Chapter 8
A/N: Some parts are taken from the transcript Killed By Death (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer Season 2 episode 18) written by: Rob Des
Hotel & Dean Batali, Directed by: Deran Sarafian, and Transcribed by: AleXander Thompson and can be found at TWIZ TV.COM
The parts of the transcript will be in red. Also, just so that you know, to make things fit into my universe, I had to change up the order
of some events, so Jenny Calendar is still alive even though she does not make an appearance.
Irish Gaelic Translations http://www.englishirishdictionary.com/
Muirnín: Sweetheart
Ionúin: Beloved
Mo Chroí: My Heart
A few days later, Angel found out just how much Buffy hated hospitals. Buffy had woken up one morning with a high fever. Her mother had kept her home from school and all she had done that day was sleep. She was asleep when he left to patrol. On his way back to her house, he heard, “Well, well, what do we have here? The Slayer. I bet I could take you on.”
Angel raced to where the sound was coming from. When he rounded a corner, he saw his love on he ground about to be bitten by the vampire. Angel growled and staked the vampire as he pulled him off Buffy. “Buffy, you should be home in bed,” he gently chastised her.
“I’m fine. I would’ve gotten him,” Buffy said as the world started to spin and close in on her. She felt like she was going blind and deaf at the same time. “Angel…” she cried out before she fell into the blackness.
Angel caught Buffy before she hit the ground. He then looked up and saw Xander, Willow, and Cordelia running towards him. They rushed her to the hospital. Angel rushed in with Buffy in his arms. Xander, Willow and Cordelia were right behind him.
Xander yelled, “We need help!”
“Somebody, please, now!” Willow demanded.
An intern approached them and asked, “What happened?”
Xander, Willow, and Cordelia spoke at once. Xander said, “She fell.”
Willow informed him, “The flu.”
Cordelia told him, “She fainted.”
As a nurse brought over a gurney, Angel said distraughtly, “The flu, fainted and fell. She's sick, make it better!”
The intern pulled the gurney over to the group that had just invaded the ER and said, “It's gonna be okay. Let's get her up.”
Angel laid Buffy out on the gurney. The intern took out his pocket light and checked Buffy's eyes for a response. The nurse took notes while he spoke as they started to wheel her into the emergency room. They all followed. The Intern was saying, “Patient's unconscious... Pupils are unequal and unresponsive.”
“What does that mean?” Angel asked confused.
Willow asked, “Is she gonna be okay?”
The intern demanded, “Please, you gotta give us some room.”
Dr. Wilkinson then arrived and asked, “What do we have?”
The intern immediately replied, “High-grade fever, possible fractures.”
Dr. Wilkinson ordered, “Get her into Trauma 1, give her a CBC, Chem 7, type and
screen.”
“Right,” the intern said as he and the nurse took her through the doors out of the waiting area and into the ER itself. Angel and Buffy’s friends tried to follow, but Dr. Wilkinson blocked their way, “I'm sorry, you can't go any further.”
“She’s afraid of hospitals!” Angel tried to reason with the doctor.
“Someone should be with her!” Xander exclaimed.
“I'm sorry! You can't go any further,” the doctor insisted.
“I’m her fiancé!”
“I’m sorry, Sir, you can’t go back right now. When we get her stable, I’ll come let you know,” the doctor said with more compassion. She backed in and closed the door in their faces. They looked through windows for a couple of seconds.
Willow reacted first, “I'll call Giles, tell him what happened.” She turned to Cordelia and said, “You call Buffy's mom, tell her what happened, and get her here.”
“As the two of them went to find the phones, Angel and Xander continued to look in at Buffy through the window of the emergency room door. Inside, they could see the doctor and intern still working on Buffy. Xander looked away as they wheeled his friend into Trauma 1. Angel stared through the window and tried to listen to what was happening inside the trauma room, but even with his vamp hearing the closed door blocked his attempts to listen to what was going on. No longer able to hear, he sat down in one of the chairs, rested his elbows on his knees, and covered his face with his hands. He had too much nervous energy to stay that way for long. Rising to his feet he paced the waiting room.”
While Angel alternated between from pacing and sitting down, Cordelia, Xander and Willow were sitting on a row of chairs in the waiting room with worried looks on their faces. Giles was also sitting in a chair waiting and nervously cleaning his glasses. The elevator door
opened and Joyce walked out and saw them sitting there. “Where is she?” She asked looking at Angel.
Before Angel could say anything, all of Buffy friends jumped up and Giles answered Joyce, “She's still in the emergency room.”
“I wanna see her,” Joyce said and started out of the waiting room.
Cordelia informed Mrs. Summers, “They won't let us in there.”
Joyce stopped and looked back at her. Just then Dr. Wilkinson came to the door, “Mrs. Summers?”
Joyce turned and faced her, “Yes?”
“I'm Dr. Wilkinson.”
“Is Buffy okay?” Joyce asked.
“We were able to stabilize her and...”
“Is she okay?” Joyce and Angel interrupted simultaneously.
Dr. Wilkinson reassuringly told them, “She's going to be fine.”
Angel and Joyce were visibly relieved and Joyce said, “Thank you,” and put her hand to her face. Angel looked at the doctor waiting for her to say something else.
Xander, who also relieved but still had some nervous energy of his own, rubbed his hands and said, “Good. Good. That's good.”
Dr. Wilkinson told Mrs. Summers, “I wanna keep her here a few days, though. She still has some healing to do.”
Angel, Giles and Joyce look at her anxiously. Angel had been afraid that Buffy was going to have to stay. He had already decided that he wouldn’t leave this hospital without her.
As they were walking upstairs to where the doctor said that they would bring Buffy, Joyce asked, “What happened?”
