AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for the delay. I had a humongous case of writer's block that wound not go away. But, here's chapter 16. It's kinda dumb. Oh yeah, since I started this from season two of Roswell, and season five of Buffy because I didn't have UPN, there's gonna be some discrepancies with the Angel Universe. So, pretend that Angel only had 2 seasons and squish the third one into seasons one and two, okay? Did that make sense? Probably not. You'll see what I mean in this chapter. Thanks to everybody that gave feedback. I live for feedback. You guys rock.

Anyway, onward with the story.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Angel sat silently behind the front desk of the Hyperion hotel. It was a slow week in LA. A slow month actually. Cordelia hadn't had a vision in a while and he wasn't sure if he should be relieved or worried. The evil could very well be waiting, hiding in a corner somewhere until they were comfortable, only to spring on them at the most inopportune moment. And he knew that the Powers that Be would give them as little notice as possible when it was time.

Angel sighed and rested his head back on his arms as he reclined on his leather office chair. Within him, his soul was happy that at least for now they were safe. That humankind at least had a break from the underworld, as far as he knew, anyway. But somewhere, deep within the recesses of his vampiric heart lay the beast, ready and waiting for a good fight. Craving it. The evil within him that he mostly kept under control.

He was so lost in thought that he was startled when Cordelia came bounding through the door. He almost hoped that she'd had a vision, but the smile on her face killed that thought. If she'd had a vision there'd be a grimace of pain on her face and a string of curses at the tip of her tongue that she was too trained to release.

"Angel. Pack your things, we're going on a road trip," she stated bluntly.

"What?" he asked, caught off guard. He didn't expect that one. An 'Angel, I just found a new rich, paying client' he was prepared for.

"Roadtrip."

"To where? Why are we going? Did you have a vision?"

"No, I didn't have a vision," she said with her patented eye roll. "Not everything revolves around the PTB, you know." She walked over to the coffee machine and poured herself a cup. "Xander and Anya are getting married in two weeks. We need to be there."

"They are? Since when? Why didn't anybody tell me?"

"Didn't I tell you? I could have sworn I did.oh well, we're going. I already bought this really hot dress with new strappy shoes, but I don't really like the colour that much. I was thinking Isabel could fix it for me."

Angel zoned out on Cordelia, lost in his own thoughts. He supposed they could use the change of scenery. For the past four months, he and his crew had been back and forth between LA and Sunnydale. With the Slayer gone, somebody had to make sure that the Hellmouth didn't run amok. It wasn't that hard a task, and it served as good training for them all. Even Fred had become a strong fighter. She had long since moved out of the hotel. Finally convinced that humans were not as ruthless as the Pyleans were and that she no longer had to live in a cave. She returned from time to time, helping them with their battles and assisting with the research on different demons and prophecies.

"Angel? Are you listening to me?" Cordelia complained, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Yeah."

"Then what did I just say?"

"Um.I don't remember?"

Cordelia tapped him upside the head and sighed.

"I asked you when you wanted to go get fitted into a tux?"

"Tux?"

"For the wedding? Angel, what's wrong with you tonight?" she complained, "You know, I think you're getting senile in your old age. Do vampires go senile? Well, obviously, since you are."

"I'll go tomorrow," Angel interrupted, "Do you know somewhere that opens at night?"

"Are you kidding me? This is LA we're talking about." Angel nodded. There would always be a store open.

"When are we going on this road trip?"

"Next week. That gives you one week to pack and go shopping. Try to get Gunn to go with. At least he has some sense of style."

Angel nodded. It was better that way anyway. At least he didn't have to shop with Cordelia, or Isabel for that matter. That would kill him, surely. He got up and walked over to the door, pulling on his coat. He turned back to her at the door.

"Need a ride home?"

"Sure. Lets go."

***********************************************

Willow pressed the end button on the cordless phone as she plopped down on the couch next to Tara in the Slayer mansion. She had a huge grin on her face.

"It's settled. Cordy's bringing the crew down to Roswell. They should be here in a few days," she said excitedly, "She said they were bringing a surprise. I wonder what it is?"

"They better bring a good wedding present," Anya said.

"Anya!"

"What? We're feeding them and we're the ones getting married. I have been around for a thousand years and I am pretty sure that mortals get presents at weddings. And I saw it on TV," Anya explained.

