Chapter 2: Awkward Moments

Warning: I don't know; maybe language and innuendo somewhere along the way.

Challenge: #2789: '"I'm looking over a four leaf clover" Challenge' by halfbloodpuffskin and #2886: 'Handcuffs of love...' by Methos. This is for the 'Hug a Donor' challenge. Thought I'd mix two together.

A/N: There'll be an explanation about the handcuffs coming up for those that don't check out the challenge on TtH.

Thanks to my betas: zigpal, AerynSpeedleCaine and AshDawnSoulmates.

Disclaimer: BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.


School Library

Racing through the doors, Buffy practically screamed, "Giles! Something wiggy is going on!"

Giles walked out of his office, startled at the particular trio standing before him. He wouldn't have thought Oz would be in the same room as Xander for quite some time – at least not willingly. Setting that aside for the moment, he chided his Slayer, "No need to shout; I'm right here."

Before she could say anything else, Xander blurted out, "Somebody brainwashed me and made me do things!"

"Like cuffing us together," Oz muttered under his breath, glaring at the brunette teenage boy.

"Dear lord, you don't think it was Drusilla?" Giles gasped, his face draining of all color at the thought of that…creature being back in Sunnydale.

Buffy added her own glare towards Xander for not considering how Giles would react to talk of mind control. Then she tried to reassure her distraught Watcher, "I doubt it. Last Spike saw of her, she was getting all cozy with a chaos demon. Hey, do you think Ethan ever sees those things – you know, on account of him being a chaos mage?" she ask in an attempt to distract him from the dark place his mind was obviously taking him.

Grateful for the change in subject, Giles smiled weakly at her, then answered seriously, "Highly unlikely. If Ethan tried to cast any spells around a chaos demon, they would be very unpredictable. He likes his chaos organized."

Oz raised an eyebrow at the remark. "Isn't that a contradiction in terms?"

"Excuse me, can we get back to somebody doing the mind mojo on me?!" Xander demanded, oblivious to the tension his comments were causing.

"Of course. What's the last thing you remember before you woke up?" Giles questioned, concentrating on the crisis at hand.

Xander's brow furrowed in concentration as he tried to recall. "I was in the bathroom at the Bronze, and this guy in a suit bumped into me. Uhh…shoot, the next thing I know, Buffy and Oz are asking me why I cuffed them."

Making an intuitive leap that it wasn't some human-looking demon, Buffy guessed, "So we thinking a spell of some kind?"

Giles nodded, but still looked confused. "Could be, but why? What could be gained by cuffing the two of you together?"

"Makes it harder for her to slay," Oz theorized.

Buffy didn't look that convinced by his argument. Her mind started brainstorming, and her mouth let the others in on it. "Yeah, but you aren't exactly the worst person to cuff me to. For that matter, why cuff me to anyone? Why not just to a steel pole? Or kill me if they want me out of the way."

Setting aside his unease at his Slayer's casual mention of her own death, Giles hypothesized, "Maybe it's time-sensitive, and they don't want to kill you because your death would cause them too many other problems."

Oz could see it was upsetting Giles to talk about this, so he changed the subject once again – albeit to another uncomfortable topic, "Can we worry about that after we get the cuffs off? I need to use the little wolf's room."

Giles nodded in agreement as he moved to his office. "Just let me get my tools." Several minutes and failed attempts later… "I don't understand this. I can feel the handcuffs unlock, but they won't open." Then his eyes widened in realization. "Dear lord, I think they've been spelled to remain on you!"

Whimpering softly, Buffy's shoulders slumped in resignation. "Great! Just what we need. Well, let's get this over with. Giles, do you have something I can put over my eyes and plug my ears? I may have to go into the boys' bathroom with Oz, but I don't really want the full experience."

"Here you go. Just be careful on your way there and back." After the two of them left the library, Giles turned to Xander. "Why don't you head on home, Xander? We'll discuss your situation more tomorrow. Just pay close attention to the time and note any lapses that occur. Actually, maybe it'd be best if somebody took you home. I assume Cordelia still isn't speaking to you?"

Remembering the look on his ex-girlfriend's face when he tried to visit her in the hospital, Xander shook his head. "Nope, she's still pissed off. Besides, she's still in the hospital."

Giles felt bad for all the children involved. It was difficult when feelings shifted and you weren't mature enough to control them. Knowing what he was about to say wasn't going to make things easier, Giles still said it, "Then I would suggest you ask Willow to watch you tonight. I'm going to be busy trying to figure out why somebody would try to get Buffy out of the way like this."

Meanwhile…

Leading the blindfolded Slayer to the bathroom, Oz thought over their peculiar situation. Quite honestly, if he had to be handcuffed to any of the group, she probably was the least objectionable – despite the discomfort of situations like this one. He didn't even want to think about if either one had to take a shower. Hopefully they'd get the cuffs off before that happened.

On the plus side, it could have been Xander or Willow he was locked to. That would have been absolutely unbearable for him. For Buffy, he supposed the worst case would be Angel. To be forced to be that close to somebody you once loved – maybe still did – and know that you couldn't touch them… Oz wondered why Angel stayed in Sunnydale now that he was better. Being near each other had to be driving them crazy – just not literally, he hoped.

Great, now comes the fun part of relieving himself with a girl right next to him.

Oz removed one of the earplugs to talk to Buffy, "I'm going to position you so that you're facing the other direction. When I'm done, I'll take the earplugs out, 'k?"

"Alright. Just hurry, please?" she pleaded while she worked the earplug back in tightly.

Despite really needing to go, Oz felt so uncomfortable with Buffy standing right there that it took several long moments before his bladder started to empty. Tucking himself back in and flushing the urinal, he came to the realization that doing such things one-handed was a lot more difficult than he anticipated. And if it was that hard for him, how bad would it be for Buffy? If they were lucky, they wouldn't have to find out.

Even though he only used the one hand, Oz still washed both – which allowed Buffy the chance to do the same. It was like an instinct for her; be in the bathroom, wash your hands before leaving. She thanked him for getting her soap and towels since she refused to be unblindfolded until they left the room. That would make all this too real. She liked her little piece of real estate in Egypt.

As soon as they were in the hallway, Buffy ripped off the blindfold and started rushing for the library. "Let's go see if Giles has come up with anything yet."

If they had been thinking about it, Oz and Buffy would have been startled to find out they were already working in harmony – most notably in their walking stances. Maybe it was because of their similar heights, but their strides matched perfectly, and there was none of the disjointed shuffling from two different people forced to walk in such close proximity.


A/N: Next…Blending movements.