Author's Note: Sorry for the gap in posting. I kinda got behind on homework because of some crazy near –death insanity. But I'm ok now, just a little jittery and jumpy, lol. Also, if you've never danced barefoot under the stars with someone you love, you haven't lived. Granted I did this with my ex-fiance, but I still would do it again. If I ever fall in love again.

Chapter 2: Falling Hard

The next morning was fairly uneventful for all of them. They finally had some food in the house, so breakfast was a feast of sorts. Peter had made toast, which was all any of the other Monkees would let him make after making cream of root beer soup once, Mike had made pancakes, and Davy had made eggs. Micky had come down the stairs feeling so much better, that he had slid down the railing like a slide. Peter laughed as Micky even did a little spin when he landed.

"I see you're feeling better," Mike said.

"Yep!" Micky said grabbing toast off the communal plate before Peter had even set it on the table. "Which is great, cause I'm starving and want real food!"

"Soup is real food," Peter argued.

"Yeah, but this is much better," Micky smiled.

"So can we get some practice in today then?" Mike asked. "We have that audition next week and I want to be perfect for it. There's a lot riding on it."

"A lot riding on it?" Davy echoed looking confused.

"Yeah," Mike answered. "The gig will pay us enough to pay our rent for at least two months. Plus food like this every morning."

"As opposed to moldy bread," Davy muttered.

"Exactly," Mike answered. "So how's about a quick practice after breakfast, then I have to get to work for my first shift, then we can practice more when I get home."

"That's a lot of practice," Davy said.

"We need it," Mike said now looking concerned at Davy.

"I think we sound good," Davy muttered before shoving a forkful of eggs in his mouth.

"Well, unfortunately 'good' isn't good enough for this audition."

"Yeah, Davy," Peter agreed. "Way I heard it is there's close to a hundred bands from all over southern California auditioning for it. We have to make sure we hit every note just right."

"Who says we aren't?" Davy argued.

"What's with you, Davy?" Mike asked.

"Nothing," Davy said. "I just wanted to hang on the beach today."

"The beach will always be there, Davy," Mike said. "We missed practice yesterday cause Micky was sick, so we need a little extra today." They finished the rest of their meal in silence. Micky hadn't interjected because he didn't want to get in between his friends, so he sat quietly shoveling food in his mouth. Once they finished, they did a quick practice of "Listen to the Band" and Mike rushed off to work.

"Well, if you want you can go to the beach now, Davy," Peter said. "I'm gonna head over to the bus station, I think. I was kinda thinking of getting a new book and need a little extra cash for it."

"Sure," Davy said. Micky thought something was going on with his friend, but he wasn't sure. Peter grabbed his banjo and headed out the front door while Davy headed out the back. Micky had the pad all to himself. He kinda liked that. It wasn't very often that he had the pad to himself for a few hours, and he was gonna take full advantage of the peace and quiet.

Over the next several days things stayed pretty much the same, but Davy seemed to snap out of whatever funk he was in and fully threw himself into their practice sessions. As it was now, Micky was getting ready for another date with Lucy, Davy was at work, Peter was playing at the bus stop again and Mike was reading the paper. Micky tried taming his hair one more time in the mirror in the living room, but gave up. Mike had loaned him a bit of money that he'd gotten playing at the bus stop with Peter the other day so he could actually treat Lucy to some food.

"How do I look?" Micky asked striding over to the table where Mike's face was buried behind the newspaper.

"Fine," Mike said without even looking at him.

"Good, I wasn't sure the clown outfit would work," Micky said trying to hide his laugh. Mike dropped the newspaper and looked at Micky.

"What?!" he asked.

"You didn't even look!" Micky laughed.

"Ok, now that I'm looking, you look fine." He said trying to hide a smirk.

"Thank you," Micky said with an over exaggerated bow which rendered Mike unable to hid the smile any further.

"Have fun, shotgun," Mike said with a chuckle.

"Hey, thanks again for the money," Micky said.

"Don't mention it," Mike answered waving him off. "Just pay me back when you have some extra money."

"Sure thing." Micky said as he walked out the door. He was supposed to be meeting Lucy at the restaurant they had chosen. Nothing too expensive as they didn't have a lot of money, but still nice. He arrived at the restaurant and found Lucy already sitting in a booth. He was struck again by how beautiful she was just as he was when he'd first seen her a month ago. She had short blond hair with a few strands that would hang in front of her face. She had beautiful brown eyes and wore a white sleeveless shirt with tight blue jeans. Micky smiled and walked over to where she sat. She smiled up at him as he sat down across from her.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," he responded. "I hope you weren't waiting long."

