BTVS and Angel characters do not belong to me. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Spoilers: Up until the Season 5 episode The Body (just to be safe).

Giles slumped into the nearest kitchen seat. "You wished for vengeance upon me?" He asked Joyce, the hurt evident in his eyes.

"No! Rupert. No. I don't even remember saying anything out loud." She hurried to reassure him. "Can they do that? I mean, if you just think something without actually saying it out loud?"

Giles and Wesley both shrugged. "I'm afraid I'm not all that well versed in vengeance demons. Normally, whenever questions about them came up, Anya was more than happy to supply the needed information. Often with great detail." He looked towards the living room where Xander and Anya were playing quietly supervised by a watchful Dawn. "Good lord! Where is Cordelia?"

"I thought I heard something in Buffy's room," Tara said as she entered the kitchen holding the child in question. "She was hiding under Buffy's bed."

"Cordelia, are you alright?" Giles asked.

"Willow doesn't like me. She was mean and made things fly."

"Ah, Well you're safe now. Willow is sleeping. Do you want to go and play with the others?"

She shook her head no and reached out for Giles, who looked perplexed for a moment but then took her from Tara.

"What's the matter Cordelia?"

"They don't like me. Nobody likes me."

Giles, lacking experience with children at this age, turned to Joyce for help.

"Cordelia, honey, why do you think they don't like you?"

"Because, because, Xander wouldn't let me play with the blocks 'cuz he said I was a girl and Anya got mad when I tried to watch Bugs Bunny."

"Ah. Well, Anya is afraid of bunnies. And Xander, well he probably doesn't know any better. Let's go and see if we can resolve this, yes?" At her hesitant nod, he took Cordelia into the living room with Buffy tagging along behind.

Xander was playing with the aforementioned blocks and Anya appeared to be reading a book. Giles sat Cordelia down on the floor and then sat cross-legged next to her. "That's very good, Xander. What are you making?"

"Castle," was his one word reply, although he was clearly pleased with the praise.

"Why don't you let Cordelia help you?"

"No! Girls don't play with blocks," he insisted.

Giles placed a hand on Cordelia's shoulder to calm her before she launched into her rant.

"Why not?" Giles asked.

Xander shrugged. Clearly it was not something his four year old self was prepared to reason out. "Oh. Because girls are the princesses that live in the castle. I make for them."

Giles sighed. He had no idea how to explain equality of the sexes to a four year old. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it.

"You think I'm a princess?" Cordelia asked Xander.

Xander smiled shyly and nodded. This apparently appeased Cordelia as she now seemed content to "supervise" the castle's construction.

"I don't want to be a princess. They're stupid." Anya said as she looked up from her book.

"Oh? What would you like to be?"

"I don't know." She shrugged and went back to her book.

Conflict averted, he rose and rejoined the others, once again followed closely by Buffy. Joyce was setting plates of sliced fruit on the breakfast bar for everyone to snack on while Wesley was making a pot of tea. Giles looked down when he felt a tug on his jeans. Buffy apparently wanted his attention. He picked her up and she leaned toward the breakfast bar, grabbing a slice of apple off the plate.

Joyce smiled at him and said, "You're a natural, Rupert."

"Well. I. um." he blushed and looked down at his shoes. Meanwhile, Buffy had reached for another slice of fruit but this one she was determined to share with her Watcher.

"Thank you," he said. She smiled brightly at him and he diligently tried to ignore the sticky fingers that were gripping his shirt.

"Tara, if you wouldn't mind, could you tell us everything you remember?"

Tara nodded and began her tale. "We had just arrived for the movie fest. Xander and Anya picked Willow and I up at our dorm and drove us over, so we all arrived at the same time. Buffy and Dawn had already put out most of the snacks and Dawn had claimed her spot on the floor. Willow and I sat next to Buffy on the couch and Xander and Anya squeezed into the easy chair after putting in the movie, The Princess Bride. Mrs. Summers, was standing near the doorway and asked when you were arriving. She seemed kinda upset that we hadn't invited you. But Buffy and the others said you wouldn't have wanted to come."

Tara looked sheepishly at Giles. "I'm sorry. It was wrong that we didn't invite you."

"It's alright, Tara." Giles reassured the distraught girl.

"No. It really isn't. You've done so much for us. For me. I …" she broke off unable to continue.

Giles gently lifted her chin and once again told her, "It's alright, Tara. Truly. Please continue with what you remember."

"Well Mrs. Summers had gone into the kitchen to make some popcorn and then there was this flash of light. And I could sense magic. And I felt this tingle, like when I've done a spell, but only it wasn't me or Willow. I looked around to see who had cast the spell, but there was nobody there. But something wasn't right. Everything seemed different. Bigger. That's when I noticed that Willow and Buffy were children. And Dawn and Xander and Anya. Then I looked down at myself, and realized I must be a child too. But, it was kinda weird."

