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jesterladyficTitle: Grace Fills Up Uneven Nature
by Jesterlady
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Willow/Oz, Xander/Anya, slight Spike/Buffy if you squint :)
Summary: A rewrite of BTVS S4, but this time, I'm really focusing on Willow/Oz.
Disclaimer: I don't own BTVS. Some lines are from the show. The title is by George Hebert. This chapter's title is by James Houston
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five: Stomach Madness
Buffy was mad. The way Willow had treated them as her personal playthings grated on her nerves. But the fact that Willow was angry at her for being angry was just stupid. What made matters worse was they couldn’t even talk to each other about it. The side effects of fairy tale monsters stealing everyone’s voices.
It had been scary at first and she’d forgotten to be mad at Willow. But once she’d gotten her Slayer gears
going and Giles had explained what was going on, she’d remembered the spell. She recoiled from the feelings of
being in love with Spike. But the worst part was that, deep down, she knew that was the happiest she’d been since
she’d been Called. Which is not something she would ever admit. Sometimes she wondered if he felt the same
way, but it wasn’t something she was going to explore any further.
Not that she wasn’t going out of her way to find him. He’d escaped Giles’ bathroom during the commotion of
the after effects of the spell. Now she spent all her free time looking for him. It wasn’t the funnest time. Something else she could blame on Willow. Now she couldn’t even tell Willy what she was beating him up to find out.
And she felt alone in her silence. No one else could speak, but Giles was feeling better because he had figured out the Gentlemen thing and didn’t have to feel bad about not having his job. Xander and Anya had been made closer by the spell. And Oz was going through his monthly wolfing. Willow was staying all night with him in his cage at the crypt. So, the only thing Buffy could do was hunt for the Gentlemen and hope Spike turned up.
***
Willow had never been so frightened in her life. It wasn’t normally that bad staying with Oz in the cemetery, but when she didn’t have a voice and a smiling demon tried to cut out her heart, the fear tended to rise. She didn’t have anything but her tranq gun and she didn’t think it would work on all four things bearing down on her. There was no one to help her unless by some miraculous chance Buffy happened to be tracking these exact demons when there were several other versions all around Sunnydale. And would become un-angry long enough to save her friend. Willow felt a bit miffed about it even though she knew it was her fault.
It pretty much came down to a single choice. Willow opened the cage door and stood back as OzWolf leapt
out and started to rip apart the demons attacking her. She only had two shots available to her in the tranq gun but
she didn’t hesitate to use one when she saw one of the creepy, smiling mimes was about to cut OzWolf’s throat with
a scalpel. It was all the distraction the wolf needed. He tore into the demons and they stood no chance. The other
floating mime seemed to know the battle was up and left. Willow stood and braced herself because she knew the
moment was coming.
OzWolf finished the last demon and slowly turned towards her, muzzle streaked with blood and gore. An almost grin
pulled at the lips and he prepared himself to spring. Willow pulled the trigger.
She watched him fall to the ground and then collapsed herself. She didn’t know how much longer she could take having to restrain her boyfriend from killing her. But there was nothing she could do about it at the moment, so she stood up, wiped away her tears and dragged him back into his cage.
***
Oz woke up feeling like he’d been in a fight. It wasn’t unusual for him to have injured himself during his wolf nights, trying to get out of his cage, but this felt much more intensely painful.
He pulled on his jeans and winced as they chafed against raw skin. Next time he was bringing sweat pants.
One would think he would learn, but apparently not.
“Morning.”
Willow’s voice was usually the best thing he heard in the mornings, especially since he hadn’t heard it in a couple of
days, but he didn’t like her tone. He turned around and blinked in surprise at the gory corpses on the floor.
“Was that me?”
“Yup, but it was pretty much me or them, so I’m kinda glad it was them.”
“What happened?”
She explained as she let him out of the cage and brought him out of the evil smelling mausoleum. They had
breakfast on top of it and it was a beautiful morning.
But Oz didn’t feel beautiful. The sight of what he’d done still hovered in his mind.
“We can clean it up and get Buffy to help. I went down to the payphone across the street from the cemetery
once I figured out our voices were back. Buffy won the day, or night, I guess, and now the clean up begins.”
“Will, you gotta explain exactly what happened to me.” Oz didn’t use his voice that often, but it was amazing
how good it felt to be able to use it.
