Title: The Guardians
Author: Merlin the Enchanter
E-mail Address: [email protected]
Copyrighted: June 22, 2002
Category: Crossover / AU
Rating: PG-16
Spoilers: Some slight spoilers for flashbacks of the past 6 seasons.
Keywords: None
Warning: Multiple Crossovers ahead.
This differs from the show in that Joyce Summers did not die.
The Following TV Series or books have been included in the story.
Disclaimers appear at the end with the cast list.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel the Series
Legalese: All characters with their respective rights, properties, and
copyrights are the property of their respective creators, authors,
owners, producers, and agencies. These characters are used without
permission. No copyright infringement is intended or meant, and no money
will be made from this story. This story may be copied in its entirety,
and may be distributed as long as all copyright information remains.
Summary: After Xander saved Willow, and the world things slowly return
to normal in Sunnydale, until a normal criminal shakes up what is left
of the Scoobies.
Warning: This is my first attempt at a B/X, so be gentle with me.
Rating: PG-13 to PG-16; For language and violent content, so far \\g//.
Part 1
Sunnydale Ca.
June 28th 2002 1:10 PM
The three friends walked through the small downtown area quietly, it was daylight, and what they usually feared the most was not out and about.
Xander, Buffy and Willow had left The Magic Box to ship a couple of packages for Giles, then stopped to have lunch on the way back. Since it was a nice day, they were not in a hurry and were doing a little window-shopping on the way back. After the terrible times they had gone through this last spring, they could use a little quiet time. The three were just walking along slowly, and no one noticed Buffy had stopped in front of a jewelry store window for several moments.
Willow was the first to notice that Buffy wasn't with them.
"Buffy?' she asked, seeing her looking in the store window.
"Be right there Wills, just looking." Buffy replied turning toward her friends.
Xander was the one who noticed the accelerating car.
"Buffy!" He screamed as he ran to her. Gathering her up in his arms he dove, for a protected doorway.
The sounds of handguns firing rapidly shattered the peaceful afternoon.
Xander and Buffy rolled to a stop in the unused doorway of a closed shop. Xander rolled off Buffy, his back to the doorway, and looked at her with sorrowful eyes.
Willow picked herself up off the ground as the car sped off, and quickly rushed to her friends' side.
"Buffy… you guys okay?" she asked as Buffy sat up.
"Yea, I think so Will. Xander, how 'bout you?" Asked Buffy.
Xander didn't reply.
He just looked at the two young women as his vision blurred, a trickle of blood running out the corner of his mouth as he softly coughed.
"Xander?" Buffy asked confused by the blood. She put her arm around him, and then pulled it back as if burned. Blood covered her hand, and she watched as his eyes closed.
"Xander! No! Hold on. Everything will be all right, just hold on!" Buffy cried out as she lifted him into her arms.
Willow fighting for control, ran out to the street waving her arms as an ambulance pulled up.
"Over here, he's been shot." Willow told the attendants.
As they grabbed their equipment she ran to Buffy's side. And pulled her back as the paramedics started to work on Xander. Buffy was staring as they cut his shirt off, and she got a look at the three blue-black holes in Xander's tanned back.
Willow almost shut down, the scene of Tara being shot flashing through her mind again, and again.
Working swiftly, the team of paramedics inserted IV's and blood replacements. They bandaged the wounds to slow the bleeding and then loaded him in the ambulance.
"One of you can ride with us.." The lead medic offered.
The two young women looked at each other and then Willow shoved Buffy at the van.
"Go, I will let everyone know what happened", said Willow as tears welled up in her eyes.
As the ambulance pulled away Willow looked after the speeding vehicle for a moment then ran down the street to the Magic Shop.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
As the ambulance neared the hospital alarms started going off.
"Shit, he's crashing." One of the paramedics called out, and the back of the van became a flurry of activity.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
Willow burst into the store in a state of extreme panic and interrupted Giles who was talking to a customer.
"Willow, can't you see that I am busy." He said irritably.
