SERIES: Passing Time (#18)

AUTHOR: Tisienne Blue

E-MAIL: tisatko@msn.com

DISCLAIMER: I have no rights to any characters commonly associated with Buffy or Angel. They are all owned by Joss Whedon and associates.

RATING: NC-17 for the series.

PAIRINGS: A/W/Liam; S/C

DISTRIBUTION: Charity, Jen:), anyone else I've said yes to. Also, MY SITE!!!-- once it's open... (Jeannette is a Goddess...)

FEEDBACK: would be nice...

DEDICATIONS: to Nutty, Eva, and Mercury... thanks for the feedback!!! Also, to Di for the challenge, and Nat and Myst for listening to me babble...

NOTES: Okay. Future fic. Slutty's dead. Willow lives in LA with Angel and Liam (alternate timeline Angel), and the three of them are mated. Spike is there, and he's with Cordy. Willow's not feeling well, and it's time to figure out why. Oh, and * *= emphasis.

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Liam walked slowly back into the Hotel he now thought of as home. If it were possible, he'd have somehow managed to slap a pleased expression onto his face, but he just... couldn't. There was nothing for him to be pleased *about*. One of his Mates was *sick*, and not only did *he* not know what was wrong with her, but apparently the *Oracles* didn't, either! In fact, when he'd finally gained entry to their realm, they'd looked at him like he was insane, and had told him to go home. He sighed softly and crossed the wide lobby to the door of his other Mate's office, and stood in the doorway while his other-self finished up on the phone. "Well?"

Angel shook his head slowly, his eyes locked on a non-existent spot on his desk. "Everyone I talked to said it sounded like just what she *said* it was. Some kind of stomach bug."

The human stepped through the door and flung himself down on the large leather couch. "Yeah, well... you don't believe that any more than *I* do." He sighed again. "Mathry and Sionelle weren't any help, either. So, what do we do now? Take her to a doctor? What?"

The vampire shrugged slightly. "Maybe. It might be the only possibility. Of course, if this *isn't* something normal, I don't see what good a doctor's going to do her, but..."

"But we have to *try*, Angel," Liam insisted wearily, "If we *don't*, and something..." He shook his head, unwilling to finish the thought. "It's too bad this isn't *my* world. I had a friend there who could have helped." He sat bolt upright then, hope suddenly blooming in his eyes. "But maybe he's in *this* world, too! I need a phone book!" He leapt from the couch and ran into the lobby, his gaze darting about the enormous room. "Where do you keep the phone books?" he shouted, only to jump in startlement when his Mate's big hand came to rest on his shoulder. "Don't *do* that!" he demanded.

Angel couldn't help laughing at the look on his human's face. "Sorry," he murmured, resting his forehead against his counterpart's, "Maybe you should get me a collar with a little bell...? No?" He chuckled softly before stepping away. "Come on. I think Cordy keeps them behind the front desk."

It was only a matter of moments before they found what Liam was looking for, and Angel stood by, puzzled, as his human twin flipped back and forth between the pages, muttering under his breath and occasionally writing down a single digit. Finally, after almost ten minutes, Liam closed the Los Angeles white pages and looked at what he'd written in satisfaction. "Good," he said softly, "Now to see if this works."

"Uh... huh. And what, exactly, is it?" The vampire's brow furrowed slightly at his Mate's response. "It doesn't look like any phone number *I've* ever seen... at least, not a *local* one."

Liam laughed and picked up the phone. "Well, of *course* it doesn't. Not like this, anyway." He continued on as he dialed. "It's a pattern, y'know? The pages in the book were where the numbers came from. Starting with zero, you add and multiply in a specific progression in order to get the numbers I wrote down. Then, there's another pattern used to eliminate the extraneous digits, and finally, you're left with..." He stopped, waving his Mate quiet as the line was answered. "I need your help," he directed to the voice on the phone. "No, no I'm not... It doesn't *matter* how I got it; the fact that I *did* should be enough to *get* you here!... Don't make me have to come after you, *Melvin*!" He forced his sigh of relief to be expressed solely by the relaxing of his shoulders. "Good." he said, "How soon?... Yeah. We'll be looking for you." A slight smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, and he turned hopeful eyes to his vampire. "Okay, so he exists in this world, too, and he's apparently in the same business, so... Maybe we'll get some answers once he gets here."

