Title: Like Mother, Like Daughter
Author: Britt Britt
Pairing: Giles/Anya Rating: G
Summary: Elli is just like her mother in many ways.
Disclaimer: Characters do not belong to me, except for the two little ones and the furry ones.
Notes: A kind of continuation of Valentine Surprise.
"Hey, thanks G-man for taking care of the young-un for us," Xander thanked the Watcher cheerfully."Yes, not a problem and don't ever call me that again," he added.
"Well, alright see ya Jr," Xander waved to his son, leaving.
"Bye dad," the boy waved back.
Giles shut the door and turned to his daughter and god-son. "I have some work to finish up, so you two can watch television until dinner time and no misbehavior. The last thing I need is your mother hounding me again. I'll just be in the study," trusting the two children he left the room.
Time rolled on without an incident, but what Giles forgot was the short attention spans of five year olds. It was a matter of time before they wondered the living room restlessly.
"I'm bored," Alex complained. "Your house is sooo boring."
"Is not," Elli protested.
"In my house my mommy has swords, and axes, and cool stuff like that," little Alexander Jr. bragged.
"So do we!" she shot back.
"My mommy's the slayer. She kicks vampire butt!"
"Well....," the little girl thought, "my mommy, um, does magic and I do too!"
"Yeah right."
"It's true!"
"Fine, do a spell," he said, "if you can."
"I can and I will!" He folded his arms and waited. "I need a spell book first."
"Well, where are they?"
"I'm not suppose to touch them," she grumbled.
"Ha, I knew it," Alex pointed a finger triumphantly. "You're lying."
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Fine, I'll go get one." Elli set out to her dad's study in search of a book she knew was forbidden.
With his back turned away from the entrance, Giles did not see his little girl enter the study. He sat at his desk grading a pile of papers muttering to himself. "King George led the Trojans to victory in the Battle of Bull Run? Well, I have to give him credit for creativity."
She snuck in silently, tip toeing to a pile of old texts. When she reached them, she grabbed the nearest one and bolted out of the room noiselessly.
"I got it!" she held the book as high as she could.
"Let me see!" He reached for the book.
She held it tight to herself. "No, I'm the magician." She set it down on the coffee table.
"What's it say," Alex asked in awe.
Elli stared at the Greek writing. "It says, um, it says 'This Book is For Magic People Only and No One should Touch It'."
"It says all that?" The boy asked suspiciously.
"Of course," she answered. "It's in one of those really, really old languages that nobody talks any more, like Russian or something." Elli opened the text to a random page and was just about to attempt to read it, when she was interrupted.
"How do you know that's the right page?"
"Because," she rolled her eyes, "my intuition tells me."
"What's in-tu-soun?" he asked.
"Only special people have it. My mommy says I get it from her." Alex wasn't quite satisfied with her answer, but let her proceed. Elli cleared her throat in a professional matter and began sounding out the words the best her limited reading skills allowed her to. "Ba-ra ba-ra him-ble gem-in- ation."
At once a bunny appeared on top of the table. With a screech the frightened girl clung to her friend. "W, what is it?"
Alex smiled, "It's a bunny."
"What does it want?"
"You don't know what a bunny is?" She stared at him blankly.
"No! And I don't like it. Make it go away!"
"You did the stupid spell," he snapped.
"Fine!" She repeated the spell, only to have two more appear. "Ekk!" She ducked behind the boy.
Giles headed toward the living room to check on the children, when he saw a bunny hop across the floor. "That can't be good." He rushed to the living room to find over a dozen little bunnies, along with his god-son holding a struggling bunny and his daughter standing on top of the coffee table clinging onto a familiar looking book. "What happened!" Giles exclaimed.
Alex dropped the difficult bunny and pointed a finger at the girl on the table. "She did it."
"He made me do it!" she shot back.
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did n.." "Enough!" Giles said sternly. "Alex, help me round them all up," he tried to keep his voice calm. "Elli...," he turned to the little girl clutching the text on for dear life, "you... stay there." Giles and Alex soon then began the chase of the bunnies.
Bunnies where a lot faster then Giles thought. Maybe they were magically induced with the ability to hop faster then, regular bunnies. Giles paused to think. Since when did his wife's paranoia of bunnies rub off on him?
After many failed attempts to gather the hopping devils, Giles decided to get the book he knew would make the little rascals disappear.
"Daddy! Don't leave me!" The little girl cried to her father as he made his way out of the room.
"I'm just going to get a book," he assured her.
"But, but," he saw his daughter on the verge of tears and couldn't handle another crisis.
"Okay. Come with me." She held her arms out as if she was waiting to be picked up. He gave her a confused look.
"I don't want to go down there," she indicated the floor, "with them," she pointed to the rabbits.
"Ok, come on." He made his way toward her, careful not to step on anything furry. Elli then clambered onto his back, wrapping her arms around her father's throat tightly. "Sweetie," he choked out, "darling, I, c, can't breathe." He tried loosening her grip, but it wouldn't budge. He then decided just to hurry up and fetch the book.
After a rushed scavenger hunt for the text Giles made his way back toward the living room, when he heard the front door open. "Oh no." He set his daughter on the ground. "Okay, I need you to stall your mother, can you do that?"
"What's stall?" She asked.
"Just don't let her into the family room." They then split up, to enforce their plan.
Giles entered the living room. "Alex! Drop the hare and get over here." Alex gave a confused look. "Let go of the bunny," Giles rephrased.
"Oh." Alex dropped the two rabbits he held, and joined his god-father.
"Hey mommy!" Elli exclaimed.
"Hello sweetie." Anya gave her daughter a kiss. "Where's your father?"
"He's getting rid of the bunnies," she said simply. "I'm suppose to stall you," she smiled at the use of the new word she just learned.
"The what!?" There was a flash of light from inside the living room. Anya made her way toward the room, when her husband ran out of it, along with Alex by his side.
"Hello, honey," he exclaimed in a nervous voice and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Have a lovely time?"
"Rupert, what was that?!"
"What was what, dear?
"There was a flash or something from..."
"Oh....," he said, "that, that was, um... A lightbulb! It blew out. I took care of it." He forced a smiled.
"And what do I hear about b-u-n-n-i-e-s?" she spelled out.
"Oh, you know, children and their imaginations." He ruffled Alex's hair. Alex gave him a discriminating look and smoothed out his hair. "How about I help you with your things." Giles took his wife's bag, when a white ball of fur ran between their feet. "Oh my god!" Anya screamed and jumped on her husbands's back.
"Ow! What do I look like? A bleeding horse," he grunted.
"Get it!" Anya cried.
The bunny made its way toward the little boy, who picked it up and asked excitedly, "Can I keep it?!"
"Yes, if your parents say it is alright," Giles answered with his wife still on his back. "Darling? C, can you please get off?"
"Are there anymore?"
"No." She then slid off, searching around the room, just in case. "Ow," Giles mumbled, straightening out his back. His wife then smacked his arm. "Ow!" he said again. "What was that for?"
"You know exactly what for Rupert Giles."
"It wasn't my fault," He protested.
"Why do I find that hard to believe? Come on Elli," she said, making her way to the kitchen with her daughter following behind.
Giles turned to Alex, who grinned up at him, stroking he his new pet calmly. Giles couldn't help but smile back. "Come on, let's find something for him to eat," he indicated the fur ball, in the boy's arms. They made their way out of the room when Giles said. "Let me give you some advice, Alex, for when you get older. There's no changing a woman. And always remember, like mother, like daughter."