A/N: Sorry about the delay. My grandfather passed away last week, and it was quite crazy at home for a while. On a happier note, I just found out that my best friend and her husband are expecting their first baby. This was probably the inspiration that I needed to keep this up. Expect more chapters within the week and please keep reviewing, I love to hear your input! I hope you enjoy chapter three!

The Onyx was everything that it sounded to be. Exquisite food, dark setting, and a sleek jazz band adding to the romantic atmosphere of rounds tables and delicate candles, sorted around the dance floor. Racetrack slipped the Maitre'd a sawbuck, and the group was granted admittance immediately. Jack raised a questioning brow at his friend, but only received a cheeky grin for an answer.

Following their host, the group was seated at two tables next to each other. Racetrack, Spot, Skittery and their dates were seated at a small table close to the band, while the others were set up at a larger table, next to the dance floor. When a waiter dressed in a slick tuxedo approached the tables to take a cocktail order, the group began to stir with excitement. They settled on ordering a few pitchers of beer. There was no reason to be fancy about the way of getting drunk, if they knew they would still be drunk in the end.

When the mug was placed in front of Maggie, she did not waste a second before chugging the whole thing. Race laughed at his girl and gave her a kiss on the cheek saying, "Doll, am I honestly that bad of a boyfriend that you have to make yourself zonked before you can kiss me?"

"No, Race. It's nothing like that at all. I've never had a drink before."

"You've never had alcohol before? Gosh, you're what, nineteen-years-old and this is your first time? Congratulations. I wouldn't be able to go that long with out it," he praised her, lifting his own mug to his lips and drinking the dull liquor.

"Oh, I'm not nineteen, yet," she responded, taking the drink from his hands and having a sip of his. "I turn seventeen next month." Racetrack's jaw dropped in astonishment. He had been dating a girl five years younger than him, and never even thought that age difference might have been a problem for them, until now, of course. She smiled sweetly, and grabbed his hand, dragging him out onto the dance floor.

"Hey, I thought that you had to be at least eighteen to serve in the military," Skittery pondered aloud.

Iris looked up from her drink and replied, "You do. She's just one of the sneaky ones that can lie about her age. I wish I could do that, except I would want to be much younger." Audrey laughed at her friend's suggestion of looking younger. After all, the girls were barely 20-years-old, and still in their prime. "Hey, is this supposed to taste so dull? How come it doesn't have a sweet taste to it?" Iris questioned, swirling the brew around, as if it were a first-rate wine.

"Iris, its beer not champagne, or anything that you're used to," her friend quietly responded, before the boys could tease her.

"You're saying that you've never had beer? Jeez, looks like I have the normal date tonight. Doesn't lie about her age, drinks what the average person does. Good job Audrey!" Spot commended his date, who shot him the death glare as a response.

Seeing that things were about to get ugly, Skittery nervously asked "Hey, Iris, do you wanna go out on the floor and dance before it gets too crowded?" with a deep blush.

"Why I'd love to," replied the southern belle, taking his hand and leading him to the floor, leaving a knowing smirk at their table.

"Spot, you really shouldn't judge those girls based on first impressions. Shouldn't you get to know them before you start saying condescending remarks about them?"

"Oh, and as if you should be one to talk about judging and first impressions."

"What are you talking about?"

"Forget it. I thought we agreed to have a good time tonight."

"That's right, we did." Audrey sighed, and kept her eyes on the dance floor, wishing that her date would ask her for a dance, like a normal guy would. Spot caught onto this immediately, and smirked with a cruel idea.

"Audrey, do you want to dance?"

"Spot, I would love to…"

"Good, I'll be back in a few minutes," he said, raising from his seat and heading to the bar with his mug. Audrey felt very uncomfortable sitting at the table by herself. Within a few minutes, Racetrack was back at the table, without Maggie. When Audrey asked where she was, Race pointed in the direction of the dance floor, where Audrey saw Maggie dancing with another man, and two behind him, waiting for their turn.

"Race, I'm so sorry. It's just her first time out like this. She probably doesn't know how to handle herself in that situation."

"I think she can handle herself just fine. Three guys should be enough for her to juggle. I'll be at the bar incase she suddenly notices that her date disappeared, though I doubt that that will ever happen. See ya, kid," Race said as he made his way over to join Spot, and drown out his sadness. Seeing that Spot wouldn't be coming back to her anytime soon, Audrey left the table, too, and headed for the bathroom to have a good cry in private.

Meanwhile, at the other, less dramatic table, the evening was headed in a positive direction. Jack had actually warmed up to Helen by the time they entered the club, and Bridget and Mush shyly held hands and cuddled close in their chairs. Kid Blink and David told the table amusing stories from their childhood that usually resulted in a laugh at the expense of Crutchy or Mush.

