Lexie glanced up as she heard her door swing open. A small smile lit her face as the almost five-year-old Gabrielle came running in. Gabrielle looked around frantically for a hiding place. "Help me Lexie, please." Lexie grinned, "What's the matter now?"
Gabrielle closed the door behind her, "The twins said I was cheating. They said they were going to tickle me till I peed my pants."
Lexie frowned, "First, how were you cheating? Second you know you aren't wearing any pants so they can't really make you pee in them."
"I wasn't cheating." Gabrielle shifted her feet sort of guilty like.
Lexie grinned, "Sure, so what game were you playing and how did they say you were cheating?"
"Hide and seek. I was just using my senses to detect their auras. That's not really cheating is it?"
"Being that they can't sense you, I would have to say that it's cheating."
"They called it cheating when they found out I could turn invisible too."
She chuckled, "You think?"
"They haven't let me hide since that time at Clark's."
"Hide me till they calm down."
"I guess, go hide in the bathroom." She grinned as she watched Gabrielle's bare behind as it disappeared into the bathroom.
Lexie had just barely gotten back to work on her latest computer project when knocking came from the door. "It's open."
The door opened and Lillian and Lenora stalked in. Lillian brushed her brushy brown hair out of her eyes with her right hand. "Have you seen Gabrielle? We want to talk to her."
"Oh, what about?"
Lenora frowned slightly as she looked around the room, "She was cheating."
"What was she cheating at?"
"She was cheating at hide and seek."
"So she was peeking while counting?"
Lillian grumbled, "She was using magic."
Lexie frowned, "So how is that cheating?"
"We can't use magic to find her, it's not fair."
"Did you ever tell her that she couldn't use magic?"
Lenora frowned, "I would have, if I'd known she could."
"Look, I know it's not fair but maybe you should think up some type of game where her magic is useful."
"Why? We can't we use magic yet."
Lexie shrugged, "You have done a few things with it."
"Not on purpose. It's not fair."
"I know, if it makes you feel better she often wishes that she had a twin to share things with."
Lenora looked at Lillian, "I guess we are just lucky."
Lillian frowned, "Are you sure you haven't seen her?"
Lexie chuckled, "I'm sure she will turn up. You should get Rogue to help you write up a new game of some type."
Lillian and Lenora nodded, "Okay."
She grinned as they left. Lexie used a small thread of her magic to shut and lock the door. She waited for a few minutes until she was sure the twins weren't lurking at her door. "You can come out now."
Gabrielle peeked her red haired head around the door and looked at Lexie. "Is it safe?"
"Yeah, though you might want to avoid them for a few days while they calm down."
"Okay." She snuck out of the bathroom.
"So how long have you been cheating?"
"Hey, they never said I couldn't use magic."
"So how come you didn't tell them about it?"
Gabrielle looked down at her feet.
"That's what I thought. Have you been using any other magic without telling us?"
Gabrielle frowned, "I can talk to snakes, does that count?"
Lexie frowned, "I would think that counted, you should probably talk to your father about that."
"Why dad?"
"Because, I'm guessing that's where you got that particular ability as he can talk to snakes as well."
"So the twins can probably talk to snakes as well?"
"I'm not sure but most likely."
Gabrielle smiled, "That's great."
"Why?"
"It's something I can share with them."
"That might be a good peace offering. I'll tell your mother about the magic use and see about getting you some training with it."
Gabrielle's face brightens, "Thank you."
With a wave of her hand, the door unlocked and swung open.
Gabrielle poked her head into the hall and glanced around before running down the hall.
Lexie sighed and gestured to her cell phone. The phone flew into her hand as she leaned back in her chair. She pushed the button for Willow and waited until she picked up. "Willow we have a slight problem, Gaby can talk to snakes."
"Oh, I'll be right there."
Lexie sighed as she closed the phone. She sat the phone on her desk before jumping onto her bed. "This isn't going to go well."
