Disclaimer: I own Demona Wagner. Marvel owns everybody else. The Backstreet Boys own the song, and I can only wish I owned them!
"So, are you ever going to tell him?" Demona Wagner asked. Tabitha Smith twirled the phone cord around her fingers.
"Yes. No. I don't know, Demi! I'm confused." Tabitha told her best friend, crossing her legs Indian style on her bed.
"Tab, you've been confused since the day we meet." Demi informed her.
"Thanks." Tabitha snapped sarcastically.
"Your welcome." Demi told her. Tabitha knew her best friend was smiling as she said it.
"You are SUCH a big help." Tabitha moaned.
"Hey you're the chicken." Demi teased her.
"I am not a chicken!" Tabitha cried
"Bwock, bwock!"
"Oh that's mature."
"I know it." Demi giggled. "But seriously, if you still wanna be with him, you're going to have to tell him. Unless he's the telepath."
"No, that's Cable." Tabitha corrected her.
"Whatever. Your whole life confuses me, you know that right?" Demi complained.
"It confuses me sometimes to, so don't feel bad." Tabitha said.
"Okay, back to the topic at hand. You want Sam back right?" Demi asked.
"Yes."
"I really need to meet this guy." Demi murmured to herself.
"You'd like him, you really would." Tabitha reassured her.
"If you say so. Where'd you say you guys a living again?" Demi abruptly switched topics.
"San Francisco. Why?" Tabitha asked.
"Really?! Great! I'm coming there this weekend!" Demi cried joyously.
"Really?!" Tabitha parroted, bouncing on the bed a bit. "How come?"
"I've got a singing gig. Hey, why don't you come?" Demi suggested. "Bring lover boy?"
"Demi!" Tabitha groaned.
"Kidding. But will you come?" Demi asked seriously.
"Of course! Where is it?" Tabitha asked, looking around for a pen and paper.
"It's at the Cedar Shack, on Baltimore Lane, on Saturday at eight o'clock." Demi told her friend.
"I'll be there!" Tabitha promised, writing down all the information.
****
"Tabitha? Are you goin' somewhere?" Jimmy asked, poking his head into Tabitha's room that Saturday night.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm going to go see a friend of mine sing." Tabitha told her, looking though her closet.
"Oh really? Is it anyone we know?" Jimmy asked.
"No, not really." Tabitha told her.
"Oh. Where are they singing.?" Jimmy asked.
"The Cedar Shack." Tabitha told her, looking through her jewelry box for a pair of earrings.
"Where is that?" Jimmy asked, cocking his head to one side.
"On Baltimore. You wanna go?" Tabitha asked suddenly.
Jimmy thought about it for an minute then shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, I haven't got anything else to do. When you leavin'?"
" 'Bout 7:30. Can you be ready?" Tabitha asked.
"Sure." Jimmy agreed, then turned and walked toward his room.
On the way, he met Sam walking down the hallway.
"Hey, Jimmy. Where you going?" Sam asked.
"To get ready. I'm going out with Tabitha tonight." Jimmy said, shrugging his shoulders.
"You and Tabitha are goin' on a date?" Sam asked, shocked to say the least. And, as hard as he tried, he couldn't ignore the gnawing jealous that shot through him when he heard that.
"No! She's going to see a friend sing, and I'm just going with her." Jimmy was quick to explain.
"Oh." Is all Sam said.
"Listen, why don't you come to? She said she was leaving about 7:30." Jimmy invited.
"Well…awright." Sam agreed, after thinking about it for a minute.
****
"You ready?" Tabitha asked, meeting Jimmy in the hallway.
"Yeah. Oh, yeah. I invited Sam too. Is that alright?" Jimmy asked.
Tabitha looked up at him with startled blue eyes. Chewing her lip she nodded, and forced a smile. ^Well, this is going to be uncomfortable. ^
Sam jogged up to the two after a minute. He smiled slightly at Tabitha, and swallowed. ^This was a bad idea, this was a VERY bad idea.^
If Jimmy noticed the tension between the two, he didn't say anything about it. The drive to the Cedar Shack was uneventful, and rather quite, with both Tabitha and Sam trying to avoid talking to each other.
