iI still do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Norse mythology.

I'd like to take a moment to thank Tammin for his hard work./i

Phases

1630 Revello Drive

"Cordelia!" Willow exclaimed as she paced around Buffy's room. She hadn't made much sense to the blond when she came in a minute or so ago. Or better said, less sense than now because now Buffy at least knew it had something do to with Cordelia. "He's dating Cordelia of all the people in the world. He's the treasurer of the "We Hate Cordelia" club and he's dating her. It's against all laws of God and Man and Nature and-and-and Cordelia!"

"Willow," Buffy broke in when the redhead gave no sign of running out of steam or words any time soon. "Breath, then maybe you could tell me who is dating Cordelia that you're so…." Buffy frowned. "Is it Oz?"

That finally brought Willow to her senses. Buffy could have done without the look her friend gave her, though.

"Even I know she's talking about Xander," Mjöllnir added.

"Xander!" Buffy exclaimed out loud. That was the last person she could see with Cordelia, the two loved to argue with each other. Some of those exchanges were epic, really. "Xander," Buffy repeated in a more normal tone of voice. "Xander and Cordelia?"

"I know," Willow said as she sat down. "I mean, it's Cordelia. And Xander," she summed up nicely, because that really said it all.

Buffy nodded along then stopped as something Willow said earlier finally registered. "Wait, there's a "We Hate Cordelia" club? Why wasn't I invited?"

Now Willow looked uncomfortable. "Well, Jessie was in charge of recruitment…" And she didn't have to say any more. Buffy hadn't gotten to know Jessie very well but he had been Willow and Xander's friend since kindergarten. They didn't talk about him around her, maybe to spare her from feeling guilty about not saving him.

Didn't really work, though, the blond still felt responsible. "Why did Xander tell you this now?"

"He didn't, I sort of guessed and he just couldn't hide it when I asked him to his face," Willow admitted. "You weren't there, because of the Judge thing, but they kind of acted odd with each other after you and Angel left. And then they left together, after coming to the party together… In hindsight it's kinda obvious, really."

"Uhm," Buffy could only say because it obviously hadn't been obvious to her. Of course, there was other stuff going on at the time. She shied away from dwelling on it again, she had a best friend that needed her… what exactly did she need? "So, how do you feel about that?" She asked Willow. It hadn't been too long ago that the redhead had a severe case of the crush on Xander. And Buffy wasn't so sure, after seeing Willow's behavior just now, that the Oz-situation signaled an end to it.

"Shouldn't forget the whole "liking girls" confession," Mjöllnir reminded her. "I sure don't!"

'Thank you, I hadn't,' Buffy replied. 'And also, ewwww!'

Willow, of course, wasn't aware of the by-play as she tried to come up with an answer. "I guess I feel…betrayed. I mean, why did he pick Cordelia of all women over me!"

Ah, Buffy suspected it was something like that. "We don't get to pick what the heart wants, trust me on that."

"I know," Willow sighed. "But… Cordelia!"

"To be fair," the blond found herself saying, "She's not so bad… anymore, " she added for honesty's shake.

It still produced a grimace from Willow, but she did change the subject. "I know I shouldn't be reacting like this, I said I moved on and I brought a date to your birthday party too. But he kept it hidden too, so why did he do that?"

"Because we're talking about Cordelia, Wills. Try to look at it from her perspective, the hit her standing takes if people find out she's dating one of the losers. So don't be too hasty in blaming him for not telling us." Buffy had once occupied Cordelia's position, so she knew something significant going on between the two. She very much doubted the cheerleader would have taken the chance otherwise.

"Or maybe Xander is just that good at kissing. Passion isn't the same as romance," Mjöllnir butted in.

'Ruin a girl's dreams why don't you?' Buffy bit back. However, it was just as likely. If her senses hadn't gotten so… sensitive to Angel's vampiric side the blond imagined they would have gotten more hot and heavy too. 'And don't you dare inspect those images,' she warned Mjöllnir quickly.

"I guess… Okay, you're probably right. And I'm sorry I just unloaded on you like that, I know you're still down about Angel having to leave and worrying about all the dangers he might be facing out there."

