Four whole days. That's how long it had been since William left. If Anya's theory of seven was correct, that left him two whole days before he could pass onto the next realm. Maybe he'd already served his purpose, Buffy thought as she picked at a stray thread on her comforter. She lay on her belly frowning at the denim cloth. Why did she even care what happened to William Grieves? When had he become her problem? And that's when it hit her...

Her hand flew to her mouth as she scrambled to sit up. The tears stung at her eyes as the realization dawned on her. She'd been so busy obsessing over William's whereabouts that she hadn't once thought of Angel in four days.

She closed her eyes, muttering hysterically as she massaged her temples.

"Your hands, your hands... why can't I remember your hands?"

She rubbed her head even harder and let tears fall through squint-shut eyes. Slowly, a picture of Angel's hands entered her mind. They were strong and pale. And there was a thick gold band on his left ring finger. She let out a whoosh of breath she hadn't been aware she was holding.

When she opened her eyes, she felt him.

"Where've you been, five words or less?" she asked quietly, trying not to sound like she cared.

It worked. She sounded like an angry shrew.

"Out. For. A. Walk..." William responded as he ticked off the words on his fingers. "Bitch," he finished, locking his eyes firmly on hers as he ticked off the last word on his thumb.

She didn't even have to look at his hands to know what they looked like. They were a little smaller and a little thicker than Angel's. And where Angel's hands had been soft and pale, William's were tanned and looked rougher.

She kept her eyes locked on his trying futilely to hide the emotions playing in them. He'd hurt her. In his attempt to beat her to the punch, he'd stung her with his words and now her eyes were filled with pain and brimming tears.

He ran his hand through his hair, ducking his head down to avert her pain-filled gaze.

"I needed some time alone to sort through things," he began.

He could still feel her eyes on him. Daring to look up again, he saw that she was still holding back her tears.

"Buffy? Love?" He went to her and reached to brush a hair off of her forehead. His hand felt a warm tingle, but no solid contact. And he remembered what he was.

Her mouth opened in surprise as his hand passed over her skin leaving nothing but a tingling sensation in its wake.

"I could feel you," she whispered, touching her hand to her forehead. The warmth was gone. And something inside of her screamed for it to come back.

"Do that again," she asked him, her voice barely audible.

William's trembling hand reached out and passed through her cheek. Nothing solid beneath it, but the warm, tingling sensation returned as long as he was trying to touch her. He could tell that she felt it, too. She raised her hand to press over his where it ghosted against her cheek. The sensation intensified and Buffy let her eyes close unable to shake the feeling of serenity washing over her. She'd never felt as at peace as she did in that very moment.

William watched her features soften and her eyes drift shut as she visibly relaxed against him. How he wished he could feel her soft, smooth skin. As he watched her unconsciously try to get closer to him, he realized his mission. His heart caught in his throat as a silent tear slipped down her cheek. He watched its slow journey closer to his hand. When it touched his skin, he felt more alive than he ever had.

Buffy's eyes fluttered open as she felt William's thumb brush over her cheek. He stood in front of her as transparent as he'd been before, but for just a moment, she felt his touch and she felt alive.

"William..."

"I know, love," he nodded. "I felt it, too."

"What does it mean?"

She looked so confused. And he didn't have a way to voice his answer. Not yet.

"I don't know, love," he told her. "Does it... does it have to mean anything?"

She looked disappointed, but shook her head.

"No," she sighed. "I guess it doesn't. Where... where were you?"

He watched as she reluctantly pulled away and went to sit on the couch. He thrust his hands into his pockets and tried to remember.

"I don't know... I can't... Swiss cheese, love," he said honestly. "Memory's full of holes."

She smiled at his analogy.

"But I can feel that I have the answers. They're all in there. I just need to sort them out in time."

Her eyes flew to the grandfather clock across the room from her. It chimed 12 times and she swallowed hard. He turned and looked at its face and nodded.

"Reckon I should start figuring right quick, shouldn't I?" he grinned.

Buffy's eyes dropped down to study her hands. What would happen to him? Where would he go? Good goddess, why did she care so much all of a sudden? Was she that pathetic? What was it that wrapped around her heart and threatened to squeeze it shut if he left her?

"One day," she said, her voice coming out weak and shaky.

"One day," he repeated, regretfully.

"William... I... I don't want it to end," she admitted through tears. "I don't like being alone. I've been alone for so long."

"I know, Love. I know," he said soothingly. He went to her and let his hands pass over her face, her hair leaving tingles in their wake.

"Tell me what happened to Angel, Love," he chanced, wanting nothing more than to keep her awake and with him until he had to leave.

Buffy took in a slow, deep breath and let it out just as deliberately. She never talked about Angel. Not with Giles. Not with Willow. Not even with Dawn. They didn't ask her anything and she didn't tell them anything. And she thought that's the way she liked it. Until now. Hearing the words voiced, the question asked... it just made her realize how much she needed to tell someone what happened.

"He was sick," she told William. "He... he didn't want anyone to know. He thought he could beat it... that it would go away. And that nobody would be the wiser."

Buffy shook her head and for the first time, she felt angry.

"How DARE he put that kind of pressure on me! How... how UNFAIR to make me keep all that pain and all that worry to myself!"

The selfishness of that act hit her square between the eyes.

"Months went by, William. Months! He was losing weight and had gotten to the point that sunlight bothered his eyes. The treatment wasn't working. And STILL he refused to stop working. He refused to let me tell a soul," she cried, letting angry tears cloud her vision.

"And when he did die, I had to swallow it all alone. I had to tell my friends, my family... I had to tell them it was all so sudden. But the truth is, it had stretched on for a nearly a year before he was gone."

"And when your mum was sick?" William wanted to know.

"I don't know what exhausted me more... pretending nothing was wrong with Angel while I watched Mom slowly die... wondering each day if this would be the day I'd lose my mother or my husband... or both. Or pretending I wasn't relieved when Angel finally died... as much as I grieved... as devastated as I was... the relief of not worrying, not wondering..."

"Became a whole new burden of guilt for you," William told her.

"Became a whole new..." Buffy nodded as the tears continued to fall. "Yes."

"And that's what's kept you from your friends and family all this time?" he guessed.

"It's... it's easier to not worry about anyone else," she tried.

"Is it?" he wanted to know.

She met his eyes and shook her head. No. It wasn't.

"I like... I like having someone to yell at... to talk to... just to... not be alone," she said through a hiccup of tears.

And William felt it. He felt the arrow pierce his heart at that very moment and knew that his job was done.

"Not now," he hollered, looking toward the ceiling. "Not now! I'm not done!"

But he was. The ball had been set into motion the moment he fell in love with her.

"What kind of sick joke is this?" he cried out.

She was frozen in time. Everything had stopped. Her tears stopped dead in their tracks. This moment was to be preserved in his heart, his soul and his memory forever.

"You can't do this! I'm not done! I'm not DONE!" he screamed. "She doesn't even know that I love her!"

The words left his lips in a cry and he felt himself being pulled through time and space. A lifetime swirled before his eyes and his body felt the wrath of emotions from a world away as they were thrust into him.