Chapter 1:
"Hello Mr. Giles." Tara Summers smiled, hugging her pink stuffed pig; which she never let out of her sight, close to her chest as she toddled her way over to Giles with her thumb stuck in her mouth
"Hello Tara. Where’s your mother? It's not like her to just let you wander around?" Giles asked, his voice laced with concern.
'Something must have happened to Buffy, she wouldn’t let Tara walk around by herself. What if she’s been hit by a car...? Or been mugged on the way here? Oh dear Lord, she could have been shot…!' Giles reached for his glasses, worry and fear evident on his face as he and started to clean them with the edge of his shirt.
Tara tilted her head to the side and laughed, seeing the numerous faces Giles was making. "No silly, Mommy's next door." She smiled, making her way over to the big piano Giles had on display in the corner of the store.
"Oh! Then why are you he...?" Giles was cut short as Tara smacked her hands down on the keys, letting out a delighted squeal at the shrill sound. But Giles, obviously not amused, scowled at her.
"Mommy said she would be here in a minute." Tara smiled, smacking her hands down again and giggled at Giles as he scrunched up his face, cringing. She placed Mr. Gordo; the pig, next to her on the stool, and proceeded to teach him how to play, making his hooves touch two of the keys at once.
The Magic Box was a music store; it had everything a musician could ever want. They sold every kind of musical instrument, books on how to play, vinyl records, Cd's, posters and even shirts and other bits of clothing from different bands. It was the perfect store for any musician, and Tara loved it.
Almost everything in the store made some kind of noise, and since she loved making noise, she took every opportunity to sneak around behind Giles’ back, doing just that.
"Tara,” Giles sighed, exasperated. “Please try to remember the rules," he cringed as Tara once again brought her hands down, yelling the words to a nursery rhyme. With an "oops" smile on her face she did it again, but more softly, lowering her voice. Giles had restricted Tara's wandering hands to only be allowed to play the piano.
Buffy, Tara's mother was 20 years old. At the age of 16, Buffy had been walking home after finishing her cheer leading practice when she fell victim to an emotionally unstable ex boyfriend who raped and left her beaten and laying in the bushes.
Her daughter, Tara was born 9 months later on the 28th of May, at 1 am.
Buffy had dropped out from school when she was only 6 months along in her pregnancy. There was only so much of the scrutinizing glances and rumors she could handle from her peers. Her fellow students had labeled her the school’s sleaze bag for getting knocked up at such an early age.
Only her closest friends knew the truth, and Buffy wanted to keep it that way. At 19, Buffy had missed almost 3 years of schooling and decided it was time to sign up again. She was accepted into UC Sunnydale; the only school that would accept her, and was now taking day courses for music and art, which were her two favorite subjects, as well as English and psych 101.
"Tara, look what I found, sweetie." Buffy smiled as she walked into the store, the bell that was tied to the top jingled, making her entrance noticed.
Tara looked up from the piano, her eyes widening in surprise when she what was in her mothers arms. Buffy was holding a little black kitten with white paws.
Jumping down from the stool, Tara ran over to her mother, Mr. Gordo momentarily forgotten.
"WOW! Can we keep her, Mommy, please?" Tara pleaded as Buffy bent down to her daughters height so that she could have a better look.
Tara hesitantly reached out and touched the kitten's back, smiling when it started to make purring noises.
"I bought her for you, baby. It’s your birthday present." Buffy smiled as Tara got a look of awe on her face.
Tara scrunched up her nose, glancing at her mother as she pulled her hand back from the cat and crossing them over her chest, puffing out a sigh.
"It's a late birthday present," Tara pouted. Giles watched the scene, amusement evident in his eyes. He silently laughed to himself, thinking of all the trouble Tara would be getting herself into while growing up.
Buffy saw Giles out of the corner of her eye and smiled.
"Thanks for looking after her while I was next door. I hope…" Buffy looked down at her daughter, a smile on her face "That she didn't touch anything she wasn't supposed to." Still smiling, she handed Tara the kitten, watching as the she sat down on the steps with the kitten in her lap.
"She was harmless, as usual." Giles smiled, faltering as he did so; his ears were still slightly ringing. Buffy only laughed at his expression, her hair bouncing.
"Well, that's good. I'll see you tomorrow then. Mom’s having a family get together for Tara's birthday party…" she glanced over to where Tara was seated on the set of steps, her nose scrunched up. "Well, late family birthday party. So we'll see you there?" Giles nodded as Buffy walked over to Tara and picked the kitten up.
She held the kitten in one arm, waiting for Tara to retrieve her beloved pink pig before slipping her other hand over Tara’s.
"Mommy, why do I always have to get my birthday late?" Tara sighed as she followed her mother towards the door and out into the sunlit street.
"Honey, your birthday was last Friday, that's just one week. And last year Grams was away on business, she didn't want to miss it, so we had it the week after." Buffy sighed as they walked out of the store. Squeezing her mothers hand, Tara looked up at her with big brown eyes.
"Next year can I have it on time?" she asked innocently, making Buffy laugh.
"Of coarse you can sweetie. Now, why don't we go show Grams your new birthday gift?" At the mention of Buffy's mother, Tara's pace quickened.
"GRAMS!" Tara loved her Grams; she made the best hot coco and even put little coloured marshmallows in it for her.
Buffy and Tara both lived with Joyce. All throughout Buffy’s pregnancy and even after Buffy gave birth to Tara, Joyce had been adamant about supporting her. No matter how much time they spent with Joyce, the mention of 'Grams' made Tara ecstatic.
...................................................................................
"Hey Mom." Buffy smiled, watching as Tara ran out from behind her and straight into her Gram's legs.
