Title: Party
Author: Ivy Gort
Spoilers: The Preview to “Beer Bad”
Rating: PG.
Disclaimer: Joss, The WB, and Fox own everything.
Note: After seeing the previews for “CaveSlayer” I wondered what could actually happen if Buffy lost control. I decided that was too intense of a story to write-because Buffy is trained to kill-so this is what I ended up with.


Part One

“Oz man, what’s going on with Buffy?” Oz looked up at Devon to see him devouring her with his eyes as Buffy danced on the crowded floor. They were playing at, yet another, in an endless stream of Frat parties. “I hear she’s really cut loose now that brood guy-what’s his name--is out of the picture?” Oz grunted as his focus was taken up doing his cool Base solo. After few more songs the band decided to call it a night and catch as many chicks as they could for company. Oz normally hung back from that activity. It had been six months since his break-up with Willow and he was still reeling from it. At first he was going to drop out of college all together and had for the Fall semester, but he decided to come back in January and he was happy he had. His beautiful ex-girl friend had moved on but she saw how her being at his gigs bothered him so she never came to the parties he played at.

Oz walked through the noisy crowd of drunken party animals over to where Buffy was standing talking to Devon by the punch bowl. “Ah, come on, Buff, come join me in just a little night cap.” Oz heard Devon say as he walked up behind Buffy.

“No way, Dev. Not after that Beer spell in the fall! No drinking for the Slayer.” Buffy said. Oz noticed Buffy give a slight shiver and she turned around suddenly as if expecting a fight, relaxing when she saw Oz.

“Hi Oz, don’t do that!” The slayer told him even as he saw the happy lightening of her expressive eyes. He knew she was happy he came over to chat when she shyly smiled at him.

Oz had always found the slayer attractive and lately they had had time to talk and he was beginning to like her in ways other than friendship. He knew that she was struggling to get over the entire Parker/Angel thing like he was with the Willow thing. When he came back to school she was there waiting for him, to welcome him back, to be a go between while he and Willow worked out their differences enough to reach the level of friendship that they now had.

Devon pushed himself between Oz and Buffy. “Okay Buffy no booze but at least try some punch?” Devon asked handing a cup of punch to Buffy. Devon turned his back to Oz as Buffy took the cup and began to sip from it with a polite smile for the lead singer.

“So, Buffy it’s been awhile. What have you been doing to keep busy?” Devon asked as he placed his arm around Buffy invading her personal space at the same time trying to steer her away from Oz. It was comical to see Devon try to pull the slayer away. Oz could tell she was just being polite to Devon because he was his friend but if he didn’t get his hands off of her, she was going deck him.

“Hey Buffy, “Oz shouted above the noise. “How about sharing some of your punch? They’re out of cups?” The blonde slayer looked relieved and pivoted around under Devon’s arm at the same time handing her punch to Oz. To the causal observer it looked like Buffy was simply giving Oz her drink, not ditching Devon like she actually was. Oz noticed a stricken panicked look flash across Devon’s face as he started to bring the cup to lips-then the cup was forcefully knocked from his hands as Devon pretended to fall.

“Oops,” Devon said as he shot Oz a nervous smile. And a cold feeling of dread washed over Oz. He looked up at Buffy’s amused face and he saw instantly that she knew something was wrong from his expression. The wolf surfaced just a bit and Oz grabbed the front of the taller boy’s shirt pulling his face down. Oz slowly, clearly, asked, “What. Did. You. Put. In. Her Drink.” Fury raced through him, Oz felt the wolf snarl deep within him at the threat to his…friend.

Devon blanched, the color draining from his face at Oz’s words. He tired to smile again, lost it. “Just some acid to loosen her up a bit….” Oz could only see red as he threw his ex-friend to the floor and stood over him ready to rip Devon to shreds.

“Oh, God!” Oz’s rage was stilled by Buffy’s hoarse cry. The slayer grabbed both of Oz’s arms in a bruising grip as she pulled him to face her, a parody of what Oz had just done to Devon.

“Oz you gotta get me out of here.” She pleaded, “please don’t let me hurt anyone!” The pain in his arms caused Oz to flinch and Buffy dropped her hands helplessly by her sides. “We got to think for a minute Buffy, just let me think.” He said and then to reassure her, gently took one of her hands in his.

