Introduction
Season: First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth | Sixth | Seventh
Other Bodies | Episodes | Dramatis Personae
Ramblings | Links | Fanfic

Wild at Heart

Prologue

A vampire chases Buffy through the UCSunnydale campus. Buffy isn’t running because she’s afraid of it, she’s just looking for a spot where she can stake it without an audience. When she finds it, she turns to face the vampire, and after a brief fight she stakes it with a pun on her lips. The vampire doesn’t really appreciate her efforts, and dusts without comment.

“That’s it? That’s all I get?” Buffy looks to the heavens. “One lame-ass vamp with no appreciation for my painstakingly thought-out puns. I don’t think the forces of darkness are even trying. I mean, you could make a little effort here you know. Give me something to work with.” She walks away into the night.

Buffy isn’t quite without an audience. A bleached blond vampire wearing a black leather duster watches from a nearby hilltop.

“Watch your mouth little girl! You should know better than to tempt the fates that way, because the big bad is back, and this time it’s—Aargh!” Spike gets shot in the back by a taser, stunning him. Three members of the UCSCS come up and drag him away.

Act I

Buffy, Xander, Willow and Oz sit together at a table in the Bronze. They think it’s great being there this year. Buffy figures it’s because they’re in college.

“Curfew-free nights of mom and popless hootenanny,” says Oz.

“Coed dating prospects who find townies sexy and dangerous,” says Xander. Everyone looks at him. “What, I can dream.”

“Right,” says Buffy. “So if college is so great, what are we doing here and why is it more fun?”

Willow thinks it’s because the Bronze is nice and familiar. “It’s like a big comfy blanky.”

“I was under the impression that I was your big comfy blanky,” says Oz.

“Aw, you’re my person blanky,” says Willow. “This is my place blanky. You know, with all the shock of the new, it’s nice to have one place that you can come back to where everything’s predictable.”

Giles walks up to their table, and says hello.

Buffy starts to get up from the table. “Giles, trouble?”

Giles tells Buffy to sit back down. It’s nothing like that. “I just, you know, I thought I’d drop by. Uh, latte anyone? On me?”

Buffy leans over to Willow. “So much for your predictable blanky theory, Will.”

Giles sits at the table with them and looks around. It’s been a long time since he’s been to a gig. They all look at him. “Well, don’t look that way. I’m…I’m…I’m down with the new music. And I have the albums to prove it.”

“Yes, but it’s your cutting edge eight-tracks that keep you ahead of the scene,” says Buffy.

“Don’t scoff, gang,” says Oz. “I’ve seen Giles’ collection. He was an animal in his day.”

Giles thanks him.

“Hey, why not?” asks Buffy. “If the Stones can still keep rolling, why can’t Giles?”

“I think it’s brave that you’re here,” says Willow.

“Well, thank you, all,” says Giles. “You’ve made me feel right at home.”

“Isn’t home that empty place you’re trying to escape?” asks Xander.

Their conversation stops when Veruca starts to sing on the stage. Willow wasn’t aware that she would be performing tonight, and is a little put out by Oz’s obvious fascination with her. Buffy notices and tries to distract Oz with a little small talk, but it doesn’t work. Giles and Xander also seem to be quite taken with Veruca.

Willow and Oz spend the night together. Oz is awakened the next morning by Willow talking in her sleep. Something about it being in a sandblaster. He cuddles up behind her. “What’s in the sandblaster Will?”

“Mmm…Hmm,” says Willow sleepily. “All Geminis to the raspberry hats.”

“Now you’re faking,” says Oz.

“Am not.” Willow rolls over to face Oz, and smiles at him. “Just a little.”

They say “Good morning” to each other, and Oz asks Willow if she was having a nightmare.

“I guess,” says Willow. “But the waking up part makes up for it.”

Oz brushes his hand across her forehead. “It’s always so busy in there.”

“Not always. A few things shut my brain up completely.” Willow cuddles up close to him.

“Anything I can help you with?”

Willow looks back at the clock. “Ah! I got to get to class right now, but tonight for sure.”

“I don’t know about tonight, unless the extreme Jerry Garcia look turns you on.”

“Huh?”

“Night before the full moon.” Oz reminds her.

Willow remembers. She tells Oz that she won’t be able to keep watch on him this month. There’s a campus Wicca group that she wants to check out which is having its orientation meetings around the full moon. “It’s probably totally silly, but—”

“No. Go,” says Oz. “Show ’em how it’s done.”

