Summary: When Willow is kidnapped by Spike, Oz lets his emotions take over.
Distribution: Certainly, just ask first so I know where my work is going.

Author's Notes: This story takes place somewhere between 'Helpless' and 'The Zeppo'. It's mainly mushy romantic Stuff, with a bit of action thrown in. The story is told through Willows POV for a bit , then its Ozs' POV. Spike is nastier than usually, Amy is not a rat anymore.

This is my first Fanfic, so if it aint your cuppa tea, sorry for the letdown, otherwise-ENJOY!

Feedback: Fae

"Willow, behind you!" Amy's warning struck me just as the demon did, sending me flying Backwards into a pile of Giles' most priceless ancient rituals books. Everything is dark. How come I'm always the one who gets knocked out, no fair!

"Willow!?"

"Willow wake up!"

At first the voice had Oz's cool and collected tone, but that's probably because he's the one who I
wanted to be there when I woke up, but oz's voice slowly melted into another Cordelia.

"Huh???"?. I answered, still a little in sleep mode.

"Bout time you woke up! How many times have you been knocked out, anyway?"

I am NOT answering that

"That's one hell of a cut on your head"

Cut?! I felt the back of my head , I was too numb to notice, but then my fingers reached matted hair
Thick with blood and God knows what else.

"Oh??b.. blood" I stammered.

"Well, duh! You're only *covered* in the stuff. But you know, that shade of red really goes with your
pasty-whiteness!"

Was that a compliment?

"Willow , you're back with us I see."

Giles! Save me from the wrath of Cordelia!

How's your head?

A concerned Giles examined my scalp.

"Well, obviously icky!"

He just rolled his eyes at Cordys comment and directed her to retrieve the first aid box from the office.

"Where's Buffy?" I asked, still a little confused concerning that wacked out demon.

At that the slayer herself burst through the door, followed closely by Xander and Oz.

"Giles, we lost track of the demon" She bent over, catching her breath.

"Hey Will, how's the head?

I stuck a thumb up at her, slightly sarcastically.

"Willow!" Oz hugged me in that way that only my Oz can.

"Will, I'm so sorry I wasn't here for you last night, you wouldn't have gotten hurt like this .

He seemed a little upset as he tilted my head forward and peered at my head in its almost embarrassing
state. He kissed my cheek.

"That's quite a cut, baby" Oz screwed his face up, and patted my wound gently wish a cloth,
I love it when he calls me baby like that, it makes me feel special, like I belong to him or something
But then I hate it, 'cause it always makes me cry.

"Should have been here" He scolded himself quietly.

"It's ok , Oz I'I mean it was the full moon and all?." I made an unsuccessful attempt to comfort him, and
continued .
"besides if you had come , you wouldn't have been much help , you know, in big, scary 'wolf'
mode."

My words sank just as my heart did.

Why the hell did I just say that? I know how much it hurts him, being reminded of that stupid curse thingy.

BAD WILLOW! BAD WILLOW!

Oz rose to his feet, and just stared at me, eyes a little glassy . Than he rushed over to get someone as he saw

*My* eyes roll into the back of my head. I don't know if it was the temporary 'brain damage' I had obtained, the constant bickering of Cordelia and Xander, or my little drama with Oz, but something jumpstarted me to start to slip away again .

"Willow-wake up"

*SLAP! *

I awoke{again!} to the sound of Cordelias' whining voice, and the slap of her hand across my face.

"Come on!"

*SLAP!*

My eyes finally opened wide enough to see the almost overly tanned hand coming back for another shot.
I just know she's enjoying this.
She was stopped by another hand , belonging to someone I knew well.
Oz.

" I think she's had enough, okay?
He smiled down at me.

Giles summoned Cordy to help research the demon that nearly killed me.

"Oh and , Oz you file some of these descriptions, and??."
Buffy cut off her watcher.

" Come on, Giles, let the man stay with his honey for a while, she needs help in her recovery"
She flashed a smile at me and my wolf-man.

"Anyway, why can't Xander do it?

