Oz paced around the small cage he was imprisoned in. He hated having to be locked up every month. He wished he could control his werewolf instincts more easily.
Hey, he may only be a small werewolf, but even at his size he could overpower a small adult human. He knew Wes was right to cage him in his 'wolf phase, but still there was absolutely nothing to do, well other than think about what he'd like to be doing. And top of that list? Ripping Wesley's guts out.
Wes had been totally unfair about the weapons in the forest thing. Oz was not allowed out of their house for two whole weeks. His sentence had only been going for three days, and already Oz was bored out of his wits. Plus Oz was now Daniel again to Wesley.
The young Watcher had finally given in to his constantly repeating the fact that he was OZ, not Daniel, and that he considered Daniel to be an unsuitable name for a werewolf. But now? Now it was Daniel.
And it so wasn't fair. He hadn't really been doing anything for God's sakes. He had been dragged into it by Faith and co. They were just so convincing, they had told him that it was perfectly safe, no one ever came into the forest.
He relented. Well it wasn't really their fault that they had chosen the one time someone was in the forest. They couldn't have known that Giles was going to be giving Willow a magick lesson in there.
He heard a small, slightly nervous whisper from the far side of the room, "Hi Oz" Willow said, coming towards him. She quite often came to visit him at the full moons, when she couldn't sleep. She seemed to calm the wolf in him. Wesley had reluctantly agreed to her visiting, once he had found out that he was so much more relaxed when she was around.
The small red headed witch watched as Oz stalked around his cage. He was so cute as a wolfie. She felt like going to him and giving him a big cuddle. He looked so soft and cuddly. But she had learned that doing that was not a good idea the hard way.
The fist time she had seen him like this she had tried to stroke him through the bars. He had snarled, and leaped at her, reaching out through the bars, trying to swipe her with his claws. She had screamed and retreated in fright.
He had managed to scratch her, and it hurt. After that, she made sure to keep a safe distance.
She had noticed that having her here made Oz more docile, especially when she read to him. Now she nearly always brought a book when she came to visit him. Today it was Beauty and the Beast, one of her favourite fairy tales.
She especially likes the pictures. The Belle in her picture book had red hair, like hers, and she thought that the Beast looked just a bit like Oz in his 'wolf form.
Oz seemed to like it too. She had decided it was his favourite too, at least when he was wolfy Oz. When he was a boy he said it was a sissy book.
She curled up in the big armchair in the room and began to read. When she was about half way through she looked up and saw that Oz was lying on the floor of his cage, looking perfectly contented.
She smiled to herself and continued reading. She was getting dozy, and her voice started to droop. No. She wasn't going to fall asleep, she was going to finish the story for Oz.
She reached the last page. "and they lived happily ever after" she mumbled, and promptly fell asleep where she was.
The next morning Wesley walked in to check that his charge was ok after his monthly ordeal. What he saw made him smile. Oz was curled up on the floor of his cage fast asleep, and Willow in the armchair, with the book still open on the last page.
He gently took the book from Willow, and placed it on the nearby table, then he walked out to let the two sleep.