PART 4

Oz put down his guitar then he, along with the rest of the band, walked off stage for their well earned break.

"OK, we’re back on in ten, so Dizz, tonight, promise me that you won’t try and down seven whisky’s this time, huh? Stitches don’t do a thing for you man," Oz warned him.

"I beg to differ, my friend. The girls all want to nurse me back to health and I just love playing ‘Doctor’, you know what I’m saying?"

Oz rolled his eyes as his singer laughed somewhat maniacally and waggled his eyebrows. "Just take it easy tonight OK?" he requested.

"Oh, for heaven’s sake man, lighten up and stop having a cow." With a shake of his head, Dizz sauntered off followed by Saul and they were soon surrounded by a group of girls all vying for their attention.

"Some people you just can’t get through to, you know?" offered Matt, who was still stood with his boss.

Oz sighed and faced his drummer. "Yeah, I know. Let’s just hope he doesn’t do anything too stupid. I’d hate to have to try and replace him." He shot one last worried look at his other two band members then turned around. "Come on, let’s get a drink."

They made their way over to the bar and ordered cokes. Several girls tried to make conversation but neither of the two men were interested.

As they chatted to each other, Serena appeared and smiled at them both. "It’s going very well tonight. You guys sound better all the time."

Oz smiled and thanked her but Matt just swallowed nervously and looked down into his drink. Serena frowned a little at the drummers reaction but soon forgot about his strange attitude when Oz lightly touched her arm. She looked at him and he leaned forward, trying to make himself heard over the crowd of people. Now was the time to ask her, if he waited any longer then he knew he’d lose his nerve. Time to move on.

"Gypsy, I know this is kind of sudden but I was wondering if…"

"Oz. Telephone," interrupted the barman as he tapped Oz on the back and held out the receiver for him. "Sounds urgent."

Frustration warred with resignation as Oz looked at Serena apologetically. "Can we talk later?"

"Sure. Just come to my office after you’ve finished tonight."

Oz nodded and reluctantly let her go. He turned and took the phone from the barman then held it to his ear trying to make out who was calling him.

"Hello?" No reply. "Hello?" he asked again, his patience starting to wear thin.

"Hi, Oz?" inquired a faint, vaguely familiar voice over the phone.

"Yeah. Who’s this?"

"Angel."

Oz went cold with dread and gripped the phone harder for a second. "Has anything happened? Is Wil…I mean, is everyone OK back in Sunnydale?"

On the other end of the line Angel smiled to himself. Obviously Oz hadn’t got over his former love yet. Maybe they had a chance after all. Suddenly realising he hadn’t answered Oz, Angel hastened to reassure the man on the other end of the phone, "Don’t worry, things are fine. Better than that even."

Oz sighed audibly and loosened his hold on the phone. "So, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing much," the vampire replied nonchalantly. "That's why I thought I'd call and see if you were playing tonight. I'll drop by later and we can have a chat when you finished. You know, talk about old times."

"Old times?" repeated Oz incredulously. A frown creased his brow as he wondered what Angel was up to. Realising he wouldn’t know until he spoke to him he added, "Sure, why not. I’ll meet you by the bar around midnight, OK?"

When Angel agreed the time, Oz put the phone down and stared into space still trying to work out what was going on. Angel and he had only spoken a handful of times since Oz had moved to L.A. and that was only because the musician had asked the vampire to keep him informed about the goings on in Sunnydale.

"You OK?" asked Matt. When he didn't get an answer he clicked his fingers in front of Oz's face. "Hey Oz, can you hear me?"

Oz blinked a couple of times and his frown cleared. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Bad news?"

Oz shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure," he replied slowly.

Matt gave him a puzzled look but Oz snapped out of his reverie and turned away to look for the other band members. He sighed as he spied them over the other side of the club surrounded by females and a drink in each hand. It was going to be a long second set.

