Part 4

Oz hurriedly pushed the gas pedal on the van and took a corner to get the couple from hell as far from Buffy's eyes as he could.

Buffy was staring into space with a shell-shocked look on her face. "H-how could this be happening? I don't remember any candy sales." She turned tortured eyes to Willow, "Do you remember candy sales?

Spike sat back in the seat with his arm around Willow and smirked at the Slayer. All he needed now was some popcorn to enjoy the show.

Willow looked at her best friend with concern, "I don't remember candy sales either but maybe a store or something sold it." Willow tried to cheer up her friend, "After we get Xander and Cordy we can go find Giles. He might know where all those people got the candy. A-and I bet your mom and Snyder won't remember anything. She didn't remember the whole Giles incident right?"

Willow smiled brightly at Buffy.

Buffy began to mumble to herself and rock.

Willow turned concerned eyes to Spike who quickly wiped the smirk off his face before she could see it.

Spike patted Willow's knee, "I'm sure the Watcher will be able to fix Joyce right up."

Buffy began to whimper louder when she heard Spike's comment.

~~~

Xander and Cordelia were slowly walking through town. They knew they were supposed to be on some mission for Buffy but they just couldn't remember what.

Cordelia sighed as she laid her head on Xander's shoulder. She couldn't believe that she had overlooked him for so many years. You would think you would recognize your soul mate when you saw them even if you were just six years old. Must have been Jesse's fault. Always making puppy dog eyes at her that she didn't notice Xander until Sunnydale High.

Xander slipped his arm around Cordy's waist and brought her closer. He smiled contentedly as he thought about the girl at his side. How could he have been so blind that it took them yelling at each other before he noticed his love for her? Maybe it was his friendship with Jesse that he didn't allow himself to see Cordy and to compensate he became Treasurer of the We Hate Cordelia club.

Willow! Oh my god, how could he have forgotten the reason they were on this side of town was to find Willow?

Cordelia raised her head from Xander's shoulder when she felt him stiffen, "What?"

"Willow. I can't believe I forgot we were supposed to be looking for Spike and Willow."

Cordelia slightly grimaced. Not that she didn't like Willow but god it was always Willow said this, Willow did that with Xander. If she didn't know that Willow and Oz were together she would think that Xander and Willow were having a secret affair.

Cordelia heard a loud car behind them and turned to look over her shoulder. It was Oz's van with Buffy in the front seat rocking and mumbling to herself. Oh god. Spike must have killed Willow and they were looking for Xander to tell him the horrible news.

She gripped Xander's hand tightly and pulled him to a stop.

"What?" Xander looked down at Cordelia.

"Xander, you know I love you right? That I'm always here for you no matter what?"

Xander grew even more confused. "Yeah?"

"I think Oz and Buffy found Willow."

Xander's face lit up as he spun around. He saw Oz's van slow to a stop and then noticed that Buffy looked terrible. His smile began to slip from his face and he slowly shook his head no as he gripped Cordelia's hand even tighter.

It took a full few minutes for both Xander and Cordelia to register that Willow opened the side door to Oz's van. And another minute to register that a blond vampire had his arm protectively around her waist as she got out of the van.

"Willow?!?" Xander looked around frantically for anything that could be used as a stake. "Oh my god, Spike turned you."

Cordelia hit him on the back of the head, "Would Buffy and Oz let them in his van if she'd been turned?"

"Good point. So explain to me why Spike has his hands all over Willow while Buffy and Oz aren't saying anything about it."

Cordelia put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrow at occupants of the van.

"Well?"

"Well what, Cordelia?" Willow asked.

"Well, Willow. Last time I saw you we were planning a double date with you and Oz. Now you're all snuggly with the Billy Idol wannabe that supposedly kidnapped you after knocking Xander unconscious. Oz is comforting Buffy for some god unknown reason and neither seems to have a problem with you cuddling with SPIKE! So care to explain?"

