At school, in the hall by the trophy case, Oz was hunched over inspecting Catherine Madison's cheerleading trophy. He stared at its eyes as he moves his head from one side to the other.

I walked toward him, smiling. "Hi."

Oz stood. "Oh, that's what I was gonna say."

"What are you looking at?" I asked rhetorically, looking into the case.

Oz pointed at the trophy. "This cheerleading trophy." He moved and watched. "It's like its eyes follow you wherever you go. I like it." I raised my eyebrows, nodding, looking at the statue. It seemed to glare at me. "I don't think it likes you very much."

I gasped in realization. "Oh, my God! Catherine."

I remembered when Catherine had tried to put me somewhere dark and where I couldn't cause anymore trouble. Buffy had used a mirror to stop the spell and reflect it back to her.

Now I knew where she was.

"Yeah," Oz said, not getting it, walking down the hall.

I followed. "So did you like the movie last night?"

"I don't know," Oz told me. "T-today's movies are kind of like popcorn. You know, you forget about them as soon as they're done. I do remember I liked the popcorn, though."

Oz stopped walking.

I smiled. "Yeah, it was good." Larry and his groupies walked into the hall. Oh, great. I looked past Oz and saw Buffy and Willow down the hall. "Oh, there." I pointed at them. "I have my friends. So I will go to them."

"I'll see you then," Oz told me. "Uh, later."

I smiled, starting to walk away, not wanting to be near Larry.

Larry looked after me, Willow and Buffy, biting his fist and walking over to Oz. "Man! Oz, I would love to get me some of that Buffy, Willow and Zoey action, if you know what I mean."

Larry laughed.

I turned back to him. "That's great, Larry, not like I can't hear you. You've really mastered the single entendre."

Larry looked at me with a little shock at the insult.

Oz laughed, pointing at me. "Intimidating."

I smiled, rolling my eyes, turning around and following Buffy and Willow outside.

~~

We were walking along the colonnade.

"We've gotten nowhere," I told them. "I mean, he said he was gonna wait until I was ready, but I'm ready. Honest. I'm good to go here."

"Well, I think it's nice that he's not just being an animal," Willow told me.

"It is nice," I told them. "He's great. We have a lot of fun. It's certainly a lot different than some of my relationships."

"But you want smoochies?" Willow asked.

"Maybe not in those exact words, but that pretty much sums it up," I answered. "You know, my puppy Snowy kisses me more than he does."

"Ooh, little angel puppy Snowy," Willow said.

Buffy smiled. "Have you dropped any hints?"

"Ah, he'll come around," I told them. "Not worried about it."

"I mean, why should you be worried about it?" Buffy asked. "What guy could resist your daring Zoey charms?"

We sat down on a bench.

Willow looked at Buffy. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm holding," Buffy answered. "I was going on two minutes there without thinking about Angel."

I tried to be cheerful. "Well, there you go."

"But I would do a lot better if you two and Xander and I could do that 'sharing our misery' thing tonight," Buffy told us.

"Great," Willow said. "I'll give Xander a call. What's his number? Oh, yeah, 1-800-I'm-Dating-A-Skanky-Ho."

Willow rolled her eyes.

Buffy and I were both surprised, on the verge of laughing. "Meow!"

Willow smiled. "Really? Thanks. I've never gotten a 'meow' before."

"Well-deserved," I told her.

"Darn tootin'," Willow told us. "I'm just saying Xander and Cordelia? I mean, what does he see in her anyway?"

~~

Xander and Cordelia had been making out in her dad's car last night in the middle of nowhere, and had been attacked by a wild dog-like beast who had clawed through the roof of the convertible.

Next day in the school parking lot, Buffy inspected the hole in the roof. "And you're sure it was a werewolf?"

Buffy got off of the car.

"Well, let's see, um, six feet tall, claws, a big old snout in the middle of his face like a wolf," Xander told us. "Um, yeah, I'm sticking with my first guess."

