********Part 18. Noon. The next day, SunnyDale Airport.********

The flight from Cancun to SunnyDale, had just landed, and a five year old boy, obviously on a sugar high, bounded down the ramp. Then a woman, dressed modestly in a white Nike sweatshirt, and black Adidas pants, with brass rimmed sunglasses followed him. She was quite surprised that Kevin, while usually a sweet boy, could be so hard to take care of when his mother wasn't around to discipline him. Running up and down the escalators was almost Buffy's undoing.

He was having so much fun, he just couldn't stop...that is until he ran into a much older man, who appeared to be in his late twenties, his red-blonde hair spiked up in a similar fashion such as Kevin's. Dressed in loose tan khaki pants, and a long red t-shirt that hung loose, complimented by a pair of stylish sunglasses, the man inwardly winced in annoyance. He looked down to see who had kicked him in the back of his knee, only to see no one there. He looked around quickly, then looked down in front of him when he heard a young tiny voice murmur "Sorry," as he raced down the escalator. The man smiled, but suddenly frowned at the thought that he supposedly had a kid that he never met, because his ex-girlfriend decided not to tell him until yesterday. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, then furrowed his brow when he heard a familiar voice.

"Kevin..." Buffy groaned.

"Yes aunt Buffy?" The young boy asked.

"Could you please stand still for a couple of seconds? You're going to get me in so much trouble, and you don't want me telling your mom about how badly you are behaving. Especially when she is as upset as she is right now. So could you please, stop running all over the place?" She looked around, as she put her check book back into her purse to see if anyone was staring at her. There were a few glances that were thrown in her direction, but they soon disipated to a small grimace of distaste before going back to reading their daily newspaper. There was one person, on the other hand, who seemed to be frozen in shock. Buffy spared a glance at him, then averted her attention to her purse momentarily, until she realized who that person was. Quickly looking back up to the prone figure 20 feet away, she nearly jumped out of her skin, at the sight of her best friend's, most assumed ex-boyfriend. Not taking her eyes off the man, she squatted down and whispered quietly to Kevin.

"Kevin...sweety. Will you do me a favor? You see where all those little girls and boys are playing?" Buffy asked. Kevin nodded his head. "I want you to go over there and make a few friends while I take care of some business. Will you do that for me?" Buffy asked.

"Yes aunt Buffy.....on one condition," Kevin said in a sneaky voice.

"What would that be?" Buffy asked, glancing back at the man cloaked in khaki.

"Don't tell Mommy I was being bad," Kevin said.

"Kevin..." Buffy said with menace in her voice.

"Okay, okay. I'm going. Sheesh! Women," Kevin said, trotting over to the slides where all the little girls and boys were playing. When Buffy noticed he was at a safe distance, she walked over to the man standing near the escalator.

"Hey Oz," Buffy said in a friendly voice, tinted with venom.

"Hello Buffy," Oz said, looking towards the playground where the boy who was most definitely Willow's son, was learning to make new friends.

"Willow...told me what happened. She was pretty convinced that you hated her," Buffy said, somewhat hurt that one of her friends would say that to another one of her friends. Oz only nodded his head in recognition of his words from the day before. Buffy sighed. "So what she said was true. She wasn't just going on instinct?" Oz nodded again, his eyes brimming with tears.

"I shouldn't have said it. But I felt it, and she asked," Oz said. Buffy fought down her impulse to beat the shit out of him right there in public.

"Do you still hate her?" Buffy asked.

"Wouldn't you?" Oz asked. Buffy flinched at the seriousness of his question to her question. She shook her head.

"That's not fair. This is not my problem. It doesn't matter what I think. He's not my son, heaven forbid I ever have one, he's yours," Buffy said, her voice reaching a higher octave. Oz flinched, and averted his gaze from Buffy's eyes to the little boy playing 'Duck Duck Goose' with the other children.

"So he is mine," Oz rationalized. He kind of figured it was because of his age, but the other night he kept wondering why Willow left him five years ago, without telling him why, and he kind of figured it might have been because of another man. Buffy looked at him with bug eyes, as if he were an idiot.

"Duh!!! Do you see how old he is? Turned five, January 7th. It's been five years, whose else could he have been?" Buffy asked.

