AJ woke up to the feeling of someone pounding his brains out of his ears. He clutched at his temples and groaned as the sunlight filled his room. "Shit! I told Xanda I would never drink again." He muttered from under his blankets. Xanda. The thoughts of her came flooding back to him as he quickly bolted up right. He had no clue what happened the night before other than another argument that ended with Xanda yelling that she didn't love him anymore before she slammed down the phone. Depression set in as he and Nick went to the bar together for a few drinks; a few too many he realized.

AJ stumbled out of bed before the morning wake up call came and went straight to the bathroom where he spent a good ten minutes worshipping the porcelain goddess. Afterwards he washed is face slowly with cold water before he looked at himself in the mirror. Without thinking, his hand flew up to his neck where small purple and blue marks appeared. "Ohmigod! What happened? Where did those come from?" AJ quickly questioned allowed. He took a step back to check out his chest and realized that they were all over, down to his belly button and even further. AJ pulled back his boxers and looked down, his heart caught in his throat. The love bites were everywhere; he couldn't hide them.

"Damn! We have a televised interview today." He cursed. The feelings of guilt were pushed aside as he ran to his phone to call his best friend. He would know what to do, but instead he received his voice mail. AJ sat waiting for the beep before a piece of paper caught his attention. He absent-mindedly hung up the phone and grabbed the paper, swallowing before he started to read it.

AJ shook his head while trying to stir any memories of the night before but it was hopeless. Nothing came to him. He was scared at the thought of getting some weird sexually transmitted disease, of getting the girl pregnant, and mostly of telling Xanda. He knew he had to tell her but he didn't know how. There was no way he could live with that secret inside of him. He couldn't normally live day to day with anyone else's secret much less his own. AJ's hands shook as he called Xanda. His eyes were starting to tear up and a knot caught in his throat. As his luck would have it, her answering machine went on. AJ counted the beeps and realized she had 6 unanswered voice messages indicating to him that she had been ignoring phone calls all night. "Baby, it's me. Pick up the phone, please?" He almost whispered; he was trying his hardest to keep an even tone but knew that the louder he spoke the more obvious it was that he was about to lose it. "Xanda! You need to pick up the phone. C'mon, Alexandra. You have to be home! Where else could you be?" At that second, his voice cracked and a flood of tears started to stream down his cheek. "God baby, I am SO sorry for what I have done! I've really screwed it up this time. I need to talk to you. I am so, so very sorry! I love you so much; I can't believe what I've done. I love you, baby."

****

Howie watched from his hotel room as a girl tip-toed down the hallway to the elevator. She appeared to be fastening her bra from under her halter top. When she realized someone was watching her she quickly turned around, a gasp escaping her lips. Howie's eyes became enlarged as he did a double take. She was the underage girl who was hanging around Nick and AJ at the bar. His heart did a double beat as he continued to watch her. She got on the elevator, put her head down as quickly as possible and was soon out of sight. "What are you doing?" Susan questioned as she walked through the suite, making sure she got everything. "Huh? Oh, nothing. Just thought I saw someone I knew." He lied. "So? All set to go?" He questioned. "I guess so." She mumbled. Howie smiled sympathetically and walked over to Susan. He wrapped his arms around her loosely. "I'm going to miss you. I have no one else to talk to on tour and my phone bill is going to be atrocious if I keep calling you." Howie laughed. "Well, you'll be home in less than a week, right?" She questioned. "Two weeks. But who's counting?" He laughed. Susan pulled away and looked at him with an accusing eye. "Are you okay?" She asked. Howie seemed preoccupied by something; she could hear it in his laugh and see it in his eyes. "I'm fine, honestly. I'm just a bit tired." He replied. Susan accepted his answer and pointed to the door. "Time to move!" She smiled.