Xander looked up from his 'snakpak' which he appeared to be enjoying considerably. Standing and looking pretty annoyed, cast a small smirk at us. My attention was drawn away from Xander and his little mental instabilities, as a soft hand stroked my cheek, replacing my pain with *nice tingly feelings*.

"Oh, uh?.Oz, I'm sorry"

He gingerly continued stroking my face as he leant in close gazing into my eyes as though they were the
Window to my mind, my heart, my very soul. His lips , the same ones I had seen eat funny in the cafeteria yesterday, the ones that whisper songs he writes, as he strums his guitar , finally caressed mine. I soon discovered that the deepest slumber, the most painful of head injuries, nothing could ever stop me from kissing my Oz.

"So, uh do you guys want the honeymoon suite, or are you fine how you are "
Xander interrupted, causing Oz to break off and walk over to Buffy.

"So have you found any more information on this guy" He sounded concerned.

"I don't know, Oz, he definitely had something familiar about him, I just can't quite put my finger on it"

" Well, would you really wanna? I mean that guy was spiky!"

"Xander" The slayer had no mercy when it came to persecuting Xanders' Harris' lame ?jokes'

"Yeah, Buff?"

"metaphorical term"

"Oh" Xander replied , trying to sound sarcastic.

"Buffy, I think I've found the identity of that , that demon character"

The whole gang, except me(of course) made their way over to Giles' , and his<cough, cough> MY
Laptop.

*Authors note-this next part is from Oz's POV*

From the picture on the laptop, I kinda understood why my little Willow was so hurt by this thing
Not to mention shaken. That's one ugly demon. He also looked pretty strong, I know one things for
Sure, if this guy threw me into a bookcase- *I* would have wet my pants. My mind scanned back to
Willow , as I turned around to look at her , busily studying her nails and picking at them, I thought
of the fear she must have experienced , not of this certain attack, but just everything she's gone
through, defending this town single handedly ?..well not quite, but she's definitely had it tough.

Damn it, Oz, you should have been here last night!

It's weird how my mind yells at me like that.

"So, uh who is this guy, anyways?" The petite slayer asked her watcher curiously.

Giles muttered something obviously Latin, under his breath.

"Giles, now might be a good time to, say speak in English!"

He shook his head fast, probably trying to remember something. He promptly spoke, in that Giles
'I hate to tell you , but.' tone.

" uh , it means, 'reaper of revenge' " Everybody looked at him , baffled, yet interested.

" These demons begin as humans, if the human was concealing any revenge against a person or a group of people before they are bitten, they are transformed into one of these so called reapers, giving them a perfect opportunity to, well , hunt the people or person they wished revenge against as a mortal."

"So why is this guy after Willow?"

Everyone looked at me a little annoyed.

"In case you didn't know, 'Mr I wasn't even here last night' we were* all* attacked, Will was just
unlucky!" Xander spat at me.

Well don't I feel stupid.

"But *who* was this thing before?" The attention was quickly drawn towards the slayer- away from me.
Thank god!

"I've made a list of possible suspects, you know?. ones that have just disappeared and stuff"
Willow uneasily got up from her position on the floor.
That's my Will, always ahead of everyone else

She motioned for Giles to let her have the computer seat, before sitting down in it.

"Willow, we can do this, you go back and rest some more," Amy pleaded

"No it's okay , really"

The redhead began keying in the boys names, scanning each file as it came up. No evidence of any
Holding grudges against members of Buffys gang. But when Willow clicked on the last name, I could
Tell everyone else in the room recognised it as much as I did.

"It..it's Chris" Willow glanced around her , at the rest of the gang.

"Hang on, were not talking about the guy who was building his dead brother a zombie girlfriend?.
are we?" Xander asked in disbelief.

"I didn't think he was dead, he told me he was taking me to the prom!"
Cordy always seems to trail off the subject.

Her boyfriend raised an eyebrow at her.

"Well according to this he's been missing since?.."
Will swallowed her words.

"Since the death-well 'REdeath' of his brother Daryl."
Buffy added.

"Okay, so the guy's disappeared , now that wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that our 'happy'
little town is so conveniently located on , say, the hellmouth!"

