Echo's from the Past
Chapter 2
Buffy cringed as the sun poured in through her bedroom. She wanted nothing more than to crawl deeper underneath the blankets and hide but she knew she couldn't so she flung the blankets back and swung her legs over the side of her bed. She trudged down the stairs and sat herself down at the breakfast table. She felt horrid and she didn't want to function today. She hadn't slept all that well regardless of the two sleeping pills. Visions, almost like snapshots of Angel still filled her subconscious.
Willow walked into the kitchen and her heart was heavy at seeing her friend so worn down and distraught since the battle. In the ten years that Willow and Buffy had roomed together she had never seen her this torn about anything since she thought she had lost Angel.
"How do I look?"
"Bad."
"Good then I look like I feel."
"Angel dreams again?"
Buffy nodded and then reached for her cup of cold coffee.
"Look Will if you think you could manage without me I'd be grateful for the rest."
"Yea sure Buffy I'm sure we'll be just fine."
When Willow left for the office Buffy went and curled up on the couch and turned on the TV.
Willow walked into the office and walked over to Susan.
"Good morning Susan."
"Morning Dr. Rosenberg."
"Uh Buffy won't be in today she isn't feeling very well so I need a little of your help today."
"Sure whatever you need me to do."
"Great, I guess for now just the phone and checking in patients."
Willow had a fairly easy and uneventful day. Buffy had indeed chosen a good day to be away from the office. She walked over to the desk and picked up the file of the next patient to be seen. She looked at the name, Liam O'Neill, he was a new patient and he had been in yesterday with Buffy for the information consultation. He was coming in today for a physical exam.
Willow walked over to the door of the examination room; she walked in reading the file she held in her hands. Without looking up she walked over to where Liam sat on the exam table and extended her hand.
"Liam, hello I'm Dr. Rosenberg but you can call me Willow. I understand that you have already been in for the information consultation and this is just a routine physical."
Willow still hadn't looked up from the file in her hands when he spoke.
"Yes it is Willow."
Once Liam spoke he had Willow's full attention as her head snapped up when he spoke her name. She took in the man who sat on the table before her and started when she realized who it was, who it really was.
Willow let out a little gasp and she had dropped the file in her hands to the floor.
"Are you all right?"
"Uh yea, uh no, uh…oh my god."
Liam got down off the table and helped Willow to sit in a chair as she had gone quite pale. He opened the door and found the receptionist Susan and sent her in to speak to Willow. Liam waited outside the room until Willow invited him back in.
"Dr. Rosenberg are you okay?" Susan was concerned.
"I uh I'm not sure."
"I have to say that man must sure be something else."
"Why do you say that?"
"Well when Buffy saw him yesterday she went all weak and pale and went straight home after."
Suddenly Buffy's mood made a lot more sense.
"Susan will you send Liam back in please and cancel the rest of my day."
Liam cautiously entered the room and closed the door. He noticed that Willow was still pale but there was something in her eyes.
"Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yea I'm fine. Let's do that exam now shall we."
Amazingly Willow was able to perform the physical on Liam. As she got into it she realized that she could use this opportunity to look for identifying marks that might help to prove whether or not he was Angel or an incredible carbon copy.
Willow had Liam strip down to his boxers and she looked over his chest as she listened to his heartbeat. It was amazing to hear and it almost moved her to tears. She glanced down and saw the scar on his stomach.
"How did you get this?" She asked pointing to the scar.
"I'm not really sure actually. I've always assumed that I was stabbed and my subconscious blocked it out. Like it was a hellish experience or something."
Willow had Liam lean forward so she could check his back. She was almost afraid to see if Angel's tattoo was still on his shoulder and she let out an audible sigh of relief to see that it was.
"Liam can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Have you ever suffered from amnesia or been in any accidents that resulted in severe head trauma?"
"N-no why?"
"Just curious that's all."
When Willow was finished with the examination she left to her office so that Liam could dress. She was writing her finding from the exam not in Liam's medical file but in another notebook so that she could discuss this further with Giles. She was startled once again when she looked up to see that he was standing in the doorway.
"Why did you want to know if I have ever had amnesia?"
"You look like someone I used to know, someone I lost…"
"Ten years ago?"
"Yes."
"I lied earlier. Truth be told I can't remember anything about my life except the last ten years."
Willow couldn't help the grin that broke out on her face at Liam's confession.
"I'm sure I could help you out there Liam. This isn't the best place to discuss this. Will you meet me somewhere so we can talk?"
Willow came in from work to find Buffy still skulking around the house. She took a deep breath and prayed she could pull this off the way she wanted to.
"Hey Buffy."
"Hey Will."
"What did you do today?"
Tried not to think about how I came face to face with Angel
after ten years of nothing.
"Not much. How was your day?"
"Oh the same, busy. Susan asked about you?"
"Oh."
"Yea she was worried after you took ill. She said you met with my new patient…Liam…and that you went pale and left the office."
"Yeah well it must have been that macaroni salad I'd had for lunch. It must have been bad or something. I'm feeling much better now though."
"Good because I was afraid it might have had something to do with Liam being Angel."
Willow chose that moment to walk out of the room. She walked into the kitchen pulled a bottle of juice from the fridge and counted. 1…2…3…
"How do you know about that?"
"He came in for a physical today Buffy. Did you think the first time I actually had to look at him I wouldn't notice the likeness?"
Buffy opened her mouth to speak but wasn't sure what she would say.
"Why wouldn't you have told me Buffy? I was there from the first kiss until the last. I know what this has done to you."
"I know Will, I just…it overwhelmed me to think that he could be back and he doesn't remember me."
Buffy sat down defeated on the couch and hugged a pillow close to her. Willow's heart broke to see the anguished pain in Buffy's eyes.
"Buffy are you going to be okay?"
"Aren't I always?"
"I just want to be sure because I'm going out for a few hours. I have some research to do but I won't go unless you want me too."
"No you go. I'll be fine."
Willow went and changed out of her work clothes and slipped into a pair of comfortable jeans and a t-shirt. She grabbed her bag and her car keys and slipped out of the house. She was going to the Magic Box. Giles, although no longer Buffy's Watcher and retired from the Council, had remained the proprietor of the little shop.
The bells that hung above the door rang out announcing Willow's presence. Looking around Willow noted that Giles had a few customers and was occupied at the moment. There had been quite an interest in the supernatural and the occult after the Hellmouth had opened and even after a decade people still believed in the time old adage of 'better safe than sorry.'
Willow caught Giles' eye and waved her hello's. She then went upstairs to Giles' private library, where he kept the books they had used while Giles had still been in capacity as Watcher. She was looking for any prophecies about the End of Days, anything that might give her some clue as to what had happened to Angel.
It was about an hour later when Giles settled down beside Willow. He had served the last of his customers and had locked the doors.
"Willow."
"Hey Giles."
"What are you doing?"
"Research for a friend."
"Research?"
"Yes."
"Well can I help?"
"I was hoping you'd say that. Come on."
"What?"
"Come on. There's someone I'd like for you to meet."