A/N : Thanx so much to the latest reviewers; Freezyboncoolipants, Moonjava, ness345, Daniel Wesley Rydell, Moluvsnumber17, demonica mills, EMBER91, Brunettepet, sf-former-mk, vanillagigglez, spuffy4eva, Charmed Phoebe 1982, Anyanka0705, Hellmouth2, Torrchy, and Spuffy6. You all rock, and I promise there really is a plot under all the sweet kiddy stuff here.
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8

"Sorry, Giles" Buffy said, biting her lip so as not to giggle any more. Her mother was giving her that look that told her to behave, although it seemed that Joyce was also having difficulties hiding a smile on this occasion.

"Are you okay, Rupert?" she checked as he came to sit beside her on the porch.

"I dare say I shall live" he smiled, though when he put hand to the sore point on his head where the soccer ball had hit him it turned into a grimace.

The kids were back to their games, Willow and Tara having a thumb war sitting on the steps whilst the others, including Dawn, played soccer, or at least a variation of it. Little Xander was horrified to see Anya pick up the ball as it came towards her and run with it.

"No!" he yelled chasing after her, "You can't pick up the ball!" he told her.

"But it was the easiest way to get it to the winning area" she replied, gesturing to the spot that had been assigned as the goal in which she now stood with the ball in her hands.

"You can't touch the ball!" Xander rolled his eyes, "It's called sock-er, cos you're supposed to use your socks!" he explained, pointing to his feet. Dawn overheard what he said as she approached and burst out laughing.

"That's stupid!" Anya said, folding her little arms over her chest and looking cross, "Then how come the game with the other ball is called football and the men pick up the ball?" she asked, annoying Xander because he had no answer to that.

As Dawn made attempts to split to up what looked ready for a fight suddenly, Buffy ran over to her mother and Giles who still sat on the swing, discussing Halfrek and Spike's idea of asking Anya about being a Vengeance demon.

"...it may be the only way to bring them back" the Watcher sighed as the little Slayer came towards them.

"Bring who back?" she asked with a frown, "Everybody's already here" she told him as she spun round and checked. Yep, all her friends were present and correct, she could even see Spikey peeking through the kitchen blinds, though he disappeared fairly fast when he saw she'd spotted him.

"It's nothing for you to worry about, my dear" Giles told the little girl, "Although do you think you might do a little favour for me?" he asked her.

"Sure" Buffy nodded, happy to help out.

"Could you go and ask Anya if she might come and speak to me, I have a question for her" he explained vaguely and Buffy agreed before bolting off to do as she was asked.

"It might be easier to speak to her alone about such a matter" Giles told Joyce, "If she does become distressed at least it will be only her and not all of them"

"What exactly will you ask?" Joyce checked, "I mean, how much will she remember? If anything at all?"

"I really couldn't say" her boyfriend sighed, as he removed his glasses and polished the lenses, "When Buffy and Spike were turned into children they retained some of their memories but it was very confusing for them to try to remember, since they didn't fit into their world as five year olds"

"Aren't we risking Anya getting very mixed up by mentioning her past to her?" Joyce frowned as she watched the two blondes share a few words before the ex-demon came stomping over, clearly still unhappy after her exchange with Xander.

"Indeed" Giles agreed as he replaced his spectacles on his nose, "but we really have no other option if we ever want the children back to their normal selves" he explained as Anya arrived in front of them.

"Xander Harris is not a nice boy!" she announced.

"Oh, did he upset you, sweetie?" Joyce sympathised. Though she hadn't forgotten the abominable way Anya had treated Buffy and Spike when they were kids last year, she found it impossible to be unfeeling to any child, including this smaller version of Anya.

"I hate him more than...bunnies!" she said furiously, though she seemed adamant that she would not explain what had caused such feelings.

"Er, Anya" Giles awkwardly tried to get her attention, "I wondered, do you remember anything about..."

"I'm so mad at Xander!" she interrupted, "He's a mean, stinky...boy! If I were still a Vengeance demon I'd..."

"Ah-ha!" Giles said suddenly, aggravated at first by her interrupting him, but so glad she'd mentioned her demon days. It meant she remembered them and was probably able to talk of them without further distress - two very good facts right now.

"Anya, my dear, I need to ask you about that, about your Vengeance Demon days" he said carefully, "Or rather the end of them"

"I was taller then" she sighed, grumpily as she looked down at her chest, "I had better assets too"

"Yes, indeed" Giles muttered, "but do you remember the day you stopped being a demon?" he asked her, "The day you became human again?"

"Of course I remember" the little blonde snapped, "It's not like I could ever forget, not when I see you all the time"

"Sweetie, what does Rupert have to do with this?" Joyce asked the child who was still pouting over Xander especially now as he continued his game with Buffy and Dawn as if nothing had happened. She was starting to wonder if he even loved her at all anymore.

"Anya" Giles called back her attention, "We really must know what you remember, my dear" he told her and Anya sighed heavily.

"You smashed my power centre!" she reminded him overly loudly, "In the alternate reality from Cordy's wish, and then the wish went away and so did my power" she rattled off, "Now I wanna go play the game with the socks and the balls again" she said as she ran back over to the rest of the gang.

"Alternate reality? From a wish Cordelia made?" Joyce frowned not understanding, "I don't remember any of that"

"No, nor I" Giles agreed, "but then I don't suppose we would. When Anyanka became the human Anya once again, not only did she lose her powers but her latest wish was undone" he translated what Anya had said into his own far more grown up and sensible words, "It would seem that all we need to do is somehow capture this Halfrek person and smash her 'power centre'" he quoted from Anya's little rambley speech.

