He ignored the pain searing his every nerve and pulled himself upright. His heart leapt into his throat as he caught sight of what was happening in front of him, the scene playing out in the cave worse than one he'd fathomed even in his worst nightmares. Dawn was slumped on the ground, bright, green energy being sucked from her and into Cynthia who stood a few yards away, cackling as the power of the Key flowed into her.
Dawn's cries grew weaker until she was making no sounds at all, and Andrew felt his fear rise as he looked at her. She wasn't moving, and from what he could tell, she wasn't even breathing.
Rage filled him as he got to his feet, and Andrew moved more with anger than thought as he lunged at Cynthia, pushing her out of the circle she'd been standing in. As she hit the ground, she let out an almost inhuman scream, and Andrew pulled himself off of her as she began to convulse, her eyes rolling backwards in her head.
Moments later, the same energy she'd pulled from Dawn rushed out of her, heading back where it belonged. Andrew shielded his eyes as it began to pulse around Dawn, surrounding her with an eerie glow. Suddenly, it surged into her, the force of it lifting Dawn off the ground for a moment before she fell down again, the light now gone.
Andrew held his breath unknowingly for a moment, his gaze firmly on Dawn. After a second, he heard her cough, and relief flooded him at the knowledge that he hadn't lost her yet. She tried weakly to pull herself up, but couldn't, her arms too weak to support her.
He glanced over at Cynthia, a shudder passing through him as she saw her staring up blankly, her eyes glassy. She was still breathing, but from the looks of it, there wasn't much in the way of brain activity. He thought he should probably feel something seeing the woman he'd almost married lying there brain dead, but all he could think was that he was relieved she wouldn't be able to hurt Dawn anymore.
Andrew moved away from Cynthia and to Dawn. He gathered her in his arms, his heart clenching when he looked at her face. She was pale, her eyes barely open. "Dawnie…" he said softly, his hand coming up to stroke her cheek. "Come on, sweetheart, stay with me."
Dawn tried to smile at him, though it turned into a wince, and she reached over to lay her hand to her stomach. It was then that Andrew saw how badly she was bleeding, and he fought off another wave of panic. The wound was serious, and if he didn't get her medical attention soon, Andrew knew she would die.
But how could they get out? Cynthia was the only person there that knew how to get back—or even where they were—and she certainly wasn't going to be of any help.
Andrew felt his eyes fill with hot tears. Was this how it was going to end? Was Dawn going to die there in his arms with him helpless to save her?
Dawn took her hand from her wound and raised it up, her own blood covering her palm. She closed her eyes, took as deep of a breath as she could, and the world shifted around them.
Andrew blinked as he realized they were no longer in the cave, but outside Slayer Central, in the courtyard where he'd met Dawn those nights before. She was unconscious but still breathing, and Andrew didn't hesitate as he lifted her up and ran with her to the medlab.
There would be time for questions later, when Dawn's life was no longer hanging in the balance.
*** *** ***
Andrew paced back and forth in the waiting room, unable to sit still despite how badly his body was still aching. It crossed his mind that at another point in his life he would've wondered if this was how Luke Skywalker felt after being zapped by the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, but as it stood now, he didn't care. There was too much to worry about in reality to be concerned about fiction.
The medical staff had converged on him as soon as he'd come in, taking Dawn from his arms and rolling her away. All he could do now was wait for someone to come out and speak to him, to let him know if she was okay, or…
He wouldn't let himself think about what came after the "or."
He stopped in mid-pace and looked up when the entrance to the medlab burst open, and Spike and Buffy came in. Andrew swallowed, knowing they probably had more of a right to be there than he did, but worrying now that they were. How could he explain to them what had just happened to Dawn?
They paused when they saw Andrew standing there, blood still smudged on his clothes. Spike sniffed the air and his eyes narrowed. "That's Dawn's blood," he said, his eyes leveling on Andrew. "What happened?"
"I'm not completely sure. I was out for most of it," Andrew answered truthfully. "When I woke up, she was already bleeding."
Buffy's hand went around her husband's arm, keeping him from acting before either of them knew what was going on. "Giles said Dawn thought your fiancée was going after the Key."
"Ex, but yeah, she was. I didn't go so well for her though." Andrew glanced between the two blonds. "I had no idea Cynthia was going to try something like this. I didn't even think she was capable of it. And I didn't tell her anything about the Key either. She said she found out what she knew by going through my notes while I was asleep."
Buffy frowned. "You had notes on the Key? Why?"
"I was trying to help Dawn. It was what I was doing, in those other dimensions—looking for information that would help her better understand who she is." Andrew sighed. "I guess I screwed that up, too."
"Where is Cynthia now?" Buffy asked.
"I'm not sure. Wherever she had us, I suppose. I think it was another dimension. The Watchers are doing locator spells to find her, but she looked pretty much brain dead when I left. She zapped me with some sort of energy, knocked me unconscious, but when it woke up, it looked like she was sucking the Key out of Dawn and into her. I knocked her down, and that must've stopped it. There was this mass of green energy, and it left Cynthia and went back into Dawn," Andrew said, trying to explain what had happened as best he could.