"Giles, Xander's been shot, he's on his way to the hospital right now, Buffy is with him." Willow said in a long sobbing breath.
"Good Lord!" Giles replied, and then turned to the customer. "I'm sorry, I have to leave now." And he escorted the woman to the door, locking it behind her.
Dawn, standing at the back of the store dropped the books she was shelving and stared at the frightened Wiccan.
Willow rushed to the phone and called Xander's house, but as expected, got no answer. Next she called Buffy's mom and explained to her what had happened. Joyce promised to call everyone else and told the softly crying Willow that she would meet them there soon.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
The doors to the emergency room crashed open and witnesses saw a pair of paramedics working furiously on a young man as they ran in. One had a breathing bag on him and the other was doing CPR. Behind them a young blonde covered in blood followed with a determined look in her eye.
Emergency room nurse Evelyn Cooper saw the young woman and knew that she was going to try to follow them in the trauma room, and she moved to intercept.
Grabbing the young woman around the shoulders Evelyn steered her to another room.
"Are you hurt honey?" she asked soothingly.
The young woman looked at her blankly.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked again.
This time she got an answer.
"No." Buffy spoke flatly.
\\ She's going into shock. // thought Evelyn as the young woman spoke again.
"He's going to be okay isn't he?" Asked Buffy softly, in a voice tinged with fear.
Evelyn checked all Buffy's vital signs then turned her over to the young redhead who just arrived with an older man.
"Are you his father?" Evelyn asked.
"No, that is not my pleasure." Giles answered sadly. "We are trying to locate his parents right now."
"Can you help me with getting his information started please?" Suggested Evelyn softly.
"Why yes, yes of course." Replied Giles as they headed out to the admitting area.
Evelyn started Giles on the paperwork telling him to put down only what he was sure of. She then went and located a pair of surgical scrubs and took then into the young women.
"We need to get her cleaned up. Can you help her get a shower in the nurses locker room and get her clothes changed?" Evelyn asked Willow.
Willow nodded. Now that she had something to do, she put her resolve face on and steered the slayer after the nurse. Willow pretty much had to undress Buffy to get her into the shower, as Buffy seemed to slide more and more into shock. Finally, Willow turned the water on cold to getting a startled reaction from Buffy.
When Buffy started to clean herself up, Willow sat down and cried quietly. \\ How much more can I take? First Tara dies, then I hurt everyone I love and try to destroy everyone in the world.//
Tears slowly dripped on the floor as she silently cried. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned, looking up into Buffy's sad eyes.
"He'll make it Will, he has to." Buffy said with determination.
The two young women made their way back to the emergency room where they found Joyce, Giles and Dawn waiting for them.
"He is in surgery right now, we can wait upstairs in the surgical waiting room and the doctor will come out and let us know how things are going." Joyce explained, taking control of the somber group.
Mercy Hospital
Sunnydale Ca.
June 28th 2002 6:00 PM
The five friends were still waiting to hear something when another old friend joined them.
"Buffy, Willow. How is he, have you heard anything yet?" Asked Cordelia Chase, one of the original Scoobies who now lived in LA.
"Buffy and Willow embraced their old friend and answered in the negative.
"Angel will be here once it gets dark out." Cordelia informed them. "He is out in the van now."
"That's nice." Said Joyce going towards the three women.
"What happened Buffy?" asked Cordy.
"We were walking back to the Magic Box after having lunch, and were just taking our time and doing some window shopping. I got a little separated from Willow and Xander, and headed to catch up with them. Next thing I knew Xander had tackled me and we were rolling into a doorway. I asked him if he was hurt, and put my arm around him and it was all covered with blood, and…" Buffy cried breaking down in tears.
Joyce held her tightly and tried to soothe her daughter.
Cordelia turned to Willow and asked. "Did any of the shots come near you Willow?"
Willow scrunched up her face in thought but replied. "No, nothing was near me, even when I dropped, nothing came close."
"What are you saying Cordelia?" asked Giles.