“I was on my way back to your house to check up on her when I heard her fighting another vampire. By the time I reached them, she was on the ground. If I hadn’t been there… I thought you were keeping her home tonight?” Angel asked a little too harshly.
“I tried. I thought she was asleep in her room,” Joyce defended herself.
“We all know how Buffy can be when she’s determined,” Giles said.
Angel had to agree to that. Her mother could no more keep her home than stop Houdini from escaping. He just nodded that he understood, but didn’t say anything else.
Joyce, Giles, Xander, Willow, Cordelia, and Angel were waiting for Buffy to be brought up. When they saw her coming, they all approached the bed. She had an IV in her right hand and her left forearm was wrapped in an elastic bandage.
While Angel made it to Buffy first, Joyce was the first to speak, “Buffy? Hi, Sweetheart.”
As everyone accompanied her toward her room, Angel said as he took her hand, “Hey, Buffy, we're all here.”
Buffy groggily said, “Hey. Here we are. It's all of we. Are we taking me home?” She tried to get up.
Dr. Wilkinson gently pushed her back, “No. Buffy, you need to lie down, Honey.”
Buffy, still groggy, replied, “Yeah? Lie at home. My bed is better than any bed that's... not my bed.”
Dr. Wilkinson looked at Joyce and informed her, “She's still a little out of it.”
Joyce nodded back.
Buffy looked at Xander, pointed to him and said, “Shhh! Hospital zone. No singing.”
Buffy looked at Dr. Wilkinson as the woman tried to comfort her patient’s mother, “She'll feel better after she's been here a while.”
Buffy started to panic and tried to get up again, “No! Lemme go. Look, I wanna go.”
The orderly that was pushing the bed, two nurses, Angel, and Dr. Wilkinson struggled to get her to lie back down. Buffy put up a fight.
Willow was confused and asked, “Buffy, what's wrong?”
Buffy yelled, “No! No! Let me go!”
“I think she wants to go,” Cordelia stated the obvious.
They managed to get her pushed back down on the bed. Buffy was in full panic and it was hard for Angel to keep her down on the bed. Every time Angel had slipped and started talking in Gaelic, it had a calming effect on his love, so he tried to talk to her in Gaelic, but it wasn’t working. Blind in her panic, she kept yelling, “No, don't do that! Stop it!”
“Hold her steady!” the doctor ordered.
I’m trying to damn it! Angel thought as Buffy kept trying to get up.
Buffy was delirious and was going to try everything to get out of this place, “Giles, tell them!”
The Orderly and Angel were finally able to hold her down on the bed and the orderly said, “I got her.”
In an effort to get out of the hospital, Buffy screamed, “The vampires! I need to kill the vampires!”
Dr. Wilkinson ignored her and said in a calming voice, “This'll help you relax.” She put a needle against Buffy's inside elbow and injected her with a sedative. Xander threw Giles a concerned look while Cordelia cringed and looked away.
Buffy winced in pain, “Ow! No!”
When the doctor pulled the needle back out, she laid back and breathed heavily.
Xander trying to cover for Buffy’s talk of vampires said, “It's gotta be the fever.”
“Yeah, it made her delusional,” Willow insisted.
Buffy turned to Giles insistently and said, “They're out there!”
Giles smiled reassuringly, “Yes, uh, well, we'll, uh, we'll get those, uh, vampires later.” He laughed lightly, looked at the doctor and said, “I hear it's best t-to play along.” He kept smiling.
As the sedative took effect, Buffy began to relax. As one of the nurses checked her IV, Joyce leaned in and stroked her hair, “Honey, listen...”
“I wanna go home,” Buffy whined.
“It's gonna be okay. I promise,” Joyce tried to comfort her daughter.
As they started to wheel her away again, Buffy begged, “Please don't make me stay here...”
“I *promise*,” Joyce said one more time.
“Angel, take me home, please,” Buffy pleaded with the one person who she knew couldn’t deny her anything.
And if Angel hadn’t known it was best that she stay here in the hospital, he would have taken her home. He could smell her fear. He held onto her hand, leaned down and kissed her forehead, and said, “Muirnín, it’ll be ok. I promise. I won’t leave your side the whole time you’re here.”
The doctor looked at the young man who had made the promise and then looked at the teenager’s mother and saw that her mother didn’t have a problem with the man staying with her daughter and nodded her ok to his promise. What she didn’t understand was that Angel was going to stay with his fiancée with or with out the doctor’s permission.
Every one followed as Buffy was taken to her room. Angel went in the room as everyone else waited outside the door as it closed. Xander looked in through the narrow window and after a moment, he looked over at Giles and said, “That was a new experience. I'm not used to seeing Buffy scared like that.”
“Yeah, she just *hates* hospitals. Ever since she was a little girl,” Joyce explained.
Willow asked, “What happened?”
“When she was eight her cousin, Celia, died in a hospital. Buffy was alone with her at the time.”
“Yuk!” Cordelia declared.
“Yeah, they were very close.”
“Wow, and she was eight?” Willow asked.
Joyce looked into Buffy’s room and said, “Well, it looks like she's asleep. I should go call her father.” She headed toward the nurse's station.
Giles accompanied her saying, “Um, I-I think there's a, a phone...”
Buffy stirred in her bed. The clock on the nightstand changed to read 2:27am, her IV was slowly dripping in, the LED on the heart monitor next to the
IV blinked steadily. She took a deep breath as she woke up. She blinked her eyes several times before looking over at the door. It was standing open,
and a young boy was there just silently staring in at her. A few moments later, he started walking down the hall. She continued to look out the door,
and a man in a black suit and hat walked by.