"Weird how?"

"Well, I was small. And scared. But I still seemed to be me. I mean, if I had been turned back to four, well I didn't know Willow or the others then. But I remembered them. And I remembered what I had for breakfast that morning. But when Mrs. Summers came back into the living room and I tried to ask her what had happened, all that came out was 'I want my Mommy.' Do you know who did this, Giles? Was it your friend Ethan?"

"Um, no. It wasn't Ethan, although under other circumstances I wouldn't put something like this past him."

"Oh right. He's in military prison or something," Tara said.

"Um. Not exactly. But he didn't do this."

"He escaped?" Tara noticed that Buffy seemed to be paying close attention to their conversation.

"No. I, uh, had this Coven in Devon take him. I didn't trust the Initiative. No telling what they would do with someone with Ethan's power."

"Does Buffy know?" Tara asked.

"Not exactly. Ow!" Buffy was glaring at him clearly unhappy with this last piece of information.

Tara giggled. Buffy may be currently age four, but she was still a force to be reckoned with.

"What else do you remember?"

"I remember playing with some stuffed animals and thinking it would be kinda funny if they were real."

"You cast a spell."

"I don't think I meant to. I mean, I remember the stuffed animals turning real, but I don't know any spells like that." She looked at Joyce. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Summers. I don't know how I did it, but I didn't mean to. I, I can pay for any damages."

"Oh Tara, honey, I know you didn't mean it. I'm just glad everyone is okay. You don't have to worry about paying for damages, you need to save your money for school."

"The Council will pay for it, Tara. Is it possible that the spell was Willow's doing?"

"You mean, the animals? Maybe." She thought hard for a moment. "I don't know. Willow was casting spells after she got mad at Anya and Cordelia, so its possible I guess. Is Willow alright?"

Giles pulled out a stool for Tara to sit down on. "Willow is very powerful and I don't have any experience with spellcasters that are this young. Someone from the Coven in Devon will be arriving tomorrow to help us. Right now she is under a binding spell so she can't use her magic. She's also under the morpheus spell." He sighed. "I didn't want to do it, but there was no other alternative."

Tara nodded. "I know how much you care for her and that you only have her best interests at heart. What will the Coven do when they arrive?"

Giles shrugged. "They wouldn't say until they've had a chance to evaluate the situation first hand. They won't harm her though. Is there anything you can remember about when you changed back?"

Tara blushed recalling the state of her clothing or lack thereof. "Um, well, I was hiding in Mrs. Summers' closet, afraid that I was going to be punished for being bad. Dawn was outside the door and kept telling me that it was okay but I was scared. I knew that I should come out and that I was safe but my four year old self knew that bad things happened when I was caught doing spells. And no matter how hard I tried I couldn't make myself get up and exit the closet. Then you were there." She looked steadily at him. "You are the first man I've trusted not to hurt me. You stood up to my family, when you barely knew me. Even though my four year old self was still scared, she trusted you when you said you weren't mad and that nothing was going to hurt her. That's, um, well that's when I hugged you and then um, was myself again." She looked away embarrassed at the memory.

"Tara, look at me please. I'm honored that you trust me. You're a remarkable young woman with a bright future ahead of you. Don't let anyone tell you differently."

Tara smiled shyly. "So um, if it wasn't Ethan, do we have any idea of who did this?"

Giles glanced over to Joyce, "It may have been a vengeance demon or some sort of wish fulfillment spell."

Tara raised an eyebrow and wondered what Giles had done to piss off Joyce.

"I think that's where we should concentrate our research at any rate. Lorne, do you have any contacts that might be of help?"

"Well, I don't get too many vengeance demons at the club as they're usually not too confused about their path. But I can ask around discreetly. See if anyone knows of anyone that could cast something like this...like I was interested in buying."

"Good idea. But please be discreet. I don't want the demon population knowing of Buffy's condition."

"What about Angel?" Wesley had been reluctant to bring the vampire up, but as it was nearing sundown he figured Angel would be around shortly, invite or no.

Giles sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He hated relying on Angel for anything, but he needed to set aside his personal feelings, for Buffy's sake, "Yes. Explain to him all we know and ask if he would contact the Powers. If they won't intervene to reverse this, maybe they can at least point us in the right direction."

He handed the now sleeping Buffy over to Joyce and settled in for a long night of research. He pulled out the first of many Watcher journals. It was a slim chance, but perhaps another Watcher had encountered something similar. He glanced over to where Joyce had set Buffy down on the couch. I must not fail her this time.