Disclaimer: All characters belong to those who created them...we aren't stealing them...just borrowing for a while

Tamara:
It's a beautiful day for a party, that much is true.

I got here shortly after two, waiting for some of my friends to arrive. This time I was smart, and left my Hellhounds at home. Over in the center of the room is a wonderful buffett, with all kinds of food. I'm starved! I really want to grab a bite of those little crab thingies...but I hate eating alone... Is anyone comming to the party? I think Giles might show up.

Cathryn:
I knock on the door with a smile, and then - true to form - don't wait for it to be opened, but just open it myself and step inside.

"Tamara!" I sing out happily. "How are you, love! Gee, this party is kickin'," I tease. "We the first ones here or are they all hiding in the bathroom?"

I pause as it occurs to me that it wasn't a "we" who walked in. "'Scuse me for a moment," I tell Tamara with a sigh. I go back to the door, stick my head out, and find that, about ten feet to the door, Sandy apparently got acrucially important phone call. He sees me and motions that he'll be in shortly, rolling his eyes and making the universal "yakyakyak" gesture with his hand. I giggle and go back in.

"My date'll be right in," I tell Tamara. "His name's Sandy Scolex - the world's youngest quintillionaire? Maybe you've heard of him?" I joke.

This date's a setup for the press to gnaw on - Sandy needs it to take heat off of him for the recent rumors about him being gay. I mean, they're true, but that's beside the point. I don't say any of that, though. What I do say is: "Ooh, crab thingies!"

Tamara:
"Cathryn," I smile, popping a cheese puff in my mouth, "He's kinda cute. So, have you heard from anyone else? I'm mean, man this party's quiet."

I walk over to the band, who have been playing 80's music all night, and request "Peter Gunn". Now this is kicking! As I begin to sway to the music, I feel a warm touch on my shoulder. I turn around and can't believe my eyes...Oliver Samson is standing behind me with a smile.

"Hello, love," he grins, taking my hand, "So, where's the party?"

At first I'm awe struck by his handsome face, the expencive suit, and...oh, I love a man who wear's an earing, "I-I well," I stammer, "I wish I knew. I hope people show up soon, I mean, Cat and I are going to end up eating all the Crab thingies..."

"Crab thingies?"

"Ah, well, you know...they're like...ah...I have no idea what they are," I shrugged my shoulder's appologetically, "But, damn, they're good."

With that, he gives a chuckle, and offers his hand to dance, "I'll take your word for it. Now, if we can get some more appropriate music, we can enjoy this dance."

Cathryn:
"Well," I tell Tamara before she walks over to the band, "I mentioned it to a couple of my friends. People will show."

I swap my obsession with the crabh'ors d'oeurves ((did I spell that right?)) for one with these little mint truffles. Damn, they're good. I watch with a grin as a guy who looks like Giles - but, judging from the clothes, is most definitely not - approaches Tamara, then jump as there's a tap on my shoulder. It's Sandy, done with his phone call.

"Hi," I smile, picking up a napkin to clean away the chocolate that always collects on my lips. "What was that about?"

"Brenda Bradford," Sandy explained. "Someone broke into her personal files and stole her research."

"Oh, my god, who would do such a thing," I say in a monotone to let Sandy know that I'm not fooled for a second.

He chuckles softly. "I'd ask you to dance," he says, "but this music . . ."

He does his theatrical grimace that always makes me laugh. This time is no exception. Through my giggles, I remind him: "I warned you that this wouldn't be one of your creme broule ((I suck atspelling French)) soirees. See, there's actually Jell-o as one of the snacks," I point out.

Then I laugh at the horrified look on his face as "Peter Gunn" ends and the band goes into a song that I'm pretty sure is Depeche Mode.

Kimberly Linthicum:
Tamara, being the perfect hostess she is, led Oliver to the refreshments to show him the joy of crab thingies. They chitchatted for a few minutes about this and that, but Tam's mood was geting more and more dark.

Cathryn made an appreciative noise. "Whoo... you even put little scalloped cuts around the edge of each one. That takes some time."

