Xander threw himself onto the sofa dramatically, "Is it just me or was that demon especially hard to get rid of?"

Willow joined him. "It certainly seemed easier when we were younger."

Giles eased himself into a chair, guarding his right arm. "You're hardly ancient Willow. Although perhaps some of us have gotten a bit too old and decrepit these past few years."

Buffy limped and stood next to him, "you're not ancient either Giles, and certainly not decrepit," she bent over the back of the chair and kissed him affectionately on the head. Blushing she stood up, "so who wants an ice pack?" The other three raised their hands and she hurried into the kitchen. She couldn't believe she had just kissed Giles, sure it was only on the head but still.

"I don't care what you say Giles, I feel a lot older than 25," Willow stretched and winced as her joints popped.

They heard a glass break and Buffy let out of string of curses. Giles sighed and pressed himself away from the chair, "I hope that wasn't one of my good glasses." He walked to the kitchen.

Xander watched him leave. "I think fighting the minions of hell for nearly ten years ages a person faster than normal."

Willow sighed, "I just wish we were young again." They both gasped as a brilliant blue light enveloped them.

In the kitchen Buffy was busy holding a papertowel to her hand. "Sorry about the glass Giles, guess I'm worse off than I thought."

"Are you okay?" He glanced at the few drops of blood on the counter and quickly looked away; he hated seeing her blood.

"Nothing that won't feel better in the morning."

"Good, then I'll just take these out to our rapidly aging cohorts." He took the glasses from her hands, gently letting his fingers brush against hers. He delighted in these tiny caresses, so innocent and yet so meaningful.

Buffy felt the strange magic before she saw the blue glow. "Giles, wait!" She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back through the doorway with some difficulty.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" Giles stood up and shook his head in a dazed fashion.

"Willow! Xander!" Buffy ran into the living room but stopped short when she saw what had happened to them.

Two children only two or three years old were sitting on the sofa, drowning in clothes that were a million times too big for them. There could be no mistaking them for anyone other than Willow and Xander. The diminuitive witch still had the stick straight red hair, while the younger boy had unruly black curls and deep brown eyes. For a moment the two of them stared at Buffy and Giles before they both opened their mouths and began to sob. Instantly Buffy was kneeling in front of them but they hid their faces and only cried more loudly for their mothers.

Giles sat down on the arm of the sofa and reached out to touch Xander on the shoulder. The presence of this large and strange man did little to comfort them. Instead they cried louder and reached for Buffy. She wrapped her arms around them both and tried to shush them. She looked up at Giles and her eyes grew wide and then she began to laugh.

"What, may I ask, is so funny?"

"Go look in the mirror."

He got up and gazed into the wall-mounted mirror. His vision was blurred and for a moment he worried. He removed his glasses and looked again, relieved to see that his vision had improved. The figure that stared back at him was at once familiar and a stranger. His silver hair had grown and returned to its youthful, glossy raven color. His face was smoother, free from the lines caused by years of worry. He reached up and touched his face to make sure it was real. "What's happened?"

"Looks like someone's discovered the fountain of youth and I'm guessing it's not that tea you're so fond of drinking." She laughed and Xander, who had stopped crying looked up at her and smiled.

"But I look almost twenty years younger."

"So? I'd say they look nearly 25 years younger."

"Well, assuming the same happened to me as Xander and Willow, how come there aren't three babies for you to look after?"

"Maybe, whatever it was, only takes off a certain number of years. And who says I'm taking care of them?" Xander had begun tugging on her arm, "or maybe it was because I pulled you back away from it." He tugged harder, "What Xander?" Her tone had been sharper than she intended. Instantly his eyes welled up and his lip began to tremble. "Oh, I'm sorry big guy, it's okay don't cry. Tell Buffy what's the matter?"

"Potty!"

Buffy blushed, "um, okay. Giles?" She looked up and saw him trying to sneak into his library mumbling about research. "Stop right there Watcher of mine, there's no way I'm letting you leave me to deal with two toddlers on my own."

"But Buffy, I don't know anything about children."

"And I do?"

"Well, surely you've done some babysitting before? Just consider it practice for when you have your own children." He knew that last statement was a mistake the moment he left his lips.

Buffy flashed him a look that was full of anger and sadness. "I'm the Slayer remember? I don't get to have a family." With that she shoved Willow into his reluctant arms and carried Xander into the bathroom.

"Buffy I'm..."

"Sorry? Don't bother, I'm fine, I don't want to talk about. And unless you know how to fix this in the next hour, we're going to need soem supplies from the store. I can't go with two naked toddlers, so unless you want to stay here with them," she let her sentence trail off while she put Xander on the toilet seat.

