Taking a deep breath, Xander walked over and stood in front of him. "Can I talk to you?"

"No." Oz shook his head. "Because at this point, I don't want to hear anything you're going to say. I have enough guilt over everything that caused my marriage to fall apart without having to listen to your opinions on it."

"Tell me what happened?" Xander deliberately swallowed his anger. Whatever had happened had happened a long time ago. "This woman hurt Willow, Oz. Tell me about it so that I can fight her."

Oz pressed his lips together before nodding toward the library doors. Xander followed him silently. He wondered if he was doing the right thing. Oz stopped in the student lounge and sat down on one of the sofas. Xander sat across from him. Oz's green eyes met Xander's dispassionately. "What would you like to know?"

"What kind of things did she do to Willow?" Xander stared at his hands, not wanting to meet the other man's eyes.

"Well," Oz spoke softly. "I'm guessing you mean other than destroying our marriage, as you probably see that as a good thing."

"Hey, I'm on your side here. I want this woman out of your life so that she'll stay the hell out of Willow and Connor's. Maybe my motives aren't completely altruistic, but they're still good motives."

Sighing, Oz closed his eyes and lay his head on the back of the sofa. "The first thing she ever did was kiss me goodnight. She and the rest of the band had come over for dinner. The rest of the guys had left and so she, Willow and I were talking. She was ready to leave, so I offered to walk her out to her car."

"Was this before or after the biting?"

"Before. She was still trying to help me, or so I thought. I opened her door for her and just as she was about to climb in, she leaned forward and kissed me. Not much of a kiss, one you could easily write off as friendly." He thought about Willow's face, hidden in the darkness as he looked up to see her in Connor's bedroom. Where Katherine must have seen her. "Willow saw. And from her vantage point, it probably looked a lot worse."

"There were other small things after that, although they were more for my benefit than for Willow's. I think they may have been part of the spell, trying to entice me." Oz looked up at the ceiling, wondering if he was doing the right thing. He'd never had anyone he could tell all of this to. He looked at Xander. "After the biting, it got worse. I couldn't touch Willow without feeling physically ill. I couldn't look at her half the time, between the guilt and the pull of Katherine."

"Willow mentioned it to me."

Oz's eyes widened for a brief instant. "But I stayed with Willow and Connor. Maybe I shouldn't have. Maybe I could have saved Willow a lot of pain if I had just walked away. But I had a one-year-old son and the woman I'd loved. I couldn't give them up. So for the second year of Connor's life, Willow put up with me not being home, with me wanting to be with someone else, and with Katherine becoming a part of our family."

His hands were trembling and he clenched them together to try to stop it. "It got to a point that I couldn't stand not to have her near me. I volunteered to leave, but Willow was insistent that I stay at home. I moved out of Willow's bedroom and stayed in the guestroom. Katherine never stayed the night, but when she was there, we would…touch and kiss…" He was silent for a long time, trying to get his emotions in check. "All the things I used to do with Willow. And she would just sit there in silence, pretending she didn't see."

Xander felt the anger boiling inside of him. He wanted to scream at Oz for putting Willow - sweet, innocent, loving Willow - through such torture. Although, if he knew Willow, she'd done everything she could to keep her family intact.

"The day of Connor's third birthday party, Willow was out getting a few last minute things. I was watching Connor and Katherine came over. She'd agreed not to that day, since we didn't want to have to explain our relationship with any of the neighbors. As it was, we'd pretty much isolated ourselves as much as we could. Connor was watching TV, Scooby Doo I think, which I found highly appropriate." He tried to laugh, but he couldn't quite manage it. "She came in, wearing a trench coat and nothing else. She straddled me where I was sitting on the couch and…"

"And Willow came in?"

"Not right away," Oz shook his head. "No, when she came in, we were on the floor, Connor watching. Willow walked in with her arms full of party things and presents and three of the neighbors behind her."

"Poor Willow."