"Damn straight. So where..." A knock on the door could be heard. "Finally!" Tam said with an exagerated toss of her hands as she opened the door. "Kimberly! Glad you could make it."

Kim came through the door handing Tam a six pack of Pete's Wicked Ale with one hand while tossing her thumb over her shoulder with the other. "What the devil is goin' on? The traffic is Gawd-awful out there." Heading straight for the food she began to take note of the offerings. "Oooo, hot wings and mini carrot...and anyway when I got out of my carthese two guys from National Enquirer and one from People landed on me like white on rice. And..." She picked up a cherry tomato and arched an eyebrow. "You're nuts, Tamara. You know how long it takes to put the fancy-dancy edges on these things?"

"Uh yeah she knows." Cathryn said looking a bit worried. "But what about the reporters?"

"Hell if I know, but there's also a photographer who has some guy treed out there. Taking his pic and asking him if that.." She gave Oliver a nod. "that guy is his date."

Cathryn:
"Oh, my god!" Sandy must've slipped out while I was talking to Tamara and Oliver. I thought I'd heard his phone ring. "Excuse me for just a moment!" I yelp, the hurry outside. Sure enough, Sandy, cell phone in one hand, is surrounded by press.

"Excuse me!" I call, slinking over to Sandy and sliding an arm 'round his waist, as sultry as I possibly can be. "Don't you have better things to do than bother my date?"

The expressions on their faces range from skeptical to disappointed. I swallow a laugh. "I thought so. Sandy, if you're done with your phone, shall we go back in?"

He kisses me lightly on the temple, inspiring a frenzy of camera clicks, then we turn and head back in. As soon as the door is shut, I give in to the laughter I've been holding, leaning against the refreshment table and wiping tears away. Sandy's laughing too, and everyone else is staring like we're insane.

"Well done, darling," he tells me. "That went off beautifully."

I nod, getting control of myself, and gesture to the guy who looks like Giles- still haven't caught his name. "Just don't keep checking him out," I tell Sandy, "and this'll go off without a hitch."

His face falls. "Was I that obvious?"

"To anyone who watches you for more than two minutes," I reply.

The not-Giles stares. "What?"

That's all it takes to get me laughing again.

Tamara:
"I'm sorry, Cathryn," I say, with Oliver in arm, "I should have introduced you. This is Oliver Sampson. Oliver, this is Cathryn."

Oliver takes Cathryn's and and lightly kisses. She grins from head to toe, wanting to inquire about his strong resemblance to another very handsome Brit.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." he says affably. Then turning to Sandy he shakes the young man hand's firmly, "And I have heard about you...and your fortune. Best be careful, that kind of money tends to bring out the worst in people."

"Tell me about it," he grins, trying not to look over this handsome man, as Cathryn suggested.

"So," I smile, "Now that there is five of us here, what do you want to do?"

Kimberly gave a mischeivious grin, "Well, we could do a rescue mission. Get that poor man out of the tree."

Cathryn laughs, "Sounds like a plan to me."

Selyf:
"Kimberly and Cathryn are interrupted by a knock on the door. Tamara walks over to greet the new arrival.

"Donna! So glad you could come!" Tamara steps aside to let Donna enter. "Who's this?" she asks, indicating the handsome man standing beside Donna.

Donna smiles and hands over a bottle of chilled chardonay. "This is Michael. He was knocking on doors, looking for someone to lend him some coffee. I told him that he'd be welcome to come to the party."

"Of course," Tamara replies. "I'm sure we can find some coffee, if you don't mind instant."

"Sounds great," Michael agrees.

Donna and Tamara hang behind, watching Michael walk into the room. "He looks like Giles," Tamara observes.

"You noticed! And who's the other guy who looks like Giles? And who is that drop dead gorgeous man over there?" Donna says with a grin. "And what are Kimberly and Cathryn looking at? Ooh! Mini quiches!"