God, I hate Xanders' sarcasm, I swear , his little comments will be the death of him.

" So what would Chris have to do with this thing?"

There I go again-Mr ask the obvious"

" Yeah, I mean that guy didn't seem very nasty, I mean when he was around and stuff"

Willow's so cute!

"Well," Announced Giles, "The scriptures say this particular demon thrives on the
revenge it , well , avenges , so to speak"

I still don't understand! What happened with Chris anyway?

"But I still don't get what he would want with me, or us"
Wills voice was a little shaky.

Then Xander did his thing-
"Gee, uh, I don't know, Will ,maybe it was ?cause, you know, we only stopped him from lopping off
Cordys' head, and burned down his basement-along with dead boy Daryl and his bride-to-be!"

Oh, now it makes sense! That damned sarcasm.

I threw Xander a slight frown- he threw me an eraser.

Suddenly, the sound of faint whistling invaded my wolf instinctive ears, the tune was familiar,
God save the queen?

"Someone's coming." I informed the rest of the gang, as I pulled Willow up from the computer.
The others could obviously hear it now too , because Buffy announced-

"Spike"

I grabbed a stake from the table and pushed Willow round behind me, I couldn't tell if she was cold, or
Shaking due to fear.

Xander took one look at us and did exactly the same with Cordelia, who was clutching a nail file.
The doors simultaneously burst open, revealing the blonde vampire.

"Ah, how lovely to see you all, it's been a while hasn't it , how are we?"

Geez, how much sarcasm am I gonna hear today?

"Back off Spike!"

Buffy could easily reach the highest point on the slayer-intimidation scale.
The British demon heard Willow whimper behind me as another dizzy spell set in.
He turned to face us.

"Oh, Whimpy Willow , I see young Christopher made quite a mess of that beautiful hair of yours!"

I smirked, just thinking of how much I wanted to kill him at that moment.

Buffy was shocked and disgusted at the same time,
" How do you know about that?" She ordered.

"Oh , um , let's see , I read it in the gossip pages of 'the sun'?"

"How mature of you Spike, having another demon doing your dirty laundry for you!"
She snapped back at the vampire.

At that, Spikes face transformed , revealing his true self.
"Well, actually, I plan to do a little myself"

He then whistled, summoning about seven other vampires, who made their entrance through the
Windows, sending glass crashing to the floor. I recognized a few of them as kids from school, I know
Cordy did too.

"Harmony?" She squinted at the beast running toward her before making the only remark she could
think of-
"You so need a makeover!"

With no time to lose, Xander stepped in front of Cordy, bearing a sharp pencil ,which he soon thrust into
The somewhat clueless vamp.
Pencils, isn't that Wills' specialty?

"Oz!" Willow screamed as Spike grabbed her , pulling her body from my arms, before hoisting her over his shoulder, kicking and screaming with the the little energy she had left.

"Willow!" I dived at his legs in an attempt to trip him up. I missed. Instead he turned around, stomped on
my hand, winked at me, and ran to a broken window, which he jumped through, taking my girl with him.
I quickly picked my worthless body off of the floor and dashed to the window, my fingers drowning in
blood as I desperately tried to grip the window frame, lined with small jagged pieces of what once was a
window Paine, so I could hoist myself up and out through. Hopeless. My hand throbbed where it was
stepped on and I fell backwards after catching one last glimpse of those hopeful emerald eyes I knew
so well as they disappeared into the darkness.

Crap.

"Hey, uh , Oz , you wanna give me a hand here buddy?!"

I was forced to let go of my emotions and self pity just for a moment , to pull a hungry vamp off of
Xander, who scampered around the floor , fumbling with the stake he had just dropped.

The vampire spun around to face me , yellow eyes narrowing as he moved forward, preparing to
drain my existence, and for a moment I just didn't care..
Just before I was going to let it take me, I remembered Willows eyes, hopeful in the darkness , all the
good times (and bad) we had gone through- witnessing her beauty for the first time at the bronze in her
Eskimo suit, when she kissed me in front of the school, despite my wolfiness and almost killing her, the
Time she went all romantic on me last Christmas.
Remembering all this made me so sad, but so angry as well!

