***

Giles hung up the phone and looked around at the questioning faces.

“Well?” prompted Cordelia.

“My sources, such as they are, indicate that Spike is indeed responsible for this. He’s gathering forces in the area and the arrival of a new slayer concerned him deeply.” He looked around the room. Ana and Toby looked simply dazed.

Cordelia spoke with more tact than usual. “So, do you think she’s ummm… OK, still?”

“Spike is not known for his kindness to vampire slayers.”

“Although if he was smart,” said Oz thoughtfully, “he’d keep her alive.”

Giles raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Yes, I suppose he would.”

“Care to fill the viewing audience in?” asked Xander.

Willow responded. “As long as she’s alive there won’t be another slayer.”

“Hmm.” Xander seemed impressed. “It’s a wonder they haven’t thought of that before.”

“Maybe they did. I don’t imagine they’ve ever caught a completely untrained slayer before,” said Giles.

“But she’s still a slayer,” said Willow, turning an encouraging smile to the two teenagers. “She’s got a really good chance.”

“She’s pretty much super-powered,” added Xander. “Which is a good thing for her.”

“But without her we’re going to have to make do with the skills on hand,” said Giles.

“Unless either of you two are super-powered?” Xander asked hopefully.

Toby finally opened his mouth. “No, sorry. Nothing like that.”

“Toby is the state under-18 kick boxing champion,” offered Ana.

He blushed and shook his head. “I was only the runner-up.”

“Well, as long as we don’t run into the champion we’ll be good,” said Cordelia. Toby smiled at the weird encouragement.

Giles spoke briskly. “So, Xander, take Toby to Willy’s and see what you can find out.”

“On it,” said Xander. Toby followed him out. Xander stuck his head back in the door.

“Cordy?” She looked up and tossed him her car keys. “Thanks.” He grinned.

“Be careful, Xand” she said.

“Won’t put a scratch on it,” he replied teasingly.

“You know I didn’t mean that…” She rolled her eyes and gave him a little smile before he left.

***

Jaime opened one eye tentatively and quickly closed it again to shut out the blinding white light surrounding her. She tried to move her arms but they felt heavy and seemed pinned to her side. Reluctantly she forced her eyes open, not enjoying the painful throbbing in her head.

“Good Morning Sleeping Beauty,” a disembodied British accent greeted her. She strained to turn her head to no avail. A pair of legs walked into her field of view.

“I’m Spike,” said the voice. “And you, of course, are Jaime.” As fear set in she began to struggle.

“No need to get up,” Spike continued. “I don’t expect much in the way of manners from your generation anyway.” He ducked down and smiled at her. “Make yourself comfortable, you’ll be here a while.”

Jaime found her voice. “You can’t keep me here. You’ll never get away with it.”

“Terribly cliched,” said Spike. “I really expect better from the slayer.” Jaime’s eyes widened in amazement. Spike noticed. “Oh you didn’t believe them…? This is priceless. Well, think about this while you’re resting.” He put on his game face. She stared at the fangs in horror.

“Oh dear, poor girl. I suppose I should have pretended to be your fiancé instead.” She looked at him. “You don’t remember? That cute Sandra Bullock? That dark-haired bloke? Heh. I guess I’m showing my age, or some of it, at least.”

After a brief pause Jaime spoke. “I’ll admit I found the vampire thing pretty hard to believe. But you know what, I would never ever have believed that I could possibly be engaged to a guy with hair that shade of pathetic.”

“Aha. Now there’s the bitter Slayer humor I’ve come to love. You’ll be right up there with little Buffy soon.”

“Buffy?”

“No time now, love. I’ll be back to feed you in a bit. Don’t wait up.” With that he stood up and walked away.

***

Cordelia, Willow and Ana-Lucia sat on the floor in the library surrounded by books. Cordelia looked up from the one she was reading.

“So, Australia hey Willow? Did you meet anyone special?”

Willow looked up, startled. “No.”

“Good. So why aren’t you back with Oz then?”

“What?”

“Well, you can tell he still loves you. Just the way he looks at you. Anyway, he loved you when you were a geek, think how much more he’ll love you now you’re not… really.”