"Yeah, okay, Anya," Buffy said, shaking her head. "So where are they going to stay? We don't have that many rooms."

"Um.we'll figure that out," said Willow, "Maybe Angel can shack up with Spike in the basement."

Xander burst out in laughter. "You do not know how wrong that sounded, Will."

Willow stuck her tongue out at him.

"Whatever. Maybe, I don't know, Buffy and Dawn can share and Cordelia and Fred can take one of the rooms. Wesley can room with Giles." Buffy raised an eyebrow. "They're grown men. I'm sure they won't kill each other." Buffy shrugged. "Um, who else? Gunn can stay with.Michael and Rath. I'm sure they won't mind, right?"

"You want to ask them?" asked Dawn.

"Okay, um."

"How about they get a hotel?" Dawn suggested. They all nodded. It was the best solution. They probably had money, right?

******************************************************

Angel breathed out a sigh of relief as he drove past the Welcome to Roswell sign. This road trip had been hell. It was almost nine o'clock on a Wednesday night and he was irritated beyond belief. In the back seat of the van they rented, Cordelia complained about cramped quarters, Wesley flirted with Fred, Gunn flirted with Fred, Lorne sang along to the radio and Connor bickered with any and everybody. He would be glad to get the hell out of here.

He pulled out the directions Willow had given him over the phone and began to navigate his way into the centre of town. The gang was meeting them at The Crashdown, Liz's family's restaurant. Maybe Connor would stop being so cranky after he was fed. It worked when he was a baby. He didn't think that would change after being in the hell dimension.

"We're almost there," Angel announced to the van.

"Obviously. I can read, father," Connor said, bitterly.

"Connor!" Cordelia reprimanded, tapping him upside the head. He only ducked and rolled his eyes.

Angel just remained staring out the window. Connor had come out of the hell dimension resenting him because of what Holtz told him. He didn't want to be anywhere near him at first, holding on to Holtz as his father, but didn't have a choice when Holtz died of a heart attack shortly after crossing the dimensions. Holtz's last request was for him to stay with Angel, so there he was.

Angel had been ecstatic when Connor showed up at his hotel to stay. He'd been blissfully happy when he first called him 'father'; it didn't even matter that it was said in a sarcastic way that first time. But every time he said it that way, with residual hate in his voice, cut through Angel like a knife through his heart. Connor still held on to the stories Holtz told about him, but he wouldn't leave, because Holtz asked him to stay.

Angel quickly hid the hurt in his eyes, but not before Cordelia noticed it. If Holtz weren't already dead, she would kill him. Even in death, he was keeping Angel away from his son. She looked over at Connor, who was staring out the window in silence. Somebody was going to have to talk some sense into that kid. When those little dimension demons called him The Destroyer, she didn't know how right they were. Now she knew. He was destroying Angel right now.

The car was filled with an eerie green light as Angel pulled up in front of the Crashdown Café. The restaurant was closed for the night. Jeff Parker closed it so that they could have their little welcome party in private. The seven newcomers strolled up to the front door and walked in. All the chattering stopped and everyone looked up at them.

"Hey, guys!" Cordelia said, brightly.

"Cordelia!" Willow exclaimed, jumping up to hug her friend. "The gang's all back together, now."

"Yeah. Xander, Anya, congrats," said Cordelia as she hugged them both.

"Thanks, Cordy," Xander said.

"Who's that?" asked Michael, suspiciously.

"This is Connor," Angel announced, "my son."

They all stood there with their jaws hanging open in stunned silence.

"I-I think you'd better explain how this is possible," Giles was the first to speak.

"This is a long story," Cordelia said. "You guys better sit down, you know, get some snacks."

"Cordy!"

"Okay, fine. Wolfram and Hart raised something in a box last year. We couldn't stop them before they did the ritual and we didn't know what they raised. Turns out, it was Darla."

"Who's Darla?"

"Angel's sire," Maria answered.

"We saw her in a book," Michael continued.

"She looks like."

"Topolsky."

"Yeah. Okay. They're still doing that?"

"Yep."

"Anyway, they brought her back to seduce Angel, so they'd do the nasty and he'd lose his soul. But it backfired. Angel didn't lose his soul and Darla ended up getting pregnant."

"Wait. Since when do vampires get knocked up?" asked Dawn.

"Nobody knows," Wesley answered. "It was prophesied in the Nyazian scrolls, though."

