Disclaimer: If Liam belonged to me, do you sincerely believe that he would still be alive/undead at this point?

Authors notes: Thanks, ka-mia2286, Tariq, and coolcarmello.

Liam POV: April 2239

Everything was blurry, and my body ached, all over. Wait a second; I shouldn't be alive or rather undead. Nathan's little experiment must not of worked. Damn, Was there some cosmic law that prevented me, from becoming a martyr? I looked around the lab, and realized that Spike had left, and Nathan was staring at me as if I was a ghost.

Was I ghost? I touched the wall with my hand, I felt the cool concrete, and no matter how hard I pushed, my hand didn't go through it. So no go on the ghost thing, then I looked over at Nathan, Bound with tape to the plastic lab chair. Still awake, and alive, his mouth open.

"What" I asked him as I tried to stand up.

"Your plan didn't work," I said.

My chest hurt I pressed my hand there, and I felt warmth. That was bizarre, vampires have no body temperature. Usually I have no body temperature. I felt my along my wrist for my pulse. It was there, my mouth fell open. I was genuinely alive.

I walked over to Nathan slowly, My body wasn't used to being human, to being hurt, so the walk, only a few meters long felt like eternity.

I untied Nathan, who had figured out far faster then I had, the particulars of what had happened. I had Shanshued. It was odd to finally think of the word in the past tense, but here I was aching and alive.

I was ecstatic (well as ecstatic as I could be after brooding for almost half a millennia, it was hard to break the funk), and so was Nathan.

In till I remembered, Sapphire, who had died. I told Nathan tears slipping out of my eyes, everything was wrong. All but one of Buffy's decedents had died, and there would be no more. Nathan had discovered years ago, as part of a particularly devastating, science experiment, that he could not reproduce.

We set there for a while, eyes brimming with tears, for what had been done to us, for what I had done to others. In the end an officer, interrupted us, half drunk with happiness (and maybe a little vodka). He could never comprehend our loss.

A week passed by in a blur, my big sunlit walk came and went. It was nothing without purpose, there was no longer Buffy, or anything else life related, to look forwards to. Nathan was depressed as well, still mourning his sister's death.

Outside they were celebrating, The OAV(us), the hero's who saved America. Neither of us bought it, we had lost too much: family, friends, and a cause. There was nothing we could really do, or think of doing with our lives.

In till today, the president came to meet us. We assumed it would be the normal ceremonious occasion, and it was, exactly like the last scene of Star Wars A New Hope (without, the wookies, and robots). Then after the party, As we were on our way out, a general stopped us, and motioned us into Nathan's Lab, and There in Nathan's chair set the president, with an offer. He spoke in soft warm tones reminiscent of F.D.R.'s fireside chats.

"I know that you are unhappy Liam, and we the government would like to rectify that fact'

"How" I asked, trying not be rude, or quick to anger. This was the president of the United States, after all (not that I was technically an American citizen or anything).

"We have two options actually. One, we can appoint you head of the newly refounded C.I.A., with a large yearly paycheck. Precisely how large, is actually up to you. Two, we can Take away all your memories, you will feel no guilt or pain, from your life, but you wont be able to remember any happy memories ether.

"He doesn't really have any" Nathan supplied

"Thanks" I said defending myself. Thoughts of Buffy, Cordellia, Wesley, Willow, Stella, Lilly, Clair, and Christian rose to the surface, as did the memories, of thousands, (no lets be honest hundreds of thousands)of people whom I had killed.

"We would supply you with false memories, of Nathan, so you would not loose him as a friend, and we would ensure that you always have, enough money to provide for Nathan, yourself, and a small country."

"But I wouldn't remember anyone, or anything else?" I asked

"No, to be honest it will be nearly impossible to slip Nathan in there. Five hundred years of friends and enemies would have been to hard, besides it would make the act of erasing your memory, kind of pointless"

"Four Hundred plus" I growled, but it didn't have any real venom in it. I was just delaying, the inevitable, my answer.

Next Chapter: The Answer, A question, and the End. The faster you review the sooner I post. Sorry about the short chapter, but the next one more then makes up for it,