Angel stared at Liam, his brows drawn together. "Who *is* this guy... and how do you know we can trust him? I mean, you said yourself that people aren't the same here. Willow was a singer in your world. Cordelia was a *vampire*. What if this guy's playing for a different side here? What if he comes here and just makes things worse?"

The Eternal Warrior smiled again and pressed one large, warm hand to the vampire's cheek. "It'll be all right, Angel," he said softly, "I'll know whether we can trust him as soon as he walks in. And if we can't...? I'll kill him myself, long before he gets anywhere *near* our Will, okay?"

The vampire nodded slowly, his eyes closing as he leaned into his Mate's soft caress.

"And okay," came the slightly smarmy voice from the main door of the Hotel, "*Not* something I was expecting to see, but... whatever works for ya, right?" The smallish man gazed around him, taking in the rugs and faded gold trim of the huge lobby. "Glad to see you're moving up in the world, Angel. This beats the *hell* out of that alley I found you in. You'll have to explain about the human-you one of these days, but right now? I'm guessing *he's* the one who called me, so... Wha'd'ya need?"

Angel didn't think his eyes could possibly get any wider. It was almost inconceivable to him, but... "*Whistler*?"

"In the flesh," the badly-dressed demon agreed.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

He'd stopped trying to hold in his purrs, mostly because it was completely impossible, especially since they'd managed to make their way to the bed. Now they were laying silently beneath the covers, and Cordelia's head was pillowed gently on his shoulder, and the tanned, elegant fingers of one hand were dancing slowly across his chest, and... He was almost entirely sure that he'd never been so... content. His own hand was trailing lightly up and down her smooth, flawless back, and he delighted in the almost forgotten sensation of a heart beating against him. "Cordy..." he said, hesitantly.

"Hmmm..." she managed to reply, almost unwilling to break the silence. She'd never felt so... sated before in her life! His skin was cool under her fingers, but somehow, that didn't matter, and she found herself wondering what it would be like to feel this way *every* day. Of course, she pushed the thought away, because... this was just so *new*, and she didn't want to screw things up by assuming an eternity that he might not even *want* with her... even if that were possible. "What, Spike?" she murmured back, almost afraid of what he might say.

"Nothing," he finally said, cursing himself for chickening out, but... he didn't want to scare her, after all. He could *feel* the look of disbelief she'd just acquired, and he chuckled softly. "Well, all right... something."

She thought about that for barely an instant, and she shifted slightly against him, tilting her head to see his face. "O... kay... Is this the kind of something that's actually *something*, or the kind of something that's really *nothing*."

His eyes crinkled at the corners, and he glanced at her sideways. "It's a... something-something, but it can wait a while..." Like a year or two, he told himself, tightening his arm around her. Maybe by then he'd know how to tell her. Unfortunately, he realized, she wasn't going to *give* him that much time.

Cordelia sat up beside him, pulling away from his too-enticing form. "Whatever it is, you'd better tell me *now*, Spike. I'm not exactly known for being Miss Patient, you know. Queen of Shopping, yes; Miss Patient, no! So spill!" She pulled the sheets tight around her, and stared at him fearfully.

