Willow listened with half an ear as Xander and Dawn complained about Buffy. Their anger was understandable. Giles had kicked them out on Christmas Day. They were family and he had tossed them out. She gritted her teeth.

He had picked Buffy. He always did. He was her watcher.

She watched as Dawn started to shred the hat Buffy had spent so much time knitting. Dawn had become spiteful. Xander still made a show of caring, but the spell had damaged him as well.

She should have gone to Spike as soon as they told her he was back, but she had decided against it. Hell, she had kept Giles from telling Buffy.

It hit her like a physical blow. She looked at her companions and wondered what they had done three years ago and if it had stopped there.

"Buffy looked pretty rough. I've never seen her look so tired." Willow watched as both Dawn and Xander narrowed their eyes and glared at her. "I mean Giles was probably right. She needed some rest."

"She wasn't too tired to go out and slay." Dawn pulled another bit of yarn free from the mangled hat. "On Christmas."

"Buffy runs away. She always runs." Xander shook his head and drooped his eyes back to the comics Giles had given him.

"She didn't have to go and die. I could have handled that, but Buffy wanted out. I mean think about how whiny she was when you brought her back." Dawn looked over at Willow. "She should have been grateful, but she just wanted to run away again."

Xander nodded, but he didn't look up from his comic book. He wasn't like this when she visited him in Africa. What was going on?

She watched as they both retreated again. This had to be an effect of the spell. She sighed. Giles had the book, now. There was nothing she could do. She settled back into her chair.

Oz walked silently down the stairs. The place was huge. He'd stowed his gear in Buffy's room. The other rooms had bothered him. The slight hyena scent that always clung to Xander had grown stronger, maybe because his old friend lived in Africa most of the year. Interesting as the change in scent was, it annoyed his wolf. The strange scent of the other room had to be Dawn's, but he couldn't recall ever encountering it before. The puzzle of that kept him from that room, and Willow's room was out of the question. Buffy's room had smelled like the home he imagined when he considered settling in one place. He would leave it only when she asked.

Everything had changed so much. His world was tilting on its axis. Giles had explained all the sordid details of the spell on the trip here from the airport, but it didn't seem possible. He was still reeling from all the news. Giles was sure it had been Xander and Dawn, but Willow had known. She had known Buffy was in pain and done nothing. When had she changed?

He was so tired of magic. It made good people do stupid things. He came to the bottom of the stairs and followed the murmur of male voices.

He turned toward the library and watched Giles and and Ethan Rayne interact from the doorway.

"It's a nearly perfect spell." Ethan pushed the book away from his body with one finger. "It's a beautiful trap."

"I know that, Ethan." Giles sighed and handed him a cup of tea.

"The cure may be as difficult as the disease. I can't magic the words. The spells that went into making this damn book are as confounding as the ones that are in it. It's frustrating in the extreme." Ethan leaned back in his chair and glared at the book. "The wolf will have to read it for us. I hope this doesn't hurt her more. She's suffered enough. I can't imagine how she manages. I wish I could do more."

"You discovered Oz would be able to read the spell to break the curse. Let's hope it can be done without harming anyone." Giles sighed.

"Finding your wolf friend wasn't much of a contribution." Ethan shoved back in his chair. "And there is no way to be sure he's the one we need. I saw a wolf. You saw this Oz character. What kind of self respect can the boy have if he lets others yammer away at him with that bit of literary idiocy?"

"Oz is an interesting man, and he's the only werewolf Buffy knows." Giles took a deep breath. "Not that any of it will help if we can't find her."

"We will find her, Rupert." Ethan stood up and followed Giles with his eyes.

"She's out there. It's been two days." Giles looked out the window.

"She is the slayer." Ethan came to stand next to him. "She'll come back to you and we will keep her here until we can right this mess."

Oz took a deep breath. They hadn't noticed him, yet.

"She's missing?" He swallowed. Both men turned toward him.

"She left on Christmas Day. She hasn't come back." Giles looked at the ground. "Locator spells won't get us close enough. She moves too quickly."

"Get me close and I can trace her." Oz tapped his nose.

"You'll need to read the spell first." Ethan walked to the table and flipped open the book. "We can't. Only you. This book is the darkest thing I've seen, Wolf. Don't touch it. Just read it out loud and we will get things arranged."

"I remember what you did with the costumes and the chocolate." Oz tilted his head. "Why are you helping?"

"He's helping because I asked it of him. I asked him to save Buffy." Giles moved and put his hand on Ethan's shoulder. "He's helping because he loves me."

Oz nodded. He'd suspected that much from watching the older men together.

"Why are you helping, Wolf?" Ethan sneered.

"It's Buffy. She'd do the same for me." He smiled as Ethan nodded. There was no reason to tip his hand. "I need to read the book."

"Amazing what they train you animals to do these days." Ethan smiled thinly. The acrid scents of anger and frustration poured off him.

Oz raised an eyebrow and gestured to the book. There was no point in rising to the bait. Ethan wanted the distraction. Oz tapped the table and Ethan spun it, allowing him access to it.

"To break this curse be brave and true, share the burden between the two, only then shall it dissipate, and yield to that which is true fate." Oz looked up at Giles and Ethan. "This is really bad poetry not a spell."

"I'm sure it was lovely in the original demon language." Ethan snapped, irritation clear. "It's a true curse break. Bloody, buggering hell."

Giles closed his eyes. Pain was etched into every line.

"Somebody needs to explain." Oz placed his hands on either side of the book and stared at the older men. "This seems better than some spell that will go wrong."

"In that, it is. The problem lies in the vague language. If we had years and time to research we might discover what it is you need to do, but our best hope is that you will stumble on it." Giles sighed.

"Luck is a form of chaos." Ethan clenched his fists. "It can go either way. Buffy might not be able to survive if this falls to the bad. It's been three years of unrelenting pain. How she manages to function at all eludes me."

"She's Buffy." Oz shrugged. "It's what she does."

"I guess then the more pressing question becomes what you will do." Ethan stepped up behind Giles and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We must save her."

Kennedy hummed as she danced around her apartment in Cleveland. She had just finished a great patrol, a wonderful meal, and now she wanted Willow. It was a shame Will had chosen Christmas in England with her so called family, but the answering machine had given her some good news. Willow would be home soon.

The place needed a good cleaning. Willow didn't mind a bit of clutter, but things had progressed bit beyond that point. They should just hire a maid. There had to be someone they could find to clean up.

She grabbed some of the dirty dishes that decorated the coffee table and carried them to the kitchen. It sucked, but she could do a little cleaning for her lovely witch.

Willow was coming home. She spun in a happy circle and turned on the water. The dishes had to be done.

It would be so good to have her girl home to kiss on New Year's Eve.

She flipped off the water, added some soap, and started to scrub.