"Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clement's
You owe me five farthings, say the bells of St. Martin's"

Fred smiled at the Little Baddie jumping and spinning around himself while he hollered the words of the old nursery rhyme. She had feared that Spike would sing some hardcore punk thing, but clearly his memories from his childhood were stronger than the ones from his adult life.

"When will you pay me? say the bells of Old Bailey
When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch"

She had to bite back laughter when she realized that Angel and Wes were softly humming the song along with Spike, both men subtly marking the rhythm with their heads.

"When will that be? say the bells of Stepney
"I do not know, say the great bells of Bow"

Fred looked at Gunn and saw that he, too, had an amused glint in his eyes as he looked at his two friends. None of them noticed the frown on Lorne's face as he watched Spike work himself to a crescendo of enthusiasm until he reached the final (and rather dark) verses of the children's song:

"Here comes a candle to light you to bed!
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
Chip chop chip chop - the last man's DEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAD!"

The last word was said with sheer glee as Spike threw his hands up into the air and extended the word for as long as his breath allowed him. He turned to Fred again with such a proud grin that she couldn't refrain herself from clapping her hands enthusiastically.

"Very good," she said. "You certainly earned that ice cream."

"Ice cream!" Spike exclaimed wholeheartedly. "You," he said, pointing at Gunn, "owe me ice cream. Lots of it," he added, "because it was such a great song."

Gunn understood that Spike would not be bargained with, so he reached out and picked up the phone on Angel's desk to dial Harmony's number and order the ice cream.

"Fred," Wes said, for the first time noticing the deep furrow across Lorne's brow and giving Fred a meaningful look, "why don't you and Spike go talk to Harmony about that ice cream instead?"

"And while you're at that," Angel chimed in, "why don't you get him some clothes, too?"

Fred smiled, looking from the barefoot boy, wearing only a grown up's black T-shirt, to the rest of his clothes, lying discarded on the floor.

"Come on, Fred!" Spike said, tugging on her hand. "We'll make her give you some ice cream, too!"

"Let's go," she said, whilst giving the others a look that said that she'd want a full report later.

Once Fred and Spike were gone and the door was closed behind them, Angel turned to Lorne again and asked:

"What have you read in his aura?"

Lorne sighed and scratched his head before saying:

"I had never sensed anything like that."

The others stared expectantly at him and he proceeded, giving them a perplexed look:

"That kid's aura is a mess. It's like he has no past and no future: just this fuzzy, shadowlike present." -- he sighed and shook his head -- "I have a bad feeling about this, boys."

- x x x x x -

While the four men discussed his current situation, Spike was sitting on Harmony's knees, wallowing in ice cream and for the first time not minding her calling him Blondie Bear, much to the girl's delight.

"And then," Harmony was saying, gleefully, "we're going to the mall, and we're going to shop for some clothes…"

"You are going to shop," Spike declared through a mouth full of ice cream. "I'm gonna play pinball."

"Blondi… Spike," -- Fred quickly corrected herself, blushing -- "honey, don't talk with your mouth full."

"Why not?"

"Because if you do everyone will see what's inside your mouth."

"It's ice cream," Spike informed her offhandedly. "See?" he said, showing her a spoonful of ice cream. "You can see it in the spoon, too."

"Well, yes, but…"

"Don't you think ice cream looks pretty?"

"I suppose it does, but…"

"Then why wouldn't people want to see it?"

"I-I…" Fred stammered, discomfited.

"You know, Fred," Spike said, cocking his head to the side and giving her a critical look, "you'd make a lousy vampire."

Fred gave him a flabbergasted look, not sure of whether or not she should be offended by his statement, while he slid from Harmony's knees and went to pat the physicist's arm affectionately.

"But I like you even so," he said solemnly.

"Me too," Harmony chimed in cheerfully. "Don't feel bad about that, Fred: being a vampire isn't for everyone."

"Do you know any vampires, Harmony?" Spike asked, turning to her again with an interested look on his face.

"I am a vampire, silly!" Harmony said, giggling.

"You are?" he asked, excited. "Can you make the scary face?"

"Sure!" Harmony said, promptly pushing her game face on.

"Cool!" Spike exclaimed, running to her side. "Can I touch them?" he asked, pointing at the bumps on her face.

