Title: Willow Rosenberg, Child Psychologist

Author: mistymidnight

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I own the plot, as well as Taylor, Maxwell, Carly, Erin, Noah, and Aimee. Gidgetgirl owns Zane, Thayer, Sophie, Lola, as well as the plot to the companion fic to this one, "Fully Qualified". Joss Whedon owns the canon and all the characters not mentioned in this disclaimer. (Excluding Lola's mother, who I also own and haven't bothered to name.)

Spoilers/Timeline: Post-Chosen, after my other fic "Fully Qualified".

Summary: Sequel to "Fully Qualified". Willow's life has quieted down. But do things ever stay quiet when you're a Scooby?

Author's Notes: Gasp! An update from me? What are the odds?!

I've been, as per usual, busy. But people (read: gidgetgirl) have been kind enough to let me know they're still interested in the story, so I got inspired, and you all get an update. See the goodness there? It's a karma thing.

Babysitting

Willow stood outside the Hills' apartment building, pulling her coat more tightly around her body. The rain had turned to sleet, which, Willow suspected, would soon become snow. The weatherman shared her suspicions, so Willow had worn her boots and made sure her ice scraper thingamabob was stashed in the backseat of her car. However, all the ice scrapers in the world wouldn't help her if Carly never answered the buzzer...

Suddenly there was a crackling on the loudspeaker. "Hello?" Carly's voice said.

"It's me," Willow answered, her breath coming out in a big cloud in front of her.

"Oh, hey," Carly said. "Come on up." The door buzzer went off and Willow let herself in.

When she reached the apartment, she had to wait another two minutes before Carly opened the door for her. When she finally did, she was putting in an earring, watching a pot of macaroni and cheese out of the corner of her eye, and telling Taylor, "I told you, sweetheart, I'm not going to take you home food from the restaurant. I'm making you dinner right now." She nodded a "come in" to Willow and shut the door behind her. Taylor sat sulking in a corner, the TV behind her yelling something about tax rebates.

"Hey, Taylor," Willow said.

"Hi, Dr. Rosenberg," Taylor said pointedly, glancing at her mother out of the corner of her eye. "Guess what."

"What?"

"I'm mad at my mom and I'm not talking to her anymore."

"Why's that?"

Taylor glared at her mother. "Because."

"Taylor, this is nonsense," Carly said. "If you're a good girl I'll bring you back a special treat, okay?"

Taylor seemed to perk up momentarily, but tried her hardest not to show it. "Okay."

"Good," Carly smiled, before turning to Willow and rattling off, "Her-bedtime-is-at-nine-and-I've-made-her-macaroni-you-just-have-to-put-the-milk-and-cheese-and-stuff-in-and-I-should-be-home-by-midnight-unless-the-driving's-bad-which-God-knows-it-probably-will-be-knowing-this-weather-and-I-laid-out-her-pajamas-on-the-bed-and-if-she-has-one-of-her-nightmares-she-can-watch-some-TV-or-something-with-you-and-if-she-wants-a-snack-she-can-have-some-veggies-and--"

"What a second," Willow said. "One, slow down. Breathe. Two, back up. What did you just say?"
Carly smoothed her hair down. "If she wants a snack, she can eat the veggies that--"

"No, no, before that. Did you say she's been having nightmares?"

Carly nodded. "Yeah. I figured it was just a phase. Why? Is this bad?"

Willow shook her head. "Not really. I've just had some bad experiences with nightmares--"

Carly gave her an incredulous look. "Pretty much everybody's nightmares are bad. I'd be hard pressed to think of a good experience I had with nightmares."

"I know," Willow replied. "It's just that once, there was this dream, and the First Slayer that tried to kill me and my friends, and a guy with cheese and...it was not of the good."

"Oh," Carly said, clearly confused. "Well."

"So I have this...thing...about nightmares."

"Well, I doubt these are as dire as Cheese-Guy nightmares."

Willow smiled a little. "Here's hoping."

The buzzer rang and Carly jumped for the speaker. "That's him!" she sqealed, before pressing the button and saying calmly, "I'll be right down." As soon as the intercom was off, she turned to Willow. "Am I okay? How's my hair? How's my breath? Did I tell you everything? Where's my purse?"

Willow grinned. "Yes, fine, fine, yes, and right here." She handed Carly the pocketbook. "Have fun."

"Okay. I will." Carly walked over to Taylor and gave her a hug. "Be good for Dr. Rosenberg. I'll come in and give you a kiss goodnight when I come home."

"Okay," Taylor replied, still sulking.

With one last wave goodbye, Carly headed out the door.

And the babysitting job began.

Forgive any spelling mistakes...I'm tired and working without a spellchecker.

mistymidnight