Nursery Blues!
Story by LoobyLoo
Rating U
Disclaimer: I own none of these characters, this is just for fun.
Chapter 1
“Now, Willow, come on…come on poppet…look all the other children are drinking their milk and eating their cookies, won’t you try one?”
Joyce was trying to coax the shy little redhead out of the Wendy house. Willow looked at Joyce big eyed.
“Can I have ‘nother cookie please Mrs Summers?”
“Here you go then Xander…would you give this one to Willow for me please?”
Xander took a cookie in each hand, and went into the Wendy house.
“Ha-ha, Xander’s a sissy! – Playin’ wiv the girlies!”
“Angel, be quiet, be a good little boy”
Angel just grinned. Cordelia was sticky, and she didn’t like being sticky, so she wiped her hands on the teacher’s skirt.
“Cordelia…come on, let me wipe your hands…Angel, stop that, its naughty!” Miss Callender said.
“What’s he doing now?” Joyce asked
“Sticking his tongue out to Cordelia.” Buffy drank all her milk, holding the cup with both hands, then placed it carefully on the side.
“Your ribbon looks stupid! – And who wears blue, blue is a boys colour!” Cordelia said, giving the bow a tug, and pulling some hair too. Buffy’s bottom lip trembled.
“Cordelia, you play nice, or I’ll put you in the naughty corner!” Mrs Summers said, then she went over to where her daughter was sitting.
“Come on, let me…Buffy, sit still, I’m just going to re-tie your bow, and-“
“No. ‘Delia says its stupid and blue is wrong!” Buffy pouted, arms folding across her chest. Wriggling so her mother couldn’t tie it properly. Joyce sighed.
“Oh look…” Jenny Callender said, nodding towards the Wendy house. Joyce turned around, saw that young Xander was holding Willow by the hand. She looked shyly at him, and allowed him to take her over to the ‘activities table’ where they sat down, and began to do some colouring in.
“Good, I’m glad, she’s such a timid little thing, so sweet!” Joyce said. Buffy began to get off the chair, and Joyce turned back to her daughter. She saw that Buffy had pulled the ribbon out of her hair altogether, and it had dropped to the floor. Joyce sighed, picked it up.
“Never mind…only another four hours to go!” Jenny said with a grin. “James…calm down, don’t run round like that, you’ll fall!” Jenny called, trying to calm a boisterous boy who seemed to only have two speeds, full pelt, and stop!
Angel thought that it looked like a jolly good game, especially when they added a, nnneeeeeooooowwww! Noise with out stretched arms, then a rapid duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh! Sound to emulate machine gun fire.
“P-choo, p-choo, got you, Harris…nnneeeoowww, this is red leader…enemy in sight, repeat, enemy in sight…oh, no, gotta climb above the mountain red leader…Nneeeooooowwww! Bandits at six o’clock! P-choo, p-choo, p-choo! Red leader…come in”
“Angel, James, will you two please sit down and play nicely, why don’t you do some colouring in?” Angel looked horrified at this.
“Playing Top Gun…don’t wanna do colouring…its for sissies, like Xander, he plays with the girls!”
“There’s nothing sissy about playing with girls!” Joyce said, squatting down in front of him. Stroking the sticky up hair of his.
“It is too- they are all squishy and soft, and when you play they fall over, they’re not brave and they cry, then I get told off for nothing!” Angel said, his face all screwed up and petulant. Joyce’s attention wandered across to a sudden tug-of-war taking place between her daughter and Cordelia.
“S’mine!”
“No, it’s not!”
“Is”
“Isn’t”
“Is!”
“A –a, careful now Cordelia, you’ll (RRRIIIPPP!) hmm, rip it. Oh dear…let me look”
“That’s my dolly!” Buffy cried out tremulously, then she pouted, her bottom lip trembling. Tears blurring the rip in the doll’s dress.
“Have it…she’s got a stupid dress on…and stupid hair…and a stupid name, like you…what’s Buffy…it’s made up – and whoever heard of a dolly called-“ Jenny Callender spoke up.
“Ok…listen children…quiet please… (She clapped her hands together) quiet…Nathan, shush…ok, right, we have a new little boy starting…his name is William, now, be nice to him, as it’s his first day, say hello to him”
“Hello William” Xander said.
“Hello” Willow said.
A few other children said hello.
William looked round the room. Joyce took his hand, and the lady holding his other hand squatted down.
“Ok William, you’re going to make some new friends…you be a good boy, and I’ll come and pick you up later, ok?” William nodded.
“There’s a good boy, see you later”
“He’ll be fine” Joyce said.
“He’s generally a quiet little boy…he thinks a lot…but he’s not usually any trouble at the home, his room is always tidy…too tidy I sometimes think for a five year old…” The social services lady smiled fondly at him.
“Ok, now William, Joyce said, squatting down in front of him…do you want some juice or milk?” she looked into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen.