Spike sighed, hating the look of unhappy anticipation in her eyes, but... he'd brought this on himself by speaking in the first place, and... much as he wanted to just get up and leave... if he did, she'd never trust him; never see him again, and that was a risk he just wasn't willing to take. "All right, then," he said dejectedly as he sat up himself, "It's just that... I don't want to scare you, and... whatever happens, I'm not going to go all stalker-y on you, but I... This is serious for me." He sighed again when he saw that she didn't understand. "*This*. You and me. It's not just... a *fling* or something. I want to be with you... all the time! And I *hate* it that you can go out in the sun without me. I hate it that when you do, there's thousands of men running around having... *thoughts* about you!" He wasn't sure, but he thought his eyes might have gone gold. He couldn't help it, though, because he was actually *angry*! He jumped from the bed and paced restlessly beside it. "I hate the fact that you live somewhere else, with some *guy*, and I hate knowing that you have friends I've never met, and a life I'm not a *part* of! I hate it that ever since I *got* here, I've started getting up in the *daytime*, just because that's when I know I can see you! And I hate..." he sighed deeply, and still angrily, and his voice became softer as he sat down beside her on the edge of the bed. "I hate," he repeated, taking one of her hands in his, "The fact that I don't know how you feel... I don't know if you care about me at all. I know you *want* me, luv, and let's face it, who wouldn't... But what *am* I to you, Cordelia? When you look at me... what do you see?" He stopped then, his fingers tight around hers, and waited motionlessly for a response... *any* response.

"You're... *Spike*," she said softly, her mind a whirling mass of she didn't know what. "You're just... Spike, and..." She jumped up quickly when he pulled away and went for his clothes. "Wait!" she demanded, reaching him and wrapping her arms around his waist from behind. "I'm not... I'm not explaining this right. I mean... give me a minute, okay?" Her head came to rest against his back, and she stood there, still, as she considered her next words carefully.

He was scarcely daring to hope. His eyes were closed against the pain of what she might say... of what she'd *already* said... and he didn't know that he could actually wait to hear what he was sure would be grim news, but...

"Okay," Cordelia finally said, her heart beating fast, "I guess... I'm scared. I'm afraid that I won't be enough for you. I mean, I'm *human*! Hello! And there's all these *vampire* things that I can't be a part of. And what's gonna happen ten, twenty years from now, when I'm getting all old and wrinkly, and you're still... exactly the way you are now? Where's that gonna leave *me*?" She shook her head slowly against his pale skin, one single tear slipping from her eye. "And as for what I see when I look at you? I see a few years where I'll be *happy*, until you decide that you can't face the sight of me getting ugly and aged... And then I see a big, long stretch of time where I'll just want to *die* because you aren't there." She tried to release him; to pull away, but he wouldn't let her.

If he'd had a heart that beat, it would have been racing, and when he felt her grip loosening, he took her hands in his own and held her to him. "You... you'd want to die... because I wasn't there..." He couldn't hold back the smile that spread across his lips, and he let go of her hands, only to turn swiftly around and clasp her tightly to his chest. He tucked her head under his chin, and sighed happily. "Then don't let me *go*, pet. Hold on to me, and never let me go, because I can promise you that *I* won't be letting go of *you*... not *ever*!" He lifted her gently in his arms and carried her back to the bed. "Shhh... shhh, luv," he murmured when she shook her head, "It'll be all right. It may take some *time*, but we'll find a way around that nasty 'aging' problem of yours... We *have* to, because I have no intention of ever letting you die... Maybe a souling spell like the Poof's, only without that nasty clause. Whatever."

She pulled back from him for a moment then, meeting his eyes, and smiled brilliantly at the emotions she saw there. "Promise?" she asked breathlessly.

Spike grinned again into Cordelia's sparkling brown eyes. "It's a done deal, pet. *Count* on it!"

She was happier than she could have imagined being only minutes earlier, and she snugged herself tight to his side, one arm stretching out across his pale, toned stomach. "I... Spike, I... think I lov..." she began, only to be cut off quickly.

"Don't say it, Cordy," Spike insisted, "Don't say it 'til you're *sure*. Not 'I *think*', not 'I *might* be'... but 'I *do* feel this way'... all right?"

Cordelia nodded slowly, almost understanding. "Okay," she said softly, her fingers tracing small circles on his skin. "You, too, though." And she smiled slightly wider when he nodded.