Spike put Willow behind him and started toward Cordelia. He could hurt her. His Red wouldn't care and he was ready for a spot of violence. He felt a soft tug on his hand and looked down at Willow.

Spike rolled his eyes. Fine, he couldn't hurt the brunette so he settled for glaring as he pulled Willow to him. "Sod off. We don't have to tell you anything. Just came looking for the boy 'cause my Red was concerned he might be worried."

He looked at Xander, this was Willow's best friend since forever. Sort of like her brother. "Sorry about knocking you out, mate. I was just intent on getting to my Willow and I didn't want anyone getting in the way."

Xander blinked and then blinked again. Did Spike just apologize to him? For hitting him? My Willow? What the hell was going on?

"Yeah, about that . . .WHAT IS GOING ON?"

By this time Oz and Buffy had joined the others on the street.

Cordelia's eyes almost popped out of her head when she saw Oz slip his arm around Buffy and she slipped her hand over his. This was giving her the major wiggins. Did she just wake up in a Twilight Zone episode? She knew this was the Hellmouth but come on, Oz and Buffy? Willow and Spike?

"I second that."

"Well, Spike kidnapped me to do a love spell to get Dru back."

Spike softly caressed Willow's cheek, "Then while we were waiting to see if it worked I realized I didn't want Dru anymore and the real reason I came back was for Willow."

"When I looked at Spike everything clicked. Why I wasn't satisfied with Oz, why you and I were sharing secret smoochies. It was because of Spike. He was what was missing from my life."

"You weren't satisfied with me?" Oz asked curiously. He felt bad but not as bad as he would have if he hadn't found Buffy.

"SECRET SMOOCHIES?" Cordelia turned on Xander. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, "You had secret smoochies with Willow?"

Xander smiled goofily at Cordelia, "Heh, heh. Well, I wouldn't call them smoochies exactly. More like lips meeting accidentally. Besides so not on topic. WILLOW AND SPIKE. BUFFY AND OZ." Xander desperately tried to change the subject before Cordelia killed him. "Obviously there's a Hellmouthy thing happening here."

"This is so not over, mister."

Willow turned hurt eyes to Xander, "How could you say what Spike and I have is a Hellmouth thing. And Buffy. You think the Slayer would be affected by this 'Hellmouthy' thing? Did I say that what you feel for Cordelia was due to the Hellmouth? NO! I can't believe you Alexander Harris!"

Cor, she was beautiful when she was mad Spike thought. He turned Willow in his embrace and not caring that he had an audience he kissed her.

Xander's mouth opened and closed as he watched his best friend kissing Spike. Hoping to get that picture out of his head forever he turned to Buffy. "So if it's not a Hellmouth thing explain how you two got together. I thought Angel was your soulmate for all time and you," he turned to Oz, "I thought you were in love with Willow."

"I felt something was off when I was around Willow. We weren't connecting like we had been. Tonight I noticed that my beast gets restless when I'm with Willow but it's calm around Buffy. I don't how to explain it, man. It's just tonight everything finally clicked in place."

Buffy leaned back into Oz's embrace, "I'll always love Angel like Oz will always love Willow. But ever since last summer I had to put Angel behind me. Since he came back it's been hard. We decided to do the whole friends thing. It wasn't working that great until tonight. Tonight I realized how relaxed I was around Oz. How he made me feel normal and comfortable. Then when we discovered we felt the same about each other it just felt right."

Xander wasn't sure he liked where his friends were going with their relationships but who was he to cast stones. It had taken him forever to realize that Cordelia was his love maybe it took Buffy and Willow until tonight to realize theirs.

"But you're right, Xander." Buffy continued. "There is something Hellmouthy going on tonight it's just not us. I think someone is selling that candy stuff again. I-I just . . ." Buffy trailed off, she couldn't vocalize what she had seen.

Oz finished her sentence for her, "We just saw Buffy's mom and Principal Snyder with their arms around each other."

Xander and Cordelia looked at each other and then back at Buffy, "EWWWW!"