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| Skylar |
| Babysitting |
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"Babysitting"
Author: Skylar (Nichiren2am@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: Joss and company own everything Buffy-related; Disney owns
everything Lilo & Stitch-related.
AN: Sixth story in my Reasoning series, and a follow-up to "The New Pet".
Another short little piece I came up with after seeing Lilo & Stitch.
Summary: With Dawn going away for the weekend on a class trip, who's stuck
taking care of her new pet?
Spoilers: My first series (you?d really have to read those three stories to
understand these) and the other four stories of this series.
Rating: I'm gonna go with PG-13, just to be safe.
Distribution: Want it- take it. Just let me know where it?s going.
Feedback: As always, greatly appreciated.
Angel lowers Quinn to eye level after one last lift and gurgle. A
quick check confirmed that she didn't need to be changed, so he puts her
into her carry-cot on the dining room table where he can keep an eye on her
while talking with Cordelia over the phone.
"You guys still haven't found anything?" He smiles at the sight of his
daughter, completely engrossed by the flashing images on his laptop's
screen.
"No..." the brunette sighs, her head still reeling from her latest vision.
Two nights earlier she had received a vision of a young girl, chained up by
some sort of creature in a cave. Thinking that the LA gang could handle the
problem on their own, she'd never anticipated that the girl's boyfriend had
summoned the demon, along with several others, and both the seer and the
others thought it best if she headed out to the Hyperion for a few days to
help sort things out. "We're still not getting anywhere with the boyfriend.
You'd be amazed how obnoxious and stubborn men can be sometimes," she adds
with a ceratin lilt in her voice. "Speaking of obnoxious...how's Dawn
making out trying to civilize that pet of her's?"
"I wouldn't know. Believe me, I've been keeping my distance from that
thing. Buffy seems to get along with him though-"
"I wonder why he loves tormenting you so much?" Cordy laughs.
"Well Sunnydale's been pretty low on the demonic action these past few
weeks. Maybe the Powers didn't want me to get too bored and actually have
some free time with my wife and daughter, so they sent him." He reaches in
a hand to tickle Quinn's stomach, still amazed by the reaction he always
received from her. "So long as he doesn't eat any more of my things, I
should be okay." After a few more minutes of going over the case, Angel no
sooner hangs up with Cordy when the phone rings again. "Hello?"
"Hey Angel," Dawn's voice flowed over the line.
"Hey Dawnie. How was school?"
"Great! Did Buffy tell you about our class trip this weekend?"
"Yeah- have you ever been to Disneyworld?" The slayer knew how excited his
little sister had been to be going on the junior class trip. She'd
practically been a walking lightbulb with her gleaming smiles over the past
week. The last time he'd seen her so happy was at her birthday party a few
weeks ago when she'd received her present from Spike. <Personally I'd take
a trip to Florida over that blue menace any day.>
"Once when Buffy and I were younger. Mom and dad took us, but I didn't get
to go on any of the cool rides. This is gonna be so great! I wish you guys
were going though."
"Well, maybe during the summer the whole gang can go. We'll make it Quinn's
first official vacation," he smiles warmly as he notices the infant's eyes
darting all around the walls of the mansion, seemingly admiring all of the
artwork and sculptures. "Did you want to talk to Buffy?"
"Yeah...I want to ask her something," Dawn smiles nervously into the phone.
Though she was estatic about leaving for Florida tomorrow morning, she
wasn't looking forward to having to ask her sister for one huge favor. With
Cordelia out of town, and Willow and Tara gone for some wiccan convention,
her only options were to ask Buffy or stay home, and she wasn't about to
miss out on going to Disneyworld.
Picking up the phone from her spot in the kitchen, Buffy grins as she
greets her little sister. "Hey Dawn."
"What'cha up to?"
"Not much. Some research, cleaning up some weapons. You know..."
"The usual," Dawn finishes for her.
"Exactly. So what's up?"
"Umm...well, you know how I'm going to be gone this weekend and for most of
the week?"
"Yeah."
"And you know how Cordy's in LA until they finish up with that weird case?"
"Sure..." Buffy began to grow suspicious of just where Dawn's simple
questions were leading.
"And you know how Willow and Tara are out of town until the end of the
month?"
