Eleven Twenty Three O Five: 11
by Josie_h
Notes

Spike drove the old Caddy like it was part of his own person. Xander grinned, the vehicle suited his Sire, it was larger than life, perfectly preserved, a classic beauty and *very* black.

They had tracked down three other ‘changeling’ facilities besides their own and that of Dean and Richard. The difficulty was going to be rescuing and shutting down the facilities without alerting Wolfram and Hart of their plans.

Willow and Blackrainbow were the driving force along with a little help from Giles and via Buffy, the Immortal. As much as Spike hated to admit it ‘the Slayer’s prize ponce’ was the key. His influence with the Italian Branch of Wolfram and Hart, enabled the ‘upper echelons’ of society that associated with the law firm to suddenly find the whole ‘own a changeling’ novelty quite passé. The word quickly spread that rather than euthanase their unusual pets, there were several ‘eccentrics’ in California, and one or two in the southern states who would take them off their hands.

Other issues like unethical behavior on the part of scientists or employees, unreliable ‘product’ (due to frequent death due to depression or illnesses attributed to bad management or the change itself), and a steep rise in the cost of maintaining the facilities did not prevent Wolfram and Hart from occasionally disposing of employees, but other methods would be used. The Senior Partners ordered an end to the failed Manners ‘Changeling Program’ within weeks of his mysterious disappearance, and made no effort to recover him when they located him via their seers some months later.

……………………………………

On Spike and Xander's first day away from the coven they simply slept in each other’s arms paying a day fee at an ‘alternative lifestyle friendly’ resort recommended by the coven. On the second day they stayed a personal friend of Mistress BlackRainbow. They were led to a downstairs windowless room decorated in plush fabrics and copious numbers of cushions. ‘Master NightArrow’ also provided them with fresh human blood (bagged but unfrozen) and all the facilities one might want, including an enormous bath.

After filling the bath with hot water, Spike took time to slowly tease and pleasure his Mate until the younger vampire was on the edge of release. But was utterly shocked when Xander took the initiative and while his Sire was swallowing his mate’s hardness, spun around and enjoyed the advantage of not needing to breathe. To Spike’s surprise and delight, he too was swallowed whole as they both sank to the bottom of the huge tub, enjoying the heat, appreciating the lack of needing to breathe, and releasing within seconds of each other.

They both emerged waterlogged, sated and grinning, to a kiss that had them tasting themselves as well as their lover. They toweled each other dry and were already aroused again by the time they repaired to the huge bed. Lube and various playthings were found in the side drawer. Spike simply made gentle love to his partner, preparing him carefully and filling him in a single stroke. Xander sighed as he felt his Sire complete him and begin to move. Spike kept the pace gentle for a time but sped up suddenly and bit down on Xander’s neck. His Childe came immediately yelling his mate’s name. Spike followed him… and they both slept.

The next day was nowhere near as comfortable. Distance and holiday seasons worked against them. They entered and parked the car in the all day underground carpark of a shopping mall just before dawn, Xander already under a blanket in the boot of the vehicle.

Spike took the ticket, parked then they curled up to spend the day under a heavy ancient army blanket in the boot of their car. The Master and his Mate exchanged blood then wrapped themselves in each other, comfort the motivation and simply too tired to do anything else.

It would not be the last time they had to use such a strategy, but for the most part cheap hotels and covens, or friends thereof, were the places of rest for the next near six months on their rescue mission.

.……………

They received Emails from Richard and numerous ones from the coven and Willow, but at the end of the second month, they had a phonecall on the cell phone provided by the Mistress as part of their departure ‘care package’. A series of squeaks and clicks gave Xander a notion of who was at the other end, and looked rather hopelessly at Spike who was driving. There was no way he could interpret Richard without one of the Wiccans, but then a rather toneless electronic voice began.

“Hey Xander, and… Spike… I have a voice… again. I am sorry if it is a little slow but we are still getting used to the… patterns.”

“Oh my G@#$! Richard!!! Oh… um… Are you??” Xander’s voice hitched as he began to feel quite teary. Spike grabbed the phone. And in true ‘Big Bad’ Style clenched his teeth, pursed his lips and spoke into the phone with a wicked grin that was audible even from the receiving end.

“All right ya big ol’ watery wanker... Figure it’s you ‘n yer mate Dean as has made me boy all teary !??”

