Oz shows up, meets Nina, and things get very hairy.

At half past six on Tuesday night, Nina walks into Angel's office. "Ready to go?"

"You bet. I suppose can put off these," he paused to see what they are, "employee evaluations until later." He stands up and walks towards her.

"We don't have to go out. We could stay in, like last night," she suggests with a smile.

"That was because I had a late meeting."

"You don't have to explain. I'm not complaining."

"I think it would be nice to go somewhere together. I'm not sure where. I've lived here now for almost five years, but this is actually my first date in this city."

"I suppose that's one of the upsides of immortality. You don't have to worry about squandering your youth," Nina says as they walk out the door into the lobby. He helps her with her coat, then puts his right arm around her shoulders.

"Boss? Boss? Is it okay for me to go home now?" Angel turns around.

"Harmony? What are you still doing here?"

"I decided to hang around. In case you needed me, Oz!?"

"What?," Angel asks. She's making less sense than usual.

"Oz! Great to see you. It's been so long!," she enthuses, glad to see any familiar face. Angel spins around to see Oz standing just in front of the elevator, looking incredibly confused.

"Since that night you tried to kill Willow." Oz looks at Angel for an explanation.

"Harmony is my secretary." Oz appears even more confused. "I wasn't in charge of hiring."

"Don't worry, Oz. I've changed." He looks at Angel again.

"Not like that. But we have an office policy against vampires drinking any human blood."

"I bet the other workers appreciate that," he comments with characteristic drollness. Oz looks around at the ten thousand square-foot, two stories-high space that is Angel's workplace. "Not as cozy as the last one."

"A lot's changed," Angel defensively explains. "I'm sure the same could be said for you." Oz thinks about this for a few seconds and shrugs.

"You can explain later. Or, not. I didn't come to chat."

"Some things do stay the same," Angel quips.

"I need help. I don't know who else to go to. There's this, this guy . . . " Oz loses his train of thought as he begins to stare at Nina.

"Is he trying to hurt you?," Angel asks. "Oh. Where are my manners. Oz, this is Nina. She's a werewolf. Which, I'm guessing you already know. Nina? Honey?" Now both of them are transfixed, staring at each other from fifteen feet away. He smells something strong and pungent is in the air. Then Angel looks horrified. "Pheromones?" Oz and Nina transform, leap at each other and fall to the ground. Harmony stands up and looks at the scene.

"She's trying to kill poor little Oz! No. She's, and he's . . . " Harmony puts her right hand to her mouth, gags and slowly backs away. "Ewww! Wolfy love! Hey! You two cut it out. I have to walk on that carpet every day. Angel, should I call security? We can't just . . . what if an important client walks in? This could be very embarrassing." Angel stands there, motionless, almost catatonic, his face even paler than usual. "I mean professionally embarrassing. Not personally embarrassing because your girlfriend is doing the nasty with — is she still your girlfriend when she's in wolfy form?" Angel pays no attention to Harmony. Some things haven't changed. "I'll call security." She runs back to her desk and picks up the phone. Most workers are gone for the day, and those still around and ensconced in their offices, so this event doesn't create a scene. "Hello. This is Harmony. We have two werewolves loose on the twenty fifth floor. Yes. Werewolves. Right outside your boss's office. Don't laugh at me. Look out the window? Why? They're right in front of me. Oh. It's not a full moon. Well tell that to them!!!" She hangs up in disgust. But the guard downstairs clicks on the monitor for Angel's lobby and sees what's happening. Within thirty seconds, a team of four commandos arrives, takes aim, fires, and puts two tranq darts in each of them. Their leader runs up to Angel.

"Sorry we're late, boss. Good to see you're not hurt. What do you want us to do?" Angel takes a couple seconds to snap out of it.

"Containment," he says, still recovering from the shock. "Separate cells."

"Of course. We don't want them tearing each other to pieces." The men shot before they looked long enough to figure out what was happening. But once they separate the two bodies, that becomes readily apparent. "Make sure you put the male on his back." The other men snicker. Angel retreats to his office. The werewolves are quickly wheeled away to a special elevator that leads to the underground detention facility. Angel sits down in his chair and stares at the wall. Gunn, Wes and Fred rush in, winded.

"We heard there was a code red," Wesley tells Angel. He just continues staring at the wall, not acknowledging his friends.

"Doesn't look like they did any damage," Fred notes.

"You must've killed 'em yourself before we got here," Gunn assumes.

"Angel?," Fred asks, trying to get his attention.