"Dawn, what's your point?"
"Okay, okay. I was hoping that?that maybe you and- and Angel could..."
"Could what?"
"Could take care of Stitch for me?" she blurts out, subconsciously flinching
away from the phone.
"What?! Have you lost your mind?!" Buffy lowers her voice for fear of
startling both her daughter and husband. "Dawn, we can't watch him."
"Why not?"
"Where to begin," the slayer sighs, taking a seat on one of the kitchen's
stools. "He's rude, he's hyper, he's uncivilized, he doesn't listen to
anything you tell him to do-"
"Xander's the same way and you hang out with him!"
"So are you, brat- but I'm *stuck* with you! And speaking of Xand, why
don't you ask *him* to babysit that thing?"
"Because I don't trust him. He'll probably pump him full of twinkies and
cupcakes. I don't want him getting sick!" Buffy's mind begins to race to
find another alternative.
"What about Clem?? He's the one who got Spike that monster on a leash to
give to you- why can't he take care of him?"
"He's already in LA visiting Spike." Dawn listened as her big sister let
out a heavy sigh and she immediately knew that she'd won. "Buffy, please??
He's gotten a lot better with the discipline thing. I even taught him how
to sit." Buffy winces in her seat as she can hear the creature in the
background being yelled at by Dawn. "Sit Stitch! Sit!! No- not on the
wall!!"
"Oh yeah- he sounds really housebroken," Buffy lets out a small laugh.
"Dawnie, you know how Angel feels about him. If you leave him over here for
a week I can't make any promises that you'll get him back alive or in one
piece."
"Angel wouldn't do anything to him- I know he wouldn't. Please Buffy?
Please??" Knowing that she would regret it, Buffy finally concedes.
"Alright, alright. It's fine with me, but I have to ask Angel first, okay?
Let me go talk to him, then I'll give you a call back."
Out of the corner of his eye, Angel sees Buffy returning from the
kitchen, a mixture of emotions plastered across her normally cheery face.
He stands from his seat to approach her. "Hey...what's wrong?"
"Umm..."
"Buffy? What is it? Is something wrong with Dawn?" his voice begins to
show a trace of panic. "Is she okay?"
"She's fine. She's great actually- all excited about leaving tomorrow for
the trip. There's only one thing bothering her."
"What's that?" he asks, returning to his seat, pulling Buffy onto his lap.
"Well...with everyone out of town?umm?th- there's no one home to...take care
of..." she closes her eyes, wincing back from what she knew would be his
immediate reaction, "...Stitch."
"No!" His yell took Buffy by surprise, as well as Quinn who begin to squirm
in her carry-cot, letting out small wimpers. "Buffy- no! We are not taking
care of it! No!"
"Angel..." she tries appealing to him in her sweetest voice, giving the
adorable puppy-dog she knew he always fell for. "Please? It won't be so
bad."
"If by bad you mean excruciatingly painful, then yes it will- ten times
over!" He stands to march over to the couches in front of the huge
fireplace. "That thing is dangerous. You've seen what it's done to me.
You really want to let it near our daughter for any prolonged period of
time? Let alone have it in striking distance of your poor husband?"
"But he's gotten better. Dawn's been training him to be more...calm. And
he's never once been anything but gentle with Quinn. In fact, the last time
he was over here I caught him singing to her."
"Really? Was that before he started chasing me, or after he ate my favorite
sword?"
"Angel-"
"Buffy, I?m sorry, but there is no way I am taking care of it for a whole
week- no way!"
An hour later?
"And here's his leash, and his favorite toy- even though he'll pretty much
play with anything," Dawn explains as she continues handing her pet's things
over to her sister. "And here's his food dish- he'll pretty much eat
anything too-"
"Including antique weapons!" Angel shouts from where he was skulking on one
of the couches. "You and your pet still owe me a sword, Dawn."
"I'll bring you one back from Disneyworld," she responds.
"Oh no- not one of those plastic pirate swords. Your little fuzzball ate my
Celtic iron-blade sword from 900BC-"
"I didn't know you were that old," Dawn kids him, but soon realizes he
wasn't in the mood for jokes.
