We're same in the mirror, but nowhere else by nicolee23

Pairings: B&B, B/A, Hodgela, mention of Fred/Wesley

A/N: I finally found inspiration :D Here is chapter 4 at last. I meant to post this weeks ago but I lost my usb that contained the file of this chapter on it so I couldn't put it up.

Declaimer- Hart Hanson and Co, Joss Wheadon and David Greenwalt all own these shows. Sadly nothing is mine.

Please Review! Don't read and dash I've noticed that a lot of people have read this story and have put me in their story alert or favourite author that's great but I'd love some reviews- they help me be a better writer if you tell me what you think.

Please review!

Willow Rosenberg waited at Rome's International Airport for Doctor Brennan and Special Agent Booth to arrive from their flight. She held a sign with the names "Brennan and Booth" in black permanent marker. She smiled at a memory of herself five years younger that involved Xander telling her that when her friends were meant to meet her at the airport after her time away with Giles in England, he had written "Welcome Home Willow" in yellow crayon. They were the only ones that understood the significance of the gesture, it had been a memory shared between them when they were children.

"Bones, how many times do I have to tell you to wait up!" Seeley Booth called, trying to catch up to his partner who was already half way down the international terminal. He sighed. He held onto his luggage as he tried to keep up with her.

Ever since the agent had reached forty Booth had started to really feel the aches and pains of years in the Army, working in the FBI for fifteen years and the general phrase of "Your body going south on you". With Brennan being five years younger than him and still in her mid thirties it made him envy her a little.

Booth was in great shape he exercised regularly, did weights, push-ups and sit-ups, he even got up early to run nearly every morning- including running with Brennan on Saturday mornings. But doing all of this couldn't prepare him for the inevitable stage in his life of getting older, some morning when he dragged himself out of bed he really felt his age, maybe even decades older. The case concerning the victim who had been killed on the cougar cruise Brennan had told Booth that he wasn't falling apart his skeleton was, from all his years in the army and the FBI.

Temperance Brennan stopped walking and caught up to her partner.

She laughed, "Oh will you calm down, and stop acting like an infant. I'm right here."

"What?" His voice raised an octave higher than his actual voice, "You were not right next to me. You were fifty feet away." He demonstrated the distance with his hands.

To be honest he was more scared than annoyed. They were in a foreign country that they didn't know very well, he hadn't been here before like she had and he was a tad scared about loosing her in the large crowd of Italians and visitors disembarking off their planes from different places around the world. Maybe a handsome Italian beau might even swipe her off her feet and take her away with him to an unknown location. He was going to keep an eye on her at all times, she was his responsibility. Thank you very much.

They continued to argue right there in the terminal "Oh, Booth you're exaggerating! I was not going to leave you behind in the airport."

"Oh, yes you were." He retorted back, this started a ping pond game of the childish bickering game of "Yes you did, no I didn't".

From any spectator's view point the partners would have looked like an ordinary married couple bickering like the issue was a normal everyday thing.

"Yes, you did." Brennan shot back.

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did."

"I did notttt." Booth whined sounding like his inner 7 year old self that came out sometimes when he knew that he was wrong. But Bones wasn't going to win this argument.

"Booth, you so did!"

"Ohh Bones, I think you've got it wrong, I did not."

"Don't lie you did!"

A few feet away Willow Rosenberg waited for any appearances of her favourite author and her FBI partner.

"—Bones why don't you just admit that you were wrong. Okay? And then we can get going, because were going to be late to be picked up."

"Okay, okay. Don't get grouchy, let's get moving."

"Don't call me grouchy, it makes me feel old."

"Well you are old—der….Older than me so the expression is true-" Booth cut her off and gave her a look saying "don't start" and she closed her mouth.

They continued to make their way through the crowd. From a short distance Brennan was the first to sport the banner with her and Booth's last name's on it.

As they got closer they noticed the Willow's face change from happy to confused and then to puzzlement. Booth and Brennan crocked their eyes brows at each other in confusion.

Willow who was perplexed by seeing Angel at the airport with Dr. Brennan, no less holding luggage and wearing very different clothes to his normal attire.

"Uhh… Hi!" She said trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Temperance Brennan and this is-"

"Angel, what are you doing here? I told you that I was going to pick up Doctor Brennan and her partner. Oh by the way where is he?" Willow said looking around.

Booth who was really getting tired of everyone getting him mixed up with this Angel dude was the one first to reply.

"Uhh, it's not Angel its Booth. Seeley Booth, Doctor Brennan's partner."

"Uhhh…" The witch was at a loss of words.

"Are you sure?"

"Uh yeah I'm pretty sure I'm me." Booth said amused.

The scientist stepped in and took control of the dilemma. "Miss. Rosenberg,"

"Willow, call me Willow."

"Willow, I don't know what your talking about, but Booth isn't this Angel that everyone keeps getting him confused with."

"Everyone? Like Who?"

"Mr. Spike." The anthropologist replied simply.

Ohhh I see. Spike the little weasel was the first one to see Agent Booth and Doctor Brennan and just forgot to mention to us about this little similarity.