“I told you. You killed monsters, I put you to sleep. End of story.”
“But I could’ve killed you.”
“Well, they definitely would’ve. I know how to get rid of you. But smiling mimes? Not so much.”
“I don’t think you should stay with me at night anymore, or at least, not by yourself.”
“Why?”
“I get out all too easily, it seems.”
“I let you out, Oz. There’s a difference.”
“And now I have to deal with the fact that I killed something. Evil something, but something.”
“I’m sorry.” Willow paused for a moment. “I didn’t really think about it like that. I guess I was using you.”
“If it means your life, Will.” Oz put his hand under her chin and turned her head so she looked him in the eyes.
“Use me.”
She didn’t say anything, but rested her forehead against his. They stayed that way for several minutes.
“If I didn’t have that really bad fear of public anything to do with my voice, I might start singing,” she said after
awhile. “It’s that nice being able to talk.”
He had to smile at that.
“I always like to hear it when I can catch you.”
“Sweet, musically talented and a liar.”
“First and third maybe.”
“We should probably get going.”
“Yeah.”
He helped her up and they packed up their stuff. He looked back into the mausoleum and saw the blood and felt like
throwing up. Not just for the sight either.
“It’s okay, Oz. I’m sorry.”
“That could’ve been you,” he said softly. “I could’ve done that to you.”
“You didn’t.”
“I can’t protect you, or anyone. All I can do is destroy and hope that people stop me.”
“You choose to lock yourself up every month. That’s what you can do.”
“I can’t do it anymore. I can’t go into that cage knowing I could hurt someone. How useless was I when the
whole town was in trouble?”
“Not useless to me. But we’ve been trying. We’ll keep trying.”
“We’ve gotten nowhere.”
“Let’s, let’s…ask Giles. I know he’s Buffy’s Watcher, but he’s our expert too. We’ve done all we can, let’s try
to branch out.”
Oz finally looked at her. Her eyes stared at him, hope and longing written in them. They spoke of a time when he might not have to deal with this horror and they could put everything behind them, the wolf, Xander, Veruca, whatever else would come. He had to take that chance.
“Thank you.”
He took her hand and led her out of the cemetery.
by Jesterlady
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Willow/Oz, Xander/Anya, slight Spike/Buffy if you squint :)
Summary: A rewrite of BTVS S4, but this time, I'm really focusing on Willow/Oz.
Disclaimer: I don't own BTVS. Some lines are from the show. The title is by George Hebert. This chapter's title is by James Houston
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five: Stomach Madness
Buffy was mad. The way Willow had treated them as her personal playthings grated on her nerves. But the fact that Willow was angry at her for being angry was just stupid. What made matters worse was they couldn’t even talk to each other about it. The side effects of fairy tale monsters stealing everyone’s voices.
It had been scary at first and she’d forgotten to be mad at Willow. But once she’d gotten her Slayer gears
going and Giles had explained what was going on, she’d remembered the spell. She recoiled from the feelings of
being in love with Spike. But the worst part was that, deep down, she knew that was the happiest she’d been since
she’d been Called. Which is not something she would ever admit. Sometimes she wondered if he felt the same
way, but it wasn’t something she was going to explore any further.
Not that she wasn’t going out of her way to find him. He’d escaped Giles’ bathroom during the commotion of
the after effects of the spell. Now she spent all her free time looking for him. It wasn’t the funnest time. Something else she could blame on Willow. Now she couldn’t even tell Willy what she was beating him up to find out.
And she felt alone in her silence. No one else could speak, but Giles was feeling better because he had figured out the Gentlemen thing and didn’t have to feel bad about not having his job. Xander and Anya had been made closer by the spell. And Oz was going through his monthly wolfing. Willow was staying all night with him in his cage at the crypt. So, the only thing Buffy could do was hunt for the Gentlemen and hope Spike turned up.
***
Willow had never been so frightened in her life. It wasn’t normally that bad staying with Oz in the cemetery, but when she didn’t have a voice and a smiling demon tried to cut out her heart, the fear tended to rise. She didn’t have anything but her tranq gun and she didn’t think it would work on all four things bearing down on her. There was no one to help her unless by some miraculous chance Buffy happened to be tracking these exact demons when there were several other versions all around Sunnydale. And would become un-angry long enough to save her friend. Willow felt a bit miffed about it even though she knew it was her fault.