He glances into Buffy's room as he walked by. She saw his face. It was all disfigured, his nose was long and bent down to a point, his teeth were all
long fangs, and his fingers were grossly elongated. He looked back after the boy and continued to follow him out of view. Buffy raised her head in
disbelief. She pushed her hair back with her bandaged hand and slowly sat up. She got out of bed and steadied herself to a stand. She tied her robe
closed as she walked out of the room.
It was deserted except for the janitor mopping the floor behind her. As she walked, she had a flashback to her youth, and the corridor was suddenly
brightly lit. Little Buffy came walking down the bright but deserted hall. It was as if Buffy was suddenly watching a movie and the view closed in on
Little Buffy’s face. It then, cut to her view of a cart of surgical instruments. Then it cut to her again, looking around nervously as she walked. The view
then cut to a shot from behind her as she approached Celia's room. Sunlight was pouring brightly from the door. She edged up to it and went in.
The view cut to inside the room. Little Buffy came in and slowly went over to the curtain pulled around Celia's bed.
The clock on the nightstand changed to read 2:27am. Buffy stirred and woke from her dream. Her door was open, but there was no one there. She pushed her hair back with her bandaged hand and slowly sat up. She looked over and saw Angel dozing in the chair beside her bed. She felt the IV in the back of her right hand and looked at it. She pulled the tape off and the needle out. She covered her face with both hands, drew them back through her hair and started to get out of bed as quietly as she could.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Angel asked startling her.
“I’m going for a walk,” Buffy said as she tried to stand up.
Angel held out his hand and said, “I’ll walk with you.”
Buffy smiled and took his hand. When Buffy was standing on her own, Angel gave her a kiss on the lips, then Buffy held her robe closed with her hands and they walked out into the hall. It was deserted except for the janitor mopping the floor behind them. She heard coughing coming from a room and looked in. A woman was tucking in an old man and comforting him.
They heard the woman say, “You'll be fine. Is that better?”
They continued down the hall and looked into the next room. An old woman was sitting on the edge of the bed with her face in her hands. They continued, heard the old woman cough and Buffy let out a little cough of her own. They passed another doorway and a security guard looked out from the doorway and watched them go.
Buffy told Angel about her dream and how the disfigured man in her dream reminded her of Freddie Kruger. Angel of course didn’t know who Freddie Kruger was and Buffy told him that Freddie was a monster from a horror movie named A Nightmare on Elm Street. Angel just thought that the dream was due to the fever.
Buffy and Angel walked toward a door as two orderlies wheeled a child covered with a sheet out of the ward.
They overheard the orderly say, “Man, I hate it when you lose the young ones.”
The orderlies went down the hall past Buffy and Angel. Buffy looked at the gurney as they went by. She turned back to the children's ward door and slowly approached it. Angel just kept walking with his arm around her waist. They could hear Dr. Wilkinson and Dr. Backer arguing inside in hushed tones, so they didn't go in.
Dr. Wilkinson was saying, “I'm just saying, step back on the dosage until we can analyze the results.”
Dr. Backer argued, “There isn't time. I should think that would be clear to you by now.”
Buffy peeked into the room and saw them arguing.
“The normal course of treatment...”
Dr. Backer interrupted, “They *aren't* responding to the normal course of treatment.” He gestured to the kids, “Look, they're getting worse.”
“Raising their temperatures is poten...”
“Dr. Wilkinson! I have the consent of the parents.”
“They're desperate! They don't understand what you're...”
“You know what, if-if you have a problem with my methods, just take it up with the board.”
“I have!”
They had heard enough, so they turned away to go. There in front of them was the little boy Buffy saw in her dream and a little girl. They stopped and they all looked at each other.
“He comes at night. The grownups don't see him. He was with Tina. He'll come back for us,” the little boy said.
“Who?” Buffy asked.
“Death,” the little boy answered.
Buffy and Angel looked back and forth between the two kids in disbelief and then looked at each other. A nurse came up to them, smiled, and said, “There you are, Ryan. And this time you have a friend with you. Come on, let’s get you two back to bed.”
On the way back to the room, Buffy said, “Angel, that was the same little boy in my dream.”
“Well, do you think that your dream was trying to tell you that he’s in danger?” Buffy looked at Angel and sadly nodded her head. “Well, we’ll just keep an eye on him while we’re here,” Angel said in an effort to comfort the woman who would become his wife in a week.
When they reached Buffy’s room, Angel helped her into bed, and sat back down in the chair and held her hand. It wasn’t long before Buffy was asleep once more.
Once again Buffy dreamt of her cousin, Celia. Celia was on the bedroom floor covered with pillows and writhing around, pretending to be trapped under a pile of snow and ice.
“Help me, help! Avalanche! Help! Help! I'm trapped! Avalanche! Help! Help!” Celia called out.
Little Buffy came in through the door and stopped in a heroic stance with her hands on her hips and called out, “Power Girl to the rescue!” She knelt down and started to heave off the pillows as though they were huge, heavy blocks of ice and snow and thudded them aside.
Celia called out again, “Help me! Help! Help! Please, help!” Buffy got the last pillows off of Celia's face, and she sat up. “You saved me! Thank you, Power Girl!” The two girls embraced.
Little Buffy told the young girl, “You're safe now.”
Then her dream cut to Little Buffy going into Celia's hospital room. She slowly approached the curtain around the bed and opened it enough to look in at her cousin. She stepped through. Celia was lying there peacefully asleep.
Buffy woke with a start and saw Angel was still sitting by her bed holding her hand.
Dr. Wilkinson came in and greeted her patient, “Good morning.”
Buffy moaned, rubbed her eyes, sat up, and said, “Could've fooled me.”
Dr. Wilkinson said, “How are you feeling? I bet you would feel better if you had the widow shade up. Sunshine has a way of making you feel better.