"So, Darla showed up right after you guys left, nine months pregnant and pissed as hell. Connor had a soul and because of that, he made her feel guilty for killing humans. His humanity sort of spilled into her. Anyway, she couldn't go into labour properly, because, you know, vampires aren't built that way."

"So, what happened?" asked Liz.

Angel sighed, taking over the story. "She staked herself because she was in too much pain, and also because she knew that she would lose what little soul she had once he was born. She didn't want to hurt him, so she killed herself," Angel said sadly.

"Yeah, anyway, this demon named Lajon brought this vampire hunter forward through time from 200 years ago. His name was Holtz. Apparently he and Angelus have some history together," Gunn continued.

"I killed his wife and his children. I turned his daughter," Angel stated.

"Yeah, and Holtz was pissed off. He wanted revenge, so he tried to kill us a whole bunch of times. Then, he found out about Connor. He kidnapped him."

"Wolfram and Hart also found out about Connor and wanted to capture him to study him." The Pod Squad involuntarily shuddered. "Lajon wanted to kill him. It came down to us, Wolfram and Hart, Lajon or Holtz. Lajon opened up a gateway to a hell dimension and threatened to suck the whole world in if we didn't hand him over. Then, Holtz just snatched Connor and jumped into the portal. Lajon closed it before Angel could jump in to save him."

"And this all happened two months ago?" Maria asked.

"Yeah."

"So how do you explain the teenager sitting in front of me?"

"Time moves faster in hell," Buffy stated.

"Oh."

"So Angel spent a whole month trying to find a way to save Connor. Then, one day these little bug things infested the hotel, sucking people dry. They possessed Fred and told us the destroyer was coming, right before we fried 'em. We went into the lobby, by the portal Angel made and this big demon thing drops out of nowhere. Then this boy drops on top of it and kills it," Cordelia said.

"So Connor is the Destroyer?"

"I am," Connor stated, proudly. It was the first thing he said the whole time.

"He came back with Holtz. Then Holtz died shortly after of a heart attack. He told Connor to stay with us, so here he is," Gunn summed up.

"Yeah, with a Holtz sized chip on his shoulder," Cordelia muttered.

"Wow," Willow said, "That's some story. How do you like it here, Connor?"

"I hate it."

"Okay."

"Can I go now?" he asked rudely.

"Connor!"

"I don't want to be here."

"Maria, you think you can train him? I mean, you trained Michael, right?"

"Hey!"

"So, where are you guys staying?" asked Isabel, changing the subject.

"At the Tumbleweed Inn, though I'm not sure somebody's ready to be around civilized people," Cordelia said, glaring at Connor.

"Cordelia," Angel berated, "I'm sure Connor will be just fine."

"I don't need you to defend me. You are not my father!" Connor shouted, jumping out of the booth and storming out of the door. Angel jumped up and ran after him.

"Damn. Somebody's pissy," Kyle said. "Maybe we should lock him in a room with Maria, Faith, Dawn and Xander. They're our best trainers."

"Wait, who'd Dawn train?"

"Spike," Maria snickered.

"Hey! The Big Bad is not trained thank you very much."

"Nah. He'll fight them, then run," said Cordelia.

"That scrawny little boy?"

"He's part Angel and part Darla. He puts up a good fight," Wesley said.

"And you have no idea how this came to be?" asked Giles, as he cleaned his glasses.

"None. Darla said she'd visited many witch doctors and Shamans and they all say that this should not be happening."

"And there's nothing in your books?"

"Nothing."

"Well. Maybe we should check my books for any info. I think I have some others that you don't."

"Have you the Book of Calyzar volume two? I lost my copy when our first building blew up."

The others tuned out their conversation, filing it away as boring watcher talk. They all began to chat about mundane things like school and the latest demon kills. Angel showed up with Connor a couple hours later with a few cuts and scrapes between them. Michael flinched at that involuntarily. Connor looked too much like he did when he had to live with Hank, even though he knew he probably started the fight with Angel.

"I am sorry for being rude," Connor said, disgruntled. The gang nodded and went back to their conversations while he sat alone in the corner. Silent.

**************************** *************************

Michael, Maria, Faith, Rath and Connor were sitting in the Guerin apartment, watching Braveheart. They were trying to make Connor feel more welcome to human society and discretely make him more amicable. The boys instantly bonded over the bloody, action flick. It seemed that no matter where you grew up, boys would love high body count movies.