"She was taking me to an exhibit at the Getty."

"Oh dear Lord," Wesley declares. "Did something happen to Nina?"

Harmony barges in. "He's still got that look," she says with concern. "Poor guy."

"I only wish we coulda been here in time to stop it," Fred laments.

"How?," Harmony scoffs. "If Angel couldn't keep those two apart, how could any of you?"

"Which two?," Gunn asks.

"Let's take this outside," Harmony suggests. They look at Angel and realize this might be a good idea. Once they're outside, Harmony continues. "What are the odds of those two meeting? Talk about bad timing! Oz shows up right when Nina's leaving. Poor Angel."

"Oz?," Wesley asks. "From Sunnydale?"

"Lust at first sight. One moment he's making small talk with Angel. The next he's making whoopee with Angel's girlfriend. I wish I could get the awful image out of my head. All that fur."

"Of course," Wesley says to himself. "They're both werewolves. This sort of thing is known to happen."

"Full moon's not for more than a week," Fred reminds him.

"Good point."

"I tried telling that to the two of them, but they wouldn't listen," Harmony notes.

"Werewolves can go wolfy when there's not a full moon out?," Gunn asks.

"No. Of course not. It's impossible," Fred maintains.

"Unless a transformation is induced," Wesley points out.

"You'd need a ten thousand volt prod. And it would only work for a few seconds."

"I said it was disgusting. I didn't say it was kinky. They just changed."

"Entirely on their own?," Wesley asks.

"I heard Angel mutter something about fair-o-nomes right before it happened. What do those cute little garden elves have to do with any of this?"

"Pheromones," Fred says.

"You sayin' they were in heat?," Gunn asks, shaking his head. These were, after all, people they were talking about.

"Which would be perfectly normal behavior if they crossed paths while already in their werewolf forms," Wes explains. "They might feel a strong instinctive attraction as human beings, but lust in and of itself could not produce the energy needed to cause a transformation."

"Even if one of them hasn't gotten any for a really long time?," Harmony asks.

"Robert Louis Stevenson aside, sexual repression cannot turn a man into a monster," Wesley responds, referring to the creator of Jekyll and Hyde, though Angel might have taken it a bit more personally if he had heard it.

Downstairs, Oz wakes up. He sees the bars. "Oh no. Not again." Seems like every time the wolf comes out, he gets locked up. He tries to piece together what happened. Things are still a bit hazy. Angel. A blonde. She goes furry. Oz puts his hands to his face and shakes his head. "Real smart, Oswald," he whispers to himself. Angel's the one man who could save his life, and what does he do? He tries to mount his girlfriend. Then Oz stands up, leans against the concrete wall at the back of the cell and mulls over the details. Angel has a girlfriend? Things certainly have changed.

Nina wakes up and lets out a few high-pitched screams. She curls up in the back corner of her cell and starts sobbing. Oz walks forward to the bars and turns to the right, towards Nina. Their cells are separated by a foot of concrete. But she should be able to easily hear him through the front bars. "Hello? Is that you?" He tries very hard to remember her name. "Nina? Nina, it's Oz. We sort of met."

"What have I done? What am I doing here?," she asks herself.

"You know you're a werewolf, right?" She stands up, rushes towards the bars and looks to her left.

"Where's the goddam full moon? It's not that time of the month yet."

"You're right," Oz responds. "I had forgotten. It's been so long for me."

"That's not funny. Cut the sarcasm." Her fear has turned to anger. The glib cell mate isn't helping matters.

"No sarcasm. I've been wolf-free for close to four years. Well, I had been."

"It's not something you can get rid of."

"True. But I learned to control it. How long have you been?"

"Eight months."

"Rookie," he kids. "Six-and-a-half. Years." He pauses to evaluate the situation. "Is this where you usually go?"

"Usually by choice," she laments.

"I did that for about two years. Then some, stuff, happened, and I realized that was just a short-term fix. I had to come to terms with the wolf part of me, and learn to understand it."

"That's how you stopped changing?," Nina asks incredulously. "That's all?"

"It took a few months. And a few thousand miles." Nina laughs.

"Let me guess: you went up the mountain top and saw some swami in Nepal who taught you how to meditate."

"Actually, it was Tibet," a chagrined Oz replies. "Does it really sound that cheesy?"

"Guess now you'll need to come up with a better story."

"Can't. It's the truth. About six months later, I came home to see my ex-girlfriend. I was planning on us getting back together. Till I met her new girlfriend."

After a few seconds, Nina starts giggling. Oz couldn't possibly feel any more emasculated. "I'm sorry. That must've been a shock. I can only imagine . . ." She tries to imagine Angel leaving her for another guy. "Okay. I can't imagine."

"The wolf came out. I tried to attack her. During the day."

"So you're like a vampire," Nina concludes.

"How so?"

"Their fangs come out when they're angry. Or, when they want them to come out. If what you're saying's really true, and I'm still far from buying all of it, you can control when the werewolf comes out."

"No. It's completely not voluntary. They're not going to do experiments on me?"

"No. Why do you think they would?"

"The last time this happened - "

"When you found out your ex was gay."

"That's not why! I'm sure I would've done the same thing if her new lover was a guy."

"No you wouldn't. You're a man."

"I was shot before I could hurt her. When I woke up, I was in an underground lab, surrounded by soldiers."

"Aren't you from Sunnydale? Sounds more like Roswell to me. Angel didn't say anything about soldiers."

"They came after he left. What did Angel tell you about Sunnydale?"

"Hellmouth. Saving the world. Sixty foot snake."

"Buffy?"

"You mean the girl he dated?"

"The girl he . . . dated. Angel has a way with understatement, but that, that's like saying Romeo and Juliet saw each other at a few parties."

"Is this about the Curse? I know about the Curse."

"Interesting. And you don't mind?"

"That is none of your business!"

"You're right."

"We have slept together."

"Talk about learning control."

"But it's none of your business. I don't even know you! You don't have a right to quiz me about my sex life just because we - " Nina backs up, puts her right hand to her heart and takes a deep breath. "- oh God. Ohhh God. What have I done?" she slowly sinks to the floor.

"Angel was never the vengeful type back when I knew him. Is that still the case?" He realizes Nina's in somewhat of the same position he was in after Veruca showed up. Which puts Oz in Veruca's position. He slowly backs up to the middle of his cage. "I'm starting to feel okay with these bars." What a few minutes ago had protected the world from Oz now protects Oz from Angel.

Upstairs, Angel turns on the monitor. "They've changed back." He turns it off.

"It's only been," Wes glances at his watch, "barely more than two hours."

"So this was a brief, temporary episode," Fred concludes. "Like when Angel turned into that green thing back in Pylea." She looks worried. "I hope it can't recur like that green thing almost did." Gunn, Fred and Wes follow Angel. He turns around.

"I'm going alone." Spike runs up.

"Here you are. What's the story? Big beastie you don't want to risk the humans against? Count me in for the fight." Angel pushes Spike back, then turns around and continues on his way. "What's wrong with him, today?," Spike asks the others.

Oz and Nina hear footsteps. Then they see Angel. Oz tries to cover up his nakedness Angel averts his eyes and tosses Oz a bathrobe. He glances at Nina, who turns around, embarrassed. The sight of her naked body only reminds him of the sight of Oz naked, which makes him think of the two of them together, naked, without fur. He hands Nina her robe and purges that awful image from his mind. Everyone's silent for ten seconds. Angel paces back and forth. Then he walks over to Oz.

"Angel, I, uh, I value our friendship, and I would never do anything to hurt or, humiliate - "

"Why are you here?" Oz pauses for a few seconds.

"I got a bit rambunctious."

"I meant, why did you come here today?"

"Someone's after me."

"Who?"

"Werewolf hunter by the name of Ezra Collins. More of a werewolf trainer. He's got this drug, or potion, I'm not sure which. But after he shoots them up with it, they stay wolves. Then he trains them and sells the werewolves off to whoever wants a giant human pit bull."

"Is he in LA?," Nina asks, worried about her own safety.

"I lost him in Monterey. Greg, he wasn't so lucky. Could have just as easily been me."

"We'll look this guy up," Angel promises. "Evil bastard like that, he might even be a client."

"That makes me feel better. By the way Nina, that's what I sound like when I'm being sarcastic."

"I'll find him before he finds you, Oz. You're safe." Angel unlocks the cage.

"From Ezra, maybe." It takes Angel a few seconds to realize that Oz actually fears that he harbors some sort of jealous rage towards him. To Angel, that's utterly ridiculous.

"I don't blame you for what happened. Not even a bit." Angel looks sincere enough, so Oz leaves the cage. "There are some clothes at the top of the stairs. Take what you like. Then you can head back upstairs." He walks away. "Oz." He turns around to look at Angel. "I know it wasn't your fault."

"Has to be someone's," Oz replies with a shrug before heading upstairs. Angel unlocks Nina's cage. She slowly walks out, but resists making eye contact.