"Look what Mommy bought me!" Tara smiled, her mouth in the shape of an O, eyes wide with excitement. Buffy placed the small kitten into her daughters awaiting arms. Joyce let out an excited gasp, she exaggerated everything just for her granddaughters delight. She bent down to Tara's height.
"Well, isn't this just the sweetest little thing!" Joyce smiled, taking the black and white kitten into her arms and patting it, watching as Tara smiled at her.
"Can I watch Sleeping Beauty now, please?" Tara asked, the question directed at Joyce. At Joyce's nod, Tara walked straight into the lounge room, getting the DVD from the shelf and extracting the disk from its case.
Tara had been going through a Disney stage, watching all the movies that involved any kind of princess. Joyce placed the kitten in Tara's lap and ruffled her hair. The smile on the little 4 year old’s face never left as the kitten closed its eyes, and then started to purr as she stroked its back.
"Do you think I spoil her to much?" Buffy asked as she and her mother walked into the kitchen, grabbing two coffee cups from the shelf as she put the jug on.
"No dear. She gets spoiled just the right amount. Are you working tonight?" Joyce asked, getting the milk out of the fridge. Getting out a saucer from one of the kitchen shelves, she poured some of the milk in it for the kitten and walked into the lounge room.
When Joyce came back from the lounge room, having given Tara instructions to make sure none of the milk was spilt, Buffy continued.
"I am. It was packed last night, so they want me to work overtime. Fridays are always the busiest, but I have tomorrow off. I gave them strict instructions to not call me in." Buffy smiled, sitting down on a stool at the island. The bench that was in the middle of the kitchen.
"That's good, because the whole family is supposed to be coming down." Joyce smiled, handing Buffy the freshly made cup of coffee. Buffy's face suddenly paled.
"Wh-Whole family?" she asked, meekly staring at her mother.
"Hank is not coming. Apparently he's overseas with his new 'wife'..." Joyce said bitterly, anger in her voice. Buffy's colour returned to her cheeks. A visit from her absentee father was not something she could handle on her daughters birthday.
"Come on Mommy, its starting. Hurry up... Oops!" Hearing Tara's exclamation, Joyce and Buffy looked at each other with a "what has she done now?" look on their faces. "Mommy, can your bring in more milk? BB tipped it over!" Tara yelled from the lounge room.
"BB?" Joyce looked at Buffy, puzzled. Buffy just shrugged, grabbing a towel and some more milk.
"I'm guessing it's the cat," Buffy said, walking into the lounge room, her mother following.
......................................Somewhere in LA .....................................
"We’re screwed, totally and utterly screwed... W-were beyond screwed – we’re fucked!" Xander said, pacing back and forth in front of his band mates. Anya stood up as Xander collapsed onto the couch, looking utterly defeated. He placed his hand over his face and let out a huge sigh.
Anya just smiled. "Come on guys, look on the bright side!" her smile faltered seeing the group of people staring back at her with blank faces. Looks of "you’re kidding, right?"
"Brighter side... Right. The brighter side where the stupid ponce, Devin, didn't fuck us all over, didn’ take the bloody friggin’ drugs, and didn’ get caught doing it. Bloody stupid git!" Spike growled out his words, clearly not seeing a bright side to their current situation at all. Anya just stared back, thrown off by the menace in his voice.
"I guess there's a little bit of a brighter side…-I-I mean, no more listening to his whining." Oz said, glancing around the room at his fellow band members and friends; Angel, Spike, Xander and Anya.
Anya smiled and nodded, pointing at Oz.
"See, he gets it. I don’t see why you all can't." Smiling again, she bounced in her seat.
"Yeah, and no more of his poofy makeup, hair styling and shit," Angel said.
Xander burst out laughing at Angel’s statement. "You’re one to talk, Mr. ‘I spend an hour putting gel in my hair’."
Spike sighed loudly and stood up, taking over Xander's pacing. He stopped and looked at his fellow band mates. "HELLO! We have a concert to do in 4 months. Or did you all just forget that? 4 friggin’ months, and we don't have a singer. God, we are so screwed!" Spike said, raising his voice and eyes going bug wide as realization truly hit him.
"We need help," Angel sighed.
"We need a new vocalist," Oz mumbled, resting his head in his hands.
"Yes, new vocalist... This is good. Any ideas on how to get one? Think outside the box people!" Anya said, making a box with her hand and then gesturing outside it.
"Rupes," Spike said, pointing at Anya. He picked up his duster, which was thrown over the couch he had been sitting on only a moment earlier.
"Oh, Mr. Giles. I remember him. Nice man." Anya smiled sheepishly as Xander pulled her up and off the couch.
"He owns that music store in SD right? I'm sure he's bound to know some people who have a smudge of a talent. It's a small town right? That shouldn't be too hard to find someone who can belt out a few," Angel said, following Spike out the door, the rest of the band not to far behind.
Giles was Spike's uncle and had raised Spike from the tender age of 4. Giles had taught him everything, writing, drawing, music, Giles knew it all.
Spike and Giles had left England when Spike was 22, and come to America. Giles had been offered a new job at a local high school as their librarian, which hadn’t worked out quite as expected and he’d bought a small shop and turned it into a music store.
Spike had followed Giles to America in hopes of pursuing his musical career. He wanted to be in a band, and from what his friends and music teachers had told him, America was the best place to start out.
Spike had never known his birth father. His father had just up and left his mother when he had found out that she was pregnant. He didn't have many memories of his mother either, she had died when he was only 4, leaving Giles in custody of him.
Spike was now 24 years old, and one of the key band members of Loves Bitch. Not to mention one of the most lusted after men in America.
"Right then, let’s hope Sunny Hell has some talented singers," Oz said as he started up the van and steered it for the freeway that would lead them to Sunnydale.
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!