Love Through Touch

Disclaimer: See Part 1
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For Xander, having more than half of his family in the hospital at once left a desperate veil of chaos to eveything he felt.

Having just Dawn, Star, Kole, Anya and himself on their feet during Christmas, left him feeling frazzled, but strangely happy.

"Well Christmas is ruined" Anya griped in the 'Family' waiting room of Sunnydale General "We're all alive, and some of us are well, but none of us are opening exspensive presents" she shifted Kole in her lap. The little girl slept on, completely oblivious to Anya's shitty mood.

"But the whole 'living' thing is good" Dawn argued softly. She was tired of Anya's constant bitching about how their holiday was ruined. Dawn like everyone else, was just happy they were all still living. Their four hero's had given them quite a scare in the cemetery.

"But-" before Anya could continue a doctor walked into the waiting room.

"Is everything okay?" Xander stepped quickly to meet him, ready to hear the worst.

"Your friends are awake. Well two of them, the blondes, Tara and..." he paused hoping he was reading the name correctly "Buffy? They both wish to see you"

Both Anya and Dawn rose, the sleeping children still in their arms.

"I can only allow two people inside, and I can't allow children" he quickly corrected before he could be bumrushed.

"I hate being young" Dawn muttered before sitting down again. Anya gently lay Kole next to her and left the waiting room with Xander and the doctor.

Buffy and Tara had been placed in the same recovery room as Willow and Hyatt. Xander had asserted himself for once, and pulled some strings to keep the slowly healing young women together. They were much easier to protect that way. Though oddly there hadn't been word on any strange happenings or attacks in the two days they'd been hospitalized. But he still wasn't taking chances.

Buffy was sitting up in her bed, her worried gazed fixed on her best friend and her lover, who still lay in an unnatural healing sleep.

"Are they okay?" she croaked swallowing a few times hoping to make her voice stronger "Are they okay?"

"Yeah just healing" Xander answered wondering where the doctor has disappeared to "The Doc said that you all had concussions. You and Tara" he nodded to the other blonde whose gaze was fixed on the resting redhead "had some minor lacerations all over you. Willow and Hyatt made out a bit worse" he explained as he poured water from the pitcher between the beds for Buffy, while a strangely silent Anya did the same for Tara.

"Worse?" Buffy questioned between sips.

"Hyatt had minor damage done to her lower back. Falling stones we're guessing. Willow, well she took the brunt of damage to her shoulders, neck and head. With her past head trauma they're worried about her becoming comatose"

Buffy nodded silently as Tara teared up "Mycah and Faith?"

"They're releasing Mycah as we speak. Faith's gonna take her to the hotel" Xander hedged.

"Why not just take her home?" Buffy frowned when she noticed Anya staring everywhere but at her.

"They can't. The house is...the quake did some damage, the house isn't stable" Xander said slowly.

"The house isn't 'standing' you mean" Anya amended finally meeting Buffy's eyes "We've salvaged everything we can. Clothes, knick-nacs, kitchen utensils. Thank god we kept the Christmas stuff at our place" she rolled her eyes making Buffy smile.

"But we're all alive?" Buffy cut through the loss of her mothers house, and probably most of her material possesions.

"Yeah" Anya shrugged.

"Then it's okay" Buffy sighed looking to Tara "We're all okay"

The quieter blond nodded, agreeing with the unspoken understanding they all were slowly coming too.

"Yeah we are" Anya blinked several times as she too caught on "Dawn and the mighty munchkins are waiting patiently for you guys to get better. Do not dissapoint them" she told them sternly.

"W-we won't" Tara whispered.

"Good" Anya nodded once then strode from the room.

Xander smiled and began to move after her, then stopped at an after-thought "Oh and Buffy?"

"Yeah Xand?" the slayer asked as she lay back down in her lumpy hospital bed.

"Merry Christmas" he quietly stepped out into the hall, finally letting the warm tears fall for the first time in nearly a month.

"Yeah it is" Buffy spoke to no one in particular.
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Hyatt woke two days after Christmas, sore but happy to be alive. Buffy was up and moving like her normal self, while Tara moved using a wheelchair the hospital insisted she use. They didn't want her overtaxing her energies. They couldn't get Buffy to comply with their instructions.

