DISCLAIMER: Joss owns them all.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm glad you guys are liking.  I haven't had the time to update anything in a while, but now that I do, with a response like this, how could I not update this fic? 

Anyway, I notice that a lot of you don't like the way Buffy is acting toward Faith.  Neither do I, but remember, this is right after Faith has stolen Buff's body, slept with her boyfriend, tried to kill Angel, etc.  I figure it would be hard for Buffy to accept Faith as a little kid, so it is.  Don't worry, over time, I believe Buffy would work through it, and I intend to show that, and let the scoobies have a glimpse into Faith's past.

THROWBACK: Chapter Ten

            "I have an idea," Liam whispered, his brooding expression giving way to a cheerful smile.

            Faith scooted her little body closer to his.  "What?" she whispered back.  Liam had good ideas.  "Does it have something to do with ice cream?"

            Both children were big fans of ice cream.

            "Yummmm, ice cream," Liam said, temporarily distracted.  Faith poked him in the side.

            "What's your idea?" she asked, rolling her little eyes even though she was still grinning at him.  As much as she sometimes pretended not to be, Faith was crazy about her Liam.

            "Naptime," Liam said decisively.

            Faith wrinkled her nose.  That didn't sound like a good idea at all.  Then she grinned wickedly.  "Pretend naptime?" she asked.

            Liam, grin still firmly in place, nodded.  Without needing to be told the rest of the plan, Faith knew exactly what her friend was thinking about.  "We pretend to be asleep," she said, "and then we play with the dead thing."

            Liam beamed at her.  "Yup yup," he replied joyously.  "You're smart, Faith."  From Liam, it was a rare compliment.

            Faith didn't say anything.  She knew she wasn't smart.  She knew she wasn't pretty.  She was nothing.  Momma had said so.

              Saying nothing, Faith gave a very fake yawn and lied down on the ground.  Liam lied down beside her, careful not to touch her, because Liam wasn't all together sure he liked girls.  He wasn't even that sure that Faith was a girl.  She didn't act like other girls.  Liam closed his eyes, and Faith did the same, and the two of them tried desperately not to burst into giggles.

            "Plotting time has given way to sleepy time," Buffy commented, her face softening into an amused smile at the way Liam's body was curled up into a little ball.

            Wes looked over at the kids.  He wasn't fooled for a second.  "They aren't asleep yet.  I'd say plotting time has given way to course of action time."

            Cordy grinned.  "As far as plans go," she said, "it's not that bad.  Remember their plan to get the weapons out of the weapons chest?  I never want to see that much peanut butter again."

            Giles raised an eyebrow speculatively.

            "Peanut butter?" Buffy asked.

            Cordy and Wes looked at each other.

            "Never mind," Cordy said quickly.

            Not able to resist, Buffy walked over to the children and squatted down to their level.  She had an incredible urge to pick Liam up, but as she peered closely at him, she realized that he actually was asleep.

            Opening one eye just a little, Faith looked at Liam and realized that he had fallen asleep. 

            Some plan, she thought.  They would have been better off using a plan about ice cream.

            Faith shifted on the floor a little, and she found her one open eye looking directly at Buffy.

            Buffy felt the child's gaze, and unwillingly, she ripped herself away from Liam and looked at the little girl with Faith's dark hair and Faith's haunted eyes.

            "Aren't you sleepy too?" Buffy asked, trying to make her voice nice and settling for syrupy sweet.  Her stomach clenched when she looked at the child and saw the woman, the same way it had when she'd seen Faith in her own body.  Faith in any body was still Faith: the rogue slayer she'd failed to save, the woman bent on destruction.

            Faith didn't move visibly, but her body stiffened at the tone in Buffy's voice.  That wasn't a real happy tone.  That was fake happy, and fake happy wasn't to be trusted.  Fake happy was dangerous.

            "Come here, Faithie," Momma said, her voice dangerously pleasant.  "I have something for you."

            Two year old Faith walked forward, talking happily to herself.

            She had no way of knowing that the 'something' was a blow that was going to send her flying across the room.

            "Useless little slut," Momma bit out, her voice still dangerously pleasant.  "Stupid."  She spit out the last word in a whisper, but Faith, knocked to the floor, her ears ringing and her eyes filling with tears, heard it loud and clear.

