Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

Sophie Rosenberg was troubled. Something was wrong with her Auntie Buffy. For the past couple of days, she had been a little off. She had been quiet and withdrawn, and not at all like her usual bubbly self. She didn't even react when Lily, squealing and giggling and reaching towards her, attempted to grab her attention, which was usually, given that she had designated herself Lily's favourite auntie, a surefire way to make Buffy smile. Sophie thought that she might have been sick again, but that couldn't have been right, somebody would have said something. Auntie Buffy couldn't have been fighting with Auntie Faith either, because if she was she wouldn't have been spending all her time curled up in a ball leaning against the Dark Slayer's shoulder. And, she was the only person, aside from Dawn, who was a little off too although less noticably so, to whom Buffy had spoken more than three words the past couple of days.

This was the reason why later that day, Sophie caught Faith on the way back from the bathroom to ask her what was going on.

"Auntie Faith, what's wrong with Auntie Buffy?"

"There's nothin' wrong with her, Little Red" said Faith. "She's just a little sad, that's all."

"Why's she sad?" Sophie frowned. Faith sighed, crouching to the little girl's eye level.

"You know Joyce, Auntie Buffy and Auntie Dawn's Mom?"

"Uh-huh, she's really nice."

"Yeah, she is" Faith smiled. "Anyway, Auntie B's sad because tomorrow's the anniversary of the day Joyce went to Heaven, and sometimes she still blames herself for not bein' able to stop her from dying."

"Why?" said Sophie, still frowning. "Did Joyce get bited by a vampire?"

"Uh, no.."

"Did she get killed by one of the Big Bads?"

"No" Faith repeated.

"Did she get shooted like Mama Tara?"

"No, Little Red. It had nothin' to do with vampires or demons or a nerd with a gun. Joyce died from an aneurysm."

"What's an anyrism?"

"It's.. Something went wrong in her brain" Faith explained. "There was nothin' anybody could have done to stop it."

"If there was nothing she could do to stop it then why is she blaming herself?" said Sophie, pouting. "How come everybody always says you're not 'sposed to blame yourself for stuff that's not your fault, but then they do it anyway?"

"I don't know, Little Red" Faith shrugged. "It's just human nature, I guess. Everybody with a slip of conscience does it, even you once, remember?"

"Yeah.." said Sophie, thinking of the time, before she knew Willow was her Mother, when she had run away after the demons had attacked Faith. And then, she found herself thinking of the time, just last week, when Buffy and Faith had destroyed all the remaining demons, to keep the shadow of them from plaguing her dreams. Sophie grinned, thinking of a way to repay them for this, although neither of her Aunties would have asked her to. But if Buffy was happy, Faith would be happy, and Sophie knew just how she might be able to cheer Buffy up. All she had to do was wait until bedtime..

"Cordelia!" Sophie yelled in her dream, standing in the magical forest that Tara had brought her to when visiting her dream two years ago, and the location in which all her otherworldly dream visits had since taken place. "Cordelia, I needs to talk to you!"

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" Cordy chuckled, appearing in the forest with baby Lily in her arms, feigning mild annoyance. "Couldn't you have waited five minutes? I was getting to you."

"Why have you gots Lily?" asked Sophie, confused.

"I've got more than one little girl to watch over nowadays, if you hadn't noticed" Cordy tickled Lily's stomach, making the six-month old giggle. "Besides that, Your Mama Tara said she wanted Lily to grow up knowing who I am.." she trailed off for a moment, smiling softly, then turned back to Sophie. "Anyway, what did you want to see me about kiddo?"

"I need to talk to Joyce.."

The next day, when Sophie once again found her blonde aunt curled up against her brunette counterpart, seeming even more detached from everyone than she had before, she climbed onto the couch with them and crawled into Buffy's lap. Buffy frowned at this, but Faith let the little girl be, knowing that Sophie rarely did nything without a good reason.

"Your Mommy loves you, Auntie Buffy" Sophie whispered.

"What?" said Buffy, taken aback, lifting her head from Faith's shoulder.

"Your Mommy loves you" Sophie repeated. "I talked to her in my dreams, and she told me to tells you that she loves you. And she wanted me to tell you that you gots to stop blaming yourself for what happened to her, 'cause it wasn't your fault, or anybody else's. So you gots to stop being sad now, okay?"

"Okay" said Buffy, feeling a smile tug at the corners of her lips for the first time in days as she hugged the little girl. "Thank you, Sophie." Sophie hugged Buffy back until she let go, then slid off the Slayer's lap.

"I gots to go talk to Auntie Dawn, now" she said. "Your Mommy wanted me to tell her some stuff too. Then I gots to remind Mama Tara that she's not allowed to die again for a long time for Cordy.."

"Okay. See you later, Sophie."

"See you later, Auntie Buffy" Sophie replied, before skipping off to look for Dawn.

"Hey Faith" said Buffy, frowning slightly, "You didn't just tell Sophie to say all that stuff, did you?"

"Nah, B" Faith grinned. "That was all Joyce."

"Good." Buffy settled herself back against Faith's shoulder, but now, she was smiling.