Present

Wow…lots of reviews. If you keep it up, this story will be going real fast. FYI: Just because her songs work, the songs Buff sings are gonna be Britney Spears ones.

Buffy sighed and sat down on a spinning chair, moving it slightly. She looked around at her band, who are also her friends: Oz, who was the drummer, was busy just messing around with the drums. Willow, the keyboarder, was watching her boyfriend with a smile. Faith and Dawn, Buffy's cousin and sister, as well as bass and guitar, were joking around. Dawn hadn't always been the guitar player, that used to be Spike's job. He had taught Dawn everything and she turned out to be pretty good.

"Alright, how's everyone doing today?" Wesley, their manager, asked, walking in with the back-up dancers. Darla, Fred, Cordelia and Anya. Two other girls, Nikki and Jasmine, were also back-up dancers. They were welcomed into the friendship fold…meaning that everyone else was nice to them and didn't try to make them feel left out.

"We're all tired Wes." Faith said. "Man…why did ya want us here so early?"

"Faith…it's noon." Fred said.

"Exactly." Faith said. Everyone laughed at her.

"Angel and Xander have gone to get Abby from school." Darla explained to Buffy, answering the unasked question. Angel and Xander were co-heads of the bands security. Xander had really bulked up after grad. He and Angel were the perfect combination to insure the safety of their friends.

"Good. I don't trust anyone else getting her." Buffy said. She caught looks from all her friends. "And when I say that…I mean to say…I don't trust any of the other security people to get her."

"We know what you meant B." Faith said, sitting on the arm of the chair Buffy was in. "Yo man…I just remembered something."

"What?" Buffy asked, looking at Faith.

"It's been three years to the day since aunt Joyce…" Faith trailed off because of the hurt looks Buffy and Dawn had on their faces. "Sorry…forget I brought it up."

"Don't worry about it Faith." Dawn said. "We don't want to forget her." Buffy shook her head. There was a moment of thoughtful silence. "Ok…so let's do this thing. Record another song for the new CD."

"We can't…not until Gunn gets here." Buffy said. "Remember he's singing with me for this song."

"Oh right…where is baldie anyways?" Dawn asked.

"Right here." Gunn said, coming into the room.

"Ok then…everyone's here…let's make some music." Willow said. They all took their places by their instruments and Buffy and Gunn stood in front of the mics. The dancers didn't really need to be there but they always came because A) four of them were friends with the band and B) they always enjoyed working on their dance moves to the actual band instead of just a recording. They got about 30 seconds into the song before the door opened and in ran a five year old girl with blonde pigtails and shocking blue eyes. She had on a pink t-shirt and blue jean overalls. Buffy stopped singing and picked up her daughter. Angel and Xander walked in and went over to their girlfriends (Xander is with Anya)

"Hi mommy…guess what we learned in school today?" Abby said. Wesley sighed and stopped the recording.

"What did you learn sweetie?" Buffy asked, sitting in the spinning chair again.

"I learned how to count to twenty." Abby said.

"Really…well let's hear then." Buffy said.

"If you had told me that Buffy would love someone more then Spike…I would have said you were lying." Gunn said as everyone watched Abby recite the numbers very slowly.

"Tell me about it." Cordelia said. "I thought she'd be upset forever."

"…Eighttween…ninetween…twenty." Abby said, smiling triumphantly. Buffy smiled and kissed her forehead.

"Hey way to go mini babe." Faith said, hugging Abby.

"Ok can we get this song done?" Gunn asked. "I have a job to get back to."

"Yeah yeah." Buffy said, standing up and putting Abby on the chair. Gunn was the only guy that she knew that worked for this song. She and Faith went back to their spots and Wes cued them in to start. Buffy did some dancing as well while she sang. They did the remix of Boys.

(((FYI: Not putting the lyrics in.)))

To anyone else, that song would not have seemed appropriate to sing in front of a five year old, but Abby wasn't even listening. Angel had handed Abby her backpack and she had pulled out her crayons and colouring book. When the song finished, she clapped and cheered and everyone laughed at her.

"What ya drawing baby?" Buffy asked, walking over to Abby.

"I'm not drawing…I'm colouring." Abby said. She showed Buffy the picture of some cats dancing that she was colour. One of the cats was coloured blue.

"Pretty." Buffy said.

"Hey everyone." Harmony said, walking in. She was the secretary at the recording studio. "There's like…someone here to interview Buffy and Abby." Harmony smiled.

"I'm getting inta-vued with mommy?" Abby asked.

"Yep." Harmony said. Wesley went with her to get the reporter.

"Wonder who it is this time." Buffy said. "I've done like…five interviews with the same person."

"You have not." Willow said.

"Well it seems like it…god…they all the same after a while." Buffy said.

"Mommy can I play the drums?" Abby asked.

"Ask Oz." Buffy said.

"Ok…Oz…same thing." Abby said, looking at Oz.

"Sure." Oz said. Abby slid of the chair and walked over to the drum set. Oz held her on his lap and handed her the drumsticks. Buffy smiled. She was glad to have such great friends to help her, not only when she was giving birth to Abby, but also raising her as well. Although it was only true with Dawn, Angel and Darla (they had gotten a very interesting marriage shortly after the band hit big), Abby called everyone aunt and uncle. Faith and Willow were known as auntie Fay and auntie Wills. Abby was such a sweet girl…most of the time. She could be very intimidating at times and very stubborn. Besides the fact that she was a girl, she was like a miniature of Spike. The blue eyes, the profound cheekbones…everything. She had Buffy's lips though. Around Abby's neck was a heart shaped locket that had a picture of Buffy in one side and on the other was both Buffy and Abby.