"Why not?" she said, shrugging. "What's with the fuss, anyway?" she asked while he poked her face with great interest. "It's not like you don't have a game face, too."

"I don't," Spike sighed grudgingly.

"Of course you do," Harmony said.

"Harmony?" Fred called, tentatively. "You must have noticed that Spike is, uh…" -- she hesitated, not sure of how to break the news to the intellectually challenged vampire -- "…different?"

"He's little," Harmony deadpanned, all too busy showing Spike her fangs.

"He's little," Fred agreed, nodding her head. "Don't you wonder how he got this way?" she asked, addressing Harmony like she would do to a very slow child.

"The senior partners stopped the eclipse," Spike explained helpfully.

"There was an eclipse?" Harmony asked, curious. "When?"

"Apocalypse," Fred clarified, starting to get frustrated. "Like, this morning. Remember?"

"Right!" Harmony exclaimed, her face lighting up with comprehension. "That apocalypse. Everybody was acting weird, and Gunn tried to kill Eve and I had sex with…" -- she looked at Spike, who was watching them with interest, and her eyes widened in shock.

"Eew! Yuck!" Harmony shrieked, trying to block the thought that, a couple of hours ago, she was having sex with the grown up version of the little boy standing before her -- "Yuck! Yuck! Eeeeeeeeew!"

Just then, Angel opened the door in time to see Harmony freaking out, Fred blushing furiously and Spike looking from one girl to the other in utter confusion.

"Spike, what have you done?" Angel said, scowling down at the boy.

"She thinks I'm yucky because I'm not a vampire," Spike said sulkily, crossing his arms in front of his chest and staring down.

"Oh, honey, no!" Fred exclaimed, promptly moving to the boy's side. "No one thinks you're yucky! Being human isn't yucky," she said kindly, placing her hand on his shoulder. "It's good: you can breath, and your heart beats, and… and…" -- she frowned, trying to think of more good things to say about being human, since so far she didn't seem to be succeeding in cheering him up.

"And you can walk in the sun," Angel said yearningly.

"The sun!" Spike repeated, his eyes growing wide with excitement.

He turned to Angel with a thrilled look, a look that the vampire could easily recognize as that of someone who had spent more than a century exiled in the shadows.

"I wanna play in the sun!" Spike yelled, his bright eyes already scanning the room, looking for the door that would lead him out to where the sun shone.

"Do you want me to take him to the park?" Fred asked Angel, smiling at the boy's enthusiasm.

"I'd rather keep him in the building," Angel said cautiously. "And I still want to talk to you about what Lorne told us."

He turned towards his office and called out:

"Gunn!"

When Gunn came through the door with an inquisitive look, Angel told him:

"Take Spike to play at the training ground at sector B and keep an eye on him while he's there."

Fred raised her eyebrows and he added, shrugging:

"It's an open area; there's sun, earth, mud, water, rocks… anything a boy could want," he added with a hint of longing in his voice.

"Why me?" Gunn protested.

"Do you want me to send Wes to watch over him?" Angel asked.

"Yes!"

Angel eyeballed him and Gunn sighed, knowing that the former watcher wouldn't last fifteen minutes babysitting a five-year-old… ten, said five-year-old being Spike.

"Special Ops Squad is training there right now," he still argued.

"Tell them to leave," Angel ordered.

"But we were going to shop for new clothes for him!" Harmony chimed in.

"I'm this big," Spike said, spreading his arms and giving her a full view of himself, "and I look great in black. Knock yourself out."

"Harmony," Angel reasoned, "you don't wanna take a five-year-old to the mall, and you definitely don't wanna take a five-year-old Spike to the mall. Here," he said, taking a credit card out of his wallet and handing it to his secretary. "Buy him some clothes and shoes…"

"And a toothbrush," Fred added practically.

"And… all right," -- Angel sighed when Harmony gave him the most pathetic puppy eyes he had ever seen -- "you can also buy something for yourself while you're there."

"Thank you, boss!" Harmony said, exultant. "You're the best!"

She quickly grabbed her purse and darted towards the elevator and, after one last glare from Angel, a sullen Gunn followed suit, with Spike merrily skipping along.

Before they left, Angel looked at Spike again and said with unexpected gentleness:

"Enjoy the sun."