I may be dead... but I'm still pretty.

[shealone_stands]

Buffy stumbles through the door in a white dress, wet and gasping and bleeding from a bite at the base of her neck. She catches herself on a chair near the door and leans heavily against it, shaking uncontrollably. She doesn't really seem to notice where she is just yet - she's a little preoccupied with breathing at the moment.

Comments

[sensi_doctor]

JD never thought he would see Buffy again so the squeal-like noise upon her arrival is made up of both relief and a whole lot of worry.

"Buffy!" He's at her side in a moment. His hands supporting her around her waist. There's a lot of touching, near clinging. "Here, you should sit."

[shealone_stands]

Buffy is so not going to argue with the need to sit. She leans against him heavily, still shaking like a leaf, and she's having a bit of trouble getting her thoughts in order.

She reaches up, a little shakily, to touch her neck, and her fingers come away bloody. "I set the Master free," she says softly, distantly. "If I hadn't come... oh, God." She's dead, that's what this is. She's dead now, and the Master's going to kill Willow and Xander and Giles and...

[sensi_doctor]

"No, shh. Just breathe, right now. Just breathe, okay?" JD helps her onto the nearest couch and he thinks up a cloth, quick, not about to take chances with a bleeding wound.

Doctor diagnosis comes out. Puncture wound. Deep. But not fatal. Well, unless.... she's already... dead. He forces the thought from his mind, thinks up a cloth and antiseptic, gently disinfecting the wound, cleaning the blood away.

"You don't worry about that right now."

[shealone_stands]

She barely notices as JD starts cleaning her wound, staring off at nothing as she wraps her arms around herself and tries to stop shivering. "I didn't even... I couldn't move. He just..."

Overall, she thinks she qualifies for worst Slayer ever. She just stood there when he bit her, she couldn't move, she couldn't think... And because of it, everyone she cares about back home is going to die.

[sensi_doctor]

"He's not here now. He's not. It's okay."

JD puts a bandage on the wound with warm, gentle fingers and then immediately, wraps his arms around her and pulls her against his chest in a tight hug.

"Are you hurt anywhere else? God, you're freezing and... wet." He thinks up a towel around her next, pulls it around her shoulders, and then wraps his arms around the towel to keep heat captured in it.

[shealone_stands]

Buffy doesn't say anything for a minute, but the instant he wraps his arms around her she lets out a choked sob and half-collapses against him, resting her forehead against his shoulder. "I'm sorry. You were right, I shouldn't have gone, it was stupid and..." Her voice trails off, and she's now shaking with tears as much as the cold.

[sensi_doctor]

"No, no. Don't apologize. It was the prophecy and destiny and..."

JD holds her tighter, rubbing his hands over her arms and back briskly to help promote body heat.

[shealone_stands]

"You told me to stay," she whispers. "I should've listened, and I went anyway and now he's gonna kill everyone..." Her voice is getting high and squeaky, and after a moment she tries to get to her feet, presumably to go to the door. "I have to go, I have to fix it..."

How she's going to manage that, exactly, she's not sure. She couldn't manage anything before, and now she's scared and bleeding and freezing... but she has to try, doesn't she?

[sensi_doctor]

"Wait, don't-! hang on! Don't you... shouldn't you at least rest first!" JD stands too, grabbing her arm.

He intends to keep her from leaving. Really this time. He was already reeling from the guilt of not being able to stop her from walking to her doom the first time.

[shealone_stands]

It doesn't take much effort to stop her. She's not really in the mood to argue that much. She takes a soft, shaky breath, and sits back down.

"I think... I think I might be dead, JD," she says after a minute, looking at him with wide, frightened eyes. It's not the being dead that scares her, because... well, she's in the Inn, and April's dead and seems to be fine, but... She's never going to get to see her mom again. Or her dad, or go to college, or get a job, or...

[sensi_doctor]

JD sits next to her, tightens the towel around her, and wraps his arms around her again.

"God, Buffy. I'm so sorry."

[shealone_stands]

"It's not your fault." She leans against him, still shivering. "You told me not to."

[sensi_doctor]

"That..." JD shakes his head, unsure of how to respond to that, rubbing her back briskly again to try to keep her warm. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

[shealone_stands]

She shakes her head, a little miserably. "No. I didn't even... fight back."

Alright, the Master has some kind of crazy mind-control powers. She still should have been able to do something.

[sensi_doctor]

"Buffy, you actually went there. Despite knowing... what you knew, in hopes of doing the right thing." He pulls away only enough to look her in the eyes. "That makes you the bravest person I've ever known. You have no idea what he's doing now... maybe you dying awoke a stronger force. I mean if it had to happen according to this prophecy in order to stop him.. there has to be something more, superhero."

[shealone_stands]

She's silent for a minute, and then nods, looking down. "Yeah. I guess... yeah. There'll be another Slayer now. That's how it works. Maybe she'll..."

Be able to deal with it. Be better than Buffy. Save her friends where she couldn't.