Week Six - Part Two: While many might perceive the following statement as a gross, excessively harsh over-exaggeration, the sad truth is…it’s not. There was nothing good about the show that night, nor was there anything salvageable. The whole thing was a complete bust, right from the get go. The list of complaints just went on and on: the sound quality more closely resembled that of a seventh grade talent show, with feedback resounding out of every mic and amp there was - and not even the trusty ear monitors were left unscathed. T.J. seemed to get the worst end of the deal, with his producing such strong feedback he could hardly hear himself sing. Tony’s, meanwhile, abruptly decided to stop working three songs into the performance. Maybe, though, that was a good thing. Phoenix somehow managed to evade the ‘Great Ear Monitor Attack of ’90’, but his microphone seemed to have a mind of its own. After fading in and out intermittently during the first handful of songs, it died completely during a tense rendition of “Everybody”. That, of course, resulted in Phoenix dramatically hurling it across the stage and unleashing a string of obscenities those in the first three rows could hear all too clearly even without its aid. And then, of course, there was Tony’s absolute favorite part of the evening - five whole minutes of dead air (so to speak) while a replacement microphone was found. It was the strangest, most wacky thing Tony had honestly ever seen. And I mean, yeah, of course, he’d done shows where things just weren’t working right, but to have every single piece of equipment malfunction at the exact same time? Creepy stuff. At the risk of winning the Paranoid Idiot Award for Excellence in Conspiracy Theorizing, it almost reeked of sabotage. Short of the roadies doing a completely half assed job in setting it up (something they’d never been guilty of before), there was just no other explanation for it. Of course, that was not to say that Tony was pointing any fingers - Phoenix and Trent already had that lovely little task pretty much covered. Once again, their logic completely stymied him. Who were they blaming for this unexplainable turn of events? Not the roadies, not the equipment itself, they were blaming each other. Yes, that’s right. Each other. And yeah, it’s okay to pause and say, “What the hell?!” ’cause Tony had to do that too. Okay, number one: Those two weren’t technicians, they weren’t experts on the gear - they were performers. And the problem (the biggest problem, anyway) did not lie in shoddy performances. Therefore, they did absolutely nothing to cause it, so it could not possibly be their fault! Number two: Rather than showing just how mature they were and flinging wild accusations at each other, why didn’t they focus on working out just how the hell they were going to get around this?! It was obvious the problem was not going to rectify itself (it was hindering the performance of the Good Men at that very moment), so what they needed to do was figure out ways around it. Back up plans, in case things just got even worse. Wouldn’t that make more sense than just standing there and yelling, “This is all your fault!” “No, this is all your fault!”? But then, that would require actually seeing past a petty little vendetta and Tony could honestly say that was something neither Phoenix nor T.J. were capable of at the moment. If The Volatile Twins wanted to blame each other for something, they should be blaming each other for the hostile environment they’d created on that bus for the past two days. Maybe for the stress they’d caused everyone else. Or maybe, just maybe for the fact that both their vocals were so terribly out of tune tonight Tony kept waiting for the gong. Of course, the faulty equipment could’ve very well been…uh, at fault for that one, but Tony didn’t really think so. Despite having a crazy ear monitor, a mic that worked when it felt like it and amplifiers from hell, he still managed to sound relatively decent. So what was their excuse? He got that they were mad at each other - hell, everyone within a fifteen mile radius could pick up on that one - but did they have to go ruin the show for everyone because of it? That was the one thing he just couldn’t reconcile and he knew that if he stood there ten seconds longer and listened to their intermission argument, he wouldn’t be able to resist telling them so. That was why he escaped into a private little hideaway with some coffee. He needed to get away from that shit for a while. It was making him crazy. He’d no sooner sat down and caught his breath when Trent came storming into his little hideaway - and it was obvious he was on the warpath. He slammed the door behind himself and immediately grabbed the cigarettes he’d stashed back here earlier. Tony didn’t say a single word to him until he hurled the pack across the room at him. It landed right at his feet and as he bent to get it, he choked out a terse, “Thanks. I guess.” “Yeah, well, I figured you could use one.” Trent slid down against the door and sighed. “This has been the kind of day emphysema’s made of.” “Yeah, tell me about it.” As he lit a cigarette, Tony studied T.J. closely. The very last thing he wanted was for all the aggression of five minutes ago to be aimed straight in his direction, but he really, really had to say something here. Slowly, he exhaled. Here went nothing. “You do know this whole disaster isn’t Phoenix’s fault, right?” Trent looked up at him. His expression was a hard one to read, but he did nod. “Yeah. Of course I do.” “Well, that’s not what you were saying five minutes ago,” Tony hastened to remind. T.J. leaned down and put his head between his knees. “Don’t you start too, okay, Steiney? I’m really not in the mood.” More than anything, Tony wanted to say, “Well, now you know how I feel! Do you think I was in the mood to hear you two screaming at each other ad nauseum for the past two days?!” but he only managed, “I know you’re not. Nobody is.” “For whatever it’s worth, I’m sorry,” Trent offered, looking up. “I know you hate it when we do that shit and trust me, I hate it too. I hate it and I’m sick of it and I’m sorry. I’m just…” He took a long drag off his cigarette and shook his head. “I don’t know. God, I don’t even know. All I know is I hate this. I hate being out here, I hate getting yelled at, I hate getting blamed for everything - I just wanna go home.” Again, he looked up. “That’s what it comes down to, Steiney. I wanna go home.” Tony nodded. “I know. I do too. It really gets to you after a while, but look at it this way - the end is closer than it was a month ago.” Trent shrugged. He was in no mood for optimism right now. After that long conversation with Sess this morning, his longing to go home was more intense than ever. He willed himself to retain his sanity out here by providing as many distractions as possible, but it was moments like this one - when everything in the world was going wrong - that he couldn’t deny the burden of this separation any longer. “I don’t know how you did it all those times,” he marveled quietly, again looking up at Tony. “What, all those tours? I didn’t have a choice,” Tony sighed. “Joel had serious dollar signs in his eyes and you know how that usually worked out.” “That’s not exactly what I meant. You left, said goodbye to Kathy, came out here, kept your sanity and did it all without raising your voice. And you did it half a million times. Now that,” Trent pointed at him, “that is what I can’t get over. My hat’s off to you, man, because you’re obviously a lot stronger than I’ll ever be.” Tony sat in silence for a moment before shaking his head. “I don’t think it really had anything to do with being strong. If anything, it was because I was too weak to say no.” He laughed despite himself. “Ask anyone. That’s what they’ll say about it. I have no spine! And as for saying goodbye to Kath…well, sometimes that was for the best.” “Yeah, I guess it was,” T.J. conceded, then again rested his head between his knees. “God, my head is killing me.” “I’m staving off a headache of my own here. Ear monitor?” “Huh?” Trent looked up at him and took a long drag off his cigarette. So much for those things providing some sort of calming effect. The longer he sat here and thought about it, the more he wanted to get on a plane, blow off the rest of this godforsaken tour and go back home where he belonged. And the ongoing war with Phoenix, the show from hell and the migraine of the century weren’t exactly incentives to stick it out. “Your ear monitor,” Tony clarified. “Yours was giving you hell too, right?” “God, it was so bad I couldn’t even hear myself,” T.J. groaned, leaning back against the door. “I couldn’t hear me, I couldn’t hear y’all, I just know I sounded terrible - ” “Not gonna lie to you, man. You did. You really did.” “Yeah well, sorry about that. I really couldn’t help it. I wanted to throw that thing halfway to Japan.” “Sort of like Phoenix did the microphone?” That proved to be the only thing Trent had smiled at all evening long. “That was priceless.” Tony had to laugh. “That was the most entertaining thing that happened all night.” “Man, those poor people probably hate us right now. This’ll probably be funny in ten years, but right now…” He didn’t bother to finish his sentence, only expelling a heavy sigh. Again, Tony nodded. “I know. But this is just one night. And it’s that much closer to the end. Don’t lose sight of that one. Believe me, I know how you feel, but the end’s coming.” Trent forced himself to laugh. “And it can’t get here fast enough.”