Author's Note: Yes, I know! I have too many stories already, so sue me! I had an idea, thought it was cute, decided to write at about half 1 this morning! I will finish my other fics, I promise! I just don't know when! Anyway, this fic takes place some time after Season 5 of Buffy and Season 4 or Charmed. Enjoy! :)

Chapter 1

Shani Beth Harris didn't do cute. She did cheeky, she did mischievious, she did brooding. Right now she was in her patented give-me-what-I-want-or-I'll- scream frame of mind and there was no hope in hell of calming her down without giving in to her temper tantrum.

The 6 year old was stood, stock still in the middle of the Magic Box with a stubbon pout on her face, looking daggers at her father. "No" she said frankly and folded her arms.

Xander sighed and sat down at the research table. He was used to this, he was no longer surprised or angry at his daughter's behaviour. He hardly even noticed an old couple by the aromatherapy candles flashing very disapproving looks his way.

"Shani Honey, put the red crystal down."

"No."

Anya had used the 'she's only my daughter when she behaves' line and had stalked off into the back room. To take inventory she claimed, but the truth was probably that she only wanted to escape this nightmare child of hers.

So Xander was left to calm the little angel down.

They were the only 3 in the shop now, the couple had obviously decided that a romantic night in wasn't worth all this grief. If Willow or Tara had been around, the prospect of doing a spell would've been enough to stop this fiasco. Or Buffy relaying tales of demon killing. They were better than any bedtime story in Shani's eyes, even the really gory ones. AS it was, he was left to deal with it the good old fashioned way. With bribery.

"Sweetie, you can have all the ice cream you want when we get home." Cheap shot, but he was desperate. Xander didn't exactly know what said crystal did but he didn't really want to find out at the hands of a worked up 6 year old.

Somehow Shani had managed to retrieve it from the loft area of the shop. The area she was strictly forbidden to go in and which Spike ha told her once when she was about 3 was home to a family of vicious goblins that liked to eat little girls.

This, of course, made her more determined to go up there. She also asked if they ate vampires too. This had amused Xander no end at the look on Spike's face. The centuries old William the Bloody was not used to being spoken to like that by a toddler.

Precisely the reason why they never brought her into the shop. But a particularly destructive demon attack last night had left the shop in urgent need of some construction work so here they were.

"How about playing with this sparkly white one?" Xander picked up a lump of quartz off the shelf behind him. It was pretty harmless, he guessed. Although he had probably jinxed it now.

"This one's prettier. And bigger." She smirked mischievously at her daddy, a million different ideas bubbling about in her mind. Some sounded fun, most sounded messy and she was fairly sure that all of the would cause her parents to turn the same colour as that rock in anger. Xander was well on his way.

Not that she was really bothered. She had her dad wrapped around her little finger. Mommy was harder, but Shani was a very resourceful child and she had her ways.

Just then, the bell at the front of the shop clanged and Willow and Tara walked through, carrying collage books, smiling at each other.

"Auntie Willow!" Shani yelled and dropped the crystal on the floor with a loud thud. Xander groaned.

"Hey there monster!" Willow greeted the little girl and scooped her up into her arms.

"Me and daddy were playing with pretty things" she told Tara, smiling.

Xander rolled his eyes and walked over to them by the door. Willow raised her eyebrow at him and the look he gave her back told her that he was definitely not having fun.

Anya walked out into the main shop and put a large box of talismans down on the counter. "Behaving yet?" she asked Xander. He nodded.

'Good' she thought. Being a parent was easy. Her daughter may be a monster, but she wasn't that bad really. She just wouldn't want to purposefully wind her up. She pitied anyone who got on Shani's bad side.

* * *

"C'mon daddy! I wanna play hide and seek!"

Scout leaped up onto Cole's lap and he watched TV and proceeded to bounce on him like a trampoline. "Argh" he groaned, chuckling and tried to shift his daughter off him.

She stopped bouncing long enough to flash him a sugary sweet smile. "Pleeeeeeeease?"

Cole rolled his eyes. "Ok, go and hide and I'll count to 20." He deliberately left out the part about coming to find her. He hoped that this game would give him peace for another half an hour. At least until Phoebe came home.

"No silly!" the 6 year old said. "Not that hide and seek, the fun one! With shimmering!"

"No, honey. You know that's not allowed."

Scout plonked her self down on the sofa next to him and gave him a confused look. "But aunt Piper's at work, she won't yell."

Cole stifled the urge to laugh. "You know, aunt Piper's not the only one that can tell you off you know."

"I know. But she's the only one that does tell me off."

It was true, him and Phoebe were too soft on their little devil of a daughter. He made a mental note to be firmer. Starting right now.

"Why don't w find something less magical to do?"

Scout shrugged. "Ok." She wasn't one to throw tantrums. She was the most laid back child Cole had ever come across. Granted, he hadn't come across many children in his many years at a demon from hell, but Scout Halliwell didn't cause trouble. If often found her, he thought, but she didn't cause it.

"Can we make cookies?" she asked.

"Erm." Cole thought about what Piper might say if she came home from the club and found her kitchen in a state. "Maybe later."

"But I know how to do it" she pleaded. "And I'm sure I'll be allowed. As long as I don't mess with Aunt Paige's potion. Please daddy?"

Cole relented, So much for being firm. They went into the kitchen and proceeded to get all the ingredients down from the cupboard.

Some time later, Phoebe turned her key in the front door and hung her bag up on the coat stand. "Anyone home?"

"We are Mom" came an exited sounding voice from the kitchen. Phoebe smiled. She walked across the living room to the door and rolled her eyes when she saw her daughter and husband covered in flour.

"We made cookies mommy. Choc chip ones!"

"They're not quite cooked yet" Cole replied, kissing Phoebe on the forehead. She stepped back and brushed the floor off her black top. "How was work?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. How was your day off?"

"Eventful."

Phoebe looked worried for a second.

"Oh, nothing like that" Cole said, "no demons. Just this little madam here wanted to cast every spell under the sun."

Scout shrugged. "I think daddy would look good with blue spots" she said. "But he wouldn't let me do magic and he hid my pens."

"Yeah" said Cole, rolling his eyes at his wife. "I like being the colour I am."