E-MAIL: wintersrain2000@hotmail.com
DISCLAIMER: I don't own them. They belong to Joss and Co.
DEDICATION: To Patrícia, and everyone who sent me feedback on 'Moment Lost'.
DISTRIBUTION: From Dusk Til' Dawn, INERTIA, Fire & Ice fic. Anyone else, just ask.
COUPLE: Willow/Angel
RATING: PG (just to be safe)
NOTE: This is the sequel to 'Moment Lost'. You might want to read that one to understand this.
AUTHORS NOTE: See what happens when you send me feedback?

<> represents thoughts
 

Part 1
 

”Please don’t leave me little one… I need you here with me. I need you
here for me to love.” Angel said, holding Willows still body against his own as sobs raked
his frame.

From the street a person looked into the alley, a smile on his face. He
had taught her. She would never cheat on him again. She had been just like
the rest of them. A worthless lying and cheating bitch. <Oh well, now I
just have to find somebody else to share my life with> Sam thought as he
started to walk away from the alley and in to the dark night.

It seamed like forever had passed as angel clung to Willows bloody,
broken body. He was just about to lose all sense of reality when the
unthinkable happened. He felt Willow take a breath. It was a painful, ragged breath
which within he could hear the blood in her throat, but a breath no
less. Hope spread through his mind as he felt her take another one. He wasn't
imagining things. She was breathing. Carefully he put her body down to
the ground and checked for a pulse. It was there. Slow and faint, but her
heart was once again beating. Letting out a sob filled with joy, he carefully
picked her up and started tp run to the nearest hospital. <She's alive!
she's alive!> was all he could thing about as he moved with vampiric
speed, not noticing the looks he recieved from the few people who where still
outside.

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

ER somewhere in LA
 

"Can somebody please help me!?!" Angel shouted as he ran throughthe
doors of the ER.

"Sir, what happened to her?" a nurse asked him as she brought a gurney.

"She was attacked. Please help her." he answered as he watched doctors
and nurses wheeling Willows body away in to a room. He tried to follow them
but a nurse stopped him.

"Sir you can't go in there." she said as she started to push Angel back
to the waiting room.

"But I need to be with her. She needs me."

"Let the doctors work on her. Please sit down. I need you to answer
some questions."

Angel reluctantly sat down. He felt a strong need to be with Willow.
But the sooner this was over with the sooner they would be together.
"What do you want to know?"

"First of all, do you know her name?"

"Willow. Willow Rosenburg."

"Willow. And what's your name?"

"Angel."

"Angel what?"

"Just Angel. When can I see her?" the nurse gave him a perplexed look
at just the first name, but quickly srugged it off.

"You can see her when the doctors are done. Now, do you know who did
this to her?"

"No, she didn't tell me."

The conversation continued in the same manner for about half an hour.
Angel had explained how he had found her and the other nessacery stuff. Then
the nurse had asked him to wait and that someone would come to him and tell
him what the situation was with Willow. When he was left alone he started
to think about things. Like the fact that his clothes were stained with
Willows blood. And that he would never again let Willow out of his sight. The
thought of how someone could do this to someone as sweet and innocent
as Willow almost drove him into going out and finding who did this and rip
him to pieces. The only thing holding him back was the fact that Willow
needed him here.

After what felt of waiting a doctor finally came over to him.

"Mr Angel?"

"Yes that's me. How is she?"

"I'm Dr Lowell. I'm the one who handeled miss Rosenburgs case. When
Willow was admitted she had sevear injuries. Several broken ribs, a broken leg
and head trauma. After some further examaning of x-rays we noticed that she
also had a punctured lung and was bleeding internaly and needed imediet
surgery. Her heart stopped twice during surgery but we were able to stop the
bleeding and repair her lung."

"Oh my god..." Angel whispered softly. "But she is going to be fine
now, right?"

"As far as I know, her body will repair itself with the help of some
much needed rest. But unfortunately Willows head truma had done some more
damage then we first had thought. She's in a coma."

"A coma? When will she wake up?" Angel asked, the shock and despair
evident in his voice. The young doctor felt sorry for him. This was the worst
part of his job. Delivering bad news.

"We don't know. She might never wake up. You must understand that the
trauma she suffered, both psychical and emotional, can have part of the
situation. All we can do is wait."

"Can I come and visit her?"

"Yes, of course. Hearing someone she knows might help her recovery.
She's going to be moved to the ICU soon, but you can visit her there. You can
talk to the nurse at the front desk about visiting hours."

"Yes, I will do that. Thank you." Angel said, still a little in shock
from hearing that Willow was in a coma. The doctor wathced the young man for
a moment before walking away to another patient.
 