"That's," Buffy took a deep breath. "It's alright, I'm getting better actually. And getting this kind of news dumped on me helps too. The shock just drives the depression right out of your thoughts," the blond joked. "Still, are we thinking intervention here or just quiet disapproval?"

"I… I'm not sure. It's not like he doesn't have a right to date who he wants and I do want him to be happy. I think, I think I'm being a little jealous here. I was even contemplating on going to Oz's house and kissing him, just to show Xander I wasn't…" Willow broke off. "Yeah, I should definitely do some serious meditating on this."

"And I can't help you there," Buffy concluded. "Right then, simply ignoring the elephant in the room it is."

That produced a giggle from Willow. Seeing Buffy's questioning look, she explained. "You just called Cordelia an elephant."

Surprise quickly turned to mild amusement. "Guess I did." She didn't see what was so funny though. "Maybe you should go home, Wills. I think you're coming down from being, well, all high-strung."

Giving it some thought, Willow agreed and so they said their good-byes. Once she'd waved off the redhead, Buffy couldn't stop herself from saying it one more time. "Cordelia?"

Kingman's Bluff

The view was quite spectacular. There were few clouds to obscure the stars and below the lights of the town mimicked a small portion of the heavens. But neither occupant of the car on that bluff paid any attention to that, they were to busy studying the other's lips.

Until Xander pulled back and just had to blurt out his worries. "She's still avoiding me and Buffy is giving me odd looks too."

Cordelia just looked annoyed. "Excuse me? We didn't come here to talk about Willow and Buffy. We came here to do things I can never tell my father about because he still thinks I'm a... good girl."

"I'm just… I mean, why haven't they said anything yet. I know Willow must have told Buffy, but they haven't said a word about it, nothing. And Willow has been spending more time with this Oz too. A senior, attractive-okay, maybe not to me, but-and he's in a band. And we know what kind of element that attracts."

"I've dated lots of guys in bands," Cordelia interjected suspiciously.

Xander nodded gratefully, it was good she was seeing his point. "Thank you. So is this their subtle way to voice disapproval? Without, you know, actually using their voice."

"Do you even wanna be here?" Cordelia wondered aloud.

"I'm not running away," Xander pointed out.

Cordelia wasn't deterred. "Because when you're not babbling about poor Willow, you are raving about the all-powerful Buffy."

"I do not babble. I occasionally run-on, every now and then I yammer..."

Fel broke in. "Will you shut up and just kiss the beautiful woman that you are completely alone with instead of yammering on about how you don't babble or rave? Get your priorities straight!"

Cordelia's voice stopped him from thinking about just how wise those words were. "Xander?"

"Yeah?"

"Look around. We're in my daddy's car, it's just the two of us, and there is a beautiful, big full moon outside tonight. It doesn't get more romantic than this." Her voice grew sterner. "So shut up!" They started making out again.

'Yep, this is definitely top priority,' Xander decided after careful deliberation. Only to be drawn away from Cordelia's mouth a few moments later by the sound of rustling outside. "Did you hear that?"

Cordelia wasn't happy with the new interruption. "What is it now?"

"I thought I heard something."

"Is Willow sending out some sorta distress signal that only you can hear? Does that come with the whole Aesir-package?"

"Huh," was Xander's intelligent reply. The cheerleader's words finally registered and Xander gave her a sheepish smile in the way of apology. Then his face grew more serious as he heard more rustling. "But seriously, I think something is…"

A hairy arm with a clawed hand punched through the convertible top and Xander dropped the rest of that sentence. Cordelia screamed and made a grab for the keys. Xander opened the car door and stepped out, willing his silver skin to appear as he did so.

He only had one foot outside when he looked over to see what was on the car. He came face to face with a very hairy thing. It almost looked like a really angry monkey, really. "Where are the keys?" Cordelia screamed jolting Xander into action.

The growling thing wasn't sitting still though and jumped at him, bringing them both down to the ground. It tried to scratch and bite Xander, but had little luck getting through the armor. Xander tried to get a good hold on the creature but it was trashing too much so in the end he just settled for throwing it off.