Oz thought, most “acid trips” were nice and mellow the people never really losing touch with reality. But, a few… the few trips, the bad ones, you read about in the newspaper where some guy goes berserk and it takes ten police officers to subdue him. Oh, god, a slayer on a bad trip? The damage Buffy could do--trained to kill demons, with her strength and speed-she would never forgive herself. Oz looked down at the stupid boy on the floor and reached into his pockets for his keys.

“Go get the van and bring it around front, now!” He told Devon throwing his keys at Devon’s chest and taking pleasure when he heard a grunt of pain. Oz turned back to Buffy tugging her hand to his mouth and kissing it. He looked up to see an expression of fear and hope mixed-fear of what she could do in a drugged state-hope that Oz would help.

Oz took his other hand and caressed her face, trying to send soothing thoughts through the touch. Buffy closed her eyes and leaned into his hand. They, unconsciously, moved into a hug, comforting at the moment but something passed between them that spoke of a future-if they could make it past the next few hours. “Buffy, I need you to stay calm and focused.” He whispered in her ear and felt her nod that she heard him. “Most trips are really cool,” he continued, “but we are going to take you to my wolf-out place just in case.” He finished hoping she would understand what he meant to do, not wanting to actually say the words. When he felt her nod again, he turned keeping one arm around her waist and the other arm in front leading her from the party and out the front door.

Oz did a quick mental calculation; it had been about five minutes since Buffy drank the first of the spiked punch. That meant she should start feeling the effects any moment or maybe she didn’t get enough? He thought, hopefully, remembering how Giles said Slayers had a built in resistance to drugs and poisons. Oz looked down at Buffy as they past under a street lamp trying to see her eyes, see if they were dilating, but she held her head down. She wasn’t leaning on him for support, so he figured that was good sign.

They stopped at the street to wait for Devon. Oz turned her towards him, gently lifting Buffy’s chin up at the same time and was shocked to see tears spilling down her face. “Hey, hey, what’s this?” He asked quietly. She sniffled and wiped at her eyes with the back of her sleeve. “Some slayer I am, afraid of some acid.”

Oz hugged her tightly to him. “You aren’t afraid of the acid, you are frighten that you will hurt someone.” He told her naming her fear so she could relax with him. It was the same fear he had each month, that he would escape and hurt or kill someone. During the Halloween thing in the fall Willow and Xander thought he had been afraid of changing-but as they were talking about their separate fears at Giles’ apartment munching down on candy-he saw true understanding in Buffy’s face. She understood it wasn’t the change he feared it was what he would do if he changed.

She let out a long shuttering sigh and leaned back in his arms so she could face him. “It’s just everything is so exaggerated as the slayer, every minor problem, every mistake.” She said, her eyes appearing bruised in the light of the street lamp. “If I were normal,” she continued. “It, normal….” She paused, eyes glazing over as Oz watched. Buffy sniffing the air suddenly swayed, Oz instinctively tightened his hold to keep her upright. “Smell food, hungry.” She mumbled easily pulling out of Oz’s embrace. “So much for slayer drug resistance.” He mumbled.

Oz grabbed Buffy’s shoulder and turned her back to him; he then placed his hands on each shoulder and stared in her dark eyes. “Focus Buffy, stay focused!” He told her earnestly. She shook her head, and the blank look disappeared. Oz heard his van on the street behind him and he led the compliant slayer to it. From the inside of the van Devon opened the paneled door. The werewolf helped the slayer into the van; she crawled across the carpeting to the other side and sat against the wall. Buffy started to run her hands through the deep shag of the carpet seemingly becoming lost in the textures.

Devon stepped out of the van, “well I’m out of here, three’s a crowd.” Rage once again flared up in Oz as he grabbed Devon’s coat sleeve spinning him around and pushing him against the van. Devon fell into the open door and Oz jumped on top of him holding the bigger boy down by sitting on his chest. Oz leaned down into Devon’s face menacingly, “ you really have no clue what you have done, do you?” Oz asked in a low voice full of danger.

Devon swallowed, “what? Come on Oz, man, if you want her for yourself it’s cool. I gave her enough to last all night-even for her…”

Buffy’s scream stopped Oz’s thoughts of murder. He looked up in time to she hit the steel wall of the van with a closed fist-denting the wall outward at least six inches. Devon turned his head at the noise and then his mouth formed a big O. Oz jumped off of Devon, “you drive, my place.” And without hesitation Devon closed the van door and jumped into the driver’s seat, roaring away from the Frat house and down the street.

