Oz gazed down at Willow’s unconscious form as pain and anger ripped through him. They’d hurt her, they’d dared to hurt her. He’d almost been too late, just a few moments more and...

With a growl he fought for control over the animal inside and waited with trademark patience for Toby to give the signal that would mean all was clear. It came just a second later and he lifted Willow’s limp body easily, barreling down the hallway to the next safe location he and his friends had set up only hours earlier. Cradling her body to his, his senses registered the smells of Willow...her sweet scent still tinged with fear even in slumber. He reacted violently to it, rage building inside him at the pain she must be in.

But there was no time for that now. He and his friends had to rescue the others and get them to safety before too many people knew what was going on. They had perhaps minutes before Janjer and Karsis’ bodies were found. Maybe less.

A high-pitched whistle came from further in the building and Oz let out a breath, knowing the path he was about to take was secured for the time being. In a moment he would be surrounded by his kind, werewolves, and they would storm the castle in search of Oz’s friends. Lifting Willow gently once more he headed down the hallway, senses on high alert for anything that might get in the way of her safety. Once around the corner at the far end of the hall he headed for a service elevator and punched the down button. The doors closed and he leaned back, breathing a sigh of relief.

When they opened again he glanced out to the left then the right before carefully stepping through and out into the vacant hallway. His friends had done their jobs, no one had found him. He only hoped their luck would continue, but knew, from life in general as much as his experiences with the Scoobies, that it most likely wouldn’t.

So he’d better get a move on.

Heading south down the hallway he ducked into a room on the right and closed the door behind him. A head popped up over a filing cabinet.

“Oz?”

“It’s me,” he confirmed, and placed Willow’s body on a long conference table. The young boy behind the cabinet joined him and gazed down at the tiny witch.

“That’s...?”

“Willow,” Oz nodded, and left her side for a moment to lock the door. “Where are we?”

The boy was instantly all business as his eyes snapped up from the sleeping witch to the elder werewolf before him. “Terrel and Simon are clearing the way to the fourteenth floor. They should be signaling any...” A high-pitched whistle filled the air and Oz’s ears perked up. “...minute.”

“Good. Get going. If anyone sees you, alert us immediately and get the hell out of here. But Toby,” Oz told him seriously, and the boy turned to face his mentor before heading out to the hallway. “These are my friends we’re talking about. They’re important.”

The boy’s head bobbed. “I know, Oz. I won’t let you down.”

Oz gave him a curt nod, and Toby exited the room. Locking the door once again, Oz crossed back to Willow and brushed her hair back. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he murmured lovingly, caressing her forehead.

He stood, gazing down at her, a mixture of emotions fluttering inside him, when a quiet knock sounded on the door. He approached warily, and sniffed. It was Diana, good. Unlocking the door he opened it and the she-wolf entered briskly, with only a glance at the girl on the table.

“You ready?” she asked.

He nodded. “I’m trusting you with her.”

“She’s in good hands,” Diana told him, tossing back her long brown hair with a regal air.

“That’s why you’re the one guarding her.”

“I’d rather be fighting.”

He gave her a sideways glance as he put a hand on the doorknob. “Trust me. Before this is over, you probably will be.”

She raised an eyebrow and he slipped back out into the hallway, swiftly heading further into the building.

From the moment he’d heard that his friends were here, Oz had known it could mean nothing but danger for them. He’d been helpless to save Buffy and Faith from the white room, but he’d counted on Angel and the rest to attempt a rescue and, as he’d expected, he’d been correct. With little time he’d organized the other werewolves within Wolfram and Hart to assist him.

The time had come to get them out.

Ducking in and out of various rooms due to the sound of approaching voices he steadily made his way down into the bowels of the law firm where his sources claimed Buffy and Angel were being held. He only hoped he wasn’t too late to save the others. And if anything happened to Willow...

Oz burst through the door that lead to the containment units, without a care that with his entrance his cover would be blown should someone be standing nearby. His friends wouldn’t let him down, they’d promised to secure the area and he had the utmost faith in them.