"Ha ha. I bought it, for your information. There are only five in the
entire world...well, *four* now that mine is probably still being digested
in that thing's stomach!" Averting her eyes from his hurt ones, Dawn
returns her focus to Buffy.
"Thank you so much, sis," Dawn hugs her close, still baffled by how she was
able to convince Angel, though she had a pretty good idea it involved a
bunch of 'special persuasion' on her sister's part. "Okay- I guess that's
everything." She turns back towards the open front door, calling out for
her pet. "Stitch! Here boy! Come here!" Peering her head out of the
entryway, she sees that the blue ball of fuzz is no where to be found.
"Where did he go? He was right here!"
"Maybe it decided to go looking for something else to destroy," Angel
comments. The sudden weight that fell ontop of the ex-vampire from its
perch upsidedown on the ceiling was enough of an answer.
"Stitch..." the happily grinning creature says to Angel.
"What?" the still-shocked slayer replies, eyeing him cautiously.
"My name Stitch- not *it*." Letting out a loud laugh right in Angel's face,
he rolls off of him, curling into a ball once he hits the floor, and spins
his way over to his owner. "Does Stitch have to stay here?"
"Yeah," Dawn leans down to cuddle him. "But you'll be okay- it's only for a
week, and then I'll be back. Until then, you listen to Buffy and Angel,
okay?"
"Family..." he observes, his large, black oval-shaped eyes looking up at
Buffy.
"That's right," Dawn answers him, "they're family. So you behave for them,
okay?" Turning his body to pass a glance to Angel, Stitch's eyes begin to
wander around the immaculate mansion, amazed by all of the various items and
furnishings.
"Okay..." his slightly nasal voice finally answers her. "Stitch be good.
Stitch have fun. Bring Stitch back present?"
"Sure thing," Dawn smiles at him, watching his eyes widen in excitement.
Giving him a final pat and a kiss, the teen thanks the slayers again before
heading home to finish packing for her flight tomorrow.
As she shuts the front door, Buffy can faintly hear the scampering of
Stitch's clawed paws as he scurries across the floors, pausing every so
often to study each new object. "Ooooo..." The curious 'dog' finds an item
of particular interest just as Buffy turns around, heading over to him.
"No Stitch," Buffy keeps her voice calm, remembering what Dawn had said
about how he hated to be yelled at, as she hurries over to him. "Be careful
with that." The rambunctious creature was busy juggling three small
sculptures, and doing a fairly good job of it, until Angel's yell breaks his
concentration.
"Don't play with those!" One by one, the clay figures crash down on
Stitch's genetically enhanced and strengthened form, breaking instantly over
his head.
Angel paces over to where Stitch was sitting in the pile of ruins,
trying to dust some of the material from his fur. With an angered but
steady glare, Angel reaches down, picking him up by his pug tail, and turns
him upside down.
"You little abomination! I should have you stuffed!"
"Meesa nala queesta!" the creature responds, snarling as he struggles to
break free of Angel's hand.
"Angel," Buffy places a hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him. "He
didn't know."
"Did you hear what he just said to me?!"
"I didn't know you spoke...whatever language it is that he speaks," she
passes him a confused glare.
"Well I don't," he admits. "But still, did you hear it? It sounded really
evil and vulgar!"
"Okay- honey...? You're fighting with a two foot tall?dog. What's wrong
with this picture?" She reaches out a hand to Stitch, surprised when he
snaps at it, opting to flip himself rightside up and chomp down on Angel's
nose.
"Owww!" Angel's hands instinctively fly up to grab his tender skin,
releasing Stitch from his grasp, allowing the blue menace to escape into the
kitchen.
"Are you okay?" Buffy reaches up to move his hands away to inspect the wound
herself. "Lemme see." There was only a small amount of blood trickling
down the bridge of his nose as he begins walking towards the kitchen to grab
the first aid kit and some ice.
"Dawn's been training him to be more calm, huh?" he repeats her words from
earlier with an already exasperated look on his face. "If this is calm, I'd
hate to see hyp-" His voice escapes him as he spots Stitch backing away
from the fridge with a can of soda in his mouth. He shuts the door closed
with his back paw, lifting his head defiantly in the air as he turns from
Angel to head back into the grand hall.
