Chapter Three
Disclaimer: The math problem I can solve and that is not as boring as Mrs. Thomas's class was...Emma=writing story. Joss Whedon=owns characters from story. Emma's story disclaimer=goodness.
"Angel!" Cordelia's voice called as she walked into the large and older decorated hotel. "Angel, we need you now!" she added in a rushed voice as Wesley entered, his left hand holding Faith's smaller right one.
"Wow!" the young girl exclaimed. "You guys didn't say you had the biggest palace!" she yelled excitedly as she squirmed free from Wesley's grip and ran up the stairs. "Are you a prince and a princess?" she asked as she ran up to the top of the stairs and began sliding down the banister with many giggles, a fearful Cordelia and Wesley watching her all the way.
Angel walked out from his office, a few bits of paperwork held in his right hand. "Calm down, Cordelia. You don't need to yell, I can hear you just fine." He looked over at his two associates as they caught the hyper active Faith, preventing her from possibly splitting her skull open upon hitting the hard tiled floor. "So she is four," he began.
"Very good on the keen observance," Cordelia muttered sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.
"Does Giles know?" Angel asked.
Cordelia nodded slightly. "Told Anya, presumed she told the rest of the Sunnydale Gang," she said as she struggled to keep Faith from breaking free and running up the stairs again.
"Told Sunnydale folks what?" Gunn asked as he came inside the hotel from the back door. "Hey, who's this little pumpkin?" he asked as he walked up to Faith.
Faith smiled proudly up at Gunn before announcing her name. "I'm Faith!" she announced proudly. "I'm four years old and I live in Boston! I like to eat chocolate ice cream and biscuits!"
"Um, ok?" Gunn began as he turned to Angel, Wesley, and Cordelia. "Any of you going to elaborate?"
Angel nodded as the four of them moved closer to his office. "It's some sort of curse or something. The same thing happened to Buffy," he explained. "This is Faith the Slayer, if she can remember that, which I highly doubt."
"But she's still a Slayer," Cordelia pointed out. "I could handle a normal four year old, and she is definitely stronger."
"And no one knows why all of a sudden our vampire slayers are little rugrats? Gunn asked curiously.
Wesley shook his head. "Giles has a pretty vast research source and he is coming up with nothing. I can check a few of our volumes here at the hotel and from my personal collection," he began as he mentally pictured all the books at his apartment.
"Doesn't sound like it'd be something prophetic," Angel put in. "Unless" he began before heading to his office, Cordelia, Wesley, and Gunn right behind him. He pushed against the office door, but found it was already open unlike the closed state he had left it. That could only mean that...
"Whee!" Faith said happily as she spun around in Angel's office chair and began looking through one of his open books. "This is a boring story! No pictures. I like pictures."
"Faith, give me the book," Angel commanded.
"NO!" Faith yelled as she clutched it closer to her body. "It's a book for grown-ups!"
"Aren't I a grown-up?" Angel asked irritably.
"NO!" Faith yelled again. "Grown-ups are boring and they have gray hairs."
Gunn forced himself to hold in his laughter. "So, I guess Angel will never grow up," he whispered to Cordelia.
"Guess not," the former cheerleader answered. She sighed heavily looking at Faith. "What are we going to do with her?" she asked with a sigh.
"Send her over to Sunnydale, hopefully," Wesley mumbled under his breath. He frowned as he walked over to the black office phone, which was beginning to ring.
Cordelia beat him to it. "Hyperion Hotel, home of Angel Inv--" she began.
"Cordy, cut the crap, it's Willow," came the exasperated reply from the witch on the other end of the conversation. "Listen, we have a pretty good idea of who caused the whole four-year-old thing," she began. "Put Angel on."
Cordelia rolled her eyes. "No need to get bitchy," she mumbled as she handed the phone over to Angel.
"I hope that wasn't a client," Angel told her as he took the phone. "Angel," he said as a way of introducing himself.
"No, just Willow," Cordelia told him. "And she deserved it. She was being rude."
Angel sighed. "Willow, on behalf of my associate, I apologize," he began before Willow cut him off.
