The next day, Willow woke up early and made breakfast for everyone.
Chocolate chip pancakes and chocolate milk.
"I wish I ate this for breakfast when I was little," she said to herself.
"I smell something good," said Dawn, coming in the kitchen.
"Chocolate panckaes and milk."
"Ooh. Yummy chocolate goodness."
"Are the others awake?" asked Willow.
"No. Thankfully. What are we going to do today?"
Dawn took a seat and sat in it backwards.
"I was thinking that we could go to the mall. Get some more clothes. If their going to be this way for a whole month, their going to need more clothes than what they have now."
Dawn nodded. "Good idea. Plus, I have some extra money and there's this skirt I've been eyeing. Maybe if I have enough I can get it."
Just then, Buffy walked into the room, rubbing her eyes.
"Hey, Buff," greeted Willow.
Buffy came up to Dawn and stuck out her arms. Dawn grinned and lifted her into her lap.
"You hungry?" Willow asked.
Buffy nodded. "What is it?"
"Chocolate pancakes."
Buffy's eyes lit up. "That's my favorite. Mommy made them for me everyday."
"Hey, Buffy. Is William up yet?" Dawn asked her.
"He wasn't there when I woked up."
Willow gave Dawn a wide-eyed look. "Uh-oh."
"I'll find him," said Dawn, setting Buffy in the chair and running up the stairs.
"William, where are you?" she called. She looked in Buffy's room, and he wasn't there. She looked in her room, and he wasn't there. She looked in Willow's room. He wasn't there either. Then, she heard running water coming from the direction of the bathroom. She peered through the door.
Spike was sitting in a half-full bath tub with his clothes on and was dripping wet from head to toe. He splashed playfully in the water.
"Wiilliaaam," Dawn groaned.
He looked up and grinned. "I take a baf," he announced like it wasn't obvious.
Dawn started to laugh. She grabbed a towl out of the linen closet and heaved Spike out of the tub.
"God, you're soaked," she exclaimed, holding him at arm's length.
She set him on the floor and wrapped the towel around his small frame.
"Come on," she said, leading him out of the bathroom, making sure to shut off the running water first. "We'll get you something to wear."
She led him to her room and procceded to look for a shirt he could wear until she could dry his clothing. She finally found a small red t-shirt in the back of her closet that was getting too small for her. She grabbed another pair of the Batman underwear Xander had bought and hastily undressed Spike and put some dry cothes on him. Then she took the towel and dried his wet hair.
"Dawn?" called Willow from downstairs. "You find him?"
"Yeah," Dawn replied. "Be down in a sec."
She put Spike's wet clothes in her hamper and brought it downstairs with Spike following slowly behind her. He gripped the banister tightly and carfully stepped down the knee-high steps. Dawn waited patiently for him to get to the last step then led him to the kitchen.
"Where'd you find him?" asked Willow. "And where are his other clothes?"
"He wanted to take a bath," explained Dawn. "I'm going to go dry his clothes."
Willow nodded and went back to her cooking.
Once Dawn had thrown the wet clothes into the dryer, she came back upstairs and ate breakfast.
"So, after his clothes are dry, wanna head to the mall?" asked Willow.
Dawn nodded. "We gonna walk? Or take the bus or what?"
Willow shrugged. "Either one is fine. I don't know how to drive and we can't call Xander cause he's at work. Of course, the kids might get tired just walking there and will start to complain about standing around."
"Bus it is, then."
Once all of the kids were up and they all had had breakfast, Dawn dressed Spike back up in his dry clothes and they headed for the bus stop. Tara was on Willow's hip, Buffy was walking next to Willow, and Spike was walking next to Dawn. The got onto the bus and took a seat in the very back. What they weren't counting on, was Spike being the most fidgity kid they've ever seen.
"Ow! Daawnnn! William pulled my hair," Buffy screeched.
Dawn pulled Spike's hand away from Buffy's head. "Stop it, right now," she hissed.
A few minutes later, his hand found its way back to Buffy's thin, blonde hair.
"Ooww! He did it again!" this time her voice was five times louder.
The people on the bus turned to look at the small group. Willow and Dawn blushed a deep crimson before dealing with the children. Dawn put Spike in her lap. Willow put Buffy on the oppisite side of her, with Tara in her lap. This worked for about two minutes before Spike managed to squirm out of Dawn's lap started to fool with Tara's hair.