"Is it possible for her to get any cuter?" Dawn asked, throwing her arms over Buffy's shoulders and jumped onto her sister's back.

"I don't know…can you get anymore annoying?" Buffy asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Yeah." Dawn said, smirking.

"Well then…there's your answer…get off." Buffy said as she pushed Dawn off her back.

"I wonder who this reporter is." Faith said, throwing darts at a dart board.

"Who knows." Willow said.

"You think it's possible that it's...you know who?" Darla asked.

"You mean Spi-" Faith started but Anya covered her mouth before Buffy heard.

"We don't know." Darla said. "Last time Angel or Giles talked to him, it was like four years ago. And I've read some articles that he's done. He's pretty good."

"Man yo…does it bother anyone else to know that Spike hasn't contacted Buffy? He did like…five times." Faith said. "And visited once."

"Well…they were both really busy." Willow said, not sure why she was trying to defend Spike.

"Doesn't mean he couldn't have written or called her cell phone. She's had the same damn phone forever." Darla said. They all looked over at Buffy who now had Abby on her lap and, while Abby coloured, Buffy braided her hair into pigtails. "Does anyone else have that feeling that something bad is gonna happen?"

"Oh yeah." Faith said.

"I think we all do." Willow said. "What's taking Wes so long?"

"You don't think this reporter…" Faith started but at that moment the door opened and Wesley walked in. Buffy looked up at him.

"Umm…Buffy…the reporter…well…" Wesley said. Buffy's face went pale but she nodded so Wesley turned and motioned for the reporter to walk in.

Buffy had to admit, it did catch her by surprise. She was so used to Spike's hair being gelled back but now it seemed like gel hardly even touched it. It was still the bleach blonde colour that she knew so very well. Spike also seemed to have lost the punk look he had going for all of high school. He wasn't exactly in the proper suit look either, but he certainly didn't look punkish anymore. He had on a dark blue button up top and black pants. He would have blended in so easily in a crowd that, had he been put in it a few years ago, he would have stood out.

Buffy closed her eyes for a moment then opened them to make sure he was actually there. She looked down at Abby to see her looking between Buffy and Spike.

"Mommy…is dat the reporter man?" Abby asked.

"Yeah Hun…that's the reporter man." Buffy said.

"Spike." Faith greeted coldly, nodded at him before taking Dawn and leaving. The others slowly followed. Angel and Xander stayed near the room though.

"Mommy…why doesn't auntie Fay like the reporter man?" Abby asked.

"You'll find out." Buffy said quietly. She looked at Spike. "You can sit down ya know."

"Just waited for the permission, luv." Spike said. Buffy flinched at the name as Spike sat down. "This must be Abby."

"Yep." Abby said. "I dis many years old." She held up one hand.

"Do you know anything about your father Abby?" Spike asked. Buffy wondered if this was for the interview or not. She guessed it wasn't because Spike didn't have a tape recorder out and wasn't taking notes.

"Nope." Abby said, shaking her head. "But uncle Angel says that's a good thing. Auntie Wills said he was a mean man to leave mommy the way he did."

"Abby…please stop talking." Buffy said.

"He asked the question mommy." Abby said, looking up at Buffy.

"I know sweetie…but you don't really have to answer them." Buffy said. "Remember how all the other reporters had tape players out?" Abby nodded. "Well he doesn't…" Buffy looked at Spike. "Ok can we just get this over with so that you can go back to your life."

"This is my life pet." Spike said.

"I meant your life away from Sunnydale." Buffy said, trying to keep her anger down.

"Right then." Spike said, leaning back. He pulled the tape recorder out and pushed a button. "Let's get started then." He looked at the paper he had with the questions. "How long have you been friends with your band?"

"You should know that." Buffy said.

"Yeah but the rest of the country doesn't." Spike said.

"Well then…why don't you just put the answer down that you know, and change it a little so it looks like I said it." Buffy said. Spike sighed and turned off the recorder. Abby was looking confused between the two adults. "Abby…why don't you get Xander to take you to get a drink?"

"Why?" Abby asked.

"Because mommy is about to say some words that you can't hear." Buffy said.

"Ohhh…" Abby said. She slid off Buffy's lap and went out the door.

"You know this was supposed to be between you and her though." Spike said.

"Yeah well if I was gonna call you a fucking moron…I can't have her in the room." Buffy said. She stood up.

"I guess your right." Spike said, standing up. "Because I was about to call you a stubborn bitch."

"Me a stubborn bitch?" Buffy asked. "What about you? You're the one that promised to keep in touch and visit." Her voice was rising and Buffy was sure that Angle would run in soon…unless he went with Xander and Abby…and Buffy hoped he did. "YOU ONLY CALLED LIKE FIVE FUCKING TIMES AND VISITED ONCE!"

"You know…if someone had told me about you being pregnant…I NEVER WOULD HAVE BLOODY WELL LEFT!" Spike shouted.

"HOW DO YOU FIGURE THAT?" Buffy asked.

"Oh please…don't give me that." Spike said. "You were acting weird around graduation…Abby's five years old…the band has been big for five years…we only graduated a little over five years ago. I'm not an idiot Summers…no matter how much you wanna think that I am."

"If you figured something was wrong then why didn't you stay?" Buffy asked, crossing her arms.

"Because you told me to go." Spike said. "God Buffy…can't you bloody remember that I did pretty much everything you said because I was that much in love with you. I asked you to come with me but you wouldn't leave."

"I think I'm done with this interview Spike…so when Abby gets back…why don't we go back to the real one." Buffy said.

"One more thing." Spike said.

"What?" Buffy asked, dropping her arms.

"Who's her father?" Spike asked.

HAHA! Stopping it there. Sorry about taking so long.