"Angel, we have a pretty good idea on who's been causing this four-your-old chaos," Willow said with a heavy sigh. "I believe you know him. Tall, thin, answers to the name of Ethan Rayne."
Angel groaned. "Of course," he said, almost in a way of feeling bad for not figuring it out before. It was just like Ethan. Not that he had ever met him personally, but he had heard stories of what Ethan had done.
"Don't feel bad, none of us realized it until we checked recent people who checked into motels around Sunnydale," Willow began meekly, feeling incredibly stupid and angry with herself. "And we didn't even think to do that for a day or two."
Angel nodded. "Right," he replied as he looked over at Faith. The little girl had gotten into the pens on Angel's desk and was happily entertaining herself by drawing in Angel's book. "But about Faith"
"Can't handle her, can you?" Willow asked with a small laugh. She frowned, stopping herself. It was not a laughing matter. It was serious and some people just could not handle little children well. Especially people as old as Angel, as superficial as Cordelia, or as stuffy as Wesley. Not that she had any contact with Wesley since graduation day. And she barely had contact with Angel and Cordelia save for the few phone calls regarding Buffy and that one time when Cordelia had needed her help.
"Not at all. She's scribbling in my copy of Froiman's laws," Angel said with a frown. "Please, you have to help us!" he begged.
There was a long pause on the other end as Willow was talking to someone, presumably Xander or Giles but Angel could not swear to it. "She could come down here," she informed the vampire. "As long as someone comes with her who can truly help with the research, like Wesley."
"You want Wesley?" Angel asked dubiously.
"Yes," Willow told him. "No Wesley, no Faith."
Angel nodded. "We'll send them down first thing tomorrow," he promised before hanging up and turning to everyone else.
"What was that all about?" Cordelia asked with a frown as she crossed her tanned arms across her slender body.
"About what happened to Faith and Buffy," Angel answered with a sigh.
"They were turned into four year olds," Cordelia began.
"I meant as in who did it," Angel snapped. "Sorry," he apologized a moment later as he saw Cordelia's semi-hurt expression. "This whole thing has just gotten to me. I'm not made for this. I help the helpless, not babysit four-year-olds with super powers."
Cordelia's expression changed slightly as she looked up at Angel. "Who?" she asked innocently.
"Ethan Rayne."
Cordelia frowned slightly. She knew she had heard that name before. A definite Sunnydale bad guy, but she was unsure of which one that was. Sunnydale tended to have a lot of them.
Angel smiled slightly at Cordelia's lack of memory. "The guy who was responsible for turning everyone into their Halloween costumes, helped Giles summon that demon, and turned all the adults in Sunnydale back into teenagers with that candy."
"Right," Cordelia began with a look of disgust. "That guy was creepy and deserves to be killed or something."
Angel nodded. "I agree with you," he began. "And they said we could send Faith down tomorrow as long as Wesley came with her. So, I was thinking, Cordelia perhaps you could drive them down" Angel began.
"Why me?" Cordelia asked. "They want Wesley."
"Because you have the car that can hold the car seat in it," Angel replied flatly.
Cordelia sighed heavily as she began walking out of Angel's office. "Alright. I'll be here at eight in the morning and I'll drive whoever is here and ready."
"What are you two doing here?" Spike asked in disgust as he saw Xander and Anya standing in front of his crypt. He had stepped outside for a quick smoke, hoping to be alone or possibly catch a sight of Buffy in the cemetery, but he had not seen her lately.
"Begging for help," Anya pointed out as she leaned on Xander for support as she caught her breath.
"Buffy" Xander added weakly, smiling slightly as he knew mentioning the girl's name would immediately catch the vampire's attention.
Spike's face instantly turned to an expression of fear. "What--what about Buffy?" he asked with concern. "Is she hurt?" He gulped, the worst possibility of all coming to mind. "Is she dead?" he whispered.
Anya shook of the idea with a wave of her hand. "Nothing like that," she began. "She's four."
"She's for what?" Spike asked. "For slaying vampires? For killing demons?"