“Cordy. I don’t want to talk about it. I need to, we need to … research stuff.”

“OK.”

There was a pause while all three continued scanning. Then Willow spoke again. “It’s not that simple Cordy.”

Cordelia smiled triumphantly. “Oh?”

“He left me. He cheated on me and then he left me. I can’t just forget that.”

“I know he cheated but it wasn’t quite the normal cheating thing, I mean, you know he only loved you. And not in the cliché way.”

“So then he left me?”

“He left you because he’s a werewolf.” Cordelia turned to Ana in an aside “It’s true, he’s a werewolf, but he’s got it pretty well under control now.” She turned back to Willow. “He left you because he loved you and couldn’t stand to hurt you again.”

“I just don’t think that is what love is like. We could have worked it out. At least we would have been together.”

“But, don’t you get it. There was so much badness in your life anyway. He couldn’t be a part of that. It’s like that saying, ‘If you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem’ … well, no it’s really not like that because he really was part of the problem.”

“And why is it different now then?”

“Well, he’s under control now. You know he only needs to be locked up on the night of the full moon now. And even then he’s only half wolfy. Definite ugliness but better than the whole thing. Also, he knows a lot more about it and he’s dealing.”

“How do you know all this about Oz?” Willow asked.

“He’s been home a few months now. We talk. Even Xander has been warming to him. He’s a good guy, Willow.”

“I know that. I still don’t think you leave someone you love. That’s not love.”

“Sure it is. And even if it's not the smartest thing - he believed it. Ana, don’t you agree?”

Ana looked up and shook her head in amazement for a moment. “I can’t believe I’m sitting here discussing whether leaving your girlfriend because you’re a werewolf constitutes love. But, if you ask me, I get it. Sure.”

“There,” said Cordelia happily. Willow looked at her a moment and then turned back to her books.

“We need to find Jaime,” she said, firmly dismissing the subject.

***

Xander and Toby returned to find everyone in the main room again.

“Any luck?” Willow asked.

“Not much,” said Xander. “Willy knew Spike was back and he’d heard noises of him having kidnapped the slayer, but that was it. He has no idea where Spike is.”

“Well that helps not at all,” said Cordelia.

Giles disagreed. “It does help a little. Willy has eyes and ears around all of the old haunts, so we know they’re not there.”

“As long as Willy was telling the truth,” Cordelia pointed out.

“Oh I’m pretty sure he was,” said Xander confidently. “We … uh … Toby here hit him pretty hard.”

“Not really. I just scared him a little.” Toby was embarrassed.

“So are we sure they’re still in Sunnydale?” asked Willow.

“Well, I can’t imagine Spike trusting anyone else to look after the Slayer. And he’s here,” reasoned Giles.

“OK. He’s here, but he’s not in the factory, in the sewers, in the crypts, under the Bronze…”

“Will,” said Xander, “it’s called Ye Olde Coffee Shoppe now.”

“Oh. Weird. Anyway, he’s not there…” Willow trailed off.

“Not his kind of place anymore,” said Oz.

“And he’s not here,” said Cordelia. “Maybe he bought a place. Somewhere with really bad light.”

“I have an idea,” said Willow, thinking as she talked. “So Spike knows he has to keep Jaime locked up for a long time. He knows she’s the Slayer and tough to lock away. Where does he go?” She paused a moment, for effect.

“C’mon Sherlock,” prompted Xander.

“How about that underground lock-up that Riley and the GI guys were using. Whatever happened to that?”

“Of course,” said Giles.

“So how do we find that place? None of us ever went there,” asked Xander.

“Riley had that friend. Remember? Forrest… I don’t remember his…”

“Forrest Bowden?” Oz spoke up.

“Yeah. That’s it. How do you…?”

“I knew him from … before, with the Dingoes.”

“Oh.”

“Well, it’s as good a plan as any,” said Cordelia. “You two should go talk to that guy.” She winked at Willow surreptitiously. “Off you go then. We’ll stay here and read some more books.”

***

Oz knocked on the door. They heard movement. “Forrest?”

Someone was standing on the other side of the door. “Forrest?”

