Though smile and sigh alike are vain,
When severed hearts repine
My spirit flies o'er Mount and Main
And mourns in search of thine.
-- George Gordon, Lord Byron, Stanzas Composed During
A Thunderstorm

"Have any of you considered that that window is to small for Oz
in either human or wolf form?" Willow asked the assembled group,
throwing up her hands in disgust.

"I did," Faith grumbled; she was cut off in her complaining by
an icy glare from Giles.

"So I didn't do anything wrong?" Xander asked; Willow silenced
him with a glare. He cleared his throat, "So, uh, maybe a vampire
did the guy in."

"No, this guy was attacked by a wild animal," Buffy commented.

"Or something in that frame of mind." Faith stated, looking over
at Willow who quickly looked down at her hands as she remembered
the way Angel had acted the night before. < What if he-- > Her
thoughts were cut off when Oz placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay, baby?" he whispered. She nodded, not trusting her voice.
He looked at her strangely but didn't question her.

"Maybe we're not seeing what's right in front of us," Giles stated.
"Perhaps a demon or another werewolf is responsible."

"Maybe it's Angel," Faith offered, gauging the reactions of both
Buffy and Willow. "I mean, this seems like his M.O." Buffy paled
visibly, and Willow's eyes widened.

"I s-suppose there's a remote possibility," Giles replied.

"No, there isn't," Buffy stated softly. All eyes turned to her.

"Buffy, I know that if it were true, it would hurt deeply, but we
can't rule out--"

"No!" she shouted. "There _is_ no way Angel did this. He's dead,"
she denied, on the verge of tears.

"Buffy--"

"No!" she sobbed and ran out of the room.

"Something I said?" Faith shrugged. Willow snarled under her breath.
< Spending way too much time with Angel, > she noted.

"Perhaps someone should go check on her?" Giles offered.

"I'll go," Willow offered quickly, rising to her feet. "And Faith
will come with me," she smiled predatorially at the Slayer.

"I will?" Faith smirked.

"I think that would be for the best," Giles supported; Faith glared
at him. "Two women would probably calm her down better." Faith rolled
her eyes but hopped down off the table. She and Willow walked out of
the library and headed towards the bathroom where they assumed Buffy
would be. Before they got there, Willow stopped Faith with a hand on
her wrist.

"What the hell did you think you were doing in there?" Willow hissed.

"Just funnin'," Faith grinned. "Oh, c'mon, do you think for one second
anyone in there considered that Angel was back?"

"I did," a soft male voice commented.

"Oh, God, Oz," Willow muttered, turning to face the werewolf.

"So he is back," he stated; Willow only nodded. Faith chuckled. "Did he
do anything to hurt you?" Oz asked, stepping up beside the redhead. "If
he did...." Oz felt the wolf in him surging forward.

"No, no, he didn't hurt me," Willow whispered.

"But something tells me, Red would get off on the pain," Faith laughed.
A growl rumbled out of Oz's throat.

"Goddess, not you too," Willow muttered.

"What do you me 'not me too'," Oz asked, looking over at her. Before
Willow could answer, his face contorted in pain. "We...have...things...to
talk--" He never finished his sentence as his skin was covered in a wash
of fur and his last word came out as a low bark. He sniffed the air and
turned towards the Sunnydale High entrance. Faith and Willow exchanged
a glance as Oz-wolf broke into a loping run.

"This isn't good, is it?" Faith asked.

"Nope, not good at all."

Though smile and sigh alike are vain,
When severed hearts repine
My spirit flies o'er Mount and Main
And mourns in search of thine.
-- George Gordon, Lord Byron, Stanzas Composed During
A Thunderstorm

Willow was in danger; Angel's instincts told him that. He wanted
nothing more than to run through the night and save her, but he
didn't because she'd promised she come back to him. So he stood
in the living room of the mansion and paced. He needed to feed,
but with the overwhelming sense of danger hanging over his head,
he couldn't concentrate long enough to eat. He growled softly,
wishing he could speak, and continued to pace.

