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Just a Little Dancing

By Rach

RATING: PG
SPOILERS: Up to the end of Buffy 5 and Angel 2
FEEDBACK: Yes please! I thrive on it, good or constructive (please no flames, they bring me out in a literary rash!)
DISCLAIMER: The characters belong to Joss & Co, not me. However I'm willing to exchange money for characters if he ever decides to sell them!
SUMMARY: The gang visits Sunnydale for Xander & Anya's wedding
PAIRING: Fred/Wes (with a titchy bit of B/A but not much)

 
"Mail's here," announced Gunn, as he entered the hotel. "Bills, bills - oh look, a bill." He looked up. "Do we ever get any mail that *isn't* a bill?" As if in answer to his own question, the last three letters in his hand were thick, creamy envelopes, one each for Cordelia, Wesley and Angel. "Yo Cordy - you got mail."
As Cordelia excitedly opened her envelope, Gunn took the others through to the office where Angel and Wesley were working. Fred watched Cordelia with interest.
Cordy's eyes widened as she read aloud for Fred's benefit. "'Alexander Harris and Anya Jenkins' - Jenkins? I thought her name was Emerson?" She shook her head, realising that Fred didn't even know who Anya was. "'cordially invite Miss Cordelia Chase and Guest to their wedding'."
"That's nice. I like weddings." Fred added, wistfully.
"Yeah." Cordelia wandered into the office. "You guys got them too?" Wesley and Angel nodded, both looking surprised to be invited.
"Well that ain't fair!" Gunn looked briefly put out. "How come I don't get an invite? They know I work with you guys, and they hardly even know Wesley! And from what I've heard of his time in Sunnydale, they've got just about as much reason to invite me as they do him!"
"I'm taking Fred as my guest," decided Cordelia, ignoring Gunn's little outburst. "She likes weddings, and it'd be a nice day out."
"What about me!" Gunn fumed. He turned to Wesley.
"Oh no! There is no power on this earth that will make me take Gunn as my DATE!"
"Date?" Gunn visibly jumped. "That's a good point - OK, switch. Cordy, I'm with you, English - take Fred."
"Well ... uh ... what if Fred doesn't want to come with me?"
"Fred, do you wanna go with Wesley?" As Gunn spoke, Wesley gave him a 'look' that was a mixture of infuriation and embarrassment.
"Well, I guess that would be OK, I mean ... we'll all be going together right?" She looked around imploringly.
"Right!" said Cordy brightly. "So that way, Wesley and Gunn get to keep up their 'manly' reputations, and me and Fred get to have a little girlie fun."
"Wrong." Everyone looked at Angel.
"Huh?"
"I'm not going. Everyone knows Xander and I aren't exactly the best of buds - I don't even know why they invited me."
"Makes us a round four - fine by me. Everyone happy to go without Angel say 'aye'"
Cordy was met by a resounding 'aye' from the other three wedding bound members of the group.
"Excellent. I'll go call Xander."

***

"Hello?"
"Willow, hi!" Cordelia was glad Willow had picked up the phone in the Magic Box. She'd already tried calling Anya and Xander's apartment, and Giles's place. One more call, and she'd planned to give up.
"Cordelia?"
"Yeah, its me. Is Xander there?"
"Not right now, no - can I take a message?"
"Yeah, sure. I was just calling to RSVP about the wedding."
"Oh, you got the invites - that's great. After he sent them Xander wasn't sure he had the hotel address right."
"Yeah, we got them this morning. Wesley and I will be bringing guests, but Angel says he can't come."
"He can't? Why not?" Willow's face took on a stricken expression that was useless during a phone call.
"Oh, you know, this and that." She dropped her voice. "Actually, I think he's a bit confused as to why he got invited. He and Xander aren't exactly the best of friends, and Anya's only met him like, twice."
"Well we ... they .. wanted to invite you all. And they want you all to come - there's five of you now, right?"
"Yeah, me and Wes, and Gunn & Fred. And Angel, too of course."
"I tell you what, why don't you guys come to the wedding and tell Angel just to come to the reception? That way he'll have chance to see Bu - err ... bunting - the bunting that we're having put up outside the reception. Yeah." Willow groaned to herself at her near-slip - they'd all agreed not to tell any of the LA gang that Buffy was alive again until the wedding. Buffy wanted to do it face to face, and Angel had to be there.
"Well, I guess that would be alright. I'll talk to him about it and get back to you."
"Okay. Speak to you soon, Cordy."
"Yeah, you too." She hung up, and walked into Angel's office determinedly. "OK Angel, here's the deal. You're coming, because you need some fun time. They're even having the service at night so you and Spike can come."
"Spike? So far you're not doing a great job of changing my mind," he responded dryly.
"You've been doing far too much brooding lately than is good for you and I don't like it one bit."
"I've already told you I'm not coming, Cordelia. You're not going to make me change my mind."
"Okay then - scenario number two. You skip the ceremony and come to the reception."
"And look like a party-pooper coming in late on my own? I don't think so. I'll stay here and hold the fort - you guys go have fun."
Wesley cleared his throat. "Angel, I agree with Cordelia. You should come." He held up his hand as Angel tried to interrupt. "Cordelia can go to the service alone, as she's the only one who is close to either of them. We four hardly even know them. Fred, Gunn and I will come with you to the reception and - I believe there's going to be dancing?" Cordy nodded. "Then in that case - you WILL dance."
"I will, will I?"
"Yes. You will."
"Jeez, do I even have a choice?" Cordelia grinned and shook her head triumphantly. "Then I'll come. But don't expect me to have fun!" he warned.