"Oh no!" Angel begins shaking his head as he follows the creature. "No
caffeine- no sugar!" He makes a grab for the can but retracts his arm upon
hearing Stitch's snarling growl.
"Neeja! Cooasa naba!"
"Do you hear him?!" Angel pleads with his wife, his jaw dropping slightly as
he sees her just looking on as Stitch hops up onto the large dining table,
pulling the can of soda out of his mouth and placing it beside him.
"Buffy?!" he tries reaching her again, a small smile finally forming on his
lips as he sees her slowly walk over towards him.
"Just leave him alone for a little while. I think he's upset that you
yelled at him."
"So sorry to hurt his feelings," Angel sighs, returning to the kitchen for
his ice. "What exactly are we supposed to do with him? I mean, he won't
listen, he eats whatever he wants?why do we even have to watch him? He
should be able to take care of himself."
"We just have to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't hurt himself,"
Buffy explains, curling alongside him on the couch, leaning her head against
his chest. Their moment of peace and quiet is quickly interrupted as the
sound of tin clanging draws their attention away from each other.
Still sitting on the dining room table, Stitch was banging his soda can
ontop of the wooden surface, frustrated that he couldn't get it open. After
a few more poundings, he finally notices the small tab ontop of the lid.
"Ooo! Ooo!"
"Stitch wait," Buffy hops up to stop him from opening the severely shaken up
can, but finds herself getting drenched in root beer as she reaches him.
Trying his hardest not to laugh, Angel gets up to grab her a towel, throwing
a harsh glare at Stitch on his way back over to the table.
"Forget about making sure he doesn't hurt himself," Angel smiles at his
wife. "He'll wind up *killing* one of us first."
******
The cool night air sent a light breeze through the master bedroom's
opened windows, gently hitting Buffy's bare back. As she curls up closer to
Angel, sprawling out across his stomach, her eyes come to focus on their
guest, who had apparently decided to join them for bedtime.
"Stitch?" Buffy lifts her head, brushing a few strands of hair out of her
face as she sits up in Angel's arms. "Are you okay?"
"Oh god..." Angel mutters as he pulls off their covers, readying himself for
whatever mischief the creature was going to cause. "And so it begins..."
The small pet doesn't respond to either one of them, opting instead to
investigate their room. He quickly crawls over to their wall-length desk,
hopping up and leafing through some of their papers.
"Hey!" Angel leaps out of bed, rushing over to where Stitch was now jumping
up and down on the computer. As he makes an attempt to snatch him, the
creature easily escapes his reach, jumping down and rolling over to the
easel where a few of Angel's recent drawings still were.
Stitch hops up, clinging to the paper, then slides down, his claws
peeling away the material in five straight tears. "No!" Angel makes a
running dive for him, landing straight into the wooden frame of the easel,
tipping over with it as it goes crashing to the floor, knocking over Stitch
in the process.
"Ohhh..." the blue animal moans, rubbing his head in the process.
"You know..." for the first time, Angel addresses the creature in a soft,
calm voice, "...you seem to destroy everything that you touch. Why don't
you try *making* something instead?" Squinting his eyes a bit in thought,
Stitch curls himself into a ball, rolling over to the couple's massive
bookcase.
Grabbing a huge stack of books, he crawls around the rest of their
room, gathering various objects along the way and finally stopping at the
foot of the bed to begin his project. After setting his easel and drawings
back up, Angel walks back over to the bed, sitting back down beside Buffy as
the two watch in amazement of what Stitch was creating. Within a matter of
seconds, the blue ball of fuzz steps away from his creation, giving the
couple a full view of what he'd built.
"Wow," came Buffy's response. "San Francisco," she observes, noting the
intricate design of the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the various towers
and buildings.
"Saw movie...with Dawn and Cor-del-i-a..." Stitch explains.
"That's a really nice design you made ," Angel chimes in, surprising both
himself and Buffy with his compliment.
Not taking any time to absorb their compliments, Stitch proceeds to
begin imitating just what he saw done to the city in the movie. With a loud
snarl and bark, the pet starts wreaking havoc through his built city,
stomping away at the buildings and breaking down the bridge. "Waahh!
Neeja! Casa naba!"
