Angel was dazed, * what the hell was going on, Cordy’s my watcher *, he let out a
laugh.  The only thing Cordy liked to watch was her figure and maybe her bank
balance.  He couldn’t imagine her spending all her time researching demons and
monsters. Then another thought struck him as odd. If he was the slayer, what the
hell was he doing in LA in this hotel. Something didn’t ring true here.  He walked
purposely towards the main doors of the hotel. Pulling the door open he strided into
the sunlight. His eyes took a moment to adjust, then he walked down the steps
onto the main street of ...Sunnydale.  He stopped, looked around, looking back to
check that the hotel was still there. It was, and it didn’t look out of place at all. It
looked as if it had always been in Sunnydale.
  
"I’m going mad, I’m almost certain..." his train of thought was cut off by a punch on
the shoulder followed by, "Ello mate, what’s cooking?"

Angel turned to see a rather out of breath and flushed looking Spike.

"Spike?"

"Spike!? The name is William, or Will to you and me," Spike replied. " What’s up
with you, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,"

Angel studied Spike for a moment and realised that he too was human. But how
was that possible? If he weren’t a vampire, then Spike would be dead or very very
old.

"Have you been drinking? I suppose you stayed out all night with Buffy again. Boy I
hope you told your mom or there’s going to be trouble. You know she thinks Buffy
is a bad influence on you, and she’s not the only one. Come on mate, we’d better
check in with Cordelia," Spike continued.

"Spi.... I mean Will, I’m having a very strange morning so humour me for a moment
ok?"

"Ok mate," 

"How old are you?" 

Spike looked at Angel strangely then laughed. "19 of course, same as you but not
long till the big 20 and that means PARTY time!!" 

"19!! I can’t even remember what 19 was like the first time round," Angel
muttered. 

"Come on mate I think we should go and see that watcher of yours, she’ll sort you
out."

Spike gabbed his arm and began to drag him down Main Street past the coffee shop
to the Magic shop tucked in the corner. Angel allowed himself to be pushed through
the door; he looked around, taking in the place with all its magic paraphernalia.

"Ah Liam, how was patrol last night? I had expected you to call me with a report
but obviously other things were more pressing." 

Angel recognised the voice, and turned to see Cordelia, but not the Cordelia he
remembered. She was now older, he’d guess about 35. Her hair was shorter and
she wore glasses, but she still had her looks and her figure. Although she down
played both with her clothes and lack of make-up.  He walked towards her and
enclosed her in a hug.

"Liam, what is wrong with you?" she gasped pushing him away.

"He’s having a strange morning." Spike offered.

"Ah William, nice to see you here as well. So what do you mean ‘strange’? Did
something happen on patrol last night?"

Both Spike and Cordelia looked expectantly at Angel waiting for an answer, Angel
just stared back at the two of them trying to get his head around the whole
situation without much luck.

"Well...?" Cordelia prompted.

"Um...to be honest I have no idea." Angel answered.

"What do you mean? Didn’t you go last night? Oh, I supposed something more
important came up with Buffy did it?" Cordelia turned and started to walk towards
the table that was covered in research books.

"Liam.. this just isn’t good enough. You know what the prophecy says about Giles
rising, and we must be prepared. You can’t just blow off patrol just so you can
spend time with your honey."

"But I didn’t.... I don’t remember if I went or not. In fact, I don’t remember any of
this. Everything has changed even our names." He gestured to Spike. "I haven’t
been known as Liam for over 200 years, and he’s Spike not William, and last time I
checked I was a vampire, so was he, and you worked for me at my detective
agency, and Buffy was the slayer..." Angel’s voice trailed off, he realised that the
others were staring at him like he’d gone mad.

"Whoa mate. You’re saying that I’m a vampire, and you’re a vampire private dick.
Are you joking?!!" Spike laughed. 

"Liam, are you serious? What’s the last thing you do remember?" Cordelia asked.

"Well... I remember fighting a demon last night with you and Wesley. Then we went
back to the hotel. You and Wes were arguing yet again, and I’d had enough.  So I
went to bed. When I woke up only 4 hours had passed, it was sunrise and I was
here. Then Buffy showed up and I realised something was wrong..."  

"Well, this does sound peculiar. Perhaps we should look into this a bit further." 
Cordelia said, as she adjusted her glasses and sat at the table. Spike and Angel
joined her. Angel was amazed at how much like Giles she had become it was scary.

"Oh yeah, and who the hell is Wesley, and what could we possibly fight about?  He’s
not my boyfriend is he?" Cordelia asked.

"No no, he’s not your boyfriend.  He used to be Buffy’s watcher, but he now works
with us in the detective agency. You two are always fighting about money or
bickering about how useless the other one is. It’s actually quite amusing when it’s
not driving me nuts." 

"Me, fight about money?  I think that’s highly unlikely," Cordelia smiled.

TBC