They continued to worry about Willow. Though the cuts and bruises were fading, she had yet to move or regain consciousness. Her brain activity had yet to change, and her doctors were worried about possible bleeding.

Though they tested and retested her, examined, and x-rayed they could not figure out why the redhead didn't wake up. She wasn't comatose, she just wasn't conscious. She didn't react to stimuli, and had nearly no motor function. They were relieved she continued to breathe on her own.

Buffy had taken to sitting between Hyatt and Willow's beds, touching both at the same time, speaking with each in turn. Tara also spoke to Willow. Her soft words, and whispered pleas for the redhead to wake up went unanswered.

The Hosptial released Buffy on New Years Day, the blonde split her time between the Hotel and the Hospital. She had yet to return to slaying and didn't feel the least bit guilty about it. She had more important things to worry about.

Another week passed before they felt Tara and Hyatt were well enough to release, but Willow had yet to wake up.

"She's not sick" Hyatt informed them the day she and Tara were to be released. She stood next to Willows bed, her fingers resting gently on her temples "It's like she's just too scared to wake up"

"Scared?" Tara looked between her lover and her friend "What does she have to be scared of?"

"What is she 'ever' scared of?" Hyatt shrugged looking from Buffy to Tara.

"Well losing I guess" Buffy leaned over and stroked Willow's hair from her face.

"Or losing us" Tara's eyes widened.

"But we've all been here!" Hyatt reasoned.

"No we haven't" Buffy amended.

"Me, you, Tara, Xander, Anya, Mycah, Faith" she ticked off on her fingers "All been here, spoken to her, several times" Hyatt reminded them.

"The kids haven't" Tara smirked "Dr. Dolittle won't let them in remember?" she tried not to giggle at the nickname they'd given the poor doctor. For all of his knowledge in the medical field, he had no idea why Willow remained in her unconscious state. Xander had called him Dr. Dolittle once behind his back to Buffy as he complained that the man 'did little or nothing to help' Willow's condition. How his tests could 'do so little' to help her situation. He'd muttered that they shouldn't call him Dr. Spry as him name-plate said, but Dr. Dolittle. Because that's all he managed.

"How do we let them in? That floor nurse is like a fricking hawk" Buffy grumbled as she remember trying to sneak past the woman several times to the snack machine that was her only oasis in the headonistic desert of hospital cuisine.

"We could distract her. Make a diversion and sneak the kids in" Hyatt tossed them all a conspirital look.

"Look at us, not even out of this hospital and planning stuff" Tara grinned.

"It's for a good cause" Buffy pouted.

"It's for a Willow cause" Hyatt added her own pout.

"I wasn't complaining" Tara rolled her eyes, she'd learned to ignore the puppy faces, Willow did them so often.

"What'll the diversion be?" Buffy questioned as they leaned conspiritorially over Willow's bed.

After a few moments of discussion they agreed.

"Wheelchair race"
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Dawn sat by the door in the 'Family' waiting room, taking peeks around the corner into the corridor of rooms she wasn't allowed in.

"Is it time yet?" Anya whispered beside her, Star and Kole leaning on her while Jeanie sat between her and Dawn.

"Not yet" Dawn sat back, giggling when her hair licked across Jeanie's face "You guys ready? We have to get into their room fast"

All three younger children nodded, the smaller two grabbing each other's hands.

"Whooooooooooeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

They all jumped at the exuberant yell, only to see Xander whip past the door with Buffy in a wheelchair, her feet raised high off the floor.

"Faster, faster!" the blonde yelled at the top of her lungs as they flew past the nurses station just beyond the waiting room door.

"Stop!" the head nurse screamed, lifting her considerable bulk from the swivel chair behind the desk. She took off after them, her ungainly stride making her look comical as she waddled quickly after the two.

"Now" Dawn and Anya quickly slipped from their chairs, quietly following behind the nurse, who's complete attention was on the loudly racing young adults who'd just rounded the corner.