           

Faith glared at Buffy defiantly.  "I'm not sleepy," she said, mistrusting the slayer's tone completely.

            Buffy sensed the way the child's body stiffened, and she was reminded of the many times she'd tried to approach Faith, to be there for Faith, only for the girl to turn her away.

            Some things never changed.

            Recognizing the expression on the slayer's face and not knowing what exactly it was, Faith closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.  She didn't have to look at that face if she didn't want to.

            Unconsciously, Liam rolled over in his sleep and snuggled up to Faith.  The little girl rested her head on his shoulders, and without the child even knowing that it was happening, three of the fingers on Faith's right hand had crept into her mouth.   

            Buffy stood there for a second, watching the two of them huddled together like puppies, perfectly comfortable and perfectly innocent.  She felt a pull toward them both from somewhere deep in her gut.

            A changed expression on her face, she watched a moment longer, as Faith's breathing became the regular breathing of a small child, fast asleep, and the rhythmic sound of Faith sucking on her fingers got a little louder.

            Buffy stood up and walked back over to the other adults.

            "They actually are making with the sleeping over there," Buffy said.  "It's a regular Snooze Fest '99."

            Cordy and Wes shared a quick and private grin.  This wasn't the first time their charges had fallen asleep when they'd meant to do something far less innocent, usually something involving something that was pointy and/or sticky.

            Giles sighed and cleaned his glasses.  "And you believe that this law firm, this Wolfram and Hart, might have figured out what happened to Angel?"

            Wes nodded, thinking of Lindsey.

            "What's the worst they could do?" Buffy asked. 

            Wes opened his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted.  "If someone doesn't come in here and give me my sodding blood and turn on Passions, I'll-"

            Giles cut Spike's voice off dryly.  "Complain in a very irritating and childlike fashion?" He said, clearly mocking the vampire, but also obviously weary from similar conversations.

            "Spike's been neutered," Buffy said, just loudly enough that she knew the vampire would hear her.  "He's like a fuzzy little puppy."

            "In that case, might I suggest a rolled up newspaper?" Wes asked.

            "An evil puppy is still evil," Cordelia said firmly.  Then, looking pensive, she continued.  "Or is it an evil puppy is still a puppy?"  Cordelia trailed off for a moment. 

            Buffy looked at Cordelia, relieved that, despite all of the changes she'd seen in the woman, some things, at least, had remained the same.

            Wesley's cell phone rang, and he excused himself from the room to answer it.

            Cordelia, left alone with Giles and Buffy, without the two children for a buffer, tried her best to make conversation.

            "So how's the slayer thing going for you?" she asked Buffy.  "You haven't died in a while.  That's always a good thing, right?"

            When Faith heard Spike yelling, she opened her eyes.  She hadn't meant to fall asleep.  She'd just wanted to get away from the way the slayer was looking at her.  She'd almost forgotten that that was the way that people were supposed to look at her.

            Careful not to let the adults know she was awake, Faith whispered directly into Liam's ear.  "Wake up, my Liam," she said, knowing that he'd never remember that she'd called him hers.  "It's time to go play with the dead thing."

            After a few more whispers, Liam opened his eyes, and the two children silently opened the door to the bathroom and crawled into the room.

            "It's about time, you bloody wanker," Spike muttered when he heard the door open.  He twisted in his chains, expecting to see Giles.  Instead, he saw two four-year-old children, both of whom were looking at him with slightly sleepy, very interested eyes.

            "Wanker," Liam echoed, testing out the sound.  "Wanker-wanker-wanker."

            Faith wrinkled her nose a little.  "Is that like a wench?" she asked.

            Spike narrowed his eyes.  Something about these two was very, very familiar.

TBC… next chapter, more on Wolfram and Hart (and Lindsey), and the police search for Faith, in the form of Kate, starts to make its way toward Sunnydale, Spike with the two little ones… then, it's Giles with babysitting duty, Buffy/Faith time, a Buffy/Cordelia confrontation, preschool, and Anya, Xander, Willow, and Riley meet the kiddos.  I'll work on the Liam nightmare for those of you who requested it.

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