Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize from the shows aren't mine. Flidhais, though, is mine (kind of), as well as anyone else I've mentioned in previous parts!

Author's Note: I swear my Muses are still trying to make-up for their delinquency.

Twilight Unicorn: The Vampiric Unicorn (who went half-deaf from a Wicked Tinkers concert Friday night (imagine a four-man team playing drums, bagpipes and a didgeridoo as loud and as creatively as possible))

Part 17

Sunnydale: Willow and Tara's Apartment, 9am, Day 6

Willow nervously opened the door to see Oz standing there with a backpack and a guitar case slung over one shoulder. As Willow stepped aside, the werewolf nodded and slowly walked inside, his eyes quickly scanning his surroundings while sniffing the air. He followed the Wiccan into the living room and sat down on the couch that she gestured to.

"Can I get you anything, Oz," Willow asked, fidgeting.

"Nah, I'm good," Oz answered as he slipped his backpack and guitar to the floor.

Smiling half-heartedly, the Wiccan said, "Then I'll, uh, go get Tara, k?"

Oz nodded his agreement, and Willow left the room. While he waited, a sleek black cat nonchalantly strolled into the room, paused for a moment to wipe its face with a paw, then jumped on top of the coffee table in front of him. Oz leaned forward to get a closer look to find intelligent gold eyes gazing back at him. Extending a hand, he allowed the cat to sniff him. After a moment, the cat gave a deep rumbling purr and rubbed against his hand. Smiling serenely, he scratched the feline behind the ears and under the chin. With a faint mew, the cat leapt onto his lap, rested its forepaws on his chest as he leaned back, and head-butted him.

A surprised gasp made Oz look up to see Willow and Tara in the room, both staring astonished at the black cat in his lap.

Speaking past her shock, Willow asked, "How'd you get Blackgold to do that, Oz? He won't let anyone near him but me and Tara."

The werewolf shrugged while he watched the cat sprawl across his lap – belly exposed and still purring loudly –, and said, "Don't know. Usually don't get this reaction from cats." He paused, looking back up from the cat he was petting to stare intensely at the two women. "This' your guys' familiar, isn't it?"

"How can you tell," Tara asked quietly.

Oz shrugged again, then said, "Since I became a werewolf, I can sense magic…even sometimes smell and taste it in the air. This cat: I can feel, smell, and taste the magic coming off of it. Where'd you get him?"

Willow came further into the room and sat down in a chair opposite Oz, and supplied, "We lost our last familiar in a cat fight about one year ago. A week after Miss Kitty Fantastico was killed, Blackgold showed up. We found an instant rapport with him."

"Although," Tara admitted as she went and sat down by Willow on the floor, "we can't seem to hear him clearly when he talks to us, like we could with Miss Kitty."

"Huh," was all the werewolf said, then watched as Blackgold jumped down off his lap, slipped under the coffee table, and into Tara's arms. As he looked up to gaze at Willow, his eyes caught Tara's for a moment, before she looked away. His brow was slightly furrowed when his gaze finally locked with Willow's.

The red-haired Wiccan drew in a deep breath, and then asked what had been on her mind since last night, "Why have you come back, Oz?"

Oz leaned forward, then said, "I've had time to think since we last met. I've also had some stuff happen…. The wolf's no longer in me, but I can still shapeshift."

Willow suddenly sat up straighter, eyes wide, and asked in shock, "What? How?"

"I was traveling through Ireland," Oz explained, "sight-seeing, when I ran across a pretty strange cave…."

One Year Ago

The werewolf gazed at the cave – studying the runes outlining the entrance –, and wondered why he had been drawn here. He felt a strong pull to reach out and touch the runes…and did so. The etchings tingled with dark power as they glowed a dusky red – like freshly drawn blood –. The wolf within him shuddered.

He drew back his hand as he heard a voice – as though from a great distance – within his mind. "Help me."

Oz looked around, but saw no one, so thought to the voice he had heard, "Who are you?"

Weakly yet firmly, did the reply come. "I am Flidhais. I am known as a goddess in this land and realm. Shapeshifter, I need your help."

"In what way?"

The werewolf took a step back as he felt a flare of pure power rush towards him – to be stopped within the cave entrance before reaching him –, and watched as the runes glowed more brightly for a moment.

"I am trapped within this cave!" came the frustrated and despairing answer. "For three thousand years have I been here, unable to leave this realm to return to my own dimension. If I remain here much longer, I will perish. For that which traps me here drains me, and uses mine own power to keep me here."

"Why haven't you been freed before now? Three thousand years is a long time," Oz asked and commented curiously.

