This bar was the seediest one she had ever been in to. She took her little cocktail napkin (that she had to beg for from the bartender) and tried unsuccessfully clean off a small area on the bar where she could put her purse down. ‘Ok. There is no way I am going to put my Prada purse down on this stinky bar. I miss The Bronze!’
There was a time where she thought she would never think those four words. But she did. Sunnydale was a sinkhole now. Leaving her for a layover stop in L.A. before heading off to sunny Italy. ‘Now that’s a peppy thought.I can think those types. Italy. Happy thoughts here I come...” That lasted a whole two seconds. Buffy looked around the place this was the gloomiest, most depressing place ever. Why did Xander have to drag her here. And what was he doing... He had been gone forever....
Xander sat down at the bar next to Buffy. She was going to kill him... He had put his and her name in for the karoake contest. The best male and female vocalist wins $500 bucks each. He heard her sing during another one of his disastrous brushes with magic. Who knew that singing demons would be a bad thing? And both Tara and Anya were gone... Leaving Buffy. Not even going to think about Willow.
‘Willow. Singing. Mucho Badness. And not to toot my own horn, I think I can carry a decent tune...’ Looking around he noticed only a handful of people. This was going to be a piece of cake. Thoroughly feeling justified he waited until he heard Buffy’s name called.
Her head whipped around... Looking frantically for escape.
Xander gathered up the nerve to raise his hand and start pointing down at Buffy effectively giving her hiding spot away. The green demon on stage badgered her until she finally relented after shooting Xander a ‘You’re going to PAY for this later look.’ The music began. The Bangles’ “Eternal Flame” She was REALLY going to kill him.
Lorne felt the images flow over him. He had seen an aura like hers before. Great. Big tall and forehead was back. So this was the great and powerful Buffy. The woman two vampires with souls had fought over. Hmmm.... She’s cute... He thought with a mental shrug, ‘But so are so many women. What’s so special about her?”
He felt an overpowering need to find to what brought her here. He dug deeper. ‘Ah, so she knows. About me. Lindsey.’ A feeling of shame closed him off from reading her. He struggled to get himself together. The song was almost over and he had only scratched the surface.
He tried again... Buffy was thinking about Angel. How he had changed and not for the better. She had found out by eavesdropping on Angel and Giles about what had happened to Lindsey. She felt betrayed. Another human life that she lost. This poor guy was trying to go straight. He might have been a great help if Angel had just given him a chance. And the fact that Angel had never mentioned it to her bothered her as well. Did he think that it wasn’t worth telling. Or did he just put Lindsey’s death on his ever growing list of things to repent for. She didn’t blame this Lorne... from what she heard from Willow he was really peaceful and non-violent. Angel was the one pulling the strings. He usually made all the decisions. People just had to follow them...’
‘Awww... Bless you kiddo. If only I could shirk the blame like that. I knew what I was doing...’ He focused intently, the song was just about to end. He wanted to know if Angel had been looking for him and what he was up to. He has never tried to focus his power to something this specific. ‘Angel was starting a new business one where he was.... WHAT??? A debt collector? Oh, that was rich! The protector of innocents goes to the repossessor of cars.’ He started chuckling, then he noticed his mic was on and Buffy was staring at him with horror thinking he was laughing at her. Which he was, but not for the reasons she was thinking.
“Ummm.... An angel fell from the sky and graced us with her voice... Let’s give the little lady a hand folks.” There was a smattering of applause. Xander stood up stomped his feet and whistled repeatedly. Buffy went to sit down noticing that Xander had somehow vacated the area... Nope he was up on stage. Buffy leaned back against the bar unmindful of the filth, now it was her turn to sit back and watch. This could be fun...
The music started... Lorne almost groaned out loud. Then double checked his microphone just in case. The blaring beats of Queens, “Another One Bites The Dust,” filled the room. Lorne tried to suppress a small smile. This guy had heart. He might not sing or dance that well, but he gave it everything that he had. These two were alright. Their auras were clean. Well reasonably so. Both sharing in a recent heartache.
If only I could tell Buffy that hers is an unnecessary one. She’ll figure that one out on her own. The hard way... He sighed. I’m done with the Angel set... But, these guys might just find themselves a little richer by the end of the night though. Seabreeze held high he saluted Xander on stage.
Miss Kitty snuggled up to Willow purring like crazy. Kennedy eyed the cat instantly disliking it. Ms Kitty hissed back. Throwing in one of her paw bats that showed she was really annoyed.
Surveying the room. Ms Kitty thought, “Bored now.” and pounced off Willows lap. Purposely rubbing up against her leg just to annoy Kennedy. What’s going on in the kitchen...
Dawn sat at the table with Andrew going over their newly acquired demonology books. Ms Kitty jumped up and was soon settled on Dawn’s lap.
“Andrew look here... They have a whole section devoted to Drusilla. Wow! She was one crazy, evil, undead fruitloop! It says here that she once had what they call a bacchanal where the danced naked and drank goat’s blood. Yuck! I wonder if Sp-...” She broke off and Andrew looked over at her with a shared look of sorrow.
He looked so sweet and sympathetic that Dawn thought he was really such a nice guy.
“Hey!!! What are you doing to my limited edition Troll Doll Pen? He has an afro!!!”
Dawn sobered up all nice thoughts left her head, “Y’Know Andrew when you’re angry you squeak like a chimp! Not very manly of you.”
Andrew looked affronted, his mouth an O repeatedly opening and closing as he thought of a comeback. “Well.... YOU are really Evil Dawn Summers. Who died and made you satan? Can’t you ever be nice? “
The bickering continued. Ms Kitty yawned entirely bored with the two of them.
The door flew open and a beaming Xander and Buffy stood in the doorway.
“Hey guys look who won for best female and male singing at the karoake bar tonight...”
Both Dawn and Andrew looked at each other and shrugged.
“It was us!” Buffy huffed. “And guess who’s going to buy herself a new pair of shoes?”
Xander was apparently forgiven.
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