Howie and Susan made it to the lobby but quickly stopped when security walked over to them. "Yo, D! You can't keep running out on us. We're gonna lose our jobs." One of the guys argued. Howie nodded his head in agreement. "But if you guys come with me we're going to bring attention to ourselves." Howie replied. "You're not leaving without one of us." The bodyguard stated. "Howie, I can go alone to the airport. It doesn't bother me." Susan told him quietly. "Yeah, but it bothers me." He argued. "Howie, I'm going. I'll be okay and I'll call you as soon as I get home. I promise." Howie frowned at her but knew that security wouldn't let him out of their sight. "All right." He finally agreed. Susan smiled and pulled him close to her for one last friendly good-bye. "I'll miss you." She whispered in his ear. "Me more than you." He replied before pulling back to get a good look at her face. Without even thinking about it, Howie leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers. After he pulled back, he laughed softly at the confused and shocked expression on her face. "Um...okay." She agreed to an unasked question. Howie shook his head in confusion before placing his hands on the side of her face, bringing himself closer to her. "Okay to what?" He chuckled before kissing her again with more passion. Susan felt his tongue lightly pushing at the center of her mouth as he parted her lips. She quickly wrapped her arms around him, trying desperately to bring him as close to her body as possible. "Ahem." They softly parted and smiled at each other. "I'm going to miss my flight." She stated as security stood around them, nodding their heads. "All right. Call me when you get home. Remember, you promised." Howie reminded her. "I promised and I will! Bye." She mouthed the final word as she walked away with one of the bodyguards. "Damn man! What took you so long to make a move on her?" His personal bodyguard asked. "I'm not sure." Howie replied with a nervous laugh.

The two men were in the elevator when Howie's cell phone went off. "Yeah, AJ?" Howie answered his phone. "What? No, calm down. What happened? Yeah, I'm on my way back to my room as we speak." Howie clicked off his phone before looking up at his bodyguard. "It's nothing serious. It just appears that AJ's other brain thought for him last night." Howie tried to joke. He knew his security were a great bunch of guys, almost like family. They knew each one of the boys inside and out and they knew their pasts as well. AJ's current problem was just another secret to keep.

****

Xanda waited patiently in Denise's living room while she was in the kitchen boiling a kettle of water for some tea. When she returned she sat across from Xanda and watched as she drank her tea slowly, her mind in another world. "Xanda? What happened? You know you can tell me anything." Denise encouraged. "I just needed to be around another person today. I can't tell you anything, Denise, because it's about Alex. It's always about Alex, lately. You're his mother. You're naturally biased." Xanda stated as she took another sip of her tea. "Yes, normally that would be true but in a case like this I'm willing to make an exception." Denise grinned. "We're just arguing more than we normally do. I don't know what to do or who to turn to. I love him but he's driving me insane. I cannot tour with him like he wants me to and at first I thought he understood. But, lately he's acting more and more childish and immature. 'Why can't you just stay with me? We only have two weeks left.' 'Why can't you just leave your job? I'll support you.' Everything he says makes me feel like I'm supposed to choose my career which I love or him, who I also love. Why can't I have some middle ground?" Xanda wasn't asking the questions to Denise, in fact she wasn't even looking at Denise as she spoke. She just needed someone to hear her out, to listen to her side of the story.

"Well, when the tour ends in two weeks you two will have three weeks to work things out. In fact, you may have more than a month to work things out before they go back out on the road. I've been thinking about pushing the dates back a little to give the guys some much needed rest and relaxation. They work too hard." Denise stated. "I guess." Xanda murmured. "But I got so mad at his guilt trip last night that I yelled that I didn't love him anymore. What was I thinking?" She questioned loudly. "Honey, I know my son. He loves you dearly and he'll do what he can to work things out. He always does. Just give him a little time and I'll be sure to tell him to give you a little space. You shouldn't have to choose between the career you love or the man you love. You should be able to have both." Xanda smiled at Denise's words. "Thank you, Denise. I should be going now. I have a feeling that he's going to call me soon." Xanda stood up and stretched before she leaned back down to give Denise a large hug. "Thank you." She whispered. "You're welcome, sweetie. Call me later and we'll go out to dinner or something." Denise suggested. "That would be great!" Xanda smiled as she walked to the door. Denise followed her but was caught by the ringing phone. "Oh, I gotta go get that. Have a safe drive home." Denise shouted as she ran to the phone. Xanda smiled, waved good-bye, and was soon out of sight.