***

"Come on, come on, we're going to be late!" Cordelia leaned annoyingly close to Angel, and yelled into his ear.
"We are not going to be late! Calm down back there or you'll make us crash!"
"It's alright for you, you don't have to be there for another two hours! I've got, like, 10 minutes and Cordelia Chase is never late for a wedding, party, or social gathering. Got it?"
"Cordy, I think he's got it. Now sit, and shush!" Gunn had been all for Cordy driving in her own car and the rest of them following later, but Cordelia had been adamant that driving would crease her dress.
Ten minutes later they arrived at the church, and Cordy dashed out of the car without even saying goodbye. "I'll be back for you in an hour," Angel called out of the window, but Cordelia was in such a hurry he was pretty sure she hadn't heard him. He glanced in his mirror, and noticed that Wesley and Fred were slumped against each other in the back seat. They'd been fast asleep for the last hour, although Angel had no idea how they'd been able to manage it with Cordy squealing right next to them for a good deal of that time. He turned around.
"Okay guys, time to wake up. There's not a lot to do at night in Sunnydale - especially not compared to LA, so we really only have a couple of choices. We go to the coffee shop and wait for the wedding to finish, or we go to the Bronze and wait for the wedding to finish."
"Is the Bronze a club?" Fred yawned.
"Yeah."
"Then can we go there? I haven't been out dancing for so long."
"Of course we can," replied Wesley, without consulting the others. Angel and Gunn exchanged a glance, before Gunn agreed that the Bronze would be his preferred choice too.
Angel turned the engine back on, and drove the couple of blocks to the club. When he pulled up outside and heard the music playing, he wasn't so sure he wanted to go in. For one thing, his first non-date with Buffy had been there, and it still held some memories that he didn't think he was quite ready to face. When he tried to protest, Gunn actually dragged him out of the car, Wesley following with Fred at a slower pace, neither wanting to admit they were still a little tired. Once they were in the club, however, the three humans completely let go of their inhibitions and began to dance like they'd never danced before. Angel sat at a table slightly off the dance floor, drinking the coffee he'd ordered when they first entered. He soon lost sight of Gunn, who'd let his eyes do the walking and had gone off after some girl, but he could still see Wesley and Fred clearly. As he watched, they danced closer and closer, until finally they were performing something that would be better described as 'mating' than 'dancing'. He had no idea where it came from, but it was definitely something he hadn't known Wesley was capable of, and he was pretty sure that he would have been able to live without knowing it. As for Fred, he knew it had been a long time since she'd been dancing, but this wasn't a 'this is great fun' kind of dance. It was a 'come and get me I'm waiting for you' dance - and it was the one thing he would have put money on Fred not doing.
He looked at his watch, and was surprised to see how quickly time had flown. He stood up to tell Wesley and Fred to go and wait for him in the car while he found Gunn, but saw that their dancing had slowed down to suit the change in music, and he was pretty sure they were kissing. So he decided to find Gunn first.
By the time he convinced Gunn that the cute blonde he'd been chatting up was worth leaving behind, Fred and Wes were dirty dancing again. The second they noticed Angel standing beside them with a large smirk on his face they jumped apart, hot and embarrassed. They both quietly walked out to the car, neither looking at the other.
Angel drove to the church and seeing people streaming out, he pulled over to one side until the crowds dispersed. When they did, he and Gunn got out of the car and meandered over to the church. Watching out of the rear window, Wesley noticed Angel stand stock still for a minute before entering the church, shortly before Cordy almost ran out of the door, dragging Gunn along by his ear.
She jumped into the drivers seat, and exhaled gladly when she saw that Angel had left the keys in the engine, starting up the car, Wesley was the first to speak.
"What happened?"
"Buffy's back."
That was met with silence. Finally, Fred spoke up. "Buffy was the girl who died, right?"
"Yeah. But now she's ... well, not so dead. Alive and kicking, actually."
"Amazing." Cordelia looked at Wesley.
"I think we have a winner for understatement of the century."