"That maybe this wasn't an accident." Cordy answered with a touch of fear in her voice.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
Buffy had just returned from the soda machine and was sipping a diet coke when a doctor approached the group.
"Are you waiting for news of Alexander Harris?" he asked.
"Yes! How is he doctor? Will he be alright?" Buffy questioned.
"Mr. Harris was struck in the back by three bullets, one did some superficial damage to his diaphragm, another punctured his left lung. But the third bullet is the one that did the damage to his heart and spine. We don't know how much damage was done to his spine at this time, but the heart was repaired with relative ease. As for recovery, right now we are looking at the next twenty four hours being critical due to the amount of tissue and muscle damage."
"What are his chances doctor?" Giles asked.
"Right now? To be honest I would say it is less than a sixty – forty chance. There was a lot of trauma, and he looked like he was worn out physically before the incident." Replied the doctor.
"Right now he has slipped into a coma, and it is unknown if he will come out of it."
"Yes, the past few months have been rather hard on him." Joyce spoke up, moving to hold her daughters who were both sobbing.
"He will be transferred to a ICU room sometime in the next hour, I will allow three visitors at a time, but if there are any issues with noise or problems of any type I will limit to one at a time." The Doctor stated as he turned away. "The nurse will give you his room number."
~~~~~**********~~~~~
White Room
Unknown Location
Xander opened his eyes to pure bright whiteness. A room that was all white and chrome, and looked remarkably like a doctors office waiting room. He walked around, checking things out, and noticed that he was wearing pure white slacks, sweater, and even shoes.
With a wry grin he sat down on a white couch and waited to see what was next.
*Some time later*
Xander heard a slight noise and looked up to see a semi human looking demon, dressed with worse fashion sense than himself, looking at him.
"Whistler." Xander said, it was both a statement and a question.
"Well kid, you really screwed the pooch this time." Whistler said. "Screwed up a plan that has been in place for over a hundred years."
"What did I do?" Xander asked quietly.
"Buffy was supposed to die today kid, not you." The demon answered.
\\ So I am dead. // thought Xander \\ So now what happens. //
"Yea, you died kid, but they brought you back. You're in a coma now, leaving the PTB trying to decide what to do. You see you weren't supposed to die either. Now the plan is all messed up and they need to decide how to proceed."
"Well, they can just have fun without me, I'm done." Xander said flatly.
"What are you talking about kid?" Whistler asked.
"Just what I said, I have been hassled, injured, hurt and ignored one too many times. I'm done, now they can take me and send me to either heaven or hell for all that I care. I. Am. Done. Period." Xander repeated.
Whistler sat back stunned, this was not expected to go this way. He tilted his head as if listening to someone, then disappeared.
Xander leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
Mercy Hospital
Sunnydale Ca.
June 28th 2002 9:30 PM
Buffy, Willow and Giles sat quietly in Xander's room looking at the young man, each saw him differently.
To Willow, Xander was the big brother she never had. He is the best friend that would do anything for her.
To Giles, he was the son that he would never have. The young man who through strength, loyalty and a sense of honor had made his mark on everyone he befriended.
And Buffy… To Buffy, he was the young man who had saved her life several times, who was always there for her to offer his friendship when she needed it. And she realized how lucky she was to still have it after all the times that she had hurt him. Now after everything that had happened over the last year she wondered how she was so blind, that she didn't realize that she had loved him. When he had found out that she was sleeping with Spike she had seen the hurt and disappointment in his eyes, but he was still always there for her.
Buffy just sat there stroking his hair and holding his hand, wondering if he was gong to come back to them.
One of the nurses came in and checked his vital signs and IV lines. As she left she turned to Buffy and said. "You can talk to him softly if you wish, sometimes when patients come out of a coma, they say that they remember being spoken to. It can only help." Then smiling, she left the small room.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
Whistler popped back into the white room and noticed Xander sleeping, snoring softly as he rested.