Jeanie, Star and Kole followed sneakily behind them, forming a straight line so they couldn't be seen head on.

They were feet from Willow's room when a yell reminiscent of Xena was heard. They ducked into the room moments before Hyatt with Tara in the wheelchair flew through the hallway perpendicular to their own. Several orderlies following in their wake.

"Man that looks like fun" Anya muttered as she watched them go past.

The kids gathered around Willow's bed, Dawn and Jeanie taking one of her hands.

"Hey Will" Dawn said softly squeezing the redheads hand "You're missing all the fun. They're having a wheelchair race and Tara's winning"

"No actually I think Buffy's winning" Anya spoke from the doorway as the slayer and Xander flew past again, she pulled the door partially before turning "They're making their second circuit I haven't seen Tara and Hyatt yet"

Jeanie chuckled as she leaned down to kiss the witches cheek "You gotta wake up, who's gonna give Tara her victory kiss? Hyatt maybe?"

Willow twitched.

Dawn and Jeanie's eyes widened.

"I guess she doesn't want Hyatt kissing her girl friend" Jeanie chuckled before backing away.

Willow twitched again.

Kole took Jeanie's spot. Pulling herself partially onto the bed she whispered in Willow's ear. The witch twitched again, and turned her head towards the little girl, whimpering as her fingers flexed.

"Willow? Dawn touched the woman's cheek, causing her to turn her way "Will? Wake up. Come on Will"

"Oh!" Anya exclaimed "Uh oh! The fat lady's headed this way, she's pink and moving slowly"

"That's the head nurse" Jeanie whispered peeking through the door along with Anya.

Star jumped on the bottom of Willow's bed, crawled up until she sat lightly on the redheads belly "Willow!" she said in a strong voice.

The redhead turned her way in response.

"Wake up. We won! And doctor's are stupid, I wanna go home" Star leaned forward and knocked on Willow's forehead "I'm not kidding little missy!"

The redheads eyes fluttered.

"Wake up now!" Star growled into her face.

Willow's eyes opened.

"Good 'cause the fat lady's coming and we can't stay" Star explained to the confused redhead before kissing her cheek and getting off the bed.

"Fat lady?" Willow's voice was hoarse and didn't come out much louder than a whisper.

"Yeah Fat lady head nurse" Jeanie explained.

"She's a bitch" Dawn added from Willow's bedside.

"Oh she's red now. Does that mean she's done? Or still raw?" Anya asked turning from the door again "Oh hi Willow"

The redhead waved, distracted as she tried to take everything in. She was in a hospital, she knew that much from the look of the room, and the smell, not to mention the remarks about 'the fat lady'.

She accepted the cup of water Dawn provided, drinking it down gratefully, managing to give the teen a smile for her thoughtfulness.

She smiled when she heard the Amazon call ring out in the hallway.

Anya chuckled as Hyatt and Tara flew by the head nurse, nearly knocking the woman down, and causing her to waddle rapidly past the room.

"Ok guys we gotta go. Get well soon Willow" Jeanie smiled as she slipped out the door. The other kids chorus her farewell before following her. Anya winked before backing out of the room, and joining the kids in the waiting room.

Willow chuckled to herself and lay back on the bed, she knew it wouldn't be long before one of the Scoobs would be in the check on her.
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Ten minutes later Buffy poked her head in, giving her friend a big smile before pulling Tara in behind her.

"Hey Will" Buffy said softly allowing Tara to rush to her girlfriend.

She stood back a moment and watched as the witches embraced, pressing kisses into each other's hair as they basically checked one another over. She was quick to step to Willow's bed when the witch reached for her as well. She hugged Willow firmly, careful not to squeeze too hard, especially with Willow's weaker condition.

"Fat lady said visiting hours are over" Buffy and Tara eyed each other gleefully "So Xander and Hyatt decided to further distract her. God Will you had us all scared"

"Yeah baby, you just wouldn't wake up. You missed Christmas 'and' New Years" Tara sat beside the redhead stroking her hair from her face "Anya had a cow."

"And small spotted kittens" Buffy added with a chuckle.