"Ow!" Tara whimpered.
"William!" Willow and Tara cried, causing the bus load of people to turn back at them.
Thankfully, the bus pulled up to the mall and the group filed off the bus.
Willow handed Tara over to Dawn and then bent down in front on Spike. "William. We do not pull people's hair. Do you hear me?"
He nodded.
"It is not nice. You will not do it again. If you do, you will be in big trouble. Got it?"
He nodded again, sticking his thumb in his mouth.
"Okay."
Willow stood up to face Dawn and gave an exasperated sigh. This made Tara giggle.
"Oh, do you think I'm funny?" smiled Willow. She tickled Tara under her chin. The little girl began to laugh uncontrollably. Willow's smiled widened and she took Tara back into her arms.
"I guess we should head to the clothing store," suggested Dawn.
Willow nodded. "We don't have alot of money, so we need to get cheap stuff. Mainly shirts and shorts. If we have some extra money left over, then we can get a little creative."
Dawn held up her wallet. "I have about twenty dollars. How much did you bring?"
"I have about fifty to spend. Then, if that's not enough, I can dig into my food money."
"Okay. Well, let's hit the stores."
They walked into the first store they came up to. It had alot of cute stuff, but most was really expensive.
"This is so cute," cooed Dawn, holding up a very small t-shirt that has 'Little Devil' printed across the front.
Willow glanced at it. "Yeah, but it's too expensive."
Dawn checked the price tag, then made a face. "Way."
She returned the shirt to it's rack and continued her search of clothing. Tara was sitting on the floor just next to Willow's feet, and Spike and Buffy were running around the small store.
"Aagghh!" Buffy screeched when Spike jumped out of the rack of clothes. She ran in the oppisite direction.
"Buffy! William!" called Willow. "Stop it, right now!"
Buffy and Spike contiued their pursuit of each other, only without the noise.
Willow sighed, then went back to what she was doing.
"What about this?" Dawn asked. She held up a package of t-shirts. "It's like, five t-shirts for six bucks. We can get fifteen shirts for less than twenty dollars."
Willow nodded with approvment. "That's good. That means we have fifty dollars left over. Hey, maybe, if we have enough, we can hit the food court before we leave."
Dawn grinned. "Great. I am gettin' a little hungry. I'm sure the two hell raisers over there want something to eat."
"Dawn! That's not nice," scolded Willow, but she was smiling anyway. That nickname really did fit the two children perfectly.
"Should we get bathing suits?" suggested Dawn. "For baths or something. That way if they remember everything when they're changed back, they don't kill us."
Willow nodded. "Good idea."
They went back to browsing. They picked up two simple one piece swim suits for Buffy and Tara, and a pair of swimmimg trunks for Spike.
"This stuff is going to be useless when they get back to normal size," Dawn pointed out.
"We could have a yard sale. Or something like that."
"Maybe." Pause. "Where's Buffy and Spike?"
Willow looked around the store. Buffy and Spike were nowhere in sight.
"Oh goddess," cried Willow. "They're gone."
"I look outside the store," offered Dawn. She ran to the front of the store and looked out into the hall and around the shop. Willow picked up Tara and looked around the store.
"I can't believe we lost them," groaned Dawn.
They left their purchases and started to look through the mall.
"Maybe they're in the toy store," suggested Willow.
They checked. No sign of either child.
"Or, they could have gone to the food court," Dawn said. "Like I said, they could be hungry."
They checked there also. No sign.
"What if they were kidnapped!" cried Dawn. "Someone could have just come up and snatched them up. They're only three. They can't protect themselves."
"Dawn, stop before you give me a heart attack," ordered Willow. "We'll just check in with the lost and found. See if they're there."
They made their way through the large crowd and came to the station near the front on the mall.
"How may I help you?" asked the lady at the front. She was obviously a police officer of some sort. Or, maybe a security gaurd.
"Uh, we lost two of our kids," said Willow, almost sheepishly.
"Hold on a moment." The woman picked up a walkie-talkie and spoke into it. "This is officer Kendra Bradley. Anyone picked up any missing kids?"