"Seems wise," Oz told him.

"Oh, oh, and then there was that little thing where it tried to bite us," Xander told us.

"It was so awful," Cordelia told us, putting her head on Xander's shoulder.

Xander putting his arm around her. "I know."

Cordelia pulled away. "Daddy just had this car detailed."

Giles walked up behind Buffy with a newspaper.

"So what's the word?" Buffy asked.

"Well, it seems there were a, a number of other attacks by a wild dog around town," Giles told us, handing the paper to Buffy. "Several animal carcasses were found mutilated."

"You mean, like bunnies and stuff?" Willow asked. "No, don't tell me."

Giles took the paper back. "Yes, uh, um, fortunately, no people were injured."

"That falls into the 'that's a switch' column," I told them.

"Well, for now," Giles told us. "But my guess is that this werewolf will be back at next month's full moon."

"What about tonight's full moon?" I asked.

"Pardon?" Giles asked.

"Well, last night was the night before the full moon, traditionally known as... 'the night before the full moon,'" I told him.

"Meaning the accepted legend that werewolves only prowl during a full moon might be erroneous," Giles told us.

"Or it could be a crock," Cordelia told us.

"Unless the werewolf was using last year's almanac," Xander told us.

"Looks like Giles has some schooling to do," Buffy told us.

"Yes, I must admit I, I am intrigued," Giles told us. "Werewolves, it's... it's one of the classics." He started to walk away. "I, I'm sure my books and I are in for a fascinating afternoon."

We watched him go.

Xander smirked at Giles' typical behavior.

I shook my head. "He needs to get a pet."

~~

In gym, the class was seated on the bleachers listening to the female self-defense coach. "Sunnydale is becoming more dangerous all the time. And a full moon like tonight tends to bring out the crazies, but with some simple basics of self-defense each of you can learn how to protect yourself."

I looked at Willow and Buffy, quiet. "Here's a suggestion: move away from the Hellmouth."

They smiled.

"What you wanna do is gain advantage of the situation as quickly as possible," Coach told us.

Oz reached up to my back.

I looked back at him curiously.

"Tag," Oz told me.

I smiled at Buffy and Willow.

"Your attacker may have the benefit of surprise," Coach told us. "But if you plot ahead..."

Xander looked toward us. "Psst! Hey, buddy, this is a public forum here."

Cordelia looked back at him, as do Buffy, Willow, Oz and me.

"...then you can turn that advantage to yourself," Coach finished. "By being prepared, you have the power. Okay, everyone get into your assigned groups."

The students all got up from the bleachers and walked down to the floor.

Larry took off his sweat jacket and walked to the table in front of them to check which group he was in.

Xander saw his arm all wrapped up in a bandage just above the elbow. "What happened?"

"Oh, last week some huge dog jumped out of the bushes and bit me," Larry answered. "Thirty-nine stitches. They oughta shoot those strays."

Oz stood next to Larry. "I've been there, man." He held up his finger. "My cousin Jordy just got his grownup teeth in? Does not like to be tickled."

Xander laughed.

Larry just shook his head and then goes over to a girl named Theresa, who was doing stretching exercises, speaking into her ear. "Theresa!" She stood straight. "Be still my shorts. We're in the same group." He chuckled and nodded. "I may have to attack you."

"No, a-a-actually, I think, uh, in our group there are a few of us," Theresa told him.

Buffy stood next to Theresa. "And I'm one of the few."

Willow walked up behind her quickly, taking her arm and pulling her aside, standing next to me. Buffy kept her eye on Larry another moment, then looked at Willow.

"Don't forget, you're supposed to be a meek little girlie-girl like the rest of us," Willow told her.

Buffy looked at Larry. "Spoil my fun."

Willow looked at me. "You, too."

"No going ninja?" I asked meekly.

"No going ninja," Willow answered. She looked at Buffy. "No Slayer." She looked at me. "No ninja."

