In some ways, time was a concept. For Eleanor Yorke, it was life. Unfortunately for Ellie, however, not everyone seemed to have this mindset.

The young woman paced the parking lot, a scowl on her face. Her maple-coloured eyes were glued to a clipboard, and she was clenching said clipboard as if her life depended on it. They had stopped here, in Niagara Falls, for the express purpose of leaving, something that she wanted to do as soon as humanly possible. She didn't like the gambling and tourism that hung in the air like a cloud of smog-which was also present, come to think of it. Regardless, they couldn't leave until Ian showed up.

Ellie had been the manager for Marianas Trench for roughly five years, and she excelled at this. She did so mostly because she was fantastic at planning and time management. She also excelled in threats, which was probably the real key to her success. In spite of the fact that she barely hit 5'3", she had all of the members listening to her as they would a military drill sergeant.

Most of the time, anyway. Apparently, Ian was choosing today of all days to test her authority.

"Damn, Ellie. Are you trying to make ruts in the lot? Because I think you're halfway there."

Ellie released the clipboard briefly to tuck back a lock of reddish-orange hair before glancing towards the owner of the voice: Josh Ramsay, front man of the band she managed. The male stood, watching her, hands in pocket, brows raised, mouth twisted in a way that was trying very hard to hide a smirk.

"Yes. I'm creating twin ruts-one for Ian's body and one for yours," she responded, scowling lightly.

That almost-smirk was replaced by a mock-gasp. "Ellie! Don't you ever think? They'll find our bodies for sure if you hide us there."

"Oh, right. I forgot." It was Ellie's turn to smirk, and she certainly did not bother to hide it. "I'll put you in Marianas Trench. It would be fitting."

"Un, that's not funny. That's just sad," Josh replied, in spite of the fact that his mouth was twitching. "And deux, how would you get us there?"

"A submarine and heavy weights," Ellie explained without pause. "And don't pretend that you speak French." Banter with Josh was part of her daily life; she was accustomed enough that she hardly had to think about it.

Josh hadn't done anything to his hair today; the blue-tinged fringe hung loosely in his face. He took a moment to rake his hand through the fringe, the result being it slicked back for the time being. "All right, sure. But when they enhance deep-sea travel, you're in for it."

"If I'm still alive at that point. Which, at the rate we're going, is doubtful," Ellie noted. "And by the way, that was cheating."

"What was." He sounded a little too innocent.

"Stalling. You pushed your hair back so you could think of something and pass it off as a riposte," she accused.

"I'm not even going to comment on the fact that 'riposte' is part of your casual vernacular," Josh snorted.

"To begin with, by claiming not to comment, you commented. And also, that doesn't change the fact that you cheated."

"I did not cheat! You're paranoid. Go and get your tin foil hat."

"Right. I'll get on that." Ellie glanced down to the watch that almost never left her wrist. Ian was two minutes from being late. She was absolutely going to kick his ass.

Josh, evidently, did not miss the direction of her glance. "Ellie, quit watching the time. He'll be here."

It really didn't take much to set Ellie off when she was on edge to begin with, and this happened to be just enough. Looking towards him with widened eyes, she exclaimed, "He'll be here late. Late, Josh! If we start off late, then the entire thing will be off! Don't you see that? It's an omen!"

After years of hard work on Ellie's part as well as the band's, they had a large enough fan base to come to America. This was a big thing, especially since the tickets were selling fast for this summer tour through the land of the free and the drug addicts. They'd even managed to snag a tour bus where everyone would get their own bunk bed, instead of the boys doubling up and Ellie smugly getting her own. This could be so immense for them, the main reason that Ellie was deeply determined that everything be perfect. And it most certainly couldn't be perfect if they got off to a late start!

"…listening to me?" Ellie blinked, catching those last three words as she returned her attention to Josh. "No. Of course not."

"No," Ellie confirmed. "But regardless, I bet that I know what you said. 'Calm down, Ellie. This tour will be fine, Ellie'."

