Some Devil 7/11
Title: Some Devil Author: twisted_reach Pairing: Spike/Angel, Will/Liam Rating: T Warnings: Starts with very strong language. Time frame: goes AU post NFA Summary: A take on how Shanshu might work - after the battle Spike wakes up to Will’s life. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
Dr Wlodarcjk looked at his record on her computer screen. Will studied her face, bouncing his leg unconsciously.
"I can't renew your prescription."
His face fell, "Why not? My insurance is still good isn't it?" He tried to read the screen, but the angle was too oblique.
"Your insurance is fine, Mr. Haddon, but I can't in good conscience keep prescribing you sleeping pills without addressing the underlying problem."
"My problem is I can't sleep."
The doctor turned to face him directly, folding her hands on the desk. "If you will commit to a proper counselling regime, then we can work on the reason you can't sleep."
He looked back tight lipped. "Never mind, I'll manage without."
"Mr. Haddon-"
He'd already left the room.
I love you. No you don't, but thanks for saying it... I want to see how it ends.
His eyes flew open. The clocked glowed 3:23 at him. He rolled over and punched the pillow into shape.
Daddy's 'ome! My sweet William, what fun we shall 'ave.
4:57
Cavemen! Astronauts! If you have to ask if they're armed it answers your question.
5:32
You hurt her again and you'll wake up on fire.
6:00. Fucking doctors.
Early one morning, just as the sun was rising...
7:16
Kind of appropriate. He scrubbed at his eyes with his fists, and admitting defeat for the night, rolled out of bed, got ready for work.
"Have you tried warm milk?"
He gave Jim a withering look, "I've tried every bloody thing."
"Except counselling."
"Forget it, I got a class to get to."
"I'm just saying-"
"I'll think about it." He scrabbled together his papers and headed for the lecture theatre, leaving Jim looking frustrated.
Amazing how much time there is when you don't sleep. In desperation he started typing up some of his lectures, seemed to have great soporific effect on some of his students, so, who knew, it might work on him.
It didn't. He did however end up with the bare bones of a text book. Sandra was very enthusiastic that he flesh it out into something more, something publishable. He was less so, but what the hell, not like he was pressed for time.
Actually, that wasn't strictly true.
He was shaving one morning when it caught his eye. He squinted at his reflection and turned his head slowly. His hand went up, and pulled back his still damp hair, straightening it out.
"Bollocks."
A white hair. He pulled it out and stared at the offending item.
"Fuck."
He looked again at his reflection. He truly looked like hell. Weeks of poor sleep and he was loosing weight he could ill afford to. He had dark circles under his eyes, which were red rimmed and bloodshot into the bargain. He actually had a patch of spots for the first time since he was a teenager, in either lifetime, and he was pale in a sallow sickly way, not in the glowing vampire way he used to be.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He demanded of his reflection, then he turned away, leaning against the sink.
"What the bloody hell did you do to me, Angelus?"
He went back to the doctor and got nowhere. He wracked his brains for a story he could spin that would be convincing enough to pass muster in counselling, but he didn't trust himself not to slip up. He drank himself into a stupor when he was desperate, but that just traded one kind of feeling crap for another.
Debbie flopped down beside him on the bench in the campus grounds, "Hey, babe. You look like shit."
"Nice to see you too, pet. Bit out of your way isn't it?"
"Nah, I'm meeting Lise, she's doing a part time masters."
"Clever girl eh?"
"Yup, just the way I like 'em."
"Thanks for the other week." He glanced at her then looked away, squinting into the late afternoon sun.
"Doesn't look like it helped much. Refer to my opening statement."
"It helped. I can't sleep 'cause the doc won't give me any more sleeping pills. What I told you is about the only thing not keeping me up nights."
"Why no more drugs?"
"Refused counselling."
"Can I offer my services. Please rephrase that in your head to a non-sexual context."
He smirked at her then shook his head, "I don't want to dump everything on you. S'no fair."
"You need to get something off your chest. You'd be hard pressed to shock me, y'know."
He shook his head again.
"Well, the offer stands. What about your work mate. Jim?"
"Yeah, he offered too."
"You're an idiot, William." She pressed a kiss to his cheek as she stood, "I see Lise, gotta go. Talk to someone."
He hadn't always had friends. Truth be told, he was a damn sight better off for friendship in this lifetime than he had been in any other. But just when he had people to confide in, his confessions were beyond reason, beyond reality. Like a work of fiction, a scary, bloody, violent soap opera.
He abandoned the text book idea. He'd been half hearted about it at best. He began pouring his memories out onto his laptop, hoping the act would be adequate catharsis without needing to share it with anyone. If anyone found it he could always claim it was indeed a work of fiction. The worst they could do is ridicule his overactive imagination and poor rendering. Couldn't be worse than the poetry critics of his first lifetime. He password protected the file.
The dreams abated enough for him to sleep. Mostly. If he found himself tangled in sheets at some ungodly hour he just got up and typed some more, until his eyelids drooped.
"You're Debbie's friend aren't you?"
He started as the tall blonde woman who'd snuck up on him spoke.
"Hi, I'm Lise." She stuck out her hand.
"Hi. Will."
"I thought you were part of the history department."
"I am; I was just curious about this research," he indicated the physics department's display board, "I knew a girl who was into this kind of thing once."
"Parallel dimensions, not really my area. Can't help you sorry, but I know a man who can!"
"Does he speak English or geek?" He gave her a sly smirk.
"Hmm, Deb said you were cheeky. I'll ask him to dumb down for you if you want. Follow me."
Dan Bailey was fluent in geek, but managed to translate mostly into English. Will tried to discuss what he remembered of Fred's theories, but struggled with even pidgin-nerd.
"So the would the laws of physics be the same in all dimensions?"
"Not necessarily. They could be wildly different, or subtly changed. We wouldn't be able to exist in most variations though. The math would have to work out for us even to theorise sensibly about what it would be like."
"Does it go beyond theory?"
"Depends what you mean. Astronomical observations to detect the theorised indications, sure. Inter-dimensional travel would be cool, but doesn't look likely from what we know at the moment."
"Yeah, cool." He said it without much enthusiasm, "If someone came from a dimension where it was possible, into this one, would they be able to get back?"
"Again, depends. If they could recreate the technology, maybe, but there's no guarantee the same theories they used in their space-time would work once they got here."
"Depends. Right. Okay, thanks for your time. Can't say I get it but…thanks."
"That's cool, man. Hey, do you think you could put a good word in with Lise for me ?"