9:58AM

The bells jingled obnoxiously as Buffy's key got stuck in the lock, just like it did every morning. She shut the door behind her and pulled up the shade, flipping the open sign around and she walked further into the shop. She looked it over and smiled, making her way behind the counter. She propped up behind the counter, turning the laptop on and then spun around the turntable set up. She flipped through the in store records, digging for something to play. She finally settled on an instrumental jazz album, wanting to start the day off quietly. She walked through the doorway on the other end of the counter and flipped on the lights.

The Magic Box was the only used bookstore/record shop in Sunnydale. It used to be an old Magic shop, but when the new owner took it over he decided to keep the name, saying that music and a good book was the only real magic in the world.

Buffy couldn't agree more.

Settling onto the bar stool behind the counter she signed into her account on the laptop and starting her morning paperwork. She looked up from her work an hour later when she heard someone come in from the back and toss a set of keys on the counter.

"So, how many hours did you get last night?" Came a soft spoken voice with an upper-crust British accent.

She smiled and laughed lightly.

"Ah, maybe four, five if I'm lucky." She responded, spinning around to watch her Dad clean his glasses with a cloth he pulled from his pack pocket. He looked for a second as though he might scold her, but then he smiled, putting his glasses back in place.

"Hey, you know the drill, I can't sleep after a set." She said, shrugging her shoulders with little concern. She wasn't tired, and concealer did wonders for girl like her.

"I know." His voice even softer than usual. "Just like your father." He smirked, and Buffy caught a glimpse of the man her Mother had loved. He looked at her and his eyes changed, like they always did when she meet his gaze. He was a big old softy when it came to her, and even though they had been in each others lives for many years now, he still couldn't get used to her.

Buffy turned back to her bookkeeping, Watching him shuffle around behind the counter like he always did, hoping to find a way to be useful. Finally he gave up and made his way out to the sales floor, and started working in the stacks. She knew from experience that he would spend most of the day sorting through the LP's and the columns of books. This place was really his home, he had been so in-sync with it ever since he bought it eight years ago. She watched him tinker around while waiting on a few files to transfer and thought back to when he became a part of her life.

Buffy had resisted at first when Joyce brought up the idea of contacting Rupert. Buffy had never even seen a picture of the guy. Oh, okay that was a lie. She had googled him when she found out about him, but she had never had any sort of contact with him at all. She had done enough research to find out that sometime after she was born, almost a year, he had become too much of a burden on the band and his record company. His addictions had gone too far and he had been 'released' from his contract and from the band. After that he had floated around Europe for a few years, until finally fading from the headlines in the mid-90's. As far as she could tell after that he had gotten clean and had all but vanished. She had no idea what kind of man he was now, and she had no idea if he would even want to know about her. Learning about some love child that had been born in the 80's during his drug addled rock and roll days might not be what he needed in his life.

And the last thing Buffy needed or wanted was to be an imposition to another man in her life. But the more she thought about it the more she thought that it would help her to know once and for all. And if it turned out badly, then at least she could get all of her pain and humiliation out while she was already wearing sweatpants to school every day.

Joyce found an old address of Rupert's, one that turned out to be for his parents, who were still alive and involved in his life. She sent him a letter and simply asked for him to call her. It took over a month to hear anything but when they did, it went a lot better than could be expected.

Apparently Rupert had been told about Buffy through a mutual friend of Joyce and Rupert's about a year Joyce had returned to the states. At that point Rupert was too messed up to do anything about it and when he checked up on them he realized that Joyce had married. Even in his drunken state he could understand that him contacting them would just complicate their lives. He didn't think that was fair considering he had literally nothing to offer them. So, he had went about his life. He thought about them often and hoped the day would come when he could meet Buffy, but he didn't believe he deserved the chance to be her father.

They conversed on the phone on a weekly basis for about two months, Joyce and Buffy each time. Finally, after getting to know one another a bit, Rupert asked Buffy to come visit him. She was very hesitant, but she had a break coming up at school. So three months into their first conversation, Buffy flew to England to meet her father. Things were very awkward at first, and Buffy thought that it was because he felt obligated and didn't really want her there.

She quickly realized that he was awkward with everyone.

She spent two weeks with him. By the time she was due home Rupert decided that he couldn't be without his daughter again. He moved to California one month later. He relocated to L.A at first. He didn't want to crowd the little family, and he also could only find an open teaching position at UCLA. So his first few years in California were spent teaching music theory at UCLA, which luckily provided a way for Buffy to get a full ride to college when the time came. However, Rupert had been saving for her college education since he had learned of her. He had always planned to send the money on her 18th birthday. Since her college was paid for, he gave her the money for an off campus apartment, since she still felt apprehensive on campus after dark.

Buffy spent every spare moment with her father. Making up for lost time, and also honing her talents. When he discovered that her way of coping with her past circumstances he once asked her if she ever thought about writing lyrics. She had laughed at first, she had zero musical talent. She sang pop songs in the shower, that was about it. But once they sat down together one night, her countless notebooks on the floor around them she saw. For the first time she saw the words that she had been writing for almost her entire life were songs. The ones from when she was very young were very simple, just short ones about her parents loveless marriage and her feelings of jealously towards her sister. They got darker and more passionate as she got older. But they were clearly songs. Over the next few months and eventually years, Rupert shows Buffy how to tune her voice and then a guitar followed soon after by a piano. By the time she graduated UCLA with a business degree she had become a new person. She also had a new goal in life. To attend grad school and go into music therapy.

12:48PM

Buffy closed the laptop and picked up her store keys, slipping them and her phone in her pocket. "Dad." She called into the stacks, not seeing Rupert. Not getting a response, she knew because he had found something entrancing. "I'm heading out. I'll bring you dinner when I leave the office. Text me if you need anything" She called out loudly as she walked to the front door and winced at the tittering bell.

She walked out into the sun, slipping her sunglasses off the top of her head and onto her eyes. She crossed the street, waiting for a few cars to pass and then walked past the shops on main street. She turned the corner and made her way into an office building and hit the elevator button for the floor marked 'Dr. Summers Suit 202'.

She exited the elevator when it reached her floor and walked through the door of her office. She smiled at Anya as she passed her desk. "My 1 o'clock in there?" She asked politely.

Anya pushed the hold button and put the receiver down with a grimace. "Yeah, and he is a hot mess, let me tell you."

Buffy rolled her eyes and said "Thanks, Ahn." Walking into her office she pulled her sunglasses off and settled into her desk "So, Andrew, how are we doing today?"

A/N : Reviews inspire my muse to pump out chapters faster. Just sayin'.