Buffy collects an assignment back from Maggie Walsh. Professor Walsh was impressed with it, and asks Buffy to prepare to lead a discussion group on her paper topic for next class.

Buffy shows her grade to Willow, who feels a brief flash of academic jealousy. Buffy got a better grade on her paper than Willow did. Willow is happy for Buffy’s accomplishment.

Buffy tells Willow about Dr. Walsh asking her to lead the discussion group. “That means more work, right? Shouldn’t she have a better reward system? You know, like a cookie or a toy surprise like at the dentist?”

Willow has another flash of jealousy, but she gets over it quickly again, and invites Buffy to join her and Oz at the cafe for a celebratory cookie. Buffy has to talk to one of the TAs about just what she has to do to prepare for the discussion group and promises to catch up with them in a little while.

Oz arrives at the cafe first, and finds that all the tables are occupied. Veruca is sitting alone at one, and she invites Oz to join her. Oz tells her that he is waiting for Willow, but Veruca doesn’t mind. There is plenty of room at the table.

Oz sits down, and they start talking about the amps being used by Veruca’s band. Willow arrives and spots them talking, and has another flash of jealousy before going over to join them. The three sit in awkward silence for a bit, and then Oz picks up the amp conversation again with Veruca.

Willow feels left out. They are talking about stuff she doesn’t understand. Another awkward silence develops, and Oz tells Willow that he has to bail. He gives Willow a goodbye kiss on the forehead and leaves, followed quickly by Veruca, who passes Buffy as she goes.

Buffy asks if they left because of her, but Willow tells Buffy it was her fault. She doesn’t speak musicianese. She has also noticed that Oz is attracted to Veruca. “He gets this blushy thing going on behind his ears. It’s for me only.”

Buffy assures Willow that it doesn’t mean anything. So what if Oz checks out another girl. He loves Willow. Willow knows that, and she doesn’t want to freak whenever her boyfriend notices another girl, she has feelings about other guys herself sometimes.

“I promise you,” says Buffy. “In a couple of days it’s going to be like ‘Veruca who?’ Oz just isn’t the type to stray.”

“Not tonight anyways,” says Willow. “He’ll be locked in a cage.”

Oz locks himself in a cage built into an empty crypt in one of Sunnydale’s cemeteries, gets undressed, and waits for the sun to set.

After the sun goes down the Ozwolf is unusually agitated. He batters himself against his cage door, and knocks it off its hinges.

Dr. Walsh packs up her briefcase and leaves the lecture hall, heading home for the evening. As she walks through the campus she hears a rustling in the bushes. Something is moving on the other side of a hedge, keeping pace with her as she walks along. Suddenly the Ozwolf jumps out of the bushes onto the walkway in front of her.

Walsh throws her briefcase at the Ozwolf and starts to run. The Ozwolf chases her. She rounds a corner and finds herself face to face with another werewolf. This one has blonde hair.

Fortunately for Maggie the two werewolves are more interested in attacking each other than they are in her. She manages to get out of the way as they rush at each other.

Oz awakes at dawn in the forest. He is naked and scratched.

Veruca is with him. She’s in the same condition. “Um.” She rubs her nose on his shoulder. “Morning.”

Act II

Oz is confused, but Veruca is much less so. “Some night,” she tells Oz.

Oz looks around. “So it appears.”

“Right. You don’t remember,” says Veruca. “It’s like that at first, but then little bits and pieces will start coming back to you.”

“So you’re a…”

“Werewolf groupie,” says Veruca. “Nobody else gets it done for me.”

“What?”

“Kidding. You know what I am,” says Veruca. “You’ve known since the first time you saw me. Now, you need to relax.”

“Not a possibility,” says Oz.

“So what do you want to do?”

First item on Oz’s agenda is to find some clothes, which he does in a dorm’s laundromat. Clothing seems to be a lower priority issue for Veruca. She settles for just a black bra and panties.

The second item on Oz’s list is figure out how they got out of their cages.

“You have a cage?” asks Veruca. She does not approve of that. “God, somebody has domesticated the hell out of you!”

“It’s my choice,” says Oz. “I don’t want to hurt anybody.”

“Maybe you just want to pretend like you’re a regular guy?” she asks.

“Well I am,” says Oz. “I’m only a wolf three nights a month.”

“Or you’re the wolf all the time,” says Veruca, “and this human face is just your disguise. You ever think about that Oz?”

Oz has to go. He needs to check the papers to see if they did any damage last night.

“Oh, we did, but only to each other. I know some part of you remembers that. It doesn’t take a full moon, we could do it again, right here.” Veruca rubs her bare toes across the floor.

