Run - Part 3
Willow made it to the back of the parking lot, where she came face to face with Oz's van. The sight of the familiar vehicle brought to mind all the precious memories it held. As a new round of tears started it became impossible for her to go any further. The sound of her pounding heart mixed with sound of her own weeping filled her ears, blocking out everything else.
Xander found her a moment later, leaning against the van. "Willow."
Slowly he approached her.
When Willow turned to face him he could see the inconsolable anguish in her eyes and his heart broke for her. "Let it out Will." Without saying another word he put his arms around her and pulled her close, letting her sob without interruption until eventually the tears subsided on their own.
When she had regained her composure she pulled back to face him, "Thanks Xander."
"Feel better?"
Willow nodded. "I think some of the shock is starting to wear off."
Xander released his hold on her and opened his mouth only to have Willow stop him. "Let me guess, you're about to rattle off a list of rational reasons until you have me convinced that I have to go back and talk to him."
Xander couldn't help but smile, she knew him far too well. "It's my duty as your best friend."
Wiping the tears away she resigned herself to listening. "Alright, let me have it."
"You know you have to." Xander paused, waiting for an argument, but there was no response. "So far Oz's homecoming hasn't been what either one of you imagined, that's a given. But, isn't the really important thing here that he's back?"
"But he was going to leave again." Willow countered calmly.
"And you're going to let him. Sorry Will, but you're no better."
Suddenly the anger that had been reserved for Oz turned onto Xander. "Hey! He's the one who lied, cheated, and left. Not me."
"No argument, he wins the 'rotten bastard' title in this scenario hands down. But he's a rotten bastard that you love with all of your heart. So you're in the right and he's in the wrong, is that going to make it easier when you spend the rest of your life without him?" Xander could see her features smooth. "And for the record he hasn't left. He's back there right now, waiting for you."
"Only because he ran into you and Spike. If he hadn't he would be long gone by now."
"You don't really believe that do you? Whether he ran into us or not he never would have made it to the city limits. Oz is a smart guy, everything we said he would have thought through on his own."
Leaning heavily against the van Willow sighed.
Xander turned the next words over a couple of times before actually speaking them, "Will, he saw you and Graham kiss."
Willow stiffened considerably, she had forgotten that part. "That was nothing but a friendly peck."
"You don't have to defend yourself. I'm not accusing here, but put yourself in his shoes. Oz comes back with tons of guilt, scared to death of how you're going to react and sees you kiss some strange guy on the dance floor while somebody else is standing in for him with the Dingoes. Not exactly a huge banner screaming 'Welcome Home Oz'."
Willow did as Xander asked and thought about it from Oz's point of view. Slowly, she could feel all the anger drain away. "If I would have know I would have made one."
"No doubt in my mind, but why don't you go tell him that?"
"Xander, I'm scared. What if I can't forgive him? What if we can't fix this?"
*Well, at least we're getting down to the real issue. It's progress.* Xander thought. Putting his arm around her shoulders he looked at his oldest and dearest friend. "What if you can? Don't you think you owe it to yourself, and each other, to find out?"
* * *
Oz, Graham and Spike stood in awkward silence, the only sounds around them were the faint music drifting out from the Bronze and the occasional inhaling and exhaling of Spike as he smoked.
Glancing from Graham to Spike, Oz prayed that neither of them would try to make conversation. His mind was too busy racing a mile a minute to focus on anything other than wondering what was going on with Xander and Willow. He knew exactly what was on the line and it was all balancing on whatever conversation they were currently having. Every muscle in his body was tensed and making small talk with either the "other" man or the vampire seemed like far more effort than he was willing to spare at this point.
Shifting his weight from one foot to the other Graham was too caught up in his own thoughts to realize he was standing no more than seven feet away from the elusive Hostile 17. He felt like a schmuck for staying back while Xander went after Willow, but there seemed to be far more going on than even he knew about. And more importantly despite his best intentions it would be impossible for him to be impartial and that wouldn't be fair to Willow. He only hoped he had made the right decision.
Wondering if he should say something to break the silence Graham glanced at Oz. As Oz met his eyes he got his answer. Shifting his weight to the other foot he closed his mouth.
Spike eyed the two men and tried to concentrate on swallowing the giggles that kept threatening to erupt. Not because it would be rude, he couldn't care less about that, but he recognized the precarious situation he was in with commando guy being so close, the last thing he needed was to draw undo attention to himself. Damn it was difficult though, after all this was the most entertainment he'd had in quite awhile.
The air was so thick with tension Spike could visualize it lurking in the shadows. Meanwhile, the emotions of every one involved in this little love spat practically made a rainbow. The burnt orange of Willow's anger, the green of soldier boy's jealousy, and the deep yellow of Oz's fear. Xander's concern for his friends added an overall glowing affect to the whole thing. But try as he might Spike just couldn't figure out the big deal. Among all the other emotions the strongest and brightest was the love between the witch and the wolf. It was there running strong and steady directly under everything else, despite everything else, trying to contaminate it all until there was nothing but pink. *Bloody hell! I'm starting to think like Dru!*
If anybody were to ask Spike, which wasn't likely, he gave it a couple of hours at the most. He imagined there would be yelling, some accusations and definitely a few more tears but then they would move on to heartfelt apologies, declarations of love and whispered promises. By the time the sun rose all would be well. Why not just cut to the finish, get to the fun, and avoid all this trauma nonsense? Humans and their bloody melodrama. They thrived on it, so much in fact they created the majority of their problems out of thin air just to see how they could resolve them. Nothing but a race of drama queens.
* * *
After what seemed like forever Xander and Willow returned.
Oz's heart seemed to stop as Willow ignored everyone else and walked straight to him, not stopping until they were separated by mere inches. "Oz, I'd like to. Talk. Somewhere. If you still want to."
Willow was so close to him her scent filled his senses and he was struck momentarily speechless. Fighting against the urge to brush back a loose strand of hair he forced himself to nod, the only response he was capable of giving.
Then she remembered something. Leaving Oz for a moment she walked over to her date and pulled him aside. The two spoke softly for a moment then Graham gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and headed off to his car, but not before giving Oz a look. Kind of a 'hurt her again and deal with me' look. As much as Oz wanted to he couldn't be mad at the guy, he was being protective of his friend, and his intentions were good. And all things considered he was behaving a lot better than Oz would have.
Willow went to say good-bye to the others while Oz waited patiently. He felt like he was in a dream, too afraid of shattering it by saying anything so instead he nodded to Xander and Spike hoping they would understand. When Willow was done they turned and headed for the van.
"You know they're going to be fine." Spike assured Xander as they watched them disappear behind a row of cars.
Xander nodded and smiled. They were leaving together so he considered the crisis officially over. "It's Willow and Oz. Of course they will."
* * *