“My fiancé is allergic to the sunshine.” Buffy said as she looked over and smiled at Angel. He was still dozing in the chair.
“Oh I see. Well, it looks like your fever's gone down.”
“Well, good! Thanks for having me. Let's try and keep in touch,” Buffy said as she tried to get out of bed.
Dr. Wilkinson pushed her back, “Not so fast.” As she inspected Buffy's bandaged arm, she said, “Hmm.”
“Good 'hmm' or bad 'hmm'?”
“Swelling's... gone!” The doctor looked up, “Does this hurt?”
“Nope.”
Dr. Wilkinson got Buffy chart and said, “Amazing.”
“Well, then I should probably go, right?” Buffy tried to go again.
Dr. Wilkinson stopped her again, “No. Soon. We have to make sure that fever is gone. That's a strong virus you have. Maybe not as strong as you, but...”
Buffy remembered about the children and asked, “I-is that the same virus the kids have?”
Before Dr. Wilkinson could answer there was a knock on the door.
Giles poked his head in the door and asked, “May we come in?”
Dr. Wilkinson said, “Please!” and Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and Giles walked into the room. “Maybe you can keep our patient from bolting.” The doctor turned to Buffy, and sternly said, “Rest! Hmm?” She then left the room.
Xander presented his friend with five balloons and said, “Flowers for milady.”
Buffy looked up at them and said, “I think they call those balloons.”
Xander looked up, “Yeah, stick 'em in water, maybe they'll grow.”
Willow wasn’t going to be outdone; she set school books on the bed.
“Homework!” Buffy cried.
Willow told her, “It's my way of saying, 'get well soon'.”
“You know, chocolate says that even better.”
“I did all your assignments. All you have to do is sign your name.”
Giles munched on a grape and Buffy grinned, “Chocolate means *nothing* to me.”
“Willow, if you do her assignments for her, how is she supposed to learn?” Angel asked with his eyes closed.
“Does that mean that you’re going to make me do it all over?”
Angel opened his eyes and looked at Buffy and said, “After what you just went through a few days ago with Snyder accuse you of cheating? Do you want to cheat now? You know he will be watching you.”
“You are, aren’t you,” Buffy looked at her fiancé and pouted.
“I’m not going to make you do anything. I am just reminding you of what you just went through. And you didn’t cheat that time. Look at what may happen if you cheat this time,” Angel said. He knew by the look on her face that she would at the very least, copy the homework in her own handwriting. If she did that, then maybe she would be able to keep up with the classes that she missed out on because of being sick.
Willow stepped back and looked up at Cordelia who said, “Nobody told me I was supposed to bring a gift.” She looked at Giles like it was all his fault and continued, “I was out of the loop on gifts.”
Giles informed her, “It's, it's tradition among, um... people. Um...” He walked up to the bed, “Grapes.” He set down the bag, “Well, did you, uh, pass the night well enough?”
A nurse came into the room and walked around the bed. Buffy answered, “Not really. Something happened I thought you...” The nurse checked Buffy's IV. “You know what? Let's take a walk.”
“I’ll wait right here,” Angel said not moving from the chair beside the bed and closed his eyes once again.
Outside in the sunshine, Willow pushed Buffy along in a wheelchair while the others walked alongside.
“Now, this part I could get used to,” Buffy said.
Willow asked, “Do you want me to go real fast?” When she saw that she got a look from Giles, she added, “Not that I would.”
“We were discussing, um, stuff,” Giles prompted.
“Yes, stuff. Um, you know, a girl died here last night.”
“How?” asked Willow.
“Well, the flu.”
Xander was confused and stated, “Flu doesn't exactly sound monsterific.”
“I know. But there's this Dr. Backer, and he's been giving them these experimental treatments,” Buffy explained. They stop by a bench and Giles sat down. Buffy continued, “I-I'm not sure what he's up to, but he's a little creepy. A-and then there was this kid, Ryan. He said he saw something.”
“Saw what?” Giles asked.
“Death,” Buffy answered.
“Death?” Cordelia asked.
“*The* Death? As in, 'it is your time'?” Willow inquired.
“Buffy, a-a-a frightened child...” Giles tried to reason.
“Yeah, but I thought I saw something. I'm not sure; I was really out of it, but...” Buffy interrupted.
“But you do know that you saw death,” Cordelia tried to confirm.
“Did it have an hourglass?” Willow asked intrigued.
Xander remembered the 1957 movie, Sjunde inseglet, Det, and gave some advice, “Ooo, if he asks you to play chess, don't even do it. The guy's, like, a whiz.”
“Maybe it wasn't death. Maybe it was something else,” Buffy wondered.
“So this isn't about you being afraid of hospitals 'cause your friend died and you wanna conjure up a monster that you can fight so you can save everybody and not feel so helpless?”
“Cordelia, have you actually ever heard of tact?” Giles asked.
“Tact is just not saying true stuff. I'll pass.”
“Your mom did tell us about your cousin,” Willow told Buffy as Cordelia sat down also.
Even though she was dreaming about her cousin, Buffy told her friends, “This has nothing to do with that. This little boy, Ryan, is afraid of something, something real. As long as I'm forced to stay here, I'm gonna find out what.”
“So, is this the part where we say, what can we do to help?” Xander quipped.
That evening, Buffy and Angel went back to the Children’s Ward. They stopped by the door and looked into the room. Ryan was sitting at a table drawing a picture with crayons. Buffy and Angel walked over to him.
Buffy asked, “Hey. Remember us?”
“You shouldn't be here,” Ryan informed her.
“Why not?” Angel asked.
“Contagious.”