And Willow...she was counting on him even if she didn’t know it.

With determination he headed out.

*~*~*

Angel’s eyes opened with a groggy blink and he lifted up his head, his throbbing, pain-wracked head, to see Buffy staring at him with worry in her eyes.

“Angel?” she asked hesitantly. “Are you okay?”

Instantly he was alert...and angry. They were chained, like animals. Buffy...God, his sweet Buffy. Hanging from the wall, a prisoner. What had happened? What had they done to her? With fury he began to strain and pull at the chains, angrily tugging on them with all his might. When they didn’t show the slightest sign of budging he relaxed and looked up again at her.

“Display of manhood over?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“What happened? Where are we? Are you okay?” he all but growled, baring his teeth.

A delicious shiver ran through her. “We got knocked out and chained up, I’m guessing still in Wolfram & Hart, and...yes. I’m okay,” she told him. “But good luck with the chains. I’ve tried, believe me, I’ve tried.”

“How long have I been out?”

She shrugged as best she could. “I’m not sure. No clocks, and you know I was never much for watches. But I’d guess I woke up about an hour ago. Maybe less.”

“Anyone come in since then?”

She shook her head.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized. “This is my fault.”

Her face registered surprise. “How is that exactly?”

“I let us get caught. I allowed this to happen.”

“Excuse me? I believe you were busy getting tazered and rendered wholly unconscious. Not a lot you could have done from your position on the floor.”

He snarled and let loose on the chains, rattling them furiously as he tried to pull them from the wall. Panting, he gave up a moment later and glanced her way again. She was trying to suppress a grin at his antics and he couldn’t help but return it, albeit wryly. “So,” he began conversationally. “Heard any good knock-knock jokes lately?”

She nodded. “Yeah, that about sums it up. I’ve been having lovely conversations with myself - of the non-crazy Buffy kind.”

“Anything good?”

“Oh, you know. The usual,” she told him nonchalantly. “How to get out of this...what to do next...how in the hell my life got to this point.”

“Chained to a wall with me not exactly in your Dayplanner, huh?” he grinned, then blushed furiously as Buffy cocked an eyebrow.

“No...not exactly,” she told him with a slow smile. “Given other circumstances, it might not be so bad...”

“Don’t go there,” he warned only half-joking, then thought better of it. “Then again...getting good and worked up might be the trick to getting these chains out of the wall.”

“How to make sexual frustration work for you,” Buffy nodded. “The Angel and Buffy story.”

They fell into silence for a moment, desperately avoiding each other’s eyes.

“Gee...what a good time for us to have that talk we keep meaning to have,” Buffy mumbled.

“It probably is.”

“Maybe we’ll die first?” she asked, somewhat hopefully.

He considered with a smirk. “Very possible.”

She swallowed hard and took the plunge. “So you want to start, or should I?”

Unable to stop himself from smiling at her obvious discomfort, he nodded. “I’ll spare you. I’ll go first.”

“Oh, thank you,” she gushed gratefully.

A moment passed, followed by another, and she raised an eyebrow expectantly. “Well?”

“I’m...thinking,” he told her lamely. “You and are complicated, and I want to get this right.”

She tapped her foot and waited until finally Angel leaned against the wall and looked her straight in the eye.

“I love you.”

She smiled involuntarily as shivers ran down her spine and her heart clenched.

“I want to be with you.”

Buffy’s stomach flip-flopped. Going good.

“I’m not sure we can be.”

Her heart fell, as did her face.

Angel’s gut seized up at the despair on her face and he rushed the words out of his mouth. “A lot of time has passed, a lot of things have happened to us and I’m not sure we can ever recover from them.”

She nodded dumbly as her heart plummeted. “Uh huh.”

He sighed. “There are things...people... Cordelia, Spike... We’re going to have to get it all out in the open, Buffy, and be really honest with each other. And even then, it might not work. There might be too much hurt, too much time in between us.”

