MEANWHILE…

Ripper sat alone by the water's edge. He'd caught five fish already and had meant to eat them all himself, but Cordelia had become greedy and wanted to share it with the rest of the tribe.

Cow.

He chewed on a splinter that he'd smoothed into a toothpick. It was barely replacement for the dose of nicotine he needed every five seconds or so, but it would have to do. Not like there was any choice. This godforsaken island wouldn't have anything.

Not that he couldn't do without it. He was Ripper.

That stupid ponce of a vampire was watching him. He'd glance over every once in a while and he'd still be staring, not pretending not to. Very open about it.

He was sorry he'd ever spoken to the vampire. He would just stare and stare and stare and not blink and stare and not move and stare.

He was Ripper. He didn't need watching.

Then there was the crazy vampire. She kept coming over and calling him a nice boy. She'd tried to pat him on the head a few times, but he'd told her to sod off and batted her hand away. Then she'd wimpered back to the ever so mighty soul-ed one and he'd told her that it was all right and why didn't she go hunting.

Hunting. Now there was a plan. Ripper stood and brushed off his jeans. He walked pompously toward the woods without so much as a glance at the people around the fire.

"Hey, Giles," a female voice called. "We left you fish."

"Not hungry," he said in a halting British accent, much rougher than his normal soothing voice. The vampire muttered something to the girl and rose from his seat, jogging to catch up with him. "What d'you want?" he asked.

"I thought I might accompany you on your walk, Ripper."

He glanced over, but didn't stop walking. "How d'you know my name?"

"I've been around," he answered cryptically. Now Ripper stopped.

"Have you been stalking me as well as watching my every move?"

The vampire shook his head. "No. We've just met before. I don't blame you if you don't remember."

Ripper was about to knock his teeth down his throat, but he thought better of it. He turned and resumed walking. "Whatever. Get lost."

"Sorry, Ripper," the vampire said, keeping stride. "Not my style."

"Look, sod off! I can take care of myself, I don't need a bloody bodyguard."

"Giles disagrees."

Ripper scoffed. "Giles is a sodding moron."

"I respect him a lot more than I respect you, Ripper, so don't feel real surprised if I don't do exactly as you ask."

"Yeah, and I like being alone a hell of a lot more than I like hearing you talk, so don't feel real surprised if I plunge a sharp stick through your chest."

Angel scoffed. "I'd like to see you try."

Ripper twisted around, broke a weak branch off a nearby tree and came at Angel more quickly than Angel thought possible. He morphed into vampface and caught Giles before he came close to staking him, knocking the stick away and headbutting him with a quick gesture that knocked Ripper unconscious. Angel wasn't prepared for that, but still managed to catch him before he hit the ground.

Angel picked him up and moved back into human form. "I'm sorry, Giles," he whispered sadly. "You were out of line. We discussed the no-staking rule." And he carried him back toward camp.

MEANWHILE…

Buffy and Spike finally walked into camp an hour later, Buffy a tad pale and neither of them saying a word.

"There you are," Wesley breathed in greeting. "We were wondering what was keeping you."

"We… uh… got distracted," Buffy provided helpfully, and then looked around. "Where's Oz?"

"We got back and he ran into the woods on all fours. It was quite alarming."

Buffy nodded, thanked Wesley, and glanced at Spike before the two of them hurtled into the woods in search of the wolf. They found him a short time later, up a very large tree, still looking mostly like Oz but hairier around his face and neck. He jumped down from the tree with a batch of bananas, not failing to notice the Slayer and the vampire watching. He smiled uncharacteristically and walked slowly toward them, letting Buffy back up just in case and handing the bananas to Spike. "Breakfast for the others," he said through a growl, and backed away, running back into the woods.

Spike inspected the bananas closely before handing them to Buffy. "Seem all right," he commented.

Buffy took them at arm's length and said shortly, "We have to fry one first."

Spike frowned. "Uh, okay… why?"

"Willow got bitten by a live pear. If we fry one, it'll scream and just… melt, and we'll know to let the others go. If it just becomes fried bananas, then we can preserve them for when Oz is on full moon and is barely capable of any thought besides 'search and destroy'." She frowned at the bananas. "I'll take these to camp. Coming?"

Spike shook his head. "I'll follow the wolf. I'm damn hungry, anyway; haven't eaten since that rabbit late last night."

Buffy winced and waved, still holding the suspicious bananas a fair length away from herself. She walked back toward camp and almost made it when she was cut off by Oz, who'd just swung down from another impossibly high tree. Buffy could see when he spoke that his teeth were fanged. "It's all right, Buffy," he assured her. "I'm not dangerous. At least, I don't think I am."

"Oh," Buffy said simply, not allowing her guard down anyway.

"I'm only partially wolf," he told her, noticing her hesitancy to believe him and not stepping forward. "I still have my human morals. I'm still Oz, it's just… I'm a little more Tarzan-ey." He smiled, and Buffy felt truly intimidated for the first time in years. "I've been jumping around for a while, testing out my new ability, and there's all kinds of food above the canopy of trees. There's more poultry and there's plenty of fruit." He frowned, but Buffy couldn't tell. "It's actually almost as though someone went through the entire island and cut off any evidence at all of tropical environment and replaced it with a coniferous feel. It's not right here," he finished, sniffing around lightly.

"Oh," Buffy said again. Oz noticed she was still in makeshift fighting stance and nodded, backing away slowly. His speech was still barely decipherable through a deep growl.

"I get it. You're threatened. Not a problem. I just wanted to know if you've got any requests for food. I could probably get almost anything, including fish or pork, if you wanted."

Buffy finally relaxed a little. "No, Oz. Whatever you think will be fine," she said softly. He nodded curtly and hurtled his way back up a tree. Buffy watched him go and waited, thinking about what he said about the lack of any kind of tropical evidence. She wondered if the other team was having trouble finding food, as they would be without Oz. He was definitely an asset.