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Willow woke up nestled in Oz’s arms and sighed contentedly before reality came crashing back. She looked up at him and looked into his eyes.
“What’d you wanna talk about Willow?” he asked nervously. That in itself was way too strange for Willow’s liking. Oz had one emotion–casual.
“Why have you been hiding from me, Oz? Have I done something wrong? Are you not in love with me anymore?”
“Baby no! I haven’t been meaning to hide from you and I still love you more than anything…it’s just that I’ve been going through some weird changes lately.”
Willow’s eyes widened. “What do you mean ‘changes’?”
He rolled up his shirtsleeve and for the first time Willow saw a fading scar. “What happened?”
“My cousin Jordy bit me while I was babysitting a few months ago.”
“And?” Willow prompted.
“I caught something from his saliva.”
“What did you catch, Oz?” Willow asked, her voice taking on a tone of concern.
“Lycanthropy.”
“Oh…should I go get tested?”
“It’s not an STD, sweetie.”
“I know but…” Willow almost gave in to continuing their ridiculous conversation but stopped herself as the clues from the past few days started coming together. “Is this why you’ve been hurting me? Ditching me at the last minute? Was that you howling in the basement last night?”
“Yes, yes and yes.” Oz responded solemnly, looking her in the eye.
“I see…you’re a jackass, Oz!”
Giles sighed in frustration and rubbed his temples. He’d been researching what the cause to Buffy’s “not so Buffy” emotions could be and it all boiled down to one of two things. It was either a spell or a claim. The spell theory was quickly squashed when he performed a spell of his own and concluded that Buffy was not under any magickal influences. A claim was much harder to track considering the fact that for it to exist, she would’ve had to be bitten by a vampire. To his knowledge, that had never happened.
He picked up his phone and dialled Jenny’s number, reasoning that her background in gypsy magicks might prove helpful in figuring out what was going on with his slayer. He found himself blushing as he waited for her to pick up, thoughts of the other night fresh in his mind.
Jenny was just about to try another book for answers, since the previous one had offered nothing about Spike’s condition, when the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Jenny, it’s me.”
Jenny smiled wide, the sound of his voice melting her and making her giddy…and playful. “Who’s me?” she asked coyly.
“Oh how silly of me…it’s Rupert. Rupert Giles.” He cleared his throat, embarrassed.
“The Rupert Giles that recently bedded me?”
At his choking cough Jenny started to giggle, she could practically see him wiping his glasses. “Easy Rupert, I’m teasing.”
“Quite funny, Jenny.” The smile was obvious in his voice but Jenny could hear the worry in his tone as well.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s Buffy.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes and no. It’s rather complex actually. She told me the other day that she was experiencing feelings, emotions actually, and a physical pain and she was certain that they were not her own. I’ve been researching and all these apparent symptoms, for lack of a better word, can only mean one thing.”
Jenny’s heart was threatening to thump a hole straight through her chest.
“And what’s that?” she asked, praying that his concern for Buffy would be enough to keep him from noticing the panic in her voice.
“A claim.”
“But Buffy hasn’t been bitten, has she?” ‘I have to stop with these lies’ Jenny scolded herself unable to find the strength to confess everything she’d been hiding.
“Not to my knowledge but stranger things have happened in Sunnydale.”
“Yes, stranger things have happened.” Jenny whispered and trailed off.
“Do you think we could meet up later? Perhaps put our heads together and figure this thing out before it happens again and catches Buffy by surprise in the middle of her duties?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll stop by later tonight. Goodbye, Rupert.”
“Goodbye, Jenny.”
When he heard the dial tone he replaced the receiver and sighed. She had sounded strained, tired.
He put his glasses back on and returned to his books. Perhaps he was wrong; maybe, he had simply missed something.
“How do you think they’d take it?”
Jenny gasped and whirled around to see Spike standing in the shadows of the living room.
“I don’t know.” She admitted and went back to her books when Spike walked back up the stairs to his bedroom. It was still too early for him to be up.
Buffy went to her basement to work out after the long shower she’d taken. Giles was researching, Willow was with Oz and Xander and Anya were…well, she didn’t want to think of what they were doing but she knew they were busy.
It was the middle of the day and she needed to vent but the sunlight filtering through the small windows in her workout area confirmed that unless she was ready to wait a few hours to unwind, the punching bag would have to do.
She wrapped her tiny hands and stretched for a few moments before she started to punch. Once she started though, the rest of the world went away and she got lost in the feel of letting go.
With every punch she saw his smile, his eyes, his body. With every punch she could hear him tell her she was beautiful, that he loved her, that she was the one. With every punch she felt a second of happiness and for that alone she kept punching long after her arms started feeling sore from overuse.
“Why am I a jackass?”
“For not telling me sooner. Did you think I would care? Am I that shallow?”
“No baby, you’re not but I was scared, Willow. This wasn’t about you it was about me! I’m a werewolf. Has it crossed your mind that I might need time to adjust?”
Willow looked away. He didn’t get it. “Oz, if you love me, and I mean really love me, then it isn’t just about you. It’s about the both of us. You’re my world and I would never keep anything from you. I guess the same doesn’t go for you.”
A tear slid down her cheek and Oz could feel his own eyes water. “I’m sorry that you feel that way but I had no intention of hurting you. I was gonna tell you…when I was ready.”
She knew that he loved her and that he’d only been trying to protect her but it still hurt. “No more secrets?” she sniffed.
“No more secrets, baby.” Oz confirmed and pulled her close.
“Good,” she mumbled into his arm “Because I’m gonna need your help with something.”
“What’s that?”
“Buffy’s Christmas gift. It’s next week and I still don’t have everything I need.”
“What are you getting her?”
“I’m not so much ‘getting’ her as I am helping her find something. Me, you, Xander and Anya are going to help her find some peace.”
Oz tensed. He didn’t like the sound of this but he knew that Willow was a cautious person. “How do you plan on doing that?”
“A spell to take away her pain.”
Or maybe she wasn’t. “Willow don’t you think that’s bordering on unethical. She needs time to grieve. You can’t just poof the death of a loved one away.”
“No, I know it’s what she wants! Can’t you see how dead she is inside? I won’t be doing anything wrong really. I’ll just be helping her by letting her see the good instead of the bad.”
“I still don’t think it’s right Willow.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’ll do it with or without your help, Oz.”
“Without.” He said simply and she stood and walked to his door.
“How can you be so selfish? She needs us more than ever to help her get past this and you won’t help.”
“I’m not the selfish one, Willow. You’re the one who wants to use forces you can’t control to make your friend all bubbly with the snap of your fingers when instead you should be there for her. Listening, talking, comforting, reminiscing! Not running around and trying to do things the fast and easy way.”
Oz sighed and watched her turn to leave. He didn’t know if he would have a girlfriend after this. She was really pissed. He would talk to Giles about it tomorrow, and they’d have a week to try and talk her out of it. He loved her so much but sometimes she just didn’t think clearly. Odds were she’d never forgive him fully for today but he understood that the cost would be worth it. Who knows what a spell could do to Buffy, or the ones performing it if they weren’t one hundred percent prepared?
She slammed the door behind her and walked out of the house. ‘Change of plans’ she thought to herself as she headed to Xander’s. There was no doubt in her mind that Oz would go to Giles for help to stop her from going through with the spell. They would have to do it tonight.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thanx to my wonderful beta Cecilia for her great work and ideas with this fic!!!You;re great!