Willow stared at the red haired man standing before her, and sighed sadly. He wasn't her Oz.
That was kind of obvious since he was waving a cross in her face.
"How did you do that, demon," he yelled in that soft, under spoken way Oz yelled. "I was sitting in the Library, organizing the crosses and now..." He looked around himself, then frowned at her. "How are you standing in the sunlight?"
"Cuz I'm not a vampire?" Defeated, she sank down onto her bed, and looked at the remnants of the spell. Growing swiftly frustrated, she swept the book, candle and bowl onto the floor. "Why can't I do this spell right? I've been trying for weeks, trying and failing and...No Oz. And, now, Oz, but wrong Oz."
He stared at her in total incomprehension and she sighed again. Finally, he lowered the cross and stuck it in his back pocket. "Where am I?"
"Sunnydale University, my dorm room to be exact. But, it's kind of not your Sunnydale."
"Huh." It wasn't a question. Oz moved silently over to the window and peered out at the large number of people happily going about their day in the bright sunshine. "And, you're not a vampire."
"No. I think you must be from that other dimension that we keep going back and forth to. We must have weakened the dimensional walls. I didn't mean to bring you here. I meant to bring my Oz home."
"Your Oz?" He turned and looked at her, and she flushed.
"Yeah, well, he *was*...Since I'm skanky ho vamp on your world, I guess we're not..." Willow blushed even more.
Oz' eyes widened fractionally and he watched her for a moment, then smiled a hint of a smile. "So, you and my counterpart..?"
"But you, he left me, and..." Willow sighed heavily and reached for her spell book. "I'll try to figure out how to send you back. Well, first I have to figure out what went wrong."
"Maybe Giles can help. Do you have a Giles?"
Willow gave him a chagrined look and nodded. "Yeah, but he'll scold me for using magic and I'll have to bake dozens of cookies again, and do you know how hard it is to detail a car when you don't even know what detailing means?"
"You bake cookies? I haven't had a homemade cookie in..." He thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Chocolate chip?"
"Uh huh."
"Your Oz is a lucky man."
"And it's his, your birthday and I have this chocolate chip cake made with little chocolate chip cookies spelling out his name in the icing and he's not here."
He seemed surprised for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, my birthday. I'd forgotten."
"Really? Would you like a piece of cake?"
Oz stiffened and cocked his head, nose in the air, then smiled at her, shaking his head. "No. It's not *my* cake. Does Giles still live at the condo on Walden Court?" At her nod, she continued. "I'll head over there, explain the problem, and wait for you."
"Well, I can go with you," she began, only to be stopped from gathering her books by his rapid shake of his head.
"No, I think you'll be busy for a while," he said as he walked to the door and opened it. "I'll see you in a bit, hopefully, a long bit." Oz flashed her a quick smile. "It's okay. I'll find my way home somehow. Don't feel bad about the spell going awry."
"Oh..okay." She gave him a confused look as he left the room, closing the door behind him. Grabbing a bag, Willow began to stuff it full of books and spell supplies, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door.
Having learned her lesson from Spike, she rose to her feet and opened the door. Oz stood on the other side and she gave him a puzzled look. "Did you forget something?"
Oz returned her puzzled look, but then took her hand, lifting it to his lips. "Yeah, I forgot not to leave you," he murmured before placing a delicate kiss on her knuckles, then turning her hand over to place another kiss on her palm.
That was when Willow realized that Oz, this Oz, had black hair, not red, and looked like he hadn't shaved or showered in several days, and...
With a squeal of delight, her eyes full of tears, Willow threw herself into his arms, running happy, wet kisses over his face and neck. "You came back, you came back, you came back."
"Forgive me, please," Oz whispered into her ear, holding her tightly against his too thin body. "All I need is your forgiveness."
"I forgive you, and I love you, and you came back, and Happy Birthday." And with that, she kissed him with all the passion that had been building for nearly four months, and dragged him into her room.
"Birthday? Oh, yeah, I forgot..." Was all he got out before they tumbled to the bed.
*****
Much, much later, Willow stirred against Oz' chest, her eyes flickering open, a sappy smile on her face. Opening her mouth, she accepted the bite of cake he fed her, then lifted her head for another kiss.
Then she remembered, and flushed. "Oops."
"Oops what?" Oz asked with some trepidation. Was she regretting...
Willow smiled down at him, realizing what he must be thinking, and trying to give him silent reassurance. "No, it's not a bad oops, well...Are two Oz' ever a bad thing?"
"Huh?" This time it was a question, and Willow giggled.
"You've met my double. Wanna meet yours?"
"Spell gone awry?"
"Yep."
Oz gave her a quirky smile, then nodded. "Might be interesting. Certainly a new kind of birthday present."
Willow leaned down and kissed him again, then murmured, "Let's hope we can send him back home really quickly because we have a lot of time to make up for."
"If you keep looking at me like that, we'll never get out of here."
"...Okay." Grinning lustily, she straddled his body, making him groan in delight, all thoughts fleeing.
Except that this was the best birthday ever.
End