When they arrived at the club, Tabitha was the first one inside. When Sam and Jimmy finally caught up with her, they found her scanning the crowds for…someone.
"You lookin' for yer friend?" Sam asked, chewing his lip slightly.
"Yeah. Wait…there she is!" Tabitha cried, bounding off toward a young woman coming toward the group. Sam and Jimmy both held back startled noises.
The young woman coming toward them had long blue hair, and solid yellow eyes. She was also covered with a layer of dark blue fur, and a long tail with a pointed end to it.
"That's Tabitha's friend?" Sam whispered to Jimmy.
"Must be." Jimmy whispered back. Then Tabitha and the girl ran back up to where the guys where standing, Tabitha smiling brightly.
"Guys, this is my best friend Demi Wagner. Demi, this is Jimmy Proudstar, and Sam Guthrie." Tabitha pointed at the guys in turn.
"Hello." Sam said, smiling slightly at the girl. Demi smiled back, looking at Tabitha out of the corner of her eye.
"Hi." Jimmy greeted.
"Nice to meet you." Demi said politely.
After a few more minutes of ideal chitchat, Demi looked at her watch. "Oh, shoot. I have to run, I'm on in ten minutes."
"Okay, good luck!" Tabitha told her, hugging her tightly for a second. Demi grinned at her friend and bounded away.
"She seems nice." Sam spoke up, turning to Tabitha.
"Demi is. We better go grab some seats." Tabitha suggested, leading the small group toward a table in the front.
Promptly at eight o'clock, the lights dimmed, and a young Hispanic woman stepped up on stage and introduced herself as Demona Wagner. The crowd applauded the young woman, to the slight shock of the male X-Forcers. They both turned and looked at Tabitha in confusion.
Tabitha smiled. "Demi's a shapeshifer."
"Oh." Sam said, turning back to the stage.
The first song Demi sang was an old Cher song called "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves". She then launched into "Kiss the Rain", followed by En Vogue's "Whatever". She followed that one up with Donna Summer's "Last Dance", followed by several more songs.
After a rendition of Donna Lewis's "I Love you, Always Forever", Demi put the microphone back in it's stand. She smiled at the crowd, and waved for silence.
"Well, before I sing this last song, there's some one I'd like you all to meet. She's been my best friend since we were little kids, and she's got a great voice! Anyway, she's sitting right there, with two very cute guys." Demi giggled and pointed at her friend. Tabitha grinned and waved at her.
"And, since she has such a great voice, I think she should come up here and sing this last song with me." Demi said, smiling brightly.
"What? No!" Tabitha called back, laughing slightly.
"Oh come on Tabitha! You know the song!" Demi pleaded.
"Go one Tab." Jimmy urged, grinning broadly.
"Yeah." Sam said, putting hand on Tabitha's shoulder. She looked at him in surprise and he gave her a half smile. Tabitha smiled back and slowly stood up, and made her way up on stage.
"Okay Demi, what are we singing?" Tabitha asked, after she had reached her friend on stage. Demi grinned and whispered something in her ear. Tabitha turned around and glared at her for a second, then nodded her head.
"You start." Demi informed her.
"Oh fine!" Tabitha growled.
Slowly the music started, a slow beautiful tune. Tabitha shut her eyes and began to sing.
"It's not that I can't live without you, it's just that I don't even want to try. Every night I dream about you, ever since the day we said goodbye. If I wasn't such a fool, right now I'd be holding you. There's nothing that I wouldn't do, baby if I only knew…"
Demi picked up the song here, adding her voice to Tabitha's. "The words to say, the road to take to find away back to your heart. What can I do to get to you and find away back to your heart."
Demi dropped out again, looking down at Sam. He was sitting very straight in his chair, gripping the table edge so tightly his knuckles where white. His eyes where glued to Tabitha, as she continued to sing, her eyes still shut tight.