Mary Ann:
Mary Ann slips in, unnoticed, and finds a quiet corner to sit in, observing (lurking, if you will) and sipping endless cups of whatever that "interesting" concoction is in the punchbowl.

Mary M.:
Mary M. knocks on the door and waits for some one to answer it. She bites her lip."You know we're crashing, Adam."

Adam lifts his eyebrow." And this would be a problem because?"

"Because my invitation was lost, and I know Tamara knows that I'm on the list, but Hotmail lost my introduction and I haven't made up a new one, so this to me is crashing."

"I think I lost your line of reasoning somewhere," Adam sighed as he kissed my cheek. "Look, love. If you're on the list, you're invited. Simple. Knock on the door again."

I knocked on the door again. Again I wait. I look at Adam again. He shook his head.

"Nope. We're not leaving 'til I get to see who takes your attention from me. And I want to see who's this Rupert Giles that you go ga-ga over."

The door opens and someone peeks out. I smile brightly. "Hi. My name's Mary M. and this is my temporary date, Adam Klaus. I'm being rude because I lost my invitation so I'm kinda crashing this party, so I'll go now before-"

"We're staying," Adam says as he grabs my arm and drags me into the door. "And you are?"

"Name's Mary Ann, I'm lurking, and watching over the punch," Mary Ann says as she holds out a cup of punch. "So I finally get to see who Mary M. is."

I smile weakly. "Yeah. I'm a mix between shy and loudmouth if at all possible. I'll be fine, maybe in about ten years..."

Adam glares at me. "Not if I can help it. Why do you always get shy attacks in new places?"

"Because they're new?" Adam ignores that and smiles at Mary Ann. "And why is such a lovely lady as yourself lurking? Let's go have some fun."

With that Adam grabs my arm and Mary Ann's arm to the rest of crowd. Mary Ann whispers to me, "He sure looks a lot like Rupert Giles."

I nodd. "Yep. But he's not as shy. Also I think that he's hungry, that's why he's dragging us to the food table."

"Plus I'm mad that you called me your temporary date," Adam growls as he smiles at a crowd of women looking up at a man in a tree.

Kim Wylie:
A dark-haired woman peered around a door.

Behind her, a tall primly-dressed man peeked over the top of her head. "It's awfully quiet, Kim" he said.

"There's no one here. But I'm sure this is the right date. Ooh, look, Wesley, crab puffs!"

"Perhaps, before we eat, we should find out where everyone is?" he suggested.

Kim replied in her most peevish voice. "I'm hungry, Mr.Wyndham-Price."

He startled at the formal usage of his name, then ran his fingers through the hair at his temples, a nervous gesture that had carried over from early childhood experiences with a gruesome governess.

"I'm sorry," she relented. "It's just that it looks like everyone's been and gone. If you could put that, well, that whatever it is in your hair a little faster, we could have been here earlier and not missed whatever it is we're obviously missing." She discreetly sneaked a stuffed cherry tomato, before adding, "And maybe we could have arrived early enough to find a parking spot out front, rather than twenty miles out the back." Discretion fell away when she suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, those tomato things are really good!" At his chagrined look, she added, "Well, they are."

"We should find where everyone is," he said, as he took her hand and led her away from the buffet table.

She shot a lingering hungry glance over his shoulder. "Just one crab puff, Wes."

He halted so suddenly that Kim ran on a few steps before finding her own brakes. His head was cocked to the side. "Do you hear that?" he asked.

"Sounds like something's going on out front," she said.

They found a window. After simultaneously gaping for a few moments, Kim commented softly, "I guess the party's out there…..where the food isn't. I wonder why everyone's outside?"

Wesley squinted as his gaze went up. "I believe there is a man in a tree." He shot her a dubious look. "What kind of party did you say this was?"

She shrugged. "Let's go out and see!" Then she grinned as she dragged him out the door.

Cathryn:
"I'm with them," I tell Sandy. "Care to join us?"

He glances distastefully at the press still lingering. "No, thank you. I think I'll stay in here and sample the Jell-O," he adds dryly.