Willow walked away.

Buffy and I looked at each other, almost sad.

~~

A few minutes later, everyone was lined up and paired off, girls in front, boys in back.

"Okay, everyone, listen up," Coach told us. "I wanna show you what to do should you be attacked from behind." She looked at Buffy. "In this situation, bend forward, using your back and shoulders . . ." She bended her over to demonstrate. "To flip the assailant over to the ground."

"Like Lyle?" I asked, looking at Buffy.

Buffy smiled.

The other girls all leaned over, too.

The boys followed Larry's lead and put one of their arms around the girls' necks.

Oz had his arm around my neck. "Lyle?"

"Guy with sharp teeth, bad table manners, tried to kill me, I almost flung him into a pit of pink goo," I answered. "He had me in this position before you did."

"Oh, I thought I'd be the first," Oz told me, making me smile. "You think you could do it again?"

I gave him a smile at the taunt.

Buffy grabbed Larry's arm and pretended at a few attempts to flip him over.

Willow gave her a smile and nod.

I grabbed Oz's arm, ready.

"Oh, Summers, you are turning me on," Larry told her, grabbing her butt with his other hand.

I flipped Oz over my head onto the floor in front of me.

Buffy grabbed Larry's arm, flipping him over her head onto the floor in front of her hard onto the mats in front of us.

Larry groaned as he lied there.

Willow shot Buffy and me a look as she stood back up.

The coach looked over at us also.

Oz looked up at me. "That works, too."

I couldn't help a smile.

~~

In the library, Giles was demonstrating the phases of the moon using a large earth globe with a smaller moon globe attached by a bar. "And, uh, while there's absolutely no scientific explanation for lunar effect on the human psyche, uh, the phases of the moon, uh, do seem to exert a great deal of psychological influence. And th-the full moon is, is, seems to bring out our darkest qualities."

"And yet, ironically, uh, led to the invention of the moon pie," Xander told us.

Giles got the joke. "Oh..." He chuckled. "Yes, the moon pie." He laughed harder. Buffy, Willow and I looked at him in slight surprise. "Y-you see, uh, the-the werewolf, uh, is such a, a potent e-e-extreme representation of our inborn animalistic traits that it e-emerges for three full consecutive nights: the full moon and, uh, the two nights surrounding it."

"Quite the party animal," I told them.

"Quite," Giles agreed. "And it, uh, acts on-on pure instinct. No conscience, uh, uh, predatory and, and aggressive."

"In other words, your typical male," I told them.

"On behalf of my gender, hey!" Xander told me.

"Yes, let's not jump to any conclusions," Giles told me.

"I didn't jump," I told them. "I took a tiny step, and there conclusions were."

"The point is that our wolfman could also be a-a-a wolfwoman, or-or anyone who was bitten by a werewolf," Giles told us.

"So then I'm guessing your standard silver bullets are in order here?" Xander asked.

"No," Giles answered. "No bullets. No matter who this werewolf is, i-it's still a human being, who may be completely unaware of his or her condition."

Buffy nodded. "So tonight we bring 'em back alive."

~~

At the Bronze, Cordelia, Willow and I were sitting on opposite sides of a couch by a low table.

"I mean, with Xander it's always, 'Buffy did this', 'Willow said that', 'Zoey made this happen'," Cordelia told us. "Buffy, Buffy. Willow, Willow. Zoey, Zoey. It's like I don't even exist."

"I sometimes feel like that," Willow told us, looking at Cordelia.

"And then when I call him on it, he acts all confused, like I'm the one with the problem," Cordelia told us.

Willow nodded. "His 'do I smell something?' look."

"All a part of his little guy games," Cordelia told us. "It's like he's there, but then he's not there, and he wants it, but then he doesn't want it."

"He's so busy looking around at everything he doesn't have, he doesn't even realize what he does have," Willow agreed.

