Eskimo. Afterglow. Eskimo. Afterglow. Oz was in a big hurry. He'd been sitting in chemistry class when a song about Willow began to formulate in his head. By the end of class, he'd had almost the whole thing written in his head. He never thought he'd find anything to rhyme with Eskimo. He smiled to himself as he hurried through the halls of Sunnydale High, eager to reach his locker and write the song down before he forgot anything. He navigated through the crowds quickly, passing other students in a blur as he glanced slightly at the floor, picking out his steps. So he was kinda surprised when he was unceremoniously grabbed by the neck and thrown into a row of lockers like he was a rag doll.

It took him a moment to focus, and he was puzzled to see that his assailant was Willow's friend Buffy, standing there, holding him in place while glaring at him. He'd expected someone big and beefy like Larry to be gripping him by the neck.

"Try it!" Buffy demanded.

Oz, still a little disoriented, wasn't sure what she was talking about. "Try what?"

Buffy's expression turned from defiant to slightly mortified as she released Oz. "Uh... I'm sorry."

Oz looked at her, puzzled by her strange behavior. "Still not clear what I'm supposed to try."

Buffy opened her mouth, and looked at Oz again, "Nothing. God, I'm sorry, I---" She took a step back and quickly began walking away.

Oz watched her with curiosity. She sure was strong. Abnormally so. He thought for a second there that she was going to flatten him. And she needed to relax a little. Or else she might hurt somebody someday. "That is a tense person." He shrugged his strange encounter off resumed his trek to his locker. Eskimo.... Uh Oh.... Eskimo..... Damn.

Oz sat under his usual tree after school, watching for Willow to maybe come and sit under her tree across the square. Strange how he automatically thought of it as her tree now. He knew it was a long shot that she'd come out here after class - that day she had come out here with her friends was really just a fluke - but the little hope in his heart kept his butt rooted to the ground as he waited. He was thinking that maybe, now that they'd talked a little, he could ask her out.

Willow was so beyond all his expectations. He was oddly grateful to those suits for giving him the opportunity to talk to her. When he'd offered her a canape, she'd smiled and taken one, which she'd then held in her hands for the entire meeting. That was polite. She was smart, and funny. Her smile was intoxicating. He'd been suddenly struck dumb by the brightness of it, and had felt the overwhelming urge to kiss her. To just touch those lips with his would send him into orbit. He was sure of it.

Oz had introduced himself and made some small comments about hacking getting you places in life. Willow had vehemently denied the hacking charge with a wild look in her eyes, and then laughed as she realized that he'd only been kidding. When she told him her name and shifted the canape to her left hand so she could shake his hand, Oz's heart had melted. Then the suits had come in and wrecked it all. She'd listened seriously as the recruiter had made his pitch, which Oz had to admit he'd toned out completely. He'd watched her. She'd nervously darted her eyes around the room, completely scoping out the place before she let her shoulders relax. By the end of the meeting she was able to smile easily, and was shooting glances at Oz to see what he thought of the whole deal. The idea that his opinion was of interest to her was a very heady experience.

He'd wanted to talk to her right after the recruiter's spiel. Maybe ask her if she wanted to go to the Bronze or the movies, but as soon as the guy had wrapped up his speech, she'd stood and shaken the hands of the suits before she bolted the room. Oz thought he heard her mumbling something about Mr. Giles, the librarian. He sat a little straighter at his tree. Maybe she was a library volunteer, and that's why he never saw her anywhere. He'd have to investigate that possibility.

Oz sighed and stood up. It was apparent that she wasn't going to show. He thought about going to check out the library, but he'd miss band practice if he did that. And Devon would for sure blow a gasket this time. He began walking away, occasionally shooting glances at the library window as he picked up his pace.

The next morning, Oz was sitting in one of the small student lounges when Willow came into view. She wasn't aware he was watching her for a few moments, and he smiled to himself as she spoke animatedly to her friend Buffy.

