DISCLAIMER: I don't own the AtS or BtVS characters, but I do own everyone else, including but not limited to: Hopie, Colette, Maddy, Nicolaa, Clay, and the Leprechauns.  Oh, and I also don't own the song lyrics.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, I'm officially on spring break and will be for two weeks, but the response to the last chapter was so great that I'm going to try to squeeze out another chapter.  Although I'm planning on taking the next couple of weeks off, if all of you keep reviewing, I'll try to put up a couple more chapters by St. Patrick's Day.

Oh, and for those of you who asked about Colette and Nic, don't worry, you'll see some of them, but not nearly as much as you will in Thine Own Self.

WARNING: This chapter is pretty silly.  Read it at your own risk.

The Luck of the Irish: Chapter Two

            Colette and Nicolaa stood outside the door to Angel's study, pretending they weren't listening to the discussion the adults were having inside.  Maddy, having no such qualms, had her ear to the door, taking in every word.

            When the door opened, the girl nearly fell over.  Then she grinned up at the person who had opened the door innocently.

            "Didn't anyone ever tell you it wasn't nice to eavesdrop?" her brother asked her, narrowing his eyes a bit.

            He glanced up at the other girls, and Nicolaa stared coolly back at him.

            "Nope," Maddy said with a grin, "Never.  Besides, I couldn't hear a word they were saying.  What's going on, Clay?"

            Clay took a deep breath.  "Hopie's missing," he said after a moment.  The girls all looked at him disbelieving.

            "What do you mean she's missing?" Nic asked carefully.

            Inside the study, Cordy sank to the floor for a moment and lowered her head.  Like any mother, the very worst images flashed through her head.  Hopie being kidnapped.  Hopie being lost and scared.  Hopie accidentally maiming her attackers.

            Angel spoke angrily into the phone.  "What do you mean she disappeared?" he asked the kindergarten teacher.  "People don't just disappear."  Angel caught Fred's eyes and he shrugged.

            "Well, people don't usually disappear," Fred said helpfully.  "I think it's safe to say it's the exception rather than the rule when they do."

            Connor put a hand on Cordy's shoulder.  "It'll be okay," he said awkwardly.  "Whatever has happened, Hopie will be fine."

            Cordy looked up at him.  "She's just a little girl, Connor," she said.

            Connor swallowed the unwilling tears that were rising in his throat.  "I know," he said.

            Lorne looked at them.  "Chins up, everybody," he said.  "I get the feeling that the little baby doll will be just fine and back here beating Junior's butt at Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders before we know it."

            "Hey, man," Connor said to Lorne, "those chutes can be really tricky."

            Cordelia rose and put her arm around Angel who squeezed her closer to him.

            "Do you really think she's all right Lorne?" Cordy asked.

            "I'd bet my best bright blue tailored suit with silk kerchief on it," Lorne said.

            Gunn tried to manage a laugh.  "I wouldn't want to be the person who took her," he said.  "We all know what Hopie can be like in a magical temper tantrum."

            "So," Hopie said, batting her eyelashes at the leprechauns.  "Want to play a game?"

            Clarence watched the little girl with a smile on his green face.  She was definitely kin to them, through both her ancient magic and through Angel's Irish ancestry.  She'd become the vampire's child by every meaning of the word.

            Val grinned at the child.  "What kind of game?" she asked.

            Hopie put her finger on chin and began to spin around slowly while she thought.  The leprechaun herd watched, entranced.

            Hopie got dizzy enough that she fell down.

            All of the leprechauns gasped.

            Hopie giggled and then answered Val's question as she stood up.  "Do any of you guys know how to play poker?" she asked, sending them a pleading look.  "I think I wanna learn how to play."

            "Are you kidding?" Spelke said.  "Leprechauns love to play poker more than anything except when sheep sing karaoke."

            The other leprechauns looked at each other nervously.  For one thing, they weren't sure it was a good idea to teach a four year old human how to play poker.  For another, the sheep karaoke thing was supposed to be one of their secrets, like where they hid their stock certificates (pots of gold were so overrated).