… There was a headache resonating through Micah’s skull by the time he got back home. Much as he’d feared, he was late for every single task on the schedule today - and that included heading over to get Jenna from university. As it turned out, that didn’t matter much, because she wasn’t going to be coming home this weekend, anyway. Apologetically, she explained that she’d ‘sort of already made plans’ to spend the weekend with a few friends. And she ‘sort of’ didn’t think to tell him this before he came all the way out here to get her on what had been, by all intents and purposes, the day from hell? Good to know common courtesy was still alive and well, wasn’t it? Though that was incredibly frustrating, Micah chose to say nothing of it and just floored it all the way back home. The way he saw it, the sooner he got home, the sooner this entire day was over and the sooner he could pool what was left of his resolve and patience, in case tomorrow was even worse. He got in at almost five and, of course, Pat had to interrogate him about why Jenna was not with him. She wanted to know what plans were made with what friends - two questions Micah did not have an answer for. That, predictably, brought about a lengthy lecture on how evil the world was and how he (she conveniently excused herself from any and all responsibility) should be taking better care of poor little Jenna, all by herself in a great, big, scary world. “We have a right to know what’s going on in her life, Micah,” she huffed. “There’s so much trouble she can get into out there and it’s our responsibility - no, our duty - to make sure she stays away from it!” Micah tried - believe me, he tried - like hell to avoid the inevitable argument, but Pat absolutely wouldn’t shut up, following him all over the house and insinuating the same things Sandra had earlier - that he was an utterly awful, negligent parent. Pat, of course, made herself out to be a saint, informing that she tried her best, but was largely ‘uninformed.’ And wouldn’t you know, she went on and on and on until he was a raving lunatic. It was almost as if she’d been gunning for that sort of reaction - and well, Micah was all too eager to give it to her. Much like the unfortunate encounter with Sandra this morning, Micah spoke hastily and out of pure rage. He knew he’d eventually regret his words, but when Patsy stomped out of the house in a huff, he honestly didn’t shed any tears. That was, actually, the best damn thing that had happened to him all day. At least with her gone, he could have some peace. Some time to get his priorities back in order, to regain the focus lost in the insanity that seemed to plague this entire day. He was confident that when Pat eventually returned, he’d be ready to say he was sorry and let it go - he just hoped she was willing to do the same. After getting a shower, something to eat and engaging in inane conversation with Nikki downstairs, Micah headed up to bed. If that was not an even further testament to how quickly he wanted this day over with (or how old he was - that too), he didn’t know what was. He was already asleep by seven o’clock - and he didn’t wake up until almost eleven, when the phone rang. Micah groaned, ran a hand over his face and briefly consulted the clock radio that sat on Pat’s nightstand. Surprisingly enough, she was home, so it obviously wasn't her on the phone. Who, then, in their right mind would call this late? He wasn’t even sure he wanted to know, but his sense of duty won out and he reached to grab the receiver. No matter how much he might’ve despised this person’s timing, it could have been a very important call. What if there was an emergency somewhere? “What happened with you and my mother?” Cecily asked, the very second he picked up the phone. “What? Cecily?” “What did you say to her?” Again, Micah groaned. As if this day could not get any worse, he now had to contend with Cecily, who’d obviously called to avenge the things he said to her mum. He might as well just admit it, apologize and hope she wouldn’t make a huge issue of it…though Micah knew he likely would’ve made a huge issue of it if someone had dared to say the same things to his mother. But then, his mother and Cecily’s mother were two entirely different individuals. His mother never went around inciting anyone else to riot. Still, bitch or not, a mum was a mum and he was obligated to at least offer up an apology for his actions. “There were a lot of things that never should’ve have been said - ” Before he could say anything more, Cecily interrupted, “That’s what I was afraid of.” She paused and sighed. “Look, I don’t know who said what or anything, but I want you to know I’m so sorry about whatever she did. I really am.” That one honestly caught Micah off-guard. “She wasn’t the only one at fault,” he managed to admit. “That’s what she said too,” Cecily affirmed. “You were to blame for the entire thing - at least, according to her. I’ll have you know she absolutely can’t stand you right now. Let me tell you, that could be considered a badge of honor, because she can’t stand anyone I like. I don’t know how you’ll ever live the rest of your life knowing she hates you, but I think you’ll manage somehow.” Okay, maybe it was the fact that he was half asleep here…but was she actually on his side with this one? After taking a moment to gather his thoughts once more, Micah again attempted to apologize. “Tell her I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to say what I said. She just…evoked something in me.” “My mother is prone to do that,” Cecily laughed. “And don’t worry about apologizing, because I was actually calling to apologize to you! I’m afraid I know my mother quite well and when she started on the whole ‘Micah is evil’ soapbox, I knew she’d done something.” “Oh, so I’m evil?” He couldn’t contain a chuckle at Sandra’s assessment of him. “Badge of honor, I’m telling you. I’m evil too now for not rushing to her defense. Like I said, I really don’t know what was said between you two, but whatever it was, I’m so sorry for her part in it. I hope you won’t hate me now.” “Hate you? No!” Micah scoffed. “Why would I hate you because of something she said?” “A lot of people have in the past,” Cecily justified. “She’s really great at driving my friends away, so again, I’m sorry.” “Don’t be sorry at all.” He leaned back against the headboard and again consulted the clock. “So you rang me awfully late. Is everything okay?” “Sorry about that, but I literally just found about it and I wanted to at least call you and make sure everything’s okay on your end. And yeah, other than that, everything’s okay around here.” For the record, that was a huge lie, but Cecily wasn’t about to tell Micah that. For starters, she felt like hell - this had been the absolute worst day of her pregnancy since the whole nausea thing passed. She could barely move she was so uncomfortable and she’d also noticed that Gunnar was much quieter than usual down there this evening. That one had her worried, though she knew she had no real reason to be. She always tended to freak out and overreact when something wasn’t quite right with her pregnancies - it all went back to Hunter. To this day, she felt guilty that she hadn’t done anything sooner when the weird things started happening and she was determined to never let that happen again. Of course, both of these pregnancies had been vastly different than the first. She knew both those babies were perfectly healthy, developing normally and that the same fate that befell Hunter would not befall them…still, she just couldn’t help being a bit on edge. She’d spent all evening lying down, trying to calm both herself and Gunnar down. It was actually kind of funny in retrospect. She kept telling Gunnar that he didn’t have anything to worry about, because she’d never let anything happen to him - as if he truly had a care in the world. He was a pretty laid back kid - much more laid back than Skyler had been…or than Cecily was now, for that matter. And then, her mother - having no real concept of her discomfort - came bursting in with the news of her and Micah’s altercation this morning. The way she made it sound, he called her every nasty name in the book and