Away From It All
Chapter 8: Long Time No See
By: Rogue-Slayer13
Summary: See pervious chapters.
Disclaimer: The characters of Btvs and Ats belong to Joss Whedon. Spike's family members and other character you've never heard of before are mine.
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"Do you have any good karaoke music?"
Spike's head snapped up at the sound of the voice.
"Lorne?"
The man starred at Spike for a moment, before he smiled in recognition.
"Spike! How are you?"
"Fine, and yourself?"
"Oh I'm good, don't exactly know how I ended up in London, but I'm good."
"London seems to be a gathering place for former demons and demon fighters," said Spike with a smile.
"So you work here?" Lorne looked around the music store.
"Yeah, it's better then working in a coffee shop or a museum."
"For some reason I can't picture you working at either," said Lorne. "So, have you seen anyone else?"
"Yeah, actually I have."
"Who?"
"Almost the entire LA Gang and most of the Scoobies."
"Really? All I've seen is Wesley."
"My sister Eryn said something about Percy coming around."
"You have a sister?"
"Three actually and two brothers."
"Are you Catholic?"
"Mum used to be and we're half Irish," replied Spike with a smile.
"That explains it."
"You and Percy should come over sometime."
"Sure, you'll just have to give me the address."
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"Guess who I ran into today," said Spike as he walked into the apartment that just happened to have everyone in it.
"Who?" asked Fred.
"Lorne." Spike set his keys down on the table in the hallway and took off his coat. "He said he and Percy would stop by some time."
"That's cool," said Gunn.
"We could go out for dinner and catch up," suggested Cordy.
"That's a good idea," said Willow from her spot next to Oz on the couch.
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Lorne found Wesley sitting on the couch in the coffee shop by his house. He was so engrossed in his book, he didn't even notice Lorne until he snatched the book out of his hands.
"Excuse me . . ." Wesley looked up to see who had stolen his book. "Oh, it's you Lorne."
"Don't sound too excited, people might think we're friends." Lorne took a seat next to Wesley. "You'll never believe who I ran into today."
"Margaret Thatcher?"
"No, Spike."
"Really? How's he doing?"
"Good and he said we should come by and see the gang sometime."
"That'd be nice."
"I'm glad you think so, because I already said we'd go out to dinner with them."
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"Lorne and Wesley are having dinner with us tonight," announced Willow as she walked into the guys' apartment.
"Cool," said Gunn.
"What are we having?" asked Xander.
"I don't know," replied Willow. "I thought we'd put it to a vote."
"As long as it's edible, I don't care," said Oz.
"That's kind of how I feel," added Faith.
"Why don't we let Wesley and Lorne decide since we don't care?" suggested Anya.
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"Wesley! Lorne!" Faith pulled them both into a hug. "How are you guys?"
"Fine," replied Wesley.
After introductions the group went out to eat at an Italian restaurant not far from Spike's flat.
"This is good," said Xander through a mouth full of spaghetti.
"And that was so gross," commented Faith.
"Pardon Xander, he has no manners," said Anya.
"That coming from Miss Tactless," retorted Xander, getting a slap on the head from Anya and a laugh out of everyone else.
"You know what we should do after dinner?" asked Faith.
"What?" asked Oz.
"We should go to The Edge."
"I've never been there," said Lorne.
"Then we have to go for sure," replied Faith.
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"I can't get over how much this place looks like The Bronze," commented Wesley.
"I know, it's freaky," said Cordy.
"Wanna dance?" asked Oz as a slow song came on.
"Of course," replied Willow as she followed Oz to the dance floor.
"How 'bout you Ahn?"
"Sure," replied Anya.
"Come on Angel." Cordy lead her boyfriend out onto the dance floor.
"Care to dance?" Gunn looked over at Faith.
"I thought you'd never ask," replied Faith as she left the table.
Spike, Fred, Wesley, and Lorne were still sitting at the table when a woman around their age came over to the table. She had curly shoulder length dark blonde hair with light blonde highlights and blue eyes.
"This might seem weird, but would you like to dance?"the woman asked Wesley.
"Well I, um, well," replied a flustered Wesley.
"Go on Wes," said Fred as she nudged the Brit.
"Sure." Wesley followed the woman to the dance floor.
"Look at Percy, hooking up with a complete stranger. I didn't know he had it in 'im," commented Spike.
"I think I'll take a hint from him and mingle," said Lorne as he left as well, leaving just Fred and Spike.
Fred looked over at the dance floor where everyone else was currently at.
"They look cute together," said Fred motioning toward Willow and Oz and Anya and Xander.
"Yeah, I just hope Harris doesn't screw things up with Anya this time around," said Spike.
"What do you mean?"
"He left her at the altar last time they were together."
"That's awful, why would he do that?"
"He was afraid he'd turn into an abusive prick like 'is dad."
"Oh, that kind of makes it better, I guess."
"Wanna dance?" asked Spike out of the blue.
"Huh?" Fred was completely taken back.
"Do you want to dance?" asked Spike.
"Sure," replied Fred.
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"Oh my god, how cute," said Faith looking over Gunn's shoulder.
"What's so cute?" asked Gunn.
"Look behind you."
Gunn looked over his shoulder as well and saw Spike and Fred dancing together.
"I knew he had a thing for her."
"By the looks of it, the feeling's mutual."
"Do you see what I see?" asked Willow as she and Oz danced over to Faith and Gunn.
"Yeah," replied Faith.
"I think they look cute," said Anya as she came over with Xander following close behind her.
"I thought Fred was with Wesley," said Xander.
"Well they were, but the whole Illyria thing kind of put a damper on the relationship," said Gunn.
"We should probably stop starring before they see us," pointed out Oz.
"Good idea," said Willow as the three couples went back to dancing.
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"You're a good dancer," said Fred.
"You're not too bad yourself Pet," replied Spike.
"Why thank you."
"Not a problem."
"If you don't mind me asking, what caused you to ask me to dance?" Fred looked up at Spike to see his reaction.
"Something I've been meaning to do."
"Seriously?"
"Is that hard to believe?"
"Well no, but bad boys don't go for girls like me."
"I'm not your typical bad boy Pet," replied Spike with a smirk.
"I guess not," replied Fred.
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"So, what's with you and Spike?" asked Faith as she, Willow, and Fred got back to their flat.
"I don't know what you mean," replied Fred coyly.
"Don't play coy with us, we saw you," said Willow. "I'm surprised Anya didn't come home with us to get the details."
"We'll be getting a phone call once she gets done with Xander," replied Fred.
"Oh gross, I so did not want to hear that." Fred went into the kitchen and came back with some ice cream.
"I'm just saying it like I see it."
"Wrong choice of words Faith," commented Willow as she sat down on the couch.
"Anyway, back to Spike and you," said Faith, "what's up?"
"Nothing, we just danced." Fred sat down in the chair across from Willow and Faith.
"For half an hour?" asked the former Slayer.
"You guys danced that long."
"Well, Oz and I are a couple, that's what couples do," said Willow.
"And Gunn and I have been flirting for weeks now."
"Well," said Fred. "There might've been a little bit of flirting, but that's all."
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"Are you and Fred going out?" asked Xander bluntly the next morning.
"No, why?" asked Spike.
"Anya wanted to know."
"So did Will," added Oz.
"We just danced is all," said Spike.
"Are you sure?" asked Xander. "You were awfully close?"
"How many times did I see you dance with the Slayer or Cordy or Red?"
"That was in high school and if you hadn't noticed, I had a huge crush on Buffy and dated Cordy."
"We're just friends," said Spike.
"For now," added Oz.
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To Be Continued . . .