There was a short pause before someone spoke back. "What do they look like?"
The woman looked up at Willow and Dawn.
"Oh, uh, a boy and a girl," Willow told her. "They're about three years- old. The girl has blonde hair and hazel eyes, and the boy has brown hair with blue eyes."
The woman repeated the information into the walkie talkie.
"No. Haven't come across any of that description," the person answered. "We'll keep an eye out."
The woman returned her walkie talkie back to her waist band. "No one's seen anyone. Check in a little later. Maybe they'll show up."
Dawn and Willow nodded then walked away from the booth.
Meanwhile.....
"More! More!" squealed Buffy.
Spike added more toilet paper to the toilet.
"What's it gonna do?" he asked.
"Watch," she told him.
Once the whole roll was in the toilet, she pushed down the silver lever. There was a swishing sound, then a gurgling sound.
"It talks!" Buffy squealed.
Suddenly, water started to pour over the seat and onto the floor. Buffy and Spike both screamed before running out of the stall. They turned back and watched the water flow across the floor and down the drain.
"Uh oh," Spike stated.
Buffy grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door. "Come on! Let's get outta here!"
They ran from the bathroom in a fit of giggles. They wondered around for a few more minutes before coming to a store that sold CDs and music.
"Look," Buffy pointed. There was a man listening to music on a head set that was connected to the wall.
"There's another one," Spike pointed out. There was a headset that wasn't in use on the oppisite wall.
"It's too high," complained Buffy.
"Here, I'll help you up," offered Spike. He put his hands out and let Buffy step into them, giving her a boost.
Buffy clung to the small box the headset was resting on and put the headset over her ears. She pushed a random button. Music blasted into her ears, making her lose balance.
"Stop moving!" Spike cried. "You're too heavy!"
Buffy swayed alittle more before Spike's arms gave out and she came crashing down on top of him.
"Get off of me!" he said, shoving her to the side.
"Ow!" She pushed him back.
"Stop it!" He pushed her again.
"You pushed me first!" She pushed him.
A small crowd moved in around the fighting children. Then, a security gaurd came up through the crowd and serperated the children.
"Do these belong to anyone?" he asked the crowd.
No one said yes. He took the two children out of the store and put them on a bench in the middle of the hall.
"Officer Bradley. I think I found the kids you were looking for," he said into his walkie talkie.
"Bring 'em back to the lost and found. The two girls looking for them should be back in a little while."
"Okay. I'll do that."
He looked down at the two sulking kids. "Come on, kids. Let's get you back where you belong."
The security gaurd led the kids back to the lost and found station.
"Let them sit over there," Kendra told him, pointing to a bench behind her.
Spike and Buffy hopped up on the bench on oppisite ends.
Meanwhile....
Willow and Dawn searched through the stores and halls.
"Where could they be?" cried Dawn.
"I don't know, Dawnie. Maybe the security found them," Willow suggested.
"Maybe. Either way, we need to find them soon."
"Why don't we go back to the store we were in in the first place and get the clothes we picked out. That way we can go home once we find them."
Dawn took a second to relax, then nodded. "Good idea. I'm about all shopped out."
Then Willow perked up. "Hey! Idea! Why don't we get some disposable cameras? We can record the important events this month and show them when they get big again. Incase they don't remember."
"Is that just a weak attempt at making me feel better about the fact that we lost my sister and my best friend?"
Willow shrugged. "Partly. But, mainly, isn't that a good idea?"
Dawn shrugged also. "I guess. Yeah, let's do that. Then we can go check out the lost and found again."
"Okay," Willow agreed. She shifted the sleeping Tara in her arms. "Let's hurry, though. She's getting heavy."
They walked back to the store to retrieve and purchase the clothes and a few disposable cameras. Then they headed to the lost and found station.
"You found them!" Dawn cried when she saw Buffy and Spike, asleep, on the bench.
"Yeah, they were fighting in a music store," explained Kendra.
"What else is new," Dawn muttered.
"Here, let me take a picture," said Willow.
Kendra raised an eyebrow.
"Don't ask," said Dawn.
Willow snapped a picture before pocketing the camera.
"We should wake them up. It's the only way we'll get home."
"Yeah," Willow agreed.
