This fic was done a long while ago right after Angel went bad and I couldn't accept it. I also couldn't accept Jenny or Kendra being killed so I damn well fixed it!!! :)

***I BORROWED A FEW LINES..Some lines were written by: Marti Noxon ...then redone by me to suit my own twisted mind..bwahahahah***

Darkness segued into light as little by little Buffy awoke. Her eyelids fluttered briefly and then the bright lights parted her hazy memory. Little by little she began to remember the past few weeks, months? It felt like years. Angel was gone. Dead. So was Ms. Calendar. Where was she? She groaned a little as pain racked through her body and she heard someone whisper her name.

"Buffy?" The voice was calm, soothing. "Wake up."

"Mom?" Buffy opened her eyes again and watched the room spin in dizzy circles. Why was her mom here? Her mom had run her away from home and didn't believe her about being a Slayer.

"Buffy, it's Jenny Calendar." Jenny leaned down towards Buffy and smiled. "Welcome back, you."

"Ms. Calendar?" Buffy was afraid. She must have been killed and was in Heaven..or whatever. "Am I dead?"

"No, no...you're gonna be fine..." Jenny picked up the phone and Buffy heard her speaking to her mother. She sighed as she hung it up. "We've all been taking turns here. Your mom just left a while ago. It's been a rough three months."

"Three months...but what..." Buffy couldn't grasp what had and hadn't happened. Before she could answer, Giles walked in with a bag of food, which he promptly dropped when he saw Buffy wide awake.

"Buffy, oh..." He walked slowly to the bedside and then pulled her into a hug. Buffy groaned out.

"Rupert.." Ms. Calendar tapped him. "I rang for the doctor..I think it may be wise not to move her around until they have a look."

"Oh..yes..right as usual." He put Buffy back on the pillows.

"What happened?" Buffy croaked. Her throat was parched.

"You've no recollection?" Giles looked at her intently.

Buffy shook her head as the doctor entered.

Ushered into the hall to wait, Giles scratched his head and glanced at Jenny. It had been a long and exhausting three months. There were times that he'd been so riddled with guilt that he had broken down and sobbed. He shouldn't have let Buffy and Angel go to that warehouse to look for the Judge. He should have known better. "How did she seem to you?" he asked Jenny.

"She seemed like she had been sleeping for three months." Ms. Calendar mumbled something about calling the others and walked toward the lounge.

Giles paced. It seemed an eternity before the doctor came out, scribbling furiously on a pad of paper. He cleared his throat and looked at Giles. "Well," the doctor began. "She has no recollection of what happened or what day it happened. Helluva 17th birthday..getting struck by lightning. I must admit, I had little hope of a full recovery, brain damage was a possibility but she seems coherent and alert. Prognosis is good right now..a few more tests and we'll get the bigger picture."

"Thank you..may I?" Giles pointed towards the door and the doctor nodded.

He looked at her for a moment. In the hospital bed she looked so small. He had hovered every single day all this time, hoping against hope she'd awaken. Her eyes were closed and he feared that she had gone back into the coma. "Buffy?"

She stirred and looked at him. "Can I have some water?"

"Sure." He poured her some ice water and held the straw for her to sip. "Better?"

She nodded and glanced out at the setting sun. "Giles, what happened? I killed Angel. And Ms. Calendar is dead because Angel turned into Angelus and killed her and...and...I let Spike and Dru leave and mom knows I am a Slayer and Kendra....Kendra is dead too."

"What? No..that's not true. Buffy..none of that is true." Alarmed, Giles reached and took her hand. "Buffy, on the night of your birthday...you and Angel went to that warehouse to see if the Judge had been assembled..remember that?"

Buffy thought for a minute and then recalled that Angel had saved her and they had escaped, barely. She began to cry. "After that..after that, Giles...me and Angel..we...he changed remember? He lost his soul and he became Angelus..."

"No." Giles looked at her sternly. "That night in the warehouse...you and Angel were captured and the Judge was advancing and you kicked him. Buffy, I had warned you against touching him. You were rendered unconscious and Angel somehow managed to pull you through the sewers and to the hospital at which time it was decided that you had been struck by lightning. Your heart stopped and they revived you. You've been here ever since."

"That can't be...Angel?" Buffy held her breath.

"Angel will be here as soon as the sun sets as he has been every night since this happened." He hoped that she was beginning to understand.

"But Giles, I fought a Der Kindestad and Fish People and Acathla...and the mouth of hell was opening..." Buffy KNEW that she had done all that.

"Good Lord.." Giles stood up. "Kendra has faced all of that in the past three months. And a haunted school and so many other things. Perhaps it is a psychic link..although I am unable to explain the bit about you killing Angel and so on. Perhaps that was all a nightmare...."

