Part 2 : Oi! That's *my* book!
"So.. What do we need and where do we go?" Dawn asked Tara as soon
as they stepped out of the Magic Box.
Tara thought for a minute before replying.
"Uhmm.. I guess we should just go for the basics right now, you know
diapers, food and clothes. Hopefully Giles will figure out to fix it
real soon. If not, we'll just have to go shopping again. As for
where we go I'm not sure. Let's just find the nearest supermarket,
they should have what we need for now."
Dawn nodded and glanced down at the now sleepy baby in her arms.
"Let's get the diapers first, and just hope he doesn't pee on me in
the meantime."
Tara smiled. "Yeah.. "
****
When the two girls and the baby left the shop, Giles stopped
polishing his glasses, put them back on and looked at the two
remaining girls. Willow stood looking for the entire world like a
lost little girl. Buffy had a somewhat confused look on her face and
had started pacing.
//Right// he thought, //first I'll need to figure out exactly what
happened.//
"Buffy, Willow, sit!" he ordered. Willow sat. Buffy continued
pacing. He ignored her; Willow was the one he needed to question
anyway.
"Right Willow, please tell me what exactly happened, what did you
do?"
"I... I ... " Willow began, but stopped when she realised she wasn't
sure what to say. She didn't know what went wrong, it had seemed so
easy and she'd been so sure of herself she talked Xander in to
testing the potion. She hadn't meant for him to suffer that kind of
pain and she most certainly hadn't meant for him to become a tiny
*baby*. She had done almost exactly what the book said. //The
*book*! That's it// It was Giles' book, she just had to show him the
book and the recipe, and Giles would know what to do. She wiped her
tears with the back of her hand, took a breath and started again.
"Not long before Xander moved out of the basement, I found an old
book with magic. We assumed it was yours. I took it with me to study
it before I was to give it back to you. "
At this Willow stopped to find the book in her bag and to give it to
Giles who glanced at it briefly before gesturing for Willow to
continue.
"It contains recipes for all kinds of potions. I was *so* excited
and decided to try and make a potion. Problem was to find the
ingredients required they were all so weird. It took me some weeks
to get all the ones needed for the potion I wanted to make and
another few weeks to decipher the measurements and stuff."
Willow glance up from where she was studying her hands, which were
twisting, nervously in her lap. Giles had one eyebrow risen and was
listening intently. Buffy had finally sat down and was doing the
exact same thing. Willow lowered her eyes to her lap again and went
on.
"The potion seemed like fun, it would make the drinker ten years
younger for 48 hours. I followed the recipe carefully and when it
was finished I convinced Xander to drink it, promising him a trip to
Disneyland and lots of ice cream. I thought he'd enjoy a chance to
be nine years old again, to have some of the fun he didn't get to
have when he really was nine years old. I told him it was perfectly
safe, that he'd only feel some discomfort as his body transformed. I
was *so* sure it couldn't go wrong, I didn't mean for him to hurt, I
didn't mean for him to become a *baby*. "
Willow's voice cracked and tears started streaming down her cheeks.
"I'm so sorry." she whispered and began sobbing.
Buffy looked bewildered at her best friend but as the sobbing
continued, concern overruled any other emotion she might have had
and she was out of her chair in a second to comfort Willow. Buffy
pulled the distraught girl close, hugging her tight, petting her
hair and whispering reassurances.
"Ssh... It's going to be OK. Giles will figure it out. Ssh.. Don't
cry we'll need you to help Giles. It's going to be OK. Isn't Giles?"
Giles looked up from the book that he started going through when
Buffy got up to comfort Willow. He saw the pleading in Buffy's eyes
and he wanted to be able to promise her the world, but this time he
doubted there was anything *he* could do. He didn't recognize the
book as one of his own; it rather looked like a book belonging to a
wizarding world he'd seen abstract references to earlier in his
studies but never believed existed. It looked like might have to
reconsider that belief. He sighed.
"I'll certainly try my very best. Willow need to show me the exact
potion she made and we'll see if we can find something to reverse
the effect. And perhaps we will be very lucky and the potion will
wear itself off in the mentioned 48 hours and Xander will be himself
again. "
"You think so?" Buffy asked hopefully.
"I honestly don't know Buffy. I doubt it with this being the
Hellmouth and everything but one can hope. If it doesn't we will
continue to research and perhaps contact Angel and Wesley..."
