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Changing Hearts Series - Hurting -- by Ruby
Rating: PG-13
Description: Buffy has it out with Oz, sequel to Cold Truth.
Note: Spoilers -- Wild at Heart, The Initiative.
Disclaimer: Joss owns all.
Oz turned to walk away from the enraged slayer, and her hand shot out and grabbed his arm, whirling him around to face her again.
"This isn't finished, and you're not leaving until it is," she demanded. "After all these weeks, after making us think that maybe we could trust you again, you owe me that much."
He took a breath and nodded, "Okay, maybe I do. But you have to believe that none of this was about hurting Willow. That night with Ivy, I just needed--"
"Here we go again," she scowled. "It's ALWAYS about what YOU need, isn't it? What about what Willow needs, or what Ivy needs, for that matter? Does that mean anything at all to you?"
"You know it does!" he answered. "Those months I was gone weren't easy for me, you know. Willow was all I could think about--every minute of every day--"
"Does that include the hours you were in Ivy's bed?" Buffy sneered. "You let that girl think that night was something special. You came back here making grand statements about how you could never be with anyone but Will. How the hell could you look her in the eye--or any of the rest of us--when all the while you'd just crawled out of someone else's bed?"
Willow and the others had stepped out onto the porch and were listening in tense silence at the slayer's angry ranting. The redhead placed a calming hand on her friend's shoulder.
"Buffy, it's okay. It doesn't matter to me, anymore. You don't have to--"
"Yes, Will, I do," she insisted, glancing around at her before turning back to Oz. "You have no idea--absolutely none whatsoever--how impossibly painful it's been for her to find a reason to keep on going since you took off! You didn't stick around to see the devastation you created! You had the comfort of distance, of new surroundings, new people, to distract you while you put your own life back together. You didn't give a damn about the life you all but destroyed back here!"
Oz was staring at her, frozen to the spot by the look of hot pain that burned behind the slayer's eyes.
"We aren't really talking about Willow and me, are we?" he asked softly.
Buffy's body went rigid as she drew in a sharp breath, "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I think you do," he insisted. "I could understand why you were so cold toward me when I came back. What I couldn't understand was why you seemed to hate me so much. I hurt Willow, and I know she's your best friend, but that didn't explain why you always seemed to be in almost as much pain as she was. But I understand now."
"You understand what, exactly?" she asked icily.
"I've just been a convenient punching bag," he answered. "A substitute for the person you really wanted to lash out at, but couldn't--Angel."
Buffy's complexion took on a sickly shade of pale as she blinked back prickling tears. Willow angrily wrested her hand from Spike's firm grasp and stepped off of the porch and around the slayer.
"You are a son of a bitch," she hissed at the wolf as she moved directly in front of him.
His voice took on a hard edge, "I'm also right. She isn't half as angry for your sake as she is for her--"
Oz's cold words came to an abrupt halt as Willow suddenly swung out and slammed her fist into his jaw. He staggered back a pace as the redhead yelped and cradled her right hand in her left arm. Spike moved quickly to her side, taking her hand and inspecting the reddening knuckles.
"That was bloody brilliant, luv," he grinned, brushing his lips over her aching hand.
The End
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