"You were in another dimension?" Spike asked. "How did you get back here?"
"Dawn," Andrew answered. "I don't know what she did, but one second we were there and the next we were in the courtyard outside."
Spike's eyebrow arched. "The courtyard where you kept meeting with her in the middle of the night—which I would beat you for if there weren't more pressing matters at the moment."
Andrew swallowed. "Yeah, that one." He made a mental note not to ever think he was being sneaky about anything done in a building full of blabby teenaged girls. "After that, I brought her straight here. She's been back with the doctors ever since."
"And you have no idea what happened to her?" Spike asked.
"It's a stomach wound. I'd guess stab wound, but I didn't get a good look at it. There was a lot going on," Andrew said.
Spike regarded Andrew for a moment before he asked, "You really had no idea your fiancée was going to pull something like this?"
"No! God, no. I never would've sat by and let her try to hurt Dawn! I…care a lot about Dawn. I'd die before I'd allow her to get hurt."
Spike continued to eye Andrew warily. From the sound of things, he'd probably saved Dawn's life, but Spike was having a hard time getting past the part where Andrew had broken the heart of one of his girls. Dawn had been so torn up when Andrew had left her, and Spike hadn't forgotten it.
Buffy knew her husband well enough to know what was probably going through his mind at the moment, but she also knew their focus right then should be on Dawn's physical injuries, not her emotional ones. Whatever had happened—and was happening now—between Andrew and Dawn was just that—between the two of them. They'd work things out they way they wanted to.
"I'm going to try to see if I can find someone to tell me what's going on with Dawn," Buffy said. "You two wait in here, and Spike—no kicking a man while he's down."
Spike gave Buffy an irritated look at the last bit, but he didn't argue with her. He took a seat instead, albeit a good distance away from Andrew. After Buffy was gone, he looked up and said, "Me sitting over here isn't all that personal. You just smell like Dawn's blood, and that tends to make me want to kill something."
Andrew gave a small nod. "Then I suppose it's best for you to sit over there."
Spike looked away from Andrew again, and the two of them sat in silence as they waited to hear something about Dawn.
*** *** ***
Buffy was at her bedside when Dawn regained consciousness, and she tried her best to smile at her sister, but ended up only wincing in pain. "Anybody get the number of that bus?" Dawn asked, her voice cracking.
"Well, good morning, sleepyhead," Buffy said. "I was beginning to think you were going to use a stab wound as an excuse to sleep the whole day away."
"I thought about it." Dawn tried to sit up, but Buffy stopped her, and Dawn realized as her back went down to the bed again that Buffy was probably right there.
"You need to stay down for a bit, Dawnie," Buffy told her softly. "You've got a pretty major stab wound. It didn't skewer any of your internals, though, and the doctors say you seem to be healing up well."
"Wow, maybe I can use some of that luck to win the lottery."
Buffy arched an eyebrow. "And yet, still not too injured for sarcasm, I see."
Dawn started to retort, but stopped, her eyes growing wide as if she suddenly realized something. "Andrew? Is he all right? Where is he? Did he get out, too?"
"He's fine, Dawn. A little banged up, but nothing serious. He's out in the waiting area with Spike."
"With Spike? I thought you said he was okay!"
Buffy held up her hands. "Don't worry. I made Spike promise not to maim, torture, or kill him."
Dawn calmed down again. "He saved my life, you know. He stopped Cynthia from finishing her ritual." Her voice grew lower, her eyes now averted from Buffy's. "Besides, I let her do it."
Buffy frowned. "You let her? What do you mean you let her?"
"She knocked Andrew out, and then she told me if I didn't cooperate with her, she was going to kill him. So I let her."
"Dawn," Buffy said with a gasp. "You almost died. If she'd finished whatever it was she was doing, you probably would have. If you 'let' her, you were trading your life for his."
"I know," Dawn replied. "I knew at the time, too. But I couldn't…I couldn't stand there and watch him die. That would've killed me, Buffy."
"You love him that much?"
"I do. There's something about him. It's like…he's a part of me. And I know it's probably all kinds of wrong for us to be together, but…"
Buffy held up her hands. "Hey, Slayer married to an ex-vampire here. You don't have to explain wrong to me." She reached out and pushed her sister's hair back from her face. "I just want you to be happy, Dawnie. And if you're happy with him, well, that's not something I'll ever begrudge you."
"We haven't really talked," Dawn said. "Not about us anyway. The last time I spent any time with him when we weren't trapped in a cave with a psychopath, he was still engaged. I'm going to assume that engagement is over now, but still—cave, psycho, no time to talk."
"You've got time to figure all of that out," Buffy said.
"Yeah. Buffy?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think maybe I could talk to him a little now? I just…I need to see him. To know that he's really all right."
"Of course." Buffy kissed Dawn's forehead before standing up. "I'll send him back."
"Thank you."
Buffy gave her sister a small smile and nod before leaving the room to get Andrew.
*** *** ***