There was silence on the other end. Despite the previous number of Emails and reciprocal jokes, to hear Spike truly treating him as Spike always did… quite undid the dear changed human.

Dean took over, and the mechanical voice continued, “We just wanted to tell you that we have a new project. Richard is heading it.”

Spike too was extremely moved, Dean in the past had been unable to get across more than a few emotions, now he was speaking. But Spike swallowed his tears and simply added, “That’s bloody wonderful!”

“Richard wanted… We wanted to ask when you will be back for a visit.”

“We’re not sure yet ‘n great to hear from you… We’ll expect more soon yeah?! Listen, can get the boy back on the blower? He seemed a bit upset is all.” Spike heard the squeak and some furious clicking and high pitched sounds, then their friend registered his presence again. The mechanical voice began, “I am sorry but… it is still difficult.”

“Not bloody difficult – already told you, ya silly bugger, you’re family, you ‘n yours… so… this is the first of many right? Wanna know all the details… Got that?!”

Xander let two tears fall silently as he passed the phone back and the conversation continued with the inhuman voice. Spike squeezed his partner’s hand then released him and offered his wrist as the conversation continued, “Tell him to let us know what they need pet and that we’ll be there. Otherwise we’re headin’ after the bastards as did this to them, to us… and however many others.”

Xander relayed the message then realized something... and flicked the phone onto speaker.

“I… we… need you… safe! Friends… family… *please.*” Even with the mechanical voice Spike heard the angst and it was quickly shared by his partner.

“Geez pet! Ever the big brother white hat yeah!?? Xan and I are good… We watch each other’s backs remember?! Anyway… buddy movie us, open road n’ all that.”

The reply message had obviously been cut and pasted, “I… we… need you… safe! Friends… family… *please.*”

“No need to get your tail knotted on our account… we’re fine! Now give us some *real* news! How’s the work? ‘N how’s that man o’ yours? Hope you’re still explorin’ those little slits ‘o mutual pleasure! Reckon you’ve got some new pages for the Karma Sutra in the offing if you put your mind to it!”

The last comment earned Spike a slap from Xander and some very high pitched, what was very obviously, laughter from Richard’s natural voice and some background squeaking and clicks of joy from Dean.

They chatted at length.

Richard and Dean reported that they had found they had much the same language range as the dolphin they had been melded with. This was enormously helpful to the research. With some training from the wiccans, and their natural instinct, both the former humans found they could call and communicate to the dolphins of the Pacific. They also found they could ‘breach’ like their new cousins. The bottle nosed friends were still a little confused by Richard and Dean’s odd forms but in the end, had apparently been amorous and attentive to the point of embarrassment (or not). Richard and Dean were both awed by a whale who casually chatted to them in a ‘heavy accent’ and then threw herself out of the water with a cry of delight breaching four or five times before swimming out to sea.

Richard confessed that he and Dean had made love in the open ocean for the first time that afternoon. The boat took thirty minutes to find them, and though their crew was unimpressed, Mistress had been ‘understanding’.

Apparently both were finding it possible to stay longer and longer underwater and had begun documenting their own changes as their bodies continued to adapt when they pushed their limits.

The phone was on speaker, and though the voice was foreign, the sentiments and expressions were pure Richard. Xander kissed Spike’s hand as they both rejoiced for their lovely friend. Xander also realizing yet again that they had all been given a gift… and though the intent had been malicious, the outcome was beautiful. Even if Rich, Dean or he were no longer human… and Spike not dust as he suggested he should have been, they were the lucky ones… they all had beautiful, loving partners, and good lives. Now he and his mated Sire were on a mission to help those who had been changed, but had not been so lucky.

……………………..

They started in Columbus. Willow provided the information, the coven the money, and Spike the charm. Spike had let his hair grow out during their time with Richard in Canada, it now fell in a roguish mop that when tied back gave him much the same look as the time of his Boxer Rebellion triumph in China with Dru.

Now dressed in designer jeans, a pale cashmere sweater, fine rimmed glasses, and elegant gold jewelry including a thick pirate earring and bracelet, he was the epitome of a ‘rich boy’, and his mannerisms and upper class English accent, finished the illusion. He met up with Gordon Manners at the opening of a fashionable new gallery – small and exclusive. Mr Manners liked ‘pretty boys’ and was utterly enamored by the quietly spoken Englishman who introduced himself as ‘Will’. They went for drinks immediately after the event. Gordon thought little of leaving his lovely partner to attend the bathroom as his friend shouted the second round of drinks, though later he would contemplate his mistake.