They woke up all three of the sleeping children before grabbing their bags and heading out of the mall.
"I wish I ate this for breakfast when I was little," she said to herself.
"I smell something good," said Dawn, coming in the kitchen.
"Chocolate panckaes and milk."
"Ooh. Yummy chocolate goodness."
"Are the others awake?" asked Willow.
"No. Thankfully. What are we going to do today?"
Dawn took a seat and sat in it backwards.
"I was thinking that we could go to the mall. Get some more clothes. If their going to be this way for a whole month, their going to need more clothes than what they have now."
Dawn nodded. "Good idea. Plus, I have some extra money and there's this skirt I've been eyeing. Maybe if I have enough I can get it."
Just then, Buffy walked into the room, rubbing her eyes.
"Hey, Buff," greeted Willow.
Buffy came up to Dawn and stuck out her arms. Dawn grinned and lifted her into her lap.
"You hungry?" Willow asked.
Buffy nodded. "What is it?"
"Chocolate pancakes."
Buffy's eyes lit up. "That's my favorite. Mommy made them for me everyday."
"Hey, Buffy. Is William up yet?" Dawn asked her.
"He wasn't there when I woked up."
Willow gave Dawn a wide-eyed look. "Uh-oh."
"I'll find him," said Dawn, setting Buffy in the chair and running up the stairs.
"William, where are you?" she called. She looked in Buffy's room, and he wasn't there. She looked in her room, and he wasn't there. She looked in Willow's room. He wasn't there either. Then, she heard running water coming from the direction of the bathroom. She peered through the door.
Spike was sitting in a half-full bath tub with his clothes on and was dripping wet from head to toe. He splashed playfully in the water.
"Wiilliaaam," Dawn groaned.
He looked up and grinned. "I take a baf," he announced like it wasn't obvious.
Dawn started to laugh. She grabbed a towl out of the linen closet and heaved Spike out of the tub.
"God, you're soaked," she exclaimed, holding him at arm's length.
She set him on the floor and wrapped the towel around his small frame.
"Come on," she said, leading him out of the bathroom, making sure to shut off the running water first. "We'll get you something to wear."
She led him to her room and procceded to look for a shirt he could wear until she could dry his clothing. She finally found a small red t-shirt in the back of her closet that was getting too small for her. She grabbed another pair of the Batman underwear Xander had bought and hastily undressed Spike and put some dry cothes on him. Then she took the towel and dried his wet hair.
"Dawn?" called Willow from downstairs. "You find him?"
"Yeah," Dawn replied. "Be down in a sec."
She put Spike's wet clothes in her hamper and brought it downstairs with Spike following slowly behind her. He gripped the banister tightly and carfully stepped down the knee-high steps. Dawn waited patiently for him to get to the last step then led him to the kitchen.
"Where'd you find him?" asked Willow. "And where are his other clothes?"
"He wanted to take a bath," explained Dawn. "I'm going to go dry his clothes."
Willow nodded and went back to her cooking.
Once Dawn had thrown the wet clothes into the dryer, she came back upstairs and ate breakfast.
"So, after his clothes are dry, wanna head to the mall?" asked Willow.
Dawn nodded. "We gonna walk? Or take the bus or what?"
Willow shrugged. "Either one is fine. I don't know how to drive and we can't call Xander cause he's at work. Of course, the kids might get tired just walking there and will start to complain about standing around."
"Bus it is, then."
Once all of the kids were up and they all had had breakfast, Dawn dressed Spike back up in his dry clothes and they headed for the bus stop. Tara was on Willow's hip, Buffy was walking next to Willow, and Spike was walking next to Dawn. The got onto the bus and took a seat in the very back. What they weren't counting on, was Spike being the most fidgity kid they've ever seen.
"Ow! Daawnnn! William pulled my hair," Buffy screeched.
Dawn pulled Spike's hand away from Buffy's head. "Stop it, right now," she hissed.
A few minutes later, his hand found its way back to Buffy's thin, blonde hair.
"Ooww! He did it again!" this time her voice was five times louder.
The people on the bus turned to look at the small group. Willow and Dawn blushed a deep crimson before dealing with the children. Dawn put Spike in her lap. Willow put Buffy on the oppisite side of her, with Tara in her lap. This worked for about two minutes before Spike managed to squirm out of Dawn's lap started to fool with Tara's hair.
