DISCLAIMER I don't own the X-Men or any Buffy characters. Also, any lines in italics were written by the staff writers of BTVS.

...

The next day dawned clear and bright. Oz awoke feeling safe at Xavier's school. He already believed that they could help him. He dressed quickly and wandered downstairs, looking for a kitchen of some kind.

"Can I help you?"

He turned to see a teenage girl with a white streak in her hair. "Uh, yeah. I'm looking for breakfast."

She smiled. "Follow me."

Oz fell into step beside her. They walked in silence for a minute. "You're the werewolf, aren't you?" the girl suddenly asked.

"Yeah," he replied, slightly taken aback. He had been at the school for less than a day and already the students knew who he was. Plus, it was getting remarkably easier to admit his condition to total strangers.

"Word travels fast here," she explained with a grin. She held out a gloved hand. "I'm Rogue."

"Oz." He shook her hand. "If you don't mind me asking, what's with the gloves? It's not all that cold in here."

Rogue made a strange face. "It's my power. When I touch other people, I do something to them. The Professor tried to explain it to me – something about taking their life force." She shrugged sadly. "All I know is that they get hurt."

With a sympathetic nod, Oz just said, "I know the feeling."

Rogue looked at him curiously but did not ask anymore. "The kitchen is that first door," she said as they turned a corner.

"Thanks. Hey, nice to meet you."

"Yeah." Rogue smiled. "Maybe I'll see you later."

Oz waved and turned his attention to the task of finding breakfast. It had been a few days since he'd had a full meal and werewolves were notoriously hearty eaters.

"Oz…don't you love me?"

Jean heard the girl's voice everywhere. She could not make it stop. It rang through the mansion and was carried by the wind through the grounds. It was driving her crazy.

Scott knew something was wrong but the more he pressed her, the more she shut off. He had seen her do this when Logan first arrived, but it had been nowhere this severe. And while Oz had no apparent attraction to Jean as Logan had, Scott knew that Oz posed much more of a danger. He could destroy Jean if she was not careful.

As the day wore on, Jean began to understand that Oz's tormented memories would damage her mind if nothing was done. But just as the sun was setting and she felt as though she had reached her breaking point, she heard a voice in her head.

"Jean, please meet me in my office."

He was waiting when she arrived. "Yes, Professor?"

"Please sit down, Jean." She sat. "You are hurting."

It was not a question. Professor Xavier knew that she was going through something and she could never lie to him anyway. "It's Oz, Professor. Everywhere I go, I can't escape him. I keep hearing this one painful memory. I see a girl's face. I don't know – maybe his werewolf self opens his mind to my powers." She stopped. "I can't shut him out."

Professor Xavier was quiet for a moment. "He needs our help desperately, but I do not wish to keep him here at risk to you. I feel that the supernatural part of him is beyond our knowledge."

Confused, Jean just nodded. Someone knocked on the door. "Come in, Oz," Xavier said.

Oz, looking extremely uncomfortable as he always did around the older mutant, said, "Hey."

"Please sit down. There is much we must discuss."

Jean felt bad for the young werewolf. She could tell that he wanted their help, but the intense scrutiny unnerved him.

"What's up?" Oz asked, his voice devoid of real expression.

"Your werewolf self is very powerful," Xavier began, "as I'm sure you already know. But for some reason, your supernatural power makes your mind more susceptible to psychic power."

Oz looked confused. "Okay?"

"In short, what I'm saying Oz, is that before we can adequately help you, we need to know more about the werewolf." The Professor smiled. "We have two ways of doing this, seeing as how you don't remember your transformation. If you feel comfortable, I can go inside your mind and examine your memories. However, if that idea makes your uneasy, we can wait until the next full moon and observe you when you transform again."

Oz was quiet. "Well, the next full moon isn't for another two and half weeks. Right after Thanksgiving."

Xavier looked at Oz intently. He knew that was Oz's way of consenting to him going into his mind. Smiling, he said, "Please come by my office tomorrow at noon."

Oz nodded. "Am I done?"

Professor Xavier nodded. "I will see you tomorrow." Oz left the office and quietly shut the door. The professor turned to Jean. "Hopefully I will be able to quiet his memories as well as examine them. You should be able to find peace after tomorrow."

Jean breathed a heavy sigh of relief. If the Professor said it was true, then it had to be so. She trusted him completely. She nodded and said, "Okay."

He smiled warmly. "Get some sleep tonight, Jean. I assure you that we can resolve this."