Exactly as he had ordered done to so many others previously, he was drugged and transported. The coven would deal with him.

Initially Gordon Manners apparently checked in to work sick via his cell phone Email, but after three weeks, the Senior Partners received an anonymous tip off that he had ‘done a runner’. It would not be the first time an employee became too fearful to stay. They all knew that his changeling program had begun to falter.

…………………

Over the months Xander and Spike found the retrieval of many of the changelings was distressing.

They inevitably went in with legitimate reason after the facility had been ‘quarantined’, put into liquidation or was at the point of being shut down.

At the now abandoned home of Gordon Manners just outside Colombus, they found a woman who seemed to have been crossed with a horse, her only humanity remaining, a head and upper torso, though the pretty palomino features blended with her natural blonde. She had obviously been saddled and ridden for pleasure at a W & H staff party recently and by the pictures on the wall of her own stable, been ‘mounted’ by at least two drunken human males whilst tethered, then had a full blood thoroughbred stallion put across her, forcibly, for the viewing pleasure of the audience. She still wore the purpose made bit and bridle. Her pretty gold locks fell listlessly across her features and she began to cry silently as Xander released her from her fetters.

Both Spike and Xander tried to engage her in at least some sounds – even if words were beyond her. It was only later that they realized, her larynx had been purposely and permanently removed - according to her records her ‘loud screaming was off-putting for clients’.

Spike and Xander hired a horse trailer and drove her to the nearest coven just outside Philadelphia, where they were distressed to learn that she was also pregnant… to the stallion.

After a discussion with the lovely woman, the wiccans agreed reluctantly to her request. They could not change her back, so she chose the only other option than staying as she was. They gave the change a further push, as she demanded, and altered her completely. Her features shifted until what stood before them was a beautiful warm blood mare with one extraordinary difference - a full unicorn horn. She nuzzled her still rather distressed rescuers with affection then sped off into the breeding paddock, mane flowing and head held high to join the other mares who were also in foal. It was only later that Spike and Xander noticed a second heavily pregnant female unicorn in the paddock, they did not have to ask. She produced a tiny white female unicorn foal in the spring and was enjoying her motherhood immensely, requesting to have another… with her own choice of partner, the coven had agreed to arrange it.

A ‘private facility’ owned by a rich client of Wolfram and Hart, was targeted after the owner apparently learned of a new push to ‘enforce regulations for private zoos and the keeping of exotic animals’. The inspector also indicated that they had been anonymously sent photographs… The man decided that he would rather not have his now unfashionable menagerie and avoid any scandal. ‘Luckily’ the inspector (alias Master Chester of the coven just outside Notre Dame) was most understanding and offered to transfer his creatures to more appropriate establishments free of charge, even offering him compensation and progress reports for his favorite two.

Xander and Spike arrived to find two male fauns collared, who knelt submissively but were thankfully articulate. They quickly answering question about others in the collection, yet always kept their eyes down rather than making eye contact and always began their answers with, ‘If it pleases Master…”. After the third question, Xander growled his own distress, the act causing the goat/men to fall to a fully down position, hands tucked behind their backs, and present their behinds, tails lifted. When Xander dropped in front of them, apologized and quickly explained their purpose, one of the fawns began to sob. Spike swiftly moved in and took both his Childe and the upset male into a tight hug. The other fawn all but flopped down at Spike’s feet and repeatedly stroked his left horn which was apparently a comfort habit and began a whispered mantra ‘Someone came, someone came...’

At the same facility they also found three former ‘pretty boys’, employees who had displeased one particular senior manager of W & H simply by refusing his advances. All were now chipped and apparently a corrupted form of werewolf, changing nightly regardless of the moon and from the marks on their jawlines, almost constantly muzzled in that form, unless compelled to perform some mercenary role for their ‘employer’. According to the fawn, they were fed while in human form but none had worn more than a muzzle, a collar and a leash for over six months regardless of their physical state. As Xander approached the cage, all three cowered, yet one still bared his teeth. Xander growled and his features shifted and the response was all three lying at his feet in utter canine pack submission.