As soon as Oz got off of Devon Buffy wrapped her arms around her legs and started to rock back and forth. Oz was confused by the sudden shift in her behavior, it had been his experience that once a bad trip started it continued-it didn’t stop. Still he needed to check out Buffy’s hand, even in the dim light of the van he could see the knuckles had deep cuts in them the blood dripping on the carpet and he was sure she must have broken something. Oz reached for the first aid kit under the passenger side front seat then slowly crawled over to Buffy trying to project non-threatening feelings her way. Keeping his head down as if he was an actual wolf and she was the pack leader. She stopped rocking and watched him approach.

“Oz I’m scared.” She told him holding out her injured hand to him when he was close enough. ‘It seems to be coming in waves, uncontrollable waves of emotion,” she stated. He nodded to her, knowing she could see in the almost non-existent light in the van. Opening the first aid kit he pulled out a little penlight turning it on he started to examine Buffy’s hand. “I mean the colors are all weird and everything,” Buffy continued in a small-frightened voice. “And like I’m light headed in a kind of groggy way and stuff but if I concentrate….” Again she trailed off as she lost focus staring at the blood dripping from her fingers onto the palm of his hand. She took her other hand and smeared it around then tasted it off her fingers.

He was shocked and a little grossed out by her actions, as he searched the kit for some bandages. She yanked her hand from his causing him to drop everything on the floor. She covered her face and huddled deeper in the corner between the wall of the van the driver’s seat.

“Hey watch it!” Devon called when she hit his seat. She jerked forward at the sound of his voice and then tried to curl into an even smaller ball. The werewolf’s anger began to grow again at Devon for putting them both into this situation. Buffy should be able to attend a stupid party and not have it end up life and death. Oz noticed, as his anger at Devon became stronger so did Buffy’s agitation. She was literally grasping her legs so tightly that her fingernails were ripping the fabric of her slacks.

Oz knew he was missing something, something very important. He just couldn’t figure out what. He picked up the light and turned it off. He was going to have to wait for Buffy to calm down again before he could risk touching her. Less than a minute later Devon stopped the van got out and opened the sliding door.

“Hey Oz how do we get inside?” Devon asked from above him. The Oz looked at the huddled figure the light from the street shinning on her.'Go unlock the doors, you have the keys." The werewolf answered.Oz was at once relieved to be at his place because all they had to do was get Buffy downstairs and he was concerned that it would be an impossible task. Oz took the deep breaths Giles had taught to do before his wolf out episodes-breathing into the pain of changing seemed to help it and at the same time calmed him. He started to crawl to Buffy and he noticed the closer he got,the less agitated she acted.

He saw smeared streaks of dried blood on her face from her hands. He touched her knee and she glanced at him. "You okay?" He asked quietly. "We're here." Her agitation seemed to flow out of her as soon as he touched her. She gave him a weary smile. Oz stood in the van and held his hand out to her to help her up. The werewolf placed his arm around her to guide her out of the van; her balance was really off he thought, as they almost fell getting out of the van.

As they got to the open door leading down to the basement Oz thought about lifting Buffy and carrying her down the stairs-he was a small man but she was a tiny woman less than a hundred pounds-he could carry her easily. Still, she would be an awkward load for the narrow stairs so he satisfied himself by pulling her closer to him; she fit perfectly under his arm with her arms wrapped tightly around his chest.

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

Part Two


As they got to the bottom of the stairs Oz saw Devon had already turned the overhead light on and he was in the caged off area. Since his break up with Willow, Oz couldn't trust only chains to hold him so he bought some old timely jail bars from a junk dealer and made a cage. The back of the jail cell was the brick basement wall where he had attached the new set of chains-they looked like regular police issue restraints-but they weren't. The thin steel links disguised their strength; the length of the actual chain portion let the wolf pace. Buffy had been here, of course, watching over him during his time of the month. He asked the Slayer to make sure he couldn't escape when he had first constructed this cell in the basement of his apartment building. So she knew what to expect, still, now that they were here, he shied away -he didn't want her chained like some criminal. They should be at the Ice Cream Bar getting a double cone, not here and not for this reason!

"Hey, Oz my man!" Devon said holding up the chains. "Kinky, man I didn't know you had it in you." Oz fought the wolf, trying to keep it from coming to the surface. But before he could blink Buffy had attacked. She pushed Devon against the brick wall in the back of the cage- moving out of Oz's arms so fast he barely had time to register the fact she was gone. The slayer held the large boy off the floor with one tiny hand around his neck. Devon compounded his night full of mistakes by taking a weak swing at the slayer as he struggled to force air past her hand. She easily blocked the punched, with her injured hand re-opening the closed cuts. Oz could see her shoulders begin to slump as if she was losing her strength. But then she used her injured hand to grab Devon's belt and she pivoted around lifting at the same time.