It pretty much came down to a single choice. Willow opened the cage door and stood back as OzWolf leapt
out and started to rip apart the demons attacking her. She only had two shots available to her in the tranq gun but
she didn’t hesitate to use one when she saw one of the creepy, smiling mimes was about to cut OzWolf’s throat with
a scalpel. It was all the distraction the wolf needed. He tore into the demons and they stood no chance. The other
floating mime seemed to know the battle was up and left. Willow stood and braced herself because she knew the
moment was coming.
OzWolf finished the last demon and slowly turned towards her, muzzle streaked with blood and gore. An almost grin
pulled at the lips and he prepared himself to spring. Willow pulled the trigger.
She watched him fall to the ground and then collapsed herself. She didn’t know how much longer she could take having to restrain her boyfriend from killing her. But there was nothing she could do about it at the moment, so she stood up, wiped away her tears and dragged him back into his cage.
***
Oz woke up feeling like he’d been in a fight. It wasn’t unusual for him to have injured himself during his wolf nights, trying to get out of his cage, but this felt much more intensely painful.
He pulled on his jeans and winced as they chafed against raw skin. Next time he was bringing sweat pants.
One would think he would learn, but apparently not.
“Morning.”
Willow’s voice was usually the best thing he heard in the mornings, especially since he hadn’t heard it in a couple of
days, but he didn’t like her tone. He turned around and blinked in surprise at the gory corpses on the floor.
“Was that me?”
“Yup, but it was pretty much me or them, so I’m kinda glad it was them.”
“What happened?”
She explained as she let him out of the cage and brought him out of the evil smelling mausoleum. They had
breakfast on top of it and it was a beautiful morning.
But Oz didn’t feel beautiful. The sight of what he’d done still hovered in his mind.
“We can clean it up and get Buffy to help. I went down to the payphone across the street from the cemetery
once I figured out our voices were back. Buffy won the day, or night, I guess, and now the clean up begins.”
“Will, you gotta explain exactly what happened to me.” Oz didn’t use his voice that often, but it was amazing
how good it felt to be able to use it.
“I told you. You killed monsters, I put you to sleep. End of story.”
“But I could’ve killed you.”
“Well, they definitely would’ve. I know how to get rid of you. But smiling mimes? Not so much.”
“I don’t think you should stay with me at night anymore, or at least, not by yourself.”
“Why?”
“I get out all too easily, it seems.”
“I let you out, Oz. There’s a difference.”
“And now I have to deal with the fact that I killed something. Evil something, but something.”
“I’m sorry.” Willow paused for a moment. “I didn’t really think about it like that. I guess I was using you.”
“If it means your life, Will.” Oz put his hand under her chin and turned her head so she looked him in the eyes.
“Use me.”
She didn’t say anything, but rested her forehead against his. They stayed that way for several minutes.
“If I didn’t have that really bad fear of public anything to do with my voice, I might start singing,” she said after
awhile. “It’s that nice being able to talk.”
He had to smile at that.
“I always like to hear it when I can catch you.”
“Sweet, musically talented and a liar.”
“First and third maybe.”
“We should probably get going.”
“Yeah.”
He helped her up and they packed up their stuff. He looked back into the mausoleum and saw the blood and felt like
throwing up. Not just for the sight either.
“It’s okay, Oz. I’m sorry.”
“That could’ve been you,” he said softly. “I could’ve done that to you.”
“You didn’t.”
“I can’t protect you, or anyone. All I can do is destroy and hope that people stop me.”
“You choose to lock yourself up every month. That’s what you can do.”
“I can’t do it anymore. I can’t go into that cage knowing I could hurt someone. How useless was I when the
whole town was in trouble?”
“Not useless to me. But we’ve been trying. We’ll keep trying.”
“We’ve gotten nowhere.”
“Let’s, let’s…ask Giles. I know he’s Buffy’s Watcher, but he’s our expert too. We’ve done all we can, let’s try
to branch out.”
Oz finally looked at her. Her eyes stared at him, hope and longing written in them. They spoke of a time when he might not have to deal with this horror and they could put everything behind them, the wolf, Xander, Veruca, whatever else would come. He had to take that chance.
“Thank you.”
He took her hand and led her out of the cemetery.
