Operation: Stella's Vacation

By angellwings

(1/2)

Stella flopped down on the couch in the back stage green room. She yawned and pulled the tape measure off of her neck. The hem on Joe's pants had ripped, and she had to remeasure and re-stitch them at the last minute. She took the extra fabric that was slung over her shoulder and used it to cover her eyes like a sleeping mask. Joe walked into the room in his newly hemmed slacks and smiled softly. He lightly tapped her legs and she moved them so he could sit down. As soon as he sat down Stella lowered her legs back across the couch to rest on top of his lap.

"Now that I've fixed that near impossible rip I'm going to take a nap," Stella said groggily. "If Kevin has another one of those lemur dreams then please redirect him to Macy. I'm sure she'll be more interested than me anyway."

Joe nodded and saluted, "Yes, Ma'am."

He felt bad for the rip in the pants. Stella had been up all night the night before mending the rips in the knees of their jeans from the previous concert. Usually when she wasn't working or watching a show she was sleeping, and Joe didn't like to admit it but he worried about whether or not they were working her too hard. She didn't need to be staying up all night and the working all day. He should probably be more careful with the clothes, but for some reason accidents just happened around him. He didn't know why, but they did. Not to mention their shows included a lot of sliding and stunts which wore out their clothing. But it couldn't hurt them to be just a little more careful could it? One of the Wardrobe assistants knocked on the door frame, and Stella groaned pitifully.

"What?" She whined.

"We can't find Nick's wardrobe rack," the woman said meekly.

Stella pulled the fabric off of her eyes and sat straight up, "WHAT? How is that possible?"

"I don't know. They must have been loaded into the wrong truck when we packed up last week," She said with a nervous gulp. Stella reluctantly stood up and stretched.

Stella waved good bye to Joe and motioned for the Wardrobe assistant to follow her before speaking to her, "If we don't track those outfits down in the next half hour you're making replacements."

Joe scoffed as he watched Stella go. She would never let anyone else make their clothes. Not without constant supervision at least. Kevin walked in with a confused expression.

"Where's Stella going?" He asked.

"To find Nick's clothes," Joe told him as he stood up and glanced over his reflection.

"They lost Nick's clothes?" Kevin asked in worry.

"You know how crazy things get around here. They probably just ended up below the stage somewhere," Joe shrugged. "Stella will find them."

"And if she doesn't?" Kevin asked fearfully.

"Then we'll be locking ourselves in our dressing rooms until it's time for sound check," Joe told him with a nod.

"I guess this isn't the right time to find out what Stella thinks about my latest dream then, huh?" Kevin asked.

"Probably not," Joe said with a sad grin. "She did say that if you asked I should tell you to call Macy though."

Kevin blushed, "Yeah, I can't do that with this dream."

"Why not?" Joe asked.

Kevin looked down at the floor, "No reason."

Joe quirked an eyebrow at his brother's squeaky voice, "She was in the dream wasn't she?"

Kevin blew a dry raspberry and spoke in a high pitched voice, "No."

"Uh huh," Joe answered dryly. "You don't by any chance have a crush on Macy, do you?"

"No," Kevin said as he tried to lower his voice, but he couldn't and merely caused his voice to crack.

Joe shook his head, "Whatever you say, bro."

"Hey, guys?" Nick asked as he stepped into the room. "Have you seen my clothes?"

"Nope, Stella's on the quest to find them right now," Kevin answered gratefully. The subject had desperately needed changing.

"Oh right, so if she doesn't find them then I'll be on stage in a wife beater and boxers?" He asked with a huff.

"Yes," Joe answered with a nod. "But if any of us can pull off that look it's you."

"Gee, thanks," Nick responded sarcastically.

"Anytime," Joe grinned.

"If I were you, Nick, I'd be worried more about Stella and her stress level than anything else," Kevin said in a warning tone. "I mean remember that last time when whatsherface accidentally did that thing with the thing? Stella FREAKED."

Nick's eyebrows rose questioningly, "The thing with the thing? How in the world am I supposed to remember something when I don't even understand what you're referencing?"

Kevin glared at him, "I'm sure Joe knows what I mean."

"Hm?" Joe asked as the sound of his name. "Oh, yeah, totally. The thing with the thing. I remember."

Kevin beamed with pride, "See?"

Nick edged closer to Joe and whispered, "Do you really?"

Joe shook his head discretely and mouthed the word "no". Joe sighed and wondered briefly if his brothers worried about how much Stella had been working. He wondered if they sometimes felt guilty for dragging Stella into their life of fame and complications. She only had one truly close girl friend. Yes, she had acquaintances, but out of all of them Macy was the only one that was really a friend. Joe knew it was because of them, but Stella would never admit that. Maybe they should give her a few days off, and give her a little bit of a break.

"Joe? Something wrong, man?" Nick asked.

"How would you guys feel about giving Stella a week off sometime soon?" He asked thoughtfully.

Kevin shrugged, "I think it sounds like a great idea, but I don't think you'll be able to convince Stella of that."

Nick nodded, "Kevin's right. We could give Stella a week off, but she wouldn't take it."

"Why not?" Joe asked.

"C'mon, you've seen how insane things are. She'll think our wardrobe would never make it to the stage for more than one night without her here. You should know that," Nick told him with a shrug.

"But she's exhausted," He sighed. "She needs a break."

The brothers all sat together in silence as they tried to come up with a solution to their problem.

"We need to find some way to convince her that the world will go on if she's not here," Nick announced.

Joe's eyes widened, "I've got a plan. A brilliant plan."

"Ooh, we time travel to the future and buy Stella a personal robot to handle the job while she's away?" Kevin asked hopefully.

Joe and Nick sighed simultaneously.

"No," Joe said with a shake of his head. "We make sure nothing tragic happens to our clothes for the rest of the week."

"That's your brilliant plan?" Kevin asked. "That's boring."

"Not to mention impossible. Do you even remember our shows? What about our slides and our flips and jumps?" Nick asked in confusion.

"We cut out the ones that will stain or rip our clothes," Joe said with a shrug.

Kevin's eyes widened in fear, "Cut out my power slides? How dare you suggest such a thing!"

Joe rolled his eyes, "It wouldn't be forever. Just for a week. Enough to convince Stella that we can handle a week without her here."

"But-but…Macy's coming to the show tonight!" Kevin cried out in worry.

"So?" Nick asked.

Joe grinned, "Macy's favorite thing about our concerts is Kevin's power slides. Isn't that right, Kevin?"

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," Kevin denied with a shake of his head.

Joe sighed, "Look, it will just be for the rest of the week. We can handle that. Besides, Kev, you can still do your guitar spins."

"Only for the rest of the week, right?" Nick asked skeptically.

"And you promise that I can still do my spins?" Kevin asked with a glare.

"Yes, to both questions," He said. "Now are we gonna do this or what?"

"I guess," Nick agreed reluctantly.

"Fine," Kevin sighed. "But only because it's for Stella's sanity."

Stella walked back into the room just as the conversation ended and collapsed on the couch, "What about my sanity?"

"We were just saying we hope you had time to take a nap…for your sanity," Joe said with a smile. "We'll just leave you to rest, and go get ready for the sound check."

Stella waved them away groggily, "Yeah, okay, good. Shut the door behind you."

The guys quickly left the room and Joe shut the door as he exited. When they were out in the hallway he turned to his brothers.

"Remember, don't do anything that Stella will have to fix later," Joe reminded them urgently.

"Got it," Nick said with a nod.

"Will do…or won't in this case," Kevin grinned.