Week Five:         Well, it was official. After almost two months of denouncing the entire thing as “stupid” and hotly denying any interest, Trent called Judy on the morning of the ninth to accept the Gordon role, a move that didn’t really surprise anyone, least of all his tourmates.         Phoenix had it exactly right on his birthday and he was not too humble to admit it. “I knew you were gonna do it!” he gloated, when the news was confirmed, then demanded, “Why’d you lie to me?” For the record, Trent didn’t exactly lie. When Phoenix confronted him about it that day, he wasn’t gonna do it. Okay, so he was trying the accent but he wasn’t completely sold. He’d begun to reconsider his harsh judgment of the screenplay and role, but he was by no means convinced.         That came way later, after much, much careful consideration and many, many talks with Sess, going over the pros and cons of accepting the role. And, really, the pros far outweighed the cons here.         As insane as this sounded, especially given his harsh initial criticisms, this was a no-lose situation. He definitely had his apprehension about the whole process, but she did a great job convincing him that it would not be anything like it was last time. The first film almost killed him and soured him on the entire industry. He was in every single scene of that stinking movie and that was utter hell. Learning lines, getting up even earlier than he was already getting up to make sure that he knew those lines - God, it was hell. Nothing but hell. Yet, Sess made a very vital point in the midst of their Gordon debate: This was not Gordon’s movie. He might’ve made the movie with his biting little remarks and constant flirting, but he was truly only one part of an ensemble.         And he was only in the first half of the movie, anyway! That meant T.J. didn’t have to be in every scene. He didn’t have to learn near the dialogue. And the dialogue he did have to learn was not nearly as emotional as it was the first time around. Do you know that throughout the entire film (well, the part he was in, anyway), Gordon didn’t raise his voice even once? No yelling, no crying, just pure wit. That was exceptional.         Okay. So he didn’t have to work nearly as hard as last time, he could still manage a life outside of production, he could have fun with this role - all of those were nice, but you know which little perk clinched it? There was absolutely no singing involved! This was not a musical, by a long shot. Gordon even professed early in his very first scene to be tone-deaf! Was that cool or what?!         This meant this was an opportunity for Trent to really act! He was playing someone who was the total opposite of him, someone who wasn’t even American (even though he was worried that the accent might give him trouble) and who didn’t sing. Cecily thought this was the perfect opportunity for him to show what he could really do and believe it or not, he was really excited. He could tell already this was gonna be a blast…unfortunately, everything else in his life really sucked right now.         That last session of ‘The Great Gordon Debate’ turned out to be the last real conversation Trent had the privilege of sharing with his wife, mainly due to Tony and Phoenix constantly phoning home to do either the promo or the Vyro thing...well, okay, it wasn’t so much Tony, since he tried to be considerate. He’d see you waiting to use the phone and get off. I think you know who that leaves...         God, Phoenix was horrible! He would sit there and talk for hours, regardless of who else might need to use the phone. He was totally immersed in his conversation. You could go fuck yourself for all he cared. He wasn’t done yet. Take a number.         Now please don’t get me wrong here - it really was awesome that Phoenix found something he could get into like that. Personally, T.J. thought this Vyro thing was really cool and he was really glad for Phoenix…but, damn it, did he have to be on the phone all the time?! Didn’t he think that maybe someone else might need to use it?! No. Of course not.         Since the start of Phoenix’s little amateur A&R stint, Trent was reduced to calling Cecily once a day - and then they could only talk for five minutes, because by the time Phoenix surrendered the phone, it was time to go do the promo thing or, worse, the show. Didn’t he know that the only thing that had made these horrible three weeks somewhat bearable for T.J. were the calls home?! If you took those away, you could just write him off. He was not too proud to admit that without the outside stimulation of the love of his life or the sweet little voice of his pride and joy, he was pretty much useless - and not very easy to get along with.         The tension mounted between Trent and Phoenix for almost two weeks - they engaged in several snippy little exchanges, but nothing more severe than that…until yesterday afternoon, when things finally exploded. It was really unfortunate. Not that Trent finally gave it to Phoenix for his phone-hogging, but rather the avenue he used to do so - Rena.         All right. Okay, so he routinely took things out on all the wrong people. That was something Phoenix never failed to throw back in his face and it was something Trent could not deny. He absolutely hated that about himself and he tried his hardest not to, but sometimes…it just couldn’t be helped. Yesterday, Rena inserted herself right in the middle of the argument and demanded to know what was up. And when I say ‘demanded’, I mean demanded! Even after being told (politely, I might add!) that it was really not her concern, she still persisted. She even refused to let go of Trent’s arm until he told her.         That was it. That was just fucking it! Looking back on it, he did feel more than a twinge of remorse, especially since her offense was really not that criminal. Annoying, yes. Invasive, yes. Stupid, yes. But deserving of that? No. The bottom line was she just pushed him to the very end of his patience. And he reacted. Oh, man, did he react!         