------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 

-Part 1-

"Oz," Willow whispered as the sometimes-werewolf ran his fingers through
her hair and kissed her neck. The red-headed witch leaned her head back as
he trailed kisses down her neck and just lost herself in this one moment.
But the content moment was short-lived; Willow opened her eyes to find Oz
disappearing in front of her eyes.

"Oz," she said, reaching out for him. "Come back." But the boy continued to
move further and further away from her. It was like the more she reached out
for him, the farther away he was. "OZ!" she screamed, tears rolling down her
face. Willow's eyes flew open as she found herself sitting up in bed in the
dormroom.

"Willow? Are you ok?" Buffy's voice trailed from the other bed as the
overhead light came on. Willow began to sob as the blonde-haired girl sat
down on the bed beside her and pulled her into a hug. "Did you have another
dream?"

"Yes," Willow replied, her voice breaking. "It's always the same, Buffy.
It's like Oz is always right there. . .but yet he's always out of my reach,
you know? I swear some higher power is trying to torture me for letting him
break my heart."

"You didn't *let* him do anything, Will," Buffy pointed out. "You fell in
love knowing what could happen. No guy is perfect as we both know. They
screw up. . .which is what Oz did. You know you don't need him. If you take
him back now, you'll always wonder what he's really doing."

"I know, " Willow replied, wiping her eyes. "It's just. . .I loved him,
Buffy. Did he find me so repulsive deep down that he felt he had to cheat
with another girl? And a skanky werewolf-singer at that?"  The red-headed
witch felt as if the walls were closing in around her because she found it
hard to breathe. She grabbed her jacket off the end of the bed and stood up.
"You know, I think I just need some air."

"Will, are you sure? I mean, do you want me to go with you?" Buffy asked,
concern in her voice. She hated seeing Willow like this; but from experience
she knew it was something the witch had to figure out on her own.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll be back in awhile, so don't worry," Willow said,
leaving the room, breathing a sigh of relied as the door closed behind her.
She took a deep breathe as she headed downstairs and out into the night air.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

'There she is' Angel thought as he saw Willow walk out into the chilly
night air. 'Beautiful as ever, too.' The dark-haired vampire groaned
inwardly from his hiding place in the bushes outside Stevenson Hall, all the
while watching the red-headed woman in front of him. It had been almost six
months since he'd left Sunnydale. . .but yet here he was, back in Sunnydale
for the first time since the mayor's assencion. And why? That he wasn't sure
of yet. But he had a feeling he was beginning to figure his reason out.

Ever since he'd gotten to L.A, the vampire couldn't keep the image of
Willow Rosenburg out of his mind. It was like she was everywhere. . .he had
pictures of the red-head hidden where Wesley and Cordelia wouldn't find
them; but he found himself looking at them more and more everyday. Cordelia
had tried to hook him up on dates, which he reluctantly went on, trying to
have a "normal" life. Well, as normal a life as a vampire with a soul could
have.

The only problem was that every woman he seemed to go out with lacked one
thing; every quality that Willow possessed. The beauty, the brains, the
soul, and most importantly, the mature perception she had. It was like all
the qualities he wanted in a mate were packaged in one person: WILLOW. 'The
one person I can never have' he thought sadly.

Angel stepped further back into the shadows as he felt Willow's presence
close to his hiding spot. He found himself outside this dorm a lot of
nights, but this was the first time he'd seen Willow since he'd left
Sunnydale. He looked closer when he noticed Willow wiping her eyes. 'She's
crying' he realized.

A sob escaped the red-head as she covered her mouth with her hand. Angel
had a choice to make and he made it fast: he moved quietly from his spot in
the bushes and reached Willow in less than five seconds. He wrapped his arms
around the girl and pulled her against his chest. He'd dreamed of this
moment when he'd get to hold Willow; but he never guessed this would be the
way it would happen.

For a few minutes, Willow just stayed there in his embrace and sobbed. As
her crying subsided, she realized she wasn't alone for the first time. She
took a deep breath and smelled a familiar scent. "Angel?" she asked quietly
as she pulled away and looked at the person in front of her.

She was surprised to see Angel there. She hadn't heard anything from him
since he'd left. . .she'd tried to get in touch with him, but he never
returned her phonecalls or e-mails. She'd finally given up on it all
together, but now here he was, right in front of her.

"Yeah, it's me," Angel replied with a smile.

Willow couldn't decide whether she wanted to hug the vampire or slap him.
Her heart finally won out and she threw her arms around him. "Angel, it's
been so long. You just show up. Not that I'm not happy to see you, but you
know..." she said.

"I know," Angel replied quietly. He tried to push the guilty feeling of
ignoring Willow away, but he just couldn't. "I've been busy."

Now Willow slapped his arm. "Too busy to call or write?" she asked with a
raised eyebrow.

"Well, no. But I. . .I just...." Angel tried to put a believable sentence
together but couldn't as he looked into Willow's hurt eyes. He could see
she'd been crying for awhile now; he eyes were bloodshot and she had circles
under her eyes from not sleeping. "It's not important. What's important is
why you're so upset."