"That reminds me . . ." I snag a plate and fill it with crab thingies and a few stuffed cherry tomatos, then head outside, resisting the urge to remind Sandy to leave Oliver alone. "Kim!" I sing out, hurrying over to her and forking over the plate.

"Thanks!" she cries before falling upon its contents hungrily.

Noticing that Wesley's ready to protest, I tease, "They must eat outside in England occasionally."

"Outnumbered, as usual," he sighs. Looking at the currently occupied tree, he changes the subject: "Are the parties usually this strange?"

"I dunno," I say cheerfully. "This is my first. For all I know, guy-in-a-tree is normal."

Wesley can't restrain a slight grimace.

I just laugh.

Tamara:
"We have to help this guy," I say, as I pace back and forth. Turning to the handsome man on my right, I add, "Oliver, you're good at this...do something!"

"And what do you wish me to do, love?" he says shaking his head, "I'm more covert. There are at least a dozen reporters around the tree."

"Hey Tam," Mary M. greeted. In tow was a very handsome man, who looked very much like..."Um, Oliver, dear?" I ask, looking back and forth at both men, "Do you have a brother?"

"Not that I'm aware of," he says, not being able to take his eyes off the stranger, "But this is quite intriguing."

"To say the very least," I agree.

"You know, I'm so sorry," Mary M. says, "I forgot to introduce you. This is Adam Klaus. He's a magician."

"Oliver Sampson," I say, taking Oliver's arm, "And he can do a really neat dissapearing trick."

"Really?" Adam's curiosity is now piqued, "What kind of dissapearing trick?"

"I can make men dissapear," he grins."Oh. OH! I get it. Well, it's nice that you are on our side then, eh?"

"Am I?" he continues to grin wickedly.

"Look," I point out, "right now, we're trying to figure out how to get this poor man out of this tree, and away from these pesky reporters..."

"You could always get out your chainsaw," Kimbery joins us.

"Chainsaw?!" All gasp.

"Oh, yeah," Kimberly offers, "Tamara told me of a story once, when she was in college, that she chased a kid up a tree with a chainsaw. And she would have gotten him too, if she had a longer extension cord."

All eyes are on me.

"Look, that was a long time ago," I try to defend myself, "And besides, I was in college. I was a little weird then."

"And you're not now?" Kimberly and Mary M. giggle.

"Thanks guys...really," I pout.

"I've got it!" Adam announces.

"What hon?" Mary M. asks. "I know how to get the man out of the tree."

"Are you going to share," Oliver says impatiently, "or do I have to beat it out of you?"

"Um," Adam, gulps, "You are kidding right?"

Oliver only smiles.

"Yes, well anyway," he continues, "What we need it a proper diversion."

"What kind of diversion?" I ask.

Adam smiles, "The only kind I know...Magic!"

Cathryn:
I arrive in their little knot in time to catch this last bit. "What are you going to do?" I joke. "Pull a rabbit out of your hat and throw it at them?" I make a face. "Okay, that was bad. Don't mind me, I rarely take things seriously. It's a good idea, though. Maybe - whoa." For the first time, I notice both this new guy and Oliver. "Damn," I mutter. "If Giles shows up, we're gonna need name tags."

"Then he'd best not show up," Oliver replies.

I shrug. "Have we figured out who this guy is yet?" I ask.

"No," Kimberly says, "he keeps climbing higher into the tree. Can't make him out."

I sigh. "Of course."

"Anyway," Tamara says, trying to get the conversation back in track, "what kind of magic did you have in mind, Adam?"

He's starting to reply when someone says from behind me, "Why all the bells and whistles?"

I turn around and tell Sandy, "You have got to stop doing that. I don't have nine lives, y'know. Besides, I thought you were sampling the Jell-O."

He shrugs elegantly. "I didn't like it. Food shouldn't wiggle unless it's still alive." To the group: "Diversions are all very well and good, of course, but we're not talking about high security Nazis. This is just the press."

"Same thing," Oliver points out.

"Generally," Sandy agrees, "but they want to find out who this man is. They're very likely to step aside and let us help him down." He looks around the group. "Well?"

