NOTES: There's a little bit about a temporary revival for Spike that I don't think exists in Joss' world. I just made it up to work for the story so Spike can be well for one night. I don't know if thelyrics are right. I don't know some of the songs, they were suggested to me and the lyrics were given to me, because I don't listen to pop music, even though I know far too many 80's songs than I care to
admit. The samples of the lyrics I use belong to the artists. I know I put in too many RHPS references but that's just too damn bad because I love that movie! Besides, I couldn't think of a better song to use.
"Look! Tomorrow the Bronze is having a karaoke night!" Xander replied, barely able to keep from jumping up and down with joy. The others exchanged quite confused glances, finally Willow turned to Xander.
"And you want to go to sing?" Willow asked skeptically.
"I love karaoke. It's the perfect chance for me to make a fool of myself without lasting repercussions from it. Come on, it'll be fun. You guys are coming to cheer me on, right? It'll be great. Come on!" Xander urged.
"Far be it for me to pass up the opportunity to see you make an idiot out of yourself. Count me in." Cordelia answered, Xander turned to Buffy and Willow who both nodded to say they would go as well. Xander turned to Giles who seemed to be seriously considering it.
"Maybe I can take Jenny. She took me to monster trucks after all, maybe she'll enjoy this." Giles said, Xander's smile broadened. He turned to leave the library. "Where are you off to?" Giles asked, Xander turned around to face him.
"I have to go and practice my singing. I only have a night to prepare." Xander responded before running out of the library and heading home so he could practice singing to his country albums.
Angel sat, lounging rather comfortably in the warehouse one evening, reading the newest Anne Rice book. He was perfectly peaceful until Spike came into the room with Drusilla at his side, in his hand a similar orange flyer. "We're going to have some fun tomorrow!" Drusilla said gleefully, Angel looked up as Spike handed him the flyer.
"'Karaoke Night?'" Angel asked, arching one eyebrow skeptically. "Spike, Dru, what are you two up to? Is there a plan in this somewhere because I don't see one." Angel said, handing the flyer back to the wheelchair bound vampire.
"No plan. We just want to go and have a little fun. Not everything has to have a plan to it, Angel." Spike responded with a small grin on his face. "As I recall you have a pretty decent singing voice." Angel nearly fell backwards; Spike had given him something resembling a compliment.
"This *has* put you in a good mood, hasn't it?" Angel asked, Spike shrugged slightly.
"I want to sing--and dance--" Drusilla drawled, putting her hand in Angel's.
"Then sing and dance you shall." Angel said, kissing the top of her hand gently while he watched Spike squirm from the corner of his eye. "Are we taking the boys?" Angel inquired. Spike's calling the rest of the vampires "the boys" had rub off on Angel, even though there were almost as many female vampires as there were male vampires.
"The boys wouldn't miss it, you'd be surprised how many were going to go before I even brought it up. It's going to be a regular vampire party." Spike answered, Angel smiled broadly.
"How are you going to be able to enjoy it in the chair though?" Angel asked, his eyebrows arched with a little bit of sarcasm.
"That's where I was hoping you could help me. I was hoping that before we go you could give me some of your blood, sort of as a temporary fix." Spike said, looking up at Angel hopefully. Being Spike's sire he was the only one that could restore his strength, even temporarily.
"Fine, but just enough to keep you out of the chair for the night. It's going to be a Cinderella deal; when it wears off the coach turns back into a pumpkin and you're back in your chair." Angel stated, Spike gave a small nod, knowing that only a little of Angel's blood would be enough to revive him for a few hours.
"Deal." Spike said, Angel nodded. "Now we have to pick out some nice clothes for our night out on the town. How about you take Dru to buy a new dress?" Spike suggested, Angel turned to the female vampire who gave a small smile.
"My pleasure." Angel said, taking Drusilla's hand in his. With that he lead her out of the warehouse in search of a new dress for Drusilla to wear for Karaoke Night.