"I don't know how it got so crazy but I'll do anything to set things right, 'casue your love is so amazing. Baby you're the best thing in my life! Let me prove my love is real and make you feel the way I feel. I promise I would give the world if only you would tell me…"
Again, as she had done before, Demi began to sing the chorus with Tabitha. "The words to say, the road to take to find away back to your heart. What can I do to get to you and find away back to your heart."
Again, Demi dropped out as Tabitha began to sing the next verse. "Give me one more chance, to give my love to you, 'casue no one on this earth loves you like I do, tell me…"
As Tabitha sang this verse, she opened her eyes and stared directly into Sam's blue eyes, a single tear slipping down her cheek.
Demi's voice joined in with Tabitha's as they reached the chorus, "The words to say, the road to take to find away back to your heart. What can I do to get to you and find away back to your heart." Tabitha keep looking into Sam's eyes, never breaking contact for a second.
Demi continued to sing this time. "I turn back time, to make you mine and find away back to your heart. I beg and pled, fall to my knees to find away back to your heart. The words to say, the road to take to find away back to your heart. What can I do to get to you and find away back to your heart."
The girls finished to loud applause, and a standing ovation. Tabitha and Demi bowed low, both smiling. Tabitha looked around for Sam as she stepped off the stage with Demi. She blinked back tears when she didn't see him anywhere.
Demi noticed and put her hand on her shoulder. Tabitha just smiled at her.
"I guess he didn't get it." Demi said softly, her eyes shining with sympathy.
"I think he got it, and didn't want to hurt my feelings." Tabitha replied, blinking rapidly. Demi laid a hand on her shoulder.
"Do you wanna talk?" Demi asked gently.
Tabitha sniffed again, and ran her fingers through her short blonde hair. "I just need to be alone right now. I'll catch up with you tomorrow, okay?"
"Alright. Be careful." Demi advised, looking at her with worry in her eyes.
"I'm not going to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge, Demi." Tabitha told her friend. Demi made a face, and Tabitha hugged her. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"I'll hold you to that." Demi teased, smiling at her friend.
Tabitha smiled slightly back, and slipped out the back door. She slowly made her way toward the car, wondering if she shouldn't just call a cab. In fact, before she reached the car, she decided that the cab sounded better then riding home with…him. She turned back around and headed back for the payphone she had seen near the entrance.
"Tabitha?" A voice called from behind her. Tabitha stopped dead in her tracks, and turned around to face the voice's owner.
"Sam?" Tabitha asked, her eyes wide.
"Hi." He said softly, jogging up to her.
"Hi." Tabitha said, looking down at her hands.
Sam shifted uncomfortably. "Um…you sounded really good up there."
"Thank you." Tabitha said, chewing on her lip.
Sam swallowed hard, and looked down at his hands. "Ah didn't know that you could sing."
"I don't do it very often." Tabitha explained, chewing her lip.
"You…you sounded good." Sam repeated, nodding. "Really good."
"Thank you." Tabitha nodded again, lacing her fingers together.
"What…what made you decide to sing that song?" Sam asked, looking down at the ground.
"I…it…it said something that I've been trying to get across to…someone for a while now." Tabitha explained haltingly.
"Did…did you try telling him?" Sam asked.
"I-no." Tabitha said softly.
"Why not?" Sam asked.
"Because I don't think he feels the same way." Tabitha confessed, brushing back a tear.
"Tabitha…Ah…" Sam whispered, stepping closer to her. The small blonde looked up at him with wide blue eyes, biting her lip.
Sam swallowed again, and bent down to kiss her lips softly. Tabitha wrapped her arms around his neck and hung on, kissing him back. After a few more seconds they broke, but stayed in each other's arms.
Sam smiled down at her, and asked "So, do you still think he don't love you anymore?"
Tabitha giggled softly, "I'm almost certain that he does."
"Almost?"
They kissed again, slow and sweet. And they stayed in each others arms the rest of the night.