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Chapter 9

William looked over at the clock. It was 12:30. It was almost time for him to go and be social with Xander and his friend, probably that British guy that he’d met on Saturday morning. William sighed. He really wasn't in the mood for people today. Actually, he felt like he had reached his social quota. He had gone to a bar with Xander, and had even begun talking to his co-workers. So he didn't need to go, not really and it's not like Harris could fire him for skipping out. Besides, he was getting a little put off by the man. He pushed to hard. Always asking after him and inviting him places, and asking about his past and his life. Making his final decision, William walked over to the table and quickly wrote a note telling Xander that he’d changed his mind. He then shoved the room key in his pocket and walked out the door. Before he left, he slid the note between the door and the molding. It had been a while since he had just gone out and enjoyed the sun. A walk would do him good. He could get some fresh air, avoid Harris, see some of the city, and probably die from heat stroke.

Xander and Giles arrived at William’s motel room a few minutes before 1:00. Xander knew that William would try and skip out, and by arriving early Xander hoped to catch him before he’d had a chance to take off. He reached up and knocked on the door, and waited for a response. No one answered, so he knocked a few more times. Still no answer. He decided to try a different tactic.

“Will! Open the damn door!”

Giles who up until that point had remained silent, decided to put his two cents in, “Xander, have you thought that maybe he’s not there?”

Xander stopped knocking on the door, long enough to turn around and answer Giles. “I came by yesterday and had to do the same thing. He’s probably just asleep.”

“Be that as it may, Xander, it’s probably not the best idea. Don’t you have his phone number or another way to contact him?”

Xander had the decency to look slightly abashed, “Oh, yeah. I should have thought of that.” He happened to glance down at the ground and spotted the piece of paper that William had left. He bent down and picked it up. “I wonder what this is.” Xander unfolded the paper and read it. With a loud sigh, he reread it aloud, so that Giles could hear.

“Harris. I changed my mind. William.”

Giles snorted, “Good Lord, that was Spike. Whoever this man is now, Spike is definitely still a part of him.”

Xander shoved the note inside his pocket, and started to rack his brain. They needed to come up with something that didn’t look completely obvious, so that somehow Giles could get some time around the man. With William being so uncooperative, it was becoming harder to find excuses to be around him outside of work. It didn’t make sense to Xander. Spike was always trying to find ways to be around their group back in Sunnydale, so for William to try and avoid him and Giles was hard to comprehend. This was so aggravating. He never thought that he would be putting this much effort into anything that involved Spike. Xander looked over at Giles. He would know what to do.

Giles said, “So what should we do now?”

Huh...guess not. “Well, I kind of have an idea.” Xander said. “I don’t think he’ll get suspicious, and I really think it’ll work, although my ideas are usually worse then when Lincoln suggested taking in a show, but there is always a first time, right?

Giles rolled his eyes. “Your guess is as good as mine, Xander.”

“Okay, first we’ll need to go pick up some supplies.” Spike had always been pretty observant, so they would have to try their hardest to act normal, but maybe William hadn’t inherited that particular piece of the Spike puzzle. One could only hope.

About an hour later, William got back to his motel room. He didn’t regret ditching Xander and his friend. The walk had helped clear his head and put the last week into perspective. What with the new job, new city, and his overly-enthusiastic boss, the whole week had been really odd. He now felt refreshed and ready to start a new week. Well maybe not refreshed in every sense, since he was sweating like a pig. Note to self, walks are good, but take them in the evening, not in 100 degree afternoon’s.

He slowly walked up the stairs to his room. What he needed was a cool shower and a nap. As he was unlocking the door he noticed that the note he had left was gone. Hopefully, Harris had taken the hint. William liked his solitude and Xander making him his new project was getting on his last nerve. He walked in and closed the door, then went over and turned the AC up to high. He stripped his T-shirt off and headed toward the bathroom. Just as he was about to turn on the water, someone knocked on the door.