William shrugged.
“Don’t mind”
“Ok, I’ll give you juice…want a cookie?” William took a cookie off the plate
“Ok, William, you sit there, till you’ve finished, then we will find you something to do, ok?” Joyce said. She tousled his head. Jenny came over with Buffy’s doll.
“Wish they were all quiet like him! This will easily mend” she brandished the doll at Joyce.
“Poor kid…he lost both parents a few months ago, and is still in foster care until they can find him a proper home” Joyce told Jenny.
“Oh…what a shame…gods, aren’t they the most beautiful blue eyes you ever saw?”
There was a crash and a wail, and the two women’s attention was shifted from William and his beautiful blue eyes, to Angel.
“Oh gods, what now! Angel…what did I tell you about running around”
“You didn’t, you told James, not me…anyway…it wasn’t me!” Considering that it was Angel, sitting next to an overturned table, a once neatly stacked pile of comics strewn about, and two cups of half drank milk spilled on the floor, he’d have some difficulty convincing her that it was the tables fault!
Buffy hadn’t taken her eyes off the new boy since he’d come into the class. She just knew that she had to talk to him.
“Hello” Buffy went over to where William was sitting. He eyed her up, then said,
“Hello”
“Hello, my names Cordelia, don’t play with her, because her mom’s the boss lady teacher, she thinks she owns it here and she doesn’t!” Cordelia flicked her head, she’d shoved Buffy out of the way. Buffy looked really sad.
“Don’t push her!” William stood up, went over to Buffy.
“Are you ok?” William asked Buffy
“I’m talking to you, come and play in the Wendy house with me” Cordelia said, pulling William’s arm.
“No, get off…”
“You talk funny…don’t want to play with you…nyerr! Cordelia stuck her tongue out and stalked off.
“What’s your name?”
“Buffy”
“Buffy? Never heard that name before”
“It’s my name, and it’s not stupid!” Buffy glared at him.
“Didn’t say it was stupid.”
“Delia’s said you talk funny…why?”
“Coz I don’t come from around here, that’s why.”
“Where do you live?”
“St Chad’s foster home”
“What’s a foster home…where does your mom work?”
William looked down, sad.
“Haven’t got a mom or dad…they got hurt and went away” William said
“Where to? Will they come back and fetch you?” Buffy asked.
William shook his head.
“Nah…they’re dead…got to find a new home”
“Dead? - Like, like Fluffy, not coming back ever, ever, ever?” Buffy asked big eyed, shaking her head. Again William shook his head.
“What’s Fluffy?” He asked Buffy. She looked at him.
“My rabbit…he got sick…and died, and mom said he’d gone to heaven to be with the angels”
Buffy looked big eyed still.
“Aren’t you sad?” Buffy asked, not being able to imagine her mom and dad not being around her.
“Sometimes…when I look at their pictures I want them to come back…but they can’t”
The conversation her daughter was having with the new boy bought tears to Joyce’s eyes.
“Wanna play war?” Angel stood over them.
“Nah. I’m going to do some writing”
“WRITING?…Why?” Angel asked incredulously, writing was work!
“I like it”
“Cordelia said you talk funny…you do”
“So do you”
“I don’t”
“You sound funny to me…and your hair sticks up!” William said. Angel scowled and kicked William.
“Angel! Go and sit over there, and leave William alone” Joyce scolded.
Angel glared at William for getting him told off…he’d ‘fix’ him later, when ‘Miss’ wasn’t looking.
William went over to the ‘activities table’, and said,
“Can I have this and this?” To Willow. She nodded as William picked up a piece of paper and a pencil.
But he didn’t sit at the table, he went back over to where he had been sitting, and lay on the floor on his stomach. Concentrating, his tongue in the corner of his mouth, his heels occasionally hitting his bottom as he gently swung his legs back.
“What’s he doing?” Jenny asked.
“Who’s bothered as long as he’s quiet, he seems very advanced for a five year old.” Joyce said. Buffy sat on the floor by him.
“You can draw good…better than Xander…is that an aeroplane?”
“Yes…I came here on an aeroplane” William said.
Buffy went big eyed.
“Today?”
“No…ages ago…I lived in England”
“England…my mommy and daddy went there for a vacation…I didn’t go though, don’t know where I was, it was for after they got married, did you see them?” Buffy asked.
“No…don’t think so,” William said, without looking up. So engrossed in conversation, they didn’t see James and Angel sneak up on them, and Angel snatched the paper from underneath William’s body, and grinned.
“Give it back” William said angrily.
“Ha ha, no…this is a stupid story…’One day a pol-ice- Policeman came to the door and said my mom and dad had an ac…aci- acci-dent and they were dead and I came on an aeroplane to live with my aunt but she got sick and I live at St Chad’s’……… you haven’t been on an aeroplane!” Angel looked at him, scowling.
