"Get some more blankets!" Shouted Riley. He tossed yet another atop of Willow. She lay, curled into a ball, smothered in blankets already. She wasn't alone. Oz was swallowed up by the endless number of blankets as well, his legs wrapped firmly around hers, his arms encircling her close. A few minutes before the sun disappeared, she began to get chills unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

Her core body temperature dropped nearly ten degrees. Enough to kill someone. Oz had been the first to sense the changes. He'd felt the waves of cold flowing off of her. He had seen her blue lips trembling and immediately pulled her against him to help warm her even before the others were gathering blankets to throw over their dear friend.

"Alright, soldier boy, what the hell is happening to her?" Xander was glaring at Riley. This was all his fault! He and his stupid mutant kitten fish would be the death of Willow!

Riley had no real answers. "I don't know..." He helped Buffy gather the only other blankets left in Giles' house and throw them over the two. "I've never seen or heard of this happening before...Its never been tried on a human..."

Anya was helping Giles search through his books for a cause or solution to whatever was happening. But she spoke up as she scanned one book, then another. "Well look at the bright side. She's still a human. No fangs or fur for the witch."

Giles nodded his agreement. "Yes, thats true. But this is a side-effect we hadn't expected...But-But lets not panic." He could see a nearly murderous expression from Buffy so he hurried on. "We managed our way over one obstacle, surely we can manage another." He said optimistically.

Riley felt responsible. As well he should. He searched his memories about such experiments and calmed down even as Willow shuddered violently. Oz's grip on her tightened, his hands and arms moving up and down her ice cool skin to try to heat her up. "I...Could head back to the Initiative, try to find an answer..."

Xander was annoyed and he wanted to pound Riley's face in at the moment. "Wait!" A thought came. And then another. He looked around and a little relief crossed his features. He breathed in and smiled. "Blood transfusions...I've been here before. There's always side effects. I had to have blood transfusions otherwise I'd be a giant fish right now." That got him an odd look from Riley and Anya too. She hadn't been there for that. He ignored the looks. "Well those cells and stuff you were talking about, they probably are destroying themselves now. We had temperatures with our blood transfusions, the rest of the swim team and me. They lasted a few hours after treatment, but then disappeared. I bet that's whats happening to her."

He didn't fully understand it himself, but it relaxed him to think of it. The others weren't so sure and as one hour turned to two, they doubted him completely. But on the third house, Giles' heater set to 100 degrees, and all of them hovering around the ball of blankets, adding their own body heat, and Willow stopped trembling.

Within ten minutes after that, she started weakly trying to shove the blankets off of her. "Woah, it's hot in here. Can somebody turn on the air?" Laughter of relief trickled out around her, adding to her confusion. The last few hours were a blur to her. As the blankets lifted away and light shone in, she saw Oz's much loved and concerned face peering at her, felt his arms still around her. She almost smiled. She didn't want to move from his embrace. But it was necessary. Because now her face was flushed and her temperature was not only normal, but a bit on the high side from all of the extra heat.

Other than that, she seemed no worse for the wear.

Oz slowly released her as he felt her tugging free. He sat up as she did, and climbed to his feet. He held out a hand to help her up. She gladly took it and stood. "I'm....Not a werewolf." She said, glancing at the clock. It was after nine! Shock showed on her face.

Everyone looked tired, but relieved. Buffy hugged her friend. "Nope." She laughed. Xander joined in the hug. "You're all Willowy, just the way we like you." He chimed in. The three friends hugged briefly before finally separating.

Riley cleared his throat. "I'm glad you're okay now, Willow." He offered her a tight smile. "But I should get going. Gotta make the rounds." Buffy reached for his hand. "Double that. Patrol calls. I still have that house of vampires to dust." She looked back at Willow. "If you'll be okay...?"

Willow smiled now, looking stronger and less upset with each moment. The only sign of the trauma she'd been through was the bandage on her arm. "I'm fine! Good as new! Or-Or old. Old me I mean." She babbled away cutely, causing Oz's lips to twitch upwards.

"Okay then. Well, if you need me, you know where to find me." Buffy gave one last look to her friend, then lead Riley out of Giles'. They were all much too tired to discuss everything and in a group like theirs, where each moment counted and there were often unexplained events, she and the others learned to go with the flow. One minute a best friend could be at death's door, the next, all was well. Life was just like that.

Xander and Anya were the next to take their leave. Anya practically dragging Xander out of there. "You owe me a night of uninterrupted love making and don't make me tie you to the bed this time!" She barely let him say goodbye sheepishly, before they were gone.

Giles wasn't an idiot and cleared his throat. "I, um, I shall make some notes of what has happened in case we need them in the future. I'm quite please you are well now Willow. I...Uh....Yes." With that, and an armful of books, papers and the like, he trailed off into his room and shut the door. The only company he had now was the big, fat, red cat that was parked on his bed. He sighed, shook his head and tried to ignore it as he began his work excitedly. Documenting all that had occurred.

Willow and Oz were left alone. "I...Wonder what happened to Zach...." She immediately regretted even mentioning the other werewolf to Oz. Oz flinched, but held his non-chalant look fairly well. "Well I mean...eh..." She decided it was best to drop that topic all together. It was over and she wasn't sure she wanted to know the outcome.

"Anyway um...." She looked at Oz. "Thank you for coming all this way for me....I guess you'll be wanting to leave again." There was a squeak to her voice even as she said this. Oz looked at her sharply.