"Well, seeing that she mysteriously left me five years ago, and refused to tell me why, it sort of brought me to a possible conclusion that she was sleeping with someone else," Oz said. Buffy's heart pounded in her chest, her nails boring huge dents into the wood railing she was using for support. A tear leaked out of her eye.

"You...unimaginable bastard....do you honestly think Willow would....do something like that?" Buffy asked, eyeing him in disgust. He looked down at his feet, as the insult struck him hard. "She left you because she was saving you. She wanted you to forget about her, for reasons I will not mention because you've heard plenty of times how much she hates her parents, and move on, rather than grow old with her and then one day resent her for staying," Buffy said angrily. Her voice softened as she said..."She didn't even know she was pregnant until after spending a month in New York. Believe me, Samantha will tell you how upset she was. And no it wasn't because she was pregnant. It was because she thought, that the love of her life, who might I add was in SunnyDale moping, hated her. That's why she wouldn't tell you. Now I can't speak for Willow, because I've never been in her position, but I honestly can't hate her for being afraid. And I know you can't either, because...well just because you're of the male gender doesn't mean you're immune to emotions. I know you've been afraid. I could see it in your face, at the thought that you'd never see her again, and I know you're afraid right now because you, being of the male gender, don't want to admit to the possibility that I might be right. You want to hate her, because she hurt you, and because she lied to you, but you can't because the possibility that she really does love you, scares the living shit out of you," Buffy said. It was probably the most passionate speech she had ever spoken in her entire life. Oz looked up from the floor, and smiled bitterly.

"I can't help it Buffy. She lied to me for five years...and I can't forget that. I can't forget that, I've missed five years of my son's life, because she was too afraid to tell me. I can forgive her in time...but I'll never forget," Oz said sadly.

"So what if she turns out to be pregnant in a month from now, convinced that you hate her? Do you honestly expect her tell you? Or do you hate her so much, that you wouldn't even want to know?" Buffy asked sadly. She looked over at Kevin, who was trotting around a circle of boys and girls, then back at Oz. "You're right Oz. You missed five incredible years of his life because of Willow. But now it's going to be you're fault when you miss the next 50 because you just can't let it go! You're going to be the person he hates the most because he never knew the person his mother refused to stop loving," Buffy said sadly. She looked up at Oz, knowing that she probably loosened a few locks on his emotional door, then took his hand and lightly kissed him on the cheek before turning around, and walking over to the playground. Oz hated it when he didn't have the last word, so he let his pride speak for him.

"You're wrong in that Buffy," Oz said loud enough for her to hear. She turned around, understanding that it was just his male pride speaking for him....so she wasn't going to take anything he said seriously. She walked back over to him.

"Oh really?" Buffy asked curtly, and crossing her arms over her stomach, and under her chest.

"Willow...doesn't love me," Oz said, blinking as his own words stung him. Buffy just smiled.

"I think your lying to yourself," Buffy said smiling.

"And why is that?" Oz asked, instinctively going defensive.

"Because you blinked, you got defensive when I insulted your pride, and you're male. Yep...definitely lying," Buffy said, walking away. Oz felt like dying at her words, but being the lack of emotion guy in the scooby gang, it would be hard for him to admit it.

"Say, wait a minute...what's up with you and this whole anti-male thing going around?" Oz asked.

"Talk to Jesse. He'll fill you in," Buffy said.

He started walking away, then stopped at the sound of his son's voice. "Aunt Buffy? Who was that?" Kevin asked. Buffy looked up towards the man who had moved, but who had stopped at the sound of his son's voice.

"He's just a friend your mother isn't getting along with right now," Buffy said. "Come on Kevin. I'm sure your mom is anxious to see you," Buffy said, grabbing his hand and walking towards the exit doors.

"How long do I get to stay here?" Kevin asked.

"Until your mother thinks she is ready to go back to New York," Buffy said, opening the passenger side of her car. She put Kevin in, making sure he put on his seat belt correctly, then moved over to her side to start the engine.

"Can I drive?" Kevin asked. Buffy laughed at his ambitious question, then shook her head in amusement.

"Maybe when you're thirty," Buffy said, pulling out of the parking lot.