“Nah. I already got what you got and he can’t get sick.” She sat down at the table. Ryan started drawing his picture again. Buffy noticed that Ryan wasn’t interested in talking so she said, “Oh, what, you think because I'm a grown-up? Believe me, I'm not that grown up.” She saw that his picture was the monster that she saw in her dream.
“He'll come again tonight.”
“Ryan, listen to me.” He looked at her and she continued, “I'm not gonna let this thing hurt you. Any of you. Grown-ups don't believe you, right? Well, I do. We both know that there are real monsters. But there's also real heroes that fight monsters. And that's us.”
He looked away and started to draw his picture again and said, “Can't fight death.”
Buffy told Angel, “Honey, this is the same demon I saw in my dream.”
“Well, you need to rest some more and I need to make a phone call,” Angel said in hopes to get Buffy back to her room.
“Who you gonna call?” Buffy asked and then cracked up laughing and started to sing the Ghostbusters song. “If there's somethin' strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! If it's somethin' weird an it won't look good, who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! I ain't afraid a no ghost. I ain't afraid a no ghost. If you're seein' things runnin' thru your head, who can you call? Ghostbusters! An' invisible man sleepin' in your bed. Oh who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! I ain't afraid a no ghost. I ain't afraid a no ghost. Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters! If you're all alone pick up the phone, and call Ghostbusters. I ain't afraid a no ghost. I hear it likes the girls. I ain't afraid a no ghost. Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! Mm…if you've had a dose, of a freaky ghost, Baby, you better call Ghostbusters. Bustin' makes me feel good I ain't afraid a no ghosts. Don't get caught alone oh no… Ghostbusters! When he comes through your door, unless you've just got some more, I think you better call Ghostbusters! Ooh... who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! Ah, I think you better call Ghostbusters! Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! Who you can call? Ghostbusters!”
As Buffy sang, Angel looked at the woman who was his future wife and figured that this was a reference to another movie he hadn’t seen. The medicine that they were giving her really made her out of it at times. He walked her to her room and called Giles on his cell phone. When Giles didn’t answer, he left a message for him to call back.
After a nap, Buffy wanted to go back and talk with Ryan some more. Angel and Buffy slowly approached the door to the ward and Buffy looked in, but she and Angel had to quickly step back and out of the way as Dr. Backer came flying out and onto the floor. He groaned and Buffy bent down to help him, but something pushed her away and threw her back into the wall. She hit it hard and slid down to the floor unconscious. Angel rushed over to his fiancée and tried to bring her back to consciousness. When he looked up he saw Dr. Backer's arms lifted by the unseen being, and his body was pulled around and dragged down the hall, around a corner and out of sight. Angel carried Buffy back to her room and laid her down on her bed and waited for her to come to.
Angel was in the chair beside Buffy’s hospital bed reading. Buffy was sitting up in her bed looking at the picture Ryan drew. The grapes Giles gave her were on a plate on the table. Giles appeared in the doorway and knocked. Buffy and Angel looked up as Giles, Xander, Cordelia and Willow came into the room. Willow closed the door behind her.
“Uh, well, it looks as if you, uh, were on to something.” Giles said quietly.
“I know.”
Giles walked around the bed and somberly continued, “The, uh, the, the girl Tina, um, it's apparent that she, she died of the fever,” he leaned against the window sill as he talked, “simple enough, but, but her records show her improving and then suddenly deteriorating w-w-w-without any apparent cause.”
Willow leaned against the foot of the bed and said, “So we checked Dr. Backer out. This guy was *not* a solid citizen.”
“It wasn't Backer. He was clean,” Angel said sadly.
Cordelia asked, “What do you mean 'clean'?”
“What do you mean 'was'?” Xander asked confused.
“He's dead. This thing killed him, and not with kindness,” Buffy said as she handed Giles the picture.
“You saw it?” Willow asked.
As Giles looked at the rough child's drawing, Buffy answered, “No, it's invisible. I saw Backer nearly shredded and the thing knocked me down. But it's real. Which means I get to fight it.”
“Um,” Giles took off his glasses as he talked, “this is your work?” he indicated the picture.
“No, one of the kids,” Buffy answered looking at Giles like he was crazy.
“Oh. Um... Well, it would help if-if we knew what it was,” he exhaled and continued, “I-it's invisible to you, but the, the children can see it. Angel, can you see it?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean anything. There are some demons that even other demons can’t see,” Angel answered.
Cordelia interjected, “But you said you did see something the other night.”
“Uh, yeah, but I was pretty delirious. I mean, it doesn't make any sense. Why would I see it then and not last night?”
The door to the room opened, and Buffy's mother came in. “Good morning,” she said cheerfully. Giles put his glasses back on. She set down the bag she brought with her. “Ooo, looks like I interrupted a secret meeting.”
Angel said, “No, just Slayer stuff.”
“Oh. I think that you should rest some more before you get back to slaying, Honey. Don’t you agree, Angel?”
“Yes, but it seems as though that Buffy is the only one that can fight this thing,” Angel gravely answered.
Joyce was not too happy with that answer, but she wasn’t sure what to do about it. Like or not, sometimes her daughter had to save the world. “Well in that case I have some good news. I, I just talked to the doctor, and she said I can take you home.”
Buffy considered going home for a moment, but her sense of responsibility got the better of her. “No. I should stay here.”
Joyce was confused. “But, honey, I thought you'd be raring...”
“The demon’s here, Mom. I think you should tell the doctor that my symptoms are flaring up or something.”
Joyce looked at Angel who nodded and then to Giles and he nodded as well. She asked, “Are you sure?”
Buffy answered, “Oh, yeah, but just for a day... or s-so. As soon as we find out what this thing is, how to kill it, I will destroy his a... uh butt and then go home!”
Joyce replied, “Okay, well, I'll, uh, I'll talk to the doctor.”