Anya shook her head once more. "No, she's four years old. Still the Slayer, but we can't possibly tell her that vampires are real. We need help patrolling and possibly getting hold of the man who did it to her."
Spike nodded seriously. "And that man would be?"
"Ethan," Xander announced plainly.
"The guy who turned Giles into a demon?" Spike asked curiously.
Anya and Xander both nodded. "So, patrolling?" Xander asked. "We have stakes. Are you going to help or what?"
Spike nodded finally. "I'm in," he stated. "But I better not become the next babysitter for her. You two look like hell."
Xander rolled his eyes as he tossed Spike a stake. "We saw a vamp or two by Weatherly Park," he pointed out as the three of them began walking.
"How is the little Buffy?" Spike asked curiously.
Anya rolled her brown eyes at the question. "Four years old, thinks she's a superhero, and she still has her Slayer strength."
"Has more energy than ever," Xander added exhaustedly.
"And you're all surprised at this?" Spike asked dubiously. "It's been longer since I've last seen a four year old, but that is how they are. It's like this unwritten law."
"You know this whole you helping us might go a little better with less talk from you," Xander pointed out.
"Whatever," Spike said as he rolled his eyes. "Let's just get to Weatherly and get this done with," he groaned.
At exactly eight o'clock the following morning, Cordelia pulled up onto Hyperion Avenue, stopping in front of the hotel. She stopped her car briefly before walking inside quickly. There were things to do that day, clients who would pay. Not that she would be around to assist those clients, but the faster Faith left, the faster Angel could get to work in peace to get those clients to come in.
"Angel?" she called out as she walked in the hotel, closing the large wooden door behind her. "Wesley? Faith?"
"Shh!" the little girl commanded. "We're playing hide and seek!"
Cordelia groaned slightly. "No, right now we have to go."
"Go where?" Faith demanded as she placed her hands squarely on her little hips. "I like living in the palace!"
"This isn't a pal--I mean, this isn't my palace," Cordelia began, relived that she had caught herself. She frowned slightly, biting her lip as she tried to think of a perfect lie. "This is the palace of an evil king. He's married to an evil witch who wants to eat little girls."
"EEK!" Faith screeched as she clung to Cordelia. "Get me out of here!" she begged.
"I will," Cordelia promised. "As soon as you find Wesley."
"Who's Wesley?" Faith asked with a frown.
Cordelia frowned once more as she tried to describe her co-worker in a way that Faith could understand. "He's a little taller than I am. He has brown hair and glasses."
"Oh, him!" Faith exclaimed. "I dunno where he is. We're playin' hide and seek. If I give up, then it's bad."
"But the witch is getting hungry and she's going to wake up soon," Cordelia warned.
"I GIVE UP! I GIVE UP!" Faith yelled as she saw Wesley and Angel approach her from their respective hiding places.
"That was also low," Wesley whispered to Cordelia as he grabbed Faith's car seat.
"I know," Cordelia replied back in a whisper. "But I had to think of some reason that would make her want to go to boring old Sunnydale."
Wesley nodded before turning to Angel. "So, I suppose we'll be off. We'll give you a call when we reach Sunnydale, in about an hour and a half or so unless there's traffic." He smiled before heading outside and beginning to install Faith's car seat in Cordelia's car.
"Probably not traffic," Cordelia noted. "It's Tuesday. Normally means extra Hellmouth-y energy, not a lot of traffic."
Angel nodded as he rolled his eyes at Cordelia's statement. "Ever so true," he pointed out. "Alright, I'll see you two when this is all taken care of."
Cordelia nodded as she grabbed Faith by the hand and began leading her out of the hotel. "Come on," she said as they closed the door.
"Where we going?" Faith demanded in a strong voice.
Cordelia smiled sweetly at the girl. "We're going to go catch up with a few old friends. Don't worry, there's going to be someone your age," she assured Faith.
"Will she be nice?"
Cordelia nodded. "I think you'll like her," she promised as she opened the door with the car seat inside. "Now get in and buckle up."