Phoenix, much as one might expect, almost immediately came riding in on his white horse to rescue her - hey, he was finally off the phone! He got right in the middle of this whole fiasco and informed T.J. that he should be ‘ashamed of himself’ for berating Serena like that. And you know what? For the record, he was, but how fucking dare Phoenix tell him that?! This was all his fault, anyway - and Trent told him so. In no time, they were engaging in another one of the infamous screaming matches of old - the ones Steiney probably hoped they’d outgrown. Sorry, man, but old habits died hard.         Really, though, Tony didn’t seem very fazed by their sudden eruption. He likely saw it coming. Hence, he didn’t really react. All he did was calmly usher the innocent out of there and roll his eyes about it. What more could you do, really, in a situation like this? Nothing but wait out the storm - and of course, it wasn’t over yet. By a long shot… ****         One question that seemed to come up a lot during joint interviews was this one: ‘What’s the most valuable lesson you’ve gleaned from the many miles you’ve logged together?’ When confronted with that query, Tony usually took the easy way out and said he wasn’t sure. After last night, though, he’d probably be a lot more honest: The most valuable lesson he’d gleaned from these great many road trips was this: it was much, much easier when Phoenix and T.J. were getting along.         The night before, they argued viciously right up until time to go on-stage. It was just awful. They yelled and screamed and cursed and kept rearing back at each other like they always did. When Tony made his escape, he was fully expecting to come back to some bloody noses and missing teeth. Whether or not they actually did come to blows, he couldn’t be certain, but by the way they were acting, he didn’t doubt it.         It probably goes without saying that the concert was an extremely labored one. The harmonies were off and the banter was more-than-a-little forced…and unnecessarily cruel. Tony honestly lost count at how many ‘short’ jabs Phoenix flung over at Teej and the ‘inconsiderate asshole’ ones Trent threw right back. And the ‘smart mouthed, peroxide headed little punk that has to pick on a little girl to feel like he’s something’ reference seemed to speak for itself. Thankfully, though, this whole thing was not entirely obvious to those who were just casually observing the concert. It probably did appear that they weren’t happy with each other, but the barbs were thrown in such a blanketed way (well, except the ‘smart mouthed, peroxide headed little punk’ one…) you wouldn’t really know what they meant unless you were in the loop. Tony didn’t know if it was a good or terrible thing that he could actually decipher them.         After the show - thank you God - they did not continue the fight. Instead, they went to greet their public, during which Tony wedged himself right between them to ensure they didn’t decide to continue covertly insulting one another. Thankfully, no cross words were exchanged. Really, no words were exchanged at all. They didn’t even look at each other. At least, though, no one was yelling anymore and that was a very good thing.         After the longer-than-usual autograph session, all three headliners stumbled back to the bus without a word. They didn’t even manage the nods they sometimes employed after a tough show to praise each other’s performances. They were just too tired. That night, there were no after-hours activities. No TV, movies or even conversation. Just sleep. No one really felt up to doing anything more. All they wanted to do was climb into bed and put that awful day out of their minds - at least, that’s what Tony wanted to do…and he didn’t have the easiest time accomplishing it.         Do you know that he was honestly able to hear those boneheads yelling in his sleep? And, of course, in one highly-charged dream after another, he had the pleasure of reliving the entire blowout round by round. The whole thing left him asking what appeared to be the great question: What in God’s name did he ever do to deserve this?! What could Joel (and now Blackie) possibly have against him that he routinely stuck him with these two - the most volatile, immature people on the planet?!         He just couldn’t believe this. He just couldn’t believe them! Whether or not it was conscious or intentional, they always managed to involve absolutely everybody in their problems. And did they care? Nope. Why should they?         The next morning was gray and gloomy and the temperature was below freezing. Serena was the first one up, after a very fitful night of sleep. She hadn’t really been able to shake yesterday’s spectacle either, even though she really did try. She just could not for the life of her figure out why Trent would so abruptly - and so furiously - turn on her. What did she do? Was it the persistence? Should she have stayed out of it and just left well enough alone? That was probably her mistake.         Shaken, she sought Tony’s counsel on the issue yesterday afternoon and he tried to assure her that she hadn’t actually done anything. He said she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and that T.J.’s real quarrel was with Phoenix…yeah, she kinda figured that one out. The tongue lashing Trent gave her was relatively tame in comparison to the one he saved for Phoenix.         Still, be that as it may, she could not help feeling responsible for this whole thing. Yes, okay, those two were long overdue a huge blowout and the tension had been mounting for days between them, but maybe this whole thing could’ve been avoided if she just went on about her business and got out of the way. Reflecting upon her actions yesterday, Serena had to marvel at the irony. The only reason she turned her interrogation onto T.J. was because she knew he’d handle it better than Phoenix. He wasn’t as volatile or easily set off as Phoenix was (or so she thought) and he could calmly answer her question of what in the world was going on now. Yet, he was the one that flipped out. And Phoenix was the one that came to her defense. And the rest, as they say, is history.         When she told Tony all this, he did nothing but continue to insist that it was not her fault. That her speaking up made no difference at all. “I’ve seen 600 of their fights and I know this much about them - they can’t be stopped,” he consoled. “They can and will fight over anything. Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault they’re like that. If you wanna blame someone, blame whomever instilled those qualities in them. You don’t have any control over it. It’s all them.”         Well, still, Serena found herself treading extra-cautiously down the aisle between their respective beds. The last thing she wanted to do was wake them up, especially since she knew yesterday’s battle was far from over and would likely resume the minute they opened their eyes. In her quest to be quiet, however, she only ended up making more noise. By complete accident, she dropped her hair brush and it landed with a loud thud - right between them!         Please don’t wake up, God, please don’t wake up, she pleaded inside her mind.         Oddly enough, Phoenix (who was generally the lighter sleeper) didn’t even seem to register the noise. It was T.J. who actually raised up and squinted at her. Her heart sped up.         “Was that you?” he mumbled, reaching up a hand to rub his eyes.         She nodded slowly, whispered an apology and then quickly sped into the bathroom. Much to her surprise, he got out of bed to follow her. From her experiences with him, it was apology time. He was going to say how terrible he felt about what happened yesterday and extend his most sincere I’m sorry. Just then, Serena reminded herself of how uncharacteristically he reacted yesterday and acknowledged that her experience with him obviously meant nothing. He could’ve very well been coming in here to yell at her some more. God, she hoped not.         She didn’t say a word to him as he entered the bathroom behind her. All she did was start frantically brushing her hair. For a moment, he didn’t say anything either, fumbling for both his glasses and cigarettes, before turning to her. “I’m an ass,” he finally said.         She glanced over at him. “What?”         “I’m an ass,” he repeated, taking a seat as Tony so habitually did on the counter lining the sink. “Yesterday was…bad. Really bad and I never should have said what I said to you. That was really, really over the line and I am so sorry.”         “Okay,” she agreed, with a nod.         “No, it’s not okay. Man, I just…” He paused for a very long time, debating on what exactly he could say. “It wasn’t you,” he finally resolved. “It wasn’t you at all. It was Phoenix. It was me. Nothing to do with you and I never, ever should’ve done what I did, so I’m sorry. I’m real sorry.”         Again, she nodded. “It’s all right. It really is.”         No it wasn’t. And he knew it wasn’t. Still, what did he really expect? He probably wouldn’t be the paragon of forgiveness if she pulled the same shit with him. Still, he felt a very strong compulsion to keep apologizing, caused, no doubt, by the overwhelming guilt of how badly he upset her yesterday. “I can be…” Again, he paused. Looking up, he found he had her full attention. God, now if he could just think of what to say. “I can be a real shit. And that’s something that’s…my fault. Entirely my fault. It had nothing to do with you and I just sort of went nuts on you and I didn’t have a reason and…I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Rena.”          “Okay,” she absolved. “It’s okay.”          He didn’t say anything for a while, only lighting a cigarette and trying to figure out just what he was going to do with all this spare time, since he knew he couldn’t go back to sleep. And he couldn’t spend the entire morning apologizing to Rena. He’d said what he could. Of course, it wasn’t going to magically be all better, but he had at least done the right thing.         Abruptly, a wicked notion entered his mind. “I’m, um,” he began, hopping down from his perch, “gonna make a phone call, okay?”         She looked over at him. “This early?”         “Yeah,” he replied grinning. “This is the perfect time.”         His actions (and subsequent strut of triumph all the way to the phone) served to answer Serena’s burning question from yesterday. She wanted to know what was going on with him and Phoenix? The phone. That’s what was going on. At least, though, he did the right thing, just like she was hoping he would. She didn’t know if she was exactly ready to really accept his apology, but at least he’d made one. That counted for something. She just hoped he and Phoenix could do much the same and put this behind them sooner rather than later… *****         It was fun while it lasted, but Micah’s little vacation was now officially over. He and Nikki had been working on pre-production for almost a week and she’d been staying with him the whole time. Yes, I know. It was a gossip-monger’s paradise and he was fully aware of just what Joe and the rest of his ‘helpful’ mates had to say about it, but believe it or not, it was actually Pat’s idea! She said the girl obviously had no where else to go so why not let her stay with them? “The house is painfully empty now that Jenna is gone,” she cited. “I could use the company.”         Well, all right. Okay. That was absolutely fine by Micah - but it seemed that Pat’s generosity did not end there. She not only invited Nikki to stay with them during the entire duration of recording, but she also suggested that she bring both of her children! Okay, who was this kind, gracious, selfless woman and what had she done with his wife? Even Micah could not see himself being that generous. Yeah, of course Nikki could stay. That was absolutely fine...but both of her kids? Wasn’t that going just a little too far?         No, Pat said, swearing that a mother needed to be with her children. And yeah, sure she did. Micah wasn’t disputing that. He just sort of took issue with a mother being with her children in his house. Really, it wasn’t that they weren’t great kids. They were. They would likely be no trouble at all. The issue was whether or not he had the patience to deal with two children that weren’t his on a consistent basis. Please don’t misread that. Micah loved children. He really did. It was just…he raised his own and now he was sort of…um, done.         In an utterly horrible way, what he was trying to say was he just didn’t have the patience to deal with children non-stop since he was pretty out of practice doing so. He actually liked having no little ones in the house, as it was much quieter, it was in much better order and you could just relax. No one to tend to. No one to entertain…and listening to himself, Micah fully acknowledged that he sounded like a total ass. It was just…he really was done in the kids dept. and he didn’t really fancy having two more come in, make messes, make noise and just be…well, kids.         Yet, Patsy seemed almost adamant that Nikki bring her children, saying she’d never met them, would give anything to have ‘precious babies’ in the house again and that it would be absolutely no trouble at all for her to keep them occupied while their Mummy worked. Micah didn’t know where the hell all that Donna Reed rhetoric came from, but it was certainly scary. This was not something he expected to come out of his wife’s mouth, forcing him to ponder just what she was stirring into her tea every morning.         Nikki had yet to pass final judgment on whether she was going to uproot her kids or not, but Micah was only hoping she was smart enough to say no. It really wouldn’t be a good arrangement, and not only because he was being such a selfish ass about his house. Nikki had gone on time and time again about how much she hated the idea of taking her children from the only home they’d ever known and moving them all the way across the country. She said she couldn’t do that to them, because it was done to her in her own youth. Hopefully, she’d take that one into heavy consideration and opt to leave them with someone - anyone - else.         Continuing in the ‘what is this world coming to?’ vein, Pat had also suddenly developed an affinity for Cecily, insisting that Micah go check on her every single morning and even making breakfast for him to take to her. To understand what made that so bizarre, you had to first understand how Pat really felt about Cecily: she didn’t like her. She never had liked her, she never would like her, especially after that fiasco with Jenna and Trent. Yet, here she was, urging him to go see about her - even though she was in very capable, if overbearing, hands with her mum. The whole thing was really startling. Micah almost hated to say it, but he liked the old Pat better. This kinder, gentler breed was really giving him the creeps. At least, though, she was being nice. A little too nice for his tastes, but hey, it could’ve been worse, right? He had to keep telling himself that, before he grabbed the woman claiming to be his wife and ripped her mask off. Seriously, this whole thing was mad. It was just mad...         Even though Tony tried to warn her against taking sides and she knew she really shouldn’t, Kristen still couldn’t help feeling sorry for Donnie. Wasn’t the poor guy under enough stress as it was? It was bad enough he had to be out on the road - someplace she knew he didn’t love to be - and doing all the high-pressure things that went along with that. Couple all that with this new position he had to contend with - that of unofficial A&R monkey for a brand-new label. Of course, Kristen had no doubt he could handle it - he’d proven time and time again that he could handle things that would make mere mortals lose their sanity - it was just bound to be rough. T.J. really ought to give him a break.         And I mean, sure - Kristen understood Trent’s position as well. She knew he missed Cecily and was frustrated that he couldn’t call her as much anymore. But couldn’t he have just gone up and said, “Excuse me? Do you mind if I use the phone for a minute?” instead of just going nuts on poor Serena? What exactly did she do to deserve that?! And why exactly did she just stand there and take it?! Kristen loved T.J. to death - she honestly did - but if he even looked like he was going to pull that same shit with her, he’d still be trying to find all his teeth.         That whole thing was nothing but a temper tantrum. And let me tell you, if it ain’t cute when a 20 month old does it, it sure as hell ain’t cute when a 30 year old, grown ass man does it! She just couldn’t believe him! For days, all T.J. did was pace around and pout and then boom, he went insane. And they said Donnie had mood swings?!         Kristen seriously could not get over how childish he was being about this. Just what did he expect, anyway?! Donnie was no mind-reader! How was he supposed to know that T.J. wanted to use the phone? His mind was on other things - like all the extra duties he’d accumulated over the past week, including his new unofficial position (or should she say “positions” - he had a few) at Vyro.         If Trent wanted to use the phone that badly, why didn’t he say something instead of just throwing a fit? If you wanted to get down to the nitty-gritty, the little bastard had no one to blame but himself for this, anyway. Just who had a cell phone and - like a total bonehead - forgot it at home? Yeah, exactly.         Although she was fully aware that this was none of her business, Kristen couldn’t help it - she was just as mad at him as Donnie was. Donnie did not need this, especially not in the middle of all this other crap…of course, if this was anything like the blow-ups that had gone before, they’d be best friends again by tomorrow. They never stayed mad very long, which never failed to mystify Kristen. If someone threw some of the things at her they threw at each other, she’d never speak to them again. But they were just…strangely forgiving, at least with each other, which was why she was trying her hardest to just stay out of it. Let them resolve it themselves, even though she had the strongest urge to go over there and twist T.J.’s empty little head off.         