When the three girls arrived at the Bronze just after sundown they found the Fang Gang and the rest of the Scoobies in the parking lot obviously waiting for them.
Dawn almost squealed when she saw Conner leaning against his father's car dressed in a pair of new dark blue jeans, a fitting dark green t-shirt and a black leather jacket, looking as gorgeous as usual, she managed to hold it in but a smile still appeared on her face a mile wide.
Buffy and Willow saw this and both rolled their eyes.
Willow leaned over to Buffy. "No, she doesn't like him at all" She whispered sarcastically.
Buffy gave a small giggle before calling out. "Hey guys"
Nearly all as one the group in the parking lot turned to look at them.
Xander came running over, picked Dawn up around the waist and swung her around. "Hey, hey birthday girl"
Dawn let out a light yelp before laughing. "Put me down Xander"
She missed the dark scowl that crossed Connor's face though Cordy didn't. "Play nice." She hissed.
Xander chuckled before lowering her to her feet. "As the lady wishes." He said with a grin on his face.
By this time the rest of the group had made it's way over she looked around and noticed that four people were missing. "Where are the rest of the guys?"
"They had to stay behind." Cordelia said. "A client came in only half an hour before we left and it was something that couldn't wait, so they opted to stay behind so we could come. They said to tell you they were really sorry and sent their present's for you with us"
Dawn felt a little disappointed but covered it well as she received many 'Happy birthdays' and hugs from all her friends before she found herself in front of Conner. Giving her a nervous smile, he gave her a hug that lasted longer than necessary but still shorter than Dawn liked, and said his own "Happy Birthday"
Dawn smiled back at him. "Thank you." Neither moved, lost in their own private world, and it wasn't until Xander said something about going inside that they broke apart both blushing profusely.
"Yes" Dawn said. "Let's head in"
-
After paying the cover charge to enter the club they were all stopped by Xander who was in the front.
"No, no way" He cried, trying to turn back around but because of the amount of people behind him was pretty much impossible. "No way, no how, am I going anywhere near that thing."
Thinking it was a demon the rest of the gang pushed their way into the club and almost started laughing, well nearly all them did, Angel managed to turn even paler than normal, and Conner looked confused, at the sight of the karaoke equipment sent up on the stage.
Both Cordelia and Dawn let out a little squeal when they saw the stage. Dawn turned around and released the puppy dog eyes full force at Xander while Cordelia did the same to Angel and both men tried to resist.
Buffy leaned over to Willow "Which one do you think will cave fir-" She was cut off by Dawn's triumphant yell indicating Xander had indeed caved. "Never mind"
Willow grinned at her. "You should know Xander's a sucker for the puppy dog eyes"
Buffy just grinned back at her when she saw Cordelia turn around with a victorious smile of her own. "Yeah but so's Angel."
-
The group managed to find a table large enough for all nine of them plus an extra seat for when Spike arrived before turning to the problem at hand. "Who was going to sing. While the guys argued about not wanting to at all, the girls argued about who was gonna go first.
They were starting to get very loud when Tara stood up. "Hey" She yelled.
Everyone was so stunned by normally quiet Tara yelling they immediately shut up.
"Why doesn't whoever sings pick the next person to go up?" She asked reasonably.
"But who's gonna get up first?" Anya responded.
"Well I think Dawn should go first." Buffy said slinging her arm around her sister's shoulder. "It is her birthday after all."
"I second" Willow added.
"And I pass the motion, your up first sweetie." Cordelia said giving her a quick grin.
Dawn grinned back at them before grabbing several song books, a pen and a few bit's of paper to write her name and song choice on before coming back to the table. Giving all the books but one to her friends she started flipping though the pages.
"I▓m gonna get a drink" Xander said standing up. "If I'm gonna sing, I'm not gonna sing sober. Anyone else want?" He took their drink orders and headed for the bar.
"I'll give you a hand" Willow said and stood up to follow.
Finally finding a song that she knew Dawn quickly wrote down her name and song choice, she stood up and walked over to the equipment next to the stage. Smiling at the operator she noticed his shirt had the name 'Dave's Karaoke'.
"You'll be up next Dawn."
Giving him another smile she headed back to the table.