Father of the Brat

Disclaimer: I don't own anything affiliated with Buffy. It all belongs to Joss Whedon. I just borrow it. I'm not making any money from this, it's purely for fun.

A/N: This chapter was written around the time when the Oscars aired (okay, actually the night of...) and the Johnny Depp remarks of Dawn's are based on some thing that I saw Michelle Trachtenberg say on VH1. (Apparently she's a fan of Captain Jack Sparrow...) So, just wanted to let you know that it was not meant to offend anyone who didn't share that opinion or anything. Enjoy!

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"So, who are you hoping will win?" Willow asked, as she settled back onto the couch next to Buffy and looked at the TV.

Buffy grinned. "Johnny Depp." She let out a bit of a sigh. "There's just something about the pirate look..." She shook her head and trailed off. Willow nodded in agreement.

"The pirate look definitely has wow potential." she agreed. As the familiar opening notes for the Academy Awards began to play, each of them settled back while Willow handed Buffy a glass of wine and reached for one herself.

"Thanks." Buffy said. She grinned. "Even if alcohol and Buffy are non-mixy things."

"Hey, it's the Oscars. Live dangerously. Be wild." Willow replied. Buffy laughed.

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"That is so wrong." Dawn muttered, shaking her head. Spike turned to look at Dawn and raised an eyebrow.

"What is?"

"Johnny Depp didn't win!" she exclaimed. Spike's eyebrows drew together.

"What? For his part as that pirate bloke?"

"Captain Jack Sparrow. And yes, that's the part he didn't win for." Spike shook his head.

"Bloody shame, that. One of his best movies." He picked up a magazine. "So, who won best picture?" he asked, casually, picking up a magazine that was sitting on the table and frowning at it. He turned back to Dawn. "What is this?" he demanded. Dawn glanced at it.

"A magazine. Something that I'd think you'd recognize, seeing as how you work at one and all." She turned back to the TV. "And Lord of the Rings won."

Spike fought the urge to roll his eyes as Dawn changed the channel. He refused to do that. It would mean that the gestures of a teenage girl were rubbing off on him. "I realize that. What I want to know is, why the bloody hell there's a copy of Seventeen sitting on my coffee table."

Dawn didn't move her gaze from the screen this time. What was so interesting about...was that that Jessica Simpson bird? Bloody hell, she was watching that show.

"Because I read it." she said.

"Why?"

Finally, Dawn turned and gave him her "You're-really-beginning-to-annoy-me-you-know-that?" look. "Because that's what one generally does with a magazine. They're not just there for the pretty pictures, you know."

Now Spike narrowed his eyes at her. "And here I thought that was a rumor." he replied sarcaallyally. "Why are you reading it, Dawn?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because you're not seventeen, that's why!" Spike burst out. "What do you need to read about..." He glanced down at the cover and knew he probably paled a bit. "The best type of birth control?" He dropped the magazine back on the table as if scalded. "Or college for that matter? That's a few years off yet." And while Spike wasn't delusional about what teenagers did (he'd been one himself, hadn't he?), he could hope that it would be a while before Dawn had to even think about birth control.

Not that that particular hope would be realized, but a guy could dream.

Dawn grinned as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. "Well, you know, it doesn't hurt to be prepared early." she said, nonchalantly. Spike stared at her for a full minute before shaking his head with exasperation.

Girls. Women. They were both confusing as hell.

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Buffy glanced up as she looked up at the building as she got out of the car. She really hated this. She didn't want to do it. Maybe if she pretended.no, that never worked. Pretending never worked. She'd learned that over the years. Reality always came back with a vengeance.

So pretending that she wasn't here because one of her kids was in trouble was pointless.

She sighed as she walked through the doors of the high school. And so the day began..

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Spike whistled as he casually walked into the empty gym of Sunnydale High. For some reason, he'd been expecting it to look.well different. Instead, once he walked through, he still got the same rush. Hell, it even smelled the same.

Well, there was one difference actually. It seemed smaller somehow. He didn't know why, it just did. He didn't even know why he was there. Maybe it had something to do with being around Buffy again. With kissing her again. Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, he glanced around and a slight smile crossed his lips as he spotted the basketballs.

Since there was no one to stop him, he grabbed one and began to dribble it around the gym before coming to a stop in front of a basket and shooting. He nodded in satisfaction as the ball went in easily and then he was grabbing the ball again, turning to make another shot.

"Coach Calhoun would kill you if he saw you wearing those kind of shoes on his wood floor."

Spike turned around to find Buffy standing there. He grinned.

"What Coach doesn't know won't get me killed," he said in reply. She smiled wryly and shook her head as she walked further into the gym.

"You always did like to cause trouble." sold old him. He grinned.

"And you always liked to get mad at me for it," he replied. She raised an eyebrow.

"Well you do make it easy."

"Yeah, that's me. I'm easy." Spike replied in a flippant voice with a grin. Buffy's eyes widened a bit and she felt a flush climb up her cheeks as one naughty thought crept into her head.

No, I have a feeling that you're very hard..

What was she doing thinking thoughts like that? Buffy gave herself a mental shake, ba, bad thoughts.bad naughty thoughts about Spike were not of the good. She'd just stop having them. Yeah that was it. She'd stop having them.

Right, Buffy. And that was Spike's natural hair color.

Spike smirked as if he knew exactly what Buffy was thinking.

"Was there ever anything we were able to agree on?" he asked.

"Hating Snyder." she replied without a second thought.

Spike laughed. "Truer words were never spoken." He nodded. "So.why'd you cut your hair?"

Buffy looked at him, raising an eyebrow at the question. "Why'd I cut my hair?" she repeated. Spike nodded.

"Yeah. I want to know. I liked it long."

Buffy let out a bit of a sigh. "I just got tired of it. I wanted something new." she told him. Something that showed she wasn't the same old Buffy that everyone walked all over, that she was no longer the eternal optimist that believed that everything would work out and get better in the end, no matter what. She wasn't that girl anymore and she hadn't been for a long time.

She wondered if Spike could tell after all these years. And then she wondered why she cared when it seemed like it had been a while since she had. It was time to change the subject. To some thing other than herself and other than Spike and his salty goodness.

"How's Dawn?" she asked. Spike frowned. He didn't know why but the sudden change of subject bothered him. It was almost as if she was hiding something.

"She's fine." he replied, studying her. "So, how's work?" he asked. If he hadn't been watching her, he would've missed the surprise flicker over her face.

"It's.fine." She glanced away. She turned back to him and there was a wry smile on her face. "Okay, that's a lie. It's stressful. But then, it's been a stressful week."

Spike nodded. He'd let the subject drop for now. After all, maybe it was only because of work.

But he sincerely doubted it.