A/N: I have no idea where I got the idea for this story. The plot just kept invading my thoughts and I finally gave in. It's freakishly AU…takes place after Shout. Some references will be made to episodes after Shout. But certain events didn't happen. Such as the shooting. I have an idea where this story is going, but my mind often surprises me.

Too Many Stars

Chapter One: Kylie Jane

Paige frantically rushed around her cramped (and definitely in need of a rearrangement) room. She cursed under her breath when she nearly tripped over a shoe while tossing dirty clothes from her floor into her hamper. When had her life gotten so hectic and rushed?

Oh, right. Her freshman year…the night she had made the mistake to go upstairs with him.

"Paige!" she cringed when she heard her father yell up the stairs for her. She was supposed to meet Spinner at the park for a picnic and she was late, the last thing she wanted to do was get into another argument with her father.

Grabbing her purse, she rushed downstairs, "yeah dad?" her shoulders slumped when she saw him stuffing important documents into his brief case.

"I've got a meeting to go to."

"But you said you'd watch Kylie for me. Spinner and I haven't had a day to ourselves in forever and I was so hoping--"

"—she's your daughter…not mine. You knew this was how it was going to be when you decided you wanted to keep her." He grabbed his brief case and left his daughter with those words.

Paige shook her head; her relationship with her father had been less than stellar when she told him she was pregnant with her rapist's child. But when she told him she was going to raise her child, it was almost like they had no relationship.

When Kylie Jane Michalchuk had come into the world, her father had looked at her in disgrace. He told her becoming a mother at the age of sixteen would ruin her life, her big dreams were now just 'what could have been' according to Tom Michalchuk.

Her mother, Rose Michalchuk wasn't a saint about it all either. She understood Paige's decision to bring Kylie into this world…but for Rose it was more about Kylie being the one piece of 'evidence' to put her baby girl's rapist behind bars.

They didn't understand. They didn't understand that for Paige, keeping Kylie and raising her was just about doing the right thing. She knew it would be hard, but she didn't want her daughter growing up with strangers and wondering why her mommy didn't want her.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Kylie giggled, she scooped the little girl up in her arms and grinned, "Hey baby girl. What do you say about taking a trip to the park and seeing Spinner?"

Kylie grinned and started to look around, "ninner?"

Spinner picked at the soggy turkey sandwiches and tossed some pieces away for the ducks to nibble on. Paige was almost thirty minutes late and he couldn't help but feel angry. He knew her life was crazy, and with their senior year beginning in a couple of weeks it was bound to get crazier before it got sane.

He had begged for the day off at The Dot. He had prepared the lunch himself, consisting of all of his honeybee's favorites. He had spent nearly an hour scoping out the perfect spot for their picnic and he had bought her flowers.

He had done everything he knew to be a romantic boyfriend and she was late.

They hadn't had the best of relationships. They didn't have the typical high school relationship. There was a child involved, a child that was not his. He couldn't even begin to count how many times they had 'broken up' only to get back together the next day. Their longest breakup had lasted no more than a week, and if he remembered correctly, their shortest had lasted fifteen minutes.

"Spinner!"

He tossed the last of the two sandwiches away into the pond and turned around to see the girl of his thoughts with her daughter walking quickly towards him. He nodded, understanding why she was late and couldn't bring himself to be angry at her. He loved Kylie to death, and at times he even wished she was his.

"I'm so so soo sorry I'm late." Paige tried to regain her breath and sat Kylie down on the blanket that was spread atop the grass. "My dad cancelled at the last minute and I…"

He shook his head, "don't worry about it."

"But Spin, today was supposed to be our day and…" she was quickly cut off by his lips. She obliged to his sweet lips a bit before remembering Kylie was sitting between them. "Mm…Spin, what was that for?"

He shrugged, "just because I love you."

Paige grinned, "and I love you, honeybee."

"How about we skip the whole picnic and get some ice-cream?" he pulled Kylie to him and tickled her stomach, "if I remember correctly…Kylie here likes Oreos with her vanilla ice-cream."

Kylie giggled, "o-os!"

"I'll say yes to the ice-cream under one condition…" Paige tried to act serious, but couldn't hide her smile from Spinner. "If you promise to take us to the carousel first?"

Spinner sighed and scooped Kylie up, "well since my favorite girl does love to ride the carousel..."

Paige lightly smacked him, "Spin!"

"Ok, ok, since my two favorite girls love to ride the carousel we can go."

Paige grinned and leaned in, giving Spinner a sweet kiss on the lips, "thank you, honeybee."