"No more sugar or caffeine for you," Buffy lets out a small chuckle.
"Hopefully he'll tire himself out. You should go get his bed and bring it
in here," she smiles up at Angel.
"You can't be serious!" Angel pulls away from her to eye her directly.
"You cannot mean that you want this thing-"
"Stitch!" the blue menace corrects him.
"Fine! *Stitch* is not sleeping in our room! He can sleep downstairs, or
he can even sleep out in the hall, but he's not sleeping in here."
"Honey," Buffy smiles at him sweetly, brushing a hand across his chest to
soothe him, "just go get his bed. Once he falls asleep in here you can
carry him out into the hall. Okay?" Never able to resist those heartfelt
eyes, Angel wordlessly leaves their room to go grab the small blanketed box
Dawn had brought over for Stitch to sleep in.
"Alright...here you go, you little- hey!" Angel drops the cardboard box to
the floor as he sees Stitch already stretched out in their bed, laying back
against the pillows right next to Buffy. "Oh no- out! Out right now!
That's *our* bed, and you are not sleeping in it! This is your bed," he
picks the box back up with one hand, patting it softly to make it look
inviting. After managing to grab hold of the small blue bundle, Angel
places Stitch in the box beside their bed, tucking a small blanket over him.
"*This* is where you sleep, okay?"
Eyeing him angrily, Stitch hops up, grabbing the box by one of the
corners and chucking at straight at Angel's head. "That's it! I've had
it!" Angel shouts, preparing to chase after the creature, until Buffy's hand
comes to rest on his shoulder.
"Honey- just get in bed. Let him do what he wants..." she pleads, quite
tired herself from their evening of slaying and other more intense and
enjoyable activities.
"Fine- you don't want to sleep in your bed? Sleep on the floor! Just don't
bother us!" Hopping over Stitch to join his wife in bed, Angel pulls Buffy
into his arms, hoping her always comforting presence would help calm him
down to get to sleep.
Annoyed at being yelled at and ignored, Stitch begins crawling around
their room again, opting to go rooting through their bookshelf again to find
something of interest to either look at or read.
"Bleck!" he mutters, tossing aside Great Expectations. "Puh!" he slaps away
Alice in Wonderland. Something inside the pages of his next choice caught
his eye. One of the gifts that the couple's newborn daughter had received
from her Aunts Willow and Tara was a book of children's stories. The
picture of the ugly duckling appealed to the blue creature and he
immediately wished to know the story behind it.
He scampers over to the bed, pulls himself up and crawls up to the
dozing couple, shaking Buffy's shoulder slightly, trying not to wake the big
mean giant he'd heard the others call an angel.
"Hmm?" Buffy lifts her head slightly from Angel's chest, lifting one eyelid
to focus on Stitch. "What?"
"Ah ah ah," he holds the opened page open for her to see, pointing at the
picture of the small duck, crying for his lost family.
"Oh- that's the ugly duckling," she sits up a bit to explain, pointing at
the page as she does. "See- here he's sad because he's lost. But on the
next page, he's happy because he's finally found his family." Satisfied
with her answer, Stitch hops back down to the floor, keeping the book by his
side as he crawls into his box, trying to familiarize himself with this
concept Buffy and all the others had introduced him to. "Family..."
******
"So how's it going with your babysitting job, man?" The next morning, Gunn
had called the mansion to inform his boss of their progress on their case.
Still not having much luck, the LA gang would be graced with Cordelia's
presence for a few days longer thatn anticipated, meaning that Angel and
Buffy were still the only ones left to take care of-
"Stitch!!!" Angel's sharp cry leaped over the line, causing Gunn to flinch
back. "Put down the refrigerator right now!! You already broke our
stove!!" Letting out a deep, exhausted and frustrated sigh, Angel finally
answers his friend's question. "Oh just wonderful. Everything's been
great."
"Sounds like it. I think I'll let you get back to taking care of your
guest. He sounds like he could use some help."
"*He's* not the one who needs the help," Angel sighs before hanging up.
Seeing that the creature had finally put down the huge appliance, he walks
over to where Buffy was giving Quinn her bottle in the kitchen.
"Have you ever seen a dog do *that*?! Or any of the other million things
that it does?! I don't care what anyone says, that thing is not a dog!"