His eyes closed in satisfaction, and he let himself relax as he felt her slip slowly into sleep. He would have her with him forever; that much he knew, and with eternity being what it was, he could wait to hear the words... he could wait to say them, too. It was mere moments later that he followed her down into slumber, completely unaware of everything else that had been going on in the Hotel.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"So?" Angel demanded, barely beating Liam to the question, "What's *wrong* with her?"

Whistler stood from his spot at the edge of the bed, and stared down at the twitching redhead for a moment before responding. "Well, it's not *good*," he announced, "But it's not as bad as it *could* be. Let's go downstairs; I could use a drink." He ignored the glares being sent his way by two sets of deep brown eyes, one of which was gold-tinged, and brushed between the two men and out into the hall. "You coming?" he threw over his shoulder as he strolled towards the stairs, smiling slightly at the speed with which the two followed him. He reached the lobby in record time, and crossed it to Angel's office, settling himself on one of the arms of the sofa.

"Well?" Liam said menacingly, leaning against the desk next to his Mate, "What *is* it?"

The smallish demon sighed and rubbed his chin. "I thought I said I could use a drink...? 'Cause I sure don't see one in my hand right now... All right, all right... Jeez. You two *seriously* need to lighten up!" He relaxed slightly when the human and the vampire settled back where they'd been. "You want to know what's wrong... but you want it to be something simple, and it's *not*. It wouldn't have been simple even if your... well, evil twin doesn't quite work, but I think you get the point... even if *Liam*, here, wasn't a part of this, it wouldn't be simple, but his presence...? Well, that makes it just a little bit more complicated." He stood, glancing around the small room until his eyes lit on the bottle almost hidden behind a dusty stack of books. "And that's what I was looking for," he muttered, moving towards it. He reached out and pulled it to him, "Any chance of getting a glass?" That was all he managed to say before he found himself slammed face-first against the wall by a very angry man.

"Look, *Melvin*," Liam hissed angrily, "This may be all fun and games for you, but this is our *Mate* you're talking about. Now, if you have *any* intention of walking out of here with all your parts intact, you'd better start *talking*!"

"Ah... Angel," the demon wheezed against the paint, "Aren't you going to *do* something?"

Angel stepped in close, and spoke very softly into his ear. "Yes, I'm going to *help* him with that *removal* he's talking about unless you give us some information that's actually of *use*. Now, I'm going to have him let go of you, so you'd better have something to *tell* us." He moved back, one hand coming to rest on Liam's tense arm, and he nodded slowly to his Mate.

Whistler's eyes were wide when he was finally released. "All right, already," he said, moving slowly back to his former perch on the couch arm, "She's sick. But I'm guessing you already know that. It's what's *making* her sick that's the problem. Like I said, this isn't something simple, but... part of it can be fixed pretty quickly, and... who knows? Maybe if you fix *that*, she'll have an easier time with the rest of it."

Liam glanced at his vampire, and nodded swiftly before moving to the office doorway while Angel settled himself behind the desk. "So why don't you break it down for us, *Melvin*?"

Whistler grimaced. "Fine. But only if you stop calling me that!" He stared stubbornly at the human until the man nodded. "Okay. What you've got here are two separate problems, and the first one is making the second one worse." He gazed quickly at Angel, sighing in relief when he saw that the vampire understood, and that was who he directed his next words to. "You Mated them both, Gods know how. I'd say it's probably 'cause Liam, here, is basically identical to you, the whole 'blood-sucking demon' thing aside, so technically you probably bound her to yourself twice, regardless of the fact that you're two separate entities. So, okay. You Mated him, you Mated her, but she only drank from *you*, am I right?"

The vampire actually had to think about it, but finally he nodded. "Yeah, I mean, *I'm* the vampire... here was no reason for her to..."

"That's where you're *wrong*, pal," the demon interrupted. "So, basically, you've got an unfinished Mating on your hands, and I'm betting she's been really *tired* lately? Getting headaches, sore muscles, that sort of thing?"

The human nodded quickly. "She has. Or at least, she's been tired... and she had a headache a few days ago, but..."