“Have to”
“Liar”
“I’m not”
“He’s not lying!” Buffy said.
“How do you know?”
“Coz he told me” Buffy huffed, folding her arms across her chest.
“You know…I don’t know why that child is called Angel, he’s anything but…”Joyce said to Jenny.
“Angel, give William back his story…NOW”
“He’s lying, miss…he say’s he’s been on an aeroplane” Angel said, smiling, knowing that William would be told off for telling lies.
“That’s right Angel, he has, William comes from a different country, he comes from England…where the queen lives, Buckingham Palace, and the big red buses, and Tower Bridge, remember you saw the pictures, of that statue and all the lions and the fountains, it’s called Trafalgar Square, that’s where William comes from” Buffy looked huge eyed again!
“You lived with the queen?”
“No. But I know where she lived, seen her palace, loads of times” William said with a slight boast to his voice.
“Did she wear her crown?”
“Dunno…saw her once, she was in a carriage…and there was policemen on horses, and the one horse…”(he began to giggle)
“What did he do?”
“He did a big poo in the road!” Buffy looked shocked, Angel and James began to laugh.
“Mommy! William said he saw the queen and there was a horse and it…it…did…” She went red.
“What baby, hmm?” Joyce smoothed her hair out of her eyes.
“He said it did a poo” she whispered
“Oh…well, they can’t go to the toilet like us.”
“So, it’s true then?” Her eyes big and round.
“Um…well yes, I suppose it is”
“It’s a shame mommy…his mommy and daddy got hurted real bad, and they’re not coming for him ever, ever, ever…do you think that they would see Fluffy?”
“I’m sure they would baby” Joyce smiled and stroked her daughter’s hair. There was another crash and a wail, but this time, it didn’t involve either James or Angel. Jenny went to sort it. Cordelia wandered over from playing dress-up with the dolls.
“Cordelia, William saw a horse and it did a big poo in the road!” James said giggling. Cordelia wasn’t in the slightest bit impressed!
Joyce sighed. Why do kids have such scatological senses of humour?
“My tortoise did a poo on me last week!” Cordelia said
“My baby sister does a poo in her diaper!” Nathan piped up.
“Ok…ok, that’s enough now…come on…oh…are you alright Willow?” Jenny asked, noticing that Willow looked upset. Kneeling down next to her, Jenny saw a huge tear run down her face.
“Sor-ry!” she was holding on tight to a yellow wax crayon that had broken in half.
“That’s alright sweetheart, I’m not going to shout…they break easily, there. Nothing to worry about…ok?” Jenny said softly, she rubbed her hand gently and Willow relaxed.
“You can have mine” Xander said giving Willow his yellow crayon.
“There you go, that was nice of Xander, wasn’t it?” Willow smiled and nodded.
“So…what do we say?”
“Thankyou, Xander”
“There’s a good girl…”
“Ok…come along then children…lets play a game, shall we? What shall we play…Simon says…or I spy…or I know, let’s play the alphabet game” Joyce said.
“YEAH!” Most of the kids shouted, jumping up and down. They all sat in front of Miss Callender and Mrs Summers. William sat on the end, Buffy sat next to him. Angel sat behind them.
“Will you be my friend?” Buffy said to William. Thinking for a few seconds, William nodded.
“Ok” Buffy smiled and held his hand. William looked down at their entwined fingers; decided he liked it, and didn’t pull away. Angel narrowed his eyes. Hmm, how could he pull Buffy’s hair now…that William was going to look after her?
They played the alphabet game, now it was time to sing songs.
“The wheels on the bus go round and round…”Miss Callender sang out. The children sang too, did the actions. Angel took every opportunity to bump or knock the two in front of him.
“Stop it!” Buffy hissed at Angel. He tried to look innocent.
“The bell on the bus goes ring, ring, ring!” For the pressing action, Angel thought it funny to press William in the back.
Buffy stood up, hands on her hips and turned to Angel.
“Stop hurted-ing my friend!”
“He’s not hurting me,” William said.
”Ok, ok, settle down. Angel, you come and sit at the front”
“No!”
“Angel, you come here, now, and sit between Riley and Nathan”
“I hate Riley, he smells!”
“I don’t!”
“Do”
“Don’t”
“Do”
“I d…”
“That’s enough! If you don’t behave yourself…I’ll send you to Mrs Cummings’ dancing class with all the older girls, now, do as you’re told!”
Angel reluctantly stomped over and sat where Miss Callender pointed, but giving Riley a sly pinch as he sat down.
“OW!” Riley frowned and punched Angel on the arm. She was just about to admonish them both, when she noticed what James was doing.
There was a wail, and she had to rescue a little boy called Simon, from having a broken wax crayon inserted into his nose by James.