Cordelia looked at me. "Well, he should at least realize that you have Oz."

"Mm, I'm not sure I do," I told them. "Oz and I are in some sort of holding pattern, except without the holding or... anything else."

"What's he waiting for?" Cordelia asked. "What's his problem?" She rolled her eyes. "Oh, that's right, he's a guy."

"Yeah, him and Xander," I told them. "Guys. Who do they think they are?"

"A couple of guys," Willow told us.

Suddenly the werewolf dropped down from above onto the table in front of us. They screamed and ran from the couch in opposite directions. I stood, backing away, in shock.

The werewolf looked at me like it recognized me but didn't care.

Panic set in around us, and the werewolf just stood there at a half crouch, confused by all the noise.

I ran toward the door, but it slammed shut before I could get out. "Oh, come on!"

I hit the door.

When I couldn't open it, I turned to the club.

The place had been trashed by the panicked people. Tables and chairs were lying everywhere, spilled drinks were splattered on the floor.

The werewolf jumped toward me, growling. I ducked out of the way, backing away, making it hit the door.

Buffy came out of nowhere, quickly unraveling a length of chain from her arms and getting ready. She threw the chain out, and it wrapped itself perfectly around the werewolf's neck. It began to struggle and yanked at the chain, pulling Buffy into and over the mess. The chain fell from the werewolf's neck, and it  ran toward the window, shattering through it and disappearing.

Buffy stood, standing next to me. "You okay?" I didn't answer, looking after it in confusion. "Zo, what is it?"

I hesitated for a moment. "I think it knew me."

~~

I had bolted before the cops had gotten there.

Next day in school, in the library, Buffy was pacing. I was sitting on the counter. Willow was sitting at the table. Giles was behind her. Xander was standing next to the cage.

"I can't believe I let that thing get away," Buffy told us. "Cain was right. I should've killed it when I had the chance."

Oz walked in, and had overheard that last comment. "Killed what?"

"Uh, the, uh, the werewolf," Buffy answered. "It-it-it was out last night."

"Is everybody okay?" Oz asked. "Did anyone get bitten or, or scratched?"

"No, we're fine," Willow answered.

"Gladness," Oz said.

"Yeah, but he got someone," Buffy told him. "Theresa."

"'Got', as in..." Oz trailed off. Buffy just looked at him and briefly raised her eyebrows. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"And I could've stopped it," Buffy told us, sitting down.

"Well, we, we have one more night," Giles told us.

"Another night?" Oz asked.

"Oh, yeah," Buffy answered. "Believe me, I'm gonna give that wolfie something to howl about."

"Hmm," Oz hummed.

Xander walked over. "But while we hang here doing nothing, there's a human werewolf walking around out there, probably making fun of us."

"The way werewolves always do," I said sarcastically.

"But there's really no way to tell who it is," Oz told us.

"Oh, sure there is," Xander told us. "Giles knows stuff, and I'm practically an expert on the subject."

"On account of once you were a hyena?" Willow asked.

"I know what it's like to crave the taste of freshly killed meat, to be taken over by those uncontrollable urges," Xander told us.

"You said you didn't remember anything about that," I told him.

Xander chuckled. "I said I didn't remember anything about that. Look, the point is, is I have an affinity with this thing. I can get inside of its head." He closed his eyes and began to be the werewolf. "I'm a big, bad wolf. I'm on the prowl." He sniffed. "I'm sniffing, I'm snarling, I'm a slobbering predator, I'm..." He opened his eyes. "Wait a second! It's right in front of us. It's obvious who I am. I'm Larry! The guy's practically got wolf-boy stamped on his forehead. You got the dog bite, you got the aggression, not to mention the excessive back hair."

"And he was awfully gleeful about tormenting Theresa," I added.

"Still, that doesn't necessarily mean that..." Giles trailed off.

"I'm gonna go talk to him," Xander told us. "Gonna force a confession out of him."

Xander left.