She went out of the room. Cordelia closed the door behind her.
“So what's the drill?” Xander asked looking at Buffy.
Buffy started giving out the orders like a well practiced general, “Giles, see if you can get a mug shot on that guy. I need to know what I'm fighting.”
As he walked around the bed, Giles answered, “Right. Yes.”
Buffy continued with her orders almost talking over Giles, “Angel and I will check Backer's office. See if we can find any post-its marked ‘why a monster might want me dead’.”
Xander interjected, “Sounds like a plan.”
Buffy continued, “Course, if we find anything, we won't know what it means, so, Will...”
“Oh, yeah, I'm good at medical stuff since Xander and I used to play doctor all the time.”
Xander chuckled and explained, “No, she's being literal.” He got a look from Cordelia so he continued to explain, “She used to have all these medical volumes, uh, and diagnosed me with stuff. I didn't have the heart to tell her she was playing it wrong.”
Shocked, Willow turned to Xander, “Wrong? Why?” Then she turned to Buffy and asked, “How did *you* play doctor?”
Buffy looked to Angel and evasively said, “I never have.” Angel didn’t say anything nor did he give any outward sign that he knew what the teenagers were talking about.
Cordelia raised her eyebrows at Buffy and cleared her throat.
Giles picked up on the hint and said, “Um, fascinating though this is...”
“Yeah, right. Go!” Buffy interjected almost too quickly.
As, Giles, Xander, and Cordelia were walking out of the room, Giles said, “W-w-we'll call you if we... know something.”
As the door was shutting behind the trio, Buffy called out, “Know something soon.”
Buffy opened the door to Dr. Backer’s office and poked in her head. Seeing that it's empty, she opened the door further to let Willow in, checked the hall and closed it behind her as Angel stood guard in the hall. Buffy started to look around and checked out the reference volumes on the shelves by the fridge. Willow looked over the papers on his desk.
“It's weird going through his things,” Willow said as Buffy opened the fridge. “Look, he didn't finish his coffee. Guess he won't.” Willow looked at the printouts.
Buffy closed the fridge and said, “Yep, another person I wasn't in time to save.” She walked to the desk. “It's too bad that vamp didn't put me in the hospital sooner. There's something I never thought I'd hear myself say.”
The two of them kept looking.
“Hey, wait, I think I have something,” Willow said.
“Hmm. Sherlock.”
“Okay, this makes sense. Dr. Backer was trying to inoculate the kids with a controlled dosage of the same virus they already had.” She got a confused look from Buffy so she explained, “Oh, raising their temperatures to burn the fever out of them.”
“Would that work?”
“According to this it was starting to. So he really was trying to help the kids.”
“Till that thing stopped him.”
Cordelia called Buffy and immediately said, “It's called Der Kindestod.”
Buffy asked, “Who is this?”
Cordelia replied, “It's me. I've got your monster!”
“Where's Giles?”
“Looking up stuff.”
“Well, can you put him on?”
“Hey! I found your guy, okay? Just listen.”
“Right.”
“The name means 'child death'. This book says that he feeds off of children by sucking the life out of them. Eew! But anyway, afterwards, it looks like they died because they were sick.”
“So it did kill Tina.”
“Yeah, that's my take. 'Cause it would be looking at the children's ward as basically an all-you-can-eat kind of thing, y'know.”
“Backer was curing the kids and taking away the Kindestod's food.”
“Hence, the slice-age.”
Giles told Cordelia, “I found a picture of how it kills. Let me talk to her.”
Cordelia took the book and looked, “Oh! Eww!”
Buffy asked Cordelia, “What?”
“Oh! Uh, you should see this thing! The way it does its thing, I mean, eww!” She handed the phone to Giles and got up. “Why do I let you guys drag me into this stuff?” She wondered as she left.
Giles talked into the phone, “Uh, uh, Buffy? Are you, are you still there?”
“Hanging on every eww.”
“Uh, the, um, the Kindestod gorges by sitting atop his prey, pinning it down, uh, helplessly. Then he slowly draws out the life. I-it must be, uh, h-horrifying for the victim.” Buffy just stared off into space. Giles concerned asked, “Buffy? Hello?”
Buffy was still holding the phone to her ear and staring off into space, as she realized that this monster killed her cousin.
“Buffy, w-what is it?” Giles asked.
Angel with his enhanced hearing heard everything and took the phone from Buffy and said, “Thanks.” Then he hung up.
In a daze, Buffy said, “It killed Celia.”
Angel asked, “Your cousin?”
Buffy looked at her fiancé and said, “We have to get this thing, Angel, before it gets any more kids.”
Willow said, “You will.”
Talking over Willow, Angel said, “We will, Muirnín.”
Buffy was frustrated and asked, “But how? I-I can't even see it.”
Angel gently reminded her, “You saw it once.”
“Did I? Uh, maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. I mean, I was crazed with that fever. Who knows...”
“Buffy, Ionúin, think about this,” Angel pleaded.
“I have. Lots of thoughts,” she whispered as she crouched down in front of the open fridge.
Willow spoke up, “It's crazy.”
As Buffy searched the test-tubes, she explained, “The fever. That's how you see the Kindestod. That's why Celia could see it. That's why Ryan still can.” She found the right one. “It's the only way.”
Buffy stood back up and faced Angel and Willow.
Angel was still worried and asked, “But how are you gonna fight this thing with 107 degree temperature?”
Buffy looked at the test tube and said, “I guess we'll find out.” Angel heard her heart speed up and knew that she was nervous about this, but he also knew that she would never admit it to anyone. He watched as she uncapped the tube and raised it to drink the serum.
Willow quickly stopped her, “Buffy!”
“Willow, I'm going to do this.”
