Disclaimer: Since my name is not Joss Whedon, neither 'Buffy: The Vampire Slayer', 'Angel', or any of the amazing characters associated with either show belong to me. I also don't own the story line - that is taken from gidgetgirl's 'Mr Spike Challenge' (details below). The kids at the day care centre belong to me.

~*The Mr. Spike Challenge*~
Set in Angel season five. When the head of the Wolfram and Hart daycare service for employee children (both human and non-human) dies, Angel decides to kill two birds with one stone by putting Spike in charge of the daycare.

Requirements:
One of the kids must be a slayer. One of the kids must do magic At least two kids must be entirely mortal. One child should remind Spike of someone he saw a hundred years ago.

Author's Note I: So far, I've had requests for Xander, Dawn and one for Giles to pull daycare duty but in the interest of fair play, I think that all of the Scoobies should take a turn being tormented by the kids.

Author's Note II: To gidgetgirl –The demon himself isn't the problem, it's what he plans to do.

Words in / / = Thoughts.

Chapter 11.

The next morning, half past eight, the daycare centre.

David sniffed the air apprehensively as he regarded his new carer.

"You smell funny." The three year old werewolf announced, not bothered in the least by the look of horror on the man's face.

Giles frowned reprovingly at the small boy, waiting until he had ran off to play with one of the other children before cautiously sniffing under his arm, just in case.

He wasn't entirely certain how he had ended up with this job.

Spike, claiming that he had some contacts he wanted to question, had escaped at the first possible opportunity and somehow Giles had found himself, along with a reluctant Willow, conscripted for daycare duty.

Being Harmony's assistant, Giles reflected, really was as low as a man could go.

* * *

"So how long have you been doing magic?" Morgan asked curiously, regarding her new carer with a respectful – by her standards at least – expression.

"Five years." Sarah answered on the red haired Wicca's behalf.

Willow shook a playful finger at the little girl. "No reading Miss Willow." She rebuked gently.

Sarah just smiled.

"Five years." Morgan looked thoughtful. "That's longer than me. Can you teach me some spells?"

Willow suppressed a laugh. "From what I hear, you're no amateur yourself."

"Morgan's really powerful." Sarah piped up. "She can make yucky food taste good and she turned Mr Wesley into a funny animal and she gave Miss Harmony blue hair and once she made Mrs Murray's false teeth bite her and she . . ."

"I get the idea." Willow held up a hand to halt the little girl's enthusiastic tirade. She looked down at Morgan, a serious expression on her face. "You shouldn't use your magic to do nasty things to people, you know." She chided gently. "If you use your magic for bad things, bad things come back to you." She shuddered inwardly, remembering her own brush with darkness little more than a year ago.

"They haven't yet." The young sorceress argued logically. "I like to use my magic for fun."

"Do you ever use it to do nice things for people?"

"I conjure candy for Livvie." Morgan offered, a smile spreading slowly across her pale, intense face. "Then she gets hyper. It's funny."

Willow wisely chose to let that slide.

"Maybe you should try to think of something nice to do for someone today." She suggested encouragingly. "I bet you can."

Morgan nodded thoughtfully. "I'll try."

"I'll help you think of something." Sarah offered generously.

Willow smiled at the girls.

/That oughta keep them occupied for at least a little while. /

* * *

"Miss Harmony?" Bradley shyly approached the blonde vampire, looking around to make sure that none of his friends were within earshot.

Morgan and Sarah were huddled in a corner, poring over a spell book. Chad and James were playing Snakes and Ladders and Damien was playing in the pretend kitchen with David and Livia. Delia was curled up on the couch, conversing intently with her doll and seemingly dead to the world.

He exhaled in relief. He didn't want any of them listening in.

"What's up, Bradley?" Harmony asked cheerfully. The novel sensation of being in charge had boosted her spirits and not even one of her charges' best pranks could have dampened her spirits.

"I'd . . .I'd like to ask you something." He began nervously.

"Spill."

