Chapter 6

A fairly long chapter, but nothing too serious. Just a night out, features quite a few songs (all the parts in italics). Hope you enjoy this one! Please review, Laura x

The shift was about to finish for some of the staff as they wandered into the staffroom. "So who've you put down for karaoke tonight?" Rita smiled over at Max who just grinned. "Have you ever heard Iain sing-" "You haven't!?" Max nodded laughing as a few others walked in. They tried hiding the smiles on their faces by opening their lockers and getting their things out.

Dixie and Iain met Rita outside. "Hey beautiful, good day?" Rita smiled as Iain bent down and placed a kiss on her lips. "It was alright, how about you two?" Dixie sighed as Iain laughed "You've done it now…" Rita looked confused as Iain began telling the story over again which Dixie appeared to have heard several times already.

The music being played could be heard from down the road. Connie laughed as she recognised Zoe outside the bar looking towards her dancing, really badly. "How much have you had to drink already?" "Ha ha… How was Grace?" Connie nodded "Fine, moaned as usual but she'll be in bed soon enough." They stepped closer to the wall of the bar again as Rita saw them through the window and waved them inside.

Heading in, Connie realised everyone was congregated at a table towards the side of the bar in front of the make shift stage area. Currently Alicia was pulling Robyn to her feet towards the microphones where Lofty and Ethan were standing. "Have I missed much?" Rita smiled "Nope…" "Just a small town girl living in a lonely world…" They wandered to the bar to get a few drinks when Connie looked over to the stage. "How much persuading did it take to get Ethan up there!?"

Alicia and Robyn were dancing around as they sang along together. Everyone was enjoying themselves as they watched the four standing together at the front. "Don't stop, believing! Hold onto that feeling, street lights, people!" As they sang the chorus several people found themselves singing along with them. Connie sat back and looked towards a smiling Rita. "What?" Connie shrugged "Nothing, thank you…" Rita smiled as Connie rose "Do you want another drink?" Rita nodded as Connie wandered off knowing what she'd been ordering all evening.

As she stood at the bar the guys from the stage came wandering down and stopped by the table laughing. Sam had made his way to the bar and stopped next to Connie. He could feel her at his side and all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her. "Connie, you might want to come watch for this one!" She noticed as Max made his way through the crowds of people to her. "Why-" She was cut off by someone calling out some names.

"Rita and Zoe?" Connie's face lit up almost immediately as Max watched the shocked look on his wife's face. Rita also turned to him as everyone began cheering and pushing them forwards. "This was not part of the deal!" Max shrugged "Sorry!" Connie picked up the two glasses from the side before turning back for the table leaving Sam where he'd been standing next to her at the bar.

The music began playing as they watched from the table. "I come home, in the morning light…" They read from the little screen in front of them while Max tried to stop himself from laughing at his wife. "Some f-u-u-u-n, when the working day is done, oh girls they wanna have fu-u-n, oh girls just wanna have fun… Wanna have fun-" "I hope you knew what was good for you and didn't put my name down for this." Connie glared at Max as he laughed "Would I ever dream of it?"

The girls came down from the stage and were greeted by their partners. "Now that was certainly worth it, thanks Max!" Iain laughed as Rita looked up at him "You had something to do with this?" She gently pushed him back as he carried on laughing and moved his arms around her. Zoe fell into Max as he smiled "Don't get comfortable mate-" "What?" Next thing he knew Iain's name was being called out and Rita was pulling back high-fiving Max "You're not the only one who can arrange things!"

Iain stood on the stage as Dixie began whistling. He nodded his head smiling before the music started playing. Everyone sat around together as he sang, badly. "Why do you build me up, build me up buttercup baby…" Iain kept singing and winking towards Rita while everyone continued cheering and laughing.

"We're going to take a quick break, but don't go anywhere there's more coming up." Some music began playing in the background once again. Iain stood behind Rita and wrapped his arms around her shoulders placing a kiss on her cheek. Max and Zoe had retreated outside for a cigarette while Connie sat with Dixie.

