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: Thanks for all of the reviews. Your encouragement meant a lot.

Author's Note II: To Charmed-angel4 - I'm sure that Spike and Harmony would love it if you took Bradley off their hands. Glad you like him.

Author's Note III: To Darklight - Thanks again for your suggestion for a present from Morgan to Harmony. I'll be using it in this chapter.

Author's Note IV: To Queen C - I'd love to write Anya taking care of and/or corrupting the kids, but the stupid writers killed her off and to save Andrew of all people!

Words in / / = Thoughts.

*

Chapter 12.

The daycare centre, half past one.

"Uncle Xander?" Damien, his curiosity overcoming his usual shyness, tugged on Xander's shirt to get his attention.

"What's up, kid?" Xander had not yet mastered all of his charges' names, which was understandable as he had been on the job less than ten minutes, having taken over for Giles and Willow after lunch.

"Are you a pirate, Uncle Xander?" The small boy wore a perplexed frown, confused by the images that he had picked up from his new caretaker.

Xander chuckled. "You mean the patch? No, I . . ." He trailed off; seeing the admiring looks that some of the children were giving him. /On second thoughts . . . / "Can you keep a secret?"

Damien, along with several of the other children who were clustered around Xander, nodded solemnly.

Xander bent forward in a confiding manner, making his voice as mysterious as he could. "I am."

"Wow!" Damien's tone was awe filled.

"Did you lose your eye in a sword fight?" James asked eagerly, bouncing from one foot to the other in his excitement. "Is it really gross under the patch?"

"Can we see?"

Xander grinned at Chad, who had asked the question, lifting his eye patch a little so that they could see his scar.

"Cool!" James's tone was reverential. How many kids got to meet a real pirate? "Hey, Bradley!" He called to his friend, who was sitting at the art table. "Come here. Uncle Xander's a pirate."

Much to his friend's disappointment, Bradley just grunted non-commitally, absorbed in his project.

"Can we play 'Pirate', Uncle Xander?" Chad asked hopefully.

"Sure." Xander was more than happy to go along with that plan. "You can be First Mate."

"I wanted to be First Mate." James groused.

"You can be Second Mate." Xander suggested quickly, not wanting to end up with a squabble on his hands. "And you can be Third Mate." he told a disgruntled Damien.

"Can we play with swords?" James asked hopefully.

"You have to have a sword if you're a pirate." Chad added knowledgably.

"Livvie want sword." The two year old Slayer hugged Xander's leg. "Livvie play?"

"You're too little." James told her scornfully. "Besides, there's no such thing as a Fourth mate."

Livia's lower lip trembled and she looked ready to burst into tears.

Seeing the danger signals, Xander scooped her up hurriedly and sat her on his shoulders. "I've got an extra special job for you, sweetie." he said coaxingly. "Where would a pirate be without his parrot?"

"Livvie parrot?"

"That's right." Xander told her encouragingly. "Now," He turned to his three mates with a scowl worthy of Captain Hook. "Are we ready to set sail, ye scurvy dogs?"

"Aye, aye, Uncle Xander." The three boys chorused.

"Captain." Xander corrected. "Call me 'Captain'."

"Aye, aye, Uncle Captain."

* * *

The same time, Angel's Office.

"Research." Buffy uttered the word as though it left a bad taste in her mouth. "How is it that, despite your huge staff of minions, we stil get stuck with research?"

Angel just smiled.

Giles was in his element. Although the Wolfram and Hart Ancient Prophesies Wing looked deceptively unimpressive, it contained more books than Giles had ever seen, even in the combined libraries of the Watcher's Council. At present, the British man was happily perusing a book that wasn't even available in this dimension.

"You know," Wesley looked up from his own book. "Apparently this place used to have someone who knew absolutely everything that ever happened, in recorded history and before."

"Why can't we just get her to tell us what we need to know?" Dawn whined.

Wesley shrugged apologetically. "I'm afraid that Files and Records is undergoing a much needed resorting. It will be weeks before we are able to access the Record keeper."

"That bites!" The teenager groused.

"Don't complain." Giles told her sternly. "It could be worse - you could have to work in the daycare centre like poor Xander."

Buffy looked up, a little worried. "Do you think that Xander's okay down there?"

Dawn gave a rather inelegant snort of laughter. "Come on, guys! This is Xander we're talking about. He's like a big kid himself. He'll be fine."

* * *

Half an hour later, the daycare centre.

"Land ahoy, Uncle Captain." James called from the prow of the ship - an upside down table draped with blankets borrowed from the dormitory for sails.

Xander, sitting on the 'captain's chair' with Livia still perched on his shoulders, rubbed his hands in glee, really getting into his role. "There'll be treasure aplenty, lads." He cackled, grinning down at his loyal crew, to which Delia and David had been added. "And it'll be ours for the plundering."

