Disclaimer: I do not own any Buffy the Vampire Slayer plotlines, characters, etc.

Chapter 3

"W-what did you s-say?" Tara asked, astonished.

"I-I found y-you?"

"N-no, before that."

"Mommy?"

"Honey; w-why do you t-think I'm y-your mother?"

The child considered the question for a moment. She didn't really know. Her mother didn't have dirty blonde hair or blue eyes, and her daddy-where was her daddy anyway? All the poor kid knew was that the more she stared at this woman, the more muddled her memories became, and the more her red-haired mother's image transformed into that of the witch before her, and the more her father's presence seemed to fade from her mind completely. The little girl tried to get her thoughts straight, and, coming up with no answer, quietly stated the obvious, "I d-don't know."

"Do you have any idea where your real parents are?" Tara questioned softly.

"N-no." Replied the red-head, "Y-you'we my m-mommy…" The kid stopped to sniffle and wipe her little nose on her sleeve, "I-I think."

"Okay, sweetheart, why don't you come with me?" The young witch suggested.

"O-okay." The girl replied, smiling for the first time that day.

The witch squeezed her hand, as the crowd watched them head into Tara's dorm room.

"Ookay-did anyone else think that was weird?" A random student inquired.

"What? What was weird?" The Slayer asked, completely out-of-the-loop.

"There was this little kid who was like, lost or something, but she found her mom."

"Glad to hear it." Buffy breathed a sigh of relief, heading back to her dorm to catch up on some much-needed sleep, and completely missed the student's next words.

"Seriously; who would have thought goody-two-shoes Tara Maclay had a kid?" The young adult headed down to their office at the school newspaper, "I think I just found my next top story."

"You're name is Willow, right?" Tara clarified, making sure she hadn't abducted someone else's deranged child.

"Yes Mommy-you should know my name!" The girl giggled happily.

"Of course I do!" Tara covered, "I was making sure that you knew."

The four-year old frowned. Something was definitely off with her 'mother'. But, deciding that it wasn't important, she opted to turn her attention to something more immediate.

"Mommy?" She asked, her eyes locked on the object of interest, "Can I play with the kitty?"

"Sure, baby. I'm just going to make a phone call, okay?"

Willow wasn't even listening, far too busy petting and pulling at Miss Kitty Fantastico to pay attention to the young woman.

'Bring!' 'Bring!' 'Bring!'

"Wha-who-Oh, dear, I must have dozed off." Giles rubbed his glasses before facing the new day, having fallen asleep-yet again-in a pile of research.

'Bring!' The phone's pestering tone continued.

"Shush!" He scolded the inanimate object, "I'm coming." Getting up from his seated position at his desk, Giles picked up the phone and spoke into the receiver.

"Hi, Giles?" A woman's voice checked.

"Yes?"

"I have a…small problem."

"Oh?" Rupert was annoyed; did Tara really need to call him at eight in the morning just to complain about a trivial matter? "Can this wait until-"

"No." The witch replied shortly, "It's Willow; she…changed."

"Changed?" The watcher paid closer attention to the college student, "How so?"

"I don't know; but she's just a little kid-I saw her in the hallway and I have her in my room right now-"

"Come to my house immediately." Giles ordered, now fully awake, "Bring Willow, too."

"Okay, I wi-"

"And Tara?" The older man cut her off.

"Yes?"

"Whatever you do; don't let Willow out of your sight."

"No problem." Tara responded to Giles's warning, ending the call. After all; what kind of trouble could a cute kid like Willow ever get into? Well; she was about to find out.

"Willow, we have to go, sweetie. Come with-Willow?" The girl was nowhere to be seen.