            "Sheep?" Hopie asked, wrinkling her forehead a little bit in wonder.

            Spelke nodded. 

            "Baaaaaaah," a sheep said from outside of the cavern.

              Hopie jumped a little, the noise taking her by surprise.

            "Don't be frightened," Wynn said comfortingly.  "That's Nunzio."

            "Nunzio the sheep?" Hopie asked.

            All of the leprechauns nodded.  Hopie shrugged.  Nunzio seemed like a good enough name for a sheep to her.  "So about teaching me how to play poker," she said in her most adorable little girl voice, batting her eyelashes.

            The leprechauns had no choice but to give in.

            "Poor Hopie," Maddy said, her voice catching.  "She must be so scared."  She shot pleading eyes at her brother.  "We have to find her, Clay."

            "Angel's doing everything he can," Clay said.

            Maddy, Colette, and Nicolaa met eyes and silently agreed that Angel working on it was not enough.  Without a moments delay, Nic did her part.

            "Clay," she said, knowing that Maddy would have a plan and that Clay would need to be distracted for Maddy's plan to work.  "Do you think you could perhaps show me the text you were talking about at dinner last night? I think I could use the distraction."

            Clay, knowing exactly what Nicolaa was doing, agreed anyway, because truthfully, he didn't want to stop Maddy from meddling, and taking advantage of Nic's offer was too tempting.  There was just something about that girl.

            Maddy waited until they were gone before she turned to Colette.  "The way I see it," she said, "this all started when that demon brought Angel a package last night and he went all broody."

            Colette nodded.  For some reason, she had been thinking the exact same thing.

            "So," Maddy said, her eyes twinkling a bit even though her stomach was still reminding her that she was worried about Hopie, "the way I see it, we need to get that package."

            "Okay people," Lorne said inside the office, "I think I could settle this right now.  I'm getting this vibe that tells me that there's a little trickster at play here, and if you lovely lovies could just sing a little number for me, I might be able to see what we can do about it."

            "Don't look at me," Connor said.  "I only know two songs."

            "Two?" Gunn said.  "You learned another one?  Tell me it's not Britney."

            Connor glared at the man.  "It's not Britney," he said.

            "Well then, Snuggles," Lorne said, making Connor grimace, "sing away."

            Connor reluctantly started singing.

"Little Bunny Foo Foo

            hopping through the forest

            picking up the field mice and bopping them on the head

            and the Good Fairy came down, and she said

            Little Bunny Foo Foo

            I don't want to see you

            Scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head."

            Lorne allowed Connor to finish the song.

            "Well?" Connor said finally.

            "Well, Muffin," Lorne said, "those gestures were to die for, but you weren't the one I needed to hear sing."

            "These gestures?" Connor asked, repeating the gestures that went along with the children's song.  Then it hit him.  "If you didn't need to hear me, why did you make me sing?"

            "Comic relief," Lorne replied.

            "Hopie's missing," Cordy told Lorne sharply.  "I don't think we have time to sit around and laugh at Connor."

            "There are some things you always have time for," Gunn muttered.

            "Sorry, Cor," Lorne said.  "You're right.  Now if you and Angel Baby over there could just sing a little number for me, I think we could come to an agreement."

            Angel hung up on the kindergarten teacher and turned to Lorne.  "What song should we sing?" he asked.

            "Whatever floats your boat," Lorne replied.

            Cordy started singing.  It sounded beautiful to Angel.  To everyone else, it sounded like finger nails on a chalkboard.

"In the arms of the angel

            fly away from here

            from this dark, cold hotel room

            and the endlessness that you feel."

Angel joined in, and oddly enough, their off key voices harmonized.

            Lorne stopped them.  "It's just as I thought," Lorne said smiling.  "The little darling is a-okay, just fine."

            "Who took her?" Cordy asked, ready to kick some major butt.

            "Leprechauns," Lorne replied.

            Angel cursed and went to find Clever Hans.  Somehow, he knew that the demon had something to do with this.

            "What in the world would leprechauns want with Hopie?" Fred asked.