Buffy said something to her, and Willow's eyes briefly flew to him before they fixated on Buffy again. That one glance sent his heart into his toes. Oz concentrated on his breathing. He was going to ask her out. Now. He WAS going to ask her out. Sure, she liked that Xander guy, but that didn't mean she couldn't change her mind. Given time. And a whole lotta luck. He screwed up his courage as he stood to approach her. Willow's face took on a look of bewilderment as he got closer. Courage, he repeated in his head. Buffy suddenly moved down the hall examining some career fair booths, for which Oz would be eternally grateful.

He stopped in front of her. She had one eyebrow quirked as she regarded him. "Hey," he offered as a greeting.

Willow's face opened into a smile. "Hey!" Her gaze traveled over his face and rested on his hair momentarily. "Your hair -- is brown!"

Oz absent-mindedly ran one hand through it. "Oh, yeah, sometimes." He paused, reminding himself of his reason for approaching her. How to break the ice? "So, uh, did you decide? Are you gonna be a corporate computer suit guy?"

Willow turned slightly and moved out of the way of the hall traffic. "Oh. Uh, well, I think I'm gonna finish high school first." She favored him with another smile. He was getting addicted to this. "What about you?"

Oz was thrown off guard. He loved how she asked questions, but it was temporarily throwing off his game plan. "I'm not really a computer person. You know. Or a work of any kind person."

"Then why'd they select you?" she pressed on.

Oz smiled slightly. She wasn't going to let him off the hook. He liked that. "Oh, I sorta test well. Y'know, which is cool. Except that it leads to jobs."

"Well, don't you have some ambition?"

Oz felt his enthusiasm suddenly bubble over. She seemed interested in him. Asking questions was good, right? Maybe he could suggest the Bronze after talking about his music a little. "Oh, yeah! Yeah. E-flat, diminished ninth."

The look on her face plainly showed that he'd lost her. She made a small noise of confusion.

Oz struggled to explain, "Well, the E-flat, it's doable, but that diminished ninth, you know, it's a man's chord. Now, you could lose a finger." He held up a finger to illustrate. Willow nodded, an absent look on her face. I've got to get back on track, he thought, slightly panicked. "Uh, so, do you go to the Bronze a lot?"

Willow giggled slightly. "Well, there's not a whole lot of options in Sunnydale." Her face seemed to transform as she realized something. "How'd you know I go there, sometimes?"

"Oh, well, my band sometimes plays there. You know, when they can't find anyone else."

Suddenly, the sound of a gunshot cracked through the air. Oz stood, frozen for a few long moments as he watched the scene unfold in front of him. He caught a glimpse of Buffy struggling with a policewoman, whose gun was in hand. What the--? Buffy kneed the officer in the stomach, causing her to drop her gun. Unfortunately, the officer immediately reached for a second gun and took another shot at Buffy as she dove behind a table. "Get down!" Buffy yelled. She started to run again, and Oz's heart stopped in horror as he saw the policewoman train her gun, following Buffy's movement. She was going to shoot in their direction. WILLOW!

Oz barely had time to react. He was yelling "Look out!!" even as he lunged for Willow. He grasped her stiff form and took her down to the floor with him. A searing hot pain ripped through his arm as he landed, with a thud, on top of Willow. His eyes met hers. He was breathing heavily, trying to catch the breath that had been knocked out of him as he landed. Her eyes looked wild and confused, but she held onto his arms as they heard more scuffling nearby.

"You okay?" Oz was finally able to breathe.

She nodded, once, and he covered her head with his good arm as the sounds of the scuffle increased for a moment. When all was silent, he carefully picked himself up off of Willow and sat down heavily on the floor. His arm was on fire. Buffy suddenly rushed into view again. Willow kneeled down next to him and lightly touched his shoulder. I think I've been shot, Oz thought, detachedly. Willow seemed horrified as she realized that he'd been hit.

"How is he?" Buffy asked Willow.

"He's shot!" Willow looked at him tenderly. He forgot about his arm for a split second. "Are you okay?"

Oz thought about it for a moment. "I, uh, I'm shot! Y'know." This is incredible, he thought, as he moved his hand away and examined his arm. A blood stain was forming on his shirt. Strangely, Oz felt himself chuckle. He'd come over to Willow to ask her out and ended up saving her life. The bullet would have gone straight into her chest if he hadn't gone insane and knocked her to the ground. Thank God he happened to be sitting there when she walked by... The relief that she was okay caused a strange chuckle to escape his lips. He laughed suddenly, unable to stop himself. "Wow! It's odd! And painful."

