Embarrassed beyond belief, Buffy grappled for the shirt Oz had offered her and quickly covered herself with it. After having taken several deep breaths of the musty environment, she was ready to proceed despite the lure of that soft, naked skin she was keenly aware of.
Her arm went out and grasped what she hoped was Oz’s arm, and pulled him close enough to feel the warmth from his body. Rolling her lips together, she quickly went through their options.
“Um, we need to get out of here.” She said slowly.

“Yep,” her companion readily agreed. “But how?”

“Good question.” The slayer agreed. “Well, we find the wall and move in opposite directions against it until we either we meet or find a way out.”

Oz nodded his consent then realized the futility. “I just nodded, in case you were wondering.” He explained, referring to the darkness.

A muffled giggle came from beside him. “That's good to know.”

“Should we look for the wall?”

“Ok.” The slayer tightened her grasp on Oz's arm and pulled him in her direction, her other arm waving out beside her in research.

After two steps, they simultaneously thudded against the wall, groaning. “Uh, here's the wall. So much for careful searching.” Ox joked

“Ok, so you go that way, and I'll go this way and we'll try to meet…or something…”

“Right.”

Reluctantly, Buffy let go off Oz’s arm and flattened both of her hands against the rocky wall.

Carefully, they both made their way along the wall in deafening silence. After a few seconds, Oz could hear slight melodically mumbled words he assumed were coming from Buffy, at least he hoped.

“Care to share with the class?” he questioned.

“What?” Startled, Buffy stopped in her tracks trying to shoot him a confused look through the darkness, before it dawned on her. “I was singing out loud, wasn’t I?” She cringed, then expelled a sigh. “I was singing that song from before. The ‘Savage Garden’ one. I was trying to think of what they meant by *monster*.” She explained to him.

“And what did you come up with?” he inquired.

Realizing that she could hear Oz moving along, she resumed making her way across the wall. “Um, well it can’t be love because it’s calling for love to keep in the demon. Or maybe it’s a demon that needs love to come out. Or mayyyybe, it’s a love demon that destroys you from the inside out.” Buffy theorized.

“Could be all of the above. Though not likely all at the same time, but … FUCK!” the werewolf exclaimed.

Buffy gasped in alarm. “What? Oz? Are you ok? Oz?” Buffy shuffled quickly against the wall trying to reach him. Had she been going slowly, she might’ve avoided the fall, but the minute her left foot connected with Oz’s leg she was over him, stumbling to the ground with grunt, covering his lower half.

“Oops.” Buffy giggled as she tried to maneuver herself around. “Oz?” She asked concerned, tentatively reaching out to try and touch him. A low sounding noise and vibrations ripped through the body beneath her hand. Oz was crying? Well at least that was better than him being unconscious, right? As the noise became more pronounced, she realized the boy wasn’t crying, just the opposite; he was racked with laughter. Relief flooded her as a chuckle rose and broke through.

Oz sobered slowly sitting up, leaning against the wall close enough to her so that he could almost make out her form in the dark. “Do you ever wonder how we’re still alive?”

Another giggle erupted from her “Very - often.” She panted through the laughter.

“As long as I’m not the only one.” He quipped. “On a more serious note, I found stairs.”

“YaY!” Buffy exclaimed.

“Shall we see where they lead?” Oz asked, getting up carefully. He held out his hand, which she quickly grabbed onto and was pulled up against the shirtless teen.

“Why the hell not.” They made their way up the stairs eagerly, yet cautiously. After a dozen stairs, the reached a platform, a door obvious by the light from the other side.

“Wanna break it down? Oz asked, conspiratorially.

Buffy arched an eyebrow, found the doorknob, twisted and shoved the door open in front of them. “If you really insist…” she smirked.

Shrugging indifferently, the boy followed the slayer out into the brightly-lit room.

The slayer twirled in one spot examining the room quickly. “We’re free.” She yelped, then gulped. “But where the hell are we?” furrowing her brow, she stepped quickly to the arch in front of her, not sure what to expect yet almost positive of what she would find.

Oz, on his side, found another archway and examined the shape of the entrance leading into the mausoleum the seemed to find themselves in.

“Buffy?” he called out, quickly moving to the door to look outside.

“Yeah?” she muttered quietly, but was heard because of the stillness of the building.

Oz moved back into the room they had entered from and found a frozen Buffy as she looked onto a huge fireplace.

“Is it my imagination, or this…” she broke off unsure of what she was about to say.

“Or is this Angel’s mansion?” he finished for her. “But *new*” Walking up behind Buffy, he slid his arms around her waist, and instantly she slumped back into him staggering them both to the ground in a daze.

~~~