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Author's Chapter Notes:
Hello! Thanks for reading and commenting! The book mentioned in this chapter is real. You can find it here and, if you have a little one in your life, you should check it out.

Oh and I'm still looking for a banner artist if anyone is interested. :)
Thursday, October 7, 2010

Spike stood outside the imposingly heavy wooden doors and reread the sign that stated, in large, white, bold print, that all visitors must stop at the school office. He sighed. Thirteen years out of school and he had to go to the principal’s office. He tightened his grip on the handle of his guitar case and pulled open the door. More signs led him to the office and a heavy-set woman with an orange beehive hairstyle that sat behind a sign declaring that she was the school secretary. He gave her what he hoped was a respectable-looking smile and congratulated himself on his choice of an almost unwrinkled button-down with darker jeans. He’d started the day in a pair of jeans that had long since lost their knees and a t-shirt for a band that had broken up before they ever played publicly. “Hello. I don’t know if Ms. Summers had a chance to mention that I—”

The secretary held out her hand. “ID.”

“Sorry?”

She looked up at him and frowned. “I’ll need to check your ID.”

“Oh. Oh. That makes sense—gotta protect the little ones.” He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and fished out his driver’s license.

The secretary looked at it for a moment before handing it back to him with a large sticker that had visitor printed in the corner and Pratt written in large, blue-marker letters.

“Oh. Thanks. Umm…could you possibly—”

“Take a right out of the office, walk down to the T and take a right. Room 37.”

“Of course, thanks.” Spike tipped his ID and visitor badge at her before turning and strolling out of the office.

He found the room easily and stood in the doorway for a few seconds surveying the busy scene inside the cheerful blue and green room. Buffy sat in a tiny chair at a tiny table with three of the little ones. They all had tiny books in front of them and Spike assumed it was some sort of reading lesson. Four other students were happily painting at another table, although Spike wondered if they realized the paint was meant to be put on the paper. One student was sitting alone on a comfy looking beanbag chair reading a book that Spike thought seemed too thick for such a small child. The final four students were sitting on a rug with a young Asian woman and were clearly participating in a shoe-tying lesson. Spike grinned. It was all rather adorable. Quiet music was being played and he strained to make out enough of the lyrics to decide it was some sort of children’s cover of a Beatles’ song. It could, he decided, be worse.

Buffy looked up just as he moved to take a step into the room. He wondered if she’d developed a sixth sense—a mama lioness thing to protect her little pack from invaders. He smiled at her broadly.

She smiled back. “You came.”

“Do I seem particularly unreliable?”

She laughed. “Everyone seems unreliable when asked to visit a classroom full of threes and fours.”

Spike shrugged. “Hey, a gig is a gig.”

Buffy smiled at him once more before turning back to her little group and giving them a few directions. Spike watched her hand her book to one of the students before they all stood up, pushed in their chairs, placed the books in a stack on the teacher’s desk and went to sit on a large rug in the corner of the room. Buffy stood up and clapped her hands. She was wearing a pair of khakis and a white shirt, which Spike thought seemed a brave choice considering the number of dirty little fingers she was surrounded with, but looked great on her anyway. He was beginning to think the woman would look great in anything. When she turned to survey the classroom, he noticed that she had a spot of red paint on her cheek and smiled.

Buffy waited for everyone to get quiet. “Thank you, friends. We have a very special visitor today, so I need everyone to clean up their centers right away and come over to the circle rug.”

Spike watched in mild wonder as the children went about following her directions. He noticed a few of them giving him curious glances and winked. The kids giggled in return and then went back to cleaning the paint from their table.

Buffy walked over. “Come meet my assistant teacher, she’s just about finished her degree and is wonderful. I may cry when I lose her next year.” She called over to the younger woman who was helping a little boy retie his shoes. “Satsu.”

Satsu finished her task, rose gracefully and walked over. “Hi. I hear you are going to teach the monsters about music today.” She smiled and held out her hand. “I’m Satsu. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, pet. Most everyone calls me Spike.”

Satsu grinned widely and turned to Buffy. “Do we get to tell the kids to call him Mr. Spike? Please.”

Buffy laughed and pretended to consider it. A devilish glint appeared in her eyes. “I think so. I mean he is a guest and that’s his name.”

Satsu clasped her hands together. “Yay!” She turned back to Spike. “You have to appreciate the small pleasures in life.”

Spike turned to see if Buffy was still smiling. She wasn’t. She raised her hand and pointed across the room. “Tyler, get some paper towel for that.” She nodded. “Nope. No more water. Just the paper towel. Thank you.”

Spike watched Satsu walk over to a CD player and turn off the music before helping a child hang up the painting they’d been working on so that it would dry. He realized as he watched the remarkably orderly space that he’d expected the opposite. He’s assumed that a room for of small children would be loud and unruly. He’d underestimated Buffy Summers.

A few minutes later they all sat on the rug, except Spike who sat on a little stool Buffy had pulled out from under a child size easel. Buffy had introduced him and the children had chorused a greeting including his new name, Mr. Spike. He looked down at their cute little faces and wondered what the hell he’d been thinking. He’d realized the night before that he didn’t really know any children’s songs, so he’d looked up the chords to a few. He gave them his most winsome smile. “Well, hello everyone. This is a nice classroom you have and a nice teacher…two teachers that are very nice. So that’s good, right?”