The final cell marked “Serpent Demon cross”, was even more distressing. A sad male individual whose lower half was that of an anaconda, was curled around a dry piece of driftwood in the far corner of his cell. He had a bow that looked like a faded Christmas decoration fastened to a thin chain that had been padlocked around on his right wrist. Xander gasped as he realized the despondent individual had arms little more than a few inches long with stumpy hands where shoulders would have been, much as a thalidomide victim of the sixties.

Xander moved into the tiny ‘viewing’ cell in a W & H client’s private reptile house. He quietly explained their intent to the sorry individual before cutting the chain and opening the door presenting a comfortable travel cage and allowing the former W & H security guard to slither in of his own accord. The vampires then watched sadly as the man arched his neck down as far as he could so one of his deformed appendages could simply reach his chin to brush away his tears. He managed a broken ‘thank you’ and neither vampire could fail but notice the split tongue. They found out later that it had not been a result of the change – but rather an act of surgery prior to at the request of his former employers to whom he had ‘lied’.

Giles arranged for him to live out his days in Alabama in the care of a former Watcher, an ‘exotic’ reptile expert. Giles assured them that he would be asked to do little more than snooze in the sun and chat occasionally to his carer, so were utterly amazed when the Mistress reported to them a year or so later that he was the aging gent’s constant companion, after initially discovering a mutual passion for crossword puzzles and growing orchids. They were an odd couple indeed, but no less happy with each other for it.

By the time they arrived at the Wolfram and Hart's ‘chipping and vamping’ facility in Connecticut, there were only a few vampires left - apparently they were a little late… A week previously there had been a tip-off that the facility generally and several specific staff were to be investigated for kidnapping and murder. The order had come to ‘dust’ their ‘guests’ which the underlings at the facility did for the most part, but left a few behind in a back cell in the rush and confusion as documents were shredded and the facility abandoned.

The four remaining vampires had obviously been turned by a minion and were unable to turn from game face or even remember their own names let alone say them. They looked as though they were starving and huddled together with little understanding of what had happened to them and no Sire around for comfort.

Feeling the call of a Master and the power of the mated pair, they crawled toward Spike and Xander whimpering. Spike did the kindest thing a Master could in the circumstances. In turn, he kissed them each sadly and as they bared their necks, he gently drained each one to dust. The blood was little and second hand, but the act one of extreme kindness. Each groaning in ecstasy as the Master relieved them of their torment. Xander hugged his Mate and they both grieved for the four, feeling a sense of guilt that they had been such a lucky.  

The facility Dean and Richard had been in was harder to face.

In a cell adjacent to the pool their friends had resided in, an extremely large, hairy beast, the size and shape of a gorilla turned to reveal a desperate, human female face… and very pregnant belly. She signed to them in the language of the deaf, “Please… Help me!”  Before a large silver back gorilla moved in front of her, bared his teeth at them, and roared his prior claim to the female. They eventually managed to tranquilize her angry partner but were only able to offer her the same options as all the others. They could change her fully or leave her as she was – there was sadly no option to change back.

She was able to convey her wishes, like the now female unicorn, she chose to fully change, not able to bare the freak status of her current form, nor her pending motherhood without it. The silver back was apparently attentive and loving, and after almost two years in ‘freak form’ she was relieved to know that she would at least be whole. With the change would come the boost to her instinctive drives and match her physical form, though her command of language would not alter. She thanked them as Spike kissed her and bade her goodbye before alerting the coven. Several minutes later a fully formed, happily pregnant gorilla sought out her slowly recovering mate and began to groom him. They were both transferred to the Toronto Zoo several weeks later, the male gaining two new females as a consequence, and the ex Wolfram and Hart employee delivering a tiny female baby gorilla shortly after.

There were three new merfolk, a couple of pretty males and a female in Dean and Richard's old pool. They seemed happy to see Xander and Spike but their rescue was trickier and required the coven’s assistance. They were eventually airlifted to the safety of the coven along with two of the scientists from the facility. The two young researchers would not initially go willingly having seen Spike and Xander both change to game face as they were confronted by armed guards, however were eventually persuaded by the opportunity the coven offered, particularly given the pending investigation into their own facility by an experimental ethics committee, human rights investigators and the IRS.

