shake somethin’ loose?” Christina offers hoarsely.

Willow smiles softly at the woman. “I don’t want you to leave me.” Willow finally whispers after a few moments, smiling as Christina wraps her up more firmly in her arms.

“Then I be a stayin’.” Christina places a kiss on top of Willow’s head.

“Excuse me? Are the family for either Buffy Summers or Tara Maclay here?” A nurse questions quietly from the doorway.

“Both.” Willow answers, looking down as Anya wakes up, looking at the woman with swollen, red eyes and a tear stained face.

“What is it?” Anya questions, uncurling herself to stand shakily, walking towards the nurse. “Please, how are they?”

The nurse nods, as she reads the note on the chart that the two women didn’t have any actual family but the friends that were there for them. Sighing quietly, she looks up as a young man walks in, wrapping his arm around the woman questioning her to support her.

“It was touch and go, but it looks like they’re both going to make it. The one woman, Buffy Summers, that was shot in the shoulder lost a lot of blood, and looks like there was some nerve and muscle damage from the bullet, but it looks like she should heal without losing too much mobility in her arm. Tara Maclay is in a little worse condition, there was a lot of internal damage from the bullet, it looks like it had shifted around a bit inside her.” The woman hesitates looking up when the blonde whimpers quietly.

“She went after the guy that shot them, then dragged herself back over to Buffy.” Anya explains, tears starting to fall again.

“That might have caused it.” The nurse frowns, wondering how the woman could have moved at all with being shot where she was. “The doctors had to remove her spleen and her large intestine was nicked along with a few other things. She’s going to be on some heavy antibiotics to try and counteract that. She isn’t completely out of the woods yet, but it looks promising.”

“Where are they?” Willow questions as she leans heavily into Christina’s side.

“They’re in recovery right now. Ms. Summers was out of surgery first and will be put in a room in another hour. They won’t be allowed any visitors for a while yet.” The nurse smiles apologetically at the group of young people.

“Can they be put in the same room to recover together?” Anya questions hopefully. When the nurse looks up starting to shake her head no, Anya stiffens, her eyes starting to flash. “Those two women will do a lot better if they’re in the same room. Do whatever you have to, but they should be able to recover together. I want to see them, now.” Anya states imperviously, her backbone finally reasserting itself after hearing her lovers should be okay.

“Ma’am they can’t have visitors.” The nurse tries to tell Anya again.

“Fine, but I want to see them. I’m not going to visit with them, I just want to see them from the doorway.” Anya strides towards the nurse, looking at her angrily. “And I want to see them in the same room, together!”

“Give me a few minutes.” The nurse finally gives in as she looks from one angry, unforgiving face to another, before turning around to talk with the doctors of the two women.

Anya starts to pace back and forth as she waits for the nurse to come back, biting on the edge of her thumb nail in worry.

Xander looks in confusion from Anya to Willow. “Why are you insisting on them being in the same room?” Xander finally questions Anya softly.

“That’s where they would want to be.” Anya answers shortly, as she runs shaking hands through her hair. “Want to be together.” She whispers, her eyes on the doorway as she spins on her heel pacing back and forth.

Willow blinks a couple times as she watch’s Anya, hearing what she’s saying, trying to figure out what she isn’t saying. When an idea of what Anya is trying to say pops in her head, her eyes open wide. “Anya?” Willow questions hesitantly, watching as Anya turns haunted brown eyes towards her. “You three?” Willow softly whispers the question.

Anya slowly nods her head towards Willow. “Today.” Anya finally admits, her eyes starting to fill with tears again. “This morning, actually.” Anya drops down in the nearest chair, placing her face in her shaking hands as the sobs start working through her body. “Can’t lose either one of them. I can’t, not after finally getting us together, it just wouldn’t be fair.”

Xander stands there in stunned disbelief as he looks from his ex-fiancée towards his best friend with haunted eyes. Finally shifting towards the nearest chair, he slumps down, burying his face in his hands as what Anya said sinks in.

************

“Okay, two of you can go see the two women, but only from the observation window. You can’t go in the room.” The nurse looks at the group of people, not surprised when the one woman stands up quickly, walking her way.

Anya turns back, looking towards Willow and Xander. “Which one of you want to go?” Anya questions softly.

“Wills, you go.” Xander looks up at the redhead, nodding his head towards Anya. “She would probably rather have you with her, than me anyway.” Xander admits quietly.

Willow frowns at her best friend, before sighing quietly. “Thanks, Xan.” Willow whispers as she walks towards Anya, offering her hand towards the shopkeeper.

The two women follow the nurse to the room they’d put Buffy and Tara in. Anya’s legs almost give out as she looks through the window at the two pale, lifeless women that such a short while ago had been full of life, joking and making love. Placing her hand against the windowpane separating them, Anya tilts her forehead against the cool glass as tears drop unheeded down her cheeks.

Willow wraps her arm around the shaky ex-demon to help support her, while whimpering quietly at the sight of the machines hooked up to the two blondes, the IV drips and other numerous things taking their vitals and delivering much needed medication and blood.

“You guys should probably go home, try and get some rest. They probably won’t be conscious for a long time.” The nurse offers quietly, not surprised when both women shake their heads.

“I’m staying.” Anya states adamantly as she straightens her back, wiping her face free of the tears. “And as soon as one of them comes to, I want to be allowed in to talk to them.” Anya turns hard brown eyes on the nurse. “I suggest you make sure that happens.”

The nurse nods her head hesitantly. “We’ll let you know as soon as there is any changes in their condition.”

Anya turns her gaze back on her two lovers. Staring for a few minutes, Anya opens herself to the two women, sending them all her love that she feels, hoping quietly that they might feel it and that it might help them.

Willow turns surprised eyes on Anya as she feels the waves of feelings coming from her. “You really love them both.” Willow whispers softly.

“Yes, I do.” Anya admits, sighing as she closes her eyes. “Damn Hellmouth.” Anya whispers, clenching her hand against the glass pounding twice before turning to walk back towards the waiting room.

Willow turns her gaze from Anya’s back to her best friend and ex-lover. “You two are going to be all right, you have to. You don’t have a choice.” Willow whispers, sending her love towards the two women before slowly following Anya back towards the waiting room.