"Okay," Whistler continued, "That's where *that* came from. If she's bound to you both, she has to drink from you both in order for the Mating to be completed. That's fairly easy. It's the *other* part that's gonna be hard... for *all* of you." He gazed longingly at the bottle Angel had taken from him, and smiled broadly when the vampire sighed and pulled a glass from his desk. "See? I *knew* we were buddies."

Angel poured the short glass full and stood, passing it across the desk. He sat back down as he watched the demon drink it down. "The other part?" he prompted, after a minute.

"Yeah," Whistler said shortly, "That's the part you're not gonna like." He moved from the arm of the couch down onto the cushions, one arm resting along the place he'd sat just moments earlier. "She's fighting a battle. Inside herself. It might even kill her. And there's nothing you can do to help her."

The only reason that Liam's dive at the demon didn't connect was the fact that Angel moved even faster than *he* did, and the next thing he knew, he was laying on the floor with his vampiric-self holding him down. He struggled harshly against him, wanting nothing more than to smash the smug expression from the face of the bastard who was talking about his Willow like she didn't matter... like the world would be the same, with or without her! "Let *go* of me, damn it!" he hollered, his fists swinging wildly, "Let me kill the prick! I can't help her? She might *die*? Let me *go*!" He was still struggling, even while Angel dragged him from the room, and it was only the comforting murmurs his Mate made in his ear that finally calmed him a little.

"Hush... hush, love... stop this. We'll find a way around it..." were the words he kept repeating, even as his Mate struck wildly at him. He eventually managed to catch hold of the flailing limbs, and after that, it was only a matter of minutes before Liam was laying relatively quietly beneath him. He stared down into his human's eyes, and realized where that rage and fear had come from. "I won't let it happen," he said seriously. "I won't let you lose her again. If you don't believe anything else I ever say, believe *that*, Liam." He waited until the man nodded slowly before releasing him and climbing to his feet. He pulled his Mate up from the floor and stared deep into his eyes once more. "She's *ours*. Our Mate. Our love, and our lover. And if I have to, I'll turn her, but I *won't* let her die, okay?"

Liam nodded again, believing the promise in his Mate's eyes. "Okay, Angel," he finally said, looking at the floor in shame. "I... I'm sorry, but..." he shrugged.

"Don't worry about it. If nothing else, it's probably made Whistler a little more likely to tell us the truth. Now, come on," he said, leading the human back into the office.

Whistler's eyes were still wide when the two men returned, and when he saw them about to resume their former positions, he scooted quickly to the far end of the couch. "Uh..." he began, only to be cut off by Angel.

"There was a Willow in Liam's world, too, and she died, so he's a little bit... touchy on that subject. So am I. She's our *Mate*. She's not expendable. Now, where were we?"

The demon smiled sickly, and swallowed hard. "Ah, yeah... okay... the uh... the Powers have big plans for your girl, Angel, but first she has to make it through what's going on inside her. It's... think of it as a *test*. She passes, and she goes on to do the things she's *supposed* to do... the things she was *born* for..."

"And if she fails?" Liam said, very quietly, not looking at the demon he would have killed, "What if she fails?"

Whistler almost shrugged, but managed to stop himself at the last second. "If she... doesn't pass, then... I don't exactly know. There are others who could do what's needed, but... she's the strongest one we've got. She could fail the test and still go on, but..." He sighed deeply. "I hate to say it, but... that doesn't seem real likely, y'know?" He shook his head then. "But there really *isn't* anything you can do to help her, other than finishing the Mating. That might give her enough energy to make it through. It would be hard enough if she were at full strength, but with the drag of that incomplete bond...?"

Angel nodded decisively, and stood again. "Fine. Thanks for coming." He strode quickly from the room, his human Mate on his heels.

The demon stared after them, and rose himself. "Good luck, guys. And to your girl, too. She's gonna need it, even if she *does* succeed." And with that, he faded swiftly away.

End.
 

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