Chapter Two

Lilah Morgan strolled into her co-workers Lindsey McDonald's office after having found the whereabouts of the rogue slayer that they had hired. She knew that Lindsey was not going to be happy just as she was very angry at the situation. She had no intention of looking bad in front of senior partners.

"Did you find her?" Lindsey asked when he saw Lilah walk in.

"Yeah," Lilah replied, "She's with him."

"What do you mean she's with him?" Lindsey demanded, "Is he dead?"

"Well technically yes since he is a vampire," Lilah replied sarcastically, "But now the assassin we hired is the house guest of her mark."

"But we hired her to kill him," Lindsey reasoned.

"I think I covered that when I said assassin," Lilah told him as she poured herself a shot of whiskey.

"And she ends up inviting her to stay the night," Lindsey said shocked.

Lilah took o sip of her drink before moving over to lean against Lindsey's desk.

"I told you he wasn't going to be easy. He can't be bought and apparently be killed even by a vampire slayer," Lilah told him, "Rumor has it he even dated one."

"Look if word of this gets back to the senior partners they aren't going to be too happy," Lindsey told them, "So how do we fix it?"

"I say we kill her."

Lilah noticed for the first time that Lee Mercer was sitting in front of Lindsey's desk. She had not noticed him when she walked in and only had when he had spoke about killing the rogue slayer. She knew killing a slayer would be even more difficult since they could not even kill a vampire.

"That's not going to be easy," Lilah said voicing her concerns.

"Don't worry Lilah," Lindsey said with a grin, "I have a plan."

Lilah noticed the smirk forming over his lips. She knew that whatever was running through his mind at to work because a lot was at stake here. If the senior partners found out about it now Lilah knew they would be in a lot of trouble.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Lilah told him.

Wolfram and Hart realize that Faith never killed Angel like they hired for. They do not want to look bad to the senior partners because they had paid her half in advance they decide to take revenge on the slayer. They hire a witch to turn Faith into a child believing that she will be more vulnerable for when they attack her. However they were not expecting the other slayer to turn up looking for Faith. After they get Wolfram and Hart off Faith's back they must decide whether to turn her back to her normal self or keep her as a child. And how's going to raise her?

~*~*~

Faith leans over the microwave trying to get it to work. She was hungry but the donuts that Angel had brought her just did not seem to do the trick. She had found a bag of pop corn but since she did not know how to use the microwave she did not know how she was going to make it. She sensed Angel come to stand behind her.

"So how does this," Faith asks sighing as she does not like asking for help, "work?"

"There is no real simple answer to that. I won't lie to you and tell you that it'll be easy, because it won't be. Just because you've decided to change doesn't mean that the world is ready for you to. The truth is no matter how much you suffer, no matter how many good deeds you do to try to make up for the past you may never balance out the cosmic scale. The only thing I can promise you is that you'll probably be haunted and may be for the rest of your life," Angel replied telling her the truth and not what he expected Faith wanted to hear.

Faith stared at him for a moment taking in the words he told her. Then she motioned to the microwave in front of her. Angel blinked a few times before he quickly explained how to work the microwave.

"Is that popcorn going to hold you?" Angel asked.

"Yeah," Faith replied, "I can live off this. Could you tell Cordelia that I'll pay her back?"

"Actually I think it belonged to Wesley."

Faith sighed as images of what she had done to Wesley floated through her mind.

"Maybe we just don't mention it then," Faith said after a moment of silence.

"Or Maybe we do," Angel suggested.

Faith looked up at Angel shocked. She did not know to respond. She had hurt Wesley bad and she did not know if he would ever forgive her. Wesley probably had already given up on her ever being able to redeem herself.

"Are you saying I got to go apologize?" Faith exclaimed.

"Do you think you can?" Angel asked softly.

"I don't know," Faith admitted, "How do you say 'Gee I'm really sorry I tortured you nearly to death?"

"Well, First off I think I'd leave of the 'Gee'. And secondly I think you have to ask yourself if you are sorry."

"And what if I can't say it? There are some things you can't just take back no matter how sorry you are. Right?" Faith asked as her voice cracked with emotion.

"Yeah, there are," Angel agreed, "I've got some experience in that area."

"And you've been doing this for a hundred years! I'm not gonna make it through the next ten minutes."

"So make it through the next five, the next minute," Angel told her.

"I don't think I can," Faith admitted.

Angel was about to tell her that she could do it when a light surrounded Faith. Angel did not understand what was going on and from the expression on Faith's face, neither did she.

"Angel," Faith exclaimed, "What's happening to me?"

The light completely engulfed Faith and it seemed like an eternity for Angel before the light disappeared. The entire time all he could do was stand there frozen where he stood because he did not know what else to do. And then just as fast as the light had come, it disappeared and standing where Faith had been was a small girl. She looked like a five year old version of Faith. Except her eyes were no longer filled with regret, they were filled with fear.

"Who are you?" the little girl asked as she slowly backed away.

Angel didn't know what to do so he kneeled down so that the little girl could know that he meant no harm.

"My name's Angel," he told her softly, "I'm here to help you."

The mini version of Faith looked at him with uncertainty, but she stopped backing away for a moment. Just than a demon dropped off the ceiling and grabbed Faith before trying to get away. Angel moved in one swift moment as he caught the demon by the foot and dragged him closer. He quickly got the demon to let go of Faith. Faith ran to the corner and cowered not knowing what to do. Angel threw the demon across the room before he grabbed a knife from the counter. He threw the knife with perfect aim and it hit the demon through the chest. The demon exploded into a murky mess, but quickly evaporated into thin air. Angel was happy for only a moment that he would not have to clean up that mess. The next thing he knew a mini Faith was running toward him and burying her head in Angel's chest. Angel picked her up in his arms and sat down on the couch with her.

"It's okay," Angel whispered, "You're safe now."

He didn't know how Faith had turned into a child, but he was sort of glad that she had. Now she would be able to restart her life the way it should have been. He knew that Faith's childhood growing up had not been the best. Even his own childhood was like a dream come true compared to hers. He didn't know how it happened but he was going to make sure Faith had everything she ever deserved. A creaking noise on the stairwell alerted him to a guest and he looked up to find none other than Buffy Summers standing on the staircase. Angel looked from Faith to Buffy. He knew this was going to be very confusing to explain since he did not understand fully what had happened.