            Back in the magic cavern, Hopie had several bags of gold sitting in front of her.  She wrinkled her forehead a bit as she concentrated.  She adjusted the little poker hat the leprechauns had given her.

            "I see your bag of gold," she said, "and I raise you two more."

            "I fold," Val said.  The Shanshu child was a quick study.

            "Me too," Wynn said.

            "I'm already out of money," Spelke complained.

            Clarence glanced at the child.  "Okay, little cousin," he said smiling.  "I'm calling your bluff."  He laid down his cards: a full house.

            Hopie's face fell.  She put down her cards.  "All I have is these silly people cards," she said.  "Four of them plus a ten.  Well, at least they're all pretty hearts."

            "People cards?" Clarence asked.  Then he glanced down at the little girl's Royal Flush.

            "Darn you, Hopie," he said, grinning despite himself.

            "I'm sorry, Mr. Clarence," Hopie said.  "You can win if you want to.  Or we can play another game."

            "What kind of game?" Clarence asked suspiciously.

            "Well," Hopie said.  "You have a waterfall and that pretty sparkly purple pond.  If you had some floatie wings, we could play Marco Polo."

            "Can't you swim?" Val asked.

            "Yes," Hopie said, "but Momma and Daddy make me wear wings anyway, just until I'm a little bit bigger. Plus, that way Connor doesn't feel as bad about wearing his, cause he never learned to swim before."  She paused for a moment and then added what she considered the most important thing. "But you can't play with a crossbow near floaties, cause they can break."

            The leprechauns took this comment under advisement and prepared to play Marco Polo.

            Clarence wondered how long it would be until Angel paid them a little visit.  Hopefully by then, the lad would have learned his lesson.

            Maddy turned to Colette.  "Do you want to distract them while I grab the package?" Maddy asked.

            "I'll grab the package," Colette said, her timidity falling away now that she thought Hopie was in danger.

            Maddy took a deep breath and went about thinking of a distraction.  A minute later, she walked into the room.

            "Is Hopie all right?" she asked.

            Cordy gave the girl a hug.  "Lorne said she'll be fine, and Angel just went to see about getting her back," she reassured the girl.         

            Maddy hesitated a moment.  Did Hopie really need their help?  In the split second it took her decide that she did, Maddy shot a nervous look around the room and went about the task of distracting the adults.

            "Well, I know it's a bad time, but I needed to talk to someone…" she said, trailing off.

            "Oh, go right ahead, sweetie," Lorne said.  Cordy gave the girl a reassuring little squeeze.

            "Well," Maddy said, gesturing widely.  She paused a moment, not sure exactly what to say.  "I need to talk about sex."

            In the moment that followed, there was complete and utter silence.  Everyone in the room stared at the twelve year old.

            "What about it?" Connor asked, his voice deadly.

            "It sounds like fun," Maddy commented brightly.  The others stared at her.

Maddy, knowing she needed to get them out of the room, continued.  "Well, I gotta go meet this guy I met in a chat room.  See you guys in a bit."  The girl was out of the room, all of the adults on her heels within the next instant.

            Colette snuck in and took the package into her hand.

            "Marco!" Spelke called.

            "Polo," the leprechauns said.  Every last one of them was wearing bright orange floaties.

            "Polo!" Hopie cried, giggling and splashing a few feet away from Spelke's hands.  The leprechaun lunged and Hopie deftly dodged.

            "Marco!" Spelke said again, feeling discouraged.

            "Polo," came the response.

            "Baaaaaaaaaaaa," said Nunzio.

TBC… yeah, I know, majorly silly and not enough Cordy/Angel fluff,,, I couldn't help myself, but just you wait, there will be major shippy fluffies soon.  I think three more chapters (someone requested five chapters total, and I'm very accommodating).  Next up, Angel has a talk with Clever Hans, Maddy, Colette, and Connor get transported to the leprechaun land, and finally, the last chapter will be a nice family moment, when Angel and Cordy explain their families to Hopie and Connor.  This is, of course, assuming that I have the time and motivation… so REVIEW!