Xanda slept until the smell of fish woke her up. "Oh, Roadie! Leave me alone." Xanda groaned as she turned over on her side, throwing the covers over her head. Roadie continued to meow and nudge Xanda before he figured out a way to get under her blankets. "Uh-uh, cat! Out!" She scolded. Roadie gave one final meow before he crawled out of her blankets. "Sleep!" Xanda cheered, welcoming the drowsy sensations that were starting to take over her body again. She was starting to drift off when she felt Roadie at the bottom of her bed, playing with her feet as she slightly moved them around. "Roadie! Knock it off!" She shouted, feeling defeated. She quickly sat up to give the cat a good scolding when she noticed why the cat was bothering her.

"I let myself in." He explained as Xanda watched him carefully. "How long have you been watching me?" She asked, pushing her hair out of her face. "A few hours, I guess." He replied. Xanda looked back at her clock that read 4pm before turning back to him. She examined his worn jeans and Tommy t-shirt that he normally wore to the venue to relax in before putting his clothes for the show. "What about the show? You're normally at the venue by now." Xanda stated as he nodded in agreement. "Most of us didn't feel like rehearsing today. Three of us have massive hangovers; Nick thinks he has one but he's always been a hypochondriac." AJ said in response as a smile played on Xanda's lips.

Xanda threw back the covers and sat facing AJ, her legs dangling over the edge of the high bed. AJ concentrated on her face instead of her legs, something rare for him. "We need to talk." AJ said as Xanda shook her head. "Don't tell me no, Xanda." He demanded. "I told you that I didn't want to talk about..." "No, not about Rolling Stone. You said forget it and I am. I'm talking about us." He explained quietly as the throbbing in his head seemed to subside. "Okay, fine. Talk." She replied. "You have a month off. Are you going to spend it with me?" He asked with curiosity. "I might. It depends on how well the office does without me keeping them in line. I took one day off last week and they lost $40,000! I can't afford for that to happen again." She said almost excitedly. "Would you leave the office AT the office for once? You're on vacation. If they need you they'll call but until then the office doesn't exist. Forget it. It's not there!" AJ audibly replied. "Okay, fine. Yes, I guess I'll spend my vacation with you." She agreed. "Good. That's all I wanted to know. We can talk about everything else during our time together. If you were only going to spend a few days with me then I wanted to talk now."

Xanda let everything sink in. She was going to spend an entire month with him and only him...and his friends. And Brian. She slightly groaned and threw herself backwards on her bed. AJ smiled, sat up and walked over to the bed. "What's wrong?" He laughed. Xanda looked into his eyes as he hovered over her and laughed. "I have to spend an ENTIRE month with Brian! BRIAN! How the hell did I get into this mess!?" She laughed. AJ smiled and sat down on the bed. "I guess I'm to blame," he playfully replied, "because you love me." Xanda continued to laugh. "Yup, I do. That's what it is! I love you so it's your fault." She laughed. "You what!?" AJ shouted in disbelief. Xanda sat up and smiled at how breathless he appeared. "I love you." She smiled. "Say it again, Alexandra." He demanded. "I love you. There! Are you finally happy?" She smiled. "No, not unless you mean it." He replied. "I do mean it. I'm not just saying it. It took me until last night -when you were passed out and nothing could you wake-to figure it out. You scared the shit outta me and Howie. You weren't breathing right and your pulse was weak..." Xanda explained, looking down to avoid his eyes. "I know, I know. Howie told me everything. I'm so sorry! I was just upset. I was afraid that once you read that article you would never give me a chance to explain. I couldn't handle the pressure and thought a drink or two..." "or five or ten!" Xanda interrupted. "...yeah, I thought a drink would make me feel better. I don't know what I was thinking, I should have known better." AJ said as he shook his head. "Well, you learned the hard way."

****

6 o'clock rolled around while AJ and Xanda continued to talk and kiss. Things were starting to get serious when they were interrupted. "Roadie!" Xanda whined while AJ pushed the cat off the bed. They continued to kiss and take their clothes off when they were interrupted again. "God damned, cat!" Xanda shouted as AJ ignored him. "Just pretend he's not here!" AJ moaned as Xanda tried desperately to unbutton his pants. The cat finally gave up and went to the edge of the bed. "Good, he's going to sleep." AJ stated. "In a few minutes he's not going to be able to sleep at all." Xanda giggled. AJ smiled seductively before shouting out in pain. "God damned cat bit my toes!" He yelled as he sat up to throw the cat. "Oh shit! It's past 6 o'clock." Xanda noticed. "He was trying to warn us. Good kitty!" AJ said, petting the cat between the ears. "Good cat my ass. I almost got laid." Xanda mumbled. "All in good time. But damn, I'm pissed, too." AJ replied as he kissed Xanda on the cheek.

