While Joyce was driving Faith to the mall to get new clothes and Alex and Cordelia were reconciling, Oz was parking in front of Willow's house. Climbing out of his van, he had just started up the walk to her front door, when Willow burst out of it and ran up to him. She grabbed him in a tight hug and began babbling at him. "Oh,OzIwassoafraidyouwouldn'tcomeI'msorry,pleaseforgiveme."
Oz gently disentangled himself from her and said "No, goodbye Willow." He returned to his van, climbed back in and drove off, feeling there just wasn't anything left to say on the matter. He had told her before they bagan dating that he wouldn't be with her if her focus was on Xander instead of him. He had forgiven her the fluke, but finding out she was responsible for it and had used magic on Xander with neither his knowledge or consent left him wondering if she had done the same to himself or others. Oz knew he would never be able to trust her again. He would always wonder and couldn't live with that uncertainy. So the best thing to do was end it. What else was there to talk about?
Willow stared after Oz as he drove away, confused and unhappy. He wasn't even going to talk to her about it? Let her explain? Give them another chance? Just up and leave her? Didn't he understand she chose him and not Xander? That in the end she had decided she wanted Oz, which was why she had worked so hard to get him back? Xander had betrayed her with that skank, why would she want him now.
Willow felt her world crumbling around her, this wasn't how it was supposed to be. Oz was supposed to forgive her. Xander and Cordelia were to stay broken up. She was supposed to be Buffy's big gun. How had things gotten so bad? Was the spirit right?
Willow had thought everything she had done was for a good reason, but everyone else thought she wrong, maybe, maybe she was wrong. It was a world shattering revelation for a girl who had for so long been convinced her intellect could never steer her wrong. She turned slowly back toward the house. Silently, she slipped inside and went to her room, where she fell on the bed and sobbed out her anguish. What was she going to do now? Would any of them be able to forgive her? Would they even still let her be in the group? Should she continues learning magic or just give up?
As she cried, Willow found no answers for her questions, just more questions. She came to the realization that answers would have to come from the others and not herself. As she cried herself to sleep, she resolved to try and make it up to them, to regain their trust and hopefully their respect. And not to use magic to do it.
As Oz was ending his relationship with Willow and Willow was rethinking her choices, Rupert Giles was calling an old friend, Amelia Sullivan. Amelia was a witch who specialized in protective magics, both for individuals and for properties. She worked in San Francisco as a tattoo artist. Rupert had known her since he himself was in high school, though they had never been that close, they had sporadically kept in contact after she had moved to the states more than a decade ago.
Once she had picked up the line and they had gotten the niceties out if the way, Rupert explained the situation. Amelia was shocked at the young witches' actions and amazed at Epione's coming to assist the young man in Rupert's charge and astonished to learn that Janus wanted to make the young man an Avatar. Janus didn't make Avatars often, there must be something special about this Alexander for him to even consider it. Amelia quickly agreed to help and promised to be there tomorrow afternoon. When she got off of the phone, she called her assistant to tell her she wouldn't be in tomorrow or the next day and arranged for her to cover the shop while she was away, then went home to pack, eager to get on the road. This was going to be an interesting job, for sure.