********One o'clock in the afternoon. Buffy's house.**********

"Mommy!!!! Mommy!!!! I missed you so much," Kevin said, running up the stairs to hug his mother.

"Hey sweety....how was Mexico?" Willow asked her son.

"Oh man....it was the best!!! I got to ride horses, and rollercoasters, and I got to dye Toby's hair,"

"You dyed Toby's hair?" Willow asked her son.

"Yep...and you won't believe what color I dyed it,"

"Uh...black?"

"No."

"Brown?"

"No," Kevin said in a voice that told Willow she was nowhere close, and that he was going to make her keep guessing until she guessed right.

"White?"

"Un uh," Kevin said shaking his head.

"Red?"

"No!!!! Why would I dye his hair red when it's already red?"

"Well why don't you tell me what color you dyed it, and then I won't have to guess any more,"

Kevin giggled. "I dyed it sky blue!!!!" Kevin said, laughing so hard his face was turning redder than usual.

"You didn't!!!! Wait a minute..you must have...its all over the back of your head....Kevin," Willow said in an unbelieving tone that suggested annoyance.

"Would I lie to you?" Kevin asked.

"Well I don't know...you are getting to that age," Willow said, in a skeptical motherly voice, while inspecting his roots.

"Well anyway....ooohh!!! Guess what...I ran into an old friend of yours when Aunt Buffy and I got off the plane," Kevin said excitedly.

"Oh really...who was it?"

"I don't know," Kevin said, slightly upset because he didn't know the man's name. "I think Aunt Buffy knows though. I'll go get her," Kevin said racing down the stairs...."Aunt Buffy!!!"

"Yes Kevin?"

"What was that man's name...the one you were talking to?" Kevin asked.

"Why?" Buffy asked with a skeptical and worried eye.

"Because Mommy wants to know," Kevin said, sitting down and wrapping his arms around Buffy's leg so she would have to drag him up the stairs. At his words, Buffy instantly froze.

"Kevin, I really wish you hadn't brought that up with your mother," Buffy said in a melancholy tone.

"Well how was I supposed to know? You made me play with the little kids at the playground while you talked to him," Kevin said, uncaring. Buffy squatted down, and met Kevin eye to eye.

"Kevin...I'm not mad at you....but I think you should stay downstairs while I go talk to your mother...There is a play station hooked up to the TV, with your favorite video games," Buffy said, ruffling his hair. She finally stood up when Kevin let go of her leg, and he started running towards the living room. Buffy walked up the stairs, not really sure how she wanted to approach the subject.

"Hey Buffy...what happened to Kevin?" Willow asked, throwing a few clothes in the dryer.

"I told him to play Nintendo while you and I talked about this mysterious friend of yours that Kevin happened to bump into," Buffy said uneasily. Willow's eyes widened as she grew impatient.

"Well who was it?" Willow asked. Buffy averted her eyes, not able to look into Willow's when she told her that her son had met his father, and his father knew he was the father, at the airport. Willow continued to grow more impatient. "You know...sometime today would be nice," Willow said eyeing her friend with cautious eyes.

"It was Oz," Buffy mumbled. Willow leaned in closer to make out what Buffy had just said.

"You want to repeat that?" Willow asked.

"Oz!!!" Buffy said in a harsh breath. Willow paled immediately

"Buffy...please...tell me you're kidding," Willow said, panicked. At the shake of her best friend's head, Willow immediately wanted to die...What did Oz think of him? Did he even care? Did Oz like him? Did Kevin like Oz? Her son obviously seemed pretty enthused about the whole situation. Did Kevin know?

"Kevin was running up and down the escalators and apparently he bumped into him....then Oz saw Kevin over at the baggage claim with me, and he wigged. He knew,Willow. He knew Kevin was your son," Buffy said.

"Well did he say anything?" Willow asked. Any news was better than no news. Buffy let out a long sigh.

"Yes...unfortunately...he...admitted that what he said to you about hating you was wrong," Buffy said in a voice that dignified a 'but'.

"But?" Willow asked, understanding Buffy's uneasy voice.

"But he said that that's the way he felt and that you asked," Buffy said sadly. At the look on her best friend's face, she too wanted to burst into tears. There was about three minutes of silence between the two until Willow spoke up.