I roll my eyes. Sandy, I've noticed, has to take charge everywhere. Of course, he does kind of have a point.

Tamara:
As we continue to deside what to do, the man in the tree continues to climb higher and higher, until he almost reaches the top.

"I don't want to point out the obvious," Kim grins, "But I don't think he wants to be anywhere near the press. I'm mean, if he gets any higher, he's going to fly away."

Wesley peers at the tree, then at the reporters and asks, "Why don't you just tell them that they are tresspassing on private domain, and they have to leave?"

All eyes turn to me.

I sigh, "I wish I could, but anything outside the party hall is World Wide Web, and is public domain. I can't kick them out."

"So does that mean, if we can get the guy out of the tree," Kimberly asks, "the reporters can still follow us inside?"

"So much for a private party," Cathryn shakes her head.

"No, no," I try to explain, "You see, being list moderator, I can pick and choose who comes in here. If I don't want the press in here, they can't gain acess."

"It's good to be the listmommie," Kim smiles.

"What will stop them from crashing?" Wesley asks.

"Tamara," Mary M. asks, looking around, "Where are your Hellhounds? I bet they could guard the place."

I shift my feet, "Ah, yeah well...they're kinda busy right now."

"Are you still tormenting Giles and the Scooby gang?" Donna asks.

"Yeah," I reply, "It's slow going, having so many other responcibilites, but...yeah, I'm still tormenting them." I give a lopsided grin to Oliver,who gives me a look of surprise.

"Tormenting, Love?"

"Yeah, well..." I hem and haw, "I kinda like writing things like that. Don't give me that look. You're not an angel, ya know."

"I never said that."

"Um guys," Kimberly points out, "we still have the problem of how we are going to get the press away from the tree."

"Anyone seen Elvis lately?" Mary M. jokes.

Then a light bulb went off, "That's it!" I shout, "That's our distraction! Okay guys...I have a plan..."

Cathryn: ((Oh, dear - I blame this on my best friend, Amanda, who helped me come upwith an idea. Especially the Britney Spears part.)):
Tamara outlines her idea. Absolute silence falls.

"What?" Wesley finally manages.

I grin wickedly."I like it."

"It's a bit much for me," Sandy mutters. "I think I'd rather face the Jell-O again."

"Wuss," I reply.

He gives me a brief glare, then explains, "I'm sure you can imagine what the press would do with this one."

And he walks off. I shrug, a reaction I tend to have to Sandy quite a lot.

"It's - unusual," Oliver offers doubtfully, "but it could be quite effective."

"And we won't even get nabbed for indecent exposure," Kimberly says with agrin that looks a lot like mine, "since this is the Internet!"

"Yes," Wesley mutters, "well, I think I'll, uh, go join Mr. Scolex with the-the Jell-O."

He backs away.

"Spoilsport," Kim calls.

Wesley hurries into the house, blushing.

"Anybody else wanna back out?" Tamara asks. Silence."Good. Now, who has a Britney Spears tape on them?"

"Ready, everyone?" Tamara asks with a nervous giggle.

Several responding, equally nervous giggles are her reply.

"Let's do it."

Adam queues up the CD player."Oh, baby, baby, how was I supposed to know . . ."

"I hate this song," I grouse as the door opens and we dance out. "Only for you guys would I do this."

A chorus of emphatic agreements is suddenly heard, loud and clear, as the press falls totally and completely silent. Which isn't a surprise, really. Sure, they've seen a lot of things in their times, but how common can a bunch of partygoers strutting naked to Britney Spears really be?

Mary M.:
A naked Adam held out his hand to me and grinned wickedly,"Come along Mary, darling. It's time to strut your stuff...and we must loose the pink towel."

I looked at him with a lifted eye. "It just occurred to me that this is your cup of tea."

Adam grined."But of course it is. Looking at naked women parading around for a good cause is a wonderfully, altrusistic thing. God bless Tamara for the idea."

