Author: Jinni (druscilla@cox.net)

Pairing: W/A/S

Author’s Note: This is inspired by the events of this past weekend with my sister. We bought a toy stuffed kitten for her – the name on the tag was
Patches… well, the story will tell you what happened next.

Summary: Short story in the Mina universe.

Dedication: To my Beta's!!!

~*~*~

“Mina wants a kitten.”

“A what?!?! Oh, bloody hell…”

Willow snorted at her mate’s response, her eyes never leaving the newspaper in front of her on the kitchen table. She knew that her daughter’s request for a pet would meet resistance from the two non-humans living in their household. Cats and vampires didn’t tend to mix from her experience. She remembered the scratches Spike had gotten from trying to rescue a client’s cat once after it had been scared up a tree by the demon they were fighting. But what Mina wanted, Mina was bound to get eventually. The red haired witch cleared her throat and continued. “I told her she needed to ask her Daddies for permission.”

Spike sighed and shut his eyes. His little witch was notorious for this – setting him and Angel up to be the bad guys if they said no to Mina. It was
one of the reasons that the child got what she wanted – all the time. He didn’t blame Willow in the least for doing it that way, either. It was
difficult to say no to a child as adorable as Mina was. “Great, luv, a kitten? We’ll have claw marks in the furniture in no time. The little blighter will shred our clothes, eat the houseplants…” He struggled for the right words to express just how bad bringing a cat into the house would be.

“And it won’t like you one little bit, huh, luv? Scratch up your lovely arms?” She drawled, her eyes still fixed on the newspaper. Taunting Spike
was one of the few pleasures she could get out of life. Her love for him kept her from being cruel, but teasing him was an absolute joy. Raising her
green eyes from the paper she saw that he had his eyes closed and was leaning back in the chair, his face a mask of absolute despair. There was no way he would say no when Mina asked.

Willow had been hesitant at first when her daughter had asked for a cat. Not only would the creature undoubtedly not get along with Spike and Angel – it may not get along with the twins either. She knew that a few spells could easily alter the animal’s temperament, though – a fact which she wasn’t about to disclose to Spike until after he had sweated about it for a while. Having a pet would teach Mina responsibility, too – which would be a very good thing. She was getting to that age when she needed to learn about taking care of herself and the things she cared for. A pet would only serve to enhance that responsibility and help to make it more of a pleasure than a chore. Mina’s first pet, a puppy named Jesse, had been given to a family with a small yard once Willow determined dogs didn’t make very good apartment pets. It had been a rough experience for the child to give up the dog  - but the family who had Jesse now allowed her to visit every so often.

“Great…just great.” Spike growled quietly. Tiny footsteps in the hallway indicated that his daughter was on her way to where they were – the kitchen. He could only hope his Sire would be able to resist their daughter’s request when it came time because there was no hope that he himself could.

~*~*~

Angel looked up from the book he was studying, smiling as Mina entered the room. “Hi, Princess.”

“Hello, Daddy-Sire.” The little girl’s face was set in an expression of complete seriousness. She gestured for him to lift her up to his lap and was
met with almost instant compliance.

“What’s wrong, Mina?” Angel looked down into the face of his daughter.

“Nothing.” She smiled at him, breaking her serious mood for a brief second, before lapsing back into miniature-adult mode. “I have something to ask
you.”

“O….k….” The dark haired vampire said slowly. He had no idea what the five year old in his arms could possibly want to talk to him about. Usually she was full of bubbly cheer. This serious attitude she had was just…unnatural.

“I already asked mommy and Daddy-Spike,” She began quietly. This was the key to everything, she knew, making sure that Daddy-Sire was aware that her other parents had already agreed to her request. “They said it would be okay as long as you….” She paused, trying to remember the word her mother had used. “A…Agree?” She smiled, the expression lighting up her entire face.

Angel’s face clouded over for a moment. He had been set up. His lovers had set him up! He knew by the fact that they hadn’t mentioned this to him their selves that it was something he wasn’t going to like. They had left the entire decision up to him! If he said no now, Mina would blame him for it. “What is it that you need to ask me?” He prompted.