Faith and Maria rolled their eyes as the guys cheered when the British attacked the Irish and Scottish. They would like that part. But they didn't mind. At least they got to watch Mel Gibson running around in a skirt. It was better than nothing.

As they were about to chop Mel Gibson's head off, there was a knock on the door. Maria hopped off the couch to answer it.

"Eddie!" she exclaimed. Michael's head snapped up.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as Maria led him inside.

"Riverdog sent me," he said, glancing around the room. "Hey, was there always two of you?"

They ignored his question. "What does he want?"

"I don't know. He just said to meet him in the cave tonight and to bring everybody, including your new friends."

"Okay- wait, how does he know we have new friends?" Michael asked suspiciously.

"Riverdog has his ways," Eddie said mysteriously, "I have to go. Meet at the cave at eight o'clock, okay? He'll be waiting."

With that Eddie walked out the door.

"Okay. What the hell's he talking about?" asked Faith.

**************************** *************************

At eight o'clock on the dot, two vans, a Jeep and a beat up red Jetta pulled up in front the Mesaliko Reservation. Their twenty-six occupants followed the original pod squad, Michael, Maria, Max, Liz, Alex and Isabel, on the long hike up to the cave. The cave was pitch black. They could barely see two feet in front of their faces. Suddenly, the front line, the original pod squad plus Kyle, felt cold stones in their hands. All seven stones lit up instantly, though two of them were dimmer. The rest of the group looked on in amazement at the bright blue light. An old Native American man stood in front of them. Behind him, was a bigger cave area with blue writing on the walls.

"Wow," Tara murmured, squeezing Willow's hand.

"Follow me," said Riverdog, calmly.

They followed him into the main cave room. It was pretty big and comfortably fit them all. Maria looked at the middle of the room, where there was a fire burning, where Michael lay dying and they had to do the healing ceremony. It was one of the scariest things they had to deal with. Michael wrapped his arm around Maria, sensing her thoughts.

'It'll be okay,' he said. 'I'm fine. It's never going to happen again.'

'It better not,' she answered, 'or I'll kill you.'

"What did you want to ask us?" asked Max, ever the leader.

Riverdog eyed the group of them. Eyes settling on each for a few seconds before moving to the next, different expressions passing through his wise eyes, but to fast to decipher.

"Nature has a balance," he began. "The sun shines in the day, but makes way for the moon at night. They share the sky sometimes, but always, there is a balance. The prey and the predator, there is always a balance."

The only person in the room that wasn't completely lost was Kyle. Buddha was probably good for something.

"When the scale tips, nature tries to rebalance it," he continued, "the scales have been tipped many times." River pulled out a small pouch and sat at one side of the fire. "Please sit around the fire." They all sat in a circle. He pulled out a handful of dust and blew it into the fire. The flame turned blue for a few seconds before returning to its natural red- orange colour. Riverdog then picked up a bowl, drank from it, then passed it to Michael, who was sitting beside him. The gang took turns drinking from the bowl until it returned to Riverdog. He took one last sip, then dipped his fingers into the liquid and sprinkled it in the fire. He began to chant with his eyes closed.

"What's he doing?" Buffy whispered to Willow. She shrugged and continued watching him.

Riverdog's eyes snapped open and he stood up, looking at them all. He moved to stand behind Buffy.

"You are the beginning," he said, placing his hands on her head. "You are good. You fight against the evil, but you lost once and you were taken. This is what was meant to be, but you returned and so there was extra good." He walked over to Faith. "This tipped the scales and therefore there had to be a greater evil. The evil ascended and took the extra good with it, tipping the balance again. The evil was killed and it was balanced." Faith gasped knowing he was talking about the mayor. "Then, there was a burst in good." He walked over to Cordelia and held his hand over her head. "One you remember."

"Doyle," Cordelia whispered. Riverdog nodded. Then walked over to Max and Liz.

"Another was brought back from death. The balance was upset again. Though to a lesser extent. It still needed to be fixed, though." He walked over to Willow. "Someone you remember. Someone who hurt you and you hurt back."

"Oz. But Oz wasn't evil. Usually," Willow said, "Plus he was there before."

"His mate was not." Willow looked down sadly. He meant Veruca. He walked over to Anya. "You too."