"Ok, so we rode the carousel, ate ice-cream, rode the carousel two more times and went on the swings. What next?" Spinner asked.

"Well, I have to be at work in two hours. I still have to take a shower and give Kylie a bath, not mention, beg Ash to watch her this evening."

Spinner looked somewhat hurt. Why didn't she ever ask him to watch Kylie for her? Did she not trust him? He nodded his head, pulling his car keys out of his pocket. "I guess I'll call you later, then."

She angrily huffed and readjusted Kylie in her arms, "I love you too, Spin."

Spinner stopped and turned around, "if you love me than why don't you trust me?"

Paige looked at him like he was crazy, "honeybee, I don't know what you're talking about. Of course I trust you."

"Then how come you never ask me to watch Kylie. You always say you have to call Dylan or Ashley when I'm right in front of you!" he inwardly cringed when he realized the volume of his voice. "I know I'm not the most responsible person…or the smartest for that matter, but I would never let anything happen to Kylie."

Paige couldn't help but laugh out loud; she quickly stopped when she noticed the offended look on Spinner's face. "Oh honeybee, I'm sorry." She massaged his cheek with her free hand and tilted his chin to look at her. "I trust you with my world. I just never asked because I figured it wasn't something you would want to do. I didn't want to put you in that place."

"Paige, I love you and I'd do anything for you. Besides, Kylie and I can have a Blues Clues marathon tonight."

She gave him a stern look, "a blues clues marathon that will end at eight-thirty."

Spinner nodded, "of course."

"Ok, so come by no later than five thirty?"

"Got it." He grinned, giving her a quick kiss on the lips before hopping into his car, "I'll see you two at five twenty nine!" he said, sticking his head out the window before driving off.

Spinner grinned at Kylie who stood with her baby doll in one hand and bottle in the other, looking at him curiously. He clapped his hands together nervously, she was staring him down, just daring him to make the first move. She wasn't even three, and she was already testing her limits on him.

"You want to watch television?" he asked, "mommy says you got a new Dora DVD."

Kylie grinned, "Mama?"

"Mommy's working." He scooped Kylie up in his arms and headed to the living room. "Let's go watch Dora."

Twenty minutes later, Kylie had decided she no longer wanted to watch Dora (or any show for that matter) and was playing horsey on Spinner's back while he flipped through a magazine. He tossed the magazine onto the coffee table, "you want to watch more t.v."

She climbed off his back and grabbed her baby doll, "no!"

"You want to color?"

"No!"

He sighed; maybe he shouldn't have offered to watch his girlfriend's daughter. "What do you want to?"

"Poopoo!"

He looked at her weirdly, before smelling the odor. "oh gross!" he sat up, "you pooped, didn't you?" she grinned and started to run away from him, "Kylie!" he forced himself to stand up and chased after her, "come on, Kylie! Don't run away from Spinner!"

Four hours, three unwanted games of hide and seek, two dirty diaper changes and one bath later; Kylie was asleep. Spinner carefully covered the sleeping toddler with her blanket before tip toeing out of the room and downstairs.

He sighed warily and threw himself onto the couch. Four hours with a two year old definitely beat a whole day at the Dot during the holidays. He closed his eyes just for a second. He wasn't going to go to sleep; he was just going to rest his eyes.

"Sleeping on the job, Mr. Mason?"

Spinner had to grab a hold of the back of the couch to keep him from falling to the ground. He blinked a couple of times until the double images turned into one solid picture. Paige was standing over him and looking down at him, her hands on her hips.

"Paige!" he sat up, "Kylie is upstairs asleep, so I just thought I'd close my eyes for a second. I wasn't asleep." He was in for it now, falling asleep while he was supposed to be babysitting.

Paige grinned and took a seat next to her boyfriend, "Spin, I'm not mad. I do it all the time. Whenever she goes to bed, I go to bed…it's the only time I can actually get sleep."

"Oh, ok." Spinner grinned and shook his head, "I have no idea how you do it, Paige. I mean, I was only with her for four hours and I feel like I just ran a marathon."

Paige shrugged, not sure how to really explain it. "I guess I just take it day by day," she said, fiddling with her bracelets. "Which is so not me. I'd rather have a plan for everything, but that's not the way life works." She grinned shyly at Spinner and captured his face with her hands. "Come here," she murmured, pulling him down to meet her lips.

Spinner's eyes widened at the loving force of her kiss but greatly accepted it. When their lips finally parted, he smiled, looking into her eyes, "what was that for?" he asked.

"For being my honeybee."