“Who’s there?” It was a woman’s voice.

“Hi. We’re friends of Forrest’s. I’m Willow and he’s Oz.”

“Couldn’t be very good friends. I never heard of you.”

“No, we haven’t been in touch for a while,” said Oz.

“Could we speak to him please, ma’am it’s fairly urgent,” said Willow.

“Don’t you ma’am me,” said the woman, opening the door. “Forrest’s in there.” She bent her head toward a sunny side room.

Willow followed Oz in. Forrest was sitting at a table, writing. He looked up as they entered.

“Oz!” He was surprised.

“Hey man”

“And Willow, right?”

“Yeah. Hi Forrest.”

“You were Buffy’s friend.”

“Yep.”

“I was sorry to hear about that. She seemed cool.” His face darkened. “Riley liked her.”

“I’m sorry about Riley too,” said Willow. “You guys seemed pretty close.”

“Yeah. We were.” He dismissed the thought. “What do you guys want?”

Willow and Oz looked at each other a moment. Willow started speaking abruptly. “Ok, firstly we know about the Initiative, so there’s no reason to play dumb.”

“The Initiative?” Forrest looked genuinely nonplussed.

“The Initiative,” Willow repeated.

“I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“The Initiative?”

“Nope.”

“Oh,” said Willow.

“Right,” said Oz, “sorry man, we just thought you were involved in something Riley was into.”

“It was a…,” Willow paused.

“…a band” Oz filled in for her.

“Anyway, seeing as you’re not we’ll go now.”

“Sorry about the confusion there.”

Willow and Oz turned to leave. As they were about to step out the door Forrest spoke up.

“Oz, Willow? Come back in. I… I do know what you’re talking about. It’s just, it all closed down so long ago and so much happened there. So many of us died. I never think about it. But you look like you need something. If I can help I will.” Forrest moved his chair away from the table and as he rolled across toward him they saw that he had no legs.

“What happened to the Initiative?” asked Oz quietly.

***

March 2000…

Forrest Bowden and Graham Townsend dragged a semi-conscious vampire between them. “Got a new one!” Forrest announced as they entered the confines of the Initiative.

The vampire was mumbling. “What’re you doing? You can’t do this.”

“Sure we can.” Forrest commented. They tossed him into an enclosure. He turned to one of the lab coats. “This one needs another shot before you implant him.” Forrest and Graham watched as the guy stabbed the hostile with a needle and placed him on the operating table. Another lab coat entered the area and they began the rather revolting process. Graham turned to go. Forrest watched with one eye.

An alarm went off nearby. Forrest turned and headed toward the noise.

As he rounded the first corner, “Buffy! What the… how the…” He grabbed her by the arms. She broke free and headed down the hall. “Back-up, East wing!” he shouted and took off after her. Three of them converged on her at once and grabbed her just as she reached the enclosure. Inside the lab coat was about to fix the implant in position in the vampire’s brain.

“No!” Buffy shouted, struggling wildly. “Stop! You can’t do that. He has a…” The lab coat completed the job and activated the implant. “…soul.” Buffy finished.

Suddenly the lights went out. Equipment began to short circuit. The vampires, demons and other ‘animals’ that were being held began to escape. Buffy’s eyes were fixed on the vampire in the enclosure.

“Angel…” she said. He stood up and looked over at her, fixing her with his eyes as he coldly ripped out the throat of the lab worker nearest to him. “Angelus,” she whispered.

***

Willow and Oz listened silently. Oz had placed a hand in the curve of Willow’s back, as though to stop her from falling. Forrest recounted his story with his eyes closed. “There were demons and vampires everywhere. We’d been holding about eighteen at the time and there were only about twenty-five of us. We couldn’t contain so many. It was a bloodbath. I saw Buffy take out several vampires before she headed into the tunnels after the one she called Angelus. She looked exhausted. But after she left there were even fewer of us. We got most of the bad guys, but by the end of it I was one of only three left alive. And that was barely. I was unconscious down there for hours.”

***

“So Riley never found out.” Willow finished. Giles, Xander and Cordelia looked at her in shock.