"But I won't know what to get."

"I'll give you a list. Then if there's anything we missed I can get it while I'm out patrolling."

"Patrolling? Tonight?" She didn't know if he was more worried about her or about spending the evening alone with toddler Willow and toddler Xander.

"Relax, they'll be asleep by then." She turned her attention back to Xander, "all done?"

"Yup," he was unwinding the toilet paper.

"Good," she lifted him off, "do you want to flush the toilet?" He nodded, "okay."

Xander stood on his tiptoes to reach the lever. He watched as the water swirled down and disappeared, clapping his hands and waving. "All done, bye bye!" He waddled out of the room.

Buffy took Willow from Giles, "you'd better follow him Giles. Willow do you need to use the potty?" The little girl nodded shyly and Buffy took her from Giles and put her on the toilet while Giles followed after Xander.

When they were all done she took them into the living room and switched on the television. "You know they say television stunts their mental development."

"Would you rather I let them get into the weapons chest?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "Get a pen and paper and I'll tell you what to get."

Fifteen minutes later he was out the door and Buffy was stationed between the two of them while they watched Looney Tunes. She was writing a list of everything they knew about the spell in the hopes that it would help Giles with the research. She would leave him to figure out which books they should look in, even after ten years she still wasn't very good at researching.

After an hour they were beginning to get restless and Buffy had to hold them on the sofa. She was beginning to wonder if she should call Giles and tell him to hurry up when she heard the sound of his key in the door. Unfortunately so did Willow and Xander and they quickly slid off the sofa and began running toward the door. They were only stopped from tripping him up by Buffy grabbing them each around the waist. "It's about time." She looked past him to see the porch covered with more bags, "think you got enough there?"

"That was a long list. Plus I saw some other stuff that I thought we might want."

She dug through the bags for some clothes. "Help me get them changed, it's like living in a midget nudist colony."

"But Buffy!"

She tossed a pair of sweatpants at him. "Research later, help now." She grabbed a pink pair of pajamas and lifted Willow up. Willow was happy to get hr new pretty princess pajamas so she stayed still while Buffy dressed her.

Giles was not so lucky. As soon as he took off the overly large T-shirt Buffy had tried to make Xander wear, Xander slipped from his grasp and began running around the room. Buffy laughed as Giles tried to reason with him while he chased him around the room. Finally he gave up and just decided to let Xander run. He figured that in a minute he'd be tired and then would be easy to grab. He had not counted on the fact that two year olds are not the steadies of creatures. Before either him or Buffy could do anything Xander tripped and fell, hitting his head as he did so. Instantly he started crying while big fat crocodile tears slid down his cheeks. Giles came and tried to see if he was okay, but Xander cried harder.

Buffy came to the rescue. "Did you bump your head?" He nodded.

"Kiss it." He put a hand to his head.

"You want me to kiss it, make it better?" He nodded and tried to smile. Buffy had to wonder how much of the old Xander was in there. She kissed him lightly on the forehead. "There all better. Can Giles help you put on your clothes now?" A look of fear crossed his face and he shook his head. "Wouldn't you like to have some lunch?" He nodded his head; it would seem that much like the old Xander, the best way to get through to him was through his stomach. "You have to put your clothes on first okay?" He nodded. "Giles is going to put your clothes right here," she pointed to the table, "so you can put them on okay? Then you can help with lunch." He smiled at her, wiping away the last of his tears with his chubby fists.

Giles put the outfit down and backed away. "I suppose you have a plan?"

"Of course. Lunch, playtime, dinner, bathtime, story, bedtime, patrol and research." She watched as Xander struggled his way into his pajamas. She laughed when his arm got stuck and went to help him. "I think that you should stick to helping Willow right now, and I'll take on Xander."

"Why is he so scared of me?"

"Didn't you ever meet his dad?" Giles thought about it for a moment then shook his head, "well, Xander never said anything to me about it, other than his father was a big fan of the drinking, but I think he was also a fan of corporal punishment."

"I had no idea." He really hadn't realized that Xander had it so hard. No wonder he had been content to spend all of hours of the day and night facing vampires and demons.

"Well, no need to worry about it now. Although don't they use the cane in England?" She was trying to lighten the mood, but Giles was still serious.

"I would never raise my hand to a child."

She picked Xander up and walked over to Giles and reached out to put her hand on his arm. "I know Giles, you're the forever patient one. Now hows about some mac and cheese?"

Giles smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner at Xander. "How do I do it?"