"POWER BARBIE AND I WANNA GO SAVE THE WORLD!" Buffy yelled excitedly. She looked curiously around the Magic Box for anyone who might be an evil villain. "You," she yelled as she approached Willow. "Put your hands up!" she commanded sternly.
Willow smiled, dutifully doing as she was told. "Am I under arrest?" she asked innocently.
"NO!" Buffy yelled. She stopped suddenly, holding the Barbie doll up to her ear. "What's that, Power Barbie?" she asked. She nodded her head up and down as Power Barbie "talked" to her. "I agree," she told the Barbie before turning to Willow. "You're the bad guy and you have to go to bad guy camp so you can be a badder bad guy 'cause now you are not very good at being a bad guy."
Willow nodded as if she was playing along before glancing over at Xander. "Have I been around her too much or did that all just make sense?"
Xander shook his head sadly at her. "Willow, don't listen to little Buffy," he pointed out as he closed the book he had been looking at.
"I bought it," Giles pointed out before frowning in confusion. "Perhaps I've been around her too much," he admitted before he walked back to the training room. "I'll be doing research in here," he said to anyone who was listening.
"Alright," Willow called to him before returning her attention to Buffy. "Where is bad guy camp?" she asked curiously.
"Over there," Buffy said with a smile as she pointed at the cash register.
"Anya's the leader of bad guy camp?" Willow asked, raising an eyebrow over at Xander's girlfriend who said nothing, only crossed her arms across her chest in protest.
Buffy shook her head at Willow. "No, silly!" she giggled. "The bad guy camp is over there. There is no leader."
"So I'm in bad guy camp?" Anya asked innocently before turning back to Xander. "I haven't been a demon for over two years now," she pointed out.
Xander stood up and walked behind Anya, rubbing her shoulders soothingly. "Honey, it's only the game of a four-year-old, not anything prophetic."
"EEK!" Buffy screeched at the sight of Xander. "Get out of bad guy camp big brother!" she screeched.
"I'm going, I'm going," Xander said as he walked out and glanced at his watch. "And now I have to get back to work. I'll come by on my lunch break," he promised as he leaned across the counter and kissed Anya lightly on the lips.
"Alright," Anya agreed as she watched him go. "Don't be late!" she called after him.
"I won't," he added as he walked out. At that exact moment, Cordelia and Wesley began walking in. "Hello to you both," he greeted before running out to his car.
"What do you want?" Anya asked. "Want to buy anything, perhaps a more expensive thing?" she suggested as she walked out from behind the counter.
"No," Wesley began as he stepped aside, revealing the young Faith.
"Where's the girl?" Faith pouted, looking up at Cordelia. "You promised!" she yelled.
Cordelia nodded as she looked over to Willow, mouthing 'Where's Buffy?'.
Willow pointed over a section of the bookshelves where Buffy was amusing herself by playing with Power Barbie. "Buffy, could you come here for a moment?" she asked politely as Buffy stood up and walked over to the witch.
"Yes?" she asked. "I'm not supposed to talk to you, you know. You belong in bad guy camp," she reminded Willow.
"I know, and I'm going," Willow promised. "But first, there's someone I want you to meet," she said as she motioned for Faith to come forward. After a little push from Cordelia, the little girl did come. "Buffy, this is Faith and she's going to be staying with us for awhile," Willow introduced.
"HI FAITH!" Buffy yelled excitedly. "I'm Super Buffy and this is my sidekick, Power Barbie," she said as she held up the tiny Mattel product.
Faith smiled happily, finding she liked the girl. "Can I be a superhero too?" she asked curiously.
Buffy shook her head. "No, there's only one superhero. You can be the sidekick, Power Faith."
"I WANNA BE A SUPERHERO!" Faith screeched.
Buffy shook her head. "But it doesn't work that way."
"Buffy" Willow began in a warning tone of voice as she moved a red lock of hair out of her face. "Let Faith be a superhero," she commanded.
"No thank you," Faith said angrily. "I wanna be the big villain who kills Super Buffy," she said.