“Buffy, that's 100% pure. It'll kill you in an instant.”
If Angel could have gone any paler than he already was he would have, instead he morphed into the vampire face and Buffy heard a low growl come from him and looked at him. He quickly morphed back into his human face before Willow saw.
Buffy replied to Willow, “Oh. They really should put that on the label.”
Willow reached into the refrigerator for a bottle of drinking water and grabbed a beaker that was sitting on top. Buffy closed the fridge while Willow set the beaker on the desk and opened the bottle. “It needs to be diluted,” she explained as she poured some water into the beaker and closed the bottle.
“Okay, but this better work fast,” Buffy said.
Willow took the test-tube and drew some of the serum into a dropper, she then held it over the beaker and let a single drop fall in.
Buffy impatiently said, “Faster than that.”
Willow looked up at her, worried, but gave in and put another drop into the water.
As Buffy was about to take the beaker from Willow, Angel said, “Buffy wait.” She looked up at him questioningly. He took her hand, led her to the opposite side of the office for some since of privacy, and said, “Mo Chroí, I don’t like this.”
Buffy interrupted him, “Angel, I have to do this. Even if you took the 100% pure thing, it wouldn’t do anything to you. I’m the only one who can stop this thing.”
Angel sighed, “I know. But I don’t have to like it. I…I…” he sighed and tried to continue again, “If this thing doesn’t work and you don’t make it, I just wanted you to know I love you.”
Buffy’s heart melted and she said, “I love you, too, Angel.” Angel leaned in and gave her a very passionate kiss. Buffy let him hold her there for a few more minutes sensing that he needed this.
After their talk and kiss, Buffy and Angel walked back over to Willow and Buffy took the beaker, held it up and looked at it, then over at Willow and Angel. Angel gave a nod.
Buffy said, “Here's to my health.” After another moment's hesitation, with Angel by her side holding her waist, she drank the water and serum.
By the time they reached the children’s ward, Buffy was already feeling the effects of the virus and walked unsteadily, breathing heavily as Angel supported her.
Buffy groaned, “Oh, God. I'm not sure this was such a good idea.” That did not make Angel feel any better. Matter of fact it made him worry about her even more, but it was too late to do anything about it now. All he could do was hope that she would be able to fight the Der Kindestod and pull through the illness as she did before. He vowed not to leave her side.
Willow was the one to reassure her, “Hang in there. You'll be okay.”
Buffy grabbed a hold of the wall and said, “Okay. I'm okay.”
They finally reached the door to the ward, and Buffy looked in through the door’s window and that the beds were all empty.
Buffy told Angel and Willow, “The kids. They're gone.” They all exchanged a surprised and very worried look.
Willow asked, “What could have happened?”
Buffy leaned on Angel and said, “I don't know.” Buffy turned and faced her best friend and fiancé, “Maybe we're too late. Maybe they moved.” She felt her forehead. “Maybe I don't... I'm burning up!” She looked back into the room and started to see something. “Will? Angel?”
“What?” Willow and Angel asked together.
“I think it's in there.”
Buffy saw a form begin to take shape as though unfolding. It stepped over to a bed, and suddenly the Kindestod was clearly visible to Buffy. It looked into a bed and found it empty. She stared at it through the door's window. The monster looked over at another bed and noticed her staring. It straightened itself up and looked at her. Buffy's eyes went wide with fear. It just giggled maniacally and took off its hat to her. It kept an eye on her for another moment as it turned toward the other door to the ward, then it put the hat back on and walked to the other door. The Kindestod opened it and walked through calmly, and as it closed Buffy saw the sign on the door read “Basement Access”.
Buffy frantically tried to follow,
but the door to the ward was locked, and the virus had weakened her so much that
she couldn‘t break it open. She frantically told her companions, “It's going
after them! We gotta get 'em.”
Before Angel could break the lock on the door and get it opened for them to go though, they saw Dr. Wilkinson coming around the corner, “Buffy?” she asked.
Buffy said, “Okay, we'll get 'em in a second.”
Dr. Wilkinson quickly approached them, “What's wrong?”
Angel said, “I, uh, she's not feeling well again.”
As Dr. Wilkinson put her arm around Buffy, she told Buffy, “You should be in bed.”
Buffy argued, “No, no, it's not that bad.”
Dr. Wilkinson was insistent, “No, you're coming with me.” She starts to pull Buffy away.
Buffy said, “No!” and she pushed the doctor away and started to run down the hall. Angel and Willow quickly followed.
Willow looked back to the doctor and said, “She's sorry!”
Dr. Wilkinson grabbed a phone and dialed, “Security, come to the children's ward. We have a situation.”
She hung up and ran after them.
Buffy and Willow ran through a pair of doors. Security guards head them off at the intersection.
Holding his baton threateningly, one of the guards said, “Okay, come on now. We can do this the easy way.”
The two girls give each other worried looks, then Willow has an idea and starts to swat at herself with her hands. She frantically said, “Frogs! Frogs! Get 'em off of me!” Assuming she's the reason they were called, the two guards went toward her as she continued to swat at herself, “Oh, my God, frogs! Get them off of me! Please, help!”
Buffy and Angel edged around the corner and quickly ran down the other hall. Buffy bumped into the wall, unsteady from her fever. Angel steadied her and asked, “Muirnín, are you okay?”
Buffy replied, “We need to get to the basement.”
Angel supported Buffy as they hurried down the basement stairs. “Muirnín, something just occurred to me. You don't know how to kill this thing.”
“I thought I might try violence.”
“Solid call,” Angel said as they headed down a tunnel.