“Dinner time…come on, time to wash your hands…
Eventually they had all settled to eating their lunch; Jenny keeping a watchful eye on the proceedings. Joyce began to feed one of the babies they had there. Winding her, Joyce started again on the last half of the bottle.
Another baby cried in the background.
“Turn it off mommy…it’s too noisy!” Buffy put her hands over her ears.
“I wish!” Joyce sighed, going over to replace the lost soother from the baby’s mouth. As Angel took his plate to the serving hatch, he thought it funny to press Xander’s nose into his yoghurt. Xander blinked, yoghurt dripped from his face. James laughed and Willow began to cry. Cordelia had a fit because Xander had dripped yoghurt on her best dress, and Simon was trying to get wax crayon from up his nose, via a finger. William sat quietly. Joyce knelt down by him.
“Do you like it here, William?” She smiled. He shook his head.
“Not really…it’s…” he shrugged.
“Do you want to do some more writing, or drawing?”
“No thankyou.”
“What would you like to do?” he shrugged.
“I wanted to play with the cars, but Angel said I couldn’t”
“Ok honey…you go and choose something you want to play with out of the box, you can play with the cars if you want to, take no notice what Angel or the other’s tell you, ok, I’ll make sure Angel doesn’t bother you”
“I’m not scared of him”
“I know baby”
“Why do you call me baby…I’m not”
“I’m sorry, you’re right, you’re a big boy now” Joyce smiled.
“Are you Buffy’s mom?”
“Yes, yes I am”
“Buffy’s my friend”
“Well, that’s good!” Joyce grinned, resisting the urge to hug the little boy. She wanted to cuddle him; she thought he’d probably not had a cuddle in ages.
“She said I could come to tea…could I?” William looked up. His blue eyes looked hopeful. Smoothing his hair out of his eyes, Joyce squatted in front of him
“Well, let’s see what Mrs Betts says from the home, shall we? – If she says yes, then you can come” William nodded at this, happy.
“Mommy!” Buffy came skipping over to them.
“Yes love?”
“William can come to tea, can’t he, he can play on the Jungle Gym…he’s never seen one”
“Well, like I said, we’ll have to ask Mrs Betts if he can come”
“But mommy! Mrs Betts isn’t his mommy, so she can’t say no!” Buffy reasoned, rubbing her mother’s arm.
“Darling, I know Mrs Betts isn’t William’s mommy, but she looks after him, we must ask her first”
“When she comes, you will ask, won’t you”
“Ok darling, I’ll ask”
“Good, come on William, you can be the policeman and arrest Angel for being naughty” Buffy held William’s hand and they went off together.
“Hmm…your daughter seems to have taken a shine to that new lad!” Jenny said. She sat, and fed a tiny baby.
“Golly…why do the moms have babies only to leave them in somebody else’s care, how old is that little one?” Joyce tickled the baby’s cheek with the back of her index finger.
“Three months…she said she was, and I quote, ‘sick of the smell of sick, dirty nappies, and sleepless nights, and give her the boardroom any day’” Jenny said, shaking her head sadly. Joyce shook her head too.
“Some people don’t know when there well off…I’d have loved another, but, well I can’t. Had too bad a time having Buffy.”
“What’s that child doing now…Angel, stop trying to pick Susie up, you’ll drop her…James, Simon, stop fighting! Angel, Mind…mind the painting tab-“ (CRASH) Joyce closed her eyes.
“Two hours…only two hours to go…” She got up to go and sort things out.
****************************
“Why have I got to wear these, they’re not mine!” Angel groused, pulling at the baggy shorts.
“Because your trousers are wet, they had to be washed as they were covered in paint, now sit there and wait until these are dry”
“Why are you wearing those…they look stupid!” Cordelia told Angel on no uncertain terms.
“Angel wet himself…Angel is a baby, Angel is a baby!” James began to chant, a little song that a few others took up calling too.
“Alright, calm down…”
“I did not wet myself” Angel shouted hotly, going red in the face.
“Miss said your trousers got wet!”
“From the stupid paint!”
“Settle down…ok, come on, story time” Joyce sat on the chair, the children sat on the floor, looking up at her. Buffy sat next to William, held his hand tight. She put her head on his shoulder, and went to sleep.
“Just look at them,” Joyce said to Jenny.
Getting children’s coats, and seeing that they had the right drawings to take home, Joyce missed seeing Mrs Betts to ask about William, and him coming to tea.
Buffy was very cross. She made her mother promise to speak to Mrs Betts first thing in the morning.
When she got home, she was William this and William that, she didn’t shut up about him, prompting Hank, her father to ask just who this William was, when he came downstairs after reading his daughter a story.
“New boy at the nursery, it’s very sad” Joyce said.
“Well, she’s taken a right shine to him! – Even wants him to come to grandma’s on Sunday with us!”
“Does she? The lad’s up for adoption………………Hank…”
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!