"Then the balance shifted again. You became good." He pointed to Willow. "Oz's mate died." He pointed to the Pod Squad. "The tormentor was killed."

Riverdog sat back in his place. "But some good was lost." He glanced at Cordelia. Doyle died.

"What does all this have to do with now?" asked Buffy.

"Patience, child," he said. Riverdog sprinkled some more dust into the fire, then stood up again. He walked over to Dawn. "You are energy, made to be hidden. Unnatural. This doesn't matter, though because you are neutral." He walked over to stand between Angel and Connor. "An evil was brought back to life." Darla. He walked back to the Pod Squad. "Old evil returned from a past." The Skins. He stood behind Michael. "But old good also returned." Courtney.

"So, it was still balanced?" Max asked.

"Yes, but then time was muddled with." He turned to Max and Liz. "This was the beginning of a huge imbalance that will hardly be fixed." He sat down again. "When your friend attempted to change the future, he ripped the very fabric of space and time and brought about things that should never have happened." He glanced at the Scooby Gang and then at Connor.

"You mean, like Glory?" Dawn asked, following what he was saying.

"Yes."

"When he travelled back in time, he upset the powers of the universe and she was able to escape the spell that trapped her," said Giles in a burst of knowledge. Riverdog smiled.

"And that's why two vampires were able to procreate? Because he meddled with the powers?" Wesley asked.

"Yes," he stated with a slight nod.

"Wow. And all because Max tried to save the world," Liz said in awe.

"So, if Future Max never came back, I would never be a Slayer," Maria said.

"Yes."

"Okay. Again. What does this have to do with now?"

"There is another imbalance. One that could mean the fate of humanity. Every new imbalance is bigger and bigger. This one is the biggest yet. Look around you at the size of the side of good. Imagine the side of evil. I am here to warn you of what is to come."

**************************** ************************

The gang was silent as they followed the old Native American back to the Reservation, Riverdog's words laying heavily on their minds. They may not have known it at the time, but with all their messing with fate and destiny, they brought more and more evil onto Earth. It was sort of their fault that they had this fight.

The only sounds on the Reservation were the chanting from the Sweat, the howling of distant coyotes and the crunch on rocks beneath their feet. The full moon hung above them in the sky, shining light into the dark night.

"There are some people that you should meet," Riverdog said as they neared a small house.

The house was cream with brown trimmings. There was a flowerbed under each of the windowsills. Plain blue curtains hung in all the windows. All the lights were on inside and they could here somebody shriek 'Danny!' from inside. Riverdog just chuckled and shook his head at that. The person was giggling like a maniac with Danny's deep chuckles following.

The gang followed Riverdog into the house. The inside was as homey as the outside looked. Warm cream walls greeted them, with various paintings adorning the surface.

"C'mon, Danny, stop it!" the person exclaimed between giggles as Riverdog led the gang into the living room. The room was relatively big. It had wall- to-wall thick, white carpet, with a Native American patterned rug in the middle. There were two floral couches and two armchairs in the centre of the room surrounding a dark wood coffee table. In front of the arrangement was a 25" TV. Rolling around on the floor next to the coffee table, were two bodies in the process of what seemed to be a tickle fight.

They looked up as Riverdog cleared his throat. Blushing when they noticed the guests, they stood up. Willow gasped.

"Children, this is my grand daughter, Serena, and her boyfriend, Daniel," Riverdog introduced.

"Hey, guys," Daniel said, slightly nervously.

"Oz?" Willow said in disbelief.

"Willow." Oz studied the carpet.

Serena looked back and forth between the two of them, then smiled brightly and stuck out her hand at Willow.

"Hi, you must be Willow. Danny's told me so much about you," Serena said, warmly, "So, this must be the whole Scooby Gang. There's more of you than I thought. Let me see if I can guess." She glanced at everybody, then selected the blonde on the right of Willow, holding her hand shyly. "You must be.Tara." She smiled shyly and nodded. "Okay. That takes out one blonde, so one of you is Anya and another is Buffy, but there's extra blondes here. Danny?" She playfully slapped his arm. "You left some people out."

"No, actually, I don't know some of these people," he said.

"Why doesn't everybody sit down and introduce themselves," Riverdog said, "I will bring drinks."

They all nodded and crowded into the living room. Bodies covered most of the square inches as people sat on chairs and on the soft carpet. Oz and Serena sat Indian style in front of the TV on the ground in front of the whole group.

"So, who's going to introduce?" asked Serena impatiently.

Buffy introduced everybody and explained their roles, except for the aliens; after all, they didn't know how much Riverdog told her.

"So, Oz how did you and Serena meet?" asked Cordelia.

"I left Sunnydale to learn how to control my wolf side, and I thought I did it, too, on my own, but when I came back, I turned again," he started. The Scooby Gang nodded. They remembered that. "Well, I decided to get as far away from there as I could, so I loaded up the van and headed for the east coast. But the van had other ideas."

*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*``*`*`*`

An old black van chugged its way through the desert of New Mexico. It was on the last leg of its life and would have to be put to sleep pretty soon.or at least it needed a good tune up to make it run for little longer.

"Come on, come on," he begged his old ride. "Please don't die."

He groaned as his van coughed, sputtered, then went into a coma. It looked like he was walking. He climbed out of the driver's seat and rustled around in the back, shoving whatever clean clothes he had into a small green duffel bag. Then, he picked up his guitar case and hopped out of the van. It was almost dusk. The last rays of the sun streaked across the sky, creating a sky of red and orange.

He patted his coat pocket, checking for his trusty stake, as he walked past the "Welcome to Roswell" sign. This may be the land of aliens, but nobody said there weren't any vampires.

`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*

"So I ended up walking down the highway for a couple of miles before I saw the reservation. I wandered in, you know, to find a phone."

`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*

It was dark, almost nine o'clock, and the Reservation was pretty silent except for the chanting from a tent. Oz stood still and sniffed the air. Somebody was coming. He spun around suddenly to become face to face with a young man who was looking at him suspiciously.

"You lost?" he asked, eyeing him up and down. Oz stood still under his gaze.

"No, my van died outside of town and I was wondering if you had a phone?" he asked. The man stared at him and didn't say anything.

"Fine, if you don't want to help, I'll walk," Oz said finally, turning to walk away. He walked right into a girl who was standing right behind him. He caught her before she fell.

She had dark brown, almost black eyes and long straight, dark brown hair. She was about his height with a small build.

"You can put me down, now," she said, amused because he was staring.

"Right, yeah," he stuttered. She laughed and stuck out her hand.

"Hi, I'm Serena."

"Daniel Osborne." They shook hands and that was history.

*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*

By then, Riverdog had returned with a tray of glasses and a jug of juice. He sat on the armchair they saved for him and listened as they told their story.

"So did you learn to control it?" Willow asked.

"Didn't you notice that it's a full moon tonight?" Oz asked. She shook her head. "Not keeping track since I've been gone, right?"

"How'd you do it?" asked Cordelia.

"Actually, Riverdog helped me."

*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*

Danny sat down on the couch in the small cream house, next to Serena. She had invited him to spend the night with them until he could go and get his car fixed in the morning. She assured him that her grandfather wouldn't mind at all.

Riverdog didn't return until late, at around eleven. The old man was covered in sweat from head to toe. He stared at him suspiciously as he entered the living room.

"Grandpa, this is Danny Osborne," Serena announced, "His car's busted so I told him he can stay here tonight. That's okay, right?" She batted her eyelashes at him hopefully. Riverdog looked from his grand daughter to the boy on the couch. He looked about 19 years old and looked harmless. But there was a hidden danger within him.

"There is a hidden animal within you," Riverdog stated, walking over to the couch, "you wish to control it."

Danny stared at him in shock. There was no way he could know he was a werewolf.

"The wolf," Riverdog continued, "is dangerous and vicious, but only until it is tamed."

Danny glanced nervously back at Serena, hoping that she wasn't freaked out. He really liked her and he didn't want to scare her off.

"I will help you control the beast," Riverdog stated, walking away, "And you can spend the night."

"How.?" Danny asked.

"Did he know you're a werewolf?" Serena finished, "Riverdog has his ways."

"Why aren't you scared?"

She shrugged. "Maybe I'm nuts."

*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*

"So, Riverdog taught me how to meditate and he did a bunch of rituals on me, and here I am," Oz said, wrapping an arm around Serena.

"And you never change?" asked Willow.

"Well, sometimes, but I have to be really pissed."

"That's so cool. I'm happy for you," Willow said, sincerely. Oz smiled at her.

***************************************