"The fat lady's the head nurse?" Willow spoke softly. She was waiting to regain her full voice, her throat remained dry.

"Head bitch you mean" Buffy rolled her eyes "She wouldn't let the kids in to see you. Apparently they cured what ailed you"

"Though our ingenious diversion worked perfectly" Tara kissed Willow's limp hair "I'm so glad you're awake baby"

"Home?" Willow managed after clearing her throat.

"Home is currently a pile of rubble between 1628 and 1632 Revello Drive" Buffy informed her lightly "We are living in the lovely Sunnydale Arms Hotel along with the other people who's home decided they wanted to bow down to the minor earthquake on Christmas Eve"

"Yourse ise is gone?" Willow sat up straight, ignoring the sharp pain in her shoulders and neck "Oh Buffy I'm so sorry"

"It's okay Will. It was just a house" Buffy assured her as she gently pushed her friend back into a reclining position "The family's okay. That's all that matters right now" she paused as a smirk cross her face "Well that and getting you the hell out of here so we can open those exspensive presents Anya's been bitching about"

They all shared a chuckle at that. Tara opened her mouth to add a little something of her own when Star's voice erupted from the outside hallway.

"Yo! Fat lady! Yeah you in the Muu-muu!" the childs voice carried clearly into the room through the crack in the door.

"Excuse me?" the nurses voice came from right beside the door. It was then the two blondes realized they'd almost been caught.

"Yeah I'm talking to you. Where do you get off telling me I can't see my friend? She's sick, and she needs all the help she can get. But Nooo" Star dragged out the vowel "I can't see her 'cause I'm a kid. That's discrimination. But you know what Fat lady? She's gonna be okay. No thanks to 'you' or your so called 'medical experts'. And I just wanted to say" the little girl paused for effect...

"Thanks for nothing asshole"
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Willow lay comfortably on the couch, taking in the view of their suite in the Sunnydale Arms. The mysterious earthquake that had shaken down nearly 21% of the homes in Sunnydale, caused the city to provide emergency housing for those who'd loss their domiciles.

And everyone who'd lost their homes, seemed to be mystically inclined.

"This was alot easier with Giles around" Anya pouted as the Scoobies sat around the large dining room table.

"Well we don't know where Giles is" Xander snapped tiredly.

"Or if he's even alive" Anya finished, though no one had said it before, they'd all been thinking it "He knew everything though" she said into the complete silence she herself had caused when she spoke of the watcher.

"Well the quake only knocked down the homes of the magically inclined" Hyatt said softly "Giles' house was flattened too. But not the Magic Box"

"Well we were there alot but we didn't live there. Everyone's houses went boom, not their places of work" Anya twirled her fingers through her hair.

"She said 'farewell to all your friendly demons'." Willow thought aloud.

"I think the general reaction to that is 'huh' Will" Xander turned in his seat to look at the witch.

"She said farewell to all your friendly demons. Then she said 'envele'. It means to fold" Willow said shortly, then her mouth caught up with her brain "Well this Hellmouth is closed, when she failed to raise the 'old ones' and Buffy dusted her, it permenantly sealed the barrier between us and hell. But she's kicking us out"

"And again with the 'huh' Will" Hyatt was having trouble following, as she looked around at the other Scoobs she noticed the same lost look on their faces.

"She took away our homes. I'm guess all the magic types we've run into in this hotel are on the side of good. You know 'non-people eating' demon types?" Willow sat up slowly, swinging her legs off the couch.

"Yeah" Faith nodded "all the ones I've met don't give off that 'purple people eater' vibe. Hell most of them have kids, or their old."

"A-and some I've run into are the same from the Initiative. The ones we were captured with" Tara added.

"So you're telling me this vamp bitch is kicking us out of Sunnydale?" Buffy sat back in a huff "Geez vengeful much?"

"Well seeing as this Hellmouth is all shut up and not coughing anymore evil up. We don't have a reason to stay" Willow shrugged "Buffy you're free"

Everyone turned their eyes to the stunned slayer. For the witch in fact was right. Buffy 'was' free of Sunnydale.

"Oh my god"
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