"I'll be sure to mention it to her," I said dryly. "I think you just like to ogle at women."

"What normal man wouldn't?"

"And you're planning to ogle at the other women around here as well while you strut your stuff."

"What normal man wouldn't?"

"And that you've been trying to get me naked for the past six months."

Adam nodded enthusiastically."Oh, definitely. I have never known a woman that would resist my charms for very long."

I tilted my head at him. "I have. And did. So, you're planning to ogle at other women while with me."

Adam hesitated. "I don't plan to ogle, precisely. I plan to look at them."

I thought about it, then shrugged. "Fine."

"Fine?" Adam squeaked. I nodded, then bit my lip as his face lit up increduously."What do you mean by 'fine'? T-this isn't a trick is it?"

I shook my head. "Nope, no trick. You can look at other women while we do this. You can look at me naked while we do this. As long as we know that this is only to help that poor man in that tree. And because Tamara and Cathryn suggested it. And because-"

Adam grabbed my hand from my towel. "I don't care why you're doing it, just please do it. Afterall, you're seeing me in all my glory right now...and I've let you see me naked even before this."

"Only because I was helping you get back into your room after you dumped that Swedish model,"I retorted back. Then I sighed. "Fine, let's go so that I can dance and shake my naked booty to Britany Spears. Then I'll hit on Rupet Giles when he gets here. I've always wanted to see him naked."

Adam scowled as I walked out to join the others, who were in various colored towels as well.

Kim L. shrugged as she giggled. "Why not? Can we bring the crab thingies?"

"I really don't want to do this, in fact," Wesley said empathically. "I don't think that-"

I smiled sweetly at Wesley. "But you look so good out of tweed, Wes. I like-Hey!"

I scowled as I felt a hand cover my eyes, and heard Adam growl at me. "No looking at other men, darling."

Tamara looked at everyone. "Are we ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be!" I called out as I pulled his hands from my eyes. Adam shook me.

"What?"

"No looking at other men, darling."

"I can look at other men,"I said. A movement caught my eye. I looked, and grinned. Adam followed my eyes to look at a newly naked Oliver grinning at me. I blushed."Nice tan, and no tan lines. Doesn't he have a nice tan, Donna? Tamara? Cathryn?"

I blushed as Oliver grinned wickedly at me. "Thank you. Do I get to see yours?"

Adam stepped in front of me then growled at Oliver, to his amusement, then he turned and growled."No looking at other men."

I lifted my eyebrow as I unwound the towel. "You get to look at the other women, why can't I look at other men? It's a normal thing that we women do?"

"Here, here," Kim. L shouted. "Nice ass, Adam. Come on. Wes, loose the towel!"

I smirked at him as I moved away from him."See? Besides, it's also the reporters that are going to see us all naked. And some of them might be men that I can imagine naked. Are we ready to do this?"

"Male reporters?"

"Yup. Turn up the music, Sandy! Tamara, did you unlock the gates yet?"

Tamara hollered back."Yup. Now since Sandy is the only one that steadfastly refuses to do this, he gets the poor man out of the tree. We all agreed?"

A chorus of agreement came out. I looked at Adam, who was looking a bit pale. "What's wrong?"

Adam said faintly. "I don't think this is a good idea anymore."

I rolled my eyes at him. "What? You thought it was a great idea a minute ago."

Adam scowled at me. "That was when I thought it was just to see naked women. And a naked you! And when I thought the reporters were female!"

I looked at him increduously."Get real. As far as I saw. Most of the reporters out there are male."

I ignored his choking sound as I continued. "And since this is the Internet, a few million more will see us naked. Mostly male, I think. I don't know many women who get a thrill at looking at other naked women. Naked men, yes."

"Million? Men?"

Oliver came up behind Adam, one arm around Tamara and the other around Kim. L."Oh, yes! Millions shall look upon our naked selves and do something. What I don't know, but hey, it should be fun. Shall we dance, Mary?"

I grabbed Wesley as I grinned at him as I opened the gate."Why not? Adam, are you trying to catch flies?"