Zoe was soon standing in front of Connie pulling on her hand. "Come on, you're not sitting down all night long!" Connie shook her head as she noticed she was being pulled towards Rita and Robyn who were dancing away. "Oooh, you can dance. You can jive, having the time of your life. Oooh, see that girl, watch that scene, digging the dancing queen…" Zoe squeezed through the people pulling Connie along as they reached the other girls. As everyone danced away Connie slowly began forgetting about why she'd not wanted to come out today. "You are the dancing queen, young and sweet only seventeen. Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine oh yeah! You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life…"

"Have I got a Max Walker in here?" He was moving closer to the stage and jumped up taking the microphone. Everyone turned their attention back to him again as the music began playing. Connie was standing towards the back of the group with Zoe still dancing about as Max sang. "Ooh, keep on with force don't stop. Don't stop til you get enough…" Max danced badly across the stage as the whole room watched and laughed.

"Too-ra-loo-ra, too-ra-loo-rye, aye. And you'll hum this tune forever." Someone they didn't know from the hospital was singing out as Connie stepped towards the bar to order everyone another drink. Connie was pulled away by Rita once again to stand with her and the other girls. The whole bar sang along as another song came to an end. "Come on Eileen. Oh, I swear what he means. Aah, come on Eileen…"

Max laughed as he knew the next person on karaoke had to be one of two people. He turned around towards Sam and patted him on the back taking a guess. "Good luck mate-" "What for?" His face changed as he looked back at him after hearing his name. "I hate you." He wandered towards the front taking the mic and beginning.

Connie froze when she heard his voice over the microphone. She turned around to look at him and noticed he wasn't looking at her. Which she was glad of, but it didn't last. Eventually his eyes found hers and rested on her while he continued singing. "I wanna love you, but I better not touch. I wanna hold you, but my senses tell me to stop. I wanna kiss you, but I want it too much…"

As he carried on singing Connie turned her back picking up her keys and phone from the table and headed outside. Stopping around the corner she leant against the wall and took a deep breath trying to stop herself from thinking about all of this. She thought she'd dodged the bullet of not having to speak to anyone by coming outside. Instead she heard the door open and heard Zoe calling out for her. "Connie! Come on, there's something I need to show you… QUICK!"

Zoe pulled on her hand and lead her through the bar once again until they got to the front of everyone and she realised she was being pulled onto stage. "No way guys! No, no I'm not singing-" "You are! Take this." She stood next to Zoe, Rita and Dixie as the music started. "It's raining men, hallelujah. It's raining men, every specimen. Tall, blonde, dark and lean. Rough and tough and strong and mean…"

Connie laughed as Zoe smiled over at her. Dixie and Rita were dancing away the other side of Connie as they carried on. "God bless mother nature, she's a single woman too. She took off to heaven and she did what she had to do – oh" Sam couldn't help but smile as he watched Connie up there with the other women. She seemed to finally forget what she was doing and enjoy herself.

As the song finished she stepped down and remembered what had happened five minutes before. She made her excuses and said her goodbyes to everyone as it was now getting late. Stepping out into the cold night she felt someone hold onto her wrist as she stepped into the dark. "Con, please…" When she turned round to face him he finished talking "… I still love you." She stayed still for a moment but pulled her hand back and stepped away before anything else could happen, not saying a word.

A/N So I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed it, as you can probably tell I went to a really cheesy karaoke night at my university and took some inspiration! Hope you like the songs I chose for various people… I'll list the ones I used underneath if for any reason anyone was wandering what they were! :)

Don't Stop Believin' – Journey (or The cast of GLEE)

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper

Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations

Dancing Queen – Abba

Don't Stop Til You Get Enough – Michael Jackson

Come On Eileen – Dexys Midnight Runners

Poison – Alice Cooper

It's Raining Men – The Weather Girls