Of Magic and Lies

Chapter 4

…

Oz stepped out of the trademark blue van, his red hair and pale skin absorbing the warm rays of the California sun. He closed his eyes briefly, reveling in the familiar buzz of his bond, something he had been missing for the past few months, even though he hadn't known it was there.

A week had passed since Buffy's resurrection and his departure from Tibet, and he was finally back on the Hellmouth. He stood outside of the cozy looking house that belonged to Mara and Joanne's contact, a woman by the name of Tara MacClay.

He walked up to the front door and knocked. A moment later he was greeted by a shy looking witch with dark blond hair. "Uuh h-hi. Y-you must be Oz."

Oz nodded. "Yeah. Tara, right?"

She nodded, opening the door wider. "C-come in."

Oz stepped inside the home, the scent of incense hitting him immediately. "You might not want to say that to any visitors you get after dark."

Tara blushed. "R-right." Tara led him to her living room and gestured for him to have a seat on her sofa.

"M-Mara told me a little a-about w-what happened. W-What do you n-need me t-to do?" Tara asked him. When Mara told her about what had been done to the red headed man in front of her, she had been horrified. What that witch had done to him… it went against everything magic stood for, and she'd vowed to do anything she could to help.

Oz ran a hand through his hair. As much planning as they'd done, things were still so complicated. And he had so much to lose if things went south.

"The spell Willow did was pretty wide spread. There were a lot of people affected, directly and indirectly. Mara said there was no way to reverse the spell itself, that we'd have to break it down a little at a time."

Tara nodded. "T-that's true. The s-spell w-was her own c-creation, I've n-never h-heard of anything like that b-before."

"All my friends are still under. Do you think you can remove the spells from them without Willow knowing?"

"Y-yes. B-but will they b-be able t-to keep up the a-act?"

Oz frowned. He could. Giles could. The others… no probably not. Xander was way too explosive, Anya didn't have a discrete bone in her body, and Buffy… as much as he wanted to break the spell on her, have her memories return and have her know what'd they'd shared… he had to wait. She would already been shaken up from her resurrection. He couldn't put this on her too, not yet. It'd be too much. But he wasn't going to lie to himself. He knew he wouldn't be able to pretend there was nothing between them. He'd have to tread carefully.

"No." He said finally. "But I need Giles in this. He won't do anything that'd put Buffy at risk."

"C-can you get him h-here tomorrow?"

"I can."

…

She was inside. He could feel her. It was almost funny. Their bond had never left them, but there were so many things he hadn't noticed while he was under Willow's spell, that were so blaringly obvious now. He'd always known he could sense her, but he'd chocked it up to her being the Slayer and him being a wolf. Now that he knew the truth, it was so much stronger. He could feel her presence like a hum under his skin.

He'd been sitting in his van outside the house for the last ten minutes. As stoic has he was… he questioned his ability to hold it together when he saw her. His entire world had been stolen away… and now he was so close to having her back.

Oz sighed. Suck it up, Osbourne.

Buffy needed him. He could tell she was suffering. It was time to see his mate.

As he walked to the door, Oz idly wondered what Willow had done with his and Buffy's wedding rings. Maybe he'd ask before he tore her throat out.

He let himself into the home and quickly deduced that Buffy was the only one there. He wasn't sure f that was a good thing or a bad thing. Being alone with his mate, he wasn't sure his self-control would hold out.

"Hello?" He called out, not seeing her in the living room or the kitchen and definitely not trusting himself enough to go up to her bedroom. He turned towards the stairs as he heard footsteps descending. A moment later, there she was. She looked tired, and sad, her hair was a bit longer and a bit darker, but it was Buffy. She was alive.

"Oz…" She said softly, staring at the werewolf. She'd been strangely disappointed when she came back and he wasn't there, but also relieved as his absence meant he hadn't been involved in her resurrection. Standing before him now, she felt overcome with emotion she didn't understand.

"Buffy…" Control be damned, Oz sprinted up the few remaining stairs that separated them and pulled her into his arms, crushing her against his chest. As soon as he made contact with her skin, a rush of warmth flooded through the bond, overwhelming them both. After a minute, he felt Buffy's shoulders start to shake and his shirt becoming damp with her tears. He carefully maneuvered them the rest of the way down the stairs, stroking her hair and murmuring soothingly. Once she had calmed a bit, he led her into the living room and sat with her on the loveseat.

Buffy looked up at him, wiping the tears from her cheeks with her hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get a weepy on you. I ruined your shirt."

Oz shook his head. "It'll dry."

"H-how did you know I was back?" She asked curiously.

"I felt it." He said honestly. He had to reason to lie to her. He refused to. He just wouldn't tell her everything, not yet anyway.

Buffy blinked in surprise. "You felt it?"

He nodded slowly. "You and I… have always had this connection I couldn't explain. I was in Tibet, dealing with some stuff, and one day I just felt you. And I knew. It's probably best if we keep that between us though."

