"Time to get up, baby. C'mon if I can stand up after last night you can do even better. Hah, missed me." After easily dodging her half-hearted swipe, Mike could hear Bonnie's voice, faintly, from under the covers.

"Dontwanna."

"Suit yourself. You're givin' me no choice but to call in the secret weapon."

No response except a very faint "pfffllllt".

Whereupon Mike walked away from the bed, opened the bedroom door, and disappeared into the hall to direct, "Hit it, Lulu."

"Baanzaiiii!"

Bonnie peeked out of her burrow just in time to see Lulu sailing toward the bed in midair, and managed to roll to the side the second before impact. A muffled condemnation came from inside the cocoon of bedding.

"I hate you both. Really."

"C'mon, Genie's waiting for me downstairs, and Pam's waiting for you. Rise and whine." Lulu sat on top of Bonnie's buried form and bounced up and down a couple of times. "You don't really wanna be outdone by the most hungover Texan in the Western Hemisphere, do ya?" She yanked the covers out of a tightly clenched fist. "Well do ya?"

When she heard Mike laughing as he walked downstairs Lulu leaned down right into Bonnie's face. "Look, I know this is the hard part."

At that, Bonnie poked her head out and looked up, eyes wide. "It is. I knew you'd understand."

Lulu nodded and continued smoothly, "And remember, I'm helpin' Genie pack up your stuff so you don't have to wallow and bawl over every dust bunny."

The covers flipped up over Bonnie's face again. "Thanks a bunch." Lulu was unmoved, and yanked the covers away.

"Look, just go hang out with Pam. We're all gonna meet up in Malibu, one of Pam's writer buddies is lending us her place on the beach. We're gonna lie around and drink champagne and I'm gonna get to know your crazy friends and then you're coming home as in where you've always known it was. But first you gotta get up and get going. It won't hurt much, honest."

Finally Bonnie sat up and stared into Lulu's eyes. "Promise?" She had actually been relieved that Lulu and Genie were taking the packing in hand. Genie had enough respect for her past to handle it gently, and Lulu had enough intimate knowledge of her not to get too bogged down in excess reverence. For her own part, Bonnie knew it would have been too much for her all at once. Not for the first time she was warmed by the knowledge of how well her friends and life were coming together, past and present.

Still sitting on Bonnie's lap, Lulu nodded, serious now. "Yeah, baby doll, I promise. Rock Star promised too. When we come back on Sunday you are gonna wonder why you held out so long. We may not all look back and laugh, but you're gonna be glad you did it."

"Fine," Bonnie sighed and jumped out of bed, casually dumping Lulu on the floor. "And while you're packing, and Nesmith is organizing and the guys are doing whatever it is they're gonna do…" She paused to grab some clothes out of a duffel that had, miracle of miracles, made it all the way into the bedroom last night. After she got dressed and was ready to go, she caught Lulu staring expectantly at her.

"What?"

"Yeah, what? 'While we're packing' and blah blah blah… what?" Lulu demanded.

"While all that's happening I can figure out how to calm down Bob. He's still convinced I'm gonna give up all reason and logic and start backing Nesmith against him in every artistic battle. And he's always warning me against 'fan backlash'."

"Seriously? You said he was letting you use the company vans to move." Lulu was puzzled. "Anyway, I always figured the more 'taken' one of these guys was, the more the fans grooved on the fantasy of stealing them away, writing their 'someday' plans in their little diaries and sending all those hot fan letters."

"Uh-uh," Bonnie corrected as they headed downstairs toward the smell of coffee and the unfamiliar (in this house) sound of overlapping laughter and conversation. "He's telling me they'll get all psycho on me, for moving in on their fave pinup-future-dream-husband. Or keeping them from another after-gig lay that they're expecting because he told them 'see ya next time'. Or whatever."

They arrived in the downstairs to be greeted by Monkees, Genie, and Pam. Bonnie gestured at the guys, slouched variously around the living room. Genie and Pam were at the dining room table, organizing packing lists.

"This is the moving crew?" Bonnie moaned. "I'm doomed."

"Well thank you very much, and adios," Micky huffed, dislodging himself from the sofa and marching to the door. "I know when I'm not wanted."

Mike followed and seized him by the collar. "Nice try, man. Genie and Lulu are gonna pack and we are gonna carry."

"But I'm used to running in circles to badly recorded sound tracks," Micky whined, "this is, this is…" he flung back his head and covered his eyes with the back of his hand, gasping, "Manual labor!"

Pam finished off her coffee and called out, "Don't forget, Monkee hands make light work." Everyone groaned.

"Easy for you to say, you're not doin' the work," Davy faux-grumbled. To be honest, they all were relieved to speed an end to the mind-bending drama of Mike and Bonnie's living arrangements.

"Au contraire," Mike corrected. "Pam's got the hardest job of all… keeping Morris occupied and out of our hair."

"Well I just want to make sure it all gets here in one piece!" Bonnie protested.

"Yes, dear," Mike drawled. Everybody cracked up as he added, "Might as well start practicin' now 'long as she's gonna have both feet in the door."

"What!" Bonnie shrieked, but Mike just stuck a mug of coffee in her hand, turned her around, and hustled her toward the door, where Pam already was standing. He put on his fussy-character voice.

"Now-you-just-run-along and have a nice time, and don't you come back until Sunday or I'll lock you in the garage. Shoo-shoo-shoo!"

Bonnie was so stunned she actually shuffled out the door, still clutching her coffee mug. As the door swung shut, Mike doubled over in gasping hysterics.

"Man, you are taking your life in your hands with that shit," Lulu warned, but the others just laughed louder.

"If she hasn't killed him yet, he's good for a while," Davy advised. "Now who's gonna drive and who's gonna bollocks up the directions?" he asked, and they all trooped out to the two Raybert production vans and headed to North Hollywood.

On the way to Bonnie's about-to-be-former pad, Genie asked Davy as he drove, "It's not going to take more than a day to get all of this moved, why the extra two days?"

Davy tipped a sly wink. "That's on the Q.T., luv. You'll know when she does."

Genie considered the possibilities. "Better than what Pam and I pulled off in Paris?"

He gave up only a shrug and the subtlest of smiles, and drove on.