Angel was allowed to go and visit Willow for awhile. When he stepped
into the room and saw her lying on the bed, tubs, wires and bandages all
over her body was when he almost broke down. And when he turned his gaze to
Willows beaten face he felt the tears starting to run down his cheeks. He
walked over to the bed and sat down in a chair next to it. Gently he placed
Willows hand in his own and buried his face in them, all the while whispering
'I love you' over and over again.
Part 2

Angel had been going to the hospital for two  weeks now. There had been
no change in Willows condition, except that her body was healing. But it
did not change the fact that she wqs still in a coma and that every night
when Angel arrived at the hospital he received the same news about her
codition and that  every night the looks on the nurses faces became sadder. And
today was no  different. After going on a quick patrol, Angel was once again
at the  hospital. Cordelia and Doyle had visited earlier on the day.

”Good evening.” He said to the night nurse as he passed the nurses
station. ”Any change?” He always asked, no matter if he knew what the answer
would be.

”Hi. No, still the same.” The nurse answered.

”I’ll be a couple of hours.”

”Okay. No rush. I’ll be here all night if anything is needed.” The
nurse said and gave him a sympathetic smile. She watched as he walked into
Willows room.

”I feel so sorry for that poor man. You know, he has come here every
night.”  The nurse said to her collegue.

”I know. It’s so sad. Have you ever noticed  how he is when he’s in
with her?”

”Yes. I wish she could wake up. He seems so lonely without her.”

”Yes he does. And lost too. Have you heard anything from Doctor Lowell,
Sheila?”

”No, nothing new Emma. But you know as well as I doo that the longer it
takes for her to wake up…”

”…the worse are her chanses. I just feel so sorry for both of them.”

”Me too.”

Both of the night nurses had developped a liking for the young red head
and her dark companion. It was actually all of the nurses.   They all
wished that she would wake up, so that the ’mysterious mr Angel’ would stop
worrying. But they all knew her chanses after the trauma she had
gotten.
 

”Hello Little One. Cordelia told me that she and Doyle were here
earlier today.  I talked to Buffy today. They still have to kill the demon, but
as soon as it’s finished they’ll come and visit. She wanted me to tell you
that  they love you and want you to wake up.-Sigh-. I love you. Have I told
you that lately?” Angel always asked her the same question. Every single
night. ”Spike had told Buffy that he was going to skip the ’newest threat to
this bloody town’ and come see you instead. You should have heard the stuff
that he and Buffy fought over the phone. -Chuckle-. I think you can guess
some of  it.”
Angel continued to tell Willow about his day for a few hours. When it
was time to leave, he gently kissed her and told her he loved her. He said
goodbye to the nurses and walked out of the hospital to face another
day without Willow. A day in darkness. For he was no longer allowed to walk
in the light. Not without her.
 
 

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

Willow was scared. Not that she hadn't been scared since Sam had...
<Don't think about it.> she told herself. She had been wandering around her
mind. Or that was where she suspected she was, she really couldn't tell, for
weeks now. And she was getting tired of the landscape. She had been walking
around the same dark street with its fog for so long now. And the fact that
she was alone and hurt didn't help to ease her fear. <Why haven't I woken up
yet?> Part of her excepted that she, or her body, had probably shut down to
be able to repair itself. She could see the damage after all. So she
suspected that she was in a coma, due to head trauma, considering the splitting
head ache that she had.

The first days all she had done was screamed into the nothingness if
anyone else was there. But soon her throat had ached and her body demanded for
her to rest. It had been strange, that even her mental body was hurt and
needed rest. Oh, she knew that it was not in as bad shape as her physical body
had to be. And that always made her think about the fact that she was
certain she had died. <Is this afterlife?> she had asked herself.

She quickly stopped her mind from further pondering of the past as she
heard something. Because she had been living in silence for the past two
weeks she knew that she had heard something. "Hello?" she called to the darkness.
Nothing. She started to walk, actually limp, towards where she thought
she'd heard the sound. "Is there anyone there?" <please be there. I can't
stand to be alone any more.> Pushing aside the rush of fear she was
experiencing, she continued to walk.

"Hello Willow." a very familiar voice answered her. The voice of Sam.

"No... I can't be..." she spoke as her mind was screaming at her in
denial. It could not be him.

"Don't worry. I'll always be here." he said as he stepped out of the
shadows. Willow could not take her eyes of the pole in his hand.

"Please don't..." she pleaded with him.

But Sam only laughed. She saw it in slow-motion. Just as it was aboput
to hit her she felt something fill her. It was pure hate. Vengence would
be hers.

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

Sheila and Emma were at the nurses station, getting ready to go home,
when they heard it. A scream. And as soon as they heard what that someone
was screaming they knew someone would be happy to hear that after four
weeks, Willow had finally woken up. Because they had heard her scream a name.
Angel.
 

The End

next