"Good," Giles said. "Go. Uh, in the meantime, we need to cover our bases. Willow, um, check the student files. See if anybody else fits the profile. Zoey, research what you can about werewolves. Uh, Buffy?"

"Where are we going?" Buffy asked.

"I-if none of that works, I think I may have an alternative," Giles told her, walking into his office.

"Yeah, me and the werewolf alone in a cage for three minutes," Buffy told him. "That's all I ask."

Buffy stood up and followed Giles.

I looked at Oz, noticing he seemed nervous. "Are you okay?"

Oz came back to earth. "What?"

I slid off the counter. "You kind of knew Theresa."

"Oh, yeah, I, uh, I'm trying not to think about it," Oz told me. "It's... it's a lot."

I nodded, walking closer. "It is. But we can do stuff to help. Sometimes it feels good to help."

"Uh-huh," Oz said.

"Well, like... looking up stuff," I told him. "Apparently, Giles declared himself king, so I'm gonna be doing that most of the night. You could help me, help together?"

Oz seemed unsure what to do. "I can't. Um, uh, I'm busy."

"Oh," I said. "So..."

"I... I gotta go," Oz told me, jogging out of the library.

I watched him go, confused about his behavior.

~~

Willow was 'Net surfing on her laptop.

I was sitting on the table next to her, reading a book.

Buffy came out of Giles' office and walked over to us.

"So what's the scuttlebutt?" I asked. "Anybody besides Larry fit our werewolf profile?"

"There is one name that keeps getting spit out," Willow told us. "Aggressive behavior, run-ins with authorities, about a screenful of violent incidents."

"Okay, most of those were not my fault," Buffy told us. "Somebody else started 'em. I was just standing up for myself."

Willow looked up at Buffy. "They say it's a good idea to count to ten when you're angry.

"One..." Buffy trailed off. "Two... Three..."

Willow looked back at her laptop. "I'll keep looking."

Buffy looked at me. "I, um... noticed you were looking through the books solo."

"Yeah," I said. "Oz wanted to be someplace that was . . ." I looked up at Buffy and Willow. "Away... from me."

"I'm sorry," Willow told me.

"I can't figure him out," I told them. "I mean, he's so hot and cold. I'm usually an expert when it comes to the mystery that is men, but . . . I don't know. There's just something so different about this one."

"It doesn't seem like a fair trade," Willow told us, standing up and putting her laptop in its case.

"Well, if you wanna up the speed quotient with Oz, maybe you need to do something daring," Buffy told me. "Maybe you need to make the first move."

I slid off the table, both of us following Willow as we got our stuff for class. "I'm not used to making the first move, but, eh, it's a good change of pace."

We walked out of the library into the hall.

"It used to be so much easier to tell if a boy liked you," Willow told us. "He'd punch you on the arm and then run back to his friends."

"Those were the days," Buffy said.

Xander walked up to us. "Hey."

We stopped.

"I'll see you guys later," Willow told us. "Cordelia asked me to look over her history homework before class. I think that means I might have to do it."

Willow walked away.

"Wow, those two gals are hanging out a lot together," Xander told us. "This would be a good time to panic."

Buffy let out a laugh.

We started down the hall.

"So how'd it go with Larry?" I asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Xander asked.

"I think it's supposed to mean, 'so how'd it go with Larry?'" I told him, stopping at my locker, reaching for the combination lock.

"He's not the werewolf," Xander told us. "Can't we just leave it at that? Must you continue to push and push?"

I opened my locker. "I'm sorry. I was just wondering."

I took off my bag.

"Well, he's not," Xander told us.

"Okay," Buffy said.

"Okay," Xander said.

"But there goes our lead suspect," Buffy told us. I put my bag in my locker. "Which then puts us right back at square boned."

I closed my locker.

"You're not boned, you're Buffy," Xander told her. "Eradicator of evil. Defender of, um... things that need defending."