"Yeah." Oz rubbed his forehead. "I filed for divorce the next day and rushed it through. She didn't contest it, although she did insist that I got partial custody. I'd go to the house once a week, alone, and spend a couple of hours with him."

"But?"

"It got so that I couldn't spend any time away from her without incredible…pain…longing. She's wealthy, so I quit my job and stayed near her. Willow allowed her to come with me to visit Connor, as long as she was in the house. But by then, he was old enough to understand some things and he was scared of her. Not that I blame him. Hell, I'm scared of her."

Xander sat silent for a long time. "I'm guessing there's a lot more that you're not telling me?"

"I can't possibly tell you four years of horror stories, Xander. Suffice it to say, Willow has every reason in the world to hate me. It's only because she *is* Willow that she doesn't."

Xander stood and walked over to the window, his mind racing. "No, she doesn't hate you, does she? If anything, I would say she's still in love with you."

"Willow," Oz said slowly as he walked toward Xander, "has a tendency to mix love and loyalty. You of all people should know that."

Xander turned quickly, his punch landing solidly on Oz's jaw. His breathing was harsh, anger in every line of his body. "I'm guessing you felt like you deserved that, so you provoked me to it. If you need to believe that, fine. But I'll tell you this, I may have hurt Willow by not seeing her all those years ago, but I have never and will never betray her the way that you did. You were always so fucking noble in high school. You were the good guy. You always saw her for what she was and what she could be. But you're just like all the rest of us, a wolf in sheep's clothing. It just took longer for the disguise to fall away."

Oz started to reply, but Xander shook his head. "No. You let her suffer because of what you wanted. You let her go through years of agony. And she still loves you, for some unknown reason." He stepped away, his brown eyes questioning. "How do you live with yourself?"

Oz sighed as Xander ran off. Sinking back down onto the couch, he buried his head in his hands. "I don't know, Xander. I really don't."

Willow glanced up as Xander strode into the library. His body was tense and she sighed heavily. She'd wanted to stop them, but Buffy wouldn't let her. She'd said they needed to work things out between them. She'd said they had to deal with things in their own way. And, she said that if what she'd overheard was true, Xander had some serious anger to get off his chest.

He ignored the two women as he walked up the steps and into the stacks. He disappeared for a long while, staying gone even when Oz walked back in almost a half-hour later. Willow looked up from the spell when Oz came in. Concern filled her eyes as she saw him touch his tender jaw.

"Are you okay?"

"Nothing an ice pack won't cure." He raised his eyebrows. "Are they still in the same place?"

Buffy nodded, "I'll get it. You should sit down."

Oz slumped into a chair. "Okay." He smiled at Willow, trying to allay her concerns. "Don't worry, Will. I deserved it."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Remember Valentine's Day that year that Xander cast the love spell?" He laughed at her embarrassed nod, then winced with the pain. "Well, I clocked him one in the library for making you cry to me about him. Let's just say payback's a bitch."

"Talking about me, Oz?"

Willow stiffened, the warm, honeyed voice like ice in her veins. There was a soft, musical tone to it, perfect for singing. Oz looked away from Willow, his eyes wide. His heart sped up in his chest and he gripped the edge of the table with all of his strength.

Slamming the book of spells closed, Willow stood. "Well, he did say bitch, didn't he?"

"Oh, did the little woman finally get a backbone?" Katherine sauntered into the room, stopping just behind Oz's chair. He had yet to turn and look at her, and Willow could see the strength it was costing him.

"Who's this, Willow?" Buffy stepped out of the office. Her eyes traveled over the woman, obviously scrutinizing her. Katherine had rich, chestnut hair, a fair complexion and olive green eyes. Her figure was similar to Cordelia's - curvy and womanly, without being overly so. She was dressed in a short skirt, and a black silk shirt. "Avon lady?"

Katherine reached out, her hands resting lightly on Oz's shoulders. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, his fingers practically leaving impressions in the wood of the table. "Are you one of Oz's friends?"

Buffy just raised her eyebrows and refused to comment. Katherine laughed and moved her hands over Oz's shoulders and down his chest, resting her chin on top of his head. Xander came out of the stacks and stared down at her, his hatred obvious in his eyes.

