Just another night at Anita's house of Chaos

Anita flipped the key chain about till she had the right one, a bit of relief as she started turning the key in the lock. She smiled at Richard, their night had gone perfect for once, no Jean-Claude interrupting, no Dolph calling about strange things, no mad zombies, crazed wolves or any of the thousand and one things that loved to make a mess of Anita's life. A rare perfect calm night, she thought as she opened the door, finally.

"Mommy!"

Anita was startled by the high pitched shriek almost as much as the blur of motion that attached it's self to her leg. It took only a split second to realize it was a child, a very young one from the height. And there was from the sound of it a second child in her kitchen. She fumbled for the light switch, as Richard tried to persuade the small girl to let go for a moment.

The lights flared on and Anita looked down at the dark haired little girl, who was holding Sigmund in one arm and looking at her huge dark eyes growing wide with surprise. "Mommy! I want my mommy!" The child let go and looked franticly out the door as Richard scooped her up, "NO! Put me down, let me go!"

The child alternated beating Richard over the head with the stuffed penguin and her fist. A blond streak and a second child was attacking Richard. "Let her go! You can't take my sister!"

Anita caught this one around the waist as her phone began ringing. What else she wondered for a second, fumbling with the phone and the kicking child. "What!" she growled in to the phone.

"Ma Petite?" Jean-Claude's voice came over the phone barely heard through the shrieks of the children and Richard's attempts to calm the panicked child he held.

"I'm busy right now." Anita growled and tried to position the blond bundle of energy in a more secure hold, only to drop the phone in the process. Just great she thought all she needed was…

"Anita what in the world is going on?" Dolph's voice called out.

"Quiet!" Anita yelled at the top of her lungs.

Four startled pairs of eyes looked at her and the children stopped abruptly. She walked over to the couch and set the blond child down, Richard followed with the dark haired one. Side by side the pair looked nothing alike, but the comforting arms that slipped around each other spoke of familiarity. About five or six years old she guessed, the blond looked warily at her while the dark one held Sigmund tighter.

"Okay we aren't going to hurt you, but we need to know who you are? What are your names?"

The blond spoke up, "I'm Faith and she's Buffy."

"Okay Faith, do you know where you live?"

"With Buffy and Mama of course." Faith answered with the conviction of a child.

Dolph bent down to their level, "Do you know what your mother's name is?"

Buffy nodded and answered brightly, "Mommy!"

Richard laughed softly, "How old are you Buffy?"

Buffy chewed on her lip for a second and held up her hand with all five finger's extended, then released the penguin long enough to raise her second hand with two fingers showing. "I'm six!"

Faith sighed and pushed one of Buffy's fingers down, "You got too many up again B. I'm six too."

Dolph nodded at Anita and headed to his car to call in, someone had to be missing a pair of six year old girls by now.

Grumbling stomachs made Anita sigh, when had these kids eaten last? "Are you hungry?"

Both nodded Buffy sat forward a bit a hopeful look on her face. Anita got up and headed for the kitchen trying to think what she had that a kid would eat. Broken glass littered the floor where the milk jug sat. A half eaten apple rested on the counter, so this was what Faith had been doing when they arrived. She grabbed a broom and swept the remains of the glass up, checked the milk to make sure none had gotten in it and poured two glasses. That should help take the edge off the hunger until she could warm up something.

She brought the milk out, Buffy smiled and thanked her, Faith grabbed the glass in both hands and was gulping it down. Buffy was drinking a bit slower, but with obvious hunger and her little feet kicked happily. "What do you two like to eat?"

"Macaroni!" Buffy yelled

S'getti."

"Mushmellows."

"Cheeseburger."

"Pizza!"

"Pepperoni pizza!"

"Pineapple and ham." Faith's eyes were brighter than they had been since Anita had found them.

"Ewwwe gross!" Buffy declared, sticking her tongue out. "And no mushy things!"

Faith shoved her sister slightly, " I like mushrooms."

"Okay pizza it is. Thank the heavens for all night pizza joints." Anita headed back to the kitchen.

Dolph came in while she was standing in the kitchen listening to a cheerful voice tell her that her call was important and would be answered quickly. "No report of two missing girls locally, Sally is checking the national database right now. They are cute little things aren't they."

"Strong too." Anita muttered as a bored teenager announced the specials, "Two large pizzas, one pepperoni and cheese, one pineapple and ham, and the cinnamon bread sticks." Good she'd have enough leftovers for the next day at least.

Dolph shrugged as he waited, "We can call child services but this late they really don't like coming out. Plus maybe the mother will show back up. Any clue how they got in?"

"No, everything is locked still, no broken windows. The blond was in the kitchen when we arrived, raiding the refrigerator. The dark haired one has been in my bedroom, but was in the living room when I came in." Anita ran a hand through her hair remembering the shock she had felt at hearing the small child call for her mommy. "They couldn't have been here long. They hadn't even found a light switch yet."

She grabbed two apples and headed for the living room, Faith still sat slumped on the couch, Buffy however was in Richard's lap still holding Anita's penguin and talking a mile a minute. She liked purple, she could ice skate and she was going to be a cheerleader one day and boys were just icky. And Faith was mean and beat her up, see the bruise she had. Buffy pulled up the sleeve of her shirt to show small bruise that was already fading away.

Anita smiled at the scene, Richard was good with kids. Then her jaw dropped open at Buffy's next statement.

"Are you a nice werewolf? I like nice ones but the ones that go grrr and try to eat my friends are bad." Buffy leaned contentedly against Richard unaware of the shock she had just given the adults in the room.

Faith just sighed and sunk further into the couch cushions, "You are such a baby."