"I cannot free myself, another must do so. As well, they who wrongly ensnared me here cast a strong illusion upon this place. None but shapeshifters can find and see my prison. Only upon the night of a blue moon do I have the strength to use my powers to call a shapeshifter to me. None have ever been close enough to answer my call…until now. Wilt thou aide me and release me from mine imprisonment?"

"How can I believe you," Oz called out loud. "I've known deception before from another who needed help."

He heard weak laughter from Flidhais, before she spoke again. "My call chose well the one who would free me. Very well. Thou dost desire proof of the sincerity of mine words, and proof ye shall have!"

Oz gazed about uneasily as the plants around him shivered…yet no wind blew through them. As he instinctively looked up, the clouds that had obscured the full moon shifted, revealing the pale orb in the sky.

"Look within this den, but come no closer until ye have made thy choice. Look then upon me, my son, and know who I am; for all shapeshifters dream of me, and know my form."

He looked and his breath froze in wonder and horror.

A young woman of exquisite pale beauty lay on her side facing him, still and unmoving upon the floor of the cave, her eyes closed. She seemed like a statue of tragic life of an age long past. The hand resting near her face spasmed for a second as she drew in an air-starved breath. With pain-staking slowness, her eyes opened, revealing slitted pupils within large silver iris'. With infinite care, she arose to a half-sitting position, panting for breath from simply moving. Long wan yellow hair obscured her face until she moved it. She turned her gaze fully to the werewolf to reveal a fey and feral face.

In a voice that twined the essence of an animal given human speech with the essence of pure power, Flidhais said out loud in a whisper that seemed to fill the cave and echo through the air, "Behold, shapeshifter, I am Flidhais: the mother of all shapeshifters. Goddess of the forests and all wild beasts of nature. See me and recognize me!"

The werewolf fell to his knees, shaking. In a voice that trembled, Oz said numbly, "I know you."

Closing her eyes once more while bowing her head, the goddess asked, "Then thou shalt aid me?"

Drawing in a shuddering breath, Oz said, "Yes. What must I do?"

Flidhais sagged to the floor in utter relief, before replying quietly, "Thou must place thy blood upon each of the markings about the entrance – in this manner: sunrise to sunset –, then thou must walk through to me."

As Oz removed his backpack and grabbed the knife he had, he asked, "What's the catch to me doing this? Undoing a spell that can hold a goddess has to have a drawback when it's not the original castor doing it."

Smiling knowingly, the goddess commented, "Wise are you to ask such. Indeed, there is disadvantage to undoing this spell of confinement. The one who breaks the spell will experience unendurable pain, and vividly relive their life in a matter of a second—the time it takes to cross the threshold of this cavern."

Standing, he asked, "I won't die?"

Shaking her head, Flidhais simply answered, "No."

Nodding, Oz stood and drew the knife across the palm of his right hand. Starting on the right side, Oz carefully placed his blood over each rune. When the last marking had been covered, they glowed blue, then silver. Drawing in a deep breath to steady himself, the werewolf stepped past the threshold.

Pain unlike anything he had ever known consumed his body. As he stood suspended in time, all that he had experienced in life seared through his mind. In desperation, his heart reached out to what he held dearest to fortify himself, and finished walking into the cave. His breathing jagged, the werewolf collapsed to the floor as he felt the spell break in a rush of power and dazzling silver light.

The goddess cried out in relief and joy while swiftly rising to her feet in sudden strength, a glow as luminous as the moon about her form.

"At last," she laughed ecstatically, "I am free!"

Flidhais stared hungrily at the entrance of the cave, then turned to gaze down gratefully at Oz. Kneeling beside the werewolf, the goddess gently laid a hand on his back. Leaning forward, she said compassionately, "Thou hast given me my freedom once more, shapeshifter. Through this act, thou hast shown unto me thy life. Sorrowing hardships hast thou endured since thy changing. As the mother of what thou art, I give thee thy freedom. No more will thou be harrowed by the shifting of the moon's face. I give unto thee the choosing of your shifting. Man-wolf and wolf thou mayst become. I cast out the feral spirit from within thee, and give unto thee utter control of thy animal forms. The senses thou hast known since thy changing shalt thou keep.

"I do name thee my champion, and say unto thee that shouldst thou ever need mine aid I will give thee it. Call forth my name, and I will come. Aid do I give now, so that thou mayst know peace. I have seen the yearning of thy heart, and give unto thee a gift…but only by being near thy love will this gift be revealed. Go then, and seek forth thy heart's desire."

