Title: Red

Author: Ricki

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Note: This is a sequel to Alternate Accommodations. Please forgive me if you think the plot has been overdone but I couldn't help myself.

< > Denotes thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow walked down the path away from the computer science building with a smile on her face. She had just written her last final of the year and she had aced it. Her profs were all a little surprised when she had started but they now knew that the little redhead was a lot smarter than anyone thought, after all she was a year younger than anyone else in her classes and she was beating their pants off and considering she was taking a double major in business and computer science that was a pretty amazing feat.

As she strode towards the parking lot she waved to her friends, Mark and Rachel, who were going the other way to their pre-med exam. When she reached to parking lot she turned towards the skinny spaces reserved for motorcycles. She grinned as she took her helmet from her bag, < I love my bike! >. She strapped on the helmet and mounted the Harley, kicking the stand out and starting at the same time. With a quick check in her rear view mirror Willow back out of her spot and sped of to change for work.

The redhead shook her head ruefully, thinking about what she would do at her job tonight.

~~~~Months Earlier~~~~

The bar was kind of dark and loud, although half the noise was coming from the staff. There were girls on the bar dancing and girls behind the bar doing bottle tricks, this was one hell of a bar and it was packed.

Willow was at this bar with her friends Mark, Rachel, and Darryl. She had met them soon after starting at Columbia and had become fast friends quickly. Unlike her friends in Sunnydale they didn't try to peg her into a role or push anything on her.

Sunnydale, she hadn't thought the hellmouth in a while. She wasn't sorry she left, a little chagrined at the way she left but all together not regretting it in the least. Her life here in New York was so different and yet still the same in some ways. She had a small circle of close friends and she was the academically gifted among them but they didn't shun all thing scholastic like the Scooby gang had. It was also a great relief to not be in danger for your lives or used as a hostage every night on account of some demonic force.

Willow was jerked out of her memories by a truck driver bumping into her. That's when she noticed that the place was getting out of control. The girls from on top of the bar were being carried around, unwillingly, and the bouncer had more than one fight to break up.

Not wanting to end her night of fun Willow screwed up her courage and pushed her way to two men about to come to blows. "Hey!" She yelled over the din, "Can you help me get to the bar? I just can't make it through this crowd!" She put on her best I need a little bit of help face and they both fell for it. With one on each side of her Willow was escorted to the bar and had two shots bought for her and the men no longer fighting.

She soon left them discussing past bar fights and respective injuries with the excuse of finding her friends. She was about half way back to her table when she was nearly side swiped by a punch that went wide. Willow's temper flared as she rounded on the two drunken servicemen who were brawling. Grabbing each by the collar the redhead violently pulled them apart so fast they nearly head butted each other from the back lash effect.

"If you are going to turn this into a death match do it outside!" Both the marine and the sailor looked astonished as this tiny girl roared at them. "I for one don't like being smacked around by spare flailing limbs not to mention blood won't come out of these pants. So, either play nice or get the hell out of here!" Wrenching them after her she ploughed through the crowd to the down, about ten feet away from her destination the bouncer came up and gave her a hand,, nodding his thanks.

What was nearly a riot ended quite quickly after the police showed up and escorted everyone out of the bar. They were very nice actually, getting rid of the troublemakers first and letting those that were calmer gather their things before leaving. Just as Willow was collecting her jacket she heard someone call out to her.

"Hey! You with the leather, come here!" Willow looked up to see a tall blonde reaching over the bar beckoning to her.

"Yeah? Is there a problem?"

"No, in fact I wanted to thank you for helping. Have a beer a beer on the house." Willow looked at her with apprehension. The blonde leaned on the bar and tilted her head to the side. "I saw what you did, both times. You can cool them down both ways and that's rare. My name's Lil and I own this place."

"Oh, well, it was nothing really. I didn't want the first situation turning violent so I did what I could to stop it."

"And you got two free shots out of the deal, not bad. The second was a little different honey, they already were fighting." Lil looked the at the redhead a little expectantly.

"Yeah, well I don't like being smacked around by some apes stray fist just because he happens to be suffering from testosterone poisoning at the time."

