You've got a friend in me

40.3 - Snow Day
OOC: Piece co-written by diminished9th and whattingawhat. Fits in with the TWENTY MOONS storyline.


The night was far too cold, causing Oz to pull his coat tighter around him and slip his hands into the pockets. Despite tonight being the seventh night of a full moon in New York City, he was out patrolling with Cady and Gabe. They had momentarily split up for awhile because Oz's wolf scratched and clawed at the cage his skin provided. It was moreso at night and around Gabe. And each full moon it was getting more difficult to control. He wouldn't be out here at all except that the chill of the fresh air seemed to give him something else to focus on. Cady had said that patrols had become increasingly crowded. The supernatural were flocking to the City for some reason that none of them knew yet. There was no mistaking that something big was coming though.

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. His nostrils flared as he felt and sensed something close by. He knew that feeling. It was the same one he got around his daughter. The sounds of a scuffle could be heard near by and his initial thought was that he had somehow circled back around to Cady and Gabe. But he didn't feel Gabe.

It was hard to be stealthy with the layer of snow and ice that covered the ground. It crunched beneath his sketchers as he moved closer to the sounds through the park. Once he reached a clearing through the trees he relaxed. Buffy was there fighting one vamp. He didn't think to help. Buffy could take care of one vampire and she was more than capable of taking care of herself. He watched as she easily overtook the demon and then applauded from the brush as he stepped into the light of the lamp overhead.

"Hey." He shoved his hands back into the pockets of his coat. And then, in a straight face that only Oz could pull off, he tilted his head curiously. "Did you see that guy just disappear?"

"Trick of light," Buffy grinned as she tucked her stake at her back underneath her jacket. "How's things, Oz?" She knew how things were. Crazy. Insane. Really she was asking more personally how Oz was handling things.

And Oz was every bit as perceptive as he had always been. Saying so little at a time had its perks. He got that Buffy was asking about his well-being on a more personal scale rather than on the general state of things which they both knew was obviously not good. New York was going nuts after seven nights of a full moon and every Supernatural being within flocking distance was... well, flocking.

He shrugged, the mixture of snow and ice still crunching beneath his feet as he walked over to where Buffy stood. "Talk about your damaged calm." He answered and then studied Buffy looking as if he were completely unruffled despite his description of himself. In his eyes though, there was that bit of twitch that wasn't normally there, a feral spark that was uniquely the wolf's. "You?"

Buffy shrugged in answer. "Thinking about ways to bring the steamer trunks under the eyes into fashion. My boys at class have just accepted class time is like nap time." She noticed the slight bit of restlessness about Oz. "If calm needs a break, I can wolf sit sometime."

"If anyone can start a fashion trend, it's you." Oz had faith in Buffy. He always had. As they spoke, the words were visible on their breath that puffed out into the night air. It was freezing, so freezing that even the vampires and demons should be indoors, not that they had gotten that memo. No, they were partying through the nights and into the early hours of the mornings. Some of them even came out in the day. Boldness among the big bad's was never a good thing.

Oz shoved the toe of his sketchers in the ice on the ground and looked down. "Tonight was almost that night. I may take you up on that offer tomorrow. It's getting harder." But it was also harder than he would ever let on for him to give in to the beast. He had gone so long being the one in control that giving the beast an inch was terrifying to him, an inch felt too much like a mile. And it felt like he was letting go of a fight that he had fought daily for years.

"It always does," Buffy smiled sympathetically. "Darkest before Twilight...or Dawn or something and now in light of Dawnie that all sorta makes sense. Or something. I don't know. Anyway..." she trailed the ramble off. "How's Cady holding up?" She knew the answer, or some part of it. This was hard on everyone right now. The constant slaying and constant crazy and the city going wonky in general.

"She's out here somewhere." Even though he knew that she wasn't in the near vicinity, he looked around them. If Cady were near he would feel her just as he felt Buffy standing before him. "Tough gig. And I had to get away from Gabe. He doesn't mean to but he makes my wolf want to display how dominant he is. And he's been stuck for seven days. I think it's getting to both of them." Which was possibly the longest string of words he had said straight in some time. There should be a record book, he decided.

Buffy made a sympathetic face and pouted unconsciously. "Hopefully it won't last much longer. Giles and Will are being researchy. They'll have an answer for us soon. Gabe can go back to being a boy, Cady can be more teenagery and you'll be Zen Guy."

And she'd get to sleep for a week. Or six at this rate.

The expression Oz gave Buffy was a smirk, if she were to squint her eyes and look close enough to see it. Alright, so it wasn't much of an expression at all. The thought was there though. "I miss zen guy... and happy Buffy."

"Me too," Buffy half smiled at Oz. "Buffy is just tired. She needs like a week at the spa or maybe some quality coma time. Obviously because she is talking about herself in third person. You can come coma slash spa time with me if you want. You know after the moon is back to doing it's regular thing. We'll call it a moon retreat."

"You're on." Oz said, taking a step back and nodding. "Wolf sit tomorrow? See you a little before nightfall?"

"Wolf sitting, your place," Buffy affirmed. "I'll bring researchy type books along with Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus. Wolf will wish he'd never broken out," she teased him. Only it was just partial teasing because she intended to do exactly that.

He almost smirked again... almost. It was like old times, really. Old times in the library at Sunnydale High before he'd had control over the wolf. Between Buffy, Xander and Willow the wolf had had some interesting nights. He almost craved the nostalgia of it if the change had to happen at all.

He turned away, his shoes crunching through the snow again. "Night Buffy."