Story 21: Traumatic experience

"So you be a good girl and go to sleep, Callie, and when you wake up, the Easter bunny will have come and left you a little basket with candy, just like last year. Remember?" Buffy smiled down at her daughter as she sat on the edge of the bed, looking into the child's sleepy brown eyes. "You've been a good girl this year, so you'll get chocolate and Peeps and plastic eggs with little surprises, won't you? And a nice basket with grass…and you'll get to dress up and look so pretty-"

"Don't wanna dress up," Callie muttered, her voice soft but insistent, even as her eyes half closed. Buffy smoothed a hand over her soft blonde hair, glossing over that quickly.

"Well, we'll see."

What she meant was that she would try her hardest to get Callie into her new little Easter dress, but that her knowing her daughter and her disdain for such things, she would publically go naked until she let her wear pants. Faith really was such a bad influence sometimes. Well, at least Faith had stopped walking around the house naked once Callie was old enough to start asking her what all her body parts were called, but obviously she hadn't stopped soon enough, because the three-year-old stripped rather frequently now.

"Anyway," Buffy said quickly, diverting the child's attention before thoughts of dressing up for Easter could snatch all sleepiness away from her and cause her to sit up and start arguing. "You'll get all kinds of good things from the Easter bunny, and you'll get to go hunt for Easter eggs on the playground with other kids. Tomorrow will be lots of fun."

"Yeah…" Callie murmured, her eyes closing, and Buffy kissed her forehead, smiling as the child already began her descent into sleep. "Night mommy…"

"Good night, baby," Buffy replied, and she waited until Callie's eyes were fully closed before backing out of the room. It was her turn to put her to bed tonight while Faith patrolled, and as she waited for the other Slayer to return, she began to arrange the eggs she had dyed with Callie earlier on the table. After fifteen minutes she went to stick her head into Callie's room to check on her. Seeing that the little girl was asleep, breathing evenly, she returned to the living room and began to set up the "scene" for the next morning.

"B, what the hell are you doing?"

Buffy looked up at the sound of Faith's voice, from where the other woman was standing in the doorway, staring at her. She had a scrape on one cheek and her tank top was grass stained, but other than that she looked none the worse for the wear.

"Setting up Callie's Easter basket, obviously," Buffy replied. "Don't worry, I have one for you too, but I'm not putting it out right now. You'd eat everything in fifteen minutes."

"No, I mean what's with the grass trail starting at the doorway, leading to the basket, and then circling back to the door again?" Faith gestured, rolling her eyes. "That's REAL grass, B, is this supposed to be more decoration? Did you run out of the fake kind?"

"No, this is just part of the setup," Buffy explained, as if it were very expected that she would do such a thing. "This way Callie will really think the Easter bunny came. It's like he had grass on his feet and tracked it in, see? He left tracks."

Still standing in the doorway without shutting it, Faith just gawked at her for several seconds before shaking her head, giving a sharp laugh of disbelief.

"Oh god B, you SERIOUS? First you spend all week getting her to color pictures of eggs and bunnies and chickens…then you dye Easter eggs with her, even though she just spilled dye everywhere and splashed it out of the cups every time she dropped an egg in and broke like six of the eggs…and now you're going out of your way to convince her there's a real Easter bunny? You're planting fake evidence of an Easter bunny?"

"Well, yeah, why not?" Buffy said a little defensively, standing up. "Close the door, Faith. And yeah, I am. She only gets to be little for so long, why not let her have fun?"

"Because you're totally lying to her about something stupid?" Faith replied as she shut the door, coming over to Buffy and rolling her eyes again at the grass trail. "You're gonna confuse her. If you lie to her about THIS being real when it's not, she might not believe that demons or vampires or something aren't real later, and she might end up getting hurt."

"She's not going to do that. I believed in the Easter bunny and Santa as a kid, it was just a fun thing," Buffy argued as she looked over her arrangements, making sure Faith hadn't messed them up.

"Yeah, well, I never did, and I think that's better," Faith shrugged. "That way you're never disappointed. Come on, it's stupid. A giant rabbit hopping around giving out chocolate, how freakin' ridiculous is that?"

"I think you're jealous," Buffy smirked, pulling at the end of Faith's hair as she turned toward the kitchen. "So what do you want first- food, shower, or bedroom?"

