Chapter Nine

"Cordelia, would you help me move him onto the couch?" Wesley demanded when Spike hadn't woken up after several minutes.

"What?"

"You take his feet and then we carry him over to…"

"Eww, Wesley!" The girl interrupted him with a squeal. "He is all covered in blood. Think about the stains on your couch!"

"You're right. We should probably remove the dirty clothing first," Wesley suggested.

"Again with the 'eww', dumbo. Naked vampire is neither something you want to taint your couch with. Hopefully!" Cordelia's face was scrunched up.

Wesley blushed slightly. You could argue with that, could you not? "But we have to do something, Cordelia. We cannot let him lie there till he wakes up by himself, can we?"

Cordelia stepped closer to the still motionless vampire on the ground.

"Is he injured?" she asked.

"What do you mean by that? You see all the blood. Of course…"

"It's not his!" the vision-girl stated.

"Huh?"

"Wesley, there's blood, yes," she explained patiently, "but I don't see any wounds. He is not hurt. The blood must be from someone else."

"But…"

"He probably went out on a killer-rama and slaughtered a bunch of innocent people just because he was angry when he left!" Cordelia assumed. Then her eyes went bigger and she exclaimed: "Wesley, what if the blood's Angel's? What if he killed him?"

Wesley simply stared at her in shock. He didn't believe what she'd presumed, but…

"We should call him," he said. When Cordelia didn't move he clarified: "Angel, Cordy. Go and call him."

"Right!"

She went over to the phone and dialled Angel's number. After only a few seconds Wesley heard her breathe in relief:

"Thank god you're there, Angel! … Yes, he's back. No… look, he didn't…I don't think you can talk to him now, Angel. He's currently polluting Wesley's carpet with blood. Eww, no, he's not feeding!… No, Angel. It's not his, he's not hurt. Just unconscious."

Wesley stopped listening to Cordy's explanations when he heard a low groan suddenly emanating from Spike. The vampire moved his head and looked around.

"Spike?" Wesley inquired and crouched down next to him cautiously. "Are you hurt, Spike?"

The blond shook his head and groaned again. He tried to sit up but stopped his attempts when the room went spinning around his head. He closed his eyes again.

"What is wrong with you, Spike?" Wesley asked concerned.

"Blood," Spike croaked hoarsely.

"I know you are covered in blood, Spike. What happened?"

The vampire shook his head again and grabbed Wesley's shoulder for support. He pulled the ex-watcher down and whispered into his ear:

"Blood… I need…blood!" A loud growling from his stomach made clear what he meant.

"Oh," Wesley paled. "Of course, you need to drink blood. I guess you haven't fed at all since you came here, right?"

Spike nodded and confirmed: "Today's the third day without any."

The thought of Spike simply being in need to eat (or drink) something had not once before occurred to Wesley. Three days, god lord! And he'd thought he'd been starved yesterday during his short abduction.

Wes looked up to Cordelia still talking to Angel on the phone. "I don't have any…"

"What?" Cordy asked into the receiver. "Okay, I'll come and get it. Bye, Angel."

Cordelia threw the receiver down and glared at Spike.

"Well, since we don't want you to start chewing on Wesley here I'm going over to Angel's and get you some blood! And you better pay for it later, mister."

Spike sat up cautiously and mocked: "And what should I pay you with, luv? A button of my duster? A lock of blond hair?"

"You don't have any money?" Cordelia asked incredulously.

"Hey, it's not that I knew I would end up here stuck in the past!" Spike tried to defend himself.

"Yeah, right. And surely there's no need for you to carry money in 2004, huh?"

Despite his weak state Spike had to smile at Cordelia's ability to banter with him. Once a Scooby, always a Scooby, right?

"I'm sure the high and mighty Angel will provide something for a poor sod like me. After all, I'm family am I not?" he smirked.

Cordelia snorted and went for the door.

"Family, my ass!" Then she threw one last inquisitive glance at Wesley as if to ask 'Are you okay alone with him?'

Wesley's eyes briefly travelled over the blond vampire still on the floor before he nodded at Cordelia. Yes, he would be alright with Spike alone for a while. Maybe now he would get the chance to talk to him some more about the soul and all. And maybe he would be able to figure out why he felt so intrigued by Spike.

After Cordelia had left Wesley had suggested for Spike to scrub off the blood from his body. Spike had assured him that it wasn't human, he'd conveniently run into a bunch of demons on the streets and had worked off his anger killing them in a quick fight. And Wesley believed him.

He'd helped Spike off the ground and into the bathroom where the vampire was now enjoying a scalding hot shower. The water ran down his body and washed away all traces of dirt and blood while he thought hard about his next moves.

He needed to find a way back to his time, that much was clear. And he'd need Wesley for that. Maybe Cordelia, too. But after what had happened earlier Spike was more determined than ever to exclude Angel. He simply couldn't work together with this time's Angel. It was hard enough cooperating with the one from 2004.

But this younger version… no, they were just too different. This Angel simply hadn't gone through whatever he'd have to go through to become the person he would be in 2004. This time's Angel simply wasn't ready to accept Spike for what or who he was. They would be killing each other within days.

So Spike would have to put all his hopes on Wesley.

Oh, sure, he knew just as well that this was not his Wesley, not the one he knew from his time. This man radiated innocence just like his Wes radiated strength and ruthlessness.

But Spike had also seen a glimpse of those qualities in this time's Wesley. Before, when Wesley had stepped between the fighting vampires… there had been something in the ex-watcher's eyes, some glimmer of what he was capable of…

'Yes,' Spike thought determined and turned the shower off. 'He'll find a way. He'll help me get back.'