Buffy nodded in agreement. She knew what Oz was talking about. For as long as she could remember, there had always been this something between her and Oz. Maybe because they both had this primal force inside them, maybe because he was a werewolf and she was the slayer, or maybe it was something else, but it was almost like they had a sixth sense when it came to each other. And that was something Willow wouldn't exactly be thrilled to hear about. But sitting here with him now, she felt more at peace than she had since she'd been brought back. It was like a part of her knew as long as he was here, she'd be okay. Maybe she could tell him… Buffy frowned. He wasn't one of the ones who brought her back, but Willow was. Would he be offended that she wasn't happy with what Willow had done?

"What's wrong?" Oz's soft voice broke through her thoughts.

Buffy looked into the concerned green eyes and knew in her heart that she could trust him with the truth. She opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted as the front door swung open and Giles, Willow, and Dawn walked in.

"Oz!" Willow squealed happily, running to her boyfriend. He stood just as she leapt into his arms. It was all he could do not to shove her away, the wolf inside him snarling in rage. As she finally pulled away and looked at him, he really hoped his eyes weren't yellow.

"You're back! When did you get back?"

"Pretty much now."

"Bet you were surprised to see Buffy alive and kicking, huh? I brought her back. Pretty powerful stuff, huh?"

Oz's eyes flickered to Giles for a moment and caught the disapproving frown on his face. They'd talk later. "Uh yeah." He muttered non-committally.

Willow frowned at his less than enthusiastic reply. Why wasn't anyone impressed by what she'd done? She raised the dead for cryin out loud!

Buffy cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Uh… I should… figure out something for dinner."

Oz turned back to her and shook his head, smiling softly. "No, you take it easy. I got it. There was something I needed to ask Giles about at the Magic Shop anyway. I'll pick up something on the way back."

"Oh, Oz you don't have to do that." Buffy protested.

"I want to." It took everything in him not to press a kiss to her forehead and reassure her that everything would be fine. She looked so lost. But he couldn't blow his cover. Not yet.

He turned to Giles. "You're not busy right now, are you? There's some stuff the pack healers in Tibet recommended that I wanted to ask you about."

Giles blinked in surprise but nodded, anxious to be anywhere Willow wasn't. "Yes, now is perfectly fine."

"What kind of stuff? Magic stuff? I could help, seeing as how I'm a witch and all." Willow said, slightly annoyed at being left out.

"No magic required." Oz assured her. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before ushering Giles out the door.

Once in Oz's van and safely away from the Summers' home, Oz turned to Giles with a serious expression. "Willow's evil."

Giles stared at the werewolf in shock, his mouth opening and closing in a rather un-Giles like manner.

"I know. Shocked me too. And that's not even the half of it." He turned onto the main road, driving in the opposite direction of the Magic Box.

Giles' glanced out the window as he noticed their direction. "You didn't need anything from the shop. You wanted to discuss your concerns about Willow." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah. That and something else. We're going to see a contact of the healers I met in Tibet. She's been made aware of the situation." Oz explained, keeping his eyes on the road.

Giles narrowed his eyes. "And what situation might that be?"

"The fact that Willow has had us all under a spell for the past two years." He quickly went on to explain the spells Mara and Joann had discovered on him but didn't go into detail on what exactly the spells had done.

Giles was disturbed to say the least. Oz was the last person he ever expected to think badly of Willow.

"I had my concerns about her abuse of magics, but I had no idea it had become so serious."

"None of us did." They pulled up in front of Tara's house and made their way to the door where Tara was waiting for them.

…

"You were right to keep this from the others." Giles said half an hour later as they sat in Tara's living room. "Buffy would be in grave danger should Willow discover we know the truth."

"I want to tell Buffy so badly. But with everything else that's happened, I'm not sure she can deal right now. She doesn't seem to be doing too well with being back."

Giles nodded. "Well my understanding is time moves very differently in hell dimensions. There is no telling how long she was… wherever she was. It will no doubt take her a bit of time to adjust."

Oz said nothing. He had his own suspicions about that, but he'd keep them to himself until he talked to Buffy.

"For now, it's best we keep things between us until we have a proper plan in place for binding Willow's powers." Giles went on.

Oz nodded in agreement. He looked at Tara as a sudden thought stuck him. "Do you have something that can make Willow think I'm sick? Not dying or anything, just like a cold and a stomach bug."

Tara frowned in confusion but nodded. "I'm sure I can come up with something. But why?"

"I just got back from Tibet. She's going to want to… get reacquainted. There's no way that's happening, but I just flat out reject her…"

Tara nodded in understanding. "G-give me a few m-minutes. I can make a potions that'll m-make you look ill but you w-won't a-actually feel too bad."

"We'll simply tell Willow the potion is an herb mixture to assist with the problems you were experiencing with your wolf." Giles said. "And that it has a few unpleasant side effects."

Oz nodded gratefully. One more problem solved. Now he just wanted to get back to his mate. The less time she was left alone with Willow, the better.

….

Yep. I know. I suck. I'm sorry. I had no intention of leaving this fic for so long, but I promise I'll update sooner. Next up, we get some sweet B/Oz interaction and Willow starts to get suspicious.