Josh made a face. "With less 'Ellie's and much less sarcasm." He closed the distance between them, his hands moving to cover her shoulders. "Look, El. We've got great venues, guys who know what they're doing, and the best manager in the long-winded-but honourable-history of band managers. You need to just relax and let this run. All right?"

Ellie gave a minute roll of her eyes. "Yes, all right. I'll repose."

His grasp tightened on her shoulders, and he bent slightly so that his face was closer to hers. "I mean it. You're going to give yourself a stroke. That would be awful. Just…try and relax, all right?"

Ellie found herself staring up into those crystal-blue eyes, looking down at her so solemnly. That…problem was beginning to arise. The one where she found herself losing it a little bit, her chest clenching as she looked up at him. The one where thinking become a little sluggish and breathing a bit more so. The one where she kind-of, sort-of melted.

The problem was that more than occasionally, Ellie felt something that she most definitely should not for Josh Ramsay.

She forced herself to stop being an idiot. It would help if she could look away, but he seemed very determined that she not do that. So, she stared up at him and gave a minute nod. "All right," she murmured.

"Good." He continued to look down at her, in spite of the fact that she really couldn't think when he did that. Then, though, his gaze did move, flickering upward. He appeared…confused. And then suddenly not so confused. "Ian's here."

"Oh." Did she sound disappointed? She'd wanted him to look away, right? Shit. That was bad. No disappointment. "Good!" she exclaimed, and then resisted the urge to wince. Overcompensation? Most definitely. Josh released her shoulders, stepping back, and she quickly looked down at her watch to distract herself and avoid the perplexed look that was surely on his face. "He's less than thirty seconds away from death."

"I wouldn't speak too soon." Ellie looked up at that, raising a brow. Josh nodded to the area behind her wordlessly.

She turned. There was Ian, heading towards them with an expression that could only be described as sheepish. Oh, no. What had he done? It didn't take long to answer that question; all she did was look to the taxi behind them.

A figure was bending in the back seat, and Ellie caught a glimpse of neon pink tights adorning thin legs and a tiny little black skirt. The clearly feminine figure rose, and Ellie blinked. The short skirt was actually a short dress-sleeveless, nonetheless-and it hugged the thing but endowed body to perfection. The girl had a mass of glossy-looking soot-black hair, streaked carefully throughout with violet and hanging in her face. The shape of her face was…elfin, the chin and features arranged in a way that could only be described as such; Ellie could see that even from here. Her skin matched the elfin theme, pale and milky in a dreamy way.

Appraisal finished, Ellie turned her gaze to Ian, who had at this point approached them and was standing before her with the most hangdog expression she'd ever seen. She wasn't about to give him any sympathy. Crossing her arms, she asked, "Ian…who the hell is that?' Each word was enunciated quite carefully.

"That's…uhm, that's Korina." Ian ran a hand through his tight curls and then gave an attempt at a grin.

"Great. And I assume you brought Korina to help you with her bags?" Ellie pressed when he said nothing else.

"Uhm…" He looked back towards the elf-Korina, apparently-and then at Ellie. "I-uh. No."

"No." Ellie repeated the word carefully. She shook her head, turning away to look at Josh, who had quite a worried expression on his face. "Take." She shoved her clipboard at him, and he took it automatically. He looked down at it for a moment after this, his mouth opening, apparently to make some sort of protest, but she whirled around to Ian again, crossing her now-free arms. "Now, do you want to start explaining?"

Ian automatically took a step backwards. "Er. Well. Korina's my sister. And…she went through some trouble, and…well….and my parents won't take her in, but she can't be on her own."

Ellie didn't like where this was going at all. Trying very intensely not to yell, she ground out, "How the hell old is she?"

"Nineteen." Noting the look on her face, Ian pressed on hurriedly. "But she can't be on her own! The clinic stated very clearly that she's high-risk for-" He broke off.

"For what?" Ellie pressed. She didn't like this at all. His nineteen-year-old sister needed to be taken care of because she'd gone to some sort of clinic?