"The directions are on the box Giles." She turned to the toddlers. "Who wants to color?"

Half an hour later, Willow and Xander were seated around the coffee table on chairs made of stacked phone books, greedily eating their macaroni and cheese with their hands, completely ignoring their forks. While they were momentarily distracted Buffy and Giles went around the apartment putting fragile things up high and making sure the weapons were all safely stored. The bags from the store were finally unpacked and Buffy couldn't help but smile at the extras that Giles had included.

For Xander he had purchased a small plastic carpenter's bench, complete with plastic hammer and screw driver. For Willow a plastic tea set. "Giles, we're not all British."

"Well they didn't exactly have a plastic potion making set." He picked up the notebook Buffy had made her list on earlier. "What's this?"

"A list to help with our research. I thought I'd write down everything I could that might help."

"That was a really good idea Buffy."

"Well you don't have to sound surprised. Just because I don't like doing the research doesn't mean I don't know how it's done." She felt herself getting annoyed that he thought she wasn't as smart as she was. He was never going to see her as more than the blond ditz of slayer he had met ten years earlier.

"That's not what I meant Buffy. I wasn't trying to imply something." She never ceased to amaze him, and he was wondering if perhaps he hadn't told her that enough.

Xander had begun to beat out a drum solo on his empty plate, having finally discovered a use for his fork. Buffy got a wet rag from the kitchen and went to wipe his face off. "Xander, Giles bought you a toy. Would you like him to show you how to play with it?" He looked at her skeptically. "Go on, Giles is our friend and he doesn't have anyone else to play with."

Xander thought about it for a moment then slowly walked over to Giles, who was smiling encouragingly. He was trying to work out if he could trust Giles, and soon was convinced by the new toy. In no time he was banging happily away at the plastic wood and nails. Willow followed after happy to accept the dolly that Giles handed to her. Buffy watched as Giles played with them both, speaking as if he were talking to the 25 year old Willow and Xander. He was good with kids, she had to wonder why he had never had any of his own.

Buffy cleaned up the table and went into the kitchen. Dinner was going to come sooner rather than later so she might as well get some things prepared and that wasn't going to happen if she spent all her time looking at new, hot, young Giles. She wondered how long they were going to have to stay like this. They would have to stay at Giles' place, since it was the only place with two bedrooms that was big enough for all four of them. She would stop at her place to get some clothes while she was out patrolling.

Giles was quite enjoying himself, although he wouldn't admit it to anyone. Their youth seemed to bring out his fatherly role even more. Still he couldn't help but wonder how long they would remain like this. If they couldn't find a way to reverse it would he be left to take care of them? No doubt Buffy would help but she was the Slayer, as much as he didn't like to think about it, she could be taken from them, from him every night she went out.

He came to stand at the doorway and watched her as she cleaned up the dishes from that morning. Domesticity suited her, she was beautiful, even with macaroni in her hair. He wondered who the idiot on the council was who decided that Slayers couldn't be mothers. He didn't even know if she wanted them, it had never come up. Perhaps it was time to have a more in depth conversation with his Slayer.

"Buffy?"

"Hmmm?"

"Are you sure you should go patrolling tonight?"

"Just a quick one. Besides, I'll have to go back to my place and get some stuff."

"Some stuff?"

"Well, I can't wear the same outfit every day until we've figured this out."

"Will you be staying here then?"

"I don't have to stay here if you don't want me to Giles, I just thought it'd be easier." She kept her gaze focused on the vegetables in front of her. She had been spending more and more time at his place and was glad to have a reason to stay the night.

"I want you stay. Of course, Buffy you're always welcome here." They stood awkwardly, Buffy slicing carrots, Giles watching her. "I think that while they're suitably distracted I'll start on that research." He went to the library and grabbed some books then returned to where he could watch them. Buffy came out and joined him. Soon she was grateful though when Willow came and stood next to her.

"Do you want something honey?" She didn't say anything but stood and kind of wiggled. Buffy recognized the dance she was doing. "Do you need to go potty?" The little girl nodded. "Okay, let's go. Xander you too." Together they walked into the bathroom.

When they were done they returned to their spot on the floor and continued with their play. An hour later, when Xander had decided he was bored with hitting the plastic nails and would rather hit Willow, Buffy decided it was time for dinner. Giles busied himself with sitting them around the table while Buffy made the dinner. She sat across from him and smiled, and he was mesmerized by it. The moment was soon ruined when Willow let out a wail. Xander had discovered the projectile properties of carrot sticks. It was agreed on that dinner time was over. Which could only mean one thing...time for a bath.