“CanIhaveAkitten?” She exhaled the words all at once.

The vampire sighed, leaning back in his chair. A small smile played across his lips. If Spike had hoped Angel would be the one to break Mina’s heart –
he was wrong. It was a well-known fact that cats hated vampires. But it was a little known fact that Angel happened to adore them. He smiled down at his daughter. “Of course, Mina.” He turned serious again. “But it will be your pet. You will have to feed it and clean up after it, okay?”

Mina nodded, her strawberry blonde hair bouncing up and down. The smile on her face was enough to put the sun to shame as she leaned in to hug her Daddy as hard as her small arms could allow. “Thank you, Daddy-Sire!!!”

Angel grinned, watching as his daughter ran out of the room. He could just picture the look of shock on Spike’s face when Mina told him the ‘good news’. He could only hope that it would teach the blond a lesson about setting him up.

~*~*~

“Peaches!”

“Her tag says Patches, honey.” Willow insisted, smiling encouragingly at her daughter. She watched as the child clutched the small bundle of fur to her, green eyes sharp to see if Mina would be too rough with the pet. They had only needed to visit one animal shelter to find the perfect kitten – a
beautiful little short-tailed calico female with the already given name of ‘Patches’.

Unfortunately, Mina had misread the name off of the papers and had been calling the animal ‘Peaches’ for the past hour. Not a word her mommy or
Daddies could say to her would change it.

“Strawberries, the kitty’s name is Patches.” He pointed to the colorings on the kitten’s fur, careful to stay out of scratching range. “See…she’s got
all these patches of color. She doesn’t look like a Peaches. ‘Sides, Daddy-Sire is Peaches. We’d all get confused with two Peaches in the house.”

“Her name is *Peaches*!” Mina insisted, her voice rising to a shriek. Red-faced she backed up to glare at all three of her parents at once. “I
will call her *Peaches*. You will call her *Peaches*. Her name is *Peaches*!” The kitten meowed as she squeezed a little too hard.

“Fine…fine…” Angel sighed, sliding out of his chair to kneel on the floor in front of his daughter. Lately she had entered a stage of throwing temper
tantrums if things didn’t go her way. Willow assured him that it was just a phase and that she would grow out of it quick enough. Most of the time they corrected her and dealt with the tantrum but times like this it just wasn’t worth arguing with her. If she kept this up much longer she was bound to wake up the twins and no one wanted that to happen. The kitten would adjust to being called Peaches after a while, he was sure. “Let me see Peaches, then.”

“Peaches?” She asked, her eyes narrowed. Why was Daddy-Sire suddenly playing nice. When he repeated the name again for her she smiled, appeased for the moment. She allowed the kitten to leave her arms and smiled when the creature meowed again. It was just so cute! “You can hold her for a little while, Daddy-Sire, but then we’re going to bed.”

Willow smothered a laugh at the tone of voice her daughter was using. She doubted very much that the kitten would spend the night in Mina’s bed and had every intention of rescuing it from her clutches the second the child was fast asleep. “Mina, get ready for your bath while your Daddies meet Peaches.”

”Can I turn on the water?” This was something only big girls got to do – a treat her mommy had only given her two times before.

“If you’re careful. Remember – only turn the hot one a little bit!” She cautioned to the child’s retreating back.

“Can’t see how you can stand to hold that blasted thing.” Spike grumbled, watching as his Sire patted the kitten’s head gently. Willow had already
told them that the kitten had been magically ‘modified’ to be more tolerant of the undead than most animals were. That didn’t change the fact that the little ankle biter would soon be tearing up their apartment.

“Aw…its just a kitten, Spike.” Angel chuckled. Without warning he placed the kitten in his Childe’s lap, laughing outright at the look of indignation on
the blonde’s face.

“I think she likes you, Spike.” Willow whispered, watching as the kitten turned in a circle twice before settling down in a small, purring bundle on
Spike’s lap. She stood up, kissing each of them on the forehead before going to help Mina with her bath.

“Well isn’t that just wonderful…” Spike sighed, glaring at his Sire.

And the kitten continued to purr

~*~The End~*~

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