\\ Sleep well kid, I got the time. //
TBC
Author: Merlin the Enchanter
E-mail Address: [email protected]
Copyrighted: June 22, 2002
Category: Crossover / AU
Rating: PG-16
Spoilers: Some slight spoilers for flashbacks of the past 6 seasons.
Keywords: None
Warning: Multiple Crossovers ahead.
This differs from the show in that Joyce Summers did not die.
The Following TV Series or books have been included in the story.
Disclaimers appear at the end with the cast list.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel the Series
Legalese: All characters with their respective rights, properties, and
copyrights are the property of their respective creators, authors,
owners, producers, and agencies. These characters are used without
permission. No copyright infringement is intended or meant, and no money
will be made from this story. This story may be copied in its entirety,
and may be distributed as long as all copyright information remains.
Summary: After Xander saved Willow, and the world things slowly return
to normal in Sunnydale, until a normal criminal shakes up what is left
of the Scoobies.
Warning: This is my first attempt at a B/X, so be gentle with me.
Rating: PG-13 to PG-16; For language and violent content, so far \\g//.
Part 1
Sunnydale Ca.
June 28th 2002 1:10 PM
The three friends walked through the small downtown area quietly, it was daylight, and what they usually feared the most was not out and about.
Xander, Buffy and Willow had left The Magic Box to ship a couple of packages for Giles, then stopped to have lunch on the way back. Since it was a nice day, they were not in a hurry and were doing a little window-shopping on the way back. After the terrible times they had gone through this last spring, they could use a little quiet time. The three were just walking along slowly, and no one noticed Buffy had stopped in front of a jewelry store window for several moments.
Willow was the first to notice that Buffy wasn't with them.
"Buffy?' she asked, seeing her looking in the store window.
"Be right there Wills, just looking." Buffy replied turning toward her friends.
Xander was the one who noticed the accelerating car.
"Buffy!" He screamed as he ran to her. Gathering her up in his arms he dove, for a protected doorway.
The sounds of handguns firing rapidly shattered the peaceful afternoon.
Xander and Buffy rolled to a stop in the unused doorway of a closed shop. Xander rolled off Buffy, his back to the doorway, and looked at her with sorrowful eyes.
Willow picked herself up off the ground as the car sped off, and quickly rushed to her friends' side.
"Buffy… you guys okay?" she asked as Buffy sat up.
"Yea, I think so Will. Xander, how 'bout you?" Asked Buffy.
Xander didn't reply.
He just looked at the two young women as his vision blurred, a trickle of blood running out the corner of his mouth as he softly coughed.
"Xander?" Buffy asked confused by the blood. She put her arm around him, and then pulled it back as if burned. Blood covered her hand, and she watched as his eyes closed.
"Xander! No! Hold on. Everything will be all right, just hold on!" Buffy cried out as she lifted him into her arms.
Willow fighting for control, ran out to the street waving her arms as an ambulance pulled up.
"Over here, he's been shot." Willow told the attendants.
As they grabbed their equipment she ran to Buffy's side. And pulled her back as the paramedics started to work on Xander. Buffy was staring as they cut his shirt off, and she got a look at the three blue-black holes in Xander's tanned back.
Willow almost shut down, the scene of Tara being shot flashing through her mind again, and again.
Working swiftly, the team of paramedics inserted IV's and blood replacements. They bandaged the wounds to slow the bleeding and then loaded him in the ambulance.
"One of you can ride with us.." The lead medic offered.
The two young women looked at each other and then Willow shoved Buffy at the van.
"Go, I will let everyone know what happened", said Willow as tears welled up in her eyes.
As the ambulance pulled away Willow looked after the speeding vehicle for a moment then ran down the street to the Magic Shop.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
As the ambulance neared the hospital alarms started going off.
"Shit, he's crashing." One of the paramedics called out, and the back of the van became a flurry of activity.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
Willow burst into the store in a state of extreme panic and interrupted Giles who was talking to a customer.
"Willow, can't you see that I am busy." He said irritably.