Buffy’s head hung and she bit her bottom lip. This wasn’t happening. Not again. She’d thought he was done breaking her heart, hadn’t realized it was still his to break.

“But I’m ready to try...if you are.”

Her jaw fell open and her head slowly rose. “What?”

He cocked his head to the side and gazed at her, his expression unreadable. “I’m ready to try if you are.”

Buffy blinked at him several times before thoughts actually began to form again in her mind. “I—I don’t know what to say.”

“That’s fine, I’ll just keep talking,” he told her, suddenly nervous.

“No...wait,” she cut him off. “I have something to say to you, too.”

Doubt shadowed his face. “Okay.”

She swallowed hard. “Are you sure you love me?”

“Didn’t I just say so?”

“Answer the question,” she asked, impatient.

“I love you, Buffy,” he murmured softly.

She ignored the wiggle of excitement her heart gave. “Are you sure this isn’t just residual from the spell? Because apparently...you and Cordy...”

“Are nothing,” he was quick to answer with a jerk of the chains around his wrists. “Buffy...” He sighed, unsure how to proceed. “Cordelia and I... We’re friends.”

“You were interested in her.”

“Buffy,” he sighed, and she quieted. “Cordelia and I are nothing more to each other than you and Xander.”

“Xander and I are best friends. I love him. I would do anything for him.”

“I know,” he told her gently. “Are you going to tell me that you’ve never, in seven years, had thoughts about or feelings for Xander?”

“No I—no.” She bit her lip and looked away. “Okay, yes...maybe. Once or twice, but that’s...it’s...”

Angel raised an eyebrow and continued. “For the past four years Cordelia and I have worked together, we’ve talked, we’ve grown close. I care about her in a way I could never care for someone else, and yes, for a while I think that I was making more of that friendship than is actually there. I was in a bad place for a long time. I was...I was lonely Buffy. I’ve spent so much time by myself that when I met you... Suddenly being by myself wasn’t quite what it had been. I tried to be alone, I came here not knowing a soul, so to speak, and was determined to spend the rest of my days in the shadows. But Cordelia wouldn’t let me. She was always there, at my side, whether I wanted her there or not.”

“Sounds about right,” Buffy noted, trying for casual.

“She’s not the same person she was when you knew her. Doyle’s death...it took a lot out of her. She’s changed, for the better. But I promise you, there has never been, and will never be, anyone in my life that could mean more than you do. I don’t want there to be. I’ve kept myself closed off from other women because there simply isn’t room in my heart for them. I loved you the moment I set eyes on you so many years ago, when you were new and very innocent, and I love you more now, with each passing day, than I ever imagined possible. You are my heart, Buffy.”

She gulped and fought the tears that sprang to her eyes. “I don’t deserve you.”

Angel’s sudden laugh rang throughout the dingy room, echoing on the brick walls. “It’s me who doesn’t deserve you.”

They were silent for a moment before Buffy cleared her throat and raised green eyes to meet his dark brown ones. “So, I guess you want to talk about Spike.”

“Not especially,” he conceded, “but I think we need to.”

“There’s not that much to tell,” she said with an exasperated sigh. “We were...involved. For a while. It’s over.”

His chains rattled as he shifted his weight and leaned against the wall behind him. “Why did you do it?”

She shrugged, uncomfortable. “I don’t have a good reason for that.”

“Are you in love with him.?”

She considered her answer carefully, chewing her lip as she did. “I care about him,” she told Angel finally.

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I have. It’s not the same as what you and Cordelia have...you two were never...ah...”

“No...we weren’t,” he grumbled with a terse frown.

Buffy chose her words carefully. “Spike and I... He was there for me, Angel. When I didn’t have anyone. When I came back from heaven I had no one. No one who could understand me.”

“You could have called me.”