***

The reception was a big hit, from Giles' best man speech to the food - well, in Gunn's eyes, mostly the food. When it was time for them to move into the hall next door for the dancing, all eyes were on the bride and groom. It wasn't until the guitarist began to sing that they noticed something unusual.
"That singer ..." Wesley muttered.
"Yeah ... ain't that ..." continued Gunn.
"Lindsey?!" exclaimed Cordy.
"My thoughts exactly."
Cordelia looked over at where Buffy and Angel were standing to confirm to herself that he'd seen the rogue lawyer too, before making her way over to them for assurance that he wasn't going to make a scene of any sort. Luckily, it seemed that Buffy had the same idea.
"Well who'd have thought." Gunn turned around to discuss his amazement with Wesley, but now that more couples had begun to dance as well as Xander and Anya, the Englishman seemed to have disappeared. So, come to that, had Fred. He scanned the dance floor and spotted the two of them sharing a slow dance. A smile crept across his face.
"Go English!" he muttered, before turning back to Cordelia, who approached him with a red face.
"Okay, something is seriously wrong with me tonight. Buffy just asked Angel to dance and for a moment I went temporarily insane!"
"Temporarily?" Gunn jokingly raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, yeah, enough with the funny. I thought she was asking me to dance! So, you and me, we should dance now."
"Us? We should?"
"Yeah. You are my date, after all!"
"On one condition."
"What's that."
"We don't have to do that." He nodded his head towards Fred and Wesley, and she laughed.
"Deal." The couple took the floor and were followed by Buffy and Angel.

***

Wesley swayed to the music as Lindsey began to play another slow song. He held one of Fred's hands in his own, and the other was protectively around her waist. He'd seen Cordelia and Gunn pointing at them, but he didn't care. He was enjoying himself, and he hoped Fred was too. As if in answer to his thoughts, she turned her head so that it lay comfortably in his chest and sighed contentedly.
"Are you having fun?" he murmured into her ear.
"Yes," she sighed, nodding slightly. "I haven't done this in forever."
The pair continued to dance until finally Lindsey stopped playing, and the guests began to drift away, bit by bit. Ultimately only the Scoobies and the LA gang were left, and Fred complained that her feet were starting to hurt from all the dancing. Wesley helped her to one of the seats at the side of the room, and she leaned into him again, after removing her shoes. She curled her feet under her after rubbing them for a few minutes, and Wesley lifted his arm again and placed it round her waist. Only a few minutes later her head lay on his chest and she was fast asleep again. He watched the others as they chatted, and laughed as Buffy reluctantly caught the bouquet. He could tell Cordy was insanely jealous and she hardly said a word for the rest of the night.
After a while the gang started to disappear. Xander and Anya went first, they were spending their first night as a married couple in this hotel, before their flight to England for their honeymoon. They were staying with some friends of Giles' in a part of the Lake District he'd recommended to them. Spike left next, not wanting to burst into flames at the fast approaching sunrise.
Wesley decided that Fred would probably sleep better in the car, so he picked her up as gently as possible and carried her out to the car, nodding to Cordelia so she would come and open the door for him. When she followed him out, however, he had the distinct impression she'd had slightly too much to drink, and once she'd opened the doors for him, he took the keys off her.
"Hey!"
"You aren't driving anywhere, Cordelia. It's not safe!"
Gunn exited the hotel with the news that Angel was staying in Sunnydale for the next few days, and Wesley inwardly cursed. He'd been relying on Angel to drive them back, after all, the vampire couldn't get drunk. He sighed.
"Fine, you get in the back with Fred - Cordelia in the front, I'll drive." He'd spent so much of the evening dancing he hadn't had anything other than water to drink. As he pulled out of the hotel car park he glanced in his mirror, and saw that Fred had sleepily rearranged herself and cuddled into Gunn. He was surprised at how jealous he was, and told himself that she was asleep, she didn't do it deliberately, and it had only been a bit of fun anyway. It was quite likely that she wouldn't even want to continue ... whatever it was that'd happened between them - she was just getting into the party spirit. It had only been a little dancing. He decided it would be better for him not to think about it, and just see what happened, if anything. He looked around him and noticed that his three passengers were all fast asleep. He told himself to get his eyes back onto the road, and decided that the sooner they were back in LA the better.

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