basically said he hoped she died a slow and painful death. There was no doubt in Cecily’s mind that Momma’s account of the incident was an overblown one. For one, she’d never known that woman to be the innocent victim of anyone’s temper. And secondly (perhaps most importantly), she knew Micah well enough to know that he never (never!) said those sorts of things to anyone - regardless of whether or not they deserved it. Still, Sandra was adamant that Cecily run to her defense and tell Micah that he was no longer welcome in the house - that he wasn’t even allowed within fifty feet of it. Needless to say, that one didn’t exactly happen. In fact, Cecily gave her a whole other issue to be unhappy about, when she told her that she was fed up with the way she tried to dictate a house that was not even hers. So yeah…it had been the night from hell. “Everything’s just fine,” Cecily continued to lie. “How are you? Did you manage to have a good day after that? I hope you did.” “Not really, no,” Micah admitted with a laugh. “But it’s okay. Really. And I do want you to tell her that I’m sorry.” “Sure, I’ll do that.” Another lie. She wasn’t in the mood to speak to her mother ever again after tonight’s theatrics, but reasoned that it probably made Micah feel better to hear that his half-hearted apology would be passed along. “Well, it’s pretty late,” she announced. “And I think I’m just going to go to bed now. You sound like you were already in bed when I called, so I’m sorry about that.” “Don’t worry about it, love,” he dismissed. “It’s no problem. Take care of yourself, all right? And ring me if you need anything.” “I will. Thanks. Good night.” “Good night.”… ***** The revelation that Joel was quitting proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for Andy. He sat in utter, stunned silence for a few moments after Joel made his off-the-cuff announcement, then jumped up and completely lost it. The very first thing out of his mouth was that it just wasn’t that easy. Joel couldn’t just walk in and say he quit. Not when JLN needed him that much…not when Andy needed him that much. Predictably, that did little to change Joel’s mind. Calmly, he once again brought up the saga of Tony and Kathy, saying that one of the most crippling blows JLN had ever been dealt is when the King of M-monger’s Paradise abruptly decided to hang up his leisure suits. “That was something I thought we’d never get over,” Joel recalled, shaking his head at the memory. “I thought that was it, we were finished. But by the next year, everything was back to normal again, maybe even a little better. This may seem like the end of the world right now, Andy, but - ” Andy never gave him a chance to finish his sentence, angrily declaring, “It’s not the same damn thing, Joel! And you know it’s not!” Joel, surprised, only stared back at him. Given the animosity that Andy had shown him lately, he would’ve thought this announcement would go over a lot better than it did. In short, he halfway expected Andy to do a dance of praise to the deity of his choice when he heard it. “It really is, if you - ” “If you what, Joel?” Andy again interrupted. “If you put Tony in the same category as you and pretend it’s all the same? Tony was…” Andy took a moment to finish his thought, beginning to rabidly pace the room. Finally, he turned back to Joel and pointed an accusatory finger in his direction. “Tony wasn’t you, okay? It was a big deal, yeah, but he wasn’t the one running the ship here. I love Tony - you know I do - but let’s face it. He’s just a singer. He’s not the whole fucking company!” Joel stood. “I’m not the whole company anymore, remember? I’m not the one running the ship. That’s your job now.” “You’re gonna make me…” Andy turned back around and sighed heavily. Joel was almost afraid to ask where he was going with that. Before he could open his mouth, though, Andy actually laughed. “My God, I should have known you’d make me say it. You’re gonna make me say it, aren’t you?” “Make you say what? I don’t - ” Once more, Andy turned to face him. “Okay, Joel. I’ll say it. I may be the one that’s running the ship around here, but the only one that knows what they’re doing - the only one that’s ever known what they’re doing - is you. Okay? I don’t know what I’m doing! I admit it! Are you happy now?” “Don’t even start with this melodramatic bullshit!” Joel snarled, before he could even think of himself. “You know what you’re doing. You spent the whole past year showing me that you know what you’re doing. It’s not a matter of knowing what you’re doing - it’s a matter of being afraid to do it.” Though Joel expected Andy to immediately deny that allegation, all he did was stand there and stare at him. Then, he started pacing again. “You’re gonna make me say that one too, aren’t you? God, I just knew it!” “I’m not making you say anything,” Joel maintained. “I’m calling it like I see it.” “Well, you’re right,” Andy informed, coming to a stop right in front of him. “You’re right. I’m scared. Scared of failure, that’s me. That’s me!” Joel was incredulous. “Failure?! You’ve done a better job with this company than I ever did! What the hell do you mean failure?” “Every single fucking thing I’ve managed to accomplish over the past year - who was standing over my shoulder, Joel? You were! You were there, to make sure I didn’t fuck everything up! Admit it!” “I wasn’t sure if I trusted you yet,” Joel admitted quietly, switching his gaze down to the floor. Andy nodded slowly. “But you trust me now, that’s what you’re saying? I mean, you must if you’re gonna just bolt out of here and leave me to man the Titanic, right?” Joel rolled his eyes. “Titanic? JLN is far from a Titanic!” “Sure - when you’re here to supervise it. Right?” “What the hell are you trying to say, Andy?” Andy took a seat atop his desk and pointed at Joel again. “Safety net. That’s what I’m trying to say, Joel. You’re the safety net. You say you trust me now, right? Well, that’s great, but,” he paused, running both hands over his face, “the thing is, I don’t trust me. Do you understand what I’m saying now?” Joel nodded. He understood the words Andy spoke completely, even if the logic behind them was eluding him at the moment. Andy saw him as a safety net? Since when? Most of the time, he was running him out of the office and reminding him that he had no say so over JLN anymore. He never ran anything past him, he never consulted him on anything - even when he really should’ve, such as when he decided to offer that slack-off loser Tim Hearst a job. For Andy to say that he did not trust himself, he obviously trusted himself and his own judgment enough to place the very future of JLN into the hands of a certifiable fruitcake. “I would have thought you’d be happy about this!” Joel threw back at him. “This is what you wanted all along, so don’t even try to tell me that I was your safety net! When you took over, you took over, Andy! You didn’t even ask my opinion, so there’s no way in hell I’m your safety net. You do your own thing, just like you always did! Tim Hearst would be a prime example of that one!” “That is exactly what I’m talking about!” Andy declared, jumping up again. “I made the biggest mistake of my life when I hired that guy and - ” He stopped himself, began to pace and took a few deep breaths. When he turned back around to resume his thought, his voice was much calmer, barely above a whisper. “Okay, Joel, let me tell you like it is, okay? You’re gonna leave me with this company, with that lunatic, and you’re gonna expect me to do well? It can’t be done, Joel. It can’t. You can’t walk out that door and leave me like this, because I can’t do it. Is that clear enough for you?” “You can do it,” Joel insisted. “I know you can. Look, I had my turn. I did what I wanted to do, I set this whole thing up - been there, done that. It’s your turn now. I told you when I resigned this was your moment. Do you remember that? Well, it’s your moment, Andy. You can do it. I don’t doubt that for a second.” “All right, then,” Andy resolved. Again, he expelled a heavy sigh and then pointed at the door. “As you wish.” Joel wasn’t sure what to say to that, to be totally honest. He must’ve inwardly debated the proper response for ten seconds before just heading for the door. Halfway there, though, he turned back. “You can do this,” he reminded once again. “I know you can.” With that, Joel was gone - and he took every hope of JLN reaching a decade of operation with him. After that, Andy did what he’d planned on doing before Joel showed up - he went home. At first, he wasn’t sure what to tell Stacey about the whole thing, but over dinner, it all came out. How angry he was about this, how scared he was and that with Tim’s expert help, he was gonna drive JLN and Vyro into the ground - all of it. Stacey (obviously) didn’t have the magic answer, but she did try to calm his raging spirit a bit more than