"Ow!" Tara whimpered.
"William!" Willow and Tara cried, causing the bus load of people to turn back at them.
Thankfully, the bus pulled up to the mall and the group filed off the bus.
Willow handed Tara over to Dawn and then bent down in front on Spike. "William. We do not pull people's hair. Do you hear me?"
He nodded.
"It is not nice. You will not do it again. If you do, you will be in big trouble. Got it?"
He nodded again, sticking his thumb in his mouth.
"Okay."
Willow stood up to face Dawn and gave an exasperated sigh. This made Tara giggle.
"Oh, do you think I'm funny?" smiled Willow. She tickled Tara under her chin. The little girl began to laugh uncontrollably. Willow's smiled widened and she took Tara back into her arms.
"I guess we should head to the clothing store," suggested Dawn.
Willow nodded. "We don't have alot of money, so we need to get cheap stuff. Mainly shirts and shorts. If we have some extra money left over, then we can get a little creative."
Dawn held up her wallet. "I have about twenty dollars. How much did you bring?"
"I have about fifty to spend. Then, if that's not enough, I can dig into my food money."
"Okay. Well, let's hit the stores."
They walked into the first store they came up to. It had alot of cute stuff, but most was really expensive.
"This is so cute," cooed Dawn, holding up a very small t-shirt that has 'Little Devil' printed across the front.
Willow glanced at it. "Yeah, but it's too expensive."
Dawn checked the price tag, then made a face. "Way."
She returned the shirt to it's rack and continued her search of clothing. Tara was sitting on the floor just next to Willow's feet, and Spike and Buffy were running around the small store.
"Aagghh!" Buffy screeched when Spike jumped out of the rack of clothes. She ran in the oppisite direction.
"Buffy! William!" called Willow. "Stop it, right now!"
Buffy and Spike contiued their pursuit of each other, only without the noise.
Willow sighed, then went back to what she was doing.
"What about this?" Dawn asked. She held up a package of t-shirts. "It's like, five t-shirts for six bucks. We can get fifteen shirts for less than twenty dollars."
Willow nodded with approvment. "That's good. That means we have fifty dollars left over. Hey, maybe, if we have enough, we can hit the food court before we leave."
Dawn grinned. "Great. I am gettin' a little hungry. I'm sure the two hell raisers over there want something to eat."
"Dawn! That's not nice," scolded Willow, but she was smiling anyway. That nickname really did fit the two children perfectly.
"Should we get bathing suits?" suggested Dawn. "For baths or something. That way if they remember everything when they're changed back, they don't kill us."
Willow nodded. "Good idea."
They went back to browsing. They picked up two simple one piece swim suits for Buffy and Tara, and a pair of swimmimg trunks for Spike.
"This stuff is going to be useless when they get back to normal size," Dawn pointed out.
"We could have a yard sale. Or something like that."
"Maybe." Pause. "Where's Buffy and Spike?"
Willow looked around the store. Buffy and Spike were nowhere in sight.
"Oh goddess," cried Willow. "They're gone."
"I look outside the store," offered Dawn. She ran to the front of the store and looked out into the hall and around the shop. Willow picked up Tara and looked around the store.
"I can't believe we lost them," groaned Dawn.
They left their purchases and started to look through the mall.
"Maybe they're in the toy store," suggested Willow.
They checked. No sign of either child.
"Or, they could have gone to the food court," Dawn said. "Like I said, they could be hungry."
They checked there also. No sign.
"What if they were kidnapped!" cried Dawn. "Someone could have just come up and snatched them up. They're only three. They can't protect themselves."
"Dawn, stop before you give me a heart attack," ordered Willow. "We'll just check in with the lost and found. See if they're there."
They made their way through the large crowd and came to the station near the front on the mall.
"How may I help you?" asked the lady at the front. She was obviously a police officer of some sort. Or, maybe a security gaurd.
"Uh, we lost two of our kids," said Willow, almost sheepishly.
"Hold on a moment." The woman picked up a walkie-talkie and spoke into it. "This is officer Kendra Bradley. Anyone picked up any missing kids?"
There was a short pause before someone spoke back. "What do they look like?"
