Chap.12: Oz

Oz was back.

So.. suddenly.

They were all to Mr. Giles dipped on the same arguing about Adam, we don't know where is him, what he's doing or how to stop him, when everybody failed silence and there, on the doorstep he had appeared… Oz.

Julien didn't see him since the Amarra's story and she never asked directly why he didn't live more in Sunnydale or which relation he got now with Willow, she always felt it was better not to talk about it and now she understood why.

By the others faces, nobody was expecting the guy to come back… ever.

Oz went immediately toward the red haired asking her to talk in private and Tara went away saying she had a lecture. She seemed really embarrassed, she was a very shy and reserved girl, but also very sweet. Willow introduced her to them some months before, she knew her to a magic club and even if she was an original guy that escape seemed to be totally absurd.

When the couple went away they stayed all in silence, it seemed the Adam thing was overcoming.

"Wow…" Xander exclaimed "Is Oz… I mean… Oz"

"Yeah" Buffy replied staring at thin air.

Riley seemed to understand less than her into that story, and she liked it.

At the end, Giles tired or their 'superficial and useless talks' sent them all away from his flat and she was again with nothing to do.

Buffy wanted to patrol with Riley so she was again excluded.

Willow was busy with Oz and Xander and Anya were glued, so she could just stay home looking at the TV, her life was really depressing.

Maybe she had to make some friends… but the point was that she didn't want to…

Coming nearer her home, she noticed two very weird things… the first was the light on and the second the din which seemed to arrive from the inside… did someone organized a party without saying it to her?

"Spike!" she shouted when she was inside, the vampire was laid on the sofa with his boots and a beer tin into his hand, when he saw her he didn't react "Already here?" he just asked, with annoyed voice "Haven't you got something better to do all day long?"

Julien went turning off the stereo

"Hey! I was listening to it!"

"Yes and the whole Sunnydale with you, if you're forced to sneak into my house and use my things, just be a bit decent in doing it"

The vampire answered with an incomprehensible groan "I hope you bought me some beer, your fridge is empty"

As answer the brunette threw on him the shop bag "Help me doing up those things and we'll see"

Without waiting for an answer Julien went into the kitchen and the vampire followed her a few after, leaving the bag fall on the table "So? What's happening among the good ones?"

"Nothing of particular… oh, wait! Oz is back"

"The wolf?"

"Exactly, they were all weird, like he was a ghost"

"I guess the red haired ran toward his strong arms"

"I don't know, actually she didn't seem so happy… confused more than other"

Opening the fridge to put the eggs inside she noticed it was full of blood's bag.

"Why is my fridge full of blood?"

"Mine is broken… I needed a place to keeping it cool… I don't want it to ruin"

"It's disgusting" she said pushing the bags aside to make some place

"Hey be careful not to break them, the blood is expensive today"

"Well, I pay"

"But I earn it hardly... what about tonight? Who are we going to kick?"

"Nobody, tonight is Buffy and Riley's shift"

"What? And you allow the lovebirds to steal you the show?"

"Why not?"

She put on fire a water pot reading the instructions on a pasta's package, it seemed to be easy.

Water, salt, pasta and it's done… mmh… she could even flavour them, sauce, pesto… okay, maybe she didn't think about the sauces…

"I'm telling serious, the slayer walk over you…"

She had to have something to put into the pasta without cooking it…

Ransacking into the ledges she found a tuna fish can… better than nothing… "who says I can't put it in?"

"She calls you whenever she wants, she orders you to stay home… well… what the Hell are you doing?"

"Eh?"

No, she wasn't listening to him… but it was Spike, he liked to talk for hours without say a thing… and in those cases she could stay there and listen to him, could she?

"What are you cooking?"

"Spaghetti, italian recipe… I put some tuna fish in it"

"Mmm… make mine well done"

"Pardon?"

"And put some blood in… it's good on everything"

Julien sighed an put some spaghetti more to cook.

The pasta was squidgy and salted, but edible.

Spike moaned for all the time about the blood wasted to cover the taste of it, but it ate them all.

They spent the afternoon looking at Passions and the others soap the vampire was addicted to, Julien introduced him to Dawson Creek and Friends and she had fun hearing him moaning about every scene.

At sunset the blond went away saying that he had "very important and pressing things to end up with" and the brunette didn't want to ask him what kind of things those were, she didn't know, she wasn't hurt… right?

The day after was training day, the looker wasn't severe as Sam, he always said he learned from Buffy that manuals were useless in real life and that slayers had to be free in living their lives, so he trained them three days per head in all hand to hand disciplines, in using disparate weapons, he taught them using the crystals and their properties and the importance of meditation… a really boring thing she thought, even because staying still for all that time made her feel nervous.

Unfortunately that day Giles suddenly decided to change program and instead of waiting her with some nice weapon, he waited for her with a table full of books.

"They told me that your looker took care about your school training" he started cleaning his glasses, Julien nodded.

For a moment she thought about ling to him, but was if he would discover it?

"Well, so I guess it's better to start it up since you interrupted now that established here in city"

"Okay" the brunette sighed

Out of her favor Giles started testing her to find out how much she knew about each subject and he obviously thought it was necessary a deep study for math and Latin… the nightmare was not supposed to ever end…

So she was absorbed in a morning of disequations looking for the value of that stupid x… she didn't understand at all why she cared about that value…

She was reading the dictionary once again, convinced that chickens hadn't got a lot to share with war and soldiers when Willow came in running and calling Giles loud.