"Oh, what a decision," Faith smirked as she grabbed Buffy's wrist and pulled her close, turning her toward the hallway. "Wanna help me make up my mind…"

A few hours later they froze, both hearing the distinct sound of rather odd footsteps from outside the house. Their eyes held each other's quickly, and they immediately jumped up, pushing aside the curtain of the bedroom window.

What they saw outside it make both women freeze, sharp gasps escaping, and Faith's mouth dropped…there was a rabbit, moving steadily towards their front door. Not any ordinary small wild rabbit, but a huge rabbit as tall as either of them, hopping not on all fours, but on its two large hind feet.

"No…no fuckin' way, NO," Faith said in total disbelief, blinking rapidly, her voice strained as her face paled. "No WAY…I'm crazy. I'm seeing things. Acid trip…or something…no WAY…"

"It's the Easter bunny!" Buffy squealed, her eyes wide, excitement quickly flooding her features. "Faith, it's the Easter bunny! He's real! He's actually real, I KNEW it!"

"How the fuck did you know it, you buy our candy every year!" Faith sputtered, rapidly shaking her head. "No way! What the fuck, is this a joke? It's a costume!"

"No it's not, you saw it, you KNOW it wasn't!" Buffy said in shrill near joy, almost dancing before the window as her eyes remained glued on the rabbit. "That is NOT a costume, there's really an Easter bunny, he's really here! Come on Faith, let's go let him in!"

She tore through the house toward the front door, leaving Faith skulking after her much more slowly, scowling as she called out angrily. "If his ass is real, then why the hell didn't he leave me a basket ever when I was a kid?"

"I still don't believe in the fuckin' Easter bunny, no way is that real," Faith was still griping to herself as she entered the living room, just as Buffy was unlocking the front door. "Just NO, it doesn't' exist, it doesn't-"

"Faith, come on, it's a giant rabbit on its hind legs, here the night before Easter! What else would it be?" Buffy exclaimed, turning her head toward the brunette briefly.

"It doesn't even have baskets!" Faith shot back, coming up behind Buffy and still scowling darkly as she crossed her arms. "If it's the Easter bunny, where the hell is all its Easter bunny stuff?"

"Well, maybe it makes them appear magically, I don't know," Buffy shrugged carelessly before opening the door and calling out. "Hi Mr. Easter Bunny! Come on in- I'm Buffy, and this is Faith. But you probably know that, right, since you're the Easter bunny and all…should I call you Mr. Easter Bunny, or something else? You ARE a Mr, right…"

The rabbit-like figure continued to hop down their driveway, finally reaching their front porch. Faith continued to half sulk, half scowl behind Buffy, again muttering to herself.

"It's not an Easter bunny, it's-"

As the figure came to the front door, standing face to face with them while Buffy grinned, exuberant, its face suddenly changed. Opening its mouth, sharp red teeth emerged, and its eyes turned red. Buffy's eyes bulged, and she froze, just as Faith too did a double take, her voice lowering as she finished her sentence.

"Something else…"

As the large rabbit snarled, leaping forward, Faith kicked it hard in the stomach. Maybe it was a good thing she'd been starting to have some pent-up aggression toward the thing….

Five minutes and eighteen blows to the neck, head, and crotch later, along with a timely decapitation and a frantic phone call to Giles, Buffy and Faith stared down at the rabbit hanging half in their doorway. It was not, as Buffy had feared, an Easter bunny who was possessed, but rather Malik, a demon attracted to small children. The irony of a demonic rabbit coming to their house the day before Easter to eat their daughter was staggering, but then, this was their life.

"This..is still kinda strange," Buffy muttered, shaking her head. "Disturbing."

"Aw, you're upset to have another childhood fantasy blown," Faith teased, draping an arm around her. In contrast to Buffy's disappointed, slightly pouty demeanor, she was smiling, almost cheery. "Be glad about it, I probably would have killed it even if it were the real bunny for ignoring me all my life."

"Yeah…guess we should get rid of it," Buffy said, leaning into her. "In case-"

"MOMMY! MAMA! YOU KILLED THE EASTER BUNNY?"

"…in case Callie wakes up and sees it," Buffy finished in horror, as their daughter, standing behind them, burst into tears. This would be one long night.