After a round of drinks, the group was eager to get out on the dance floor and do some fancy stepping. When the band started playing "The Way You Look Tonight," Elizabeth squealed in delight, giving Crutchy a kiss on the cheek, saying how much she loved that song. Crutchy replied with a satisfied grin, "Well I guess that I love this song too, now," as he took her hand and went off to dance cheek to cheek. David and Grace followed suit, along with Bridget and Mush. Noticing that their pitcher was empty, Kid Blink offered to go to the bar and ask for a refill. Helen excused herself to the ladies room, and Jack went off to see what was bothering Racetrack and Spot. This left Claire alone, feeling very vulnerable to the GI's that were sending her stares from a few tables over.

Setting her eyes to the white table cloth, she held her breath, praying that the men staring at her would not come to her table. However, her prayers were not heard. Two handsome men came to the table and sat down on either side of her. She was trapped. The first took his hand and brushed her cheek, trying to get her attention with his charming tactics. She lifted her eyes to ask him to leave, before Kid Blink got back to the table, but was stopped when the other took her hand asked her to dance.

"I'm sorry. I don't think that that's possible. I'm waiting for someone else."

"Listen doll, I don't know who you're waiting for, but you is all alone, and I'm pretty sure he won't be coming back anytime soon. So give it chance," he said, taking her hand more forcefully.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't want to."

"Come on, sweetheart, give him try. He's not going to bite you. Well, not unless you ask him to that is," the man on her left said.

"Please, could you just leave me alone?" Claire begged, not liking the tone of their voices.

"But we like you. We don't want you to be alone. What's your name, sweetface?" the man on her right asked, as the other began to move his arm around her waist. Claire squirmed in her seat, trying to escape their grasps, until they both let go of her. Looking up, she saw Blink with the pitcher in his hands and anger on his face.

"I believe the lady asked you to leave," he started.

"Look, pal, we were just…" one of the guys began to say, but he was cut off when Blink grabbed him by the collar, and hissed through his teeth "I am not your 'pal.'"

The men straightened their jackets and left the table, glaring back at the couple. Blink put the pitcher down, and sat next to Claire, comforting her, and promising that he wouldn't leave her alone for the rest of the night.

At the bar, Jack sat with Race and Spot, serving as their personal psychiatrist. Race had been shot down by his girlfriend of three weeks, and Spot couldn't understand his date at all. When Jack had heard enough, he left to go dance with Helen, and leave the two to try to forget their misery. On the dance floor, Helen asked Jack what was wrong with the boys.

"Oh, you know. Race is upset that Maggie is having a goodtime without him, and Spot is being a heel as usual," he replied while pulling her closer to him, for sake of the crowded space.

"Well, Maggie is being a bit of a bimbo tonight with all of those boys. But she really does have a heart of gold. I promise. I don't understand why she's acting like this. She was so excited to be going out with Racetrack tonight."

"Maybe it's because he had a nice sized winning at the track the other night, and she knew he would pay to take her to a nice place," Jack retorted, unintentionally suggesting that she was a gold-digger.

"So, is Spot really a heel?" Helen inquired, trying to sway the conversation away from Maggie's faults.

"Eh, I'm not sure yet. He seems like a decent guy deep down, but his skills with women need to be toned down, in my opinion."

"Yeah, I'll definitely agree to that. When I was in the powder room, I found Audrey in their crying, because Spot asked her to dance, but then left her to go to the bar, right after she said she wanted to."

"That's Spot for ya. Where is she? Is she still in there?" he asked, looking around the room for Audrey, but failing because of the heavy crowd. Helen nodded, with a sad smile. She was sympathetic towards her friend, but didn't want any problems to ruin her evening. Jack told her that he was going to go talk to Spot, and that she should convince Audrey to go back to the table. They pushed their way back towards the tables, and went their separate ways.

By the time Jack had convinced Spot to go back to the table and talk to Audrey, Spot was buzzing, and it showed. Never the less, Spot took his friend's advice and made his way over to his beautiful brunette date, and took a seat next to her. When he sat down, Audrey looked at him with tears in her eyes. This did not pass Spot's glazed eyes. He reached for a napkin and lightly dabbed her cheeks- the most endearing gesture he had done all night. Audrey smiled at his kind motion and gave a heavy sigh of contemplation.

"I know this isn't what you wanted tonight to be like," Spot began, pulling her out of her thoughts. "I just don't know how to handle you. I'm not very good at talking to girls, and I know that my reputation probably isn't going to help you get to know me. But I do want you to know one thing. You look amazing tonight."

"Spot, what are you rambling about?" Audrey asked, not completely believing his words.

"No, Audrey. Listen. Listen to me real closely," he said, with a drunken drawal, taking her hands in his and leaning forward, staring straight at her. "I think that you are pretty, and I really want to dance with you. So let's go dance, right now. I owe you one dance. I promise that I won't leave half way though it. I promise, Audrey," he stated, standing up, but then immediately sitting back down, from seeing the room spin.

"Spot, are you okay? Maybe we should go home. We can dance some other time. I really don't mind." Spot began to argue, but was quieted when Audrey put a finger to his lips, and said "I'll be right back. I just need to tell Bridget that we're leaving." She returned in a few seconds, and helped Spot up, and out onto the street where he emptied his stomach in a garbage can, and continued on their way back to the base.