The next evening the Bronze was full of people of all age groups that were attracted by the Karaoke Night. Xander, Buffy, Willow, Cordelia, Oz, Giles and Jenny entered the Bronze fairly early and got good seats to watch the show. At this point, Xander was having a major case of pre-show jitters. "What song should I sing!?" Xander asked, he was getting to the point of stage-fright panic. "I have to pick a song." Xander said, before turning his attention back to the copy of the song book in his hand.
"Why don't you just wait for a little while, watch a few people and then you can make up your mind?" Buffy suggested, Xander gave a small nod.
"Okay." he said, his eyes traveling to the stage to see a middle aged woman (the crowd was for the most part either high school students or college kids, there were only a few middle aged people who had been drawn there by the chance to sing) on stage singing and generally botching "The Greatest Love of All" almost as badly as Cordelia had for the talent show. His eyes traveled to the door, just in time to see Angel, Spike and Drusilla entering with an entourage of vampires, all with their human faces on. "Oh, great." Xander whispered.
Buffy turned quickly to face the door. Her heart sank as she saw Angel enter dressed in a black leather trench coat, black vinyl pants and a dark blue button down shirt. It took her a moment to register the fact that Spike was walking, not rolling, thanks to the blood Angel had given him. Buffy got up quickly and made her way over to the vampires. "What are you doing here?" she demanded as she approached them.
"We're not here to fight." Angel said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. "We're here for Karaoke Night, the same as you are. We'll call a truce, one night only. We won't kill anyone, you don't kill any one of us. Deal?" Angel asked firmly.
"How do I know I can trust you?" Buffy inquired skeptically.
"I give you my word of honor." Angel then turned to the vampires, all of whom were shocked to see Angel making a deal with the slayer. "Boys, no one hunts tonight. If you do I will have to personally rip your hearts out. Okay?" Angel asked sternly, the group of vampires all nodded, clearly scared of Angel. He then turned back to Buffy, extending his hand for a handshake.
"Deal." she whispered, taking his hand and shaking it. She then turned around and went back to her table. Spike automatically turned to Angel.
"Why did you do that?" Spike asked quickly, he was clearly quite upset at what he labeled to be betrayal on the part of Angel. Angel shook his head and put his hands on Spike's shoulders so Spike looked him square in the eye.
"I want to enjoy myself, not have to look over my shoulder all night to see if I'm going to get staked in the back. Trust me, Spike. This is a good situation for all of us. Now we can have fun without worry." Angel said, straightening Spike's jacket that hung over his white Sex Pistols shirt. The vampires made their way through the crowd and settled on a large table, a good distance from Buffy's table.
Buffy returned to her table and explained the situation to the watcher, the techno-pagan, the werewolf and the slayerettes who for the most part agreed it was a good idea, though they were a little distrusting of Angel at this point. "New topic, I don't want to talk about Angel. Have you chosen a song yet, Xander?" Buffy asked.
"No." Xander replied, shaking his head. Giles took the song book from Xander's hand and flipped through it quickly. "Giles, you're going to sing?!" Xander asked, quite shocked that the uptight British librarian would actually sing karaoke.
"I can sing, you know!" Giles said quickly, Jenny couldn't help but laugh a little.
"I believe you, Rupert. Now go and prove it." Jenny said, putting her hand on his shoulder. Giles found a song that apparently he liked and stood up quickly. He walked to the DJ who was running the karaoke machine and made his selection. Once a man who had been singing got off stage Giles took the microphone. The familiar sound of " Jumping Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones filled the club.
While Giles was no Mick Jagger his British accent and a decent singing voice and even the dancing that he threw in added to the song as he sang, "I was born in a cross-fire hurricane/And I howled at my ma in the driving rain/But it's all right now, in fact, it's a gas!/But it's all right. I'm Jumpin' Jack Flash/It's a gas! Gas! Gas!"
When the song ended there was a rousing applause through the club, even the vampires, including Angel, Spike and Drusilla had to clap for that performance. Giles took his bows and got off the stage, returning to his seat beside Jenny. She put her arms around him and gave him a congratulatory kiss and a hug (which, for Giles, made it all worth while) Well, if Giles could do it then it was decided that the rest of them could do it too. Xander passed around the song book, allowing everyone the group to pick out songs to sing, all but Willow who was still too full of stage fright and shyness to even attempt it yet.
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