For a split second, the demons face seemed to melt into that of the snarling Spike. I knew it wasn't
Him, but my mind was so full of images of him with my poor little Willow that it was impossible to
See anything else. And boy did it make me mad!
The wolf in me began to take over. Enraged, I ripped the vampire off of me and punched it in the face,
Knocking it to the ground , before throwing myself onto the demon.

"This is for Willow!"

The vampire gasped as I plunged the stake deep into its chest.
Dust lay on the floor under me.
Everything is silent.
Looking around as I stood up , I noticed everyone staring at me , dumbfounded.
Unsure of what to say, I stared back.
Xander was holding an injured Cordelia , I watched as a tear made a watery path down her bronzed
Cheek.
Amy, obviously new to this sort of lifestyle, was sobbing quietly, next to Giles, rubbing his eyes under
His glasses.
Buffy moved forward and hugged me,

"We'll get her back"
As she stepped backwards, I saw blood on the floor below our feet, like a small puddle.

"You bleeding?" I asked the slayer.
She shook her head, examining the red mess , then looked up at me , eyes glistening with sadness.

" It's Willows."

*Willows POV*
It's so dark in here , come on Buffy!

My head is throbbing uncontrollably again-only worse. I feel nausea's, kinda like how I felt when Oz
And Cordelia walked in on Xander and I in the basement. I think I lost a lot of blood, a few of the
Butterfly Stitches have come off since Spike chained me up in here. I can hardly see, but I think he
Put me in Drusillas' old room-it sure is spooky in here and the chains are killing me , I think they've
Cut into me a little. At least now I know what poor Oz feels like. That reminds me, I wonder what
He's doing right now, I hope he's not worrying too much.

The door to this 'dungeon' suddenly swung open, sending a pool of light into the room. I could barely
See because of the sudden change from dark to light, but through my squint I could make out two figures
Spike and that weird Chris demon , coming toward me.

"Having fun?" Spike laughed that evil laugh of his , and came closer , followed by Chris.

"You know you brought this upon yourself, little witch" He snickered.

"W..what do you mean?" I managed to squeeze the words out.
Spike came even closer.

" I mean, little girly , if your pathetic spell had worked I would be holding my Dru as we speak"
Oh, that thing.

"I'm, I'm sorry Spike. I mean I told you I didn't know if it was gonna work , I'm not very
powerful when it comes to love spells- or at all- I'm just a...a dabbler!"
I thought he was over her anyways!

" Such a shame, you're quite a pretty little thing" He jerked my chin up with his finger.
What do you mean such a shame?'
Spike summoned the Chris-demon, he obeyed and came forward.

"I'll go and wait for the slayer, all this blood is making me hungry" And at that, Spike left, swinging
the keys to my chains as he went.
The Chris demon just looked at me , fangs shining,, breathing hoarsely .
Boy, he is spiky!

"Chris, you've gotta help me! Spike- he's bad , naughty , evil! You're not , you're?. nice! You're
Chris!" I tried to talk some sense into the snarling demon.

"You have to fight this demon in you" I tried to use the ?Buffy to Angel' technique.

" You know nothing , little girl!"
I cringed as he yanked me up by my hair off the floor. He then held me painfully close, his spikes
Imprinting my flesh, and whispered in my ear-

" You and your little friends , you ruined my brother! You ruined my creation! You ruined me!
By his time he was yelling, still clutching my tangled hair.

" And now you're gonna pay" He threw me against the wall, then pulled me up by my hair again.
I winced as a long ,slightly greenish tongue flicked out of the demons mouth and slowly licked my cheek.
Buffy should be here by now!
The Chris demon suddenly pulled my hair back revealing my pale neck.
I'm going to die.

At that moment it was like everything froze in its place. I'd heard that before you die, your life flashes
Before your eyes- I never really believed that, until now. I remembered everything I ever shared with anyone.
Xander and I when we were little , seeing my first vampire , becoming friends with Buffy Sommers and
The memory I was going to miss most- my very first kiss I shared with my very first boyfriend-Oz.
I'm not gonna die, not here, not now!