They hear the kids screaming. Ryan had been thrown down by the Kinderstod and he was trying to get up. The monster growled as it slowly came for him. Ryan turned around and looked up at the Kindestod. He couldn’t scream for fear. It knelt and leaned over him, and Ryan started to scream again. It took his head to hold him steady. The boy watched as the monster's eyes bugged out and split open. They extended from their sockets down toward his forehead. The monster drooled heavily and licked its lips. Its eyes made contact with Ryan's forehead. He screamed as he felt his energy being drained. Suddenly, the Kindestod got hit in the head with a large section of pipe, and its eyes snapped back into their sockets. Buffy was standing over it with the pipe held ready. “You make me sick,” she said.
The Kindestod stood up and faced her. She swung the pipe at it again, but the monster blocked it and knocked it from her grip. Although Angel couldn’t see it, he saw that Buffy was fighting something and took the opportunity to go to Ryan and lift him up from the floor. “Up,” Angel said gently as he picked the boy up and carried the boy over to the other kids.
Buffy was not in top form as she fought the Kindestod, and it gained the upper hand and punched her twice in the face, then threw her against a pipe.
Angel found the other children and started to herd them away, “C'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Hurry!” He followed them, throwing a few glances over at Buffy along the way.
She swung twice at the monster, but it just leaned back and avoided the blows. It grabbed her again and threw her into another pipe. She recovered quickly, spotted a raised grating and hopped up onto it. She took a good look at the Kindestod, and then jumped from the grate and landed a hard kick on its face. It stumbled back and to its knee as she landed on her feet. She kicked it three more times while it tried to get back up.
Angel came back after leading the kids away and watched her fight. He saw her kick, but to him it looked like she was fighting thin air. He heard her get hit, and she spun around and let out a grunt of pain. He had to fight his own instinct to go help her. He wanted to help, but he couldn’t see the thing to fight it.
The monster took her by the shoulder and backhand punched her in the face again. He took her by the throat, lifted her up and threw her into some sections of large duct tube. Buffy was dazed and she just laid there on the pipe. Angel started to go to her, but then realized since he couldn’t see the monster, that he might distract her, so again, he had to fight his instincts to protect her.
The Kindestod reached down for its hat, brushed it off and put it back on. Buffy recovered from her daze, but not in time to get away as it knelt and reached for her head. It held her steady with both hands. Its eyes bug out and split open again. She reached up for its head with both hands and gave it a good quick twist. The monster's neck snaps loudly, and it fell over dead next to her. Buffy stood up and looked down at the Kindestod's prone body. Angel finally dared to come closer. Concerned he asked, “Are you okay?”
“Actually,” she looked up at him, “I think I'm starting to feel better. Let's...” She took a step, but lost her balance and fell into Angel. “Oh!”
He puts his arm around her to support her, and they go. He asked, “He's dead right? I mean, I heard something snap. That was his bones and not your bones, right?”
“That would be his neck.”
Angel took Buffy back to her room to let her sleep off the fever. That evening, she was released from the hospital. Angel and Joyce decided that it was for the best that Buffy be in her own room and in her own bed for the next couple of days. Angel stayed with Buffy and had to endure watching teenage horror movies with Willow, Xander, and Buffy.
“That’s what the Der Kindestod looked like?” Angel asked when he saw Freddie Kruger.
“Yeah, well without the razors for fingernails. And his nose was a lot bigger. But the burnt look, yeah,” Buffy said. She was lying back comfortably leaning against Angel’s chest as he sat behind her propped against the headboard. Xander was lounging on the bed next to her, munching away on cheesy chips and watching TV. Willow was on the floor next to the bed surrounded with pillows.
Joyce walked in with a sandwich on a plate and a glass of juice, “Here you go, Honey. Peanut butter and jelly, without the crust, just the way you like it.” She sat on the bed next to Buffy and put the glass on the nightstand.
Buffy asked, “And the juice?”
Joyce handed Buffy the plate, “Two parts orange, one part grapefruit.”
“That's my drink.”
“I measured it exactly,” she said as she got up to go.
Buffy looked at the sandwich, “Oh, mom?”
“Mm-hm?”
“I wanted crunchy peanut butter.”
“Oh, sorry,” she went back to Buffy.
“A-and I said extra jelly,” Buffy said as she held up the plate.
Joyce smiled and said, “Anything to help my daughter get well.”
She started to go again, but Willow said, “Oh, and while you're up, could I get a refill? It's just I'm so comfortable.”
Joyce stepped over and took the glass, “Of course.”
Willow said, “Thanks.”
Then Xander chimed in, “Oh, oh, oh, and another bag of cheesy chips.” He tossed an empty bag away.
Joyce raised her eyebrows at him, “Uh, you ate the last one.”
“No, there's another bag hidden behind the raisins,” Xander said as if he lived there.
Joyce sighed, “I'm on it.” She started to leave then turned and asked, “Angel, do you need anything? We have some blood in the fridge.”
“No thank you. I’m fine,” Angel smiled at her. If Buffy hadn’t been in his lap he would have offered to help Joyce, but he wasn’t about to leave now.
Joyce left the room and Xander told Buffy, “Your mom's tryin' to Bogart the cheesy chips. What's that all about?”
Joyce walked back into the room holding an envelope. “Oh, Buffy, here. Um, this came in the mail.”
Buffy read the return address and smiled, “It's from Ryan.” She opened it.
Joyce asked, “The boy from the hospital?”
Buffy took out the paper inside and unfolded it. Joyce looked down at it and smiled, “Oh, he drew you a picture. How... nice.”
The picture was of Buffy standing over the Kindestod with her foot up on its chest and with blood on her shirt. The monster's neck was split open and blood was gushing out.
A/N: Ghostbusters Lyrics sung by Ray Parkley Jr. for the 1980’s movie Ghostbusters. Not sure who wrote the song.
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