Disclaimer: The cannon Scoobies, places, and mythology all belong to Joss. That is a statement I will make in court and whatnot. Morgan belongs to me and Matthew belongs to the person who plays him on my site and I will also hold to those statements in court.

Chapter Four

"He's all yours," Anya stated with a long sigh as she let Matthew into the Summers household at around quarter to two on that Sunday afternoon. "Just to caution you, he had a lot of root beer and is pretty hyper," she warned the redhead witch standing in the doorway.

Willow smiled slightly. "Don't worry. I handled Xander at this age when he was more hyper than that. I'm sure I'll work out fine. And I have Buffy and quite possibly Giles to help," she pointed out as she stepped aside slightly to let Tara past her and out next to Anya. "We'll be fine here," she added for assurance.

"Good," Anya said in a slightly distracted tone of voice as she headed down the sidewalk and over towards her car. Tara quickly followed behind her and crawled into the passenger seat just seconds before Anya pulled out of the driveway, once again demonstrating her poor driving skills.

"Can we play Cops?" Matthew asked as he looked eagerly up at Buffy and Willow with wide brown eyes. Without waiting for the answer, he ran off towards the kitchen with a wicked laugh. "You two are cops and can't catch me 'cause I'm the bad bank robber!" he yelled happily.

"At least when Xander was this hyper, I was usually that hyper with him," Willow commented as she began tentatively following Matthew into the kitchen.

Buffy let out a huge sigh as she slowly began to follow Willow through the hallway. "It's not like this is the end of the world again," she pointed out.

"Yea, that's generally easier to handle," Willow reminded Buffy as she stood up straight with her back against the doorway to the kitchen. Her eyes darted around the room, hoping to catch sight of the extremely energetic boy she and Buffy were supposed to be looking after.

"But it's also more deadly. I don't think eight-year-olds necessarily are the death of their thirty-one-year old aunts," Buffy added with a slightly arched thin eyebrow.

Willow gasped suddenly as she heard a loud crash from something in the kitchen come tumbling down to the linoleum floor, followed by a small "Oops". The witch rolled her eyes as she turned to Buffy. "You spoke too soon," she pointed out gently as she walked into the kitchen to discover what exactly had been broken.

"That broken glass wouldn't have killed Dawn," Buffy mumbled miserably as she reached for a small broom to sweep the broken glass from the coffee pot up.

"Buffy," Willow began as she cautiously knelt down and took the broom from Buffy's hand. "There was nothing you could have done to prevent Dawn from dying. It was her choice."

"Aunt Willow, Aunt Buffy, you still can't get me!" Matthew yelled from one of the other rooms. Willow honestly could not tell which one it was coming from, but she knew it was far back.

"Oh!" Willow said as her face brightened up, a usual indication that she had some idea on what they should do coming on. "I have an idea!"

Buffy smiled slightly as she handed Willow the dustpan. "Thought you would soon enough," she said with a little bit of happiness in her voice. "What is it?" she asked a moment later as Willow began sweeping the bits of glass into the pan.

"There's this spell I know that can calm him down in an instant!" Willow perked up excitedly. "Like magic! Well, ok, it is magick, but still. It'll get our job done and make the rest of the afternoon a breeze."

Buffy gave her best friend a small frown. "I don't think so, Wills," she said honestly. "It's not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but there are other ways, non-magickal ways, to deal with the trivial problems," she explained. "And I'm almost positive Tara would disapprove of this."

Willow nodded. "It was just an idea," she mumbled softly as she put the small remainders of the coffee pot into the trashcan in the kitchen.

"Good afternoon, Xander," Vince greeted his co-worker as Xander walked onto the construction site. He stopped, frowning with a hint of confusion on his face. "What are you doing here on Sunday?"

Xander smiled in greeting as he reached for a hard hat. "Just wanted to run some things by Beverly," he answered simply. "She here?"

Vince nodded. "In the trailer," he informed Xander before going back over towards what was starting to look like a building.

"God I hate this," Anya mumbled miserably with an undertone of panic in her voice from her chair in the hallway just outside the operating room where Morgan was in. "They're in there doing heaven knows what to my little girl and I'm out here filling out all these insurance forms and things. This is just like doctors. Evil and in league with the bunnies."

"Anya," Tara stated the ex-demon's name for over the millionth time that afternoon as she wrapped a comforting hand around Anya's thin shoulders. "They know what they're doing. The doctors are trained professionals and nothing will go wrong," Tara recited, also for over the millionth time.

"You can't know that for sure," Anya pointed out fearfully. "You don't know everything, Tara. I know you're trying to make me feel better, but it's not working! She'd already been in there for half an hour," Anya continued. The fear and panic in her voice was escalating to a point where Tara thought that tears would shortly be following Anya's statements.

"Mrs. Harris," the doctor interrupted as he approached the two women.

Anya looked up at him and swallowed hard, preparing herself for the worst. "What did you do?" she began rambling. "Is she alive in there?" she immediately asked as she rose up from her chair.

The doctor chuckled slightly as he placed a reassuring arm on Anya's shoulder. "Everything's fine, miss," he assured her. "We're just going to take her down to recovery until she wakes up then check to make sure nothing went wrong," he informed the two of them. "Hospital procedure," he quickly added. "Nothing is wrong with your daughter."

A huge smile of relief filled Anya's face as she turned to Tara, hugging the witch tightly in joyous celebration. She then turned to the doctor, hugging him as well. "Thank you," she said seriously. She then pulled away before asking her next question. "When can I take her home?"

The doctor smiled as one of the nurses began taking Morgan over to the recovery area. "I'd estimate you should be home by about eight, nine at the latest," he answered truthfully after taking a quick glance at his watch. "And now, if you'd excuse me, I have other patients to attend to."

Beverly Flores could not help but be apprehensive. The thought that she would be caught doing this had crossed her mind many times. She glanced over at her red shirt and black pants down on the floor before returning her focus to the man she had been successfully making out with and having sex with. "Are you sure we won't get caught?" she asked timidly. "I mean, it's a Sunday and there aren't as many people here as on the other days. And these people might want to talk and what if someone enters? I mean, this is a pretty small trailer," she rambled her worst fears out as she tucked a strand of her red hair behind her ear.

"Hey, relax," Xander assured her as he cupped her cheek tenderly. "The workers can refer to Tony or Vince if they need any help. And my wife is going to be at the hospital all day leading into evening and possibly night, depending on what point of time defines night."

Beverly smiled slightly as she moved in closer to Xander. "That's good," she said seductively before planting a huge kiss on his forehead then moving down to his lips.