Hearing himself being talked about, Stitch leaps over to where the
family was sitting, pulls up a chair for himself and sits down before them.
"Ah ah ah-" he points a finger into his opened mouth, indicating his hunger.
"I think he's hungry," Buffy casually observes, the sigh her husband let out
not excaping her ears.
"What does he eat?"
"Dawn said pretty much anything. Why don't you ask him what he would like?"
"I am not catering to a?" realizing that for the rest of the week, his
opinion would not be mattering, Angel gives in. "What do you want to eat?
he asks the smiling pet.
"Cake! Cho-co-late!"
"Cake? Of course! Why not?" he blurts out in his most sarcastic voice.
"Maybe you want a nice glass of sugar or caffeine to wash it down with?"
"Cake! Stitch want cake!!"
"Wait on me, I'm rich," Angel mumbles as he mocks the demanding creature.
He heads over to the fridge, extracting some of the cake left over from
Dawn's birthday party. Cutting two pieces, he brings them back over to the
table, placing one in front of Stitch, the other in front of his wife. "I
thought you might like a piece too," he smiles, leaning down to place a
gentle kiss on her lips.
"Aren't you sweet," she sighs, grabbing a fork to dig into her slice, but
quickly retracts her hand as she sees a blue paw grab up both pieces,
shoving them into his mouth. "Hey!"
Sensing that he had done wrong, Stitch reaches a hand down his throat,
extracting the two pieces he hadn't even bothered to chew, and places them
back onto one of the plates. Trying to go the extra distance, he even
plunges a hand back down his throat to grab the cherry that had been on
Buffy's piece, placing it neatly back onto the slice. "Ewww!" Buffy moans,
pushing aside the pieces. "Help yourself," she rolls her eyes at Stitch,
moaning again as she sees him inhale the two pieces once more.
After finishing his food, Stitch slowly crawls over on the table,
finding a place to sit in front of Buffy. He tilts his head slightly at the
sight of Quinn, gurgling up happily at her mother. "Family..." the creature
breathes out, pointing a hand at the infant.
"Yeah," Buffy smiles at him, the previous gross-out she had had erased from
her mind at the sight of her daughter. Stitch timidly reaches in a hand to
tickle Quinn's tummy, letting out a squeal himself as the child responds to
him with her own.
"See..." Buffy looks over at Angel. "I told you he could be gentle."
"Mmm-hmm," he agrees, though the bumps and bruises he had received from the
pet had left him still not convinced.
"Maybe you should take him for a walk. Dawn said he loves going for walks."
"You want me to walk that thing- I mean, *Stitch*," he corrects himself as
he sees the creature pass him an annoyed glance, "around town? In public?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"I- well...nothing. Nothing..." he concedes, grabbing the leash Dawn had
brought over. "I'll take him...I'm not going to be responsible for what I'm
going to do to him, but I'll take him." "Maybe I can leave him somewhere,"
he mumbles to himself. "Or sell him...if anyone will buy him..."
"What was that, honey?"
"Hmm? Oh- nothing. Just trying to map out where I'm going to take him
around town," he smiles. "Come on Stitch," he pats his leg, praying that
for once the blue menace would listen to him. "Let's go for a walk."
"Ooooo..." he hops down from the table, racing over to Angel and grabbing
the leash from him in the process.
"Hey!"
Using it as a lasso, Stitch wraps the material around Angel's arm,
taking off out the already opened door, dragging a helpless Angel behind
him.
Shaking her head, Buffy can't help but laugh out loud at Angel's
neverending torment. First with unwanted friends as houseguests, then
having their precious daughter kidnapped and almost sacrificed, and now
Stitch. <He actually makes Xander look like a saint.>
Sitting up to place Quinn down for a nap, Buffy walks over to the front
door, reluctantly shutting it as she sees her soulmate being yanked down the
street on his feet, trying to keep himself standing as Stitch bounces up and
down as he continues pulling him forward. "I hate to leave...I've never
seen a show this good before," she remarks to herself, knowing how upset
Angel would be to know she had been watching him, instead of helping him.
"I just hope they both come back in one piece," she smiles down at her
daughter. "Never mind that- I just hope they both come back."
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