"Giles, Xander's been shot, he's on his way to the hospital right now, Buffy is with him." Willow said in a long sobbing breath.
"Good Lord!" Giles replied, and then turned to the customer. "I'm sorry, I have to leave now." And he escorted the woman to the door, locking it behind her.
Dawn, standing at the back of the store dropped the books she was shelving and stared at the frightened Wiccan.
Willow rushed to the phone and called Xander's house, but as expected, got no answer. Next she called Buffy's mom and explained to her what had happened. Joyce promised to call everyone else and told the softly crying Willow that she would meet them there soon.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
The doors to the emergency room crashed open and witnesses saw a pair of paramedics working furiously on a young man as they ran in. One had a breathing bag on him and the other was doing CPR. Behind them a young blonde covered in blood followed with a determined look in her eye.
Emergency room nurse Evelyn Cooper saw the young woman and knew that she was going to try to follow them in the trauma room, and she moved to intercept.
Grabbing the young woman around the shoulders Evelyn steered her to another room.
"Are you hurt honey?" she asked soothingly.
The young woman looked at her blankly.
"Are you hurt anywhere?" she asked again.
This time she got an answer.
"No." Buffy spoke flatly.
\\ She's going into shock. // thought Evelyn as the young woman spoke again.
"He's going to be okay isn't he?" Asked Buffy softly, in a voice tinged with fear.
Evelyn checked all Buffy's vital signs then turned her over to the young redhead who just arrived with an older man.
"Are you his father?" Evelyn asked.
"No, that is not my pleasure." Giles answered sadly. "We are trying to locate his parents right now."
"Can you help me with getting his information started please?" Suggested Evelyn softly.
"Why yes, yes of course." Replied Giles as they headed out to the admitting area.
Evelyn started Giles on the paperwork telling him to put down only what he was sure of. She then went and located a pair of surgical scrubs and took then into the young women.
"We need to get her cleaned up. Can you help her get a shower in the nurses locker room and get her clothes changed?" Evelyn asked Willow.
Willow nodded. Now that she had something to do, she put her resolve face on and steered the slayer after the nurse. Willow pretty much had to undress Buffy to get her into the shower, as Buffy seemed to slide more and more into shock. Finally, Willow turned the water on cold to getting a startled reaction from Buffy.
When Buffy started to clean herself up, Willow sat down and cried quietly. \\ How much more can I take? First Tara dies, then I hurt everyone I love and try to destroy everyone in the world.//
Tears slowly dripped on the floor as she silently cried. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned, looking up into Buffy's sad eyes.
"He'll make it Will, he has to." Buffy said with determination.
The two young women made their way back to the emergency room where they found Joyce, Giles and Dawn waiting for them.
"He is in surgery right now, we can wait upstairs in the surgical waiting room and the doctor will come out and let us know how things are going." Joyce explained, taking control of the somber group.
Mercy Hospital
Sunnydale Ca.
June 28th 2002 6:00 PM
The five friends were still waiting to hear something when another old friend joined them.
"Buffy, Willow. How is he, have you heard anything yet?" Asked Cordelia Chase, one of the original Scoobies who now lived in LA.
"Buffy and Willow embraced their old friend and answered in the negative.
"Angel will be here once it gets dark out." Cordelia informed them. "He is out in the van now."
"That's nice." Said Joyce going towards the three women.
"What happened Buffy?" asked Cordy.
"We were walking back to the Magic Box after having lunch, and were just taking our time and doing some window shopping. I got a little separated from Willow and Xander, and headed to catch up with them. Next thing I knew Xander had tackled me and we were rolling into a doorway. I asked him if he was hurt, and put my arm around him and it was all covered with blood, and…" Buffy cried breaking down in tears.
Joyce held her tightly and tried to soothe her daughter.
Cordelia turned to Willow and asked. "Did any of the shots come near you Willow?"
Willow scrunched up her face in thought but replied. "No, nothing was near me, even when I dropped, nothing came close."
"What are you saying Cordelia?" asked Giles.
