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: I am so sorry that it's taken me so long to update. I think this is the longest I've waited between updates. Between school, work and writer's block, I haven't been able to get anything done.

Author's Note II: To kg-rose – The Drusilla part was right. So far, nobody's guessed Delia's exact origins, although Pixie13 came very close. I don't think I'll be going into details in the story, but if anyone wants to know her story, please e-mail me.

Author's Note III: To Queen C – As much fun as it would be to see Illyria deal with the kids, I'd have to kill Fred off and I couldn't bear to do that. I'm still ticked off with the producers of 'Angel' over that. Also, I'm afraid there'll be no Angelus in this story. I don't want the daycare gang to spend the rest of their lives in therapy. PS. Technically, Jasmine (in Cordelia's body) killed Lilah. Angelus just snacked on her remains.

Chapter 14.

Afternoon, Angel's Office.

"Okay," Angel looked around the table at the people gathered there. "What do we know so far?"

"My contacts have learned of five different rallies in the city, all with different kinds of demons and my guess is, this is just the tip of the iceberg." Gunn reported. "These guys mean business."

"Attacks against humans are on the increase." Fred reported, worry clouding her pretty face. "The number of human casualties have increased by almost eighty percent – and that's just in the past week."

"The firm's psychics are picking up some serious dark mojo." Lorne added glumly. "In a few week, everyone with so much as a smidge of demon in them will be drawn to this guy, whether they like it or not." He glanced up at Angel. "That probably includes you, strudel."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Buffy couldn't help but smile at the nickname.

Doing his best to keep the humiliation from his face, Angel turned to Wesley. "Has this happened before? Has this guy played this game in the past?"

"Not in our dimension, no." Wesley's eyes were dark with worry. "But he has successfully wiped out entire races in other worlds. His method is always the same, he starts by spreading his message to those who are already angry at the way things are, then as more and more demons join his crusade, his power grows, until he has gathered together enough followers to launch his attack." Wesley offered his friends a thin, humourless smile. "Ironically, the Kra' Ma'han is physically unimpressive, weaker than the average vampire."

"So why don't we just kill him?" Buffy asked impatiently. "You cut off the snake's head . . ."

"You piss the other snakes off." Wesley finished grimly. "When dealing with fanatics, there's nothing more dangerous than a martyr."

"So we can't kill him?" Buffy sighed. "That sucks!"

"I know." Wesley rubbed his temples, attempting to rid himself of the migraine that was the direct result of too many hours spent poring over musty demon tomes. "For now, all we can do is try to put a spoke in his wheel, break up as many rallies as we can, try to delay his progress, until we have abetter plan."

Angel grinned wryly. "I guess this is where the commando teams come in handy."

Daycare centre, lunchtime.

"So why'd you get stuck down here, Little Bit?"

Dawn sighed, disgruntled. "Buffy just wants to keep me away from the fighting. Uggh!" She huffed. "I'm not a little kid."

"In fairness, pet, this place is probably more dangerous than the rallies, demons or no demons. We've got Morgan."

"Is she being bad?"

"Worse." Spike scowled. "She's being nice."

"Here's your sword, James." Morgan handed the little boy the newly conjured weapon, watching with an amused smile on her face as he clutched it to his chest, determined not to allow Spike to confiscate it.

"Mine, it's mine!" James howled, as the blond vampire pried the sword from his hand, holding it aloft.

"Not anymore." Spike frowned at the little sorceress. "No more weapons, got it?"

"Yes, Mr Spike." Morgan smiled demurely. "Is there anything you'd like me to conjure for you?"

It was in the tip of Spike's tongue to request a hundred year old bottle of scotch but he clamped his mouth shut before the words could escape his lips.

"Are you sure?" Morgan asked temptingly, gesturing to the spell book. "This spell conjures anything you name."

"Your name should be Eve." Spike groused.

The little girl gave him a bewildered look.

"Never mind." Spike wagged a warning finger in the little girl's direction. "Just behave yourself."

"I will, Mr Spike."

Not believing her for a second, Spike returned to the dormitory and Chad, who had managed to catch a slight case of the sniffles earlier and was producing enough mucus to paralyse an army, keeping an ear open for Morgan as he supplied Chad with a fresh bucket.

"Better out than in, little mate." He said encouragingly, being careful not to get splashed with the green goo the little demon was producing at an alarming rate.

"Alright, Bradley." Morgan gave her companion and rival a smile. "What do you want?"

He leaned forward and whispered something in her ear.

For a split second, Morgan's dark eyes registered her dismay. "No." She scowled. "It's not nice to do love spells."

Bradley looked confused. That had never stopped Morgan before. "But. . ."

"No love spells!" Morgan glared at him.

"Fine." Bradley stomped off in a huff, heading straight for the art table and his macaroni project.

A tiara should definitely win Dawn over.

Making an effort to look cheerful, Morgan smiled down at the tiny Slayer who had been her devoted shadow since being promoted from the babies' nursery. "What'll it be, Livvie? Candy? Chocolate?"

The toddler looked tempted, but she shook her head firmly. "Livvie want Slayer."

"You're already a Slayer."

"Not Livvie Slayer." The two year old explained patiently. "Other Slayer."

It took a second for Morgan to realise what she wanted. Reading out the standard conjuring spell, she inserted the name of the item requested.

". . . So we go break up some rallies and then we . . . What the hell?" A bewildered Buffy looked around the daycare centre. "Wasn't I just upstairs."

Livia snatched Buffy's hand, tugging her over to the couch. "We hafta talk." The little Slayer announced solemnly.

"Whatcha doing?"

Bradley looked up at his idol with a bashful smile. "I was making a present for you, Miss Dawn." He presented her with the lopsided and still sticky tiara.

"It's lovely." Dawn hid a small frown as some of the paint came off in her hands. "I'll wait for it to dry before I try it on."

"You like it?" Bradley looked hopeful.

"Of course." Dawn ruffled his hair. "It was very sweet of you to make it for me."

"Miss Dawn," Bradley wet his lips nervously. "Would you like to go out with me? On a date?"

Dawn's smile froze.

This was a situation she had no idea how to handle.

"So why did you want to talk to me?" Buffy asked gently, trying not to hurt the toddler's feelings by laughing at her solemn expression.

"You Slayer." Livia said simply. "Like Livvie."

"So you want to know what a Slayer does?"

"Know that." Livia waved her suggestion aside. "Slayer stake vampire."

"So what do you want from me."

"Livvie want to fight. Miss Buffy-Slayer show."

"You want me to show you how to fight?"

Livia nodded. "And give Livvie stake."

Buffy smiled. "It'll be a long time before you have to fight. Years and years. I'll teach you then, okay."

"No, now." Livia insisted. "Livvie fight now. Delia say so."

"You're still too little." Buffy explained patiently. "The only demons you'd be able to fight now would have to be pretty . . ." She trailed off.

Spike, emerging from the dormitory armed with two buckets of Feoral mucus, recognized Buffy's 'thinking cap' expression. "What's up, pet?"

Buffy allowed a smile to spread across her face. "I think I may have a plan."

TBC.