"For…" Ian's gaze slid to Josh, his expression pained. Ellie glanced over her shoulder, wondering if Josh knew anything about this. Apparently not, because he appeared puzzled. After a moment, though, this puzzlement cleared, and he seemed to understand. A frown quickly followed this. Why all of the expression changes? And why was Ian-

Shitshitshit. It was heroin. Korina had gone to a rehabilitation clinic for a heroin addiction, hadn't she? Whirling back to face Ian, she had to work very hard not to…kill him. She wanted to hit him so, so badly. She closed the distance between them, not so she could hit him-although her hands itched to-but so she could talk without Josh overhearing. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Ian?" she hissed. "Bringing family on this tour without even warning me until the day of? And with a heroin addiction? That's what it is, isn't it? She's addicted but she doesn't want to stop, so you have to keep an eye on her-right?"

"Well…yeah. And I-"

She was not giving him a chance to explain himself. "With Josh's past, you're bringing a heroin addict around here. What the hell is wrong with you?"

Ian's eyes widened at her last statement. Had it been more vicious than she'd meant it to? She didn't care. She could rip him apart with her bare hands right now. "Ellie! Calm down, will you? I think that Josh can handle it, and I really don't have a choice. My parents decided they wouldn't take her right before tour-"

"Right before tour. Right before as in directly before?"

"Right before as in three hours ago," Ian responded. "I tried to make arrangement, El, but I just couldn't."

Ellie was fully prepared to continue to chew him to the bone, but before she could make another sound she felt a hand's familiar weight on her shoulder. Turning lightly, she faced Josh. He was…calm, although a little worried.

"Ellie. You need to calm down." He'd said essentially the same thing that Ian had, but it was completely different. He seemed very…decisive. Ellie opened her mouth to speak, but he shook his head lightly before his glance flicked to Ian. "Go help Korina with her bags."

As Ian walked away, Ellie couldn't help but stare up at him. "Josh? Why did you-"

"Ellie, it's okay. You don't have to be my bulldog." He was talking over her, and rather than fight it she simply let him. "I don't need to be sheltered from this kind of thing." His gaze moved behind her, apparently to Korina, and he looked…well, troubled, but in a saddened way. He looked back to her. "I know what that girl is going through. The only difference is I knew how to stop. She doesn't, but if she can stay away from it, then she will. Let her stick around, all right? I'll be fine."

For some reason, this made Ellie more angry instead of less. He knew that her main problem with this was how it would affect him. This made her feel sad and pathetic in the worst way. She didn't want him knowing that she was so concerned about him, because she felt weak. This meant that she felt something for him that she wasn't meant to, and that she couldn't help but let anything that came in his way affect her. And that wasn't something that she wanted to be true.

"I don't like it for a lot of reasons, Josh." She carefully stepped away so that the hand that still rested on her shoulder fell. She wasn't looking at him as she continued to speak. "I have to rearrange things. I have to call the venues and warn them that we have another person traveling with us. I've got to work in food trips and her habits and probably baby-sit while Ian's onstage."

"I know, but-"

She interrupted him, not wanting to hear whatever compassionate Josh-thing he was about to say. "Josh. She can stay, all right? She can stay. It just means more work."

"All right." She allowed herself to look at him. The expression on his face was…relieved. He was glad she wasn't going to argue anymore. "Do you need help?"

He tended to help her out when she was swamped, making some of the calls for her. It worked well, because he was good at smoothing ruffled feathers. Right now, though, she was upset with a lot of people. Ian for bringing Korina along. Josh for knowing her real problem with Korina coming. Korina for…well, she wasn't sure yet. Herself for being upset and unable to help it. She didn't want Josh with her right now. "I'll take care of it. It will just be easier." Her voice was firm, leaving no room for arguments, but she knew that he was going to make one anyway. She drowned it out before it could happen. "Help Korina get settled in that extra bunk bed. We're taking off in twenty minutes. I have to take care of things while I still have a steady cell phone signal."

She didn't look at him again, because she was sure that he'd appear hurt. She knew that she'd have to find some way to apologise to him later, but right now she really didn't care. She didn't want to talk to him. She didn't want to talk to anyone.

She would immerse herself in organisation, because times and dates were so much easier than people.