"That maybe this wasn't an accident." Cordy answered with a touch of fear in her voice.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
Buffy had just returned from the soda machine and was sipping a diet coke when a doctor approached the group.
"Are you waiting for news of Alexander Harris?" he asked.
"Yes! How is he doctor? Will he be alright?" Buffy questioned.
"Mr. Harris was struck in the back by three bullets, one did some superficial damage to his diaphragm, another punctured his left lung. But the third bullet is the one that did the damage to his heart and spine. We don't know how much damage was done to his spine at this time, but the heart was repaired with relative ease. As for recovery, right now we are looking at the next twenty four hours being critical due to the amount of tissue and muscle damage."
"What are his chances doctor?" Giles asked.
"Right now? To be honest I would say it is less than a sixty – forty chance. There was a lot of trauma, and he looked like he was worn out physically before the incident." Replied the doctor.
"Right now he has slipped into a coma, and it is unknown if he will come out of it."
"Yes, the past few months have been rather hard on him." Joyce spoke up, moving to hold her daughters who were both sobbing.
"He will be transferred to a ICU room sometime in the next hour, I will allow three visitors at a time, but if there are any issues with noise or problems of any type I will limit to one at a time." The Doctor stated as he turned away. "The nurse will give you his room number."
~~~~~**********~~~~~
White Room
Unknown Location
Xander opened his eyes to pure bright whiteness. A room that was all white and chrome, and looked remarkably like a doctors office waiting room. He walked around, checking things out, and noticed that he was wearing pure white slacks, sweater, and even shoes.
With a wry grin he sat down on a white couch and waited to see what was next.
*Some time later*
Xander heard a slight noise and looked up to see a semi human looking demon, dressed with worse fashion sense than himself, looking at him.
"Whistler." Xander said, it was both a statement and a question.
"Well kid, you really screwed the pooch this time." Whistler said. "Screwed up a plan that has been in place for over a hundred years."
"What did I do?" Xander asked quietly.
"Buffy was supposed to die today kid, not you." The demon answered.
\\ So I am dead. // thought Xander \\ So now what happens. //
"Yea, you died kid, but they brought you back. You're in a coma now, leaving the PTB trying to decide what to do. You see you weren't supposed to die either. Now the plan is all messed up and they need to decide how to proceed."
"Well, they can just have fun without me, I'm done." Xander said flatly.
"What are you talking about kid?" Whistler asked.
"Just what I said, I have been hassled, injured, hurt and ignored one too many times. I'm done, now they can take me and send me to either heaven or hell for all that I care. I. Am. Done. Period." Xander repeated.
Whistler sat back stunned, this was not expected to go this way. He tilted his head as if listening to someone, then disappeared.
Xander leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
Mercy Hospital
Sunnydale Ca.
June 28th 2002 9:30 PM
Buffy, Willow and Giles sat quietly in Xander's room looking at the young man, each saw him differently.
To Willow, Xander was the big brother she never had. He is the best friend that would do anything for her.
To Giles, he was the son that he would never have. The young man who through strength, loyalty and a sense of honor had made his mark on everyone he befriended.
And Buffy… To Buffy, he was the young man who had saved her life several times, who was always there for her to offer his friendship when she needed it. And she realized how lucky she was to still have it after all the times that she had hurt him. Now after everything that had happened over the last year she wondered how she was so blind, that she didn't realize that she had loved him. When he had found out that she was sleeping with Spike she had seen the hurt and disappointment in his eyes, but he was still always there for her.
Buffy just sat there stroking his hair and holding his hand, wondering if he was gong to come back to them.
One of the nurses came in and checked his vital signs and IV lines. As she left she turned to Buffy and said. "You can talk to him softly if you wish, sometimes when patients come out of a coma, they say that they remember being spoken to. It can only help." Then smiling, she left the small room.
~~~~~**********~~~~~
Whistler popped back into the white room and noticed Xander sleeping, snoring softly as he rested.
\\ Sleep well kid, I got the time. //
TBC