“No, I couldn’t have,” she corrected him. “It hurt too much. At that point I didn’t care. I had these...fantasies. I wanted to come visit you in LA...I wanted to bring Angelus out again, so he would kill me and I could end all this. I didn’t, obviously... I came to my senses. That would have been a hugely bad idea, and I wouldn’t have been around to pick up the pieces this time. But I wanted to. Each night when I’d patrol, all I could think of was...what if I just let this guy take me down? What if I just stopped fighting back? Would it be quick? Would I even care?”

She sighed deeply and sagged against the wall, ashamed. “I was so lost, and all my friends could do was be happy that I was back. No one saw the misery I was in. No one but Spike. I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but he could read me, and he understood.”

“Misery recognizes misery,” Angel nodded. “I get that...”

“It was...too much to bear. I didn’t want to put it on my friends, on Dawn...on you,” she looked up into his eyes and he saw tinges of that same misery creeping back into her face, bleeding from her heart. “I couldn’t let you have that kind of pain.”

“I would have tried to help you, Buffy.”

She smiled lovingly. “I know you would have.”

“But I know that sometimes it’s easier to give all the anger to someone you don’t know...or someone you hate.”

She let out a dry laugh. “Yeah...I hated him. Our entire relationship, since day one, has been based on hating each other. But then one day...I just didn’t. I looked forward to being with him because he didn’t care about all the stuff of day to day life...just like I didn’t. None of it mattered anymore, I just didn’t care. I didn’t care if the trash went out or if I ate, or if demons got slain or if Dawn brushed her teeth...”

Being ripped out of heaven could do that to a person. He nodded sagely. “Understandable.”

“But he...I went to a dark place with him,” she continued, more shame seeping into her heart. “I went too far, and I almost didn’t know how to get out.”

“What do you mean?”

She bit her lip, hesitating. “It was like I let him have control over me. I couldn’t say no, even when I wanted to. And I...” she glanced up and saw the expression on his face. “It’s not important. It’s over, Angel. It’s over.”

He was silent for a minute before taking a deep, unnecessary breath to steady himself. “Were you in love with him?”

“No,” she answered automatically, truthfully. “I care for him, I might love him, but I’m not in love with him, Angel.”

He nodded simply and she shook her head, alternating her feelings between wanting to throwing things at him and kiss him senseless. “Angel...” He glanced up. “Do you believe me...that I love you?”

He nodded. “I know you do, Buffy.”

Her heart skipped for joy. “Then there’s nothing else to be said,” she told him simply.

His eyes narrowed with a hint of doubt. “Can it be that simple for you?”

“I think it’s going to have to be.” She took a deep breath and the chains rattled as she leaned back against the wall. “We have a lot of history between us, we have a lot of pain, a lot of hurt, but there’s also a lot of love here. Still. After all this time, after all these years...I’m just as in love with you as I was when we met. I’ve never stopped. You’re the reason my relationships don’t work, why I’m never satisfied with anyone else, why my heart will never be free to belong to someone else. You own it, it’s yours... if you want it.”

The last part she added almost shyly and Angel couldn’t suppress his smile. “God...woman. I swear, I love you. I will love you until the day we die.”

“Even if that’s today?”

“Even if, but it won’t be.”

“I’d believe that a lot more if we weren’t in our current situation,” she grimaced, yanking on the chains around her wrists.

The words were no sooner out of her mouth when a ferocious roar let out from somewhere nearby. Angel’s ears perked up and both his and Buffy’s heads whipped toward the door.

“What was...?” Buffy began.

“It’s...” Angel’s head cocked to the side. The scent in the air, the sound of the voices... “familiar...” he mused.

“It sounds like a dog fight,” she commented. “Really big, huge, gigantic demon-dogs.” With a worried glance in his direction she tugged the chain on her right wrist. “Hell hounds?”

Something about that didn’t feel right. “I don’t think so,” he told her with a slow shake of his head.

Before she could comment further the door to their cell was slammed into, shaking the stone walls of the room. Snarling was coming from the other side and the sound of human pain...screams and moans of pure terror. Somewhere a voice cried, “Get the tranquilizer...get the...” before it succumbed to shout of terror and then was silenced.

