The enormous crowd could still be heard as Iron Fist made their exit from the stage, sweat covering their bodies, the guitars, and everything virtually they had set their hands on during the show. Each one of them exchanged a hug with one another, including Mwu and Miriallia who waited backstage for them. Retreating to their dressing room, they shared a six-pack and calmed themselves down after the ruckus show. They each knew that tomorrow they would be leaving England for America, land of the free and home of the brave. The most famous location for rock groups in the world. It would be four months in America and Canada before they would finally be able to go home to Orb after the tour was finished.

"You guys sounded great out there!" Mwu beamed backstage while the others enjoyed their drinks.

"Don't we always?" Yzak asked casually.

"No, I mean tonight you were awesome! Those big crowds really do bring out the best in you guys," Mwu said.

"What can we say?" Kira put in. "The big crowds have a lot of energy and we feed off of it."

"It's been like that since we started out," Dearka added. "Feel free to put that in your story by the way, Mir."

"Don't worry I will," Miriallia said kindly.

"You still gonna be with us when we hit America?" Athrun asked.

"You bet. I wouldn't leave you guys now before I saw the almighty, USA." That brought a laugh to each one and before long they had each gone their separate ways to finish their business in England before they left tomorrow.

It was hours later, after the huge crowd had virtually all but disintegrated that Yzak cautiously crept from the backstage area towards his car in the make-shift parking lot about five blocks from the stage. He held his guitar case in his right hand and it swung back and forth in motion with him as he walked. A small drizzle of rain had begun to fall from the now overcast sky, but you couldn't really see it because it was the dead of night. Most of the others in the band had already left to go back to the hotel. Yzak was really the only one left at the venue. Sleepy bags dