* * * * * * *

Larry was beyond exhausted by the time the taxi finally pulled up to the hotel. Bono's nonsensical babbling had kept sleep at bay, but Adam's warm body had made Larry continually drowsy. Even the opening of the car door and the clamor with which Edge and Bono climbed out of the vehicle failed to disturb him. Only the gentle nudge that Adam gave him caused him to stir in the slightest.

"C'mon, Lardence, up and at 'em."

"Wha-?"

"Wake up ya fool," the fondness and exasperation were quite apparent as Adam spoke. "We're at the hotel, with Bono in tow and we'd best go upstairs and get to bed before we lose the bastard again."

Larry made a noncommittal grunt and hauled his tired body out of the cab, only to stumble unsteadily when he stood. Adam was there in the next instant, springing from the car to brace Larry as he faltered.

"Woah, there, Lar!" he laughed as Larry blinked his eyes in apparent confusion. Bono and Edge stood a distance away, having already paid the driver, chortling at the expression of absolute bewilderment on Larry's face. Larry blinked bleary eyes towards Adam who just shook his head and threw an arm around the younger man's shoulders. Adam chuckled soundlessly, "Sleep time for you, Larry-boy..."

"Mmm...kay," Larry murmured as he leaned into the supportive embrace. Adam's arm tightened around his shoulders as he led Larry away from the departing taxi. Larry unconsciously snuggled further against Adam's side, seeking the warmth and comfort of his best friend's body. Together the troupe made their way into the lobby of the rather upscale hotel. As expected, the place was rather deserted, so they managed to make it up to their room without any trouble. The elevator seemed to take an eternity both to arrive, then take them up to their floor. The ride was made even longer when Bono was left unattended by the control panel. In his inebriated state, he found the buttons lighting up as he pushed them to be highly entertaining, and so he pushed every one of them that he could before Edge discovered his game and quickly ended the fun. With a sigh, Edge propelled Bono back into the corner farthest away from the floor controls and pinned him there.

Adam and Larry failed to notice; Larry was practically asleep on his feet and Adam was staring at his friend in some degree of worry. Adam was pretty certain by this point that he was the only thing keeping Larry upright.

Larry would have agreed. He knew he was practically sagging in Adam's arms, but he simply didn't have the energy to move away...or stand by himself. That was one of the drawbacks to his enhanced abilities; no matter what all he could do, once the energy was gone no amount of magic in the world could replace it without rest. And he needed rest badly.

Mercifully, the elevator came to a shuddering stop on their  floor, pinged cheerfully, then the doors opened with a soft hiss of air. Edge let Bono free and together they stumbled out of the lift. Larry tried to shake himself to a more awakened state as Adam gently tugged him to the open doors. The doors began to close again as the pair passed through them and, unthinkingly, Larry made a small abortive gesture and the doors paused letting both men out unmolested. Adam didn't notice, but held on tighter as Larry seemed to sag even more in his grip.

The pair walked slowly down the hall, which seemed a very long journey, and arrived at Larry's closed door. With shaking hands, Larry managed to extract the thin plastic key card from his coat pocket, and tried unsuccessfully to fit it in the lock. Sighing, Adam shifted and snagged the card. Larry glanced up at him apologetically as Adam deftly slid the card through and shoved the door open.

"Jesus, Lar, what's wrong with you?" Adam moved them both into the room, then paused to shut the door. "You didn't even go out drinkin' with us and you can hardly walk!"

Somehow they managed to make it over to the bed, where Larry collapsed bonelessly. "Sorry�" he breathed out drowsily.

Adam shook his head. "No worries�but really, what's wrong? You're not coming down with something are you?" He reached over to touch Larry's forehead.

Larry weakly lifted his arm to swat the concerned hand away, then sighed and struggled to sit up. "No," he said at length. "I'm not sick�just completely worn through." He seemed to be drawing the last bit of energy from his reserve, and began to try and squirm out of his thick clothing. With a sigh, Adam leaned over and helped Larry shrug out of his coat, then he moved to unlace and remove Larry's shoes. "S'been a long day�s'all. Just don�t have any energy left�" Larry's voice grew muffled while he peeled out of his sweater.

The worry still didn�t leave Adam's eyes as he aided his exhausted friend with getting under the covers. "Alright, then. You get some rest�we don�t have anything big planned for tomorrow except rehearsal late in the afternoon and the show; you can sleep late. In fact, I insist you do so." Adam set Larry's key on the nightstand and turned off the lamp. "Night, mate�"

"G'night�" Larry murmured, shifting under the heavy comforter and snuggling down to sleep. "�and thanks�"

Adam nodded in reply, though Larry couldn't see it, and silently crept towards the door. With one final look back at the bed, he smiled in satisfaction, and slipped quietly into the hallway, closing the door behind him. Then he moved off down the hall to his room, his bed, and some well-earned sleep.

* * * * * *

Larry awoke in the morning practically sizzling with recharged energy. He could almost feel small tingles of electrical current coursing up and down under his skin. With a languid sigh, he rolled over in his bed and stretched with the grace and purpose of a well-contented cat; then he sat up to slide out of the bed. A glance over at the clock told him that it was almost noon; he had used up half of the day already.