“We aren’t going to,” says Oz. “This ends. Right now.”

“I can help you Oz,” says Veruca, “You’re scared. I was too. But then I accepted it. The animal. It’s powerful. Inside you all the time. Soon you just start to feel sorry for everybody else because they don’t know what it’s like to be as alive as we are. As free.”

“Free to kill people? I won’t do that. You shouldn’t.”

“You don’t understand,” says Veruca. “But you will. You’ll see that we belong together.”

“No. I know where I belong.” Oz leaves.

Veruca waves at the departing Oz. “See you tonight.”

“Two of them! It was unbelievable.” Dr. Walsh tells Riley as they walk down the corridor. “The fact that I survived at all is a miracle!”

Buffy shows up to ask some questions about the discussion she’s supposed to lead. Dr. Walsh tells Buffy that she should be careful if she’s walking about on campus after dark. She was attacked by two wild dogs last night. “Biggest things I’ve ever seen. The first one was…well for a moment I thought it was a gorilla.”

Buffy recognises the description, and instantly forgets about the questions she wanted to ask. She has more important things to talk about with other people.

Willow finds Oz checking out the newspaper in his room.

He looks up when Willow comes in. “Hey. New look.” She’s wearing dark green leather pants.

Willow takes in Oz’s borrowed clothes, and tells him he’s working on a new look to. She wants to apologise for the weird way she was behaving at lunch yesterday.

Oz gets uncomfortable, but tells Willow that he didn’t notice anything.

Willow step up close to Oz. “Oh. Good. So it was just me worrying for nothing again. Me and my busy head always thinking, thinking, thinking.” She takes his hand in hers and pulls it up so it strokes her hair.

“Well, now you can stop,” says Oz. “Everything’s fine.”

Willow starts pulling at his shirt. “Maybe you could help me…stop. I’d really, really appreciate anything you could do.” She kisses him.

Oz pulls away gently.

“What?” asks Willow. “What’s wrong? You don’t want to?”

“It’s not that,” says Oz. “I do. I just… I didn’t get any sleep, I guess. I’m really beat.”

“Right. Busy wolf night. I get it. It’s totally okay.” Willow starts for the door. Oz tells her that she doesn’t have to go, but she tells him she has to be going. “I don’t have much time. See you later.”

Giles is eating his lunch and watching a game show on his TV when Buffy knocks on his door. He hopes she’s there on business, and is not disappointed. Buffy tells him about Dr. Walsh’s encounter with two wild dogs, under the light of the nearly full moon.

Giles hasn’t seen anything in the papers, or on the TV news that sounded like a werewolf to him, but he promises to look into it. He asks if Buffy has talked to Oz yet. Oz is Buffy’s next stop.

Willow walks down the stairs into Xander’s basement apartment. He’s sitting on his sofa-bed reading the paper. She tells him that his mother let her in. “She seemed cranky.”

“Yeah. We’re having a little landlord-tenant dispute, So I’m withholding rent,” says Xander. “An effective, and might I add, thrifty tactic. She won’t let me put a lock on my door. I suspect she’s afraid I’ll start having the sex.”

Willow sits on the arm of Xander’s folded out sofa-bed. “Yeah. Parents usually wait till you’re out of the house to start worrying about stuff like that.”

“It’s mostly too late,” says Xander. “So, I know why I’m sitting in a dank, sunless little room. But why are you?”

“Well, things with Oz are weird.” Willow slides down onto the bed. “And I’d talk to Buffy about it, but I think we’re in guyville here. I need a translator from the ‘Y’ side of things. What does it mean when a girl wants to… you know.”

“If you’re doing it, I think you should be able to say it,” says Xander.

“Make love,” says Willow.

“Wild monkey love or tender Sarah McLachlan love?”

“Any kind,” says Willow. “But what if the girl wants to, and the guy doesn’t? That’s a bad sign, right?”

“Could be. Or the girl caught the guy in one of the seven annual minutes he’s legitimately too preoccupied to do it.”

“Well, say the girl’s been noticing—”

“Will, I’ve deciphered your ingenious code.”

“Okay. Say I’ve been noticing Oz notice someone else. A woman.”

“And is this chick noticing back?”

“Most definitely!”

Xander asks if she’s talked to Oz about this, but Willow doesn’t want Oz thinking she’s all jealous and worried.

“But you are,” says Xander. “And odds are, he feels it. I’ll bet that’s all there is to the weird you’re feeling. You guys should talk things out, Will. You’ll both feel better.”