"No, I got here a minute ago. I ordered you a soda. Hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, thanks," Micky smiled. They sat for a while talking about menial things while perusing the menu. Once the waiter came and took their order, Lucy leaned in a little.

"So how are you getting along with your friends?" she asked. For a split second he thought this was a rather odd question to ask, but since she hadn't really met any of them yet, it stood to reason that she wouldn't know how close they were.

"We're fine," he said. "We're like brothers really. We never really have any problems."

"That's good," she said. "It's not very often that four men can live together so harmoniously. Most of the time it implodes."

"I really don't see that happening with us."

"Have you guys ever fought about anything before?"

"Once. We all fell for the same girl. But we got over it even before the end of the day."

"Really? Must have been some girl."

"She was. She was tall, beautiful, blonde…" Micky trailed off realizing it probably wasn't a good idea to talk about this with his current girlfriend. "Not as beautiful as you, though," he quickly covered.

"Thanks," she said with a laugh. "What did you guys do?"

"Well, we acted like children and split the house into four equal parts. Not sure how equal it was though. I got the empty icebox, Peter got the TV, Mike got the bathroom and Davy got the front door."

"Wow."

"Yeah, but we snapped out of it. Realized we were being childish and reconciled."

"Did any of you end up going out with her?"

"Peter almost did, but she found someone better before they even had a chance to go out on a date."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she showed up when they were supposed to start their date and said she'd found someone else."

"What? That's terrible! Who does that?"

"I know. Now that I look back she was really, really ditzy." They laughed a little more and talked until their server brought them their food. Micky really liked this girl. She was sweet, funny and smart. They talked a little about his music and her blossoming career in the business world. They sat for hours and just talked. The waiter was beginning to get annoyed with them, and Micky realized the place was 5 minutes away from closing.

"Hey, sorry," he said as he pulled the money Mike had given him out of his back pocket and gave it to the waiter with an apologetic smile. The waiter forced a smile back and walked away.

"Well, someone is in a foul mood," Lucy said with a laugh.

"Yeah, he's been like that all night, hasn't he," Micky laughed.

"What now?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'm having a good time. I don't really want this night to end yet." Micky felt himself blush a little as she took his hand in hers from across the table.

"I know how you feel, but it is getting late. I have a really important audition tomorrow and I need to get some sleep for it."

"Sleep is over-rated." She leaned across the table and kissed him. Micky was very tempted to succumb and stay out with her all night, but he knew Mike would be more than a little angry if Micky showed up to the auditions tired and groggy.

"I can't," he said regretfully. "Mike will kill me if I wreck this audition."

"Is it that important?"

"Yeah. It'll give us a lot of money that we really need."

"Maybe just a little longer?" She smiled at him and he melted a little.

"What exactly are we going to do this late? It's almost midnight."

"We could walk on the beach. Or through the park. Or just dance under the stars."

"Dance under the stars?"

"Yeah. Have you never done that?"

"I guess I haven't."

"Come on, then!" She grabbed his wrist and dragged him from the restaurant. He followed her over to a nearby park where she laughed as she took off her shoes.

"Why are you taking your shoes off?"

"To feel the grass, of course."

"It's freezing!"

"So!?"

"How do we dance with no music?"

"You hear the music in your head. And just-" she held her arms open and began twirling around. Micky laughed. He really, really liked this girl. She was perfect. He took his shoes off and walked over to dance with her on the grass. It really was fun. They didn't have to hear any music. They just had to move their feet. And after a few minutes, Micky forgot how cold it was and just felt the grass and the ground beneath his feet. He even walked over and took her hands in his and they did a slow dance together. But she went and twirled away from him after a few minutes. After a while, he felt tired again and sat down on the grass to watch her. She noticed this and sat next to him.

"That was fun," he said.

"I know. I like to do that whenever I can." She smiled and Micky lay down on the grass and stared up at the stars. She curled up next to him and he suddenly felt warm again. Micky nearly fell asleep right there in the grass when a loud car honk jolted him upright. He looked at his watch.

"Lucy, I'm really sorry, but it's almost 2 am! I have to get home!"

"The night is still young!" She argued sitting up.

"I have to be up at 8 to practice one last time before we go to the audition. That's 6 hours from now. I need some sleep."