“Forrest’s going to help out,” said Oz. He’s given us the information he has, and we’ll work out how to keep him in constant contact with us.

“He can’t come down with us, because of the having no legs,” said Willow.

“Right,” said Giles finally. “Right…”

Willow looked around the room and shuddered. “So now we know,” she said, her voice cracking. Oz covered her hands with his.

“Now we know,” echoed Giles.

***

It was several hours later. Night had fallen convincingly.

Xander, Toby, Ana and Cordelia entered the main room bearing weaponry.

“We’re done. Stakes, crosses and holy water for everyone,” said Xander.

Willow looked up. “We’re done too,” she said tiredly. “I’ve downloaded the maps and door combinations and stuff Forrest had into my palm pilot. And Oz recorded Forrest’s voice patterns, in case the old security system is in place. Someone’s going to be in contact with Forrest by walkie-talkie, presuming the communication systems are still in order. If worst comes to worst we can make use of the satellite message link on my pilot.”

Giles spoke. “We’ll go in tomorrow morning. Ana, you’ll stay with Forrest up here.”

“Kay/Right/Got it.” Everyone acquiesced except Ana who glared at Giles. They’d already had this argument.

Willow leant back in the sofa she was sitting on. She was surprised to find herself leaning on Oz’s arm, which he had draped there. She glanced at him and stayed still.

Giles looked at Ana and Toby. “We have to get the two of you home.”

Ana objected. “We have to help find Jaime. We can be here.”

“Your parents will certainly object. And besides, we’re not starting again until the morning, and we don’t have enough beds for everyone here.”

“I’ll take them,” said Cordelia. “I need to get better shoes from home anyway. I cannot run in these things… not, of course that there will be any running. I’m sure we’ll be fine. No running. No screaming. No hurting. Quick in, quick rescue, quick out…” she trailed off. “Come with me, Xander?”

“Course.” They left and Giles headed up the stairs.

“Good night.”

“Sleep well.”

***

Oz and Willow sat still for a long moment. Finally Oz lifted his arm from behind her shoulders. His hand brushed her forearm as he moved from her. She took a quick breath and stood, turning to face him.

“What’s with all the touching today?” She sounded irritated.

He thought and then spoke. “I don’t think I’ve been…”

“Come on, holding my hands, touching my back, the arm around the shoulders. It’s just a lot… of touching… and stuff. Don’t tell me you haven’t been, y’know… flirting with me?” She ended on a question, suddenly nervous

He smiled. “I couldn’t tell you that.” He stood up, directly in front of her. They moved slowly closer together.

“Do you object?” he asked.

“Not absolutely.”

“Ever since I saw you, back here, I’ve been wanting to do this,” he said quietly. “It’s been rather distracting.”

“And this is going to help?” She leant in closer.

“I truly doubt it,” he said and they kissed. Just one set of lips brushing another, but in a moment it was all breathless thought. Don’t-leave-don’t-stop… Don’t-leave-don’t-stop… Do-I-have-to-take-a-breath-or-am-I-breathing-again-for-the-first-time-since-you-left… This-is-all-I-know-and-all-I-need-know… I-couldn’t-think-without-you… I-couldn’t-think-without-you.

Finally they broke apart. She bent her head to rest her forehead on his shoulder. He took a deep breath. “I tried to find you, Willow. I didn’t ask Giles. I didn’t think he knew. I sent these messages.”

Willow lifted her head and looked at him for a long time.

“I just wanted you to know,” he said.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes. “I… I knew. I got them.”

“You got them,” he took a step backwards, “it was you, that was you?”

“Yes, but Oz…” It was as if the darkness in the room had only just reached them. He stepped further away. “Oz, I…”

He spoke more quickly than usual. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m sorry. I just need some… I need to think… I’ll, uh... I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She watched him leave the room.

***

Xander and Cordelia drove the teenagers across town.

“Hey,” said Cordelia. “I’ve been meaning to ask. How did you guys find us?”

Ana replied. “We went to Jaime’s mom. She knew that you and Willow had visited. So we went to your mom. But she had no clue where you were.”

“Yeah, we disagree on some things,” said Cordelia with a glance at Xander.