"How . . ." He cleared his throat. "How do you get a girl to like you?"

For once in her life, Harmony was speechless.

* * *

The same time, Angel's office.

"I don't get it." Buffy frowned, puzzled. "This is just one demon, right? He doesn't even look all that tough. How can he do the kid of damage you're talking about?"

"Adolf Hitler was only one man." Wesley pointed out logically. "Yet he was responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people. I believe that the demon in Delia's vision was the Kra' Ma'han, the Sower of Discontent, the Gatherer of Darkness. Unless we can stop him, he will recruit hundreds, then thousands of demons into his legions and once he has gathered enough followers, he will tap into the dark core of every demon, every monster, every vampire in this world and beyond and bind them to his will. Then," Wesley looked around the room, where every eye was upon him. "He and his followers will wage war on humankind and everything that stands in their way."

"Wow." Fred whispered, awed.

"You can say that again." Xander's face was pale.

"So how do we stop him?"

Wesley looked over at Angel, who had asked the question. "I don't know." He confessed quietly.

* * *

An hour later, the daycare centre.

"Mr Rupe?" Livia hadn't quite managed to master Giles's name.

"Yes?" Giles looked down at the angelic looking toddler standing next to him. In the days of the old Watcher's Council, a Potential Slayer identified at Livia's age would have been removed to the Council's care at the earliest possible opportunity, as the late Kendra had been. One thing that he and Buffy had been in full agreement on  was that children, regardless of their gifts, should not be taken from loving families and handed over to strangers to raise.

After an hour with Spike's small charges, Giles was thanking every deity ever worshipped that he didn't have to deal with small Slayers on a regular basis.

"Livvie want story." The two year old requested imperiously. She frowned when Giles did not immediately comply, placing her hands on her hips. "Now!"

"Story?" Giles smiled. /Perhaps there are still some children not completely enslaved by the idiot box. / He liberated a beautifully illustrated volume of Hans Christian Anderson's fairytales from the bookshelf. "What would you like to hear?"

"No baby story." Livia scowled at the book as though it had offended her personally. "Livvie want a vampire story. Like Mr Spike tell."

"A vampire story?" Giles repeated, incredulous. /Good Lord! It's been less than a week and Spike has already managed to corrupt the poor child. /

"Yes." Livia crossed her hands over her chest, glaring at Giles. "Now!"

"You're too small for a vampire story." Giles told her firmly, reflecting mournfully on how much easier Buffy and her friends had been to deal with when they first met.

About three seconds after the words had left his mouth, Giles realized his mistake.

Livia drew a deep breath, opened her mouth impossibly wide and . . .

"LIVVIE WANT A VAMPIRE STORY! NOW!"

Morgan looked up from her spell book and shook her head indulgently.

Mr Rupert had a lot to learn.

* * *

Two hours later.

"Hello all." Xander called cheerfully, popping into the daycare centre for a quick visit, accompanied by Dawn.

"Shh!" Giles shushed him hastily. "I just got her to sleep."

"Who?" Xander gave him a blank look.

Willow laughed. "Giles had a bit of a run in with our resident mini-Slayer."

"Isn't she two?" Dawn asked heedlessly.

Giles just glared at her. "You can laugh . . ."

"We will, thanks." Xander joked.

"But that child is the most stubborn, non compliant individual I have ever come across."

"You used to say the same thing about Buffy." Willow observed.

"I had to feed her at least a dozen candy bars before she would stop screaming long enough for me to get her settled for her nap." Giles continued his tale of woe, oblivious to the unhappy looks Willow, Dawn and Xander were exchanging. "What?" He asked, finally noticing their expressions.

Before they could explain, a pale and unhappy little Slayer staggered out of the dormitory, clutching her stomach.

"Livvie tummy hurt." She complained miserably, before proceeding to regurgitate her sugar gorge.

Giles looked down at his stained trousers and shoes in dismay.

/Wonderful! /

TBC.

Giles and Willow have had their turn. Next up: Uncle Xander and the kiddies.