~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After the show, Nick ran off the stage and threw himself into her arms. "What did you think?"

Elisha embraced him. "It was fabulous, Nick! A really great show!"

He kissed her cheek. "You really liked it?"

"I loved it, you big show-off! You sounded great!" She tugged at a lock of his hair. "But what was up with all that bumping and grinding? You have some pentup sexual energy or something?"

Nick toyed with her necklace. "Something...maybe....can you help me release some of it?"

Elisha blushed and looked around at the crowd of people. "Right here? Okay, drop'em, baby!"

Now it was Nick's turn to blush. "Ah, no. Come back to the hotel with me?"

Elisha agreed and sat down to wait while he changed back into street clothes. As she sat watching the stagehands pack away all the equipment one of the security people handed her an envelope.

Elisha pulled the letter out and quickly scanned it. It was from Mandy. She could tell, even though there was no signature. The letter warned her to stay away from Nick or there would be trouble. When Elisha went to throw it away, a photo fell out of the envelope. It was a photo of her with Nick, taken in the lobby of the hotel earlier in the day. Mandy had ripped Elisha's head off in the photo and poked Nick's eyes out.

"Oh, you are seriously warped, chickie." she said to herself. "Pretty childish."

"Whatcha looking at sweetie?"

She had never even heard Nick approach her. She quickly stuffed the letter and photo in her pocket.

"Nothing as important as what I'm looking at right now!" She beamed at him. "Are you ready to go?"

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

Back at the hotel, Nick held Elisha close and wouldn't let her go. "We leave tomorrow morning. When will I be able to see you again?" Unshed tears shone in his eyes and Elisha rubbed her thumbs across his eyelids to stop the tears from falling. She was near tears herself.

"We'll work something out, Nicky, this isn't the end."

Nick buried his head in her hollow between her shoulder and her neck and hugged her tighter. "Oh, Elisha, I'm gonna miss you so much."

She couldn't speak or she would break down, she knew it. He had become so important to her in such a short period of time. Finally, she said "I'm gonna miss you too, Nick. This is going to be so hard, to say goodbye to you." She looked at him and smiled. "Let's get our schedules together and see what we can work out!"

It took Nick a few minutes to find his day planner. When he did they scanned it for compatible dates. The first one in a reasonable time period for Elisha was two weeks away.

"Damn it, two weeks? Elisha, I'll be going crazy!"

"I'm sorry, Nick, but I've got rehearsals and some shows and besides I don't have a lot of cash to get where you are. This is happening all kind of a sudden. Not much planning time involved here."

"I'll buy your plane ticket!" Nick exclaimed earnestly.

Elisha shook her head. "Oh no you won't! You're just out of a relationship where you paid for everything. I'm not like that, I'll pay my own way."

Nick tried to protest and Elisha shook her head again, putting her hand over his mouth at the same time.

"No, Nick. I'm not going to use you in any way while we're together." She considered her last statement and winked at him. "Except as a sex toy!"

Nick grinned. "That I can handle!"