Toby continued. “So I thought we could find you and this Willow girl in the old yearbooks. So we found you.”

“And we saw that Willow was always with Oz. Now I know someone who used to be a big Dingoes groupie. She’s a few years older than me. Anyway she knew where Oz has been hanging out cause her friend saw him one night, coming here…”

“Wow,” said Xander. “You guys make some team.”

“So, how is Jaime’s mom dealing?” asked Cordelia.

Toby and Ana looked at one another awkwardly.

“She…” Toby started.

“She’s so weird,” said Ana. “She hardly seemed to notice Jaime was gone.”

***

Willow heard Cordelia and Xander whispering as they walked up the stairs and into the room they were sharing. She turned on her light and reached over to her luggage. From a large back pack she pulled out a bundle of paper and began to read. They were all e-mail messages

July 7, 2000 Willow, is this you? - Oz

July 30, 2000 Willow, I just heard. I’m so sorry about Buffy. I’d love to talk to you. I don’t have anything to say exactly but I want you to know I think of you. Oz

September 19, 2000 I went back to Sunnydale again today. Xander still hasn’t told me everything that happened. He doesn’t trust me. Understandable. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there Willow. I know I should have been there for you. Xander tells me this every time I see him (though not out loud.) Xander seems better. Not that he’ll ever forget. None of us will forget her, Willow. - Oz

January 3, 2001 This seems strange but I need to pretend to myself that I can write to you. I have these gigs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Not a big deal, but they’re paying me to play, which is a step up. So I play. I’m standing up there singing (I’m still way below satisfactory in this singing stuff) and every tune has you in it. Maybe not the one about the zucchini (that’s really about rebellion if you look into it.) but all the rest. And it makes me crazy to see you in front of me every night and not be able to talk to you. - Oz

July 12, 2001 I don’t go home a lot. I only start to remember it with you in it and that works out badly. I’m in LA now. It’s a big place. Surprisingly easy to find places to lock yourself up. If that’s what you want. Xander came to visit me here. Cordelia had some audition and he came to help her. We talked. He misses you. - Oz

April 17, 2002 I went on a date last night. It was fun. She’s a pretty cool girl. Name of Sharon. I just wanted you to know.

May 19, 2002 Sharon broke up with me. She did it nicely. She said she could tell I was thinking of someone else. Smart girl. It makes me angry though. Not with her, with me.

August 21, 2002 Willow. I miss you. Every second. Just let me know if this is you. Please. - Oz

Willow had cried when she’d read that e-mail. And then she’d been so angry with herself and with him that she typed and sent something that she now regretted with every part of her.

August 22, 2002 Oz: My name is Wendy Rybak. I am not the Willow you keep referring to. I’m confident that if she wanted to talk to you she would find you. Please do not write again. It is merely an irritation to me.

***

And now Willow knew how Oz’s heart would have jumped to see the name in his inbox. And how it would have dropped hollowly when he read her message. She had been horrible. And now everything was wrong. She could hear Cordelia and Xander talking softly in the next room. She looked out the window into the darkness, then reached out and opened the window, stepping onto the steeply sloping roof of the mansion to sit alone. It was quiet.

“Funny time to be out, love.” The voice from the darkness startled Willow and she lost her footing on the slippery tile and slid awkwardly down the slope, plummeting from the roof. Her fall was broken before she hit the ground.

“Well, fancy meeting you down here,” said Spike from beneath her. “You realize that this is twice I’ve saved you now. You definitely owe me, girly.”

Willow leapt back from him clumsily with a cry of fright. He reached for her and put a hand across her mouth. “Now, now little one. I need you to come along with me for a jiffy.” He gagged her swiftly and slung her over his shoulder. “Well, that was a great deal less complicated than I expected.”

***

Oz lay on his bed, gazing at the ceiling. His body was still, but his mind was anything but. She knew, she knew how to crush me and she chose to. His mind went over the words he’d been sent. She chose to crush me. It was simple and painful. But he forced himself to be her, to swallow himself and take on her thinking. He shut his eyes. He could sense her anger that in the one moment when everything in her world crumbled he was not there. He could well imagine how years of distance would not have been enough to diminish the guilt that tore at her every time she remembered. And he knew that when she had received his messages they were from a stranger. More than six months had passed since they had spoken, and, more importantly, things had happened which were beyond explanation. Oz opened his eyes, stood and slowly made his way down the hallway.