A short while later Willow and Harry walked in to find Lexie lying sans clothes on her bed. Willow frowned as they walked over to stand by the bed, "So how did you hear she could talk to snakes?"
"Well she came in here to hide from Lillian and Lenora because they caught her cheating at hide and seek."
Harry was trying to look around the room but his eyes kept slipping back to Lexie's chest and slightly parted legs.
Willow frowned, "How was she cheating?"
Lexie shrugged, "How would you cheat if you were playing against people with magic?"
"I guess I would try to sense them and see if I could use their magic to find them."
"I'm guessing that was what she was doing. It appears that she can also use her magic to turn invisible."
Willow turned even paler than normal and started to babble, "But we pay attention to her, how can she feel unloved? Oh, my goddess have I been that bad of a mother?"
Lexie frowned in confusion, "Ah, what? I don't think so, I just think that's just one of her magical powers."
"Oh, sorry back in Sunnydale there was a girl that vanished because no one noticed her. I guess I was just a little nervous."
Lexie waved her toes at Harry, "Enjoying the view Harry?"
Harry blushed, "Sorry, I was drifting. I'm just a touch worried that at least one of the children can talk to snakes."
Lexie nodded, "You're a bit worried about the connection to Voldemort aren't you?"
Harry nodded, "Yeah well, wouldn't you be?"
Willow dragged her eyes off Lexie and back to Harry, "Honestly Harry I took care of the taint left by that psychopath's curse. I'm not that surprised that the girls have some of your abilities. But if it will make you feel better I can check them all for dark magic."
"It would make me feel better. I'm sorry, it's just one of those things."
"I still twitch every time I see anyone walking around with a sidearm."
Lexie frowned, "So do you think you can step up her training and start plans for the other children for their wands? Even just being able to do something with magic would make Lillian feel better. She is pretty sad and angry that Lexie has magic before her. I tried to explain to her that it was just chance but I don't like lying. It's because she is your daughter and has a lot of your magic."
"I just hope she has better luck with it than I did when I was starting."
"She has you and her family to keep her balanced. So Harry are you going to talk to them about the talking to snakes?" Lexie raised her leg and brushed Willow's leg. "Or are you going to stick around and enjoy the show?"
Harry chuckled, "I think you need some birthday spanks this year."
Lexie grinned and smiled brightly at Harry, "Maybe I'll even let you give me some."
Harry just chuckled as he walked out.
Lexie grinned, "He is a lot happier than he used to be."
As Willow grinned, her fangs peeked past her lips, "Well he has a bunch of lovely children and several girls that love him, that tends to help. So how's your own magic lessons going?"
Lexie sighed and brought her knees up to her chest, "I'm learning more but it's still hard dragging more lessons out of the idiots. They keep thinking I need to actually learn something about their world's stupid history. It's just frustrating, I'm starting to think that they don't know much more."
Willow eyes traveled down Lexie's legs as she admired the smooth skin, "I guess just keep working with Bode on your magic."
"I know, I just get frustrated at not being able to kill enough vampires. I'm glad I'm the kids' baby sitter but I wouldn't mind getting out of here more than once in a blue moon."
"I'm sure you could talk to Dawn about some vacation time. How's your company doing anyways?"
"I have to check in person at some point but so far so good. I'm still making money hand over foot. So how are the wands for the children going?"
Willow sat down on the bed and smiled at Lexie. She reached out and rested her hand on Lexie's knee. She grinned as she ran a finger down along the inside of Lexie's leg. "Better than your chances to get out of your birthday spanks tomorrow."
She shivered as the finger got close to her slit and stopped. "You know that's evil to stop like that."
Willow grinned, "I know but you should get plenty of attention tomorrow." She lightly glided her finger along Lexie's skin tracing her slit once before pulling her hand back. "I should go check with Dawn on the party set up."
"You do that."
Willow grinned as her eyes traced Lexie's body.
Lexie waited for the door to close before slipping her hand between her legs. "Frustrating girl."