Again, she really did adore him. He was a great friend to Donnie (well, most of the time) and an all around good guy, but still, Kristen had honestly never seen anyone so inconsiderate (and he wanted to throw that word around?!) and spoiled in all her life! You just had no clue how much restraint it was taking not to go over to that phone and just slap him. But, she couldn’t get involved. She just could not get involved. And she had to remember that…         Over the years, Tony had sort of mastered the art of staying neutral in these wars. It was a survival thing. You just didn’t get involved, no matter what. He learned that one rather early on. If you were insane enough to wedge yourself in the middle of the argument and (gasp) try to play peacemaker, what would most likely happen was Phoenix and T.J. would totally forget that they were mad at each other and turn on you for interfering in their business. And how did he know that one? Take a wild guess.         That was why he really wanted Kris to stay out of it. If she got involved, then that meant he’d have to get involved too and he absolutely did not want to do that. Life was too short for that sort of stress. Just let them go at it. Shit, let them kill each other if that’s what they wanted to do! Maybe if they did, calm and order could finally be restored to this Sheraton-on-wheels and Tony could actually breathe again. Due in large part to those two banshees, his claustrophobia was totally kicking his ass again. He absolutely could not wait for this damn bus to stop so he could get some air. He just needed to get out of here!         To get his mind off the current war zone he was stuck inside, Tony opted to write a song. His little musical genius was not one you could just turn on and off at whim, but he was literally forcing something this morning. He’d end up just as crazy as they were if he didn’t. The resulting composition was…well, not great. It wasn’t exactly one of his best, but considering the circumstances, he had to say it wasn’t half bad. At least, the kids thought so. Since they made such a killer little focus group, he’d taken to testing the new stuff out on them and they had a pleasant reaction to this one. They didn’t slap each other during it, they didn’t get up and run away from it, they didn’t even decide that the third chorus would be the perfect time to jump off the couch, which was the ultimate compliment. It was really a great sign.         And you wanna know what an even better one was? Phoenix was still holed up in his bunk and Trent was blissfully hogging the phone. Know what that meant? That meant there was no fighting! Of course, Tony was sure it would all start again soon enough, but he fully intended to savor this quiet while it lasted - and hope to God they made the hell up soon… *****         Back at home, Cecily had no inkling of the turmoil taking place on the road. All she knew was she felt like crap this morning. Last night was a very long one. She must’ve tossed and turned for three hours before finally falling asleep - and then, she had to get up to use the bathroom and couldn’t go back to sleep. It was horrible.         No matter what position she tried, she just couldn’t get comfortable. And it wasn’t so much Gunnar that was keeping her awake. As usual, all was quiet down there. Gunnar was, in fact, the only one that had seemed to get a really good night’s sleep.         Skyler was also afflicted by some insomnia at three o’clock in the morning, thanks to a bad dream that she couldn’t talk about. Cecily wished she knew what it was about. It was obviously very traumatic for Sky, since she came in almost hysterical, clutching her Grover and wailing that she was “scared.”         Cecily did all she could to console her, stressing that whatever scared her so much in her dream wasn’t real and couldn’t really hurt her. She promised to keep her safe and invited her to spend the rest of the night in her bed to ensure she didn’t have another nightmare.         Skyler took a while to fall back asleep, but eventually did. For Cecily, it was a totally different story. After that, she laid awake for almost two hours before fading back out...and as soon as she did, that damn phone rang. She was just couldn’t believe it! Who the hell was this?! It was 5:45!         Well, guess what? It was Trent. He apologized for calling so early, explaining that he had no clue what time it was where he was and he really didn’t know it was that early. It took all she had to assure that it was fine, as her eyes literally burned from lack of sleep. Still, she knew she couldn’t very well tell him to call back later, when she didn’t feel so terrible. As ungodly as it was, this was probably the only time he had free to call her.         The past few days had obviously been crazy for him. He was extremely apologetic about not being able to call as much as he could in the beginning, but that was another thing she swore she understood. She’d been there before. It was literally one thing after another. The fact that he was able to call so frequently at first was nothing short of a miracle.         Still, she did miss hearing from him, which was why she sat up to take the call…and he stayed on the phone for hours, even enjoying a lengthy conversation with Skyler when she got up. It was the cutest thing. Sky just sat right up and demanded the phone. She obviously knew who her momma woke her up talking to!           The sad thing was, Sky really didn’t want to give the phone back after she got it. Cecily had to cut her a deal - if she went with MiMi to get dressed for today and was a very, very good girl, she could talk to Daddy again. Needless to say, Sky held up her end of the bargain. She was, in fact, still savoring her reward at the kitchen table when Micah dropped by that morning - a good forty-five minutes later than usual.         “I am so, so sorry,” he apologized, extending the breakfast Pat prepared out to Sandra as she opened the door.         Sandra actually seemed happy to see him, which was a first. Mostly, all she did was glare at him from a safe distance away. Maybe she wasn’t all that terrible after all. Or maybe she was just in one of those bizarre Pat-like good moods. He didn’t know. All he knew was she seemed rather pleasant when she held the door open for him. “Good morning, Micah! Come on in. Why are you sorry?”         “Well, because I’m so late,” he replied, as if it should have been obvious.         Sandra quickly dismissed that with a swift hand motion and laughed. “Don’t worry about that.”         “Still, I’m very sorry to have kept you waiting. Although it’s no excuse, I just could not get out of bed this morning.”         “None of us could, sweetheart. Trust me, none of us could. Sit down. Cecily is getting a shower and Sky is on the phone with her daddy, so it’s pretty much you and me.”         “So T.J. called?” Micah asked, taking a seat next to Skyler at the table. She didn’t even look up at him. She was totally immersed in her conversation. Cute.         “Yeah. And he called early too. It must have been five o’clock,” Sandra responded over her shoulder. She then looked to Sky. “Are you hungry, baby?” Still completely immersed in whatever fascinating information she was sharing with her dad, Skyler did not even look up. Sandra glared over at her. “Donaye, I asked you if you were hungry.”         That got Skyler’s attention. “No ma’am,” she amended, in a small voice.         “Donaye?” Micah couldn’t help but laugh.         “Middle name,” Sandra provided. “Well, one of them, anyway.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “I cannot believe she gave that baby three names. And they are the funkiest, most made-up names I’ve ever heard!”         “If memory serves, she named her after Phoenix and Tony - right?”         Sandra shook her head disapprovingly. “She certainly did. Don’t ask me why, though. I don’t know what they’ve ever done for her.” Before he could get the wrong idea, she quickly backpedaled, “I don’t want you to think I’m jealous, because I’m not. She offered to name her Skyler Sandra but I told her not to. I thought that sounded terrible. I just don’t think she should have named her after anyone if she wasn’t going to name her after me.”         Micah didn’t know exactly what to say to that, so he changed the subject. “You know, it’s very cute how Skyler is saying ‘no ma’am.’”         This time, Sandra shook her head proudly. “That was MiMi’s influence. You have to teach them respect early. If you don’t, they just say what they want to. They don’t care. See, I made that mistake with Cecily. Do you think she ever says ‘yes ma’am’ to me? No! Not at all. Now, I have to say that T.J.’s momma raised him right. He’s extremely polite. That’s probably the one good thing that tramp did with him. Oh, don’t get me started on that woman! You remember when she didn’t show up to the premiere back in April? What kind of mother is that?! Do you think that I would ever do something like…”         Wow, Cecily hadn’t been kidding, had she? Micah had barely spent five minutes with the woman and already he wanted to kill her - or at least, shove something down her throat. Didn’t she like anything? Didn’t she have a good thing to say about anyone? No wonder Cecily didn’t want to be around her much. If his mother had been that disagreeable, Micah wouldn’t have either.         Again, he changed the subject. “So you said T.J. called at five o’clock in the morning?”         “Well, it was closer to six, but still.”         “Oh, sweet Lord…” That was really more of a prayer than an expletive, spoken with a heavy sigh.         “I know,” Sandra agreed, with another one of her disapproving nods, as she set some coffee in front of him. “Drink up, baby. You look awful.”         Well, that was the only thing Micah had agreed with her about all morning! He did look awful. This had been one hell of a morning. And though he was certainly no fan of coffee, he wasn’t about to turn it down. A jolt was a jolt, no matter where you got it from.         He still really wasn’t awake yet, even though Pat started screeching at him at six. He honestly had every intention of getting up, but he ended up resolving that five more minutes of sleep wasn’t going to hurt anyone. And then, sixty-five minutes later, Pat came running in with this food, calling him a layabout and informing that he was late. And a very good morning to you too, love.         Actually, that was just the tip of the iceberg. He had 500,000 things to do today - like meet with Andy and the boys on album progress and then with Nikki to cast the session players on her album and then somehow remember to go get Jenna from school...and you know another thing he had? A sinking suspicion that he would be late for all of it. Every last thing.         Though he could imagine the face he made was even worse than Tony’s ‘dear God, don’t make me drink tea!’ one, Micah still took a sip of his coffee and began to mentally rehearse his apology. He was certain to have to employ it quite a lot today. That was when Sandra asked, “How’s your daughter?”         He looked up at her and forced himself to swallow the bitter sludge swirling around in his mouth, before affirming, as casually as possible, “She’s fine, thank you.”         Sandra took a seat across the table from him. “Makes you wonder what in the world you did wrong, doesn’t it?”         Though he was quite certain of what she was alluding to, he still heard himself ask, “Pardon me?”         “When they go off and do things like that. I had that same trouble with Cecily. Well, she didn’t get pregnant, but she thought she was grown when she was seventeen and she just moved. Gone! To New York! And she wouldn’t even come back home! I just couldn’t imagine what I did wrong. I know just how you feel right now.”         She reached out a comforting hand, but he violently jerked away before she could touch him. Okay, obviously she knew about this and that…well, that wasn’t exactly good news, but he could live with it. People were going to find out sooner or later and he had to accept that. What he could not accept, however, is that she would imply that this was one, a horrible thing and two, somehow his own fault!         “If you would kindly keep your opinions about my daughter and her current situation to yourself, I would really appreciate it.” Though the words were gracious, the tone in which they were spoken was fierce.         Sandra’s eyes widened. “Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not trying to judge you. I know how you feel! When they go off and make stupid mistakes like that, you want to shake them! I can’t imagine how you and your wife feel about this. Your wife probably feels especially terrible, because - ”         Micah didn’t even allow her to finish her sentence. He stood, as though a force had jerked him right out of the chair, and glared down at her with an unflinching intensity. “Is this all you have to do all day? Speculate on what someone else must feel like? Speculate on what someone else must be going through? Don’t you have a life of your own or have you dedicated it to inserting yourself into things that are not your business?” Though Micah was tempted to tack on, “And it’s no wonder Cecily wants to kill you!” he managed to refrain, only heading for the sink and dumping that terrible coffee.         She stood, supposedly to offer a rebuttal, but before she could open her mouth, he turned back to face her. “You know who I want to shake? People like you, who don’t have a single bloody clue what they’re talking about, but they talk anyway! I hate people like you. Always got something to say, don’t ya? Always looking for new things to gossip about. Always looking for something else you can offer your expertise on. Well, I neither want nor need your expertise, if you could even call it that. Given that your relationship with your own daughter sorely needs repair, you’re a fine one to tell me what I should do about mine!”         Okay, maybe this was striking him all wrong, but he was really getting angry here. And he really needed to get out of here, lest he make himself even later than he already was. Though her eyes were shooting fire, Sandra didn’t dare say anything, only watching him stalk right back out the door. Though he knew he should probably feel remorse for saying those things - and was certain he would sooner rather than later - Micah actually felt pretty damn good about it right now.         That was for those that wanted to speculate on his true feelings for Nikki. For those that dared to whisper about Jenna’s pregnancy. For those that had actually taken bets on how much longer his marriage would last - thinking it would never get back to him. Well, it did. And since he knew it was relatively impossible to go track down every single gossip hound in greater Los Angeles, he’d settle for telling perhaps the biggest, most foul tempered of them all.         Micah felt vindicated. Justified. Like he’d finally had his say on the many mean spirited people that seemed to take great pleasure in talking about what he and his family was going through from day to day. Believe it or not, exploding like that put him in a much better mood. Maybe this day wouldn’t be so terrible after all… *****         Phoenix was the absolute last one up on the main BLT bus that morning, stumbling out of bed at twenty till twelve. And even after all that sleep - and all those vivid, to say the least, dreams - he still didn’t feel quite right. He didn’t know if that had anything to do with what went on yesterday or not, but he didn’t feel like himself at all.         Of course, upon admitting that, Serena overreacted, jumping to the conclusion that he must be coming down with something, even though he tried (repeatedly) to insist that wasn’t it. It was much more of a psychological thing than a physical thing - even though he was pretty drained. If he wasn’t so damn mad at the shrink, he might ask him about it...you know, maybe all this did stem from the fight yesterday.         All Phoenix knew for sure was he was somewhat off his game today and he’d yet to keep the promise he made Andy to call Jonas Ritchie (to plead Vyro’s case once more) and Scott Carroll (to hopefully get something more than a recording). And the reason? Because T.J. was on the phone, had been since dawn (at least, according to Rena) and was quite stubbornly refusing to get off, even though he knew very well that Phoenix needed to fulfill his obligations. Did he call this revenge? Is that what it was? Because the only thing it was accomplishing was making Trent look like a complete dumbass.         Since when did he get so childish? And since when was he that damn obsessed with talking to his wife? I mean, okay, Phoenix totally got it that he missed her and all that stuff, but that didn’t mean he had to be on the phone with her all morning long! What the hell was that about? He wanted to call Phoenix a telephone hog? Um, excuse me, but Phoenix had obligations. A job to do. He hadn’t intentionally stayed on the phone until the cows came home out of pure spite, Mr. Maturity.         Mr. Maturity - yeah, that was laughable. While Trent might pride himself on his ‘wise beyond his years’ label, Phoenix knew the truth. He was an overgrown three year old. In fact, Phoenix would go even further than that. Skyler was more mature than he was - and she was a hell of a lot more pleasant.         After shaking off Rena’s unwanted concern, Phoenix slunk off to the kitchen table to wake up a bit and try to figure out what in the world had him so out of it today. His self examination was so intense he didn’t even notice Kristen until she sat right down next to him and reached out. “Hey.”         “Hey,” he acknowledged, briefly looking over at her. “Good morning.”         She didn’t know what to say or how to say it, but she wanted him to know that she was on his side. She took his hand, entwining her fingers with his. “You know I love you,” she whispered.         “I know,” he affirmed with a sigh. “But it never hurts to hear it, especially on a day like today.”         “Are you feeling all right?”         “Eh, I guess,” Phoenix shrugged. “I’ve been better, but I’ll live.”         Oh, what the hell. This needed to be said. Leaning over to ensure this was kept solely between them, Kristen whispered, “Tony says I don’t need to get involved, but I’m telling you right now, T.J. needs his ass kicked.”         Phoenix laughed. He could hardly argue that. Still, all he chose to advise was, “You should listen to Steiney.”         “You don’t need that,” Kristen continued, in hushed volumes. “With everything else you’ve got going on, you just don’t need that, Donnie.”         “It’ll be okay,” he insisted. “It always is.”         Yeah, he had a point there. Donnie was, without a single doubt, one of the most forgiving people you could ever come across. Oh, sure it didn’t look like it all the time, but take a look at his track record: Dennis, Serena (twice), T.J. (a million times over). To put it simply, he was a saint. And that’s what she loved about him. Nevertheless, she squeezed his hand and volunteered, “If you need me, you know I’ve got your back.”         He nodded. “I know.”…         Despite it being lunch hour, Andy could not indulge in a break. This day had been utter insanity, from the very minute he opened his eyes, and it only seemed to get worse by the second. First, there was the ‘urgent’ twelve (twelve!) messages from some neurotic station manager named Brian (side note: why was every single Br(i/y)an in the universe a complete freak?) in Milwaukee. The way the guy made it sound, he was going to slit his own throat if Andy didn’t call him back immediately and guess what? His problem was not a problem at all! Wanna know why he called twelve times, in a fevered uproar? Because he needed to know when Stacey’s single would be releasing. That’s it.         All that drama, all those messages - for that. And would you believe the day (and people in said day) just got crazier after that?         Oh, yes. There was also the ten a.m. meeting with Micah and two of the Mullenese (Saul never did bother showing up). Andy expected that to be one of the very few things to actually go well today, but fate obviously had other plans. It seemed the Mullen boys had absolutely no clue what they wanted out of their upcoming project. None of them offered any decisive answers to the questions Andy lobbied, nor did they seem very interested in pinning down recording dates. All Joe did was stare over at Micah the entire time, all Micah did was nod and deflect the questions to Adam and all Adam did was mumble vague commitments and objections.         Then, there was the phone call from James Kelley, of all people, who wanted to ask for - get this - a raise. I’m sorry, what? You want a raise when you haven’t done a damn thing in two years? When you never come to work anymore? When you probably never should’ve been hired in the first place and probably never would’ve been hired if Phoenix hadn’t pretty much forced Joel into it? Uh, no. Sorry. No raise for you. The way Andy saw it, Jimmy was still pretty damn lucky to even have a job.         Between those major three events, there were also sporadic phone calls, from idiots from all over the country, inquiring about the singles or the albums or something that Andy was wasting his time by answering. As so many people routinely pointed out to him, he had a full staff to handle this…hello! Call them! Don’t bug him!         Do you think those people caught the hint? Of course not.         And now, just when Andy thought the day could not get any worse, Tim came strolling in, looking very much like the undead. Confidently (and quite presumptuously), he took a seat in the chair facing his desk. He had the most smug little grin on his face that Andy had ever seen and he was in just the mood to slap it off. Though his voice remained steady - if somewhat perturbed - his eyes shot a hole straight through Tim as he asked, “Can I help you with something?”         “Yeah. Yeah. It’s about the meeting this afternoon. The one we have scheduled for four?”         “Don’t tell me. Don’t even tell me!”         “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I can’t make it,” Tim informed grimly. “At least, not at four. Could we move it up to three maybe? I could be here then.”         And what difference, exactly, would an hour make? “So you can be here at three, but not four? Wanna tell me why?”         Tim leaned back in his chair and propped a tennis shoed foot up on the desk. “Something came up with Keith. It’s something me and Vic have to go take care of, so you know...”         Briskly, Andy knocked Tim’s foot off his desk. “I see.”         “Hope that’s not gonna be a problem.”         Problem? Oh, no! Why would it be a problem? It only meant that Andy would have to completely rearrange his schedule - again! Now, why in God’s holy name would that be a problem? But you know what? As infuriating as it was, it was hardly worth arguing about. “Okay. Whatever. Fine,” Andy agreed, with a nod.         Tim stood. “Great. Sorry about this, but you know how kids are. I swear, he’s just like me at that age!”         “Yeah, I’ll bet he is. Now, if I go to all this trouble to reschedule everything, are you gonna actually show up?” Even though Andy knew the answer to that (a huge, resounding ‘no!’), he still felt compelled to ask.         Tim, who was already halfway to the door, turned back. “Oh, sure. Sure. I’ll be here.”         Yeah, we’ll just see about that… So what did you think of this week? Drop by the BCD forums and let us know!