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

Xander placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of Willow and sat down next to her. They’d driven back to their hotel in relative silence and had decided to watch a movie on TV in Willow’s room.

Xander glanced over at his friend who was apparently engrossed in a musical that was playing. "So Angel’s gonna help you right? That’s great."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, I didn’t think he would at first but he was really nice after I told him what happened." She turned and looked at him with a frown. "I just wish you hadn’t lost your temper like that. Angel was bound to be defensive after that whole Buffy and Riley thing."

Xander opened his mouth to object but decided against it. He knew Willow was right but Angel had always managed to anger him in the past and after tonight it was apparent that he always would.

He sighed loudly. "Sorry Will, you're right, I wasn’t much help." He held up his right hand as though taking an oath. "But I’ll be on my very best behaviour tomorrow night I promise." He then produced his best ‘forgive me’ face and was rewarded with a smile from Willow.

"You’d better stick to your promise Xander Harris or I’ll get Buffy onto you when we get back."

"No, anything but that, please," he begged in mock fear.

Willow giggled and reached for her drink then sat back and sighed. "I just hope Angel has some good news for me tomorrow."

"He will," Xander assured her and felt his stomach drop when he saw her eyes fill with tears. He just wished he could stop her pain. "Hey," he began brightly but was interrupted when the phone rang.

Willow turned wide eyes to him and he nodded. "Don't worry, I'll get it." He picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Xander? What are you doing in Willow's room at this time of night?" came a suspicious female voice.

"Hey Buff, we're just watching TV before going to bed."

"Going to bed?" exclaimed Buffy.

"Not together," he added hastily. "Willow to bed in her room and me to bed in mine."

"Uh-huh. Can I speak to her?"

Xander handed over the phone. "It's Buffy."

Willow nodded and took the receiver. "Hey."

"Hey Willow, so how'd it go?"

The witch told Buffy about her conversation with Angel. "I just hope that he finds something out," she concluded.

"Well, if I know Angel, and I do, he'll do his very best." The slayer paused then asked, "Did he…did he…mention me at all?"

"Uh, no, I'm sorry Buffy, he didn't."

"Oh…well…I didn't think he would…really."

Willow was saddened when she heard the longing in her friends voice. Since Riley had betrayed her four months earlier, the Slayer had determindly stayed tight lipped. No one knew exactly what had happened, just that he had almost killed Buffy when he'd set up a trap with Spike. Willow wished that Buffy would at least speak to her about it but, apart from saying that she wished she'd listened to Angel when he'd returned that time, she had steadfastly refused to talk about it any further. Willow felt shut out by her friends actions but still clung to the hope that one day she'd break her silence. Willow sighed. "Did you want me to give him a message?"

The answer was so long in coming that Willow thought Buffy had hung up. "No," the Slayer replied finally. "I think I've already said enough."

"But…"

"Uh, I'm sorry Will, I've got to go. Uh…Giles needs me. Bye."

Willow tried to interrupt Buffy's hastily spoken words but the receiver was down before she could respond. "Bye Buffy," she mumbled before replacing her own handset.

She went and sat back down next to Xander. "I think I may talk to Angel about Buffy tomorrow. You know, tell him about Riley, I'll bet he doesn't know. What do you think?"

She turned to Xander expectantly and then smiled. He was fast asleep, his arms folded across his chest and head slumped to one side. Willow quietly got up and turned off the TV before getting a blanket from her room and covering him over. "Night Xander," she whispered then turned off the light and went into her bedroom hoping things would seem better in the morning.

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

Angel entered the darkened, smoky night-club that was The Starlight and walked over to the bar totally oblivious to all the admiring looks he was receiving from the female clientele. He leaned against the bar and watched the band that were just finishing their set. He picked out Oz and noticed he was glaring at the lead singer who was stumbling a little across the stage as he sang the last few words to the slow song they were playing.