"Well...its over...and he doesn't want anything to do with me, so...I guess I move on," Willow said, wiping her tears away with the silk screen shirt she wore over her spaghetti strap shirt.

"Oh god Wills. I'm so sorry," Buffy said, crying harder than she did when she first saw the Titanic. She reached out to grab Willow's hand, but Willow brushed it off and ran down the stairs, obviously trying to avoid the issue at hand. She ran towards the downstairs bathroom, and closed the door, double locking it. Buffy was right behind her, knocking on the door, begging Willow to come out.

"Willow...please come out. You're scaring me. It will be okay. I know it will. You two..had a fight, and it ended badly...it's not the end of the world. It's not the end of your life. You've got the greatest kid in the world Willow. What more could you possibly want?" Buffy rationalized. There was a slight rustling in the bathroom, and then the door opened with a tear streaked Willow in the way.

"I can't do this Buffy," Willow said crying. Buffy opened her arms, and Willow greeted them timidly. She lay her head on her best friend's shoulder.

"Sure you can," Buffy coaxed. "You can do anything," Buffy said, stroking her hair. "So what? He's just a guy, who doesn't know what he's missing out on, because he is too ignorant a bastard to see what he's really got. You've got Kevin, Willow. You guys made it together for five years with out that..that...that arrogant son of bitch," Buffy said, doing her best to comfort her friend. It only made her cry harder.

"I can't help it. I love Kevin so much, and I know that five years ago, you said I was the most unselfish person in the world," Willow shaking her head, and soaking her best friend's t-shirt.

"You're still...nowhere near being selfish," Buffy said, with tears in her eyes. Willow started sobbing harder, and shaking her head in denial.

"No...that's not true. I'm a selfish bitch. I want Oz!! I want Kevin. I want my parents. I want my old life back Buffy. I want things to be okay between us...and I want, Kevin to grow up, loving his dad as much as I did. I want him to actually know his dad. He's five years old Buffy. It doesn't mean that much to him now...but deep down I know that he's going to end up hating me because of what I did. He's going to hate me because its my fault that he never knew his dad, and then he's going to hate his dad because he never knew him," Willow cried, slipping from Buffy's hold, and sitting down on the cold tile floor of the bathroom. She lay down, pressing her cheek against the off white marble, trying to find some way to alleviate the nauseating feeling she got, when she thought of the situation she got herself into.

"But it's not your fault Willow. You didn't have a choice. Your parents made you break up with him. It's not your fault Willow. It's not your fault. You didn't know you were pregnant until after you made your choice. You were scared," Buffy said, rubbing her back. "You thought he would hate you because you broke up with him. You didn't want him to hate you more for telling him he had a son, because you were afraid he might be seeing someone else. I don't blame you okay. You're human. You're allowed to make mistakes, and if he can't get over the fact that you made a mistake, then he isn't worth it and you know it!" Buffy said. "He's upset because he missed five years of his son's life because you were afraid to tell him. But for every day he misses now...is his fault. Okay...he knows he has a son now. It's not your fault. Yeah...okay...Oz missed five incredible years of his son's life...but it's not your fault if he ends up missing the next 50," Buffy said. It got Willow to let out a small laugh. Buffy smiled a little bit.

"Damn Buffy...sounds like you actually knew this conversation was coming," Willow said sniffling. Buffy grinned at that.

"Well I've had time to practice since I last saw him there...because in a way I sort of said the same thing to him, that I said to you. Only I was meaner when I was talking to him, and I was so mad at him, I put dents in the wood railing that I was holding on to," Buffy said with a bit of humor and triumph in her voice. She really did enjoy that little speech she gave to Oz. It made her feel better than staking a vampire, but that was probably because she didn't stake him and she didn't get any ashes on her shoes.

"What did he say?" Willow asked, somewhat calmed down because of her best friend's presence.

"He said that in a very long time, he could forgive you.....but...he wouldn't be able to forget," Buffy said, stroking the back side of Willow's left hand.

"Is he ever going to talk to me?" Willow asked. Buffy, felt a pang go through her heart, knowing that what Willow needed was answers, but she had none to offer. Sitting down, she leaned forward to place a kiss on the back of Willow's head, and immediately began stroking her hair again.