"It felt so real." Buffy shook her head. Angel was alive? And not Angelus? Kendra had fought all those things..? "How did Kendra close Acathla's mouth?"

"Hmm..oh...apparently Angel's blood is something of a gold mine...being gypsy cursed does have its merits. Not only was he able to close the mouth of hell..he sealed Acathla in a stone that cannot be broken." He paused and then added. "Don't ask me how...I haven't got the mentality to explain right now."

"Who killed the Judge?" She remembered an Uzi type thing..and arms.

"Well, Xander did." Giles still found it hard to grasp that Xander had been so enraged that he had broken into the armed forces and taken the cannon thing to kill the Judge. "He does have a soft spot for you."

"Did Amy turn me into a Rat?" So many little things were coming back to her.

"That was Kendra. This psychic link is quite fascinating." Giles sat back down on the edge of the bed. "What else do you recall?"

"Oz is a werewolf." Buffy said. "Oz is a werewolf and oh my god..Willow was in a wheelchair and Xander had his arm broken..."

"Yes, that's all true. But they mended. They are all fine." He stood up and paced. "It happened in the library. Dru and her people attacked us. There was a death. Kendra's Watcher, Moheeb, perished."

"This is all so freaksome." Buffy was shaking. It had all seemed so real. All of it.

Meanwhile..back at the warehouse....

"Noooooooo...." Druscilla whimpered and slumped to the floor. "No more play time!"

"What's the matter, baby." Spike wheeled himself to where Dru had crumpled. "Dru?"

"She's awake, Spike. The Slayer has awaken and I can't make her dream scary and evil dreams anymore..." Druscilla laid her head in Spike's lap and whined.

"Well then, luv. We'll have to put her back to sleep then..yes?" He ran his fingers through her black curls.

Druscilla raised her head and grinned. She passionately kissed Spike and whispered, "Put her to sleep forever."

Back at the hospital....

Willow and Xander were practically running down the hall. Both were trying to give the appearance of briskly walking..but both were nearing sprint status when they charged into Buffy's room. Willow gave a happy wail of relief and Xander beamed from ear to ear. "Buffy," Willow cried and embraced her. Buffy held on. "I missed you, Buff."

"Me too." Buffy's eye's welled up as Xander crossed to greet her and gave her his best lopsided grin.

"You were so beautiful...even comatose." He kissed her lightly and hugged her gently. "Well..except for when you were drooling...and.."

Willow punched him and Buffy giggled. "Don't listen to him! How are you?"

"Tired" Buffy whispered.

"No..tired is me." Came a voice from the door.

"Kendra!!" Buffy said as happily as she could with an almost bone dry throat.

"I never knew how hard it was to work on the mouth of hell. I eat my own words and then say it again with conviction...NO WONDA YA DIED!" Kendra smiled at her.

Buffy laughed again. As if sensing it, Kendra handed her the water and Buffy smiled weakly and drank. She stayed quiet while she listened to the tales of all the adventures she had missed. She kept her eye on the sun..it disappeared and she turned away from the window to keep an eye on the door. She wanted to see him. Oh how she wanted to see him..her eyes were starving for the sight of him. She heard her mom's voice in the hallway and then sat upright in bed. She had missed her mom. In her "dream" she had ill words and left. Joyce walked in and didn't say a word. She simply took Buffy into her arms and held her there..for a long time.

It was dark when Buffy awoke again. Sleep had come so fast. One minute she was listening to her mother sob quietly and now she was waking up. She stretched and reached for her water again. It was so far away. She sat up and turned around to adjust the IV. When she turned back, someone was holding her glass. She glanced up and gasped. "Angel..." she struggled with emotions and words. "you almost went away.."

"Sshhhh." He handed her the water and brushed her hair back. "We both did."

"When I woke up.." Buffy began to sob. "I was sure that I lost you. You were right..that night on the pier. We can't be sure of anything."

"Buffy..shhhh..I.." Angel stammered over his words. "I.."

Buffy sat up a little straighter and faced him. "You what?"

"I love you, Buffy. I try not to but I can't stop. All this time..I sat here..hoping..wishing you'd wake up. I would have prayed but I probably would have spontaneously combusted...." Angel leaned closer to Buffy. "I just love you.."

"I love you too." Buffy ran her palm over his face. It was so cold and yet..such warmth radiated from it...She smiled as he kissed her softly and whispered that she should rest. She laid back on the bed and he sat beside her, never letting go of her hand. She didn't want to go to sleep again..she was so afraid it was all a dream. She knew it wasn't a dream though..and before she did fall asleep, she made a promise aloud..to herself, and to Angel..that she was going to be back on her feet in no time.