"You'll be fine." She smiled. Micky tried to push himself up, but Lucy wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into another kiss. He groaned a little as he felt himself give in a little more and wrapped his arms around her too. Why did he find her so intoxicating? Another car horn jolted him back to reality again. He pushed her away and looked apologetically into her eyes.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "What about tomorrow night? I can stay out with you all night. I promise, but for now I have to go." She looked disappointed and he felt terrible.

"I'm going out of town tomorrow," she said. "I thought I told you. It's a 2 day trip with my work. Some sort of conference. I won't see you for 3 days." Micky sighed.

"No, you didn't tell me that."

"Just a little longer. Please?" He looked into her eyes. It was very, very hard for him to say 'no' to her. He sighed again and relented. What would another 15 minutes or so do?

"Ok, but only a little," he said. And they kissed yet again.

Mike woke up with a start. He blinked a few times trying to remember what it was that woke him. His alarm hadn't gone off yet. Then he realized he'd had a nightmare. He sighed and rolled his eyes. He frequently had dreams like that right before an audition. They'd get up on stage to perform and something would go wrong. Tonight's dream had them getting on stage to perform, and Mike had forgotten all the words to his song. Shaking the dream out of his head, he looked at the clock. It was only about half an hour before 8 anyway, so he figured there was no point in trying to go back to sleep. He carefully and quietly climbed out of bed and walked into the kitchen to get himself a glass of water. He left the light off so as not to wake anyone else up.

He jumped slightly when the front door opened. He looked to see who had opened the door at this early hour and realized it was Micky. He was dressed in the same clothes he had been the night before when he'd left for his date and even in the dim light he looked haggard. Micky tried to shut the door quietly and creep up the stairs. Mike wasn't about to have any of it.

"Are you just getting home?" Mike asked suddenly making Micky jump about a foot in the air.

"Don't do that," Micky said clutching his chest.

"I wouldn't have to if you weren't sneaking around."

"I'm not sneaking around. You're the one holding a vigil in the kitchen!"

"Actually, I just woke up and went to get some water. You snuck in the front door right when I came out here. But you evaded my question. Are you just getting home?"

"Maybe," Micky said "Why do you care? Last I checked you weren't my father."

"I never said I was, but we have an audition in a few hours and you haven't slept at all. Have you?"

"No, but I'll be fine. I promise."

"I hope so," Mike answered. Without any further argument Micky climbed the rest of the way up the stairs to his room. Mike was really angry, but he gave Micky the benefit of the doubt. For now.

Half an hour later, Peter and Davy sauntered into the kitchen dressed and ready to go. Mike, also now fully dressed for the day, had a plate of food ready for them and was sitting at the table scanning the paper for more gigs. They thanked him and sat down to eat.

"Should we wake Micky?" Peter asked behind a mouthful of toast.

"If you want," Mike answered. "He only just got in from his date half an hour ago." Peter swallowed the toast and dropped his jaw in shock.

"You must be joking!" Davy exclaimed.

"Nope," Mike said folding up the paper. He hadn't seen anything in it today. "I want to start practicing when you guys are done eating though, so someone should get him."

"I'll do it," Peter said as he finished his last bite of eggs. He put his plate in the sink and ran up the stairs. A minute later he came downstairs with Micky groggily behind him.

"You missed breakfast," Mike said. He knew he was angry and probably shouldn't be as snippy as he was being, but Micky knew better than to blow an audition like this. And he didn't look like he'd be fine.

"I had some breakfast with Lucy," Micky answered.

"I take it you had fun last night," Davy asked.

"Yeah," Micky answered, now perking up a bit. "She's amazing! I think I'm in love."

"Love or not, we need to practice one more time," Mike said.

"Micky, are you going to be ok to perform?" Peter asked mirroring Mike's concern.

"Sure," Micky said. "You said it yourself, I'm full of energy. I'm like a machine!"

"Ok…but you look like someone pulled your plug a long time ago."

"Cut him some slack, guys," Davy defended. "It's not every day you fall in love!"

"It is for you, Davy," Mike said walking over to their makeshift stage and picking up his guitar. Peter chuckled but stopped when Davy shot him a dirty look. Peter stifled his laughter and joined Mike in the stage behind his bass guitar and keyboard. Micky and Davy joined them as well. Mike could tell Micky was trying to force himself to stay awake. Halfway through "Papa Gene's Blues", Micky fell off his stool.

"Micky!" Davy exclaimed.

"Are you ok?" Peter asked.

"Fine!" Micky said snapping back up trying to pretend that it wasn't his grogginess that had made him fall. Mike merely sighed. It looked like his nightmares were about to come true. Only it wouldn't be him that messed up their audition.