Willow looked at him, concerned. She thinks I'm crazy, he realized. "I think I'm in shock, you know," he chuckled again.

Mr. Greene, the English teacher, appeared out of nowhere and knelt beside the trio. "The paramedics are on their way. They should be here any second."

"Am I going to have to go to the hospital?" Oz asked. Hospitals sucked. He was willing to just sit here and bleed to death if Willow would keep looking at him like that.

"That's up to them," Mr. Greene replied.

Willow reached down and grasped his hand lightly. "It'll be okay, Oz. I'll wait here with you." Oz melted into her eyes and was suddenly glad that he'd been shot. Willow turned her attention to Buffy. They seemed to have a silent conversation made up of gestures and head bobbing in a direction down the hall.

Buffy finally stood. "I gotta go."

Oz watched her go with interest. The pain made his thoughts fuzzy, but he was coherent enough to realize that the policewoman had attacked Buffy. He wondered why. There was definitely more to Willow's little group of friends than he'd previously thought. He turned his head in the other direction as he heard a clattering noise. Two paramedics were running towards him, equipment boxes banging noisily.

Willow squeezed his hand and sat down beside him as the female paramedic began cutting away his shirt. "Thanks," he murmured to Willow. He was rewarded with a tentative smile. He gritted his teeth slightly as the paramedic swabbed at the wound with what could only be disinfectant.

The paramedic finally pronounced that it was only a scrape. "Oh, good," Willow breathed.

"But we'd better take you to the hospital anyway to get you bandaged up properly."

Oz stiffened. "Uh, okay." He allowed Willow to help him to his feet. "I'll, uh, talk to you later, right?" Oz asked tentatively.

Willow smiled. "Absolutely."

The paramedics began leading him away. He turned his head once and caught a glimpse of Willow, still rooted to the spot, looking at him thoughtfully.

Oz sat at his room, patiently trying to strum his guitar with his arm in a sling. His parents had flipped when they'd been called to the hospital. But they'd eventually calmed down, and he'd escaped to the sanctuary of his room. He wasn't really getting anywhere with his guitar, and his thoughts once again returned to Willow and her friends. He spent more and more time thinking about her. That whole shooting thing in the school today had been intense. Although the shock at the time and then painkillers he'd gotten at the hospital made his thinking slow and slightly fuzzy, he was sure that the policewoman had attacked Buffy. But why? Job security? Like Buffy would be a better cop than the policewoman someday. Oz shook his head a little. Nothing about that Buffy girl made sense. She was attractive, but not popular. She was tiny, but strong as an ox. And he'd seen how nice she was to her friends, but had this crazy lady she'd never met before today trying to kill her, or at the very least seriously hurt her. What was up with that?

Oz sighed and stood. Playing the guitar was not going well. Time to practice another skill. He moved to his desk and sat down, turning on his computer and screen with his good hand. He thought that maybe he could hack into the school's database and check Willow's file. Maybe even Buffy's file. He hummed along with his radio as he logged in and began his quest. But as he tried to hack into the school's files, he came up against line after line of defense. Hell, breaking into the FBI hadn't been this hard. He smiled suddenly as he realized something. The only other person in school who could set up such an elaborate series of encryptions was Willow. She was more talented than he had thought. But a sudden notion struck him. Why exactly would she protect the school's files? What needed protecting? Her school record? The record of her friends? Buffy's record?