…………………

In the third month of Spike and Xander’s quest, the original conspirators who had worked with Manners on the experimental ‘chipping and changing’ were tracked down and had been transferred to the coven. The aim was to appeal to them and eventually work with them to reverse some of the effects of the spells and deal with the chips. Despite being treated firmly but politely, they were utterly unrepentant.

The surgeon repeatedly called Mistress Blackrainbow “a Goth freak”, and her followers “cultish idiots”. And even before the witches had dialogue with his warlock partner-in-crime, the mage continually attempted various spells, thankfully unsuccessful due to some basic wards around their secured room. But it was wearing on the general energy assisting the concealment of the coven itself, so after two days the wiccans decided to simply erect an invisible, semi spherical reflective barrier over and around the two sleeping men on their third evening at the coven. It took far less energy and would allow them to discuss matters without having to remove the gents from their room.

It was the sphere that determined their fate. The warlock woke first and immediately began a curse he and the surgeon had decided upon. As two witches entered the room with their breakfast and to take the surgeon for further discussions, the warlock sent a bolt of power from each hand. But instead of striking the wiccans, it rebounded directly from the reflective barrier in and around their beds, striking them both in turn. Two bright flashes of light later and the warlock and doctor had been replaced by two white lab rats.

There was no way of returning them to their original form, which meant sadly, that no information to assist with their other charges could ever be forthcoming, but there was also no further threat from the black magic. The witches obtained a large cage, dropped the barrier and caught their rather dazed and confused ‘guests’.

………………..

It was the third month of their search and rescue, Spike was distressed to hear that the coven had been unable to find any assistance in the reversals of spells, and there was only a minor hope for a future removal of chips, but his demon rejoiced to know that Manners was being dealt with by a few of his ex assistants in the changeling program.

There were rather a large number of ex Wolfram and Hart employees working for the coven. Gordon Manners stared up into the face of an anesthetist whom he had personally ordered ‘changed’ after the man refused to continue his work and threatened to expose W & H when he found out the effects of the ‘anesthetic’ he was injecting at a changeling facility.

Like other recalcitrant employees, he had been swiftly ‘volunteered’ for the changeling program, and now sported horns and the lower half of a goat. Rather than ending up as either slave or curio however, he was forced to wear a gag and work as a cleaner in his own facility. He was beaten daily and unable to speak to defend the rumor that he had injected himself in error, or correct the idea that his intelligence had been compromised.

As the serum and anesthetic took hold, Manners managed to scream at him, “You bloody traitorous pervert why don’cha jus’ come ‘ere an I’ll give ya somethin’ yrrr girlfriennn cnnnnn  oohh..fff”  He was out for the count.

Manners woke rather groggy and heard the chanting, initially tried to struggle, then began to scream as his realized his form was shifting and he experienced what so many he had condemned had felt before now. He had no control over the process as arms and legs became soft and bones dissolved. He passed out.

Some hours later, he awoke to see the distorted forms of a large number of changelings of his own making staring down at him, something which made no sense until he assessed his surroundings. He worked out that he was looking up from a large shallow pool of some description. He was certainly breathing underwater and could make no sense of that until he lifted an arm. Suddenly, he found himself scrambling backwards, using all eight of his own sucker covered tentacles to get away from… himself. He only stopped when he was wedged firmly under a rock as far back as he could manage. He attempted to cry out but there was no voice at all. The only indication that he was other than a natural creature was the color of his eyes.

He was plucked from his hiding place several days later helplessly squirming as he was stuffed into a sealed plastic tank and transported to the San Diego coven as arranged.

He would live out his days as an octopus in the Mistress’s aquatic facility, a fully aware human mind in a completely changed state, compelled by natural instinct to perform as any of his now species might but cognitively human with all the memories of Gordon Manners. He was chipped and therefore unable to harm anything but his natural food, but unlike his victims, the controls would remain untouched at the coven and he would not be victim of cruel experiments.

He claimed another rock abode in a deep section of the lake and had aught else to do but contemplate his life, catch dinner and cower as dolphins, merfolk and other large fish to which he was now vulnerable, swam by. His kind lived for decades.

………………..

In the final days of their sixth month of rescues, the coven confirmed that all changeling facilities and the majority of possible recoveries had been dealt with. In total they had found and placed three hundred and eleven changelings with the help of the covens and Giles. A few individuals would continue to find their way to the covens one way or another, but essentially it was over.