But Xander misjudged his strength so he sent his attacker sailing into the woods and out of his sight. The sound of branches snapping and more rustling let the Aesir know he hadn't killed the thing, but instead of coming back the sounds grew fainter.

Xander relaxed just as Cordelia screamed as she gunned the car backward a ways and then slammed on the brakes. Without a second thought, Xander let the armor vanish and then jumped into the car to comfort his distraught girlfriend.

Only to get several punches to the face from the frantic cheerleader before she realized she was punching her boyfriend. "Don't do that! Is it dead?"

"Nah, just scared it off," Xander said as he touched his nose. It hadn't really hurt, but getting caught by surprise like that by Cordelia had wounded his pride. She didn't need to hear any more. Getting the car in drive, Cordelia sped away.

Sunnydale High

Buffy inspected the gaping hole in the roof. "And you're sure it was a werewolf?"

Xander made like he had to think about it. "Well, let's see, hairy, claws, and Fel said it was a werewolf. Um, yeah, I'm sticking with my first guess."

"Seems wise," Oz agreed.

"Oh, oh, and then there was that little thing where it tried to bite me."

"It was so awful," Cordelia lamented as she put her head on Xander's shoulder.

Buffy eyed Xander as put his arm around her in response, but said nothing. They did seem very couply. Xander comforted her. "I know."

Tearing herself away, Cordelia's next words were more in character. "Daddy just had this car detailed."

Turning around, Buffy faced Giles who had just come up with a newspaper. "So what's the word?"

"Well, it seems there were a number of other attacks by a wild dog around town." He handed the paper to Buffy as he continued. "Several animal carcasses were found mutilated."

"You mean, like bunnies and stuff?" Willow asked upset.

"Oh, don't worry. I mean, they might not look it, but bunnies can really take care of themselves," Oz assured.

Smiling, Willow nodded. "Yeah."

Giles took the paper back. "Yes, uh, fortunately, no people were injured."

"That falls into the "that's a switch" column," Buffy agreed.

"Of course, that may very well change tonight," Giles explained only to be interrupted by Buffy.

"What do you mean, tonight? I thought werewolves only came out at the full moon. And that's once a month, right?"

"Ah yes, full moon does happen once a month. Tonight's a full moon, as a matter of fact. Gungnir informed me that contrary to the accepted legend, werewolves become active three nights in a row. The night of the full moon and the night before as well as after it. Yes, he's quite well informed on the subject which has saved me from a, ah, an afternoon with my books." Giles didn't sound very happy though.

"Hey, nobody is stopping you," Buffy consoled her Watcher. "If you want to go wild and spend a frivolous afternoon with your books, I say go for it."

"Bonus points for using the word frivolous," Xander chimed in.

"Yes, well, thank you Buffy and that might be for the best anyway. Gungnir is more familiar with the European variant while we are dealing with the North-American species, judging from Xander's description."

"But a silver bullet will still kill it, right?" Xander wanted to know.

"No bullets," Giles countered. "No matter what this werewolf has done, underneath it is a human being who may very well be completely unaware of his condition. A werewolf is a creature of pure instinct. No conscience, but predatory and aggressive in the extreme."

"In other words, your typical male," Buffy couldn't help but add.

"On behalf of my gender, hey!" Xander replied. "And you could act a little offended to," he added to Oz.

The guitarist just shrugged. "Don't feel targeted," Oz simply said.

Giles tried to steer the conversation back to the matter at hand. "Yes, let's not jump to any conclusions."

"I didn't jump," Buffy defended. "I just took a tiny step, and there conclusions were."

Giving up, Giles just summarized that they should try to capture the wolfman, or wolfwoman, tonight and take care not to get bitten before he retreated to the library. "There was no telling if their Aesir physio-something could fight off lycotropy," he warned.

Well, that was how Buffy recalled that last sentence anyway. She scrunched her face, she was pretty sure Giles meant werewolfism with that last one. 'Or did he say licoritopic?'

TO BE CONTINUED