“This can’t be good,” Buffy whispered, eyes boring holes through the door, waiting to see who would burst through it. She braced herself, not sure what she would do chained as she was, but complete with the knowledge that she wouldn’t go down without a fight. She glanced at Angel, prepared to find him assuming a similar stance, and did a double take.

“What?” she asked.

He was standing, head cocked, his attention caught by something other than the sounds from beyond the wooden door. His eyes didn’t blink for more than a minute, his nostrils flared slightly as he caught the scent of something and concentrated on it.

“Angel?”

Her voice broke through finally and he relaxed slightly, though his eyes never left the door, and he leaned back against the wall. “I think...I think it’s okay.”

“What?”

“The scent...something about it…long time ago, but...” he mumbled as his senses worked overtime trying to determine the source of the scent they’d caught.

The snarling outside abruptly stopped and a moment later the door was unlatched and opened. A figure walked through, a stocky female with long black hair, followed by a more familiar face.

Buffy gave her second double take in the last five minutes. “Oz?”

The werewolf moved past her with an abrupt nod of greeting. “Buffy, Angel.”

“Pleasure as always,” Angel commented.

Oz gave his standard non-committal smirk and turned to his companion, hand outstretched. “Keys.”

The girl tossed him a small key ring and he approached Buffy, who extended her hands as best she could. “I almost don’t even care what you’re doing here,” she told him with a grateful smile.

“Nice to be the saver instead of the saved for a change, where you’re concerned,” he told her, quickly unlocking her wrists and ankles, then tossing the keys to his companion. “This is Kira. Kira, Angel and Buffy. Kira’s a wolf, too.”

“Charmed,” she said with almost a sneer as she released Angel from the shackles. “We gotta go.”

Buffy gave Oz an appraising glance and he shrugged. “She takes some getting used to.”

“We’ll work on winning over Ms. Personality after we get out of here. And then?” she told him, with a raised eyebrow, “I’m gonna want some backstory.”

“That can wait,” Angel announced suddenly, stepping between Oz and Buffy to deliver a kiss to the Slayer that had her knees weaken. When he released her she blinked with stunned confusion, then smiled a dopey smile at her vampire, which he happily returned.

With a grin Oz took the kiss in stride. “I could same the same,” he replied, “after we get the others.”

“I don’t know where they are,” Buffy told him, struggling to recover as he glanced out into the hallway, which, thanks in part to two other large males, also friends of Oz’s, was still secure.

“Containment units throughout the building,” Angel told them as they hurried along the hallway.

“We’ve located them. Willow’s already safe, we just have to get to the others,” Oz informed them as they entered a service elevator. Upon entering Kira promptly smashed the security camera and pulled some wires from the electrical box.

“Can’t see us, can’t tell what floor we get off on now,” she told them with a smirk.

“They’re in a worm hole room…which I’m told you can access,” Oz continued, addressing Angel.

“Back to the white room,” Buffy groaned. “Always too soon.”

Angel nodded to the wolves. “Lead the way, it’s your show.”

“How many more of your friends can we count on?” Buffy asked Oz and Kira.

“There are eight of us, all here for a werewolf study that happened to be on controlling the change,” he grimaced. “That’s how they got us here. Then they decided catch and release wasn’t really their style, unless, of course, we wanted to work for them.”

“Having a werewolf around that can control the change is handy,” Kira said, this time with well-earned disdain. “Murderers who look completely normal, who gain the trust of the intended victim, and then…”

“Grr…” Buffy finished. Kira glanced at her and nodded silently.

“Fun stuff,” Angel concluded as the elevator doors opened. A young boy was standing in front of them, and he rushed to their sides as they stepped out into the hall.

“Oz, she’s still okay, but these guards showed up and they know what we’re doing,” the boy cried, practically shaking in fear.

“Toby, you left Willow?” Oz asked, his main concern obvious.

“Diana’s with her, she said to come to tell you,” the boy trembled.

Oz answered with a curt nod and turned to the others. “Follow me.”

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Chapter Forty-Six
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