"Yeah!" All the kids cheered happily.

Brandishing his plastic sword, Xander gave his crew the command they were longing to hear. "Attack!"

* * *

Miss Harmony had told him that girls liked presents, so Bradley was hard at work.

Looking up from the art table, he could see some of the other children running across to the kitchen and rummaging in the fridge.

Chad ran over to Miss Harmony, taking the indignant vampire captive.

Bradley sighed impatiently.

He had wanted to ask Miss Harmony's opinion about his gift.

His friends could be such kids sometimes.

* * *

Five minutes later.

"And now it's time to divide the spoils." Xander announced, surveying the treasure (candy) with an approving eye.

"Candy for Livvie."

Xander shook his finger at his 'parrot'. "It's 'Pretty Polly' or 'Polly want a cracker'." He corrected gently. "You know that."

Livia made a valiant attempt at squawking. "Caw! Pretty Livvie."

Xander laughed, feeding her a jelly baby. He had given up on getting the little Slayer to substitute the name 'Polly' for her own. He lifted her down from his shoulders so that she could claim a share of the treasure. "Now," he grinned down at his loyal crew. "Dig in."

They needed no second prompting.

* * *

Five minutes later.

Morgan had her nose buried in a spell book, trying to come up with an appropriate 'nice' thing to do for someone.

Sarah had deserted her in order to play the part of a mermaid in Uncle Xander's pirate game, leaving her friend to work by herself.

Morgan flicked through the pages for a few more minutes before alighting on a spell that looked intriguing.

A slow smile spread over her pale face.

This was perfect.

* * *

"No way!" From her perch on the chair they had made her stand on, Harmony glared at 'Captain' Xander. "Why do I have to walk the plank?"

"Because you're a prisoner." Chad informed her, as though this was self-explanatory.

"Pirates always make people walk the plank." David said knowledgably.

"Unless they're soft." James scowled at the mere thought. "And we're not soft." He added fiercely. "So you have to walk the plank. Now move!" He poked the blonde vampire with his toy sword, catching her off guard and sending her stumbling off the low chair and into the sea.

Harmony gave Xander an indignant look. "I'll get you for this, Xander Harris!"

* * *

Ten minutes later.

"Miss Harmony?" Morgan sidled up to her caretaker, her hands behind her back. "I have a present for you."

Harmony sighed wearily. "I'm not in the mood for one of your tricks now, okay?"

"It's nice." Morgan insisted. "Really."

Against her better judgement, Harmony held out her hand. "What is it?" She scowled when the little sorceress handed her a small compact mirror. "Oh, very funny! She commented bitterly. "Make fun of the girl who can't see her reflection."

"Open it." Morgan insisted.

"Fine." A ticked off Harmony opened the compact. "Happ. . ." She trailed off as she saw her reflection for the first time in more than three years. "Oh my God!"

Morgan's breath was knocked out of her as the blonde vampire seized her in an impossibly tight bear hug.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Harmony hadn't been this happy in a long time.

"Miss Harmony?" Poor Morgan could barely catch her breath. "I can't breathe."

"Sorry." Harmony released the little girl, beaming at her.

/I guess she's not so bad after all. /

* * *

Five minutes later.

Xander checked his watch. /Two twenty-five. Five minutes left until naptime. / "Alright, mateys," he said aloud. "Time for one last pillage before we dock. We set sail for . . ." He trailed off sheepishly. "Hi, Buff."

The blonde Slayer smiled. "Having fun Xander?"

Dawn, standing at her sister's side, giggled, and even Angel looked amused.

Bradley approached shyly, his art project in hand.

"Here." He held it out to Dawn. "I made this for you."

Dawn awkwardly accepted the brightly painted macaroni necklace. "Gee, thanks." Conscious of the little boy's expectant gaze, she put it on. "It's lovely." She bent down and kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

Bradley, delighted by the reception his offering had received, raced back to the art table, intent on making more macaroni jewellery.

"Looks like someone's got a boyfriend." Buffy teased.

Dawn gave her sister a good-natured shove. "Shut up!"

Taking pity on her, Buffy turned her attentions back to Xander. "I was going to ask if you wanted to grab a bite to eat while the kids were napping but if you guys are having fun . . ."

"We are." James announced firmly. "We're playing pirates and Sarah's a mermaid and Livvie's a parrot."

Livia, perched on Xander's shoulders, took her cue, giving them her best squawk.

"Livvie want crack!"

For the life of her, the two year old Slayer couldn't understand while all of the adults burst out laughing.

TBC.

That's all for now. Next chapter will include more Delia, plus a new victim for the daycare gang. Any requests? Please keep up the reviews and suggestions. Thanks.