As if on cue there was a knock and Wesley's hesitating voice rang out through the door: "Spike, Cordelia's back with the blood."

"About time!" Spike grumbled and stepped out of the shower. He was suddenly feeling dizzy again, maybe he should have waited with taking a shower till after he'd fed?

"Wait a mo," the vampire made his way over to the door and opened it a crack to find Wesley waiting on the other side. "I don't suppose you could lend me some of your clothes, pet, could you? Not that I mind walking around starkers…"

Wesley's eyes went wide behind his glasses and a small blush crept onto his face when he took in Spike's naked body, drops of water running down his smooth and muscular chest towards his navel and further down to…

"Ugh, I… oh," Wesley stammered and his eyes snapped back to the vampire's leering face. "Oh, sure, ugh… I'll go and, and… you know, get you something."

"You do that, pet." Spike smirked and watched Wesley turn around so quickly that he nearly tripped over his own feet. "Oh, and… Wes?"

"Y-yes?"

"Don't you dare bring me some of those poncy things of yours. I want something black!"

"Black, of course!" Wesley nodded without facing Spike and vanished into his bedroom to retrieve the only black clothes he owned. The outfit he'd worn when he'd first arrived in L.A.

Spike could keep the clothes for all he cared, especially those damn leather pants that had chafed his balls and nearly cut off his circulation on the bike.

He would be just too glad to never wear those pants again and Spike… Spike would be looking even more gorgeous than without a stitch on, wouldn't he?

Wesley returned a moment later to the still open bathroom door, leather pants and black T-shirt thrown over his arm.

"Here," he muttered and held out the clothes to Spike who took them with an impressed whistle. Wesley darted around and went back to the living room, but not without throwing another furtive glance at Spike's naked backside.

'Well, maybe not more gorgeous than that!' Wesley thought to himself and blushed. 'I'm not sure that is even possible.'

Dressed in astonishingly fitting leather pants (if perhaps a tad too long) and a black shirt Spike had joined the two waiting humans in the living room. He'd hungrily gulped down two mugs of heated pigs blood before he'd felt sated enough to finally start telling his tale about the time travel.

Cordelia had listened closely, throwing in odd comments every now and then, while Wesley hadn't known what questions to ask first. It was all so very confusing!

But eventually Spike had reached the end of his tale and then the three of them had started arguing about the best way to go from here.

Wesley suppressed a sigh and muttered: "I still think we should include Angel in this discussion. He may be able to…"

"No!" Spike cut him off and Wesley let out another sigh before he shared a look with Cordelia that spoke volumes.

For the better part of an hour the two of them had now tried to convince Spike of the fact that they'd need Angel's help if they wanted to send Spike back to his time (or was that forward?). But the blond vampire had stayed adamant in his refusal to include Angel.

Spike didn't want Angel's help, or at least he didn't want to spend any more time in his grandsire's presence than necessary. He'd pointed out that the chances of Angel actually being of help were much slimmer than the chances of the two vampires killing each other in the process.

And Wesley could actually understand that reasoning. After what he'd seen earlier and what he'd learned so far of their history he knew that Spike was right.

But… if Angel was out of the picture to help Spike that meant…that he would have to be the one in charge.

He would be the one completely responsible for Spike's fate. And that was a thought Wesley absolutely didn't like. Him? Responsible for what happened to Spike?

No way!

Wesley simply knew that he would sure as hell 'bollocks things up' as Spike would say. Though the vampire seemed to have some strange sort of confidence in his abilities (and where the hell had he gotten that from?) Wesley was convinced that he would fail.

And then what?

He'd have another failure piled onto his shoulders, another task he'd not have fulfilled. Another life he'd have risked and lost.

Wesley absentmindedly shook his head. No, he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't take over the responsibility for Spike and what happened to him. He couldn't…

"So, now that we're all clear on not including Angel," Spike's steel voice broke through Wesley's glum thoughts, "let's get out your books and start the research. Would be ridiculous if we didn't have me back home in no time, perfect little Scooby-group that we make."

"Huh? We?" Wesley asked bewildered.

"Sure," Spike nodded and went over to one of Wesley's countless bookshelves to skim through the titles. "An ex-watcher, an ex-Scooby and me? Perfect research-group if you ask me."

"You…" Wesley stuttered, "you mean you are going to help?"

Spike turned his head towards where Wesley was staring at him open-mouthed. "What? You thought I wouldn't? Let you two do all the work?"

"Ugh, I…" That was exactly what Wesley had thought but he knew better than to say it out loud. Cordelia didn't have that much tact though but voiced her opinion freely: "What, Spike? Did Giles rub off on you when you were chained to his bathtub? Or why are you suddenly so keen on research?"

"Got nothing to do with the watcher."

"No?" Cordelia grinned.

"No, pet," Spike smirked back and pointed at Wesley. "But do you really think I'd let him do all the work at the risk that a false translation could send me to never-never-land?"

"Huh?"

"Look, I've heard all the stories," Spike stated. "Shanshu-Prophecy ring any bells?"

"No?" Cordelia frowned and it took Spike a few seconds and one look into Wesley's blank stare to remember where and when he was.

"Oh, right! Didn't happen yet," he muttered chagrined. "Never mind, let's get cracking!"

He threw an armful of books onto the table between them and sat down, not missing Wesley's contemplative stare into space.

'Oh bugger,' Spike thought, 'now I've gone and put a bug right in his ear. I wonder what's gonna happen now with all that Shanshu-rot!'

He contemplated for a second to try and distract Wesley from thinking about what he'd said but then he simply shrugged it off.

After all, what were the chances of the whole future changing because of one small slip-up?