So he thinks he can treat us like we're idiots and say he didn't know anything about this. Ohh he is so wrong, I'm going to go tell Buffy right now!

"Oh don't worry I'll talk to him when we get back. Sorry for making the mistake."

Booth shook it off, "Ohh its okay, no worries."

The three of them continued to walk through the terminal to Willow's car.

"Oh by the way before we get going, did you guys want to go to the bathroom and freshen up from that long flight? Because the airport is about an hour's drive from the city to where we're located." Willow used this as an excuse to ring Buffy to warn her about the two "Angels".

Brennan nodded, "Booth, we should. It is a long drive to the city. It is always better to go now than having to wait for a long period of time. Holding your urine isn't good for your bladder, and doing that regularly can cause problems later in life…"

"Okay, okay. We didn't need to know that much information, Bones. We'll go to the bathroom if it's that important to you." All Willow could do was try not to laugh.

"We'll meet you back here in 10." Booth said.

After Booth and Brennan had left Willow phoned Buffy.

"Hello? Will what's up, is everything alright?"

"Well, yes everything is alright, but then everything isn't alright."

"What? Willow, you're not making any sense."

The redhead sighed, "Angel and Booth look the same." She said simply.

"What?Saythatagain."

"Angel and Agent Booth look exactly the same. They have the same face, everything, right down to Angel's cute ass." This made Buffy giggle.

Then she got serious again.

"Well I'm thinking that their doubles of each other or one is a doppelganger, it's not like we haven't encountered it before." Willow referred to an occasion where she had a doppelganger as a vampire from an alternate universe. Buffy had the Buffybot—but that didn't really count.. And Xander had been split into two by the demon Thoth.

"Mmm true, so Angel and Agent Booth really looked the same?" Buffy said the statement again just to clarify it to herself again.

"Yeah I'm there with you on being stunned."

Just then Booth and Brennan returned from the bathroom. "Buffy, I gotta go, Booth and Brennan are back." She said dropping the volume of her voice as she hung up.

"Alright let's get going," The witch announced.

Meanwhile, at the office of Angel-Summers Investigations Buffy and the gang got ready to meet Angel's look-alike and continued to research the case.

Illyria walked into the main foyer of the old rundown fire station that their headquarters use to be. It had taken Buffy and Angel about six months to find a suitable location for their team to set up shop. Before this they had operated out of Buffy and Willow's small apartment. They had renovated the building themselves and also with help from a local charity who had helped raise money for the new equipment for the agency.

Recently, about three months ago Illyria had learnt how to temperately revert back to her former "shell" as she called it, but to everyone else it was simply Fred.

It had happened when the team was working on a case where a sorcerer would cast spells on people to bring out their inner selves. While fighting one of the Sorcerer's minions, Illyria was hit by his power and suddenly transformed into Fred.

Some of Fred's memories were a little fuzzy, but after the air had cleared she asked one of the hardest questions that none of the team wanted to answer.

Where was Wesley?

It appeared that Fred's memory had been cut short just before the events of Wesley's death. After the team had gently told Fred that Wesley had died she had broken down in tears. Buffy and Willow enveloped her in their arms and comforted her.

"No, no!" "He- he-he can't c- be dead!" She shook her head furiously, her breath catching in her throat as hot tears streamed down her face. "My love, my Wesley, this can't be true."

"He can't be dead." Her last words were a whisper.

After this Fred had sunk into a fit of depression she had stayed like this for days, the team wondered if Illyria would stay like Fred forever, but on the fifth day Fred's skin began to change back to blue, the colour spread to her skin and then her body was wrapped in its' special leather suit. As Illyria, she still remembered all of Fred's memories but continued on like always like nothing had happened. The second time Illyria took Fred's form, it seemed that the time she had spent trapped in the blue demon's skin had helped her come to terms with Wesley's death. She had found peace.

Today Illyria was Fred. The cheery Texan walked around the office cleaning. She whistled an old Texan tone that her mother would sing to her as a baby.

The team was happy that they had Fred back as much as they had her, they cherished the three or four days she was with them. Willow was on the mission of finding a permanent way to keep her as Fred. So far no luck, but they had faith that they would find it.

"Buffy, I'm doing the laundry do you and Angel have any?" Fred called out from the laundry up to the slayer who was in her bedroom.

"Yeah, we do I'm coming down now to give it to you.", Buffy Summers called back as she went around her and Angel's room and picked up the discarded clothes that they had left on the floor after their frantic love making from the night before. The chipper blonde blushed as she thought of their previous evening.

They had gone out for dinner to a lovely little restaurant, hidden away behind an alleyway. To Buffy this overly planned dinner seemed like it had something bigger behind it. Lately Angel had been acting more loving and generous towards her, for a minute she thought that he might be thinking about breaking up with her, but as she spoke with Willow about it the redhead had assured her that he was not. He loved her too much to loose her.

So Buffy forgot about that immature thought and the only conclusion that she and her best friend could come up with was that Angel was planning on asking her to marry him!

