Betaed by Maria and Flight Of Fancy.

It was just after noon, when Joyce Summers used her key to get into her house. She was so tired. She’d had an opportunity to fit in a late meeting the night before, allowing her to wrap up her business almost a full day early and catch the first flight home that morning.

Joyce had a quick look around the house, and was happy to see that everything looked as it did when she left, and there was no evidence of any wild parties. It was good to know she could count on Buffy to keep her word. In the kitchen, Joyce noticed a note from Buffy on the fridge, advising her mom that Buffy would be spending the evening at Willow’s home. There was no date on the note, so Joyce assumed the note was written the night before. Joyce gave a small sigh of relief. I can get some sleep and do some shopping before Buffy gets home.

Joyce proceeded up the stairs, and didn’t even unpack before she changed into her sleepwear and tumbled into bed. She was so tired that she didn’t even notice the blinking light on the answering machine, announcing that a new message was waiting to be heard.

--------------------------------------

A couple hours of sleep can do wonders, Joyce mused. On her way to make coffee, she noticed the message light on the answering machine, and hit play as she went by. She noted that the first message left was a few days old, and wondered why Buffy hasn’t already picked it up. After searching around for a pen and a scrap of paper, she started the answering machine again. This time she wrote down the contact number given in the first message, before picking up the phone and calling back.

"Dr. Donald."

"Hi. This is Joyce Summers. You left a message on my machine a few days ago, asking me to call you back," Joyce informed the person on the phone, beginning to feel a bit nervous. Joyce didn’t understand why an unknown doctor had called her.

"Yes, I did. Just a moment, I need a file.”

Joyce was not the slightest bit patient, as she normally would be. “But who…?” She heard the phone being put down.

It took several minutes before Dr. Donald was back on the phone. “Mrs. Summers? I'm sorry to inform you that we have your daughter, Buffy Summers, hospitalized."

"What? That can’t be right. She left a note on the fridge, saying that she would be with Willow." Joyce was panicking.

"Do you have anyone that can drive you to the hospital? Then we can have a talk, and you can see for yourself."

"I…I’ll take a cab. I’ll be there as fast as I can." Joyce hung up the phone, and then picked it up again and dialed the cab company straight away. "I need a cab at 1630 Revello Drive. Hurry up, please." She grabbed her bag and her coat, putting it on while walking out the door. Once outside, she realized she had forgotten her keys, so she rushed back in to grab them, and then returning to the curb to wait for her cab.

-------------------------------------

Once at hospital reception, Joyce was asked to wait while the nurse paged Dr. Donald. She was feeling more nervous by the minute, twisting and turning a handkerchief, waiting for the doctor to arrive. Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Joyce, he came. She got up to shake his hand.

"Mrs. Summers, good to finally meet you. As you can probably guess, I'm Dr. Donald. Will you please come this way?" He held out his arm to direct Joyce down a corridor.

They stopped at the door numbered seventeen, entering the room. “Buffy,” Joyce breathed. She rushed to the bed, taking one of Buffy’s hands between hers. “What happened to her?” Joyce kept looking at Buffy, while she talked with the Doctor.

"The police said they got a call from a man that lives right next to one of the cemeteries in town. He saw a young girl being attacked by a large group of young men."

Joyce looked at the doctor when she asked, “Why doesn’t she wake up and speak to me?”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Summers. We doubt she’ll wake up. She was conscious for a brief period when she was admitted. Enough to tell us her name, and that we shouldn’t bother locating you, because you were out of the country on a buying trip.” The doctor was sympathetic. He took hold of Joyce’s elbow as she seemed about to fall, and got her seated in a chair.

"Why? Why won’t she wake up?" she asked shaken.

"The witness told the police that they beat her with baseball bats. Physically, she has healed up. Even so, she doesn’t wake up. We have run into this before, where there might be some damage that we can’t see. I’m sorry," Doctor Donald said.

She looked up, a plea clear in her eyes. “Is there no hope at all?” Tears started to dribble down her cheeks.

“Sorry,” the doctor said, while he glanced at his watch.

“Have the police caught the attackers?” she asked.

“I can’t answer that. You’ll have to ask the police about the attackers. Please excuse me now, Mrs. Summers. I have other patients who need me. You can visit your daughter whenever you like. If you have any other questions, I’m normally here at the hospital on weekdays.” He nodded to her on his way out.

Joyce sat by her daughter’s bedside for hours, and then she went hunting for the doctor. It took a lot of effort on Joyce’s part, but after discussing the worst-case and most likely scenarios, Joyce was able to get the doctor to acknowledge that sometimes miracles did occur. Though there was only a very slim chance that Buffy would ever wake up, it was enough to give Joyce hope again. Buffy is strong, and she doesn't give up easily. Joyce repeated that over and over to herself in the following days.

Then came the day when the nurse told her that she needed to take a break. She went home, and sat on a chair in the kitchen for an hour, just staring at the coffee machine. Finally, she got up, turned off the coffee machine, and threw out the pot. At the same time, she wrote “buy new coffeepot” on her mental to-do list.