Present Day

"After that, I traveled a bit more to learn and understand what had been done to me. And now I've come back with a proposition that I hope all three of us can agree on," Oz concluded explaining.

A wondering and contemplative silence fell for several long moments, then Tara stirred, and asked, "What's this proposition?"

Oz looked down for a few seconds, let out a gusty sigh, looked back up, and said while gazing at the red-haired Wiccan, "I'm not asking to become your boyfriend again, Willow. I would just like to be able to be near you again…. And I think that if I see you and Tara together more often, I'll be able to let go my longings to be with you to some extent."

"Not completely," Willow asked softly, her eyes troubled.

He shook his head, then clarified, "I can't do that. What I am doesn't allow it. The wolf-side of me won't ever take another as mate."

"I thought you said the wolf's gone?"

Sitting forward, Oz explained, "It is, but I did a little checking on my family's lineage, and found out that we were once born shapeshifters. The wolf's a natural part of my family. It was only about three generations ago that we went from being natural-born to being were. The blood was too thin. With the goddess' aid, I've been given back fully what was lost to my family."

Another silence fell, then Willow looked down at the fair-haired woman sitting at her feet, and asked, "What do you think, Tara? I'd like to try this, but are you willing to give it a shot, too?"

"I suppose," the natural-born witch said slowly, her face and voice showing clearly her uncertainty about what she should do.

"You don't need to make a decision right now," Oz said, for the first time directly addressing Tara. He then suggested, "How about we do a trial run of say…a month, and see what happens. If you feel it won't work after that time, I'll leave to never return again. But if you think we can handle it after the trial period, I'll stay."

"Will I have the chance – even if I've said yes – to say it's not working," Tara asked.

"Yes," Oz said in agreement, then glanced at the other woman. "This goes for you as well, Willow. I want you to be happy. Whatever it takes to make this work, I'll do it."

Willow nodded her understanding, then said bracingly as she leaned forward, "Well, if we're going to do this, we might as well start now. Where are you staying, Oz?"

The werewolf shrugged, then said, "Don't really have a place yet. I stayed in wolf form in the woods last night, reacquainting myself with the territory. Rave joined me for awhile when I was near Angel's old place. He said if I wanted, I could probably stay there with him and the others."

"You know Rave," Willow asked, startled.

"Yeah, I met him and Eve before she got injured," Oz explained. "He gave me some info on what's going on around here, but not all of it from what I could sense."

"What do you know," Tara inquired.

Flicking his gazed to the fair-haired woman, he answered, "He said demons are trying to overrun this place for some dark purpose, a new Slayer is coming to town, and something about Anya having a baby. He also hinted that they were all connected in some way?"

Willow grimaced, then said, "Yeah, you got the extremely abbreviated version alright." She stood, and started to head out of the room, saying over her shoulder, "This is going to take some explaining, Oz. Why don't we all go into the kitchen and get something to eat and drink while we talk about this? I have a feeling you haven't eaten breakfast either this morning."

Sunnydale: Willow and Tara's Apartment, 3pm, Day 6

Several plates, some wine glasses, and an empty wine bottle lay on the living room table. The air about the room was that of relaxation. Willow and Tara were sprawled out on the couch, while Oz lay on his back on the floor. No one was talking, yet there was no need for such activity in this atmosphere.

After a time, Willow said tranquilly, "So we'll go over to the mansion in a little bit, and talk to Gunn and the others about you staying with them."

"Hmmhmm," came Oz's agreement. "And I'll contact my friend and see if he wants to come here and help out."

"That mansion's going to get pretty crowded," Tara commented thoughtfully.

"Well, if need be, Rave and I can take our animal forms to sleep in front of the fireplace," Oz said.

"True," came Willow's reply just as the phone rang. Stretching and reaching behind her, she snagged the handset. On the third ring she pressed the On button, and said, "Hello, this is Willow speaking." An attentive silence fell on the others as the red-haired Wiccan sat up suddenly in clear alarm. "What? Now? But, but she's not supposed to do this for two more weeks! (pause) Yes, of course we'll be right there. We'll see you in a few."

Willow placed the phone back in its cradle and turned a troubled and stunned expression to the other two in the room. The shock clear in her voice, she said, "Anya's in labor."

Sunnydale: Sunnydale Hospital, 3:30pm, Day 6

Willow and Tara rushed into the hospital lobby, quickly scanning their surroundings for familiar faces to see Giles and Whistler standing in one corner having a heated yet quiet conversation, while Gunn, the twins, Rave, and Eve stood nearby watching the argument. The two Wiccans made their way over to the group, Oz slowly trailing behind. Once with the others, Willow asked breathlessly, "Where's Xander?"