“Willow?” He tapped lightly on the door. “Will?” He listened to the silence and his heart began to beat a little faster. He couldn’t hear her breathing. He opened her door although he already knew she was not inside. The window was open. Outside the early sun was brushing the horizon.

“Giles! Xander!” Oz called without moving, then turned and left the room. “Cordelia!”

***

Willow was propped against the wall watching Jaime steadily. At length Jaime opened her eyes.

“Hey,” Willow said softly. Jaime looked startled. “Hey, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Hey,” said Jaime.

“You’ve been out a little while. Guess he’s been drugging you.”

“Yep. You’ve no idea how much I hate needles. And his bedside manner isn’t helping at all.”

Willow smiled a little and stood up slowly.

“So what’re you in for?” asked Jaime.

“Spike’s got some stasis spell he wants to perform on you. And despite being more than two hundred years old, he can’t read Latin, and he’s just not great with the spell thing.”

“A stasis spell?”

“Put you to sleep for a hundred years.”

“Like Sleeping Beauty. That’s what he keeps calling me. Cute.”

“Very. So are you OK?”

“Pretty much. Y’know I totally didn’t believe you guys about the Slayer thing.”

“No. I did an awful job of explaining that for you.”

“I believe you now.”

“I guess Spike is pretty good evidence.”

“Yep, him and the pack of demons he’s got working for him.”

“Oh. Of course. Demons. Well, we need to help them out.”

“The demons?”

“No, the others. They’re headed here to rescue you. Cordelia, Xander, Giles, Oz, and your friends Ana and Toby. They’re your Prince Charmings.”

“Just six against…”

“Eight,” Willow corrected her. “And one of us is the Slayer.”

***

“Right now, Ana-Lucia, we’ll need you with us, I’m afraid,” said Giles.

Ana smiled. “Good.”

“You’re responsible for door combinations and the sound recordings.” Ana nodded as Giles continued, “Oz, you need to get us in and out of there.”

“Right,” said Oz.

“Cordelia, Toby, Xander, weaponry and defense. We are not going in to attack. We want to get the girls and escape. Don’t be heroes.”

“Right.”

“Sure.”

“OK.”

“I’m with you in that, and we’re all responsible to find the girls and get Jaime free as quickly as possible. We need her.”

***

Jaime wrenched at her shackles and gave up, panting.

“Jaime. You are stronger than you think you are,” Willow spoke with confidence she only half felt.

“I can’t,” Jaime replied in frustration. “I just can’t get the leverage I need.”

***

“OK, Forrest, we’re in the dorms.”

“Reach up and pull off the slats above the right hand mirror.”

Oz turned to Xander for assistance.

“Then enter the first combination.”

“OK,” Oz whispered to Ana who fed the combination to Xander.

“And thumbprint.” Forrest continued

Cordelia handed a gelatinous thumb to Xander. They held their collective breath.

“Access permitted,” came the computerized voice as a steel door slid open behind the mirrors. A concrete staircase led downwards.

“We’re in,” whispered Oz.

***

Willow frowned in thought. Jaime strained against her restraints again and stopped suddenly as Spike walked in, followed by three spiky demons.

“Ah, Red. You look well,” he spoke to Willow. “On the other hand, Jaime here looks like she could do with some medicine.” He pulled out a syringe.

“No.” Willow and Jaime spoke together.

“Yes.”

While Spike concentrated on the syringe, Willow muttered under her breath. “Crafty Sisters of Unquiet Souls, secure the somniferous thing in unrest.”

Spike grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth. “Be quiet, witch-girl. What did you do?” He looked around. “Guess you’re not as skilled as you thought.” He threw her to the ground. “Stay silent now.”

He grinned at Jaime as he injected her. “Soon enough I’ll have all we need so the Red Witch here can insure I won’t need to do this for a long while.” She flinched as the needle pierced her upper arm. Moments later she was sleeping.