Buffy finds Oz welding the door back on his cage. It’s obvious he got out. He asks if there were any reports of anyone being hurt. She tells him about Dr. Walsh being attacked and asks if he remembers anything about another wolf. Oz tells her that he doesn’t. When the wolf takes over he’s just gone. He has no memory of what happened.

“Well, if I find werewolf number two out on patrol tonight, you might have a roomie in there.” Buffy starts to go. She stops and turns around. “Oz, are you okay? If it’s possible you seem more monosyllabic than usual.”

“I’m okay,” says Oz. “Thanks.”

Veruca arrives at Oz’s crypt just before sunset. He has asked her to come. He wants her to join him in the cage tonight. She isn’t interested. She wants to run loose. Oz warns her that she can’t. People will be out hunting her.

“So you’re saying I should spend the whole night with you, alone, locked in a cage?” asks Veruca.

“You’ll be safe,” says Oz.

“Not from you,” says Veruca. “Isn’t that the point of this cozy little arrangement?”

Sunset is approaching. They can both feel it. Oz grabs Veruca, pulls her into the cage, and kisses her. Veruca pulls the door shut, and they both transform.

Willow comes skipping down the stairs into Oz’s crypt at sunup. She has some breakfast for him in a bag, and a thermos of coffee. She drops them both when she sees Oz and Veruca lying naked together in his cage.

Act III

Willow is devastated. Oz wakes up, sees her standing there, and rushes to put on his pants. Veruca doesn’t seem to mind what Willow sees.

Oz quickly unlocks the door and comes out to talk to Willow. He tries to tell her that he had no choice. He had to lock Veruca up with him to keep her from hurting someone.

Willow doesn’t buy it “But you did. You could have told somebody. Your solution just put you two together in a room all night?”

Veruca has retrieved her jacket, “Girl’s got a point.”

Oz doesn’t want to hear from her. “Leave,” he tells her.

“I’m just saying—”

“Now!” yells Oz. Veruca goes.

“I knew. I knew, you jerk!” says Willow, “And you sat there, and you told me everything was fine. That’s as bad as…as…” but she can’t think of anything that bad.

“I know how it feels,” says Oz. “I remember.”

“Oh so what, this is payback?” asks Willow. “I had this coming?”

“No, It’s not—”

Willow isn’t listening to Oz anymore. “Because I thought that was behind us. And you know, what happened with Xander. It doesn’t compare. Not with what you and I had. Not with whatever you’ve been doing with her.”

Oz tries to tell Willow that he doesn’t remember what he did with Veruca, but Willow doesn’t buy it. He was attracted to Veruca while he was human too, maybe more than he was attracted to her.

Oz doesn’t know how to respond to that. Willow leaves.

Willow walks through downtown Sunnydale in a daze. She starts across the street without looking at the lights or the traffic. She doesn’t see the car speeding down the street toward her.

Buffy spots Willow from across the street, and calls out a warning, but she is too far away to get to Willow in time. Riley isn’t. He grabs Willow and pulls her out of the way of the car in the nick of time.

Buffy runs up to them. She asks Willow what’s the matter, but Willow is too upset to talk.

“Maybe you should take her home,” says Riley. He looks at Willow. “Whatever it is, it’s not worth hurting yourself over.”

Buffy sits with Willow in their dorm room. It’s getting late in the day. Willow has told her all about what happened. Buffy can’t stay with her any longer. She has to go find Veruca before sunset. She asks if Willow needs her to get anything first. Willow tells Buffy she can go.

“Riley was right,” says Buffy. “The main thing is to put the blame where it belongs. Don’t hurt yourself.”

“Okay,” says Willow

“Okay,” says Buffy. “You’re okay?”

“I’m fine, I promise.”

Buffy looks at Willow from the doorway. “I love you.” She leaves the room.

“Put the blame where it belongs.” Willow tells herself. She gets out of her bed, and goes to her chest of magical supplies.

Oz is in his room, phoning around trying to locate Veruca when Buffy arrives. He hasn’t been able to find her. He tells Buffy that he knows the areas they are drawn to. He should be able to follow her scent. He starts to try to explain what he did, but Buffy isn’t interested in hearing his side just now. They leave to begin the hunt for Veruca.

Willow hasn’t stayed in her room. She’s gone to a science lab, and is preparing a spell there. This is not one of her usual spells. She is calling on the powers of Hell to curse Oz and Veruca.

“As thou art burning let Oz and Veruca’s deceitful hearts be broken.
Let them find no love or solace, let them find no peace as well.”