"Remember when you tried to eat me when I was a puppet?"

"This hurts even more? Is that what you want to tell me?"

"No!" He grabs her shoulders and makes her look at him. "Nina, listen to me. I didn't hold that against you for one second."

"Course not. You like girls who try to kill you," she quips. "It's something of a turn-on for you."

"No it's not."

"The next time we met, you asked me out. Before then, you didn't want to date. I try to kill you, you have a change of heart."

"I do NOT like women who try to kill me." Nina smirks. "Okay, but I don't like them BECAUSE they try to kill me. You've got the wrong vampire," he jokes, referring to Spike. "You can't be held responsible for what you do when you're a wolf. I'm not angry about what happened up there."

Nina gets a sour look on her face and pushes Angel away. "Well that's depressing. What's wrong, Angel?," she asks with a smile. "You like a girl, you're supposed to get jealous when you see her in the arms of another man. Even if he, isn't exactly a man at the time."

"I was devastated. Crushed. I felt humiliated. Is that what you needed to hear?"

"It's a start." He's glad she can be at least a little playful about this.

"But I got over it. I care about you too much to let something like this get between us." They kiss, then hug. Nina rests her head against his chest and smiles. "It's not like you want him more than me when you're human."

Oz puts on black jeans, a gray t-shirt and a black pair of Converse sneakers, then returns to the office, where Gunn, Wes and Fred are waiting. Along with Harmony, Spike and Lorne. Once again, Oz looks confused. "You want other clothes?," Fred asks.

"We can order you something. It'll be here in five minutes," Gunn adds.

"No. Odd how everything was in my size. Oddly, perfect. Like a lot of other things here. Except for him. What's he doing here?"

"I have a soul. I'm a champion. I help people."

"He saved my life a few months back," Fred offers.

"And I closed the Hellmouth," Spike proudly reports. "Saved the world."

"And I thought it was done by a big, huge bomb. Blow up the school. Blow up the town. It's only a matter of degree. Where are Buffy and Willow these days?"

"Buffy's in Rome. Willow's in Brazil with her girlfriend."

"Tara?"

"Kennedy. Tara's dead."

"Oh. That's too bad. Must have been real hard on Willow."

"You don't want to know how hard," Wes suggests.

"If you say so."

"Kennedy's a Slayer," Harmony reports. "It's a big thing. Everyone's into Slayers. There are like hundreds of them now. A big global Slayer infection."

"But Buffy's still alive."

"Faith, too," Wes responds.

"Buffy wus dead," Spike mentions. "For about four months."

"A lot can happen in four years," Oz offers in summary.

"Tell me about it," Harmony begins. "Spikey and me break up, I don't see him for two years, and when I finally do, I find out he's been busy sharing his bed with Buffy." Oz looks a little nauseous.

"Just so I know, did the rest of you understand A lot can happen in four years' to mean Let's drop the subject'?" Wes, Gunn, Fred and Lorne nod. Spike feels dissed. Oz catches sight of Lorne. "I don't think we've met."

"Lorne. Long-time friend and loyal member of Team Angel."

"Don't worry. He's harmless," Harmony tells Oz, offending Lorne, since harmless' can also mean helpless.' "He can read people's thoughts when they sing. Learn their problems. See their future." Oz winces.

"Guess you stay away from kareoke bars."

"Stay away? I used to own one!"

"I don't envy you." Lorne is actually glad to meet someone who sees his powers as a burden and a responsibility, not an amusing parlor trick. "What about when people play instruments? I play guitar, and it's scary to think there could be someone out in the crowd reading my thoughts."

"You're a professional musician!," Lorne enthuses.

"No, uh, not even close," Oz bashfully replies. "Sometimes we get paid, but I always think of it as pity money. People feeling sorry for us because we have no actual talent."

"Are you living in the area?," Lorne asks. "Because I've been thinking of getting back out on stage, hitting the supper clubs and cabarets, and I'm looking for a guitarist who's not put off by a green demon."

"My plans are kind of up-in-the-air right now."

"Would you mind going to the lab?," Fred kindly asks. Oz gets massively wigged.

"Not sure. Why?"

"I'd like to do some tests."

"On me? See, being the lab rat — not so much fun."

"Just wanna get your vital signs. Maybe take a small blood sample."

"It's not like she'll make you turn your head and cough," Spike jokes, until he, Gunn and Wesley all realize that doesn't sound so bad when Fred's the doc.