"I'm not crying," Willow tried to deny. She laughed slightly as Angel
snorted his disbelief. "Ok, maybe I am." A tear slid down her cheek.

Angel reached out and wiped the tear away. He took her hand and gently led
Willow to a nearby tree. They sat down and Willow leaned her head back
against the tree and closed her eyes. Then she looked at Angel and told him
the whole story of Oz and Veruca. "So I walked in the crypt and there they
were, naked on the floor together. My heart broke. And before I could try
and fix things, he was just. . .gone," Willow finished with a sigh.

The dark-haired vampire had remained silent through all this, but now he
wrapped an arm around Willow's shoulders as she leaned into him. "That's
awful, Willow," Angel said quietly. "You shouldn't have to go through this
alone." He didn't know what to say to her.

"Well, you know I'm just trying to get through it," Willow replied quietly.
"It happened four days ago and it's a slow process, believe me. There's
things that make it easier, though." Angel looked on surprised as Willow
pulled a can of beer from her bag.

"Willow, where did you get that?" Angel asked, trying not to let the anger
show in his voice.

Willow shrugged her reply. "A girl on the first floor, why?" she asked,
flipping the top open. The next thing she knew, Angel's hand was overtop of
the can of beer before she could take a drink of it. "Angel!" she exclaimed.

"You don't need this, Willow," Angel said, taking the can of beer.

"Yes I do, Angel. It hurts. And at least drinking lets me forget about it
for all of one night," Willow replied.

"Exactly, it's only a temporary escape from your life," Angel said. "That's
not what you need, Willow, and you know that. It's just going to create more
problems in the long-run.You need to deal with this rationally, which I know
you're good at."

Willow sighed and looked up at the night sky. "Well, it'd be easier if I
had friends who actually gave a shit," she replied. "Xander says he's here
for me, but he never has the time to listen to me. Anya's out of the
question and all Buffy tells me is that it'll get better and then tries to
set me up on dates."

Jealousy rose in Angel's chest at Willow's words. 'Dates?' he thought, but
didn't voice it. "And how do *you* feel?" he asked.

"Awful, Angel," she replied. "I just need time, you know? My friends can't
stand me whining, but they don't understand how I feel. So what am I
supposed to do? I've lost sight of myself in all this. Plus everywhere I
look, it's like Sunnydale is full of things to remind me of Oz and me."

Angel thought before he voiced his opinion. "Have you thought about leaving
Sunnydale for awhile? Long enough to sort through your feelings and decide
what you need to be happy?" he asked quietly, looking at her.

"Of course I have. All I've wanted to do is leave this town," Willow
replied. "But where am I supposed to go, Angel? I don't have the money to go
anywhere."

"Come to L.A," Angel answered.

"What?" Willow asked.

"Come to L.A, Willow," Angel said. "There's more than enough room at the
hotel for you. You can stay there as long as you want and figure things out.
And I'm here for you. . .all the way. If you need anything, just ask, ok?"

Willow smiled because she couldn't find the words she wanted to say. "Are
you sure it's ok, Angel?" she asked.

"Of course it is," Angel replied, giving Willow a hug. "I can't stand to
see you like this, and I'll do anything to see you happy again. Now go pack
a bag. . .my car is four blocks away, so meet me there when you're
finished."
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Willow felt happier than she had in the last week as she walked back into
her room. There was no way she could ever repay Angel for what he was doing
. . .he was giving her an escape from her problems; and more importantly, he
was giving her a place to stay while she worked things out within herself.

She turned on the bedside light and began to pack her stuff. She glanced at
the picture of Oz that was sitting on the table. . .a tear escaped, so she
sat the picture back down, forgetting it there.

"Willow? What are you doing?" Buffy asked from the other bed. She sat up to
find her best friend packing a bag.

"I have to leave, Buffy," Willow replied without looking at the other girl.
"I'm going to go crazy otherwise."

"Go? Where?" Buffy asked, getting up.

Willow took a deep breath and finally looked at the other girl. Buffy was
her best frined, but right now she felt worlds apart from the blonde slayer.
"I don't know," she lied. "I just know that I can't stay here in Sunnydale.
Everywhere I go, I'm reminded of Oz, Buffy. I can't deal with that right
now, so I think it's best that I leave for awhile."

"Yeah, because the best thing to do is run away from your problems," Buffy
said harshly, anger in her eyes as she looked at Willow.

Willow looked at Buffy with hurt in her eyes. "It's ok for you to leave
town over a guy, though?" She took a deep breath. "I have to, Buffy."

"Will you call?" Buffy asked quietly.

Willow hugged the blonde girl. "I'll call as soon as I'm better, ok?" At
Buffy's nod, she added, "Do me a favor; tell Xander, ok?" She finished
packing her stuff and left, leaving UC Sunnydale and her life behind as she
headed for Angel's waiting car. 'I don't know what awaits me in Angel's life
and in L.A', she thought as she slipped into the passenger seat of the black
convertible. 'But it has to be better than this' She didn't look back as
Angel hit the highway, back to Los Angeles.

next