"Tell that to Theresa," Buffy told him. "She could have used my defending before she was ripped apart by that..."

"Werewolf," I finished.

"Nowhere in any of the reports did it say anything about her being mauled," Buffy told us. "I mean, they were linked to the animal attacks from the other night, so we just assumed werewolf."

"What else should we have assumed?" Xander asked.

I gave him a look.

Buffy looked at me. "You coming in?"

"No," I answered. "There's something I gotta do."

I turned around, walking away.

~~

I went to Oz's, knocking. There was no answer, so I knocked again.

Oz opened the door. "Zoey! What are you doing?"

I walked inside. "You're busy, huh? One lie I caught you in."

"Zoey, this is not a very good time," Oz told me.

"I mean, what am I supposed to think?" I asked. "I guess none of this means anything because instead of looking up names with me, here you are all alone in your house doing nothing by yourself."

"Zoey, we'll talk about this tomorrow," Oz told me. "I promise."

Oz tried to take hold of me to lead me out.

I shook him off. "No, damn it. We'll talk about this now. Sometimes what a girl makes has to be the first move and now . . . Ugh, you know what I mean."

"I know, I know, it's me," Oz told me. "I'm, I'm goin' through some... changes."

"Well, welcome to the world," I told him. "Things happen. Don't you think I'm going through a lot?"

"Not like me," Oz told me.

"Oh, what, so now you're special?" I asked, pacing away into the dining room. "You're special boy..." I saw the shackles. "With chains and stuff. Why do you have chains and stuff?"

Oz doubled over in pain and held his chest. "Zoey, please!" He walked toward the door. "Get outta here!"

I looked at him confusion.

Oz fell behind the couch out of my view.

"Oz?" I asked. "Oz, what is it?" I slowly approached the couch. "What's wrong?"

I heard Oz moaning in pain.

I looked carefully over the couch.

Oz the werewolf leapt to his feet and growled at her.

I jumped away from him.

~~

I started to panic quietly, ducking out of the way as Oz the werewolf leapt toward me. I ran through the dinning room. The werewolf followed. I picked up one of the chains, swinging it toward him, hitting his head, making him fall. I took that as a chance to run away out of the back door, into the night, through the streets.

I didn't think that I wanted to fight him because A, he could actually hurt me, or B, I really didn't want to hurt him.

The werewolf came around the corner chasing after me.

I saw a wooden fence, hopping up and pulling myself over. I landed on the other side of the fence in a crouch on my feet, seeing a couple of metal trashcans.

It tried to jump over after me.

I grabbed one of the transhcans, smashing it into the werewolf's face. Once it fell on the opposite side of the fence, I tossed the trashcan aside and ran away toward the school.

~~

I ran into the library to see Buffy and Giles. "It's Oz! It's Oz!"

"Wh-what's Oz?" Buffy asked.

"The werewolf," I answered.

"Are you certain?" Giles asked.

"Can't you just trust me on this?" I asked. "He-he said he was going through all these changes. Then he went through all these... changes."

"Where is he now?" Buffy asked.

"In the woods," I answered.

"Let's go," Giles told us, walking toward the door.

I grabbed his arm to stop him. "Go where? You're not gonna kill Oz! Yeah, he's a werewolf, but he's human, too."

"Don't worry, Zoey," Buffy told me. "We're not going to hurt him."

We all started out of the library.

"I put enough Phenobarbital in this thing to sink a small elephant," Giles told us. "It should be enough for a large werewolf."

Giles grabbed his coat from the counter and held the door open for us.

~~

In the woods, the werewolf hunter that had been giving Buffy and Giles a hard time named Cain was about to shoot Oz, about to kill him.

Buffy kicked him in the side, making him fall to the ground, and his gun fire wildly.

The werewolf looked up from its meal at the commotion.