"Is that what you want?" He asked her, his voice ever quiet.

Willow looked down, feeling his eyes on her. "When has what I wanted mattered? I didn't want you to leave last time. Pleaded with you..." She pointed out.

"I left to learn to protect you from me."

It was a reasonable response. She knew it was more than that though. It was true. There was something it didn't help or stop though. "But...You left me when I needed you most." A tear slipped down her cheek. "I didn't want protection from you...I understand why you felt you had to leave, but you should have made sure I was okay first."

Oz couldn't argue with this. He'd been so terrified of physically harming her that he didn't consider her emotional state quite as much. He figured a dead Willow was far worse than a traumatized live one. "I'm sorry." His voiced seemed to get even softer. "I never wanted to hurt you."

She swallowed back a lump. "Oz," She dared look up at him, only seeing remorse in his clear green eyes. "You seem to have control now...At least enough...If I wanted you...Would you stay?"

Oz blinked as if that were the craziest question she'd ever asked. "I can't see why I wouldn't."

Willow groaned, making Oz look worried. "Why are you always so cryptic!" Of course, it was his way, and she knew it, but right now, in this place and time, she needed more from him. She needed him to be blunt and direct. She moved to stand in front of him.

"Za-Someone, told me that werewolves can only truly for life, mate with other werewolves....How do I know you even want me. What if you just plan to stay with me out of guilt or until another Veruca comes long?"

A troubled look crossed Oz's face ever briefly. He slowly reached out and took her good hand between both of his. He stared into her eyes, hers upset, his sincere. "I didn't know what pheromones meant from one wolf to another. I do now. That's all it was. Lust. Not love, Will. I know it now enough to control it. I still need to work with the wolf within to keep things balanced and peaceful, but that...What happened with Veruca, that's never gonna happen again. Because now that I understand how strong it is, I love you too much to let it. I can and will control it, with my love for you." He paused only a moment in what was probably his longest speech ever. "I don't care who told you what about werewolves. I don't need another wolf. I need you. I'm still me. You're still you. I love you. I want you. I don't want to leave you. That's not gonna change. Ever."

His words were so full of genuine love and truth that Willow teared up. She stepped closer, her thoughts running wild as her heartbeat sped up a few paces. He was right. The things Zach said about werewolves had to be lies. At least the mating thing. Willow knew Oz had felt complete with her. Why else would he return to her and want to stay? Maybe for a wolf like Zach, life with a mere human girl didn't seem interesting enough for him, but she knew she was more than enough for Oz. She could see it in his eyes.

He always supported her and what she wanted to be and do, he was always here for her. The only time he wasn't was after the Veruca horror. Which, she understood, wasn't completely his fault. The werewolf bitch had gone after him, pursued him, confused him with hormones and wrong words about werewolves just as Zach had tried to do to her. She could forgive Oz that. Because she knew he truly loved her. Who was she kidding? She could forgive Oz just about anything.

"Don't leave." She said in a whisper, her lips inches from his.

His familiar solemn look was still in place. "Never. I'll never leave you again." How could he? She was his heart.

Willow closed the distance, her lips crushing needfully against his as his arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her in closer, deepening the longing kiss. Nothing had felt this wonderful in months! This was probably the highlight of her year! This kiss held all of the passion, the pain, everything. She explored his lips, his mouth, his taste, closing her eyes slowly and reacquainting herself with all things Oz. They would work through this. Even his werewolf issues seemed unimportant in this moment. All there was, was love. And she had her Oz back. That's all that mattered.


A limp body lay in a ditch down an alleyway in Los Angeles. Broken to the point that any average man or woman would take one glance and think to call the morgue rather than an ambulance, something happened.

Angel's nose scrunched up at the scent. He'd just finished killing a demon and his adenaline was still going full boar. He followed the trail of blood wrapped around the heavy animal scent until he came across the body. "Just what I wanted to do with the rest of my night." He heaved the werewolf's body up over his shoulder and hurried back to his office to let Wesley have a look at it.

Wesley was all too eager to help out when Angel told him what the man truly was, though he would have helped without that knowledge. "A werewolf! How exciting! It's dead! But it couldn't have been dead long. I wonder..." He began very human resuscitation techniques on the broken man's body, feeling already cracked ribs moving and breaking more at each touch as he gestured for Angel to pump the stranger's heart while he gave him mouth-to-mouth.

Fifteen minutes in, he was about to give up, when the man lurched and coughed, choking up blood. Angel made a face because the scent of werewolf blood was highly unappealing to his senses. Wesley looked elated. "A werewolf! One that controls itself during the full moon. There have been tales of such, but to see it up close!" He rambled on as the creature slowly opened his eyes.

He'd died. He'd completed the trials. But somehow, with luck, he was found and brought back to life! He didn't know where he was or how long his recovery would take, but he knew one thing. Without a doubt, Willow would be his one way or another. Although the vampire nearby was unsettling and the human was annoying, Zach smiled.

The End


Finally, after all of this time, I completed Can't Run Away. I hope you enjoyed it! The last few chapters didn't come together quite as well as I would have liked, but I think it went okay. It's been a struggle to complete as I've had some real life issues to deal with and many other things come up. But I'm happy to have finally given a conclusion as I know many people have eagerly been waiting on me for on. Your reviews and all are well appreciated. Thank you for reading!