Most of the kids nodded. One raised her hand. Spike looked at her. “Umm…yeah. Do you have a question?” He glanced over at Buffy for guidance.

She smiled. “What is your question for Mr. Spike, Ella?”

Ella looked at Spike quizzically. “Can you play the guitar?”

“Oh. Yeah, yeah, I can play.”

“Cool.” A few of the other kids echoed her response. One announced that “Goat plays guitar”, but Ella shook her head.

“No. Goat plays bass and pig plays guitar. Right, Miss Buffy?”

Buffy nodded. “That’s how I remember it.” She smiled at Spike’s confused expression. “We reread Punk Farm this morning to get ready for your visit. It’s a pretty popular book around here.”

The precocious Ella explained, “They’re five animals that like to rock.”

Things were easier for Spike after that. He played a couple of very simple children’s songs, led a sing-a-long to Row, Row, Row Your Boat and pointed out the parts of a guitar. When he was done, the children pouted and a small red-haired boy asked if he could play just one more song. He looked over at Buffy, hoping that she would say there wasn’t time. Instead, she nodded.

“Right, you see the thing is. I don’t know a lot of kids’ songs.” He shrugged.

“Oh. Please play one more.”

Satsu laughed. “Yes, please Mr. Spike, please play one more.”

Surprised by the woman’s flirting, he arched an eyebrow in her direction before turning back to see Buffy holding up a single finger and giving him a pleading look.

He sighed and nodded. After a moment, he nodded again. “Okay, but I’ll need some help with this one. When I tell you, you’re going to do some clapping. Got it?”

The children agreed excitedly.

Spike shrugged and started the introduction for I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett. He changed the hims to hers throughout the song and showed the kids the beat to clap on for the end.

Buffy and Satsu were both laughing when he finished with a little flourish. Buffy clapped her hands to quiet the kids and then suggested that they thank Mr. Spike for visiting. The children thanked him in unison. “Everyone stay on the rug, Miss Satsu is going to read a quick story before we get washed up for afternoon snack.” She looked back at Spike. “I’ll walk you out.” She waited until they were the hallway before talking to him. “Did you really just play my kids a song about picking up a seventeen year old in a bar?”

He paled slightly. “Yeah, I suppose I did do that.”

She giggled. “It was pretty great. You have a nice teaching style, very relaxed. Did you remember to bring your business cards? I’ll put them in the kids’ backpacks.”

“Even though I corrupted their little ears?”

“Especially because of the corruption. That’s the number one reason I became a teacher.”

He grinned and pulled a stack of cards held together by a rubber-band out of his jacket pocket. “Thanks, love.”

“Thank you. You were the best special guest we’ve had since the lady that brought the hedgehogs.”

“The hedgehog lady was better than me?”

“Well, yeah. She had hedgehogs.”

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Cordy held up a bright yellow sweater and considered the neckline. Deciding it was a maybe, she added it to the pile on her arm before turning to glance over her shoulder at Buffy. “So, you never told me about your hot date the other night.”

Buffy glared. “It wasn’t a date. I have a boyfriend.”

Sighing, Cordy shook her head. “What happened to that whole, ‘we’re really over’ thing you were saying?”

“Cordy.” Buffy ended her friends name in a whine. “Can we not get into this? You know I was just venting. He’s out of town a lot and I miss him, but that’s not really his fault. It’s his job.”

“UmmHmm.”

“This was supposed to be a fun shopping day. Why are you taking the fun out of our fun shopping day?”

Cordy passed Buffy a green scarf before responding. “Fine, but you still have to tell me about your date. Were there sparks?”

Buffy laughed. “It wasn’t a real date, so no there weren’t sparks. Girls with boyfriends don’t get sparks with other guys.”

“Even ones who are, and I quote, like totally the most beautiful man in the whole wide world?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You pretty much did.”

“Ughh. I am not old enough to drink. No more drinks for Buffy.”

“You’re seeing someone, fine, that doesn’t mean you’re dead. There were sparks, weren’t there?”

Buffy rolled her eyes and held up the scarf. “This is pretty. I’m thinking I could wear it with that cream colored dress I got from Macy’s and some tall brown boots.”

“Sparks?”

“I don’t know. We had a nice time. He was…nice. He actually came and played for my class on Thursday.”

“Wait. How have I not heard this already?”

“It’s not a big deal. Spike has a shop over by that café we went to with Willow for brunch. I think it was last May or June. Anyway, he sells music stuff, like instruments and plays guitar and does lessons. So, he came in a played and few songs for my kids. It was sweet.”

“So you think he’s sweet? You think he’s sweet and the most beautiful man in the whole world?”

“Do you want to look at shoes today? I could use some new tall boots to wear with this scarf.”

“Is he any good? On the guitar?”

“Yeah, he’s good.” She laughed. “He played them a Joan Jett song. They were all still humming it the next day, even Satsu.”

Cordy nodded. “I see.”

“Stop.”

“Fine. So are you thinking equestrian boots or maybe something with a bit more of an edge.”

“Flats. I want something comfy to wear to school.”

“I know just the pair.” She shrugged. “I was here yesterday too.”


Chapter End Notes:
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