His head shot up as a wolf's howl pierced the night surrounding
the mansion. The demon deep within Angel laughed as another howl,
closer this time, rang out. Angel brought his hands to his head
and pressed the heels of his palms to his forehead. When his mate
was here, he could fight off the nightmares, fight off his demon,
but now she wasn't there. Angel's demon surged through Angel's
weakened defenses just as a large hair-covered body slammed through
the glass of the doors leading to the garden.

Angel growled at the beast, and his demon recognized it. He'd
encountered this thing before. The man-wolf sniffed the air then
howled loudly; both of them let out a snarl and leapt into the
air. Angel's hands impacted with fur and pulled roughly, causing
the wolf to yelp in pain as a piece of its flesh was ripped out.
The animal retaliated by digging it's claws in Angel's stomach
and ripping through flesh and muscle.

The vampire screamed in pain and cuffed the werewolf on the side
of the head. The animal fell away from Angel and didn't have time
to recover before Angel leapt on top of the beast and buried his
fangs in the wolf's neck. He felt warm blood rush into his body
just as a familiar scent filled his nostrils.

"Angel, no!" Willow shouted, running into the mansion; Faith
followed close behind the witch. Angel removed his fangs from
the wolf and guiltily met Willow's eyes. The wold lolled it's
head around and growled at the interruption to the fight. Angel
stood up and shook his head trying to clear away some of the anger
that had descended on his mind. The wolf rose as well, but
instead of staying still it jumped up and tried for Angel's throat.
Before the vampire could react, Faith landed on the wolf's back,
rolling the two of them away from Willow and Angel.

"Red, find some chains. Now!" Faith screamed as she avoided the
werewolf's claws.

"Angel?" Willow tried to get the vampire's attention. "Angel?" she
asked again, and this time he turned to face her. "Did Drusilla or
Spike have any chains?" Angel nodded and pointed to one of the doors
on the far side of the room.

Willow ran towards the door and throwing it open, began searching
for chains. She decided the best place would be in the small chest
covered in dolls; she dumped the toys unceremoniously on the floor
and opened the latch of the chest. She dumped out piled of silk
dresses and pulled a a pair of chains out of the bottom of the chest.
She ran back into the living room to find Angel holding onto the
wolf around the waist.

"Faith, here!" she shouted tossing the chains to the Slayer; the
brunette caught them with one hand and captured one wolf paw with
the other. She slammed the cuff around the wolf's wrist and quickly
tossed the other end of the chain through a wall fixture. She locked
the other cuff around the wolf's other wrist, and motioned for Angel
to let it go. The vampire dropped the wolf, and the animal struggled
against it's bonds trying to get to Willow. Faith leaned up against
the wall, panting.

"You okay?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, not a scratch," the Slayer grinned. "Well, things definitely
aren't boring around here."

"Angel?" Willow asked, noticing the gashes across Angel's stomach and
forearms. "Are you okay?" Angel shook his head, feeling the fog
beginning to lift from his brain. He suddenly fell forward, and Willow
caught him. Willow looked over at Faith.

"Can you--?"

"Hey, I'll take care of Wolfie. You take care of Fang," the Slayer
ordered. Willow nodded and helped Angel through the curtained doorway
that she knew led to his bedroom.

She gently helped him recline back on the bed then she glanced around
the room searching for something she could use for a bandage. Her eyes
finally settled on an unopened package of sheets resting in the corner.

"Sorry about this," she whispered, ripping into the package and pulling
out one of the sheets. She tucked two pieces apart and started to wrap
them around Angel's chest. "But I doubt you have any other bandages."
She used to full sheets wrapping the wound on his stomach and the
third sheet went to bandage his arms. "There," she stated with a nod,
surveying her work. "I'll go out tomorrow and buy real bandages." She
rose to her feet and prepared to enter the living room to check on Oz.
When she turned away from Angel, she still felt his eyes boring into
her.

"Willow?" Her name was croaked out over vocal chords that hadn't be
used in hundreds of years.

"Did you--?" she began, turning back to him.

"Willow," he stated, his voice ragged.

"Oh, God," she muttered, sliding down the wall, relief evident on her
face.

*FIN*

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