Spike patted Jaime’s hair and turned to leave. When the demons were out the door he looked back at Willow. “I’ll leave you two alone again now that she can’t cause trouble. Hope you’re storing up your energy for the spell I’m needing. If you won’t do it for me for old time’s sake you’ll have to do it to save the Slayer.”

“But you can’t kill her,” Willow objected. “A new slayer will be chosen. It’ll ruin your plans.”

“True. Clever of you. But I’m pretty sure you’re not cold enough to let me kill her, even for the good of the world. Although, I saw what you did to Buffy. Impressive, Willow.”

She looked at him in horror. “I’m sorry,” he said, walking closer to her. “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

Willow looked at him in silence a moment. Then, “Spike?”

“Yes?”

“Not wanting to push the point but… why haven’t you killed me yet? You’ve had plenty of opportunity, I know. That implant thing hasn’t been active since when Buffy died. It’s just… I mean, you’re a vampire and, y’know, killing’s your thing. It’s a little weird. Not that I’m not happy about it, of course.”

Spike looked awkward. “Uh… well you see… you know…” Then it all came out in a burst. “I like you Willow. You’re lovely. And the thing is … dead, or undead, without the fuzzy pink sweaters and the pervasive sense of innocence… you just, it wouldn’t be the same… you wouldn’t be so much fun. You’re so… so perfect just like you are.”

“Oh.” Willow blushed.

“There, you see. That blushing thing. It’s just so cute…” An awkward silence fell. “Now don’t you dare speak a word of this, or I'll kill you for sure.” Spike muttered. The threat had lost some of its edge. He left swiftly.

***

“Now, we’re heading to the holding cells,” said Giles to the team. Ana entered the combination to the door at the bottom of the stairs and it slid open easily. “Lead the way, Oz.”

Oz spoke into the headset. “We’re here.”

“And so are they,” said Xander. Everyone turned to see a small horde of spiky demons heading their way. Fortunately they had not been spotted.

Oz looked at the palm pilot in his hand. “This way,” he whispered. They ran after him, Giles and Xander bringing up the rear.

“Damn demons,” muttered Giles, not noticing the redundancy in the statement. “Why couldn’t Spike have stayed with his kind. Most of our weapons are useless.”

“Very inconsiderate of him,” Xander commiserated.

***

Willow looked over at Jaime. “Jaime?”

Jaime opened her eyes cautiously.

“Yes!” whispered Willow, delighted that her spell had worked. She did a little happy dance.

“He’s gone?”

“Yep.”

Jaime looked at Willow with a new respect. “You did this… with the drug stuff.”

“Sure did,” said Willow with pride.

“Cool… so now can you get me out of these shackles?”

Willow looked embarrassed. “You see, umm… desperation is a fairly essential ingredient in my spells.”

“And you were desperate before.”

“Yep.”

“But you feel no desperation now… even though we’re trapped with a vampire and a bunch of demons and I can’t get free?”

“Yeah,” said Willow apologetically.

“Oh.”

***

Oz, Xander, Cordelia, Ana, Toby and Giles rounded the corner into the holding cell area. Suddenly they were faced with a group of demons and several vampires heading in the opposite direction.

“Oh dear,” said Giles predictably.

***

Jaime and Willow could just hear the commotion down the hall. Willow tried to peer out, but the layout made it impossible.

“What’s going on?” asked Jaime, straining against her ropes again.

“I think it’s your Prince Charmings.”

“Great. You couldn’t feel desperate now, could you?”

Willow looked out again. Suddenly Oz appeared in her small field of view. He caught her eye as he ran past, and shouted to her. “I’ll take the electric walls out, Willow!” He fled.

As he reached the computer terminals Forrest prompted him. “Enter the password.”

“Which is?”

“How should I know.”

“Oh great…” Oz turned to Willow. “I need a password.”

“How many letters?”

“Six.”

Willow thought wildly for a moment. “Aurora?” He typed.

“I’m in.”

“Type C*open,” said Forrest into the headphones.

The doors opened. At that point two fine specimens of demonhood reached Oz. He turned to defend himself. Willow shouted, “Oz!” She turned to Jaime and stretched out a hand quickly. A yellow/green light ran from her. Jaime’s restraints fell open.