Buffy grabbed Cain's gun and wrestled him for it. She flipped the rifle over and he followed, landing on his back and letting go of the gun in the process. As he tried to get up, Buffy swung the butt of the rifle around and knocked him down and out.

The werewolf came at her, and she ducked his lunge. The werewolf grabbed Buffy and lifted her off of her feet. She pushed him back using Cain's gun to keep from being bitten.

Giles tried to get a clear shot, but the werewolf turned and held Buffy up between them.

"Careful!" I told him.

Giles couldn't get a shot. "Damn it!"

Giles kept looking for an opening, but was quickly getting frustrated.

Buffy raised the rifle high and smashed it down on the werewolf's head. It dropped her and fell back, stunned. It quickly got up and swiped at her, knocking the gun from her hands. Then the werewolf shoved Buffy away and right into Giles and me, bowling us over. It started to come at us.

I scrambled for the tranquilizer gun and brought it up to bear.

The werewolf charged.

I pulled the trigger.

The dart hit it in the chest, and it staggered backward a bit before falling over unconscious.

I looked up at Giles. "I shot Oz."

"You saved us," Giles told me, taking the gun from me.

Buffy walked over to get Cain's gun.

Cain got to his feet and straightened his coat. "No wonder this town's overrun with monsters. No one here's man enough to kill 'em."

"Oh, I wouldn't be too sure of that," Buffy told him. Cain turned to see her with his flintlock. Buffy grabbed the end of the barrel and bended it into a nice arc right in front of him and then thrusted it at him. Cain looked at her in astonishment. "How about you let the door hit you in the ass on the way out of town?"

Cain made a move to go but stopped to give her another look.

Buffy stared back at him.

Cain turned around and walked away.

Buffy looked down at me knelt next to Oz the werewolf and knelt down with me.

"You think it'll be okay?" I asked.

We both looked up at Giles.

"He'll be a little sore in the morning, but..." Giles trailed off. "He'll be Oz."

~~

Next day at school, I walked up to Oz. "Hey."

"Hey," Oz told me.

"Did you want to go first?" I asked.

"I spoke to Giles," Oz told me. "He said I'll be okay. I just have to lock myself up around the full moon. Only he used more words than that. And a globe."

"I'm sorry about how all this ended up," I told him. "With me shooting you and all."

"It's okay," Oz told me. "I'm, I'm sorry I almost ate you. Twice."

"It's okay," I told him. I pointed at him, trying to lighten the mood. "But it could be worse. Last guy that liked me ended up turning into a vampire and tried to kill Xander, and I had to drive a stake in his heart . . . And I am so not making this easier right now."

Oz smiled. "It's okay."

"I kind of thought you would have told me," I told him.

"I didn't know what to say," Oz told me. "I mean, it's not everyday you find out you're a werewolf. That's fairly freaksome. It may take a couple days getting used to."

"Yeah," I said. "It's a complication."

"So..." Oz trailed off, sliding off of the table and we walked. "Maybe it'd be best if I just... sorta..."

"What?" I asked.

"Well, you know, like, stayed out of your way for awhile," Oz answered.

I clicked my tongue nonchalantly. "I don't know. I'm kind of okay with you being in my way."

Oz turned to face me. "You mean, you'd still..."

"Well, I like you," I told him. "You're nice and you're funny. And you're a lot better than some of the guys I've dated. Yeah, okay, werewolf, but that's not all the time. I mean, three days out of the month I'm not much fun to be around either."

"You are quite the human," Oz told me.

I smiled. "So, I'd still if you'd still."

"I'd still," Oz told me. "I'd very still."

"Okay," I said. I gave him a fake pouty face. "No biting, though."

"Agreed," Oz told me.

I smiled, starting to walk away. Oz turned to watch me go with a smile. I stopped, tilting my head, turning around and kissing him, obviously surprising him, but he kissed back.

After a moment, I pulled back, smiling. "I'll leave you to think about that."

Oz smiled, nodding.

I turned around, walking away, feeling good.