Willow awoke the next morning a pounding in her head and at the door. She groaned and sat up, blinking sleepily and glanced over at Buffy's bed. Empty.
Hmm...wonder what Ms. Slayer was up to last night... she thought with a smirk.
"Will?" the pounding at the door commenced after the familiar voice.
Oz.
"Oh! Right...knocking at door. Get door. Get door good," she stood quickly, "Lord, look at me," she sighed as she passed by the mirror.
She undid the locks and opened the door.
"Hey, Oz," she said softly, "um...don't take this the wrong way, but what're you doing here?"
"I...we...got worried when you didn't show up at Giles's home like you said you would," he replied.
"But I said I'd be there at noon and it's-" she glanced at the clock, "noon...imagine that...wow, I really overslept," she rubbed her temples.
"Hey, I could wait for you," he said, eyes glued to his feet, "or I could just, you know, head back to Giles's...everyone's there...even Spike."
She hesistated then smiled tightly at the mention of the vampire's name, "um...I...yea, you probably wouldn't want to wait and stuff since everyone's you know..."
He looked up and met her gaze, "Will, I know you kissed Spike."
She stopped her chain of babbling, mouth open, "Oh. Well..." she felt her anger rise, "it's not like I have to hide it! I mean, you left, Oz, you kissed Veruca, slutty band chic it's not like I-"
He held a hand up to stop her, "no! No, it's not like that at all...I just want you to know that we don't have to have secrets from each other. Whatever your choice is...well, it's your choice," at the end of his statement, he let his eyes drop again.
Willow could practically taste his pain on her tongue. She smiled, recalling their wonderful past...how much he had done for her...
"Hey, why don't you wait here, I'll just be a moment and then we can go to Giles's together," she suggested.
He looked back up at her and smiled his curious half smile, the one that only Willow knew meant that he was truly happy, "Okay...sounds great."
***
Buffy crossed and uncrossed her legs, listening to Giles's rambling on Adam's truly remarkable efforts toward learning about the systems of blah blah blah...
"Yea, yea, why don't we just go out and kick the thing's metallic ass?" Interrupted Spike who was evidently as bored as Buffy herself. The Slayer was silently thankful for Spike's undying blunt isolence for once. It seemed the only solution to Giles's endless streams of logic and knowledge and such.
Spike lit a cigerette-5th in the last 8 minutes, she noted to herself-and puffed a cloud of smoke it's the former watchers face.
Politely stepping out of the smoke, Giles frowned at Spike, "yes...uh well, Spike...as tempting as this "ass kicking" sounds, we really have to focus on the fact that well, it could easily defeat Buffy, the Slayer of all things and several well trained commandos. You cannot expect to kill...er, destroy it so easily."
Buffy nodded reluctantly, "Giles is right...this thing is dangerous. I mean, look at the damage it's done so far. It's strong, smart, ruthless and unfeeling."
"A bad combination," Xander remarked.
"All too true," Giles sighed, leaning on the couch, "but there's a solution to everything."
***
Willow, meanwhile was not feeling so optimistic as was Giles. Sitting in the passanger side of Oz's van, she felt herself compelled almost every minute to turn and gaze at his profile. Every glance sent her tumbling down memory lane all over. She pursed her lips and tried to focus on the road.
Initiate casual conversation, she told herself.
"So....um...nice weather, huh?" she blurted a little too eagerly.
He turned and furrowed his eyesbrows, "Uh...yea. Great...great weather."
Stupid, stupid, stupid, she scolded.
"This isn't really working is it?" she finally said, "I mean, we're trying to act casual when..."
"When what? When I want to hold you? When you're kissing Spike? When I have no clue what's going on? When I love you?" he exclaimed quite suddenly.
She found herself at a lack of words and simply looked out the window, the tears brimming in her eyes, threatening to overflow.
No! No tears, the voice inside of her yelled.
She felt his rough, familiar touch on her cheek, "Don't cry...I-I'm sorry," he said, "it's not like me to get emotional," he added, causing her to giggle. She felt the tears drop onto her cheeks, but the smile lightened her face, the way a rainbow does to a rainy day.
"I missed that smile, you know," he said softly, "I dreamed about you a lot."
"I dreamed about you too...except they were mostly nightmares...I mean, seeing you is good, but the dreams weren't much fun," she shrugged and feel silent.
Oz cast a sideways glance at her as they pulled into Giles's driveway. The way the sun cast a warm glow over her face made him feel at peace, at home. He opened the door for her and took her hand as she stepped out of the van.
This. This is the way it should be...he said silently, watching her walk to the front door. She turned and gave him a smile, "Are you coming?"
"Yea," he said, walking toward her, "I'm coming."
TBC