"You must be Xander," she said lightly. Her eyes sought his and she smiled at his defiance. "Willow's grade school sweetheart. Still defending her, I see." She left Oz and started toward Xander. "You look strong."

"Can I help you, Miss?" Giles' voice was strong as he stepped out of the office and confronted Katherine. "If not, I'm afraid you're on school property unsupervised. And that's not allowed."

"I've come for Oz."

"I see. And Oz? Did you want to go?"

Tortured green eyes looked from Willow to Giles to Katherine. Pain was shooting through his body as he resisted her. She seemed to be calling to him, in a voice only the wolf could hear. "No," he managed to whisper.

"Really?" Katherine asked mockingly. "I find that hard to believe."

Willow forced herself up from her chair and walked over to Oz, casually draping herself on his lap. She put her arm around his shoulder and hugged him, silently praying he wouldn't pull away. "You have no hold on him anymore," Willow smirked. And, before anyone could speak or question, she bent her head and captured Oz's lips with her own.

Katherine laughed, filling the library with the sound. Despite her mellifluous voice, the sound was ugly and hateful. "We shall see, little witch. We shall see." She started for the doors of the library, stopping only when she reached them. "Although I have to wonder, Willow, my dear, if you've got such a good hold on him, why you sent your son out of town."

Willow climbed off Oz's lap and managed to make it back to her own chair, despite her shaky limbs. Buffy walked over to her, setting Oz's ice pack on the table. He was stretching his fingers, trying to get the feeling back into them.

"You okay, Wills?"

"I don't like her." She glanced over at Oz. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay." He smiled. "Sorry you had to do it."

"I don't mind kissing you. Although it would be nicer if you could kiss back."

Oz flinched as her heard the sound of a door closing. Xander had just left by the back entrance to the library. Hearing that probably hadn't helped. "Well, hopefully by this time next week, I'll be able to."

She smiled then looked around. "Where's Xander?"

Oz sighed. "I'm sorry, baby. He left."

"Oh." She looked down at her hands, remembering the night she'd taken off Oz's ring. She blushed, remembering how good it had felt to finally lose herself in Xander's touch. She looked up quickly. "I'm going to run home and shower and change. I'll be back before sundown."

"Be careful," Oz insisted. "She's still out there."

"It's not me she wants, Oz. It's you."

Xander opened his apartment door, expecting to see Buffy. The sight of Willow's green eyes was almost too much to bear. He shut the door gently in her face.

"Xander!" She knocked harder until he opened the door again.

"What are you doing here, Willow?" He moved into the apartment and sat on one of the barstools that lined his kitchen counter.

"I wanted to see you." She shut the door behind her and moved over to him. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"It's okay. I'm used to it." He wouldn't look at her, instead staring down at the floor. "It's okay that you want to be with him. I'm sure I'll get over you."

"Xander? Shut up and hold me?"

He looked up, his eyes full of questions. "What?"

"No promises, no guarantees. But I need you to hold me right now."

He got up and took a step away from her. "No."

"What?" She asked quietly.

"You just kissed Oz and it was the same. No response. Probably took all of his willpower not to push you away. So you want someone to make you feel wanted and needed again. Well, I can't do it, Wills. I love you. And if I take you to my bed, I'm going to want you to stay there, and you can't promise me that right now. If you want a friend, if you want a shoulder to cry on, if you want someone to hug you - I'm your guy. But I'm not going to play games with my heart."

She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

"I wish I could, Wills. I wish I could do it. It would make my life a hell of a lot easier. But if I just wanted someone to take to bed, I wouldn't have had to wait for you to come back into my life."

She nodded. "Xander?" He met her eyes just as the tears started to fall. He grabbed her and held her to him, giving her strength as she cried.

"If you need to feel loved, Willow, I do love you. I love you so much."

Her tear stained face turned up toward his and he couldn't help but kiss the tears away. "I know you do."