Joel did. She expounded on the same tired consolation that Joel offered and pointed out something that did seem to stick with him: Joel said he trusted him. “Joel does not trust anybody with JLN,” she pointed out. “So if he says he trusts you, honey, he really trusts you. If he says he knows you can do this, he really knows you can do this. Joel is one of the hardest people in the world to get on your side, so when he’s on it, you know you’re onto something good. Just don’t lose sight of that, okay?” If only, Andy mused, expelling another heavy sigh as he watched Mackenzie make a mess out of her dinner across the table, he could have as much blind faith in himself as she had in him. He knew this was going to be a disaster. He knew JLN would never get out of this alive. And that thought absolutely killed him… After watching this day go from bad to worse to “Somebody please shoot him!” to “Somebody please shoot me!!!!” and making a total ass of himself with his and T.J.’s little intermission exchange, Phoenix slunk off to the bus to try and get his head back together. Almost the very second he opened the door, Kristen leapt at him and demanded to know what was wrong. Phoenix even surprised himself by rebuffing her concern and hiding in his bunk for the next half hour. Lying there, he mentally replayed the entire day and it seemed the longer he did that, the angrier he got about it. Times like this made him truly question that guy’s sanity. Seriously. Sane people just didn’t do the things T.J. did - at least, not without a damn good reason! Rational, normal grown men didn’t resort to temper tantrums to get their way or childish antics to pay someone back for a crime they didn’t even realize they’d committed. Somewhere inside that head of his, there was a screw loose. Phoenix was certain of it. As much as he would’ve liked to hide out the rest of the night in that lumpy cot of his, Phoenix dutifully went back out there to finish the show. He really should have known that the second half would be no better than the first, but he had kind of hoped that since the fates dealt him such a shitty day, they would at least give him that. No such luck. The sound only seemed to get worse during the second half of the concert - and that’s when people started revolting. Phoenix heard several rather colorful complaints and he noted that more than one fed up patron actually walked out of the arena. And you know what? He couldn’t blame them at all. He even made a point to tell them so, after the show. He had to confess he’d been ready for a mighty harsh reception from those that did stay behind for autographs, but most were very understanding. Still, Phoenix apologized for how terrible the show was, as did Tony and Trent. He felt it was the absolute least he could do. These people pretty much wasted a pretty large chunk of change on what was, by all intents and purposes, a horrible show. He was just surprised the ones that stayed weren’t out for blood. After getting back on the bus, everyone seemed to go their own way. T.J. placed an extremely brief phone call (Phoenix could only surmise it was to Cecily) before stumbling to bed. Steiney dibbed the shower and then settled in front of another stupid movie - but at least this one was in English. Phoenix did have to hand it to him there He’d tried in vain to get into the lunacy of this movie with Tony, but his mind was occupied elsewhere. In between flashbacks from the day from hell, he was also being bombarded by random lyrics that he needed to write down and write down fast. It wasn’t often that creativity came and tapped him on the shoulder (especially not lately), so Phoenix was going to go with it while it was there. For the next hour, he pieced together a nice little song and devised a singable melody for it before heading to bed himself. The funny thing was, despite constantly complaining about his exhaustion, Phoenix didn’t really know just how tired he was until he got into bed. He slept hard. He didn’t even hear the phone when it rang. The thing that woke him up was Serena feverishly trying to wake Trent across the aisle. Phoenix and T.J. must have awakened at the exact same time, as Phoenix heard T.J. ask what the problem was and Rena answer that Cecily was on the phone - and that she said it was an emergency. That got Phoenix’s attention and it seemed to get T.J.’s as well. He sat straight up in bed and reached out for the cordless phone. “Sess? Hon, what’s the matter?” Alarmed out of a deep slumber, Trent willed his voice to be calm. His gut knew exactly what this call was - the very thing he’d been fearing since getting out here - but his mind absolutely refused to accept it. All those silly fears of his were simply that - silly fears. This - this couldn’t be what he thought it was. It just couldn’t be. “Oh, my God,” Cecily whispered. She sounded absolutely frantic. “My water just broke.” Hearing the words were like a punch in the gut. Realizing all at once that his fears had in fact been valid ones, that his wife was going into extremely premature labor and that he was not going to be there for it caused him to slump completely backwards into the pillows. He ran a hand over his face. “Are you sure?” he asked, desperate for confirmation. “Yes,” she affirmed, her voice beginning to crack. “I don’t know what to do right now. I really don’t. I don’t wanna lose this baby like I lost Hunter.” “You’re not. You’re not,” he assured, sitting back up. “I promise you, you’re not.” “I’m so scared,” she whispered. God, he was too. “It’s okay,” he immediately insisted. “Everything’s gonna be okay. Here’s what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna get your mom and then you’re gonna go to the hospital, okay? And I’ll be there as soon as I possibly can.” Silence. Dead silence. The only thing Trent could vaguely hear were the sounds of Cecily’s faint whimpering. “Sess? Listen to me. It’s gonna be okay. Everything’s gonna be okay.” “I don’t wanna lose this baby, T.J.” Over the phone, he could hear her sobbing and it tore his heart out. He couldn’t even fathom how scared she was right now - especially given what happened with Hunter - and he couldn’t even be there in person to comfort her. It honestly brought tears to his own eyes, but he swallowed them, again insisting, “You won’t. That’s not even an option, Sess. Everything’s gonna be okay, do you hear me? It’s gonna be okay.” Seated on the bed, Cecily closed her eyes. She was almost paralyzed and her mind was running wild. She kept reliving what happened with Hunter - how she ignored such blatant red flags - and now, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was even more punishment for doing so. “I’m so scared,” she managed to choke out. “I need you. Please come home.” “I’m coming,” he promised, sitting back up. “I’m coming. I’ll be there.” “Hurry. Please hurry.” “I will. I promise you, I will.” Cecily ran a hand over her stomach. Over Gunnar. Over the precious life she was so looking forward to. She’d always wanted to have a son and in the back of her mind, she always had sort of equated this little one with his older brother. She’d worried constantly that history would repeat itself, even to the point of holding her breath until the six month mark, waiting for the other shoe to drop. And when it didn’t, she almost got lulled into a false sense of security. Don’t get me wrong - the worries were still there, but she would always counteract them with memories of her textbook pregnancy with Skyler. She’d remind herself that her pregnancy with Skyler was such a smooth one and tell herself that this one would be no different. And yet, it was. It was. “God, please don’t let me lose this baby!” she desperately pleaded into the dark. “You’re not gonna,” Trent informed. “You’re not gonna, you hear me? Now get your mom and get to the hospital, okay? I’ll be there as soon as I can. Okay? Everything’s gonna be fine, Sess. Don’t worry.” She sat in silence for a moment before sniffling. “Hurry.” “I will. I’ll be there as soon as I possibly can, I promise. Now go get your mom.” “Okay,” she agreed, with a nod. Standing, she took several deep breaths and forced herself to calm down. Everything within her was panicked, but she couldn’t allow herself to give into it any more than she already had. Dwelling on the negative wasn’t going to help the situation, nor was it going to help Gunnar, who was no doubt scared out of his little mind down there. “Okay. I’ll go get her.” “I love you so much.” He emphasized each word, furiously biting back his own tears. “Stay calm. Everything’s gonna be okay and I will see you as soon as I can.” She nodded again. “Okay. Okay. I love you.” He closed his eyes, allowing his voice to crack just a bit. “God, I love you too.” “Please hurry.” “I will. I will.” “Okay.” Just like that, she hung up. For him, that proved to be a much harder challenge. It seemed