"He's up floor"

"Oh, you're here too Julien! I'm sorry about the noisy coming in, but it's an emergency"

"What's happening?" Giles asked going down the stairs attracted from the confusion.

"Is about Oz, Enterprise caught him"

"What? How did it happen?"

"He lost his control, he turned at university… I think he attacked Tara… it was her who called me"

"Well, Julien go calling for Buffy and Xander too… we'll need their help"

"Right now!" the brunette ran to the telephone to call the others.

A few after the gang was all into English's living room.

"Tara just said they caught him before he came to me, so it's not went by a lot of time"

"Riley doesn't answer" Buffy went sitting on the sofa, they hoped the boy could help them from the inside, maybe with some information, but he seemed to be unreachable.

"It seems we'll have to penetrate into the Enterprise again"

"And how could we go in? it's impossible" Anya moaned, sat next to Xander

"We can't wait more…"

"Yes, you're right" the blonde decided

"I wanna come too" the red haired said determinate, in spite of Buffy's trying, she was inflexible.

While they was trying to think about a plan, Spike appeared. He came into the house silent, surprising them all and offering to help them, he said he knew a safe way to go in without being discovered. He obviously asked to get a huge payment and seeing Julien's glare he just nodded in an innocent way.

After all, nobody knew about their deal, did they?

So the small saving group left following the vampire.

Like he promised, they went in without problems, the door opened magically under Spike's touch.

There was something terribly weird in that story and how could the vampire know about Oz?

"Bad news run fast" he said, but that was too much…

And then demons hated him by now… why they had to share with him last Sunnydale's stories?

Her thoughts was suddenly interrupted when there was an outage in all the headquarter: Giles and Willow did it, that was their turn.

Buffy led them among organization's dark aisles, the aim was to find Riley or someone who could led them from their friends.

Along the walls there were a lot of anonymous doors, but there were no cages, or demons, that was on lower floors.

They broke down a pair of doors, finding nothing, two were empty offices, the third a bedroom, empty too.

Buffy went nearer the fourth pointing the crossbow inside, from there a man in his forties jumped up the bed confused "What the Hel is happening?" he cursed into darkness

"It's really simple…" Buffy smiled pointing the crossbow on his face "one of our friends is here for a mistake and now you're going to tell us where is he. Stand up!"

The man stood up with annoyed expression and looked at them searching for an escape hatch, but the room was small and they were all armed "I don't know who are you talking about, we don't have any civil here and…"

"We're talking about OZ, he's a werewolf… does it remember something to you now?"

"Him again? Why are you all worried about that monster? Before Finn betrayed us and now…"

Julien silenced him with a nudge into the stomach "Care about your talking, the only monster I see is you"

"What was you telling about Riley? Where is him?" Buffy intervened immediately worried about her boyfriend

Still massaging his stomach, the man told about Riley's failed try of saving their friend "Now he's kept into a cell, waiting for the most right punishment"

The blonde pointed the crossbow on his back "Lead us to him and no jokes"

They went two floors down before they came to a new aisle, every sort of demon struggled in small glass cages, snarling to their passage and hitting punches against the walls.

Riley was into a room, there was a cot and a table as companion, he wasn't hurt, but he seemed to be shocked by the happening.

When he saw them he went toward Buffy and hugged her "I tried to get Oz free, but I failed.."

"Relax, we know all"

Julien pushed their hostage into the cell "Well, thank you for the help. I guess Riley could nicely replace you from now on. See you!" she smiled

"You won't got away with it"

"Oh actually I think we will"

"Let's go! Riley will lead the way, we have to find Oz"

The boy nodded and followed them out of the cell where they left locked their escort.

Oz was a bit ahead, into the same aisle.

They found him locked into a cage such whatever demon, even if he had his human look, but he was without clothes and he was very pale.

"Oz, are you ok?"

"Well, I've been better" he answered with feeble voice

They helped him standing up and carried him out.

All things considered it has been easy to free him, but Julien told that the ones of the organization was dead losses.

"Well, it seems that everything went smoothly"

"Yeah.. so I go home, Anya is waiting for me"

"Yes, we have something to solve too" Buffy smiled glaring at the boy.

Oz and Willow nodded going away together and Giles greeted and went home after he told Julien he was waiting for her next morning to get back Latin's lessons suspended that afternoon.

Spike was waiting for her in front of her house, he wasn't oddly went in "See? Haven't I been amazing?"

"Yeah.. really big…" the brunette sighed "Are you hiding something?" maybe if she caught him off guard, she would wring the truth.

A weird expression went through the vampire's face, but Julien couldn't read it "No… why?"

"I could even be a snotty like you say, but not a fool… Oz is caught and five minutes after you arrived with the perfect plan to save him and a way to go into the Enterprise! Spike… what's happening?"

For a moment the vampire seemed about to confess every secret he was keeping, but it was just a second before he changed his mind and rose his defenses.

He straightened his shoulders and turned on a cigarette and spouting the smoke slowly on her face.

The Big Bad mask was back on the show

"I don't know what you're talking about… snotty" he spelled slowly "I'd got a way to supplement my income and I did it, that's all. Now, if you're not sorry, I got things more important to do than stay here and talk with you. See you"

He disappeared in the night, leaving behind the acre cigarette smell…

tbc