Disclaimer: I do not own any Buffy the Vampire Slayer plotlines, characters, etc.

Chapter 2

"Mm…Riley…You're so…"

"So w-what?"

"What the-" Buffy sat up in bed, coming face to face with a little girl no older than four.

"S-so what?" The child repeated, eager to find the answer to her question.

The groggy college student took a second to let the question register, then blushed a dark red. "Uh, nothing you need to know about." She replied quickly.

"Oh." They both sat silently, the preschooler and the Slayer, green eyes boring into green, neither with any intention of getting up.

"So kid, um what are you doing in my room?"

"I'm n-not suwe. Should I-I not be h-hewe?"

"Probably not. Your parents must be looking for you-"

"They awe? I haveta find them! They'll be weally angwy if I'm lost!" The mysterious little girl sped off, rushing out of Buffy's dorm room and into the crowded hallway. The Slayer yawned, yanked off her covers and prepared to escort the girl to wherever her guardian was. It wouldn't look good on her rep if she just let the kid run through Sunnydale U unattended.

"Kid? Hey, kid?" Buffy called, sticking her head out of the doorway, "Where are you? Kid?" The child was no where to be seen. "Great. The only weekday I don't have a morning class I get stuck babysitting. This day could not get worse." And with this parting anti-pep talk, the Slayer set out to find her young charge.

Meanwhile, the kid was lost. She knew her parents would be awfully mad at her for running away, but that was just it-she hadn't run away. At least, not that she could remember. In fact, the last thing the poor girl could recall were her parents promising to tuck her in; but that probably didn't happen. Her parents never really took the time to do anything with her, let alone do something trivial like say 'good night'. Still, whenever the child did something wrong, her parents made a huge deal out of it, and she was not about to let that happen again. Not that it happened often, of course. She was a good girl. Really.

"H-hello? C-can any o-of you g-guys help m-me?"

The kid was met with astonished faces, and young men frantically trying to cover their…appendages.

"Dude! Who let that brat in here?!" A particularly rude nineteen-year-old questioned angrily.

"D-do you kn-now whewe my daddy i-is?" She asked timidly, staring up at the assorted boys.

"What?" The student was caught off-guard.

"It isn't me!"

"Uh, not me!"

"I'm always really careful!"

"You dad couldn't be me!" Shouts of denial filled the men's bathroom, as the girl looked on quizzically.

Finally, one of the braver, nicer guys marched over to the small child.

"Hey, sweetie, I think you better go back to your mommy. Do you know where she is?"

Of course, the kid had no idea whatsoever as to where her parents were, so, scared, she burst into tears.

"N-no! I-I don't kn-now!" She wept.

The kind student patted her back and suggested, "Why don't you let me take you to the main office, and we can make an announcement so your parents can come get you?"

The four-year-old looked hesitant, so the guy decided to try a well-known bribe which his own parents used when he was little. "Do you want some candy? I'll give you some if you come with me-"

"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Shrieked the child, "Stwangew, stwanger!" Her parents had taught her to never to accept anything from anyone, especially not candy, or they might kidnap her or kill her or worse…not let her read anything. And this kid loved her books-and her life, of course. So she sped out of that bathroom as quickly as her chubby little legs could carry her, smacking into various people's legs as she ran.

"Who's that?" Everyone wondered as they watched the little girl run into the back stairwell.

"My…cousin." Buffy answered her classmates' rhetorical musings, catching a glimpse of the child's red hair as she shut the door to the stairs behind her. Unfortunately, Buffy had a more difficult time navigating through the crowded dorm hallway than the two-and-a-half foot kid, so by the time she made it to the stairs, the red head was gone.

"Ugh." The Slayer grunted as she trudged down the stairs. She had defeated demons that were easier to keep track of. Sighing, Buffy made her way to the floor below, calling out for the small girl, who, obviously, did not reply.

Tara rummaged through her closet, trying to pick out the most appropriate shirt for her date with Willow. Sure; the witch was angry with her girlfriend, but she wasn't about to give up an opportunity to talk the whole thing through. Besides, Tara had been wanting to go to the restaurant in question for ages, and she didn't really feel like cancelling their much sought-after reservation.

"Hm…maybe the yellow one…" The young woman's thoughts were broken by the sound of the commotion outside of her dorm. So, pulling on the chosen garment, Tara headed out to see what was going on. She was greeted with a large semi-circle of students surrounding a wailing child, who kept crying for her mommy and yelling 'stwangew!'.

"Come on, honey. Let's just take you to the lost-and-found-"

"Stwangew! Stwangew!" There was no consoling the frightened girl.

Pushing through the crowd, Tara tried to get a better look at the kid, and gasped at what she saw. The little preschooler had beautiful, big, green eyes, straight, long, red hair, and extremely pale skin. She knew it could be no other than-

"Mommy!" The little girl cried, clinging to Tara's legs, "I found you!"