At that , I kneed the vampire where it hurts the average male most , and it sure had the same affect on
This abnormal one! He screamed slightly and fell to cold floor obviously suffering severe loss of ego!
Right, so he's on the ground now what?
Luckily my feet weren't chained down , so I kicked him a couple more times in the head, finally he
Stopped squirming . I looked around me.

"Aha!" Beside me I spotted some of Drus' old torture toys a pizza wheel looking thing with spikes all
around, a few prods , and a flask of holy water.
I'm surprised Spike kept that!

There were no stakes though. I looked at my watch- which was hard because my hands were chained
Above my head, but I eventually made out the numbers , 2: 17 am .
What to do? Spike will be back soon .
Chris started to move on the ground. I had to move fast if I was going to survive this. I glanced over at
The torture instruments again. I focused on the blessed water.
That's it! Holy water.

I lifted my body up like I was doing pull-ups using my chains, and swung my feet onto the table.
It was pretty difficult, but I just had to take a chance. My feet landed on the table, but only just.
I curled my toes around the bottle and , just as the demon was beginning to wake up, I made a
desperate attempt to throw' the bottle with my feet , it smashed on the ground right near his head
And I watched , slightly horrified , as his face began steaming and bubbling as it burned. He was
Screaming again. I was kinda pleased with myself. The Chris demon soon exploded, I closed my
Eyes until the dust finally settled.
Good one, Willow!

My happiness soon faded as I noticed all the blood, on my clothes, on the floor, an the wall , my hair
Was practically drenched in it.
Have I really lost that much?
I wanted to touch my wound so badly, it was itching madly.
My pain was soon replaced with fear as the door creaked open, and Spike entered.

*Ozs' POV*

" So Spike is in on it with Chris" Buffy broke the eerie silence that lingered in the library.
I was perched in the corner away from everyone else, staring at the floor.

"Willow's bound to be at his lair" The slayer continued as she packed her slaying supplies into her gym
bag.

" Okay , I'm going" She zipped it up and slung it over her shoulder . I took this as a cue , and stood up.

" I'm going too."
She looked at me .

" Oz I know your upset, but I don't think?"

" No really, I wanna go" I insisted.
Buffy continued looking at me , then gave in.

"Okay?.then let's go"

I picked up my jacket from over the back of the computer chair , grabbed a stake, and followed her
Out of the room.
We didn't say anything until we reached the school carpark.

"We can take my van" I fumbled around in my pocket until I found my keys.

" I'm sure willow will be okay"
She tried to make conversation as we drove down the street.
I nodded.
About a minute later, I decided I should say something, so I just said what came into my mind first.

"It was just, seeing Spike holding onto her like that, it made me feel like I wanted nothing more
than to kill him, at that second, I realised just how much I need her 'like she's some vital part of
me?.that I need ..to go on living."
Buffy was practically paralysed.

Maybe I should like , be a poet or something.

I continued. " What I mean is , without her I'm nothing , I just want her to know that?I love her?..
And I just couldn't live with myself , if something happens to her , and she never gets to hear me tell

Her that"
I'm surprising myself here!

"We're gonna get her back, no matter what it takes" Buffy was sounding a little emotional herself.
About five minutes later, I parked the van across the street from Spikes lair.
The slayer handed me a crossbow from her bag, and we ran across the road.
The door creaked as she opened it carefully. I followed her inside.
Spikes' place smelled weird , a mixture of death , moth balls , and just that musty vampire smell.

"Stay close" Buffy whispered as we made our way through the main part of the old warehouse.
I could hear classical music.
I honestly don't know how people can listen to this stuff.
Through the almost pitch darkness, I could see a door , little rays of soft candle light spilled out
Underneath it.