The woman looked up at Willow and Dawn.
"Oh, uh, a boy and a girl," Willow told her. "They're about three years- old. The girl has blonde hair and hazel eyes, and the boy has brown hair with blue eyes."
The woman repeated the information into the walkie talkie.
"No. Haven't come across any of that description," the person answered. "We'll keep an eye out."
The woman returned her walkie talkie back to her waist band. "No one's seen anyone. Check in a little later. Maybe they'll show up."
Dawn and Willow nodded then walked away from the booth.
Meanwhile.....
"More! More!" squealed Buffy.
Spike added more toilet paper to the toilet.
"What's it gonna do?" he asked.
"Watch," she told him.
Once the whole roll was in the toilet, she pushed down the silver lever. There was a swishing sound, then a gurgling sound.
"It talks!" Buffy squealed.
Suddenly, water started to pour over the seat and onto the floor. Buffy and Spike both screamed before running out of the stall. They turned back and watched the water flow across the floor and down the drain.
"Uh oh," Spike stated.
Buffy grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door. "Come on! Let's get outta here!"
They ran from the bathroom in a fit of giggles. They wondered around for a few more minutes before coming to a store that sold CDs and music.
"Look," Buffy pointed. There was a man listening to music on a head set that was connected to the wall.
"There's another one," Spike pointed out. There was a headset that wasn't in use on the oppisite wall.
"It's too high," complained Buffy.
"Here, I'll help you up," offered Spike. He put his hands out and let Buffy step into them, giving her a boost.
Buffy clung to the small box the headset was resting on and put the headset over her ears. She pushed a random button. Music blasted into her ears, making her lose balance.
"Stop moving!" Spike cried. "You're too heavy!"
Buffy swayed alittle more before Spike's arms gave out and she came crashing down on top of him.
"Get off of me!" he said, shoving her to the side.
"Ow!" She pushed him back.
"Stop it!" He pushed her again.
"You pushed me first!" She pushed him.
A small crowd moved in around the fighting children. Then, a security gaurd came up through the crowd and serperated the children.
"Do these belong to anyone?" he asked the crowd.
No one said yes. He took the two children out of the store and put them on a bench in the middle of the hall.
"Officer Bradley. I think I found the kids you were looking for," he said into his walkie talkie.
"Bring 'em back to the lost and found. The two girls looking for them should be back in a little while."
"Okay. I'll do that."
He looked down at the two sulking kids. "Come on, kids. Let's get you back where you belong."
The security gaurd led the kids back to the lost and found station.
"Let them sit over there," Kendra told him, pointing to a bench behind her.
Spike and Buffy hopped up on the bench on oppisite ends.
Meanwhile....
Willow and Dawn searched through the stores and halls.
"Where could they be?" cried Dawn.
"I don't know, Dawnie. Maybe the security found them," Willow suggested.
"Maybe. Either way, we need to find them soon."
"Why don't we go back to the store we were in in the first place and get the clothes we picked out. That way we can go home once we find them."
Dawn took a second to relax, then nodded. "Good idea. I'm about all shopped out."
Then Willow perked up. "Hey! Idea! Why don't we get some disposable cameras? We can record the important events this month and show them when they get big again. Incase they don't remember."
"Is that just a weak attempt at making me feel better about the fact that we lost my sister and my best friend?"
Willow shrugged. "Partly. But, mainly, isn't that a good idea?"
Dawn shrugged also. "I guess. Yeah, let's do that. Then we can go check out the lost and found again."
"Okay," Willow agreed. She shifted the sleeping Tara in her arms. "Let's hurry, though. She's getting heavy."
They walked back to the store to retrieve and purchase the clothes and a few disposable cameras. Then they headed to the lost and found station.
"You found them!" Dawn cried when she saw Buffy and Spike, asleep, on the bench.
"Yeah, they were fighting in a music store," explained Kendra.
"What else is new," Dawn muttered.
"Here, let me take a picture," said Willow.
Kendra raised an eyebrow.
"Don't ask," said Dawn.
Willow snapped a picture before pocketing the camera.
"We should wake them up. It's the only way we'll get home."
"Yeah," Willow agreed.
They woke up all three of the sleeping children before grabbing their bags and heading out of the mall.