as though he took ten years just to hand that phone back to Rena, who was now seated on his bed, staring expectantly at him. Though he knew he really should offer some sort of explanation, he didn’t, only bolting out of bed and to the bathroom. As sad as it was, Serena really didn’t need much of an explanation. She’d heard enough of the conversation - and the urgency and fear in Cecily’s voice - to piece together what was going on. As she stood, she debated with herself whether or not to follow him, but quickly realized that Phoenix was one step ahead of her. A force that seemed almost otherworldly propelled him out of bed and he started straight for the bathroom T.J. had presumably barricaded himself in. Serena was right behind him. “Phoenix, I don’t know if you should…” she began, carefully choosing her words. This was a really, really tricky situation. And while there was no doubt in her mind that Phoenix was sincere in whatever he was attempting to do, given the current war he and T.J. were locked in…T.J. might not see it the same way. Phoenix didn’t say a word to her. He didn’t even turn around. That left Serena to continue her plea from behind him. “Look, things are really, really tense between you two right now and…” She stopped right there. She just couldn’t think of anything else to say. Less than ten feet from the bathroom door, Phoenix turned around. Wearily, he sighed. “Rena, that really doesn’t matter to me right now.” She stared down at the floor for a moment before noting, “But it might matter to him.” “Rena - ” “This is not a good time,” she maintained. She really meant it. She knew exactly what would happen if Phoenix went in there, good intentions or not - and that would just make what was a horrible situation already an even worse one, all the way around. With everything inside her, Serena hoped that Phoenix would take heed, but she knew in her heart that he wouldn’t. And he didn’t. Without another word to her, he walked right into the bathroom - and before Serena could even get a glimpse inside, he shut the door in her face. This was something she didn’t need to see - something he probably didn’t even need to see, but he just couldn’t stop himself. Yeah, Rena had a point. And yeah, he knew that it probably wasn’t the best time in the world to offer out an olive branch…but if this situation was as urgent as he feared it was, T.J. did not need to go through it by himself. Phoenix just couldn’t do that to him, no matter how much he might’ve wanted to strangle him with his own necktie three hours ago. Trent, in the process of shoving everything he owned in here into a bag, heard the door open and abruptly close again. He knew he was no longer alone and he knew exactly who it was that had joined him, though he did not turn around or even acknowledge Phoenix’s presence. And since Phoenix was doing little but just standing there and staring at him, the silence was practically deafening. With a heavy sigh, Trent glanced over his shoulder, “Whatchya need, Phoenix?” “I, um, heard,” Phoenix informed, then cleared his throat. “She’s in labor, isn’t she?” “Yeah.” That was all T.J. said, continuing to scour the bathroom for any possessions he might have overlooked. Phoenix stepped forward. It really felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach. With a whisper, he offered the only consolation he could. “God, man, I am so sorry. Let me - let me help you.” The reply was instant. “I don’t want any help.” Phoenix moved in to help anyway. Staring at his own reflection, he couldn’t contain a sigh - and a deep feeling of helplessness. Logically, he knew there was nothing he could really do right now. He couldn’t make this all better, he couldn’t even promise that it would be okay - the only thing he could really do was just try to be a friend. “I want you to know that I, um, I’m here. If you don’t want my help, fine, but I’m here if you change your mind.” T.J. nodded. “Great. Thanks.” Phoenix again glanced up at his own weary reflection - and spotted his faithful rosary beads, which were hanging from the corner of the mirror. Without hesitation, he grabbed them and extended them out. “Here. Take these.” Trent stared skeptically at the proffered beads for a moment before shoving them back at Phoenix. “No. No, I can’t do that. You keep them. They mean more to you than they do to me, anyway.” Phoenix, refusing to be deterred, only shoved the beads back in T.J.’s face. “Take them,” he insisted. “They always give me peace and - ” Without even allowing Phoenix to finish his thought, Trent turned violently toward him. He took the beads, all right - and he hurled them across the room. "For the very last time, I don't want your beads, okay? I don't want your beads, I don't want your help, I don't want anything! Just leave me the hell alone." Obviously startled, Phoenix only stared back at him blankly. Then, he stepped forward, so he was right in his face. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” “What the fuck is wrong with me?” Trent repeated. “Oh, that’s a good question, Phoenix. Let me tell you what the fuck is wrong with me! My wife just called me, scared out of her mind because her water broke. She’s a wreck right now, Phoenix, because she’s worried she’s gonna lose this baby just like she lost Hunter. And you know what? I’m scared she’s gonna lose this baby just like she lost Hunter, but what the hell can I do about it, huh? Not a whole lot. I’m stuck here, in the middle of god-knows-where, with you. And then, you come in here, trying to 'help' me and you won't take no for an answer about those goddamn beads - and you know just how I feel about those damn things anyway - so yeah. I think that pretty much sums it up. I've got a whole lot wrong with me, Phoenix. Thanks for asking.” “I am trying to help you! I’m trying to put aside the fact that I absolutely fucking hate you right now and what do you do? What you do best - spit in my face. Well, fine. Fuck it. You’re on your own.” “You hate me, huh, Phoenix? Good to know. Maybe now you'll get the hell out of my face?” Phoenix didn’t say a word for a minute, only going to retrieve his rosary, which had landed in the bathtub. When he looked back up at Trent, his gaze was fierce. “So much for being the bigger person.” “You're so full of it, you know that? You're gonna come in here, tell me you wanna help me, insult me by insisting I take your beads and then tell me you hate me! And somehow you still think you're being the bigger person? Um, no! Wrong! Again! But why doesn't that surprise me?” Phoenix, furious, stalked toward him, backing him up against the door of the bathroom. “Whether you want to believe it or not, I came in here to help you. And then you start all this shit, you - ” Phoenix stopped himself and took in a quick breath. Then, he shoved T.J. out of the way and opened the bathroom door. “Forget it. You aren’t worth it. I’m done with you.” Trent was right behind him. “Remind me to tell you I fucking hate you next time you come crying to me about some stupid bullshit that means something to you and only you. You'd really be surprised at just how comforting and helpful it is!" Right in front of Serena, who’d been sitting on the couch and listening to the war she’d known would erupt, Phoenix violently turned back around. “You have no idea how much I wanna rip your fucking throat out right now,” he whispered. Trent stood in silence for a moment before rolling his eyes. "And threats to rip people's throats out are always helpful too. You're getting pretty damn good at this, Phoenix. Hey, maybe you can take over being the shrink? You definitely have the heart for it!" Though his eyes were seething, Phoenix did not say another word, only turning back and almost barreling past Rena on his way back to bed. Trent, meanwhile, only slammed the door and took a long look at his reflection in the mirror. God, what a disaster. What a huge disaster… ***** After getting off the phone with Trent, Cecily sat in the dark, on the edge of the bed, for what felt like forever. She struggled to reconcile just what was happening, just what could be done about it - and she tried her hardest not to entertain the worst-case scenarios that were barreling through her mind. Then, she stood, splashed some water on her face and went to wake her mother, as suggested. To be honest, Cecily wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting when she did that. Her mother wasn’t always the best to have around in a time of crisis, simply because she was really great at telling you that it wasn’t a crisis at all. She had this What is the damn big deal? You take everything so seriously! Settle down! mentality…but this time, she seemed to really get the severity of the situation. For the first time in her entire life, Sandra actually seemed frantic about something. She jumped straight out of bed, insisted Cecily run and grab