As Buffy had thought Angel was planning to propose—but at the last moment he had chicken out and left the velvet box that contained her engagement ring in his suit pocket. For being someone so strong and heroic the ex-vampire couldn't figure out why he'd felt anxious and couldn't ask her one simple question? There was no doubt in his mind what he felt for the slayer, so why had he backed out at the last minute?

After the initial shock had wore off, including jumping up and down with joy and squealing like teenage girls, they sat down and had a serious discussion about what this meant. Obviously Buffy wanted to marry Angel he was the love of her life, her soul mate and she couldn't imagine her life without him.

"Oh my God! I can't believe he's going to propose!" Willow squealed again for the tenth hundredth time.

"I know." Buffy beamed with joy.

"Mrs. Buffy Angel-Summers. I can just imagine it now." Willow thought dreamingly.

"That is his last name right?"

"Well,notreally.But he goes by Geraldo Angel if the law asks."

Willow laughed, "There's just one thing that annoys me. He still refuses to tell me his actual last name. It's like he's afraid that I going to look him up in the archives or something." Buffy snorted.

"Mmm you know what, that's a good idea, we should totally do that!"

"No, Will we shouldn't, he'll tell me when he's ready."

"It's not like you haven't known him for 14 years already, I'm sure he could have told you numerous times." Willow pointed out.

"Buffy, I can't believe that this FBI agent that we're meetin' looks just like Angel. It's a little unsettling to be honest." said Fred.

"I know what you mean."

"When I was on the phone to Willow, she said not to act like you know something that they don't know."

"Gotcha," She said nodding her head.

"They should be here soon, so I'll get back to what I was doin'."

Buffy and Fred when their separate ways.

Lorne the empathic Pylean and brand new star of theatre in Rome walked down the stairs in his turquoise-daffodil yellow robe. He strolled leisurely to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of grape juice from the refrigerator.

He spotted Fred finishing up her cleaning and called to her.

"Freddikins, where is Angel this morning?" Lorne asked.

"Ohh morning Lorne, did'ya sleep well? And he went with Gunn and Spike to tie up a loose end on the truluck'ta case."

"Alrighty, and yes I did, it was the best sleep-in I have had in ages." Lorne grinned.

Booth and Brennan got out of Willow's Volkswagen Polo, they followed her up the steps of the rundown fire station turned detective agency.

"So, you were saying in the car that your team is made up of an assortment of many different characters." Booth said.

Willow laughed, "Yeah, well half of us are from the town of Sunnydale that suffered from an "earthquake" back in 2003 and two others were alive to see the industrial revolution and the rest lived through the sun being blocked out from LA, which was around the same time Sunnydale went BOOM!" Willow ratted off all the bizarre tales of the team's members.

"Why aren't you shocked?" The Wiccan ask.

"I used to be a sniper, there aren't many things that scare me and Bones here wouldn't believe in half of these things without making a pie chart first, to figure out everything before she comes to a conclusion." He grinned, Brennan rolled her eyes.

"Booth there are things that scare you. Like what about when Spike turned into a vampire? I'd say that your facial expression closely mimicked that of frightened and surprised." Brennan gave her partner a look.

And let's not forget your fear of clowns and believing in things that can't be scientifically explained like aliens and I'm sure that the world of the supernatural would go under that category." She smirked.

"Bones, I've told you it's not fear, its hate. I just don't like clowns okay? No one is that happy all the time."

"I gotta agree with Agent Booth- one of our colleagues isn't very fond of clowns either… there was a birthday party and a chocolate bar that didn't work out very well.." Willow commented.

"See Bones, I'm not the only one that doesn't like clowns. Do you want me to start talking about snakes and being buried alive?" The last comment earned Booth an unconfutable and frightened look from Brennan that brought back memories of being buried alive by the Grave Digger.

"Ohh Bones I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to say that." Booth said quietly so only he and Brennan could here. There were moments that they shared that were only between them. 'What goes on between us, that should just be ours.'" He put his hand on her arm and they shared a moment.

Willow stood there taking it all in. It was pretty obvious that they were in love. She wasn't sure if they were together or they were denying it or somewhere in-between? But besides all of that they had a connection that reminded her of another couple that she knew very well.

Booth and Brennan continued on with their moment as if Willow wasn't there.

"It's okay Booth. I know that you didn't mean it. You were only making a point." They continued to speak softly, Brennan stared into her partners eyes and gave him a small smile, he smiled back and instantly everything was alright again. The trio continued up the stairs in a conformable silence.

Willow called out, "Buffy we're here!"

The Scoobies were sitting in the foyer when Willow and the two new arrivals walked in.

"Everyone, this is Doctor Temperance Brennan and her partner Special Agent Seeley Booth."

A/N: I know I said that in this chapter that we'd get to the case but it got to long so I decided that all the stuff I mentioned that would be in this chapter will be in the next. The part with Illyria being able to be Fred came to me when I read a interview with the creators of Angel who said if the show got picked up for a 6th season they were going to have Fred and Illyria be separated.

nicolee23