The first thing on that list was a shower and then trying to get some sleep. Sleep, she didn’t get. She gave up on that after twisting and turning for almost two hours. Next came a harder task: Nourishment. She was not hungry, but her body needed food. If I want to be there for Buffy, I need to eat, to be strong for her. With that she convinced herself to eat something.

Joyce also needed to know what she could about what happened to her daughter. She called the police station, where she got to talk with a detective.

The detective told Joyce that the police got a call about a girl being attacked by a group of young men with baseball bats. They later found out that it was a large group from a baseball team. They had a confession from two of the attackers, and the names of the rest of them. Almost all were arrested, and only three were still at large. When Joyce asked how many they were, she got a shock! The officer advised her that there were at least sixteen men involved in the beating. Finally, Joyce asked what she thought to be the most important question. Why? Why did the men attack Buffy? The detective said it appeared that someone had paid the team members to attack the young woman. One of the men had confessed that they were to “take her out of action, forever.”

Joyce didn’t understand why somebody would want to kill Buffy. Who would pay somebody to do such a dreadful deed? Joyce was relieved to hear that most of the men responsible were under lock and key. But she also recognized that, if they didn’t catch the man behind it all, Buffy would always be in danger, and they would probably never understand why.

Though Buffy was in the hospital, Joyce still had to earn a living. So, she started the day by spending a couple of hours at the hospital before work, and then visited again in the evening. Joyce continued to talk to Buffy, hoping and praying that she would wake up.

Joyce was coping as best as she could, but just a few days later she found another demand for her time. She received a letter from Sunnydale High, advising her that Buffy had missed too many days without an acceptable excuse, and would be expelled from the school if Joyce did not attend a meeting with Principal Snyder within the next week. Joyce made plans to visit the school the next day.

-------------------------------------

It was in the middle of the afternoon, when Joyce arrived at the school after a hard day at work. Her new purchases had come in, and she spent most of the day unpacking the pieces. Now she had to deal with the school, and she really didn’t want to. It made it all too real, and took a little more of her hope away.

In the school office, Joyce asked to talk with Principal Snyder. The secretary asked Joyce to wait, and invited her to take a seat. Joyce knew that Snyder was in his office, because she could hear him making phone calls every few minutes. After waiting over half an hour, Joyce was beginning to believe Buffy’s assertion that the Principal was a little worm. As she sat and watched Snyder filling out the forms to report why Buffy might never join the school again, the truth became clear, and Joyce realized that Buffy has been right in her assessment. Snyder was was a worm, and more. He didn’t seem to care that Buffy was in the hospital. In fact, he seemed to get some sort of malicious thrill from the young girl’s misfortune.

As she finally came out of the office, Joyce nearly walked into Willow. “Hey, Willow, how are you?”

“I’m okay, Mrs. Summers, I hope you’re well too?”

"I am, Willow, thank you for your concern. Do you mind if I ask you a question, Willow?"

"Of course not, Mrs. Summers. Ask me any question. I’ll answer if I can."

"Don’t take this the wrong way, but why haven’t you called to talk to Buffy during the past few weeks? You’re her best friend."

"I… I…I’m," Willow stuttered.

“You know that Buffy is in the hospital, right?”

“What?”

“Yes, she’s been there for weeks.”

Willow grabbed Joyce’s arm. “Come with me, please.” Willow pulled Joyce to the library.

------------------------------------

“Giles…Giles where are you?” Willow called shrilly.

"Lower your voice, Willow. I’m here. What’s so urgent?" He came out of his office.

"Mrs. Summers, what are you doing here?" Giles asked nervously. "Willow, maybe you should release Mrs. Summers’ arm!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Summers," Willow said, embarrassed. "But could you tell Giles, please? Tell him what you just said to me."

“You want me to ask Mr. Giles why you don’t call Buffy anymore?”

“No, not that! The part about Buffy being in the hospital.”

"Oh, okay. Buffy is in the hospital, Mr. Giles. She has been for weeks."

Giles staggered backwards. If the counter hadn’t stopped him, he would have fallen on his ass. “You’re serious? Buffy is in the hospital?”

“Yes, she’s been there for a few weeks now.”

Giles got himself together. He went to Joyce and led her to a chair at the table. “Why hasn't she called me?”

“I don’t understand. Why should she call you?” She looked doubtfully at him, wondering if this was someone she should warn Buffy to keep her distance from.

“Hi folks, how are you today?” Xander came bustling in through the doors. “What’s up? You all look so serious. Oh, Mrs. Summers.”

“Sit down, Xander, and keep quiet. It would appear that Buffy is alive.” He turned back to Joyce. “You see, it’s like this: Buffy is my Slayer, I’m her Watcher.”

She had looked at him for a long time, before asking, "What is a Slayer? Or a Watcher, for that matter?"

“You don’t know? Buffy hasn’t discussed her slaying duties with you?”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what you are talking about. I think there’s been some kind of mistake. I should go now.” She started to get up.

Willow laid a hand on her arm. “Please wait and listen to Giles. He’s telling the truth.”