The shop door was thrown open and Giles was cut short as a smoking
blanked barged in. They heard an annoyingly familiar voice mutter
"bloody sun" as the door was kicked shut and the blanked thrown to
the floor where small flames were stamped on.
Task accomplished, Spike straightened and let his eyes sweep over
the room .
"Hello all.. " he drawled as he took in the state of the persons in
the room. Watcher was busy with a book, Buffy looked as though she
was comforting the witch who looked distraught. Just then Willow who
was recovering rapidly from her trip into hysteria looked at the
vampire with wet green eyes. //Ah.. Looks like new evil has entered
the town, hopefully violence might be needed.// The prospect of
violence cheered Spike up and in a cheerful voice he asked:
"So what's the new evil? Would my excellent fighting abilities be
needed?"
"No Spike, " Buffy said with a sigh. "Go away, we don't need you."
But Spike wasn't listening, he'd gotten a better look at the book
Giles was reading and he recognized it.
"Oi! That's my book!" He exclaimed as he stepped forward to grab it.
Giles merely held it out of reach.
"What do you mean it's *your* book?" Giles asked, his discomfort at
the fact that creature like Spike owned such a fascinating and
powerful book, clear in his voice.
"What do you mean I mean it's my book? It's *my* book. Give it here!
"
Spike was getting annoyed, it was *his* book, he wanted it, he'd
been looking for it, it held great sentimental value for him as well
as being potentially dangerous for normal mortals. It was his and he
wanted it damn it!
"Come on Watcher, stealing seems a bit below you don't you think?
Give it here."
Giles still held the book out reach. He refused to give it to Spike
just now, they needed the book to find out what went wrong with
Willow's potion.
"No Spike, you cannot have it just now, we need it. "
With an eyebrow lifted like just Spike could do and with an amount
of fear and uncertainty in his voice that shocked the other three
persons in the room Spike asked:
"You lot didn't try anything in there did you?"
"Well actually.. " Willow started nervously but was interrupted by
someone entering the shop.
Spike recognized the newly arrived by their scent so he knew it was
Dawn, the blonde witch and that annoying git Xander before he even
turned around.
"Hey Spike, you'll never guess... "
Dawn was rudely cut short by Spike turning around to look at them.
As he looked he did a double take to be sure and fell down laughing.
****
"So.. What do we need and where do we go?" Dawn asked Tara as soon
as they stepped out of the Magic Box.
Tara thought for a minute before replying.
"Uhmm.. I guess we should just go for the basics right now, you know
diapers, food and clothes. Hopefully Giles will figure out to fix it
real soon. If not, we'll just have to go shopping again. As for
where we go I'm not sure. Let's just find the nearest supermarket,
they should have what we need for now."
Dawn nodded and glanced down at the now sleepy baby in her arms.
"Let's get the diapers first, and just hope he doesn't pee on me in
the meantime."
Tara smiled. "Yeah.. "
****
When the two girls and the baby left the shop, Giles stopped
polishing his glasses, put them back on and looked at the two
remaining girls. Willow stood looking for the entire world like a
lost little girl. Buffy had a somewhat confused look on her face and
had started pacing.
//Right// he thought, //first I'll need to figure out exactly what
happened.//
"Buffy, Willow, sit!" he ordered. Willow sat. Buffy continued
pacing. He ignored her; Willow was the one he needed to question
anyway.
"Right Willow, please tell me what exactly happened, what did you
do?"
"I... I ... " Willow began, but stopped when she realised she wasn't
sure what to say. She didn't know what went wrong, it had seemed so
easy and she'd been so sure of herself she talked Xander in to
testing the potion. She hadn't meant for him to suffer that kind of
pain and she most certainly hadn't meant for him to become a tiny
*baby*. She had done almost exactly what the book said. //The
*book*! That's it// It was Giles' book, she just had to show him the
book and the recipe, and Giles would know what to do. She wiped her
tears with the back of her hand, took a breath and started again.
"Not long before Xander moved out of the basement, I found an old
book with magic. We assumed it was yours. I took it with me to study
it before I was to give it back to you. "
At this Willow stopped to find the book in her bag and to give it to
Giles who glanced at it briefly before gesturing for Willow to
continue.
"It contains recipes for all kinds of potions. I was *so* excited
and decided to try and make a potion. Problem was to find the
ingredients required they were all so weird. It took me some weeks
to get all the ones needed for the potion I wanted to make and
another few weeks to decipher the measurements and stuff."