"Do we know what her power centre is?" Joyce asked hopefully.

"No" Giles admitted, "but I can probably find out" he said as he got up and headed for the back door to fetch his books from the house.

Over in the garden, Xander and Buffy passed the ball back and forth with their feet expertly as Dawn stood in the goal area waiting to block any shots that came her way. Anya grew more and more agitated as she was unable to prise the ball away from the others and Xander was giving far too much attention to the Slayer right now, that didn't please her either.

In a moment of fury she ran at Buffy and tackled her for the ball. As the blondes' legs became entangled they both went crashing to the floor with a thud and Joyce immediately went rushing over to make sure they were okay, as did Dawn and Xander.

"Oooow!" Buffy complained far more than she really should being the Slayer, but then Anya had more or less landed on top of her, squashing her into the ground. Wearing a dress hadn't helped matters, and with nothing to protect her legs from harm, stones amongst the grass had badly grazed the little girls knee. Though the sight of the blood didn't bother her so much, and the pain wasn't too bad, the fact she had seemingly ruined her dress made her cry. Spike had thought she was so pretty in her new outfit, now he'd hate her again.

"I didn't mean to" Anya said, looking a little shame faced as Xander pulled her to her feet.

"Oh baby" Joyce gasped at the state of Buffy's knee as she picked the child up from the ground and carried her towards the house, "Dawn, keep an eye on them for now, I'll be back" she called as she went towards the door.

Spike was just returning from the basement where he'd been having a cigarette when Joyce carried the still bawling Buffy into the kitchen and sat her down on the counter top.

"What the bloody hell happened here?" he asked as he dodged the sunlight that streamed through the open door.

"I'm sure you're aware, Spike, that soccer is a rough game" Joyce told him as she shut the door once again, "Anya seems to take tackling for the ball a little too seriously"

"Little bugger" the vampire muttered as he looked at Buffy, all injured and sniffley. She was very possibly the cutest kid on the planet he realised, even in her current state, and so familiar after their little throwback adventure together last year.

"Could you watch Buffy for a minute while I fetch the first aid box?" Joyce asked Spike, not waiting for an answer as she disappeared from the room.

"Hey now, pet" the bleached blond said to Buffy, "No more tears, eh? Little scrape like that's nothing to our great Slayer now is it?" he said, with a smirk, hoping to get a smile out of her, but to no avail.

"I'm...not...pretty...anymore" she sobbed, hiccuping and coughing as she tried to stop crying, and breathe instead.

"Oh luv" Spike sighed, "You are always pretty" he assured her, lifting her little chin with his finger, "Most beautiful girl I know, Slayer, inside and out. Always have been, always will be. You got that?" he told her firmly, and despite the weirdness of the situation he meant what he was saying.

"Really?" she checked, still sniffing a bit as she wiped tears from her blotchy cheeks.

"Would I lie to you, pet?" he said, tilting his head and she quite firmly shook hers. Spikey didn't lie, not to her. He was a good vampire, and deep down he loved her, she knew he did, even if he hadn't said it much lately.

"Here we are" Joyce said as she came back into the room with the first aid kit, "Let's get that knee cleaned up" she said to her daughter as she pulled out antiseptic ointment and sticky plasters.

"Now, it'll only sting for a minute, honey" she assured Buffy as she made to clean up the bleeding wound. The little Slayer was wincing before the ointment even made contact with her knee and Spike felt bad for her. As tough as she was in reality as a twenty year old who could take as much beating as the local demons could throw at her, this was a six year old kid who was bleeding and a little bit scared.

"Here, luv" he said taking hold of her hand, "You talk to me, don't think about what dear old Mum's doing with your leg" he told her, "Won't hurt half so much if we don't think about it, now will it?"

"I guess not" Buffy agreed, forcing a smile, "Did you see me score my goal?" she asked suddenly as her half-smile shifted to a grin, "I'm so good at soccer, I'm better than Xander and Anya and even Dawnie, and she's way bigger than me, but I still scored!" she told him excitedly.

"Sorry, luv, reckon I missed it" Spike told her, "but not to worry, eh? Maybe if you're really good Mum'll let us have a kick about after sundown?" he suggested, "Just for a little while mind, I reckon you'll be needing your kip tonight after so much runnin' about"

"Oh can we Mom?" Buffy asked hopefully, "Can I play soccer with Spikey when it gets dark enough for him to play outside?"

"We'll see, honey" Joyce nodded, "And look, your leg is all patched up" she said with a smile.

"Didn't feel a thing, did you, pet?" Spike pointed out as the little girl pulled her leg up and studied the Mickey Mouse sticky plaster over her graze.

"Nope" she agreed, shaking her head, "You helped a lot" she told the vampire, throwing herself at him and wrapping her little arms around his neck, "You're the bestest nicest vampire in the whole world" she said definitely, "And I love you, Spikey"

Spike felt stupidly moved by both her words and actions. Despite the fact that it might have felt inappropriate and weird just a few short hours ago, now he was starting to realise that this wasn't really his girlfriend, but rather just a little girl he loved and wanted to take care of, much like it was with him and the Nibblet, like playing older brother almost.

"Love you too, pet" he assured little Buffy as he kissed the top of her head, "Always will"

To Be Continued...

A/N2 : Trying to balance the relationship between Spike and bitty Buffy here isn't easy. They have to love each other, and she likes him in a crush kind of way but he has to find a way to love her kind of like a sister right now... I hope it's working and not coming across as majorly weird or icky.