Xanda watched as he walked around the room to quickly gathered his belongings. "I have to go back to my room to get my crap, be at the arena and ready to go on stage in less than two hours. It takes 30 minutes or longer depending on the traffic to get to the venue." AJ explained as he put on his shoes. "Go do what you need to do and call me when you're ready to go. I'll get ready as quickly as I can and go with you, if that's all right." Xanda suggested. "Of course that's all right. I want you there. You'll give me a reason to sing 'That's The Way I Like It.'" AJ joked as Xanda went to swat him. "Oh, mystery lady, you've got something I like, tell me you're here to stay...!" AJ sang as he walked to the door. "Oh man, that's Brian's part! Don't sing Brian's part, please!" Xanda whined. "You're spending a month with him. You better start to get along with him or you're vacation is gonna be hell and I'm no longer gonna interrupt your fights. You're alone on that!" AJ stated from the door. "Oh, get out of here! Call me when you're ready to go." Xanda shouted after him as he left the door.

****

The concert went well considering that most of the singers were hungover. Howie missed a few dance steps, AJ forgot some of the words to "That's the Way I Like It" when he noticed that Xanda was licking her lips seductively while raising her shirt up and Brian didn't have the strength to hit certain notes and had to have Nick and AJ help him. Kevin kept an eye on the guys to make sure everything was going well while at the same time scolding Xanda for teasing AJ. He was seen a few times on the Jumbo Tron shaking his finger at someone in the front row while trying to hide a smile.

After the concert was over Xanda waited for AJ while she observed some of the fans. Most of them were over 18 years old while the rest were young girls and even a few young boys who had dreams of growing up to be just like the boys. Twenty minutes passed when someone went flying past Xanda, pushing her out of the way. "Hey!" She shouted after the man. He turned around on his heel and blew at his hair. "What now?" He groaned. "What now!? You almost knocked me down! Did you forget to say 'excuse me?'' She replied while everyone backstage watched the scene that was unfolding. "Sorry! Excuse me..." Brian sarcastically replied. "You are such a moron! Are you always this rude? I hope you're much nicer to your fans. I'd hate to see how you act around them." She shouted. "I'm nice to them! It's you who pisses me off!" Brian shouted back as he and Xanda inched closer together. "Well, get used to being pissed off because I'm gonna be around for an entire month!" She replied with a smug grin. "Oh, lord help me! I don't think I'm gonna make it through the next month." Brian joked as he placed the back of his arm on his forehead while looking at the ceiling. Nick was with the fans and giggling; AJ had warned him to let Brian and Xanda fight it out hoping that they would eventually learn to get along the hard way. "You're a dick! You've always been a dick! I hope they all know how much you swear, how much you drink, and how you like to look at underage girls." Xanda stated; Nick almost choked on his own spit while posing for a picture. A few of the younger girls started to giggle happily with each other. "Oh, that's sick! I do not! You're gonna end up starting rumors on the internet! This is gonna end up in the paper and then what!?" Brian asked back with a slight laugh, the stupidity of their argument was obvious. "Oh grow up! No one's gonna believe that. But you are a dick!" She pointed out. "Just to you! Whatever you do, just stay out of my sight for the next month! I do not want to see you! I don't want to hear you! I don't want to talk to you!" Brian shouted. "That WON'T be a problem, trust me! It'll be like your last tour with your ex."

Nick looked at Howie as they signed autographs and raised his eyebrows. Xanda was starting to hit below the belt. Kevin had just walked into the room and overheard the comment and knew something was about to happen. He turned to go stop the fight but was stopped by AJ. "No man! They need to learn to get along and that's not going to happen if we keep stopping them." AJ explained but he too wanted to stop the argument. They were airing some dirty laundry to the few lucky fans who were still backstage. AJ shook off the yelling and tried to ignore them but quickly looked up when he heard a smack. The sight of Kevin and Howie quickly flying past him left him in a daze. He went to follow them and found Brian on the floor holding his cheek. "What happened!?" AJ demanded as Kevin held Xanda back. "She was beating him up!" Howie explained with a slight laugh of disbelief and nervousness. "What?" Nick asked. AJ looked back and gestured to security who quickly escorted the remaining fans out of the area. "Take her to the bus." AJ ordered Nick.

"Okay, what the hell happened!?" AJ shouted to Brian. Brian looked up and glared at AJ. "She is NOT staying on my bus." AJ noticed blood pouring out of his lip and grimaced; Brian was going to need stitches. "I'll go get him fixed up." Howie offered as he helped Brian off the floor. AJ and Kevin watched the two men walk away before Kevin spoke up. "I caught the end of that argument and I think Brian deserved it." AJ knew that there was going to be a lot of problems if they didn't learn to get along but it was obvious that it was going to happen; at least not on that tour. "What happened, Kev? What did he say?" AJ demanded. "Well, I guess he did read the article in Rolling Stone because he made some reference to it and she just went ballistic. I've never seen anything like it. Before we even got there she had him on the floor and she was just punching him over and over again. I know that she was saying some pretty harsh things, too, but he just went for the kill! I would never have the nerve to say that to her even if I did hate her. What he did was wrong and I think he got what he deserved." Kevin explained.