Willow’s spell book and flasks of ingredients start to levitate.

Oz has picked up Veruca’s scent in the woods. He leads Buffy—who is armed with the tranquilizer gun—through the trees. The trail ends at a pile of Veruca’s dirty clothes. She has left a false trail for them. Oz realizes that Veruca is going after Willow. He starts to run back toward the campus, with Buffy following. Oz’s longer legs put him a good distance ahead of her.

Buffy is further slowed down when she collides with one of the guys from the UCSCS. They both drop their weapons and fall to the ground.

Willow’s curse is nearly complete. She picks up a picture of Oz, and begins to place it in the flame.

“Let this image seal his fate.
Not to love, only hate!”

Willow looks at Oz’s picture for a second, and can’t bring herself to go through with it. She drops it back down on the lab bench, breaking the spell. Her flame goes out, and all the levitating objects fall back to the bench. The flasks shatter.

“Wow!” says Veruca from the door. “For a minute there I thought you might actually play rough.” She closes the door, and locks it. “Sometimes you have to, you know. To keep what’s yours. Sometimes you have to kill.” Veruca looks toward the window. “How about that? The sun’s almost down.”

Act IV

Buffy and the UCSCS commando scramble back to their feet. The commando goes for Buffy’s tranquilizer gun. Buffy pushes him away from it, grabs it herself, and continues after Oz. The commando grabs his gun, and with a look over his shoulder at the departing Buffy, continues on his way.

Veruca isn’t surprised that Willow didn’t go through with her curse. She doesn’t have the teeth for it.

“You don’t know what I have,” says Willow . “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know what you love. I have his scent on me right now.” Veruca hits Willow, and knocks her to the floor.

Oz breaks open the door. “Don’t touch her again!”

“Come stop me,” says Veruca. “I like it rough, remember?”

Oz steps toward her. “You want to hurt me, hurt me. Leave her out of this.”

“How can I?” asks Veruca. “She’s the reason you’re living in cages. She’s blinding you. When she’s gone you’ll be able to admit what you are.”

“You don’t want to find out what I am,” says Oz. The sun has set. He and Veruca have begun to change.

Veruca stalks around Oz. “You’re an animal. Animals kill.”

“You’re right. We kill.” Oz snarls, and leaps at Veruca.

Oz and Veruca transform completely into werewolves as they fight. Oz goes for her throat and rips it out while Willow watches in horror. Oz turns and looks at Willow.

Willow holds out her hand toward him. “Oz?”

The wolf has totally taken over. He charges at Willow.

Buffy grabs the Ozwolf’s foot and pulls him away from Willow. Oz turns to attack Buffy but she deflects him away from her, and gives him a kick to the head. She unslings her tranquilizer gun, and shoots him. Oz drops to the floor unconscious.

Willow is still sitting on the floor, crying. Buffy goes to her friend and hugs her, trying to comfort her.

Epilogue

Buffy tells Giles about the guy she ran into in the woods. She also remembers seeing a group dressed like him on Halloween, but at the time had just thought they were in costumes. Now she wants to know what these guys are up to. This guy almost slowed her down too much to catch up with Oz in time to save Willow. As it was she wasn’t in time to save Veruca.

“You saved Willow,” says Giles.

“Right now she wishes I hadn’t. Giles, I’ve never seen her like this. It’s like it hurts too much to form words.”

“You’ve felt that way yourself, and you got through it.”

“Yeah,” says Buffy. “I ran away and went to Hell and then got through it. I’m kind of hoping she doesn’t use me as a model. I just don’t know how they’re going to deal with this.”

Willow enters Oz’s room, and finds him packing. He tells her that he has to go away for a while to think things through.

“Don’t I get any say in this?” asks Willow.

“No,” says Oz. “Veruca was right about something. The wolf is inside me all the time, and I don’t know where that line is anymore between me and it. And until I figure out what that means, I shouldn’t be around you…or anybody.

“Well, that could be a problem,” says Willow, “’cause people…kind of a planetary epidemic.”

“I’ll find someplace.”

Willow asks Oz how long he’s going to be away, but he doesn’t know.

Willow begins to cry. “Oz, don’t you love me?”

“My whole life, I’ve never loved anything else.” Oz goes to Willow and hugs her while she cries. He kisses her on the forehead, grabs his bag and goes.

Oz tosses his bag into his van and climbs into the driver’s seat. He starts the engine, and then shuts it off. He sits for a moment thinking. He starts the van again, and drives away.

Death Toll