Before they decided what their next move would be, Xander and Spike decided to return to the San Diego coven for their much promised visit.

In the bright moonlight, it was obvious that both mermen now had sun blonded hair, near silver white and shoulder length, the color courtesy of their outdoor lifestyles and the salt. The skin on their torsos and arms had toughened and both vampires could hear the slower heartbeats clearly. Both mermen were obviously at peak fitness with beautifully ‘cut’ torsos melding into now thicker, extraordinarily muscular tails.

Spike didn’t fail to notice that their intimate touches were almost constant, reminding him of his and Xander’s frequent caresses both mentally and physically. He understood, it was not just for mutual pleasure, but also loving reassurance, emotional support and consistent comfort all embodied in the easy private touches that only long term loving companions could manage.

Richard displayed his latest skills standing almost fully out of the water as his tail worked furiously, while Dean launched himself out of the water and completed a near full arching somersault over his friend’s head, sending a flume of water and drenching their friends as he landed, before the mermen both fell back into the water laughing, and the astonished vampires sought some towels to dry off.

Two mermaids joined them in their delighted antics, and Spike and Xander recognizing them immediately. They were the ones who had, like Xander, simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were chosen for their fate after being identified as a 'pretty gay couple’, the female combination a preference for the Wolfram and Hart New York office’s pool entertainment. They were changed, then “Successfully trained to perform synchronously, providing lesbian viewing delights and services to clients of both sexes.”

The women/mermaids sported similar dolphin tails and changed features to Dean and Richard, though unlike the two men they had been the star attraction in the roof top pool of Wolfram & Hart’s for close to a year. They had been forced to pleasure each other and perform for the amusement of others… until the novelty wore off. It was one rescue Spike and Xander still wondered at. The pretty creatures delivered to a warehouse almost frozen and certainly starving one December afternoon… Spike having bought them both for three hundred dollars on Ebay.

Xander grinned as the four emerged at the side of the large open lake. The two males had made the girls feel welcome and the four had quickly become firm friends and, as it turned out, workmates as Wendy quickly identified herself as a seismologist and her partner a specialist in deep sea research. Their contribution to the coven would be extraordinary. But for now they were being counseled and cared for by the lovely wiccans. They were both still coming to terms with what had the experiences of the past year; with the idea that no-one would ‘dial them up or down’ ever again; and that they had a professional role… an ongoing one… in a large team of researchers that included witches, merfolk and other mythical creatures they had only ever read about in fiction. And that they were cherished and appreciated, and would live and love with kindness and respect all around them.

The women were still adjusting and amazed at the attention the two vampires, their own rescuers, gave Richard and Dean, until Richard swiftly conveyed that they were his best friends (and had rescued both he and Dean). Xander grinned as one of the girls squeaked her understanding then did her own quick flip of delight and acknowledgment. Without the translator/smart board nearby, there was little any of the merfolk could do but squeak and click their happiness at seeing their friends again, before Richard and Dean powered off, did two or three joyful back and front flips, then came back to touch and be petted in return.

Spike noticed Richard’s flippered hands wandering, one to his partner’s slit and the other to the slit of one of their female companions. His raised an eyebrow, merely causing a wicked grin from the perpetrator.

“You bloody got it made, don’t ya mate! Best boy squeeze on the other than my Xan, nude all the time and some girls to tease but no need for delivery yeah?!” Richard’s wide smile was all the confirmation necessary. “Man after me own heart! Might take you up on the offer of some aquatic foreplay one day… just no goin’ near me mate with that special piece o’ yours yeah?!” Spike grinned and Richard did his best wink before reaching out of the water and caressing the vampire’s manhood through the denim of Spike’s jeans. The longer nails on the ends of each finger on the fin rasped over the material causing wonderful friction and Spike to groan then grind out, "Yeah, a right bloody tease you are!"

Eventually Spike and Xander kissed their two friends in turn and promised to return again soon. The other two squeaked their approval at the idea, then all four merfolk sped off into their lake in the direction of their sleeping quarters, breaching synchronously for the benefit of the vampires, then waving and diving as the two vampires stood to leave.

The two vampires desperately needed to give a final report to the Mistress, then give serious thought to what they might do with the next part of their unlives and pause to contemplate what was likely to be a very long future together.