He flipped off his computer and decided to go to bed. He gave up on trying to get his pants off with just one hand and flopped onto his bed. He thought of Willow and what almost happened today. He momentarily wondered what would have happened if he hadn't approached her. Nope - not going to go there, he decided. He was still disappointed that he'd never gotten to ask her out. Things were going well before all hell broke loose. He thought he'd had a pretty good chance at a yes. Even though she had a thing for that Xander friend of hers. His heart fell slightly. He couldn't ask her out now. Not for a little while anyway. He had a feeling that she felt all weird and indebted to him right now, and he didn't want that. He wanted her to like him for who he was - not because he'd reacted to a situation on instinct and somehow managed to stop a bullet heading for her. This whole shooting thing would make him to have to wait longer to ask her out. That was a downside. He recalled every moment of the afternoon's encounter. How she'd smiled and asked him about his ambition. How she had looked wildly around as he brought her to the floor with him. How she'd gasped for breath as he'd lain on top of her. And how she'd looked at him when the paramedics were leading him away. She looked grateful...and confused...and a little sad. Sad that he'd gotten hurt. He carefully rolled over in his bed and glanced at the full moon outside his window. Full moon nights were so magical - all bright light and shadows. He liked them. He closed his eyes, images of Willow and how it would feel to kiss her lulling him into a comfortable stretch of dreams.

The next day, Oz headed for school. His arm was rebandaged and still in a sling. Such a small price to pay to make sure Willow was okay, really. He was glad he'd been able to finally shower and change his clothes in the morning. It had taken a while though. He missed breakfast, and as he wandered the hall between classes, he gravitated to a vending machine.

Cool! They've got animal crackers! He eagerly reached into his pocket and dug out some change. He made his selection and bent down to retrieve the box. When he straightened, he was surprised to see Willow standing there. He made a mental note that she had excellent stealth skills.

"Oh, hey!" He shook the box slightly in her direction. "Animal cracker?"

Willow smiled at him. His breath caught in his throat for a moment. "No, thank you," she replied. "How's your arm?" she asked, gesturing towards it.

Oz struggled to open the box, and smiled at her. "Suddenly painless." He wanted to make her smile again.

She looked concerned as her eyes met the sling again. "You can still play the guitar okay?"

Oz wanted to laugh. "Oh, not well. But not worse." He struggled with the box a little more, a little frustrated. Hey arm, I'm trying to make an impression here.

Willow started to walk down the hall, and took the box from him. She started open it before she turned and looked at him seriously. "You know, I never really thanked you."

Oz immediately blanched. Really, Willow, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat... Willow handed the open box back to him. "Ooh, please don't. I don't do thanks. I get all red. Have to bail. It's not pretty."

Willow looked slightly relieved at his admission, and she smiled at him again. "Well, then forget that thing. Especially with the part where I kind of owe you my life."

Oz had to put a stop to this fast. His fears were realized. He didn't want her to go out with him sometime because she felt indebted to him. He decided to change the subject. "Oh, look! A monkey! And he has a little hat. And little pants."

He held the cookie up for Willow. She looked a bit confused, but seemed willing to play along. "Yeah, I see."

Time to make her smile, Oz thought. And forget about that whole life-saving thing. He wanted her to like him for who he WAS, not what she thought he'd done for her. "The monkey's the only cookie animal that gets to wear clothes, you know that?"

Willow smiled gleefully. Her face lit up, and her lips spread into a grin. Oz's heart beat wildly. Suddenly, he couldn't feel his arm at all. He couldn't see anything but her face. His whole world instantly revolved around her. Oz felt an incredible need to let her know how special he thought she was. "You have the sweetest smile I've ever seen." Her smile expanded and her eyes widened in surprise, and Oz thought for a moment that maybe he had overstepped his bounds. He began moving down the hall, pleased when she fell into step beside him. You are amazing, Willow Rosenberg. "So, I'm wondering, do the other cookie animals feel sorta ripped? Like, is the hippo going, 'Hey, man, where are MY pants? I have my hippo dignity!'" Willow let out a small laugh at his imitation. "And you know the monkey's just, 'I mock you with my monkey pants!'"

Willow laughed again and Oz felt a strange contentment settle over him. He would wait until she was ready. Until she wanted to be with him, not that Xander guy. She would be worth the wait. "And there's a big coup in the zoo," he continued.

Willow interrupted him. "The monkey is French?"

Oz rolled his eyes, "All monkeys are French. You didn't know that?"

She giggled as she answered him. "No.."

They walked down the hall, carrying on their conversation about zoos and hippo pride, and Oz was hopeful that someday she'd look his way and smile just for him.