Oz took a deep breath. It would do no good to ask Buffy to leave and let him see this through. The mayor would never let her leave, and even if by some miracle he did allow it, she would just cross her arms over her belly and glare at him for even suggesting it.

"Oz, I wasn't expecting you." Willow's eyes widened and her hand moved nervously to twist the ends of her dark hair. It was oddly reminiscent of her first shy interactions with him.

"Yeah." He stepped forward, running the backs of his fingers along Buffy's knuckles. He knew better than to hold her hand at this moment, stuck on the precipice of battle.

"Don't touch her, Oz. She stole you from me. She used her slayer powers to cloud your mind." Willow's hands twitched. The sharp tang of ozone filled his nose. Willow was readying her magic.

"What powers would those be? I was a demon for twelve hundred years and I've never heard of slayers having powers like that." Anya flipped to face Buffy. "Can you cloud a man's mind like that?"

"Shut up." Willow glared at Anya. The ex demon shrugged and took a step back. The air was lighter, easier to breathe. Willow's eyes tracked back to him.

"Buffy didn't use special powers on me. She didn't steal me." Oz stepped closer to Willow. "You made choices and so did I."

"You love me." Willow's voice crackled as her power surged.

"The tragedy, young people today, always rushing into these grown up relationships, and will you look at what happens." The mayor smiled as he extended a hand toward Buffy palm up. "Teen pregnancy is a blight. You should be ashamed, young lady. When I ascend, I'll eat all the pregnant teens."

Willow smiled and grabbed the mayor's hand. She shuddered and her hair started to wave as if heavy winds were blowing in the still room. Oz stepped in front of Buffy. Hoping he could protect her.

"Hey now, that tickles." The mayor giggled. Willow stroked the finger of her free hand along his clean shaven jaw. He turned toward her. "I don't usually go in for the pleasures of the flesh, but this is quite something."

Willow smiled and stroked the side of his face gently. His eyes widened and then, in a flurry of movement, he grabbed Willow and placed her on his desk. He shuddered and began kissing her neck.

"Oh, lovely, a show." Anya tilted her head and wrinkled her nose. "One I'd rather not see."

"How do we stop this? How do we save Willow?" Buffy moved forward toward the amorous pair. Oz grabbed her hand and yanked her back. Something else was headed this way fast.

His eyes flew to the door. A flash of brindled hair sped by them and knocked into Willow and the mayor. A vicious growl filled the air as the three bodies flew across the desk and crashed onto the floor.

"Oh, fighting." Anya clapped. "Much better than the creepy sex that was about to happen."

Oz had to agree. He hadn't wanted to see what Willow had become. He pulled Buffy back from the battle, if it could be called a battle. It was really more of a churning of bodies. Either way, this wasn't their fight. Willow had to face the reality of all she had done. He swallowed, pulled Buffy into his arms, and rested his head against Buffy's shoulder. If they had handled things differently, perhaps his mate would still have her best friend. If he had left Willow with no hope before they disappeared in the rift, perhaps it all could have worked out differently.

Willow was thrown free of the scuffle. Her whole body seemed to glow. Her eyes narrowed on Buffy's back.

"Please, don't do this, Willow." Oz pulled Buffy around and behind him. "You can't come back from this one. If you kill Buffy and my children, there will be no future for you. There won't be any Willow left."

"Stop. That's what you want, Oz? You want me to stop, but I can't. You're mine. She had no right to you, no right to those things inside her." Willow snarled. "It will be fine once she's gone. I'll be able to just be Willow, and you will love me again."

"How many people do I have to kill before you stop, Mate?" The wolf stood up, naked with blood smeared over her body, and tossed a hand into the corner casually. She moved toward Willow with easy confidence. "You can't be with him. He belongs to her. Every part of him is hers."

"Stay out of this, Veruca." Willow clenched her fists.

"Please," Buffy moved forward, trying to get around Oz. "Don't make me slay you."

Willow snarled and flung her hands out. All the air in the room seemed to pull in towards her. She started chanting in some weird sounding language.

"We need to stop her. I'm not immortal anymore, and the backlash from that spell will melt us into nothing." Anya looked at Angel. "Go, fight her. Isn't there a you broke it you bought it thing with humans?"

"I'm a vampire."

"So, you're dead. All the better, go get her." Anya flicked her hands at him.

Veruca grabbed the desk chair and bashed Willow in the back of the head. Willow dropped to the ground, and Oz rushed forward to check on her.

"Get away from my mate." The naked female growled. He pushed down his urge to snarl and stepped back from Willow.

"Mate?" Oz looked at the naked werewolf, assessing the threat she represented. "Your Willow's mate?"

"You're mated. You should know this." Veruca stepped closer to Willow and grabbed her hand. "Didn't your pack explain this?"

"I don't have a pack." Oz glanced at Buffy as she moved a few stops to the side.

"Can we save the talking for later?" Buffy looked at him steadily. "It looks like the mayor is trying to put himself back together, which beyond being creepy is probably a really bad idea."