She sat down slowly and looked from one to another of the people in the small group. They all looked seriously back at her.

So Joyce sat still, while Giles and the teenagers told her stories about Slayers and their Watchers, and about things that go bump in the night on the Hellmouth they called home. She started to cry silently, big fat tears running down her face.

"Why are you crying, Mrs. Summers?" Xander looked at her curiously. "Buffy is a good slayer. Don’t worry, she’ll keep us all safe."

Giles placed a glass of water in front of Joyce.

The troubled woman took a sip. “When we lived in L.A., Buffy told us that vampires were real, and that she was destined to kill them. It was when my marriage was at its worst. It’s no excuse. However, her father and I believed that it was a cry for attention. When she kept it up, we had her committed to an institution.” The hand holding the glass of water shook. “An institution for the mentally ill.” She wiped her eyes.

Xander and Willow looked at her with their mouths open.

“She never told us,” Xander got out. She told us everything. We were her friends, why didn’t we know? He didn’t know that Willow was thinking the same thing.

Giles coughed slightly. “Mrs. Summers, if I might ask you a question?”

“Joyce please. Yes, of course.”

“Do you, by any chance, know why Buffy hasn’t notified me? That she is in the hospital?”

“Or me?” Willow interrupted. “I'm her best friend.”

“We’re her best friends,” Xander said hurt.

Joyce looked down, and took a few minutes to collect her thoughts before she answered. “Buffy couldn’t have called you, even if she wanted to. You see, she’s in a coma. She was only conscious long enough to give the hospital staff her name and personal information, and to tell them I was out of town on a buying trip. She managed to let the staff know that I was travelling all over Europe, and could be anywhere, and then she lost consciousness. The doctor doesn’t think that she’ll ever wake up again.”

The group just sat there, looking at the Slayer’s mother. Doubting their ears.

Xander was the first to regain control of his voice. “What happened to her?”

“I talked with the police, and they told me that somebody paid the majority of a baseball team to “take her out”. Their words. Authorities have the most of the team members in custody now, and know the names of the players still missing. The only name they don’t have, is the name of the person behind the attack, the one who paid the team in the first place. All they got when they questioned the baseball players was that the person was male, and wore a brown robe. Nobody saw his face because of the big hood he wore.” Joyce drank the rest of her water. So much talking made her mouth dry.

“Can we pay her a visit?” Giles asked sadly.

“Yes, sure, anytime. I’ll make sure the hospital knows that you three are her friends and can visit.” Joyce sent Giles a little smile. “Now, I have to be going. It’s time to go and say goodnight to Buffy.”
“Can we go with you, Mrs. Summers? To see Buffy,” Willow asked.

"Do you really have time now? What about school?"

“School is out for today.”

“I’d like to accompany you, but I have a few things that I need to tie up.” Giles took off his glasses, and looked a bit shy. “I’ll visit later tonight. Maybe I’ll catch you before you leave?”

“That would be nice, Mr. Giles.”

“Rupert, if you like.” He started to get color in his cheeks.

“Rupert it is then.” She sent him a shy little smile. “Talk to you later.”

-----------------------------------

Willow and Xander rode with Joyce to the hospital. They didn’t talk on the way there. The atmosphere was thick, and it didn’t get better when they arrived at their destination.

When the small group arrived at Buffy’s room, the teens stayed in the doorway, while Joyce sat down, took Buffy’s hand and greeted her. “I have company with me tonight, Buffy. Willow and Xander are here to see you.” She turned a little in the chair. ”Come closer and say hello.”

Willow slowly went closer. “Can she hear me?”

“The Doctors don’t know, but I’ve read about people who woke up from a coma, and later said that they heard their family talking to them while they were unconscious” Joyce looked down at Buffy, and kept stroking her hand while talking with Willow.

Xander silently walked up behind Willow. “She looks like she’s sleeping. If you didn’t know better, you’d think that she could wake up any minute.”

-----------------------------------

Later that evening, Giles visited Buffy. He and Joyce had a long talk about Buffy, and about her duties as the Slayer.

In bed that night Joyce had a good cry. So many thoughts were running through her head that she hardly slept. It was hard to accept all Giles had shared with her. Demons existed and Buffy was the Slayer. Destined to go out and kill whatever goes bump in the night. Joyce caught on quickly though, and learned to carry a cross in her coat pocket and wear a necklace with a cross. She also started keeping Holy water and stakes in her bag.

--------------------------------------

It wasn’t until the next day that Giles thought to tell Angel about Buffy.

Angel visited Buffy the same night, staying for a few hours. He kept up his nightly visits for several weeks, but started missing nights when the new Slayer came to Sunnydale, as Angel really wasn’t comfortable around Buffy. It wasn’t long before he missed more nights than he visited in a week and, in a surprisingly short period of time, Angel’s visits stopped completely.

The same happened with Willow and Xander, though for different reasons. The Scoobies became close friends with the new Slayer, Kendra, and had other things to do with their time.

Giles still visited Buffy, but never alone. He had become close to Joyce, and if he wanted to spend time with her, he had to go along when she visited Buffy each evening