"Wouldn't you like to know why you became a werewolf when there wasn't even a full moon out?," Wesley asks.

"I got excited."

"In a manner of speaking, yes. But that's hardly an adequate explanation."

"I don't change during full moons."

"How?"

"I don't get excited," Oz replies somewhat uncooperatively. He has lingering doubts about Wesley.

"That's it!," Fred exclaims. "You repress all that energy, and sooner or later you're bound to explode."

"The three nights of the full moon act as a safety valve for animal energy," Wes adds.

"Not quite buying," Oz responds. "It's been four years since I last changed. How long was I the wolf?"

"Two hours," Wesley reports.

"If it's repression, and I've repressed' for four years, shouldn't I stay unrepressed' a little longer?"

"Has this happened before?," Fred asks. "Ah mean, since you went off the clock,' so to speak."

"I told you. It happened four years ago. By then, I'd already gone three full moon cycles without changing."

"This wus when I rescued you from the Initiative." Oz gives Spike a dubious look. "You thought it wus the Scoobies. But without me, Buffy never would've gotten in the door."

Oz looks at Wes, Fred and Gunn. "The last I was in Los Angeles, Spike was torturing Angel." Fred looks at Spike, disappointed.

"I had my reasons."

"The first time you went wolfy without warning, why?," Gunn asks. The Gilbert and Sullivan they put in his brain causes him to occasionally unintentionally alliterate.

"Met my girlfriend's girlfriend." Lorne, Gunn and Wes all take a deep breath and empathize with his pain.

"So it's all about sex," Harmony decides. "You wanted to jump Nina's bones, so you did."

"No I didn't. Okay, I did, but I didn't want to. When I was me."

"Have you met many female werewolves?," Wes asks.

"Not since I stopped changing during full moons," he responds truthfully but evasively.

"So this was the first chance for your desire, your - " Wes pauses.

"Sicko wolfy lust?," Harmony offers.

"I'm not attracted to her. I don't even think she's really my type."

"This still doesn't explain Nina's transformation," Fred notes to Wes.

"The sicko wolfy lust went both ways," Harmony explains.

"Maybe it was a simple defensive reaction," Gunn theorizes. "She doesn't change, Oz could rip her apart."

"I was here, and trust me, she wasn't defending herself," Harmony reports. "Those two were getting freaky, and it was very mutual."

"Maybe," Oz concedes. "But that's the wolf. Not the human. The human in her probably never wants to see me again." The elevator opens. Nina and Angel step out. Oz gets nervous.

"Oz. Oz?," Nina asks in a friendly voice. He looks at her. "How does lunch sound?"

"It's eight at night." She giggles at his dry sense of humor.

"Let's do lunch tomorrow. So we can talk about, you know, wolf stuff."

"Okay."

"Here's my number. Call around eleven? Then we'll decide where to meet."

"Sure." Angel gets what he wanted from his office and walks back out to Nina. "We're heading out. You told them about the guy they had to research, didn't you Oz?" The elevator opens. They get in. Oz is stunned by Nina's friendliness. Spike is delighted at the thought of Angel playing the clueless cuckold.

"Maybe the two of them have an understanding," he insinuates, though nobody's paying attention to him.

"What guy?," Fred asks. "Oz?" He stops thinking about Nina.

"Ezra Collins."

"Ez!," Lorne shouts. "About six feet tall, white hair, early forties?"

"You're not one of his clients?," Oz asks nervously.

"Ez has clients?"

"Customers, at least. For the werewolves he buys and sells."

"That's horrible!," Fred exclaims. "Lorne, why do you know such a horrible man?"

"We all know plenty of horrible men," Wes reminds her.

"Haven't seen the guy in two years. He used to hang around Caritas. Luckless hustler. Always concocting get-rich-quick schemes that fizzled before he had dollar one in his hands."

"Things have changed," Oz remarks. "This guy's got money, connections."

"Then he shouldn't be too hard for us to find," Gunn promises. He heads off with Wes and Fred. Spike tags along.

"You do research now?," Oz asks him.

"Wanna know what he looks like, where he hides out. That way, I can hunt him down and kill him." Spike starts walking again. Oz stands there for a moment.

"How exactly has getting a soul changed you?," he asks before catching up with Wes, Fred and Gunn. This leaves Harmony all alone.

"I'm heading out now. Unless you need me. Which, of course, you don't."

NEXT: Harmony tries to fulfill her desire to feel useful by joining Devlin and his gang of vampire-killing vampires. But they're more worried about the imminent mass Slayer assault.