Breaking off their discussion, Giles looked at Willow and answered in a slightly strained voice, "He's with Anya, making sure she's as comfortable as he can make her."

"What's going on here," Tara asked as she adjusted the strap of the bag she was carrying on her shoulder.

"The Messenger here is saying he's going to get reinforcements for us," Rave supplied in his unique way, "But Giles wants to know who Whistler's getting, and the Messenger's not talking."

"How can I tell him what I don't know," Whistler said in exasperation. "All I know is that the Powers want me to go to a certain place, pick up whoever's there, and bring them back here. I'm not all-knowing, people, I just seem like it, ok!" He abruptly shook his head as though clearing it. "That's it, I'm gone. We have a small time period where the other side won't react. I need to get those people here before that time's up. I'll see you all later." He started to walk away, then turned back and looked at Oz. "Oh yeah: werewolf, call your friend, he'll come."

As Whistler left the hospital, everyone looked at Oz. The werewolf nodded his head, and said, "Hey."

Quickly taking off his glasses, Giles said as he fiddled with them, "Oz, what, uh, what brings you here?"

Shrugging nonchalantly, the werewolf answered, "Personal matters, and I wanted to come home."

"Oz came to see us, and will be staying for a month, if not longer," Willow supplied as she adjusted the bag she held on her own shoulder. "It depends on how things go."

Several sets of eyebrows rose at those words, but no one commented. Eve rolled her eyes, then pressed a hand against her stomach, saying, "I don' kno' abou' you lot. Bu' I need ta sit down before ah fall down."

People quickly moved and made sure that Eve was sitting comfortably in a chair, before the discussion was picked up once more, but on a slightly different track.

"I don't care what that demon said about having a breathing space," Gunn said. "I want to have a few people on duty watching Anya and the baby at all times."

"Agreed," Giles concurred. "Two at least. One magical and non-magical."

"Hate to break it to you, Giles," Marie commented blithely, "But Xander and Gunn are pretty much the only non-magical people in the group."

"Let me rephrase this then," Giles said irritably. "One supernatural and one that isn't supernatural."

"That's still an uneven ratio," Rave supplied.

"Then we'll draw bloody straws!" Giles snapped as he glared at Rave.

"We'll need to make sure Eve isn't numbered for guard duty. She's still too hurt for that kind of work. Xander, as well, can't be counted. He'll be too focused on his wife and baby for it," Sara added, hoping to somehow diffuse the situation with logical thinking.

Closing his eyes, Giles pressed thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose, and breathed in and out slowly. Opening his eyes once more with a calmer expression, he said, "You're right, Sara. We need to plan this carefully."

"Well," Gunn said, "I know the four magic wonders here need to go do some kind of protection spell on Anya's room, so we need to let them go do that. The rest of us can stay here and figure out the schedule."

Willow nodded her agreement, and said, "It'll only take us a moment, and we'll be back." She then turned to Oz, and handed him her cell phone. "Oz, call that friend of yours, and don't worry about long-distance billing. I have a special pay-plan for that, 'cause of all the long-distance calls I make."

Next Part: LA. Who're the Reserves being called in, how's Angel doing, and what'll happen when Whistler gets there?

Author's Responses to Reviewers
To El Chacal: Go ahead and laugh. (rolls eyes) I've done a big old honkin' flashback after saying I don't necessarily like doing them. I've eaten my words. (hears Muses laughing sinisterly in the background, and turns around to shout at them) Oh, shut up you brats! (turns back to readers and says in disgust) Muses! Oh, and my tally is now 38 (or was that 39?) Muses for this story. Flidhais just snuck into the lot of them without me knowing until it was too late.

To liit06: (incredulously) About time I updated! About time I updated! This is the fastest I've updated in ages! (rolls eyes) Right. Anyway, you're correct about everything coming together. The last part and the next few are the pivotal points on getting everyone (and everything) where they need to be for the rather explosive finish to this story.

To Harry2: Thanks, I'll hold ya to that. Concerning Cassandra: You know that, I know that, the other readers know that, but she's kinda stuck on what she's seeing and unwilling to see it another way due to her own past experience. (snorts) Evil's Games: Hmm...(fiendish grin, as TU's eyes glint dangerously)...or is she playing games with them? Glad you liked the Joe-Methos interaction. I always like writing them. Spike and Spike/Dawn: Wow, thank you! I'm trying to portray what I saw on the show that was only ever hinted at. There was a really sweet and strong bond between them, and I wish Joss had done more with it (instead of throwing Buffy at him and totally wreaking it...gah!).

Until the next part, everyone!
TU