“Oh bloody hell.” If it was Xander he was seriously going to tell him off. William stomped over to the door and yanked it open. Sure enough, it was Xander and his poncy British friend.

“Piss off!”

“Why William, is that anyway to treat the bearers of pizza and beer?” Xander countered.

Giles stared at William. Whoever William was, and despite the lack of memories, he was looking at Spike. Pissed off, ready to tear your throat out, Spike. Any lingering doubts that Giles might’ve had disappeared. He didn’t know how it had happened or even why, but it was Spike. They needed to tread with caution and understanding. Unfortunately, Xander was doing neither. He was about to blow it. Giles quickly stepped in front of Xander and stuck his hand out.

“William, my name is Rupert Giles. I believe we met yesterday. I apologize for my friend here. I fear that it is my fault that we are here. He told me that you were from London, and I was eager to talk with another Brit.”

William eyed him skeptically and willed himself to calm down. Change always made him cranky or maybe it was just Xander. He was starting to get really, really irritated with him. He wanted to tell them both off, but decided to give them one more chance to get a clue.

“I appreciate the thought, mate. Unfortunately, you caught me at a bad time. I was just about to shower.”

Only then did the two men notice his half-dressed appearance. They both had the grace to look embarrassed, but Xander still continued to press William to agree.

“Come on, Will. Free pizza! Frosty Nectar! It’s a no brainer.”

William clenched his jaw and got ready to close the door. If he needed to he’d close it in their faces. Probably not good for job security, but Xander seemed pretty thick, so he most likely wouldn’t get to offended. Before he could take any action, Giles interrupted.

“Xander, I think we might have come by at a bad time. How about we leave William and maybe I can talk to him another time.” He directed the last part to William, who was looking very relieved.

Xander finally backed down. He thought he had almost got William to agree, but Giles must know something he didn’t or maybe he had seen all that he wanted to. Either way, he quickly back peddled.

“You know what, Giles is right. Sorry about that William. How about we leave and I’ll see you at work tomorrow, okay.”

With a sigh of relief William smiled back at them. “Not to be a killjoy, but that would be great. Thanks.”

“That’s no problem, William. I’ll see you tomorrow at work.”

“Bye”, and before either of them could say anything more, William shut the door.

Xander and Giles just looked at each other. “Well that was abrupt.” Xander said.

“He looked pretty annoyed, so it’s no wonder.” Giles then turned around and headed back toward the car. “It’s okay, Xander. I saw everything I needed to.”

“Whatever you say, Giles. And now, we have pizza and beer to occupy our time. Yay, us.”

As soon as the door was closed, William turned around and leaned against it, thanking whoever runs the universe that they had left. He didn’t have any energy to pretend around people today. He just wanted to be by himself. He pushed himself off the door and walked back into the bathroom. Now he could take his shower.

He turned the water on as cold as he could stand it. The heat had really got to him on his walk. Cold was good. William stepped in and held back a yelp. Maybe it was too cold. He reached down to turn the hot water on, when he was hit with barrage of images. It was so sudden and so violent that he was physically pushed on the floor of the bathtub. He was in some kind of granite building. It almost looked like a tomb. He was there, wearing the duster, and counting money? Xander’s friend, Mr. Giles was also there in the background, talking to him.

William didn’t even understand what was going on, and he was trying to take everything in. He looked around the room, his gaze finally settling on where Mr. Giles was standing. It looked like he was inspecting the bier, but suddenly the man stood up and stared at him.

“I realize this is completely against your nature, but has it occurred to you that there may be a higher purpose. . .”

Then it was gone. The dream or flashback, or whatever the hell it was. It had left him drained and exhausted. It was all he could do to turn off the water. William lay gasping in the bathtub, trying to comprehend what had just occurred. Giving up, he crawled out of the bathtub and without drying off or even getting dressed, he stumbled to the bed and collapsed on to it. William reached over and wrapped the sheet around him, and before his head hit the pillow, he was asleep.





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