"Buffy no!" Oz shouted knowing that Buffy was about to slam Devon down onto the concrete floor, which would more than likely kill him or break his back. Oz started to move, but even as he tried to rush forward he knew he would never be able to save Devon. Then Buffy just stopped- relief pushed the terror away in Oz's mind. As Devon and Buffy crashed to the floor when the slayers legs gave out, Devon on top of Buffy breaking his fall. Still, Oz heard the sickening crunch of bone breaking and the lead singer grabbed his wrist. The slayer under the boy started to get up-throwing the boy off her as she did a push-up. The wolf saw the chain lying next to them so he picked up the handcuff and snapped it quickly around the slayer's little wrist. Then he grabbed Devon by his coat and threw him out of the door of the cell.

Oz did a forward roll out of the cell as Buffy reached for him, being pulled back by the chain around her wrist. The slayer let out an animalistic cry when Oz slammed the door of the cage closed and started a staggering pace as far as the chain would let her in the confinement of the cell.

The werewolf sat breathing on the floor for a few minutes trying to calm his racing heart. He watched as Buffy tried to break the chain around her wrist pulling on it until the brackets he had anchored in the wall began to giveway. But, just as before, her mood suddenly changed and she sat down on the floor watching him quietly.

"Man she broke it, the bitch broke it." Devon said standing, holding his arm protectively to his body.

"So what Dev." Oz said quietly. All of the wolf's anger just draining out of him now that he knew Buffy would be safe-from herself and anyone else for the rest of the night.

Devon pulled himself up straight in his righteousness, "She's a danger, I'm going to the police and press charges." Oz stared at the taller boy letting the full force of his wolf nature through, he stared for a second, then two and Devon caved in. "All right. I have to go get this taken care of." He indicated his wrist. "I'll see you at practice in the morning?"

"No man, it's over." Devon turned back to face Oz. In the light he saw that Devon's neck was already bruised from where Buffy held it. "Devon, you hurt my friend tonight. What you did was low, man. I never want to see you again." Devon opened his mouth to say something but closed it when Oz continued to stare at him. Finally, Devon nodded and left.

"You didn't have to do that, you know." Oz turned towards Buffy. She was still sitting quietly on the floor against the back wall.

"I know." He answered. "But, after tonight and what he's done to you I can't be around him anymore."

She shrugged. "Life of the slayer." A single tear made it's way down her face. "He's right," she sighed as another tear joined the first, "I am a danger." She tugged on the chain holding it up showing it to Oz. "I could have killed someone tonight." She paused, then whispered, "I could have killed you."

Oz just sat in shock at the crap Buffy was saying about herself. "Yes, you could have-if you had wanted too. But the important thing is you didn't want too." He told her standing up and walking over to the cell.

"I don't know Oz, it's like these uncontrollable waves of anger wash over me…." She trailed off and Oz could tell she was gone once again. But this time she was calm, she started to examine her injured hand. "Pretty color…."

Everything clicked for Oz at that moment, the mood swings, and her strange reactions-some way some how she was reading his emotions. He noticed that she was shivering slightly and finally the fact that the door to the street was still open and it was cold filtered through his tired fuzzy brain. He quickly went up the stairs and closed the door. On his way back down he got some of the blankets he has stored in a box and walked over to the cage. By this time Buffy was back with him and watching him closely.

"Don't even think about it." She said when it became clear to her what he intended to do. "Oz I don't want to hurt you." Buffy started to get up but didn't make it to her feet before she slowly slumped back down to the floor.

"You won't hurt me, Buffy. At least not physically." The wolf said as he opened the door and walked up to her. "I think we have some kind of magical awareness or something." He continued in a calm voice breathing the way Giles' taught him.

"Huh?" She answered. And Oz noticed that the closer he got to her the calmer she seemed. Until he spread out the blanket and gathered her in his arms. He marveled again at the way she fit perfectly. Oz kept his breathing steady and soon Buffy was breathing with him-in rhythm-as he felt her relaxing further.

"A connection, huh?" The slayer said yawning. 'Yes, a connection." The wolf answered thinking sleepy thoughts at her. And he was rewarded with a sleeping Slayer.