Bother

by Kathryn A

Buffy / Labyrinth ( 400 words) [2008-02-23] ?Anya Jenkins, Jareth

Just a little babysitting, no bother at all. Yeah, right.

Bother 1

Done for tthdrabbles challenge #74 "Lost and Found"


Bobby was wailing like a Chthora demon with its plug pulled. He had started the moment Xander had walked out the door. Little Bobby had banged on the door, screaming "Xan! Xan! Want Xan!"

"Xander isn't here," Anya said.

"Xaaaaaaaaaaaaan!" Bobby yelled, then lay down in front of the door, drubbing his heels on the floor, and screaming. The wails and screams were punctuated with cries for "Xan" and occassionally "Mom".

"Stop that!"

"Xaaaaan!"

"Screaming will not make him appear."

"Xaaaaan!"

Anya retreated to the lounge and tried to ignore him. When Xander dropped his cousin off to be babysat, he had assured her that Bobby would be easy to look after. For him, maybe.

She put cotton in her ears. It didn't help. She went back.

"I will give you candy if you shut up."

"Xaaaan!"

"If the wind changes when you do that, you will freeze that way. Do you want to look like a goblin?"

"Xaaaaaan!"

She returned to the lounge.

"Stupid goblin. I wish the Goblin King would come and take you away, right now!"

Silence.

She pulled the cotton out of her ears. Still silence. She went to the front hall. Bobby had vanished.

"Ooops."

Bother 2


"The bog of eternal stench was a nice touch, professionally speaking," Anya said condescendingly.

Jareth frowned. "So how do you like being mortal?" he taunted.

"How do you like being King of the Goblins? Learned your lesson yet?"

"Don't pick lovers who'll call on the patron saint of scorned women," he snapped.

"Nope, that wasn't it."

"How," Jareth ground his teeth, "did you get through the Labyrinth so quickly?"

"You didn't think a few illusions would confuse me, did you? I was a witch before I was a demon."

"I was forgetting."

"So give me little Bobby and send me home," she demanded.

Jareth sighed, "You can have him, and welcome." He gestured, and Bobby appeared, asleep on a very large cushion.

Anya smirked. "Wouldn't stop crying, would he?"

Jareth scowled. "I had to cast sleep on him. Me, the King of the Goblins!"

Anya hesitated before picking up the boy. Fortunately, he didn't wake up. The Goblin King's castle melted away, and she was back in the apartment.

When Xander returned, he smiled at the sleeping boy, and then at Anya. "See, not hard at all!"

Anya opened her mouth, and then closed it again. Better not to say.