The set finished and Oz immediately put his guitar down and all but dragged the singer off stage. Angel could see a relatively heated exchange take place and then Oz turn around and walk away, the singer giving a two-fingered gesture to his boss' retreating back.

Oz approached Angel and came to halt facing him. "Having trouble?" the vampire asked, nodding towards the singer who had now collapsed and fallen into a heap on the steps up to the stage.

Oz followed Angel's gaze and shook his head with a deep sigh. "I'm going to have to look for a replacement." He glanced back at Angel. "You don't sing do you?"

The vampire smiled and shook his head.

"Worth a try," Oz commented with a shrug of his shoulders and then asked, "Do you want to go and sit down somewhere?"

Angel nodded and they made their way, through the throng of people that were starting to disperse for the night, to a table near the back of the club.

They sat down and chatted idly for about ten minutes until Oz's curiosity finally got the better of him and looked expectantly at Angel. "So, what’s up?"

The vampire looked back at him in surprise. "Why do you think anything’s up?"

"Well, you and I have never talked about ‘old times’, so why start now? There’s got to be something more to this visit than you’re telling me."

Angel smiled slightly. "Actually there was something…" he paused as a petite black-haired woman walked up to them and touched the shorter man’s arm.

"Hi, I hope I’m not interrupting anything," she said to Oz.

Oz smiled back and shook his head. "Uh, no, not at all. I was just talking to an old friend of mine." He gestured towards the vampire. "Gypsy, this is Angel. Angel this is gypsy, she runs the club."

Angel offered his hand out to the woman in front of him and smiled. "Hi Gypsy, nice to meet you."

Serena chuckled and took his proffered hand. "Actually, my name’s Serena. It’s nice to finally meet one of Oz's friends."

"Why don't you sit down?" asked Oz and gestured to the chair next to him.

"Oh, no that's OK," Serena replied. "I'll let you two talk." She touched Oz's arm again and added quietly, "I'll see you later?"

Oz nodded and, after a brief smile directed to Angel, Serena walked away. The vampire sat back in his chair and noted the way, a softly smiling, Oz stared after the woman that had just left them. With a jolt he realised that something totally unexpected had happened - Oz had found someone else. This development caused him to pause for a moment. Should he now tell Oz about Willow? Would it be right to interfere or better to just leave him alone to get on with his life? More than that, was it fair to Willow? Angel, himself, knew what it was like to try to win someone back who had moved on. Did he really want to Willow to go through that pain?

"You OK?"

Oz's voice snapped Angel out of reverie and he nodded before hurriedly saying, "Yeah, I'm fine." He paused then said, "Uh, Serena seems nice."

"She's great," Oz agreed, the soft smile returning as he continued, "she's had a tough time but she's still so positive, you know? She's helped me out a lot. We got on together from day one. It's just like we connected or something. I mean, I can talk to her just as easily as I did with…" He cut himself short and looked away.

"Can't you even say Willow's name?" Angel asked quietly at the silence that now descended over them both.

"I find it's best if I don't," Oz admitted with a sigh. "That way I can try to forget."

"Do you really want to?"

Oz looked back at Angel in surprise and then shrugged. "It's time to move on."

"You astonish me," Angel stated and leaned forward. "I thought you did that ages ago."

"It was last night actually," Oz replied drily. "I had this weird talk with myself, it was interesting."

"So you 'do' still have feelings for Willow then?"

"I'll always have feelings for her," Oz acknowledged quietly. "But, I know she's happy with her choice and that's all I care about."

"What if circumstances changed?"

Oz frowned suddenly. "Why are you asking all these questions? I thought I said I was trying to forget."

Angel stared hard at the young man opposite him and made a decision. "No particular reason but, can I give you some friendly advice?" At Oz's shrug he continued, "Don't be hasty. It's not often you get a second chance, Oz." He stood up to go. "Believe me, I know. If it happens, don't waste it."

With that, the vampire walked away, leaving behind a very bemused Oz.

END PART 4