"Stand back"

I stepped aside as Buffy kicked the door open.
She looked around the room sharply, stake in hand. I entered behind her , feeling privileged about
Having a crossbow in such a spooky situation.
An old fashioned record player was in full swing in the corner, beside an ancient bed , with quite a large
Collection of porcelain dolls arranged neatly on the pillows.
I scanned the room.
It was hard to hear much over the music, but my ears picked up the sound of someone crying.
Sometimes I'm actually glad I am a werewolf.
The sound was coming from a dark corner.

"Willow?" I asked the hunched over shadow, a little suspiciously.
The crying continued, but as I got closer, it started to sound more like laughter.

"Oz, don't, it's a trap!"

The slayer warned me as whatever it was crying, pounced on me , pinning me to the floor.
It was Spike. Buffy kicked him in the stomach , sending him flying out the door, she quickly
Picked the crossbow off the ground where it had fallen when I was attacked, and made after Spike.
Phew!
I lay on the floor for a moment to let my brain compute to what had just happened.

"Right. Gotta find Will."

I stood up and shook my head. As I was heading out of the room, I heard another noise coming from
That dark corner again. A sort of murmuring sound.
Deciding to investigate again, I took the candle from the windowsill , and , being a little more cautious
This time, took the stake out of my jacket pocket, and headed toward the noise.

I sighed with relief as the candlelight flooded into the corner.
Two emerald eyes peered up at me , no longer filled with hope , but with happiness.
Willow was gagged.

" Oh, baby"

I let her rest her forehead on my shoulder as I worked at undoing the knot.
When it was finally undone, she breathed through her mouth heavily, and tried to speak to me.

" Oh?.. Oz?.thankyou?..so?much."

"Shhh? it's okay now, I've got you baby"
I looked at the chains securing her hands above her head. They looked pretty tough. I spotted Buffys'
Slaying bag and ran over to it. I unzipped it and pulled out a small axe.

"Let's get you out of these chains" I started hacking into one of the chains. Boy it was hard.
Eventually it broke. I took a breather and started on the next one, then I remembered something-

" Where's Chris?"

"I, uh , I dusted him" Willow replied, obviously pleased with herself.
The second chain broke, and she instantly threw her arms around me. The emotion began to kick
In again, and she started crying.

"Oz, I never wanna let you go "
I quickly absorbed her words, then said what I had wanted to say to her for so long-

"Will , I love you"

"I love you too"
I moved in to kiss her , but she pulled away.

"What's wrong?"

"Blood, on.. ..face'it doesn't taste very nice" She giggled a bit.

"I don't care?.it's Willow blood?.good blood!" I did my best possible vampire impression.

"Now, if you don't mind, I'll have a healthy dose of Willow kissage, please"

"If you insist "
Our kisses were soon interrupted my a panting Buffy.

"He got away in his car, I don't think we should pursue him though-he wont be back"
She soon spotted Willow, and ran over and hugged her.

"You okay?"
She asked her fiery headed friend.

"I will be" She replied, smiling.

"It's been quite a night for you ."
We all stood around looking at each other.

"Buffy , uh , do ya wanna go get the car started for me"
I asked the small blonde, dangling the keys in front of her face.

"Sure"

She accepted them without a problem and ran out of the room.
Willow looked up at me , eyes shining in the moonlight.

"Come on"

I pulled her up off the uncomfortably hard floor.
We just stood there , in one very warm embrace, but obviously not warm enough for Will, who was
Shaking wildly.

"You're cold" I took off my flannelette jacket and draped it across her shoulders.

"Thanks"
I smiled and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"Let's go" I put my arm around her waist, and as soon as I did , her knees gave way like she was about
to pass out .
Now's my chance to be Mr romantic guy.
I slipped my bandaged hand under her legs, and the other one under her arms, and lifted her up as she
Let out a delighted little squeal .
I carried her out to the van across the road as she looped her arms around my neck.

*The next day at school, sitting at the table out side*

"So, Spike's out of town , once again" Buffy informed Cordelia , Xander and Amy.

"That's great, but , uh , what about that Chris guy" Xander asked her.

"Omigod!" The slayer stood up , "I didn't even see him last night!"

"Why don't you ask Willow?" I smiled at my girlfriend. She smiled back.

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