Third Chapter! I had nothing better to do so I thought I'd update...some people might be happy.


His withdrawal symptoms had been bad. No one had suspected him to be that heavily dependant on the drugs and when they hadn't seen much of a change the first day cold turkey they had suspected he was fine. That was not the case; on the second day they had found Van in the bathroom practically vomiting up his insides.

His normally golden skin colour had faded into a pasty grey and normally gorgeous face had become gaunt and sickly. His eyes watered, and his pupils were always dialated even in direct sunlight. He had stopped eating, but continued to complain about the pains in his stomach, and how his entire body ached.
He was always cold, even when he was sweating he was unable to stop shivering. He was running on empty with no sleep and no food. His desperation for more Heroin was accompanied by severe irritability. Whenever someone tried to talk to him about it or ask him simple questions he would take it the the extreme and throw it back in their face. Van was experiencing probably the worst withdrawal symptoms any of them had seen.

He had actually come to the point where he tried to pawn off one of his guitars to get money for the drugs. Luckily Allen had stopped the deal from being made, which did not go over well with Van.

However, even through all his incredibly bad symptoms he was never able to play a bad set. This was the amazing part. It was unthinkable that someone who was going through such a bad detox could have the ability to produce incredible music. It was almost divine, and what was even more incredible was the fact that no one had any idea.

Although, when the show was over, he sunk back into his chemical desperation. At times one of them would desperately want to give him a fix but knew it was impossible.

After a week of torture the effects began to wear off and he became easier to live with. It was a good thing, considering their luck was about to change.

--

It was after their last show and eveyrone was still a bit on edge when it came to Van. He had just gotten back into the habit of sleeping, but it was only for a few odd hours and at odd times. He had started eating voluntarily, but once again it was very rationalized. He also began paying more attention to Hitomi again, considering during his week of withdrawal he didn't even want her touching him.

Van had just come onto the bus when he was quickly followed by someone none of them had seen before.

"Hi everyone, let me start out by saying: you all are fantastic," he said.

Van just stared at him, there was no hint of interest or anything in his face he just stared at him, waiting for the man to continue.

"Thanks," Gaddes laughed, " who are you again?"

"Dryden Fassa," he began, "I want to sign you onto my record label."

Van's eye twitched.

"Someone brought a copy of your last CD into a radio station and it's gone over incredibly well, so we want to work with you at BLAZE," Dryden told them.

Allen and Gaddes looked at each other, not knowing what to say. BLAZE had been an incredibly big record label, and it was just what they needed in order to get somewhere with their little band. Van continued to stand there, but his expression had changed into a somewhat dazed look, as he let out a short laugh.

Allen and Gaddes looked at Van then back at Dryden.

"Is he okay?" Dryden asked.

"Yeah, he's fine, he's just tired," Gaddes stated.

Dryden nodded suspiciously, "he looks run down..."

"We would love to, by the way," Allen said trying to distract Dryden.

Dryden looked back at Allen and smiled, "I'm glad to hear it. We'll need you recording in LA in two weeks."

"Done," Allen confirmed shaking hands firmly with Dryden.

"We'll put you up, don't worry about expenses, but I would suggest you start working on some new material," Dryden advised.

"We will," Gaddes assured.

Dryden gave a large smile, "I look forward to working with you."

As Dryden left Gaddes and Allen began screaming and hugging each other as if they had just made the chearleading squad. Van had just stood there smiling a little dazed.

"Van! Did you hear that! We're signing onto a huge-ass record label!" Gaddes exclaimed, giving him a man hug.

Van nodded, "...awesome."

"Dude, you're practically sedated, what the hell?" Gaddes exclaimed.

"Tired... really tired," Van said a little strained.

He ran a hand through his hair, allowing them to see his darkened eyes.

Allen grimaced, he had known what Heroin was like but he hadn't realized that he looked this bad, "get some sleep man..."

Van nodded a walked slowly to his bunk, leaving Allen and Gaddes alone.

"Well, at least the worst is over..." Gaddes trailed off.

"Hopefully he won't see any need to do it anymore," Allen stated.

"What do you mean?" Gaddes asked.

"He started doing Heroin when we kept getting rejected by labels... he did it out of frustration, now that we're as good as signed there isn't any need..." Allen said, wishing that what he was saying was true.


They had gotten past their first day in the recording studio, and contrary to what they had expected it hadn't gone over as well as they had wanted it to. Van was his usual sober self; a bit more difficult than needed. His inability to work caused them to be cut a few hours short, also providing a bit of animosity between the three of them.

Upon getting back to the hotel, they had all stayed silent and went about their own business. Allen and Gaddes had no particular desire to hang around with Van, so they decided to go out, leaving Van completely alone. Their departure made him a bit more angry but there wasn't much he could do. He was dying for some Heroin but he was without and considering he wasn't well acquainted with Los Angeles he wasn't exactly sure how to aquire said drug.

This annoyed him even further, he wanted something but he was stranded. He knew Allen and Gaddes weren't stupid enough to leave drugs around for him, and there certainly weren't any in the hotel room itself. Finally after succumbing to defeat he chose to call his girlfriend.

He wasn't really sure if it would cost money, but he did remember Dryden telling them not to worry about the expenses, so he didn't.

The phone rang a few times before Hitomi picked up, "hello?"

"Hey..." he said quietly.

"Hey, how was the first day?" she asked excitedly.

"Uneventful... it wasn't exactly what we wanted to happen during the first session but things aren't usually what you expect are they..." he told her.

Hitomi closed her eyes, knowing that it was his fault, "so how long is your contract?"

"Two years," he said, quickly changing the topic, "how are you?"

"I'm good," she said, "you don't sound great..."

"They're pissed off with me right now," he told her.

She didn't question it, she assumed it wasn't good she didn't need to know the details, "I have to tell you something."

Van's expression contorted a bit, "is everything okay?"

"That depends..." she started.

"On what?" he asked.

"You... your reaction," she said.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes..." she hesitated.

"Can you just tell me?" he asked a little impatiently.

"Van, I'm pregnant..." she said outright.

Van wasn't exactly sure what to say. He was actually quite surprised with how he was feeling, the news hit him so quickly that it was as if he couldn't quite figure out what he was feeling.

"Van?" she asked.

"Yeah... holy shit, how did this happen?" he asked.

"The last time... neither of us remembered... we were both a little drunk," she explained.

Van smiled stupidly at the memory, surprised that he actually did remember it, "oooh yeah..."

"Stop laughing, Van I don't know what you want me to do..." she said a bit more frantically.

"Hitomi, I can't really believe it myself, but I really want you to keep it," he said, his tone a bit happier.