It was finally over. Willow had known for months but had been postponing the inevitable. Kennedy had decided to stay as the Councils contact in Brazil, allowing Willow to act as a roaming agent following up leads on supernatural occurrences all over the world.
Willow's latest assignment had taken her to Vienna, a city she'd always wanted to visit, to follow up on some Vampire attacks that had been reported from the city. The main attacks had happened near St. Stephans Cathedral, what was it with Vampires and Gothic structures, and Giles thought it was a possibility they were using catacombs beneath the Cathedral for access to the surrounding areas.
So Willow went, leaving her former lover in Brazil, ready to move on with her life and to help re-build the watchers council and make it the respectable institution that Giles had always hoped it could be.
Willow had arrived in Vienna during daylight hours and after checking in with Giles had decided to take a wander round theSchoenbrunn palace park before starting her investigations. Lost in her own thoughts as she admired the flowers of the gardens she heard a voice that shook her out of her reverie.
"I wouldn't go that way. That's where the wild roses grow."
Willow turned round, needing to make sure that the voice belonged to the face that she hoped it did.
"I know it's not Istanbul, and your hair's still red, but, here we are. Turned the corner and there you were." Oz told her, a sly grin on his face as he tilted his head slightly.
"Oz. I. You. What are you doing here?" Willow finally managed to ask as she threw her arms round him in a hug that made it hard for Oz to breath, but he finally managed to extract himself.
"Probably the same reason you are." He answered. "There's a vampire nest in the city needs taking out."
They slowly started walking round the gardens as they talked about why they were there, not really ready to talk about anything else.
"How do you know?" Willow asked, still finding it difficult to believe that Oz was in the same city as her, never mind walking beside her. "It takes the council all it's time to try and keep up with the Vampire sightings. And nearly every time someone gets there, there's no sign of any Vamp activity. There's usually a nest left, but no Vamps. It's almost as if they know we're coming." Willow babbled, not letting Oz answer her original question.
"I, err, have contacts." Oz answered in his usual cryptic style. "One of the fringe benefits of being a Were I suppose." He added as way of an explanation. "And it seems a good use of my abilities to hunt down any Vamps I hear about." Oz frowned slightly, wondering how much to tell Willow. He had loved Willow once, with all the passion he'd had, but she seemed to be working for the Watcher's council now, an institution he'd never really trusted.
"So uhh, you're working with the Watcher's council now? Didn't they become kind of redundant after Buffy resigned?" Oz opted to ask instead, feeling his way round Willow.
Willow smiled at Oz, there was so much that had happened, so much that he didn't know. "It's a long story, too long for now. But Giles is in charge now and we're basically having to rebuild it from the ground up. We need everyone we can get, if you're serious about wanting to hunt down the vampires we hear about you'd be very welcome." Willow stopped herself before she continued, considering her words carefully. "Plus I wouldn't mind having you around for a bit." Willow smiled at Oz as she said this, and felt her heart skip as she saw the same smile returned from Oz.
"I don't know Will, I really don't want to commit to anything long term, but I guess I can stick around for now."
Darkness fell upon the Vienna skyline while Willow and Oz waited for any signs of Vamp activity while trying to look as innocuous as every other tourist still wandering outside the Cathedral. During the afternoon they'd talked, Willow filing Oz in on nearly everything that had happened in, and to, Sunnydale since he'd left, including Tara's death. A subject she still found difficult to talk about, but with Oz it all just seemed to tumble before she really knew that she'd said it.
In return, Oz had told her about his life since he'd left. The nomadic lifestyle he'd kept up, trying to fight the fight in his own way wherever and whenever he found the need to, gaining himself a reputation amongst the evil beings that inhabited the underside of the world that they lived in. A reputation he'd been able to use in gaining information from any unfortunate who'd managed to cross his path.
He'd never stayed in any place too long, which is why the idea of working with the council had held no real interest for him, but after Willow explained that he would most likely be used as an operative to travel the world following up on any Vampire sightings that had been reported to the Council. Plus it would be good to catch up with everybody and would be nice to see some friendly faces for a change.
Two hours in and still no Vamp activity had surfaced. Willow was now thinking that this had been another wild goose chase. It had seemed rather far fetched that the Vampires would be using the catacombs underneath the Cathedral as a base anyway as she assumed that even the ground underneath the Cathedral would be considered a place of God and no ordinary Vampires would go near the place.
"This looks like another bust." Willow eventually said, trying to break the silence between them.
"Looks like." Oz answered. "The night's still young though. There's still time yet."
"All the sightings have taken place in the early evening, just after the sun has gone down, according to the information that Giles gave me when he phoned." Willow retorted as her thoughts started drifting towards home. Home, she thought. She no longer knew where home was. Willow supposed she would head to London tomorrow or the day after. Take Oz with her, make sure he got council clearance and went through the 'proper' channels. Giles had been adamant that the new council would do things right from the start and this was one thing she knew he wouldn't relent on.
"I'm going to head back to my hotel." Willow started. "We can search the catacombs tomorrow to see if there's any traces of Vampires and then I'm going to head to London. I want you to come with me."
Oz grinned. "To the hotel or to London?" He asked.
Willow took a moment before answering, knowing that she didn't really have a choice. She wanted to be with Oz now, whether just for the comfort she knew he could provide, or as a rebound from Kennedy. Or maybe, she thought to herself wistfully, just maybe it could become what it once was. What she'd always hoped it could be until he'd left and Tara had come into her life.
"Both Oz. I need you right now. I can't promise that I'll want to stay with you, but tonight I need you." She told him before kissing him then leading him back to her hotel.