25: Oh, How They Danced

The president finally yielded the floor, pleading an overwhelming desire to dance with the First Lady. He made good on his word, too, and everybody watched as the First Couple made the dance floor their own, with the kind of absolute focus on each other that made their devotion plain to see.

As more couples took to the floor, Buffy watched the president and his wife with a slightly sad smile. "Okay, his kind of saving the world's probably even less fun than mine," she admitted. "But I sure wouldn't mind all the dancing..."

Sam hesitated, and then nervously cleared his throat. "Um, would you... like to...?" He gestured vaguely towards the floor.

"Sure!" The not-so-remote possibility of completely embarrasing himself was worth it for the beam that lit up the Slayer's face. She didn't get to have that much glamour in her demon-fighting life, so why not make this a night to remember for something other than the giant snake?

In the interest of full disclosure, though, he felt obliged to admit his lack of recent experience as they took the floor. "Um... I should tell you I'm kinda of out of practice at this."

Buffy looked at him skeptically. "Oh come on, you're telling me you can't get dates?"

"Well, yeah. Just, um, the wrong ones."

"That bad, huh?" she sympathised.

Sam winced. "Well, the last one turned me into a werewolf. The one before that was my boss's daughter, and the one before that turned out to be a call-girl."

Buffy nodded sagely. "I hear you. I got a commando with a bite fetish, a serial-dating college jerk, and a two-hundred and fifty-year-old-vampire who turns evil and tortures people to death if he ever achieves perfect happiness."

Sam hesitated for a beat. "Okay. You win."

They danced for a moment, and then Buffy smirked and sighed. "We should, like, start our own club. The Very Attractive People With Abysmal Love Lives club."

"VAPWALL?"

Buffy looked up at him. "You're quite a nerd, do you know that?" She grinned. "In a kinda cute way."

Sam grinned back.

Josh smirked at the sight of the two of them. "Aren't they cute?" he observed to CJ. She didn't answer. "CJ?" He turned.

"Go away."

She and Giles continued dancing, not taking their eyes off each other.

Josh left them to it as he spotted Donna standing alone and watching the dancers. He made his way across the room to her. "CJ and her guy are looking cosy," he observed quietly.

"I know." She nodded across at Sam and Buffy. "And look at that. Is that not the sweetest thing you ever saw in your life?" She watched them for a moment, and smiled. "Do you think there's ever such a thing as too much pretty?"

Josh looked her right in the eye. "Never," he said sincerely.

The warmth of the look lingered for a little bit too long, and he cleared his throat. "So, um, where's your date?"

Donna nodded her head to where Wesley was engrossed in a conversation with Margaret.

"They look like they've really hit it off," Josh observed. "What are they talking about?"

Donna smirked. "When I left them? Comparative filing systems."

Josh laughed, and took her by the arm. And when he did, it seemed only natural that they ended up gravitating towards the dance floor.

"Well, this is... different," Josh observed, as they moved closer together.

"From fighting giant snakes?"

"Um... yeah."

"So I should think."

"You've obviously never seen me dance before, then," he mumbled close to her ear. "The thrashing, the injuries to passers-by, the screams of terror..."

"Josh?"

"Donna?"

"Shut up and dance."

"Okay."

They danced.

The End