Willow glance up from where she was studying her hands, which were
twisting, nervously in her lap. Giles had one eyebrow risen and was
listening intently. Buffy had finally sat down and was doing the
exact same thing. Willow lowered her eyes to her lap again and went
on.
"The potion seemed like fun, it would make the drinker ten years
younger for 48 hours. I followed the recipe carefully and when it
was finished I convinced Xander to drink it, promising him a trip to
Disneyland and lots of ice cream. I thought he'd enjoy a chance to
be nine years old again, to have some of the fun he didn't get to
have when he really was nine years old. I told him it was perfectly
safe, that he'd only feel some discomfort as his body transformed. I
was *so* sure it couldn't go wrong, I didn't mean for him to hurt, I
didn't mean for him to become a *baby*. "
Willow's voice cracked and tears started streaming down her cheeks.
"I'm so sorry." she whispered and began sobbing.
Buffy looked bewildered at her best friend but as the sobbing
continued, concern overruled any other emotion she might have had
and she was out of her chair in a second to comfort Willow. Buffy
pulled the distraught girl close, hugging her tight, petting her
hair and whispering reassurances.
"Ssh... It's going to be OK. Giles will figure it out. Ssh.. Don't
cry we'll need you to help Giles. It's going to be OK. Isn't Giles?"
Giles looked up from the book that he started going through when
Buffy got up to comfort Willow. He saw the pleading in Buffy's eyes
and he wanted to be able to promise her the world, but this time he
doubted there was anything *he* could do. He didn't recognize the
book as one of his own; it rather looked like a book belonging to a
wizarding world he'd seen abstract references to earlier in his
studies but never believed existed. It looked like might have to
reconsider that belief. He sighed.
"I'll certainly try my very best. Willow need to show me the exact
potion she made and we'll see if we can find something to reverse
the effect. And perhaps we will be very lucky and the potion will
wear itself off in the mentioned 48 hours and Xander will be himself
again. "
"You think so?" Buffy asked hopefully.
"I honestly don't know Buffy. I doubt it with this being the
Hellmouth and everything but one can hope. If it doesn't we will
continue to research and perhaps contact Angel and Wesley..."
The shop door was thrown open and Giles was cut short as a smoking
blanked barged in. They heard an annoyingly familiar voice mutter
"bloody sun" as the door was kicked shut and the blanked thrown to
the floor where small flames were stamped on.
Task accomplished, Spike straightened and let his eyes sweep over
the room .
"Hello all.. " he drawled as he took in the state of the persons in
the room. Watcher was busy with a book, Buffy looked as though she
was comforting the witch who looked distraught. Just then Willow who
was recovering rapidly from her trip into hysteria looked at the
vampire with wet green eyes. //Ah.. Looks like new evil has entered
the town, hopefully violence might be needed.// The prospect of
violence cheered Spike up and in a cheerful voice he asked:
"So what's the new evil? Would my excellent fighting abilities be
needed?"
"No Spike, " Buffy said with a sigh. "Go away, we don't need you."
But Spike wasn't listening, he'd gotten a better look at the book
Giles was reading and he recognized it.
"Oi! That's my book!" He exclaimed as he stepped forward to grab it.
Giles merely held it out of reach.
"What do you mean it's *your* book?" Giles asked, his discomfort at
the fact that creature like Spike owned such a fascinating and
powerful book, clear in his voice.
"What do you mean I mean it's my book? It's *my* book. Give it here!
"
Spike was getting annoyed, it was *his* book, he wanted it, he'd
been looking for it, it held great sentimental value for him as well
as being potentially dangerous for normal mortals. It was his and he
wanted it damn it!
"Come on Watcher, stealing seems a bit below you don't you think?
Give it here."
Giles still held the book out reach. He refused to give it to Spike
just now, they needed the book to find out what went wrong with
Willow's potion.
"No Spike, you cannot have it just now, we need it. "
With an eyebrow lifted like just Spike could do and with an amount
of fear and uncertainty in his voice that shocked the other three
persons in the room Spike asked:
"You lot didn't try anything in there did you?"
"Well actually.. " Willow started nervously but was interrupted by
someone entering the shop.
Spike recognized the newly arrived by their scent so he knew it was
Dawn, the blonde witch and that annoying git Xander before he even
turned around.
"Hey Spike, you'll never guess... "
Dawn was rudely cut short by Spike turning around to look at them.
As he looked he did a double take to be sure and fell down laughing.
****