Funeral For A Friend

Author: Kaitelynn

E-Mail: [email protected]

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, they belong to the man known as Joss and Mutant Enemy. The song belongs to Elton John.

Distribution: Anyone who has my stuff can have this.

Summary: Oz's POV on Angel and Willow's relationship. Goes in conjunction with Keeper of the Stars

Feedback is greatly appreciated. In fact I thrive on it.

Okay, this is in response to Belinda's song fic challenge to use any Elton John song. Figured that this would definitely be different than anyone else's choice.

Author's Note: Okay, this is the second in an yet untitled series of songfics chronicling the love of Angel and Willow.

Sorry not Beta'd so mistakes belong to me.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The roses in the window box
Have tilted to one side
Everything about this house
Was born to grow and die

As I stand here, watching the two of you and how happy you are together, I can feel my insides just shriveling up into nothing. You look so happy, holding each other in front of the fireplace, making new memories in a house where so much evil was done not so long ago. This was where Angelus tortured Giles. Buffy almost died here. Now, the two of you are snuggled under a blanket as if you don?t have a care in the world. Do you even remember everything that we had been through here? Do you even care? It doesn?t seem a year ago
To this very day
You said I?m sorry honey
If I don?t change the pace,
I can?t face another day

I still remember when you came into the Bronze that night. Things had been tense between us for a while, but I thought we were working through our problems. I guess I was wrong. When you told me that you wanted to break things off, I felt my world shatter. You told me that you had found someone else. Someone who listened to you and puts you above everything and everyone else. I had always thought that I had done that but now, looking back, I realize that I was wrong. I had always taken for granted that you would always be a part of my life. I didn?t even think that I wasn?t giving you everything that you needed. That I wasn?t encouraging you to do the things that made you happy. Does he?

I?ve seen the two of you together before this. I followed to the mansion on night, to see what it was that had made you break up with me. Imagine my surprise when he greeted you with a kiss. One that you returned with a fervor. I?ve watched you change right in front of my eyes. It was so sudden. One minute you were so quiet, shy. That?s what I always loved about you. Then, suddenly, you were this woman who knew what she wanted and went out to get it. I didn?t want to believe that you could change that quickly, but was it really that quick. As I sit and watch the two of you kiss, I think back to all the indications that you weren?t happy with the role that we had you assume. That you had wanted more out of life. Something other than being our little hacker. And love lies bleeding in my hand,
It kills me to think of you with another man.
I was playing rock-n-roll and you were just a fan,
But my guitar couldn?t hold you
So I split from the band
Love lies bleeding in my hands.

It hurts so much to know that you are giving your love to him. Knowing that you almost killed yourself doing the spell that allowed you and him to share that one thing that only I had the pleasure of before. None of the others knew why you had suddenly disappeared, but I did. I had watched you that night, just as I am now. It always seems that I?m watching you. I?ve watched you ever since that first time I saw you dressed in an Eskimo suit.

Then on that Halloween when I saw you crossing the street in that little outfit, my breath was taken away. When we finally got together, it was magic. I was so proud of everything that you did and I loved the way you made sure that everyone knew that I was yours. You were always my biggest supporter. Now, to see you with him, all I want to do is go in and grab you and make you realize that it?s me that you belong with.

I know eventually you will tell the others. You?ll become tired of having to hide your love from everyone. The others will react badly, that?s why I haven?t even told them. But when you do, I know you will go to the Bronze and I will see you. I don?t know if I can handle that. Seeing the two of you together, hidden from the rest of the world is almost too much for me, but to see you in public will be too much. The band was already getting a little fed up with the whole having to miss practice and gigs at least three days a month, plus whenever research needed to be done, so I left the band. That way I don?t have to run the risk of running into the two of you and not being able to leave. I wonder if those changes
Have left a scar on you
Like all the burning hoops of fire
That you and I passed through

I wonder if you would be who you are now if you never found out about the Hellmouth and vampires. Would the two of you still be together? Would we? I know that I would have still loved you. It wasn?t the hellmouth that made me like you in the first place. Now, even your friends don?t recognize you. They?ve asked me about you. Is there anything wrong? What are you doing?

Why don?t you come around as much? I don?t know what to say. I told them that you had broken up with me and by the looks on their faces, they knew it wasn?t a mutual decision. Buffy wondered if there was some prophecy that made you act the way you?ve been acting lately. How do you tell your love?s best friends that she has outgrown them. I know that?s what has happened.

Having Angelus try to kill you. Ms. Calender dying. Kendra. Faith. It was all too much for you. It had to change you, just as it changed the others. You had seen the changes in them, but they refused to see the changes in you. Giles was always telling you not to play with magick. Buffy always acting as if you needed to be protected, even from things that weren?t supernatural. Xander always taken advantage of your friendship.

Then, of course, there was me. We never noticed that you weren?t the same. That the things that had happened had to change you. I am sorry now, for maybe if I had noticed I wouldn?t be on the outside looking in. You?re a bluebird on a telegraph line
I hope you?re happy now
Well if the wind of change comes down your way girl
You?ll make it back somehow

The two of you are still kissing and I can see that things are about to get a lot more passionate than I can handle. I?m glad that you have finally found that happiness that had always eluded you in the past. I thought you had that with me, but now that I have seen the two of you together, I know that all you had felt for me was a deep friendship. Maybe that would have been enough to build a life on, that?s how my parents had gotten together, but then you and he had gotten together and he showed you what love could truly be like. There?s that smile that I had always wanted to see on your face. The one of absolute adoration.

The two of you are standing up and heading toward the bedroom. I?ll leave now. I?m meeting your friends at the library, where I?ll have to face them and tell them that I don?t know where you are. I?ll keep your secret because you are happy. Also, I?ll keep it because I hope one day soon you?ll realize what you had with me and come back. And love lies bleeding in my hand
It kills me to think of you with another man
I was playing rock-n-roll and you were just a fan
But my guitar couldn?t hold you
So I split the band
Love lies bleeding in my hand

Inside the mansion, Willow and Angel made love unaware of the intruder who had just left. All they knew was the love that was between the two of them. They knew they had to tell the other, but that would be tomorrow. Tonight was just for the two of them.

The End