Looking down at himself, he realized that he was still dressed in last night's clothing--jeans, t-shirt, and socks. With an annoyed grimace he began to remove the clothes, tossing them carelessly to the floor, before wandering towards the large bathroom. The lights came on full-force as he closed and locked the door, squinting at the brightness. Larry stood there for a moment gazing at his slightly sleep-disheveled appearance in the mirror, which took up the entire long wall. He moved over to the dimmer knob and slowly began to turn it to darken the lights. As his hand turned the round dimmer, his gaze drifted towards the large tiled bathub where the taps began to slowly turn themselves in much the same manner. With a tiny grating sound of metal on metal, followed by a strong hiss, the water began to flow from the faucet. Slowly at first and then faster as the pressure built up. Finally in a burst of steam the showerhead hissed to life and water began raining down in the tub. He walked over to test the water's temperature then slithered out of his boxers and stepped into the steaming shower.

The water caressed him on all sides, hot enough to flow like fire, but gentle like a lover. Larry spent a good ten minutes just standing under the spray and relishing in the feel. Then with a thin, flimsy hotel wash cloth, he got to work scrubbing the previous day's grime from his body. Twenty minutes later he left the shower cleansed and refreshed, and stepped out into the fogged-up bathroom. Wrapping a several-size-too-small white towel around his waist, Larry opened the bathroom door and walked back into the main room.

The heavy curtains had been drawn back, the clothes he had taken off had relocated to a chair, and a new set of clothing waited patiently on the newly made up bed. Larry took in the surroundings absently; checking to see that everything was right then went over to dress himself. As he dressed, he listened to the messages that he had ignored the night before. Adam had left three and Bono, one. He chuckled to himself as the messages played. Adam's first message sounded puzzled, the second worried, and the last one an emotion that bordered on irate. Bono's had just sounded drunk and confused.

That out of the way Larry moved to the phone again, to pick it up and call his compatriots to see what time they were meeting for lunch. He rang up Adam and got no answer. Frowning, he hung up the phone and tried again, this time phoning Bono's room. Edge answered much to Larry's confusion.

"You're awake then?" Edge asked rhetorically. "Com'n to join us for a bite to eat?"

Larry nodded then frowned in annoyance when he realized the gesture could not be seen on the phone. "I suppose," he spoke up.

"Good. Come to Bono's room; the rest of us have gathered already."

"What?" Larry demanded in mock outrage. "Starting without me?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," The grin could easily be heard in Edge's voice. "It isn't our fault that you're slow!"

"We're hungry!" Larry could hear Adam shout in the backgound. Then,

"Yeah, tell him to hurry his arse up!" That, of course, was Bono.

Larry rolled his eyes. "It seems my presence is requested�I'll be there in a bit." He hung up then gathered his key card and wallet, and strolled out of the room. He wandered the mere two doors down the hall and paused outside of the suite he remembered to be Bono's. Jauntily, he raised a hand and rapped out a brief drum line on the door. The door was thrown open a second later by a very alert, semi-hyper, and non-hungover Bono.

"It's about bloody time you showed up!" He stated.

"Sod off�" was Larry's cheerful reply as he pushed his way into the room. "So�what's for lunch?" He walked in to see Edge sitting in one of the chairs by the window and Adam lounging on Bono's rumpled bed. Larry half-smiled at them both before wandering over and flopping down on the bed next to Adam. "Morning all!" he announced.

"Afternoon is more like it," was Adam's retort.

"If you must be technical about it�" Larry returned. "Anyway, you didn't answer my question."

"Oh, yes, your question." said Bono walking over to survey the bed. "Well�lunch is for lunch! C'mon, let's go; I know the perfect place. Up and at 'em!" No one moved. "Up, up, up!" He went over and tugged Edge out of the chair and slowly the two on the bed rose and followed. With 'shooing' motions, Bono maneuvered everyone out of the door.

A private car was waiting out front to take them to their destination, which was a rather upscale little joint a ways out of the way. Together they shared a quiet meal and a few laughs over the near-catastrophe that was the previous night. Towards the end of the meal Bono spoke up, as if he were marking an imaginary checklist. "Alright�lunch, check. Heckling Larry, check. Con Edge into paying the bill," he broke off and looked hopefully at the guitarist. Edge sighed and reached for the ticket. Bono smiled gleefully, cackling under his breath, and the other two chuckled. "Check! Now we just have rehearsal, last-minute concert prep, gig, encores, adulation from the masses, all night drinking binge, shower, and bed�then our day will be complete!"

"Wow�makes us sound like we just have nothing to do, doesn't it?" Adam stated. "What do you think, Lar?" Larry wasn�t paying attention. "Larry?" Adam repeated. Larry seemed to shake himself and looked over at the bassist with a blank expression. Adam's eyes dimmed in concern again as he continued, "Where'd ya go mate? Thought we lost you there for a sec."

"Sorry�I was drifting."

"So we noticed," chimed in Bono. "Anything on your mind?"

Larry shrugged. "Nah. M'fine." he answered. "But I believe someone said something about us needing to get rehearsal. I know for damn sure that it wasn't me�" Larry trailed off pointedly, and the others allowed the not-so-subtle subject change. In unison they got up from the table and wandered out of the restaurant.

Back in the car Larry could feel the heat of worry in the stare that Adam kept leveled at him, but he ignored it. Instead he kept his eyes focused on the gray world that was passing by, outside the car window. He concentrated on attempting to reign in the emotions that were threatening to break free from the prison he had confined them in so long ago. Larry wasn't really sure why the feelings of loneliness, fear, inadequacy, pain, anger, despair, and�love, were suddenly warring against their constraints and struggling for dominance within him. All he knew was that he had better get them clamped down again soon, or something�unfortunate could happen.

TBC