Lil laughed and gave a little hoot "That's what I like to here. Listen, I just had a girl quit on me and I need a new one. You up for an audition?"

Willow's eyes bugged out a little and the old Willow was rising to the surface fast. "You mean dance and tend bar?"

"Yeah."

Willow could feel her fear rising and with her now almost customary forcefulness she suppressed it into nothingness. "I'll have to learn to pour drinks, I've never done it before. As for dancing, all I can do is try."

"Great! Tomorrow night at 9:00 pm be here and we'll see what you can do."

Willow left the bar with a smile on her face. < I need a job anyway, I might as well have a fun one. >

The next night Willow showed up at the bar promptly at 9:00. She looked down at herself and nodded. < A little more conservative that the others last night but not little ol' Wills that for damn sure. > She had chosen her outfit to fit in with the rest of the staff but still her. She wore a pair of black leather pants and a white, collarless, button down tank top that tied up at the ends. It was definitely a unique shirt, completely Willow. She had left her hair down like she had seen all the others the night before.

She got to the bar and got Lil's attention. "So, you showed up! I've had some girls chicken out on me at the last second." The blonde looked the redhead up and down and gave an approving nod. "Very nice. Get your behind the bar."

Willow grabbed hold of the pass through and slid under it on her thick heeled boots. When she arose Lil gave her a little smirk and pulled off the side. "First rule, don't date the customers. Second rule, don't bring your boyfriend into my bar. You are to appear always available but never be available. You are their bartender, their entertainer, their marriage councillor, their fantasy but that's it. You break the rules I fire you on the spot, understood."

"Not a problem."

"Good." With that Lil hauled her out of the little cubby they were talking in and grabbed a microphone. "Everyone, listen up. I've got a new girl and I need you to all welcome her to the place. This is." "What's your name? Where you from?"

"Willow, but call me Red and I'm from Southern California."

"This is Red." "Well Red get up and strut your stuff!" With a deep breath Willow got up on the bar and started doing a runway walk. She was nervous but with each step she just gained more and more confidence. " Red is an activist from Southern California. Fed up with those lame ass surf bums she decided to head to New York for some real action!!" The crowd of men went crazy hooting, hollering, and whistling at her, Willow felt this rush of adrenaline that was so amazing she almost didn't want to get off the bar when she had come to the end.

The rest of the night was spent with Willow mostly behind the bar getting used to the way things worked. She felt like she couldn't do anything right but one of the other girls had told her that everyone started out a little lost. She did little flips with the bottles and steadied them with her magic. < Very handy! >

When the first time she was supposed to dance came she panicked because she didn't know the steps the others were doing. Lil gave her one look that said dance or fail. < Willow Rosenberg doesn't fail anything! > With that thought in her head she hopped up on the bar beside the sweet girl named Cammy. It wasn;t long before she got the hang of the steps and she let herself go. She went a wild and when Rachel, the New York Bitch, poured a dozen shots straight, spilling wiskey all down the bar Red Willow caught her eye and gave and evil little smile.

Rachel cocked her head to the side wondering what the new girl could be thinking until she saw the lighter the redhead pulled out of her back pocket. With a single flick Rachel jumped down behind the bar just in time to see a line of fire flash straight across the whole length of the bar. All the staff's eyes followed the flame, Lil and Rachel with smirks painted on their faces while Cammy and the other, Laura, looked rather surprised. As one they all turned to see the redhead at the other end of the bar stop dancing just behind the fire wall to give out a long and wild howl.

The rest of the night was frantic behind the bar and Willow didn't have a chance to get up and dance again. At the end of the night, which was really the next morning, as they finished cleaning up Willow turned to leave but was stopped by the sound of clapping. She turned to see Lil standing on the bar. "Ladies and gentlemen, lets here it for Red, the wild coyote." Willow smiled and thanked everyone and left to catch a few hours of sleep before school. < Lucky all my classes are in the afternoon. >

~~~~~Present~~~~~

Red smiled stepping behind the bar remembering her first night as a coyote. Now she didn't have to used her magic for bottle work, she could just about anything with the glass containers without worry. She also loved to dance on the bar, it was fun, and freeing, and just a plain old rush. She always had some sort of instrument for ignition on her, some of the customers called her pyro, she did better tricks with fire than some circus performers and she loved it. She looked up as the first customers of the night came in and shouted with the others, "Welcome to Coyote Ugly!"