*It IS Over* Buffy thought as she listened to the Natalie Imbruglia song, 'Smoke' on the radio.

*Angel and I, we are over. He's just like smoke. He's disappeared from my life* she thought and shook her head.

"No! I'm not going to do this!" She shouted to herself, "Not anymore! It's time I stopped crying and hanging my head and moved on! I've lost Angel, but that doesn't mean my life has to end! I'm strong, I'm tough and I'm going to find someone else!"

As if on cue, Buffy's mother called up to her, "Buffy! There's some strange boy on the phone! He wants to talk to you."

"Boy?" Buffy wondered.
*Angel?*
She picked up the phone, "Hello?"

"Buffy. It's me. You know..Oz."

"Oz? Oh hi!" Buffy said, shocked to hear from Willow's boyfriend. *Ex-boyfriend * she thought and cringed.

"Listen, I was wondering if you were busy tonight."
"No. Why?"
"Well, I'm babysitting my cousin Jordy and he's getting a bit out of hand. Maybe you could help me out." Oz said, hoping he didn't sound completely stupid.

"Let me think," Buffy said and held the phone as she thought about it. * Baby-sit with Oz or mope about Angel*

"Sure. I'd love to help, I mean if I can slay vampires every night than a little boy should be no problem, right?"

Oz chuckled, "Yeah. Keep telling yourself that."

Oz gave Buffy the directions to Jordy's house and said, "I look foward to seeing you."

"Same here." Buffy said and hung up, feeling strange.

* I bearly know him* she thought. And his cousin?
Still, it was much better than sitting at home.

**************************************************************************

Part 2

Buffy's Mom let Buffy take the car for once and Buffy drove to K-Mart first. She had done several baby-sitting jobs in her day and knew just what to do to keep kids in control. She had asked Oz over the phone about any type of toy Jordy might like.

"The red power ranger. He's always wanted that. I remember going with my mom to five stores looking for that dumb thing."

Buffy was lucky enough to find that 'dumb thing' and quickly purchased it. She soon found herself on the front door step of a large, expensive looking house.
She looked herself over. Nervous for some unfathomable reason. And finally found the courage to knock.
Oz came to the door looking haggard and felt his eyes widened a bit at the sight of her.
He had never looked past Willow and for the first time he saw another attractive member of the female species.

She was a little taller than him, but then again, most people were. Her blonde hair was short and to her shoulders, every piece in place. She wore a short, lilac colored dress and a sliver necklace with a heart on it and matching earrings. But the most fascinating, and attractive, feature she had were her eyes. They were a most beautiful blue. A color of blue he had never seen before. He was so use to Willow's emerald depths that blue was a startling and refreshing color.

He realized he was staring and shook his head in embarrassment, "Please, please come in."

Buffy stepped in with a small smile.

Jordy, who had up to this point been hiding all over the house avoiding Oz, now came out and looked up at Buffy.

"Wow. She's pretty."

Buffy giggled, "Thank you. Jordy, right?"

Jordy nodded and Buffy held out a hand, "I'm Buffy."
"That's a funny name." Jordy replied.
"Hey! Do you think Jordy's a normal name?"
Jordy nodded quickly, "Yup! But it's okay that you have a strange name, you're still pretty. Are you Oz's girlfriend?"

Oz felt two emotions at once, a pang of sadness as his thoughts drifted to Willow and a sudden unexplainable blush at the idea of dating Buffy.

"No, I'm his friend. Can I be your friend, Jordy?" Buffy asked sweetly.
Jordy sized her up, "I guess. But not a good friend because you're still a girl."
Buffy nodded, "Well that's good enough for me. Now, how would you like to play a game?"
Jordy smiled in interest, "What kind of game?"

"It's called 'If we do, you do'. The rules are simple. If we do something you want, then you have to do something we want."

"What if I don't want to do what you want?" Jordy asked suspicious.
"Then you lose and you don't get the prize."
"What's the prize?"

Buffy reached into her purse and pulled out a red power ranger.

Jordy gasped, "The red power ranger is my FAVORITE! How did you know?"

"Oh a little wolf told me." Buffy said, looking over in Oz's direction. Oz grinned and blushed again.

*What the heck is wrong with me? Why am I acting so stupid?* Oz wondered, annoyed with himself.

"Now, it's your turn first. What do you want to do?" Buffy asked.
"Um..I want to eat some ice cream."

"Jordy, your mom said you weren't supposed to have any sweets." Oz replied.

"I don't remember YOU being in this game! I still hate you 'cause you tried to make me take a bath!" Jordy said and stuck his tongue out at Oz. Jordy turned big, puppy dog eyes on Buffy, "Can I PLEASE have some ice cream, Buffy?"