"You know he will one day Willow. You know he will," Buffy said.

"You want to know what hurts the most though?" Willow asked.

"I'm all ears."

"I don't think I can blame my parents any more for the bad things that go on in my life. The thing that hurts the most is that I'm the reason all of this really happened. I had a choice. I chose to leave him. And I hate myself a thousand times more, every time I think about it," Willow said lifting her head.

"Shhhh..." Buffy coaxed. "It's going to be alright. Just give it some time,"

"I want to get out of here," Willow said. "I hate SunnyDale. I hate it here..." Willow cried.

**********************Los Angeles, California**************

"Good afternoon, Mr. Henry," Oz said, shaking the lawyer's hand.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Larkin. I'm sorry to inconvenience you, but we found some items that your mother's will referred to, and she really wanted you to have them," the lawyer said, pulling out a huge manilla envelope.

"What would those be?" Oz asked, sitting down in the huge chair and crossing his legs. The man sitting across from him handed him an envelope. Oz opened it, and the lawyer read off the list that the envelope contained.

"She wrote you a letter, left you a ring that supposedly belonged to your father, by the looks of it, a golden 1976 Rolex, a tape, and as you already know, all rights to the land near Sycamore lake, only this is actually in writing," Oz nodded his head and stood up to sign the statement saying that he received what his mother requested. He walked outside, and out to his car where he could read the letter in private. Inside the letter, was three photographs. The letter read:

Tears wetted the letter he held in his hand. He kept interrogating his mind, trying to find some recollection, of a time when he didn't live with Chase. He simply just couldn't remember. After all it had been 25 years. Shaking his head in denial, he stepped out of the car, kicking buckets and rocks as he made his way to a fitness club across the street. He remembered buying a membership up there, he just never found the energy to go. He was dressed to work out. Why not? He could work out some of his aggression. His aggression towards Willow, his aggression towards his mother, and towards himself.

There was something he just couldn't understand though, and it really bothered him. He didn't hate his mother, the way he hated Willow. He just couldn't understand why. Maybe it was because his father did know about him before he was born, and he didn't know about Kevin until the kid was five. Or maybe it was because he didn't understand why Willow never told him. Willow of all people, should have known that he would have been thrilled at the news, but she still didn't tell him.

He started punching dents into the punching bag, flashbacks of the previous years running through his eyes. He remembered his first movie, which was with Chase. He remembered the first time he cut himself while trying to shave his non-existent mustache, which was with Chase's razor. He remembered his first broken arm, his first crush, his first love. Buffy's speech from the airport kept pounding in his head.

Flashback:

"You're right Oz. You missed five incredible years of his life because of Willow. But now it's going to be your fault when you miss the next 50 because you refuse to forget. You're going to be the person he hates the most because he never knew the person his mother refused to stop loving," Buffy said.

End Flash back:

*****

She had such a disappointed look on her face. He remembered how much it hurt him every time she called him a bastard on the account of Willow. Because he knew what she said was true. He was a bastard. He couldn't forgive Willow for what she did. He despised everything about her. Even when he saw her smile in his vision, he wanted to break something. He punched the bag harder, causing his knuckles to pop in unwanted areas. He knew he was going to have bruises in the morning. He somewhat doubted that he'd be able to drive in his state of mind. He was also afraid that he'd become homicidal. He continued to punch the bag, nearly knocking it off of its rings which suspsended it in the air. After about 20 minutes of beating the lifeless object, he collapsed against the wall, breathing fast and sweating.

Looking up, he noticed a bunch of people staring at him in wonder. Giving them an annoyed glare, he stood up and went upstairs to shower.

He remembered the pictures he saw in Willow's room. The ones of Willow and Kevin at the beach. The ones of Kevin at the petting zoo. The picture of his son when he was born. A ghost of a smile swept across his face at the memory. Then a scowl appeared across his face, when he remembered that he wasn't there to take the pictures because Willow never told him. He hated her because he loved her. He hated her because he loved her, and she betrayed him. She gave birth to his son, and he had to find out from a pager.

He hated her because he loved her.

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