some things and said they needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. She even figured out what to do with Skyler while this whole thing was going down - she said to drop her off at Micah’s, since he was “so damn helpful” these days. Yes, that was said with an unquestionable amount of scorn, but Cecily had to admit it was a winning suggestion. She really hated the idea of imposing on someone - especially not that awful bitch Patsy Mullen - but there was really no other alternative right now. It all happened so fast after that. Cecily threw some things together for both herself and Skyler and then called him. Much to her surprise, it was Patsy who answered the phone - and it was Patsy who said it would be absolutely no trouble at all to keep Skyler. She even volunteered to come get her, so they would not have to go out of their way. Then, she put Micah on the phone and he actually said he wanted to go with her to the hospital, because he didn’t want her to be by herself. Cecily tried explaining that she wasn’t exactly by herself - that her mother would be there and that T.J. was hopefully on his way - but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. They both showed up about ten minutes later - and by that time, the contractions had started. That one really hammered the point home to Cecily. Whether or not she wanted to believe it, whether or not she was ready, this baby was coming out. She just hoped to God it wasn’t too soon. Skyler, obviously, did not have the best reaction in the world to being told that she was going to go spend some time with Patsy. Cecily couldn’t honestly say she blamed her. For one, she barely knew the woman - Skyler never had handled strangers too well and Patsy was indeed a stranger to her. And then too, the idea of spending an extended period of time with that woman was enough to freak an adult out, let alone a kid who still didn’t quite understand what all the fuss and worry was about. She stood there at the door, clung to Cecily’s legs and sobbed. Audibly. It was the most terrible thing in the world. Though everybody (her mother included) said that she needed to get to the hospital right now, she still couldn’t allow herself to just run off and leave Skyler with a complete stranger - without even telling her why. So she knelt down there on the floor with her and offered the best explanation she could - and it did absolutely nothing to calm Skyler down. If anything, it just made the whole thing even worse. Right about then was when Patsy got into it, offering up some pithy promises of all the fun Skyler could have over at the Mullen townhouse. That just made her cry even harder. The longer Cecily knelt there and tried to comfort her, the more obvious it became that Skyler just wasn’t going to have this. It just wasn’t gonna happen. That was what led her to suggest that her mother stay home with Skyler, while Micah escorted her to the hospital. Sandra looked like someone had shot her when Cecily said that, which only made Cecily feel even worse about it. She knew it was a horrible thing to say - and she knew her mother would not soon forgive it - but it was the only logical solution she could think of. It was obvious Skyler wasn’t going to go with Patsy quietly - and Cecily couldn’t really say she blamed her - so this was really the only thing they could do. After sharing a rather lengthy goodbye with Skyler, Sandra whisked her back upstairs, obviously in a huff. Cecily then made the appropriate apologies to Patsy, but Patsy didn’t seem very upset about it, oddly enough. She said she completely understood and that she was glad that Skyler had accommodations. She even offered her best wishes and swore she was “praying for the baby.” Believe it or not, that really gave Cecily comfort. She’d been so preoccupied with getting everything in order and calming Skyler down that she’d completely placed how serious this situation was out of her mind. And maybe that was a good thing. She knew she didn’t need to be panicking about it - that was only bound to make it even worse - but she just couldn’t stop thinking about Hunter. Her mind kept wandering back to the feeling of utter despair as she held her dead son in her arms, her regret over not doing anything to save him…it was overwhelming. The whole way to the hospital, she whispered assurances to Gunnar while Micah nervously regaled her with the story of the night Jennafer was born. “She was an early bird too,” he noted. “She wasn’t supposed to be here until April. So, you know, we were both kind of saying, ‘What do we do?’ The only funny thing about it is how panicked we were. We were both running around like mental patients and,” he stopped himself, glancing over at her and clearing his throat, “everything turned out fine. Do you hear me?” He reached out to squeeze her hand. She looked up. Honestly, she hadn’t heard a word he’d said, but she still nodded. “Yes.” “Everything’s going to be fine,” he assured once more. “I just know it is.” Again, she nodded. God, she hoped so… Trent left with little fanfare almost an hour after that altercation with Phoenix. It was Serena who saw him off, hugged him and wished him well. She was also the one who made sure Phoenix’s rosary beads were in fact with him, sliding them into one of his bags when he was distracted. Honestly, her heart hurt for him. The whole situation with Phoenix notwithstanding, he was really handling this better and more calmly than she would, but she could still see just how worried he was. And when he hugged her goodbye, he clung to her for dear life. That spoke volumes. Serena retreated to the shower shortly after he left, to have a good cry about this whole experience and offer up her own desperate prayers that it would all work out okay. As she was in there, she halfway expected the bathroom door to open and Phoenix to come stomping in, to rant about the whole thing, but he didn’t. Serena could only guess that when he went back to bed, he really went back to bed. Really, though, she couldn’t say she blamed him that much. If the roles were reversed, she probably would’ve done the very same thing - except she likely would’ve been a bit more emotional about it. She felt pretty bad for Phoenix too, even though she’d pretty much known that would happen. Still, Serena knew it bothered him when his attempts at compassion and friendship were thrown right back in his face. The whole thing was so unfortunate and Serena was so worn out from it, both emotionally and physically. That was why after getting herself calmed down in the shower, she headed back to bed herself. As she tiptoed back down the aisle to her bunk, she whispered a few more prayers that everything would be okay - and then jumped ten feet as a hand reached out to grab her arm. “Did he leave?” Looking down, she found a very much awake Phoenix. Involuntarily, she took a seat on the bed and took hold of his hand. “Yeah,” she whispered. “He left about a half hour ago.” “I thought I heard him, but I wasn’t sure,” he noted with a sigh. “I’ve been fading in and out here.” She nodded. “I see.” He moved closer to the window and patted the side of his bed, denoting that he wanted her to lie down beside him. As she climbed beneath the covers, he draped an arm across her and sighed again. “What a fucking mess, eh?” “He didn’t mean it,” she attempted to console, rolling over so she could face him. “I know he didn’t,” Phoenix affirmed. “But that doesn’t make it right, ya know? I mean, I did all I could. I don’t know what he wanted from me, but I did what I could. And then, he just…” He allowed his voice to trail off, running a sleepy hand over his face. “I don’t get him, Rena,” he finally concluded. “I just don’t get him.” For a moment, she was silent, studying him. She didn’t know what she could possibly say - she couldn’t very well try to explain away the way T.J. violently rebuffed Phoenix's concern, she couldn’t very easily justify it…but she couldn’t say that she didn’t understand where it all came from either. All she could really do was console once more, “He really didn’t mean it.” Phoenix shifted around a bit, in an attempt to get comfortable. “Yeah,” he whispered. “I know.” After that, there was silence. Lazily, he reached out to play with her hair, while she forced herself to stop mentally replaying the past few hours so she could relax. “I hate that it happened like that, ya know?” he finally whispered. Again, she nodded. “I do too.” “You were right. And I knew you were right. But I just couldn’t leave him like that.” “I know. And that’s what I love about you. You have a great heart, Phoenix. It shows.” “I don’t know about that,” he dismissed, “but I like to think I’m at the very least a good friend. And then something like this happens and you go, ‘Why the hell did I even bother?’ Ya know?” Just by his tone of voice, Serena could tell how much this was bothering him. She reached a hand out to his face. “I know why you bothered. You bothered because you’re a great person.” “Yeah?” he questioned, with a faint laugh. “Well, I don’t feel so great right now.” “You did the best you could. That's all you could really do,” she offered up. More than anything, she wished there were something more she could say. Something a lot better and a lot more comforting - but that was truly all she could think of. “I know that, Rena,” he affirmed immediately. “But still, it’s just…” He paused for a moment before expelling a heavy sigh. “Wow. Ya know? And I'm laying here saying, 'what did I do wrong?' 'Cause I went in there for one reason and it just became this whole other thing and that...I guess that got to me,” he admitted quietly, then abruptly rolled over to face the window and took a deep breath. Serena placed a comforting hand on his back. “I’m so sorry.” “Yeah, me too,” he whispered simply. He then cleared his throat. “While I still can, I think I’m gonna try to get some sleep. Don’t, um, don’t leave, okay? I really don’t wanna be alone right now.” Hearing that honestly broke her heart. Moving in even closer to him, she wrapped an arm over his chest, with the whispered assurance of, “I’m not going anywhere.” He nodded. “Okay. Good. Thanks.” “I love you so much,” she whispered into his ear. His response was half mumbled and spoken with a light squeeze of her arm. “I love you too.”… Kristen ended up waking before daylight that morning. As she raised up and got a quick look at her surroundings, she struggled to determine what it was that had disturbed her. All was quiet aboard the bus, nobody was stirring yet, the kids were still asleep - that prompted her to lie back down and sigh. False alarm. She could go back to sleep. And as amusing as she found it, that thought really delighted her. Although she knew she didn’t really have much reason - she was nowhere near as busy as Tony was - she was so tired lately. If you wanted to hear something absolutely awful, she was literally counting the days until they could go back home. She missed home that much - though at this point, she wasn’t certain if it was really home that she missed or more so the bed that awaited her there. Once again, she really had no idea how those guys did it, let alone did it that damn many times. This touring business was not for the faint of heart…and even though she’d thus far managed to handle it with grace, she couldn’t imagine how she’d feel if she were actually in their shoes. As it was, she was stressed out just by chasing two toddlers around and sleeping on some glorified cot each night. She couldn’t imagine getting up before God in the morning, spending the entire day doing whatever frivolous promotional thing Joel had lined up, then pooling what was left of your energy and taking the stage. There was so much pressure on them, something she’d never fully realized before. She just had no clue how they did it. Settling back into her glorified cot and snuggling up next to Tony, she had to marvel. This experience had taught her so much about not only them, but herself. Sure, she’d always known she was made of some pretty strong stuff, but she’d never known just how strong until she ended up out here. Donnie was right - he’d said that life on the road could make or break a person. And much to Kristen’s own surprise - especially given how little hope she held out for herself in the first few weeks out here - it managed to make her. It was really kind of nice to realize that you really could do something. Very gratifying, even though she knew just who her success should really be attributed to. Without Tony, she likely would have lost her mind. Once more, he was just amazing. How he managed to keep such a cool head was unbelievable. There were so many times she’d been sure she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and then here he came, so calm, so reassuring - once again, she was so in love with him. No one had ever worked such magic on her raging psyche - and for that, she owed him the world. As she reached out to wrap an arm around his bare chest, her fingers briefly brushed over his scar. Her eyes snapped open. Today was the twenty-first. The date with the dual anniversary, simultaneously commemorating both the highest and lowest points of her life, which had, ironically enough, occurred exactly one year apart. That jumpstarted a whole new string of memories for her, many of which were bittersweet. It was supposed to be a perfect day. A day of nothing but them. “The bestest, most awesomest, killerest day ever!” as he’d heralded it. And yeah, it started out that way. They shared breakfast in bed, a steamy session in the shower and a heartfelt discussion about the twin sons she’d just learned she was carrying. Over dinner at Beth’s, he even made an announcement that both stunned and delighted her - he was seriously giving Andy’s aggressive proposal that he come back to JLN some thought. All in all, it was a great day…and then, less than an hour after that, the bottom fell out. Even now, exactly two years later, Kristen could still hear the gunshot. It rang through her ears like thunder, the signal that her life as she’d known it was about to radically change. Seeing him lie there in that garage, hearing his desperate pleas for her to raise those kids right - the mere memories sent chills through her. She really had thought that was it. The end of the best (and shortest) chapter of her life. He was never going to meet the children he’d longed for for so long, he was never going to see them grow up, get married and have children of their own, they were never going to grow old together, sipping lemonade in rocking chairs of the swankiest nursing home in town - something he’d long described as a dream of his. The whole dream was going to come to a screeching halt, right there in that parking garage…at the hands of some fifteen year old punk. The same feelings of hopelessness and utter despair washed over her all over again, though Kristen made it a point to accentuate the positive: none of what she’d feared actually happened. It all, much as she desperately prayed it would, worked out in the end. But God, what a horrifying time - and what horrifying timing. As she was still in the early months of her pregnancy at the time, she now realized how easily she could’ve miscarried her babies. With all the stress, it was truly a miracle that she hadn’t. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that God was involved in that one. She probably never would have given him his due two years ago, but now it was impossible to deny. As she blinked back her tears, Kristen also couldn’t help but smile at yet another memory - this one of a conversation she had with Tony way back before they were even a couple. If memory served, she was still with one of those losers she liked to date (Jeff?) and he was still married to Kathy. Anyway, the subject of God came up and she was quick to scoff that God didn’t like her. As long as she lived, she would never forget the look on his face when she said that. It was absolutely priceless! “Of course God likes you,” he insisted. “God likes everybody!” “Everybody but me,” she was quick to argue. He spent the next five minutes trying to get across that God did in fact like her and she spent the next ten arguing that he did not. That, of course, prompted a hilarious back and forth of, “He does too like you.” “No, he doesn’t.” “I’m telling you, he does.” “Nope.” “Yup.” “Nope.” “Yup.” And the reason it was so hilarious now when it had been so infuriating at the time? As it turned out, he was right. God really did like her and he really was watching out for her - he was watching out for her entire family. Who would’ve ever thought?