“Oh, so now you feel desperation,” Jaime muttered as she ran to assist Oz. Willow paused for a moment and stared at her hands. “Wow,” she murmured.

With three swift kicks Jaime brought one demon down. Oz finally took another out with a computer terminal to the head. Jaime, Oz and Willow raced to where Giles, Xander, Ana, Toby and Cordelia were in the center of a maelstrom. Jaime pulled out all her slayer powers. Demon after demon fell to her enthusiastic attack. With Toby’s fighting skills, Giles’ cleverness, a great deal of teamwork and a little help from a blinding spell courtesy of Willow they made short work of the horde. They all looked at one another as they stood breathing heavily.

“Awww yeah,” said Xander finally.

Suddenly Jaime turned about. Spike was attempting a getaway. In a moment he was dragged down the stairs and pinned to the floor, a person on each limb. Jaime brandished a stake.

“So now I stake him?” She turned to Willow for guidance.

Willow looked at Spike a moment. Then turned to Oz. “Ask Forrest if he knows how to reactivate the implant,” she said.

“Oh, no. Not that. C’mon Willow, love. Don’t do this to me. Please.” Spike’s voice rose as Willow headed for the computer terminals.

***

Willow, Oz, Xander, Cordelia, Jaime, Toby and Ana sat in Angel’s mansion.

“I can’t believe we have to go back to school tomorrow,” said Ana.

“You’ll get used to it,” Xander promised.

“So anyway, Willow, how did you figure out the password?” asked Cordelia.

“Ummm… Spike and I have this connection thing going on.” Willow replied. “It’s a little weird.”

“Very weird,” Jaime corrected.

Giles entered from another room. “All in all, it was a job well done. The council say they are very pleased to welcome you, Jaime.”

“The council?”

“Oh, right.” Giles shook his head, disapprovingly. “Training will begin tomorrow. Early.”

Jaime rolled her eyes. “You’re here just to torment me.”

“Yes, I think you could say that,” Giles replied pleasantly.

***

The next day…

Jaime, Ana and Toby sat in the school cafeteria.

“So your parents didn’t notice you were gone?” Ana asked disbelievingly.

“I guess not.”

There was a pause. “How are you feeling about all this?” asked Toby.

“Y’know,” she paused, “I’m fine with it. I finally feel like I’ve found something I’m really good at.”

Ana raised her eyebrows. “Killing things.”

“Well, not in the violent teenage boy way… sorry Tobes. It just feels, I don’t know, right. Normal.”

“Y’know, I can’t imagine this will ever feel normal,” said Ana with finality. “Ever.”

***

Cordelia and Xander had gone back to their love nest. Giles was on the phone to the council, sorting out Jaime’s situation. Willow sat out on the roof of Angel’s mansion. It looked like rain. Oz stuck his head out the window.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Mind if I join?”

“Sure.” Willow smiled.

“So, what are your plans, Will?”

“I have to go back to Adelaide for a month or so to finish up there. After that I’m coming back.” Oz nodded encouragingly. “The council has offered Giles the position of Jaime’s watcher.”

“Right. That’ll be hard for him, I guess.”

“Yeah, but I think it’d be harder to do nothing. Anyway, he’s asked me to help him. The council will pay me. I have no idea where they get all their money.”

“There’s always some crazy rich benefactor whose parents were killed horribly by vampires…”

“Yeah.”

“So you’re going to help?”

“Yeah.”

“Cool.” After a moment’s silence Oz spoke again. “I came to find you that night. I wanted to fix things.”

“Oh.”

“Cause you know… without you I’m…” he waved his hands expressively.

She looked at him for a long moment and then smiled, “So, you think we could start again?”

“Sure.” They sat in silence for a fraction, then he turned to her.

“Hey. I’m Oz.”

“Willow,” she said.

“Y’know, you have the sweetest smile I’ve ever seen.” The happiness that flooded her face was reflected in his eyes. “Do you think we could maybe skip the bit up until I get to kiss you?” he asked. She just nodded.

And then they kissed.

THE END