Buffy smiled, "I'll ask Oz, he's the referee of this game."
Buffy took Oz's arm gently, and whispered in his ear, "Look, just give him a little ice cream. After he eats it, it's our turn to make him do what we want."

Oz raised an eyebrow, "You mean taking a bath?"
Buffy nodded.
"You're tricking my cousin into taking a bath?"
Buffy nodded again.
Oz smiled widely, "I think I love you, Buffy Summers."

Jordy burped loudly as he finished his last spoonful of ice cream and Oz said gently to Buffy, "You're not going to tell my Aunt Maureen I gave him ice cream are you?"

"Nah. Besides, it was only two scoops. I know enough about kids to know that sugar is a deadly mixture. A little is okay, too much and they never sleep. I figure this will be enough to make him have enough strength to take a bath and clean his room."

"So we're also going to trick him into tiring himself out?" Oz asked and couldn't keep the smiles off his face, "I think you're the greatest baby-sitter alive."

Jordy looked up at Buffy, his face covered in chocolate ice cream, "Done!"

"Very good, now it's Oz and I's turn to do something we want."

"What?"
"We want you to take a bath."
"A bath!" Jordy whined.
"Now come on, Jordy. It's not that bad. And if you do it, you get this closer to getting a new power ranger."

Jordy frowned, '"Okay. But only because I want the power ranger!"

The trouble of getting a five year old to take a a bath is larger than one might realize. It involves getting a wriggling body out of his clothes, then turning on the water which can neither be too hot nor too cold but just the perfect mixture of the two.
Then there's adding the bubbles, because no child wants a regular bath, it HAS to be a bubble bath! And making sure that the shampoo and conditioner come out in small amounts, not enough to get in the eyes, ears, mouth, or nose.
Before long, Oz and Buffy were exhausted and soapy and Jordy was squeaky clean and hyper.

They stood in Jordy's messy room now and Buffy sighed,"All right, Jordy. It's your turn." Buffy said the words wearily, wondering what fate was about to befall them. *And I thought fighting demons and vampires was tough. *

Jordy's lips pressed tightly together, "How about..," he grabbed a pillow from his bed and smacked Oz with it.

"Hey!" Oz cried out.

"PILLOW FIGHT!" Jordy screeched and began to pelt Oz ruthlessly.

Buffy got another pillow and rushed to Oz's rescue. She managed to knock Jordy off of Oz.

Oz grabbed a pillow and hit Jordy, "Thanks, Buffy."

Buffy smiled, "Welcome."

"But you know what they say," Oz said as he lifted the pillow high in the air, " all's fair in war and pillow fights!"

He smacked Buffy with the pillow, feathers flying out. Jordy giggled and hit Buffy, then Oz, and then, by accident ,himself.

The room filled with giggles and squeals as the energy returned to Buffy and Oz and they fought each other and Jordy with the pillows that had begun to spill feathers everywhere.

Buffy was pelting Oz and he dropped his pillow, falling on the bed, put up his hands, "I surrender!"

"I take no prisoners!" Buffy laughed and hit him again.

He grabbed another pillow from the bed, and whirled around, hitting Buffy, "Your choice."
Oz had the upper hand on Buffy when Jordy hit Oz hard in the knees. He lost his balance and fell forward, crashing on top of Buffy. They both chuckled as they landed on a small pile of dirty clothes and feathers. Suddenly the humor and air was sucked out of the room. Replaced by something more serious.

Buffy looked deep into Oz's eyes and found herself gulping, feeling uncomfortable.

He had such wild green eyes and his face was so handsome.

Oz too, was trapped in her appearance. Those blue eyes were so enchanting and his fingers were itching to touch that silk, honey blonde hair.

On top of that, their bodies were pressed tightly together and they could both feel the outline of the other. And suddenly their gazes drifted to each others' mouths. Their faces drawing closer.

"Your turn."

"WHAT?!" They both shouted and tore from each other, startled.

"It's your turn to make me do something you want. Remember?" Jordy asked, wide eyed.

He didn't understand what had just happened but he thought he'd better stop it.

They had such funny looks on their faces. All serious but melted looking. Jordy had seen his Daddy look at his Mommy that way before they did the most grossest thing on the planet.

They kissed.

Just the thought of kissing made Jordy want to throw up. Oz looked like he was about to get a kiss and so did Buffy. Jordy wanted to save them before they did something they'd regret.

Especially Oz.

*I mean, kissing! And kissing a girl. EW!* Jordy thought.

"Oh-OH! Of course!" Buffy said peeled herself away from Oz.

Oz found himself angry and frustrated which REALLY annoyed him!
*What, exactly, is going on here?!* he thought and ran a hand through his hair.

Next Part