… ***** When the alarm went off that morning, Andy’s first instinct was to roll over and pretend he didn’t hear it. After the day he had yesterday, he never wanted to get out of bed again. Still, his sense of duty won out. Life had to go on. JLN had to go on - or go on for as long as it possibly could with someone like him in charge of it. Once more, Stacey offered a Lombardi-esque pep talk to him over breakfast and while it was a really nice gesture, he found it hard to take anything she said seriously. He had quite a day ahead of him. Not only did he have to resign himself to being completely in control, he was also obligated to fill everyone in on the latest chapter of “As the Label Turns” - oh, and when he managed a free moment, he also needed to yell at Tim about skipping that meeting yesterday. Maybe, just maybe, he mused to himself, if he managed his time correctly, he could also squeeze a dive out of Joel’s sixth story window somewhere in there too. Seriously, Andy knew this situation was not that dire. While hard, it wasn’t going to be the death of him. The death of JLN, quite possibly, but not the death of him. Really, he’d been here before, as the lucky one left holding the bag when Joel abruptly decided to resign last year. In comparison, the fallout from this latest announcement seemed almost miniscule…but still, Andy couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t dreading it. He took his sweet time heading from the car to the building and then to Ming’s desk. She greeted him with a wider than usual smile and handed over the usual stack of messages. “Three radio people and three from Mr. Gibson. He says he wants you to call him.” Andy sighed, staring at the messages in his hand. Joel was probably the last person he wanted to talk to right now. “Did he say what it’s about?” Ming hesitated. “No, but…” He looked up at her. “But what?” “He did ask me if I would circulate this, so here.” She extended out a folded piece of paper, then immediately looked back down at her desk. Andy set everything down and took it from her. In his hand was yet another resignation letter, almost identical to the one a year back. He looked up at Ming and nodded. “Okay.” “So you already knew about it?” She sighed her relief. “I really didn’t want this to be the first you heard of it.” “No, he told me about it last night. But, uh, thanks. And, um, do me a favor? Will you get someone else to handle these?” He handed her back the messages from the radio crybabies. “I, um, I’ve got some other stuff to take care of, so if you could give this to somebody else, I’d really appreciate it.” Ming nodded, though she looked extremely confused. “You want me to give these to someone else? Anyone in particular?” “Just anyone who would know what to do with them. Okay? And hold my calls, would you? I’m, um, gonna call Joel and see what’s up.” He didn’t even give her a chance to reply to that, only heading for the elevator - and bumping smack into a surprisingly early Tim on his way. “Hey, I was just looking for you.” Tim was holding up Joel’s infamous memo and looked very confused. “Have you seen this? What the hell is this about?” Andy was no mood to discuss this whole disaster - especially not with the idiot before him - so he only sighed. “Where were you yesterday?” “Huh?” Tim got on the elevator right behind him. “Oh, that meeting? Yeah, sorry about that. That really wasn’t my fault, though. See, they called and - ” “You do know that I rearranged my entire schedule for that meeting, right? And then you didn’t show up.” “Right,” Tim nodded. “I know. And that’s a bummer. And I’m sorry. But really, I didn’t have any control over it. I would have called, but I didn’t think about it. I’m sorry.” “Just don’t do that again, okay?” “I won’t,” Tim swore. “I promise.” For obvious reasons, Andy didn’t take that very seriously either, but he still nodded. “Okay, fine.” “Now, back to what I was saying,” Tim began, again holding up Joel’s letter. “Have you seen this? According to this, Joel quit - again. What’s all that mean?” Realizing that he could no longer evade the subject, Andy expelled a heavy sigh. “It means what it says,” he informed. “Joel quit. For good this time.” “Why?” That seemed to be the true question here - one Andy still didn’t have a concrete answer for, so he shrugged. “I really don’t know.” Tim reread the letter, eyes wide. “Wow.” “Yeah.” As the elevator doors opened, Andy headed straight for his office. Tim was right behind him. “Point me in a direction.” “Well, your office is over there,” Andy remarked sardonically. “No, what’s the game plan here?” Tim persisted. “What do you want me to do? Damage control? Messenger duty? Press liaison? Shell Answer Man? What?” Honestly startled, Andy turned around to face him. Did he just volunteer to actually do something? Surely, Andy didn’t understand him correctly. “Wait a second. What?” he asked, holding up a hand. “What are you asking me?” “I’m asking you what you want me to do,” Tim repeated slowly. “What do you want me to do?” Okay, so Andy did hear him correctly. Wow. He turned and opened the door of his office, then sat down in his chair. Again, Tim was right behind him. He took a seat in the chair facing his desk and stared expectantly at him. “Um,” Andy began, taking a look around the office, “Joel’s already taken care of notifying everybody.” “Right,” Tim nodded. “So why don’t you…um, just answer the questions that you know are gonna be coming in?” Andy asked tentatively. He wasn’t sure if Tim could be trusted with such a responsibility, but reasoned that there wasn’t a whole lot of harm he could do. If he gave somebody an unsatisfactory answer, they could always call back and speak to someone who would give them a better one. And then too, the guy was obviously anxious to do something here (for the first time in his natural life), so why not? “Shell Answer Man it is,” Tim resolved, standing. “Got it.” Andy was clearly surprised at how quickly Tim accepted this new responsibility, standing as well. “Um, just tell them - ” “I know what to say,” Tim assured smiling. “Trust me.” With that, he headed back out the door and back to his own office. Andy, meanwhile, sank back down in his chair. Okay, that was strange - but at least it got one more thing out of the way…and it offered him a small glimmer of hope. If Tim could be counted on for this, maybe there was hope for the future of JLN. Andy just hoped he didn’t screw it all up… Though she knew she couldn’t have been asleep that long, Serena was still a bit disoriented when a persistent tapping on her shoulder awakened her. As she opened her eyes, she found herself staring at the back of Phoenix’s head, which startled her at first. Then, the events of the past two hours came flooding back to her. As she glanced over her shoulder to get a look at who’d awakened her, she knew it would be someone expecting an answer. She just hoped she could give a semi-lucid one at this point. “Hey,” Tony began, as she rolled over to face him, “sorry to bug you like this, but you wouldn’t happen to know where T.J. is, would you? I just got up and he’s gone.” Sleepily, she ran a hand over her face and yawned. “Um, yeah. Cecily called last night and her water broke, so - ” “Oh, my God!” Tony sunk to his knees. “Are you serious? That soon?” Serena nodded. “Yeah. So he’s presumably on his way home right now.” “My God,” he whispered. He couldn’t think of much else to say. The very idea of this - well, it was something he never would’ve thought of in a zillion years. When he came over here to get the scoop, he halfway expected Serena to say that T.J. and Phoenix had yet another blowout and T.J. did what he usually did after that - went elsewhere. This…wow, he’d never been expecting this. “When did all this happen?” Tony prodded, as soon as he’d gathered his thoughts on the issue. Serena hesitated and yawned again. “It was early. Maybe about three or four in the morning.” “Why didn’t anybody tell me?” “It really happened so fast. There wasn’t much - ” Tony nodded. “Was he okay? Did he handle it okay?” Again, Serena hesitated, unsure of how exactly to answer that. Thankfully, Phoenix provided a distraction by glancing over his shoulder and mumbling, “Hey Steiney.” “Hey,” Tony greeted. “Rena was just telling me what happened with Teej.” Phoenix rolled over to face him. “Yeah, he left. He left at, what, three?” He looked to Serena for confirmation. “Something like that,” she replied, with a nod. “That’s just unbelievable,” Tony mused, shaking his head. “Is he gonna call or anything? Like, let us know what’s going on?” “Probably.” Phoenix buried himself beneath the covers again and sighed. He knew he really probably should get up and at least try to explain this a little better, but he could barely hold his eyes open right now. “I hope he will, anyway.” Serena glanced down at him, then over at Tony and sighed. Obviously, Phoenix was not going to get up, so that meant she probably needed to. As she swung her legs around to get out of bed, Tony stood. “No, no, you don’t have to get up. It’s okay. If he calls, we’ve got it.” “I need to get up anyway,” she resolved, though it was a blatant lie. Her eyes literally burned from lack of sleep, but still, she had a job to do. She needed to get on the phone, arrange all the details of all the various promotional duties for the day and probably call Andy at JLN and let him know what was up. She hoped doing so didn’t tie up the line when (or if) T.J. tried to call, but hopefully, he would call back if that happened. In silence, Tony moved out of the way so she could get out of bed. His whole mind was reeling. He didn’t know what to say or do or anything. All he could really do was sink down on T.J.’s now deserted bed and sigh. Phoenix moved the covers back to get a look at him. “It’ll be okay, Steiney,” he assured sleepily. Tony looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah. I know it will.”… So what did you think of this week? Drop by the BCD forums and let us know! |