Adrianne woke early feeling better than she had in a while. Since the moment her eyes opened every little thing was amazing to her. A smile crossed her face smoothing her drowsy features. The hotel phone rang sharply next to her. She ran a hand through her messy red hair as she answered.

"Hello and good morning!"

"You are mighty cheerful this morning."

"Chris you're lucky I was awake otherwise......."

"Otherwise what Miss Adrianne?" He interrupted.

"I'd.......I'd....." She couldn't think of anything to comeback with.

"I guess I didn't give your brain a chance to wake up yet."

"Bite me Chris." Adrianne laughed and placed the receiver back in the cradle.

Chris chuckled as he threw on a shirt and shorts then made his way down the craft services for breakfast.

Dee was nursing a bowl of corn flakes when he walked through the door. She looked up from her newspaper and waved him over.

"Hey Dee, what's new?"

"I've got some breaking news for you."

"Can I maybe get some food first?"

"If you must." She said pushing her cereal away. "Justin said the same thing about twenty minutes ago, I haven't seen him since."

Chris grinned and got in line behind a still half asleep Justin. He looked over the selection finally choosing cereal and a orange. Pushing past the walking dead version of Justin he took a seat across from Dee. Justin stumbled as he reached the table.

"Welcome back." She said pulling out a seat for Justin. He sat and began working on his Froot Loops.

"So whats this gossip you're dying to spread?"

Dee took a breath and glanced over at Justin. He mumbled something that resembled tell him and went back to eating. "Chris, JC and Marie are working things out. She got to the hotel about an hour ago."

Chris choked on his orange. "Lovely." He managed to wheeze.

Adrianne had entered just in time to witness Chris swallowing his breakfast whole. She patted his back lightly. "Easy boy. Those square white things called teeth come in handy ya know."

He gave her a look and stood up to her level. "Listen I want you to hear this from me."

Her eyes searched his for an answer.

"Addy, Marie is here. Obviously JC had worked things out with her."

Adrianne stared ahead blankly. "Well if thats what he wants. I mean what can I do?"

"I just thought you would want to know." He scrunched his noce up at her.

"Stop making faces Chris, I can deal with her."

"Ok, in that case lets eat." He pushed her down into a chair and walked off to get her breakfast.

Dee smiled and folded her newspaper. "So, just leave Marie to me Adrianne."

"Uh...well ok Dee thanks." She looked over at the silent Justin as she got comfortable in her chair. He was finished his cereal and starting to wake a bit.

"What are you talking about Dee?" Justin asked rubbing his eyes.

"You mean to tell me you were sitting here the whole time and have no clue what we were talking about."

He blinked once then turned towards Adrianne. "I didn't know she was here."

Dee rolled her eyes and started gathering her things. "Justin you have some serious zombie issues."

He jumped up and followed her demanding to know what he had missed.

Chris returned minutes later with a tray. He looked at the empty chairs in disarray. "Did you chase them away?"

"No, Justin was having one of his morning moments so Dee is probably replaying the whole conversation for him."

Chris laughed and took his seat. They ate in silence until Adrianne had to get to work. she made her way up to the room and grabbed her laptop. Melinda was meeting her at the venue so she had to catch a van before they all left. She sat in the middle seat making conversation with Paula, the stylist.

At the venue all the passengers filed out going on auto pilot. The routine was always the same and Adrianne was finally used to the tour life. She hummed to herself as she shuffled down the dull corridor. Turning the corner she ran face first into Marie.

"Walk much! Damn." Marie looked up with her hand pressed to her forehead.

"Marie, I heard you were back."

She glared at Adrianne. "I love JC and he loves me. No one will change that."

Adrianne looked into Maries' eyes. "Actually you can change that." She moved aside and continued on down the hall.

Marie stood where she was, taking in what Adrianne had just said.

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

After the meet and greet the guys dispersed trying to catch some down time before the show. Lance made his way out to the girls bus hoping to find Heather.

"Knock knock!" He called out as he climbed the steps.

"Lance, hey!" Heather said making room for him on the couch. "Whats wrong?"

"Nothing......I just need to talk to you about something."

She sat all the way up feeling nervous all of a sudden. "Ok, I'm listening."

"Well I know we've kept things pretty open with us and all but......."

"But what...........?" She asked.

"I want you to know I really care about you Heather."

"I care about you too Lance. Is that what you're so quiet about?"

"Yeah, I mean no. I really care about you. I've.......I'm falling in love with you."

Her eyes glistened with fresh tears. "Wow, thats...uh....it's a shock." She placed her hand on her chest trying to understand what he was telling her.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything." He stood to leave, then felt a hand on his shoulder.

When he turned around she placed her lips over his. A sigh escaped his now parted lips. When the kiss ended Lance leaned back wondering what would happen next.

"I love you too Lance." Heather leaned her head on his chest and listened for his heartbeat.

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

The show went on as usual, ended and everyone boarded their buses heading to the next venue. Adrianne and Marie were managing to keep clear of each other.

A couple weeks later Adrianne was having dinner in her hotel room waiting for her next assignment from Melinda. When Melinda didn't show at eight she made her way down to her room. She was startled when the door swung open and Johnny stepped out.

"Good evening Adrianne."

"Hey Johnny." She looked over at Melinda who turned her head away. "Whats going on?"

"Adrianne we have to talk. Come inside."

She walked into the room and took a seat. "Did I do something wrong?" Her eyes looked back and forth between the two.

"Adrianne," Johnny started. "I'm afraid your postion has been cut."

"Cut? What do you mean cut?"

"We have to let you go hun. There isn't enough funding provided for your position."

Tears fell from her bright green eyes. "I can't believe this. The guys are huge now and you can't afford to pay me?"

Melinda moved to comfort Adrianne but was pushed away. Johnny handed Adrianne a red envelope.

"These are your tickets back to Orlando, the flight leaves in two hours."

She snatched the tickets and walked slowly down the hall back to her own room. Automatically she dialed Chris' room and prayed her would be there.

After three rings he answered, "Chris' Love Shack."

"Chris I'm going home."

"Addy? What? You're what?!" He sputtered questions at her.

"Calm down Chris." The phone clicked in her ear. Five minutes later Chris was knocking at her door. She opened it and fell into his arms. "They fired me." She stated through her tears. "Johnny said there wasn't enough money to keep me on the tour."

Chris moved her head away from his chest. Anger shone is his dark eyes. "We work our asses off how can there be no money?!"

Adrianne backed away surprised at his burst of anger. "I don't know Chris but something doesn't add up."

Nodding he said, "I'm gonna get to the bottom of this. When do you leave?"

"One am." She waved the tickets.

"I'm going to the airport with you." He left and ran down the hall. "Dre!"

Andre appeared from his room. "Chris? You need something?"

"Yeah, get dressed we're going to the airport."

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

"Flight 1256-Nonstop to Orlando Florida now boarding at Gate 12B"

The announcement echoed through the empty airport.

"That's you." Chris said pulling Adrianne to her feet.

"I can't believe its over."

"It's not over Addy. I'm gonna find out what's going on."

She nodded and lifted her carry-on bag. "You're my best friend Chris."

"That won't change. The tour will be over and we'll all be home before you know it."

"Tell everyone I said goodbye ok?"

Chris smiled and moved her hair from her face. "I'll tell them. I'm going to call you tomorrow and make sure you made it ok."

"Thank you Chris. I don't know what I would do without you."

"You'd live a normal life without me."

Adrianne laughed and slowly made her way to the gate.

"Addy?" Chris called.

She turned with a questioning look. "Yeah?"

"Uh..just call me if you need anything."

"I will..." She handed her ticket to the girl at the counter, then disappeared into the gate.

"Why do I get the feeling you wanted to tell her something else?"

Chris turned to Dre. "Man, why do I think you are absolutely wrong?"

Dre laughed as they walked back to the van.

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

Adrianne slept late still a little unnerved about losing her job. The apartment was now hers to pay for which meant she had some job hunting to do.

So far Heather and Dee had called, each promising to come home early. Adrianne refused to let them do that knowing how addictive the tour life was. She was channel surfing when her cell phoner ang from the table beside her.

"Hello?" She half expected it to be Chris.

"Adrianne, it's Justin."

"J, whats up?"

"We all heard about what happened so we did some investigating....."

"And?"

"Well there is no money because Lou is rippin us off!"

She could hear the pain in his voice. "He's what? Justin what are you guys going to do?"

"Sue."

The word hung in the air like a fog.

"My god!" Adrianne gasped.

"I know. Chris and the other guys are just kinda trying to understand........." He trailed off. "I needed to let you know. You're like family to all of us."

"I don;t know what to say other than I wish I could change it all. You guys will get through it and I'm going to be right there."

Justin was silent.

"Are you there J?"

"Addy, it's Chris." Tears were evident in his voice.

"Are you ok?"

"I let them down A. I started this and I promised myself this wouldn't happen to us."

"You didn't let them down, you all are going to be fine. I'm sure of it."

"I hope you're right Addy, I hope you're right."