Title: The French Connection
Author: Lily
Rating: PG to PG-13
Spoilers: Bargaining, but really only part one
Disclaimer: pshaw. not mine.
Summary: Yes, the resurrection worked. But no, it didn't wake Buffy up where she last was (that part seems to have gotten messed up, no?)...
Author's Note: *la la la* denotes Buffy thoughts

The phone was on the bedside table in Oz's room. Buffy and Oz sat on the side of his bed silently, staring at it.

It was almost two, and they had both showered and changed. She only had the black dress she had found herself in, but she had thrown on one of Oz's button-down shirts over it.

"They'll want to know that you're alive," Oz said, his eyes still on the phone.

"So I should call."

"But it's too much too soon." Oz sighed and looked at her with concern.

"And what if I get a machine? It wouldn't be good to just leave a message: 'By the way, I'm alive.' No, you would be the one to leave a message. Just to say that Giles should call. So you should call."

"I could give the phone to you as soon as someone picks up?"

"No, I can't make you do that. What if Willow picks up?" She finally took her eyes off the phone. "Oz, you shouldn't *have* to talk to her if you don't want to."

"Okay, so I might have a little trouble talking to Willow, but it's been a very long time and I've...healed. You, on the other hand, just came back to life," he said, decided, and put an end to negotiation, "so you win in the 'most traumatic experience' category. I'll call."

"Are you sure? Because I could do it..."

"I'm calling."

Oz picked up the phone and put it in his lap. He cradled the receiver between his ear and shoulder and prepared to dial. He had gotten through the international code when he paused.

"Buffy?"

"You want me to call?"

"...I don't know what to dial."

She punched in the numbers for the Magic Box and watched him listen to the rings.

It rang four times before Oz heard the click as someone picked up on the other end.

"The Magic Box: All your occult needs..." It was Willow. Oz didn't really hear the end of her sentence. The words were all blocked out, just leaving the rise and fall of her voice ringing in his ears. His breathing quickened.

"Uh...hello?" He realized he hadn't spoken yet, and shook himself.

"Willow..." He couldn't say anything else.

"Oz, do you want me to speak to her? I'm willing to...it's really no big deal." Without looking over, Oz could tell that Buffy was fidgeting and wasn't actually ready to take the call. Besides, he had already spoken. He shook his head and felt her go still.

"Oz? Is that really you?" Willow sounded as if she thought it was a prank.

"Yeah. Hi."

"Hi." There was an awkward silence. "So...what's up?"

"I'm actually calling about...Buffy." He looked to his left and saw the woman in question toying with her hair.

"How did you hear?" Willow was speaking quietly, but Oz realized that there was something different about her voice. The old lilt of it was faded, and even her question was voiced forcefully.

"It's a long story."

"Okay." Willow didn't press for details. "Sorry we didn't call you about the funeral...it's not like we have your number or anything. It wasn't anything big though. We have to keep the demons convinced that she's still around...which is also a long story."

"I understand." Oz was reluctant to come right out with his good news, for some reason.

Buffy started tapping her foot. Not being able to hear the other end of the conversation was infuriating.

"Did you hear exactly what happened?" Willow's voice brought his focus back to the phone.

"Yeah," Oz said, deciding that the short version--and the longer version he would get from Buffy later--was the way to go.

"It's so weird that you should call now, today. Today is the first day that she seems really, well, gone. Since it was a mystical death, I had thought that maybe we could reverse it mystically. Bring her back to life." It suddenly occured to Oz that the conversation was no longer really about Buffy. "I found this great spell, and it took a while to get all the ingredients together..."

Oz cut Willow off.

"I'm sorry, but...is Giles there?"

"No, he actually just left for England. Gave his shop...did you know he had a shop?...to Anya, said there was nothing keeping him here anymore. My spell would have kept him here too, if it had worked. He would have had something to stay for. Anyway, so I was explaining the spell. We got all the ingredients. And Tara and Anya and Xander helped...we couldn't tell Giles or Dawn, they'd be all 'Oh, Willow, it's far too dangerous'...because it was really dangerous. I didn't really tell anyone how dangerous it was, but I guess it didn't matter. But I knew I had enough power to pull it off. It was pretty intense--I could feel it working. And a snake crawled out of my mouth! You should have seen it! But then some stupid demons came and broke the urn and the spell was completely messed up. And I knew I was doing it too. I was bringing Buffy back to life, out of whatever horrible hell dimension she's stuck in--it would have worked..." Willow took a breath.

Oz had found it cute when she used to babble. If he blocked out the words again, he could almost imagine that he was listening to her ramble on about nothing at all. But it wasn't nothing at all. And she wasn't babbling--she was boasting.

Oz knew he should tell Willow the truth: that her spell had worked, but Buffy had ended up in Paris, with him. Maybe Willow would be able to explain it. But he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"I just thought I'd check in. I have to go now." He was almost whispering.

"Okay, bye!" And Willow hung up.

Slowly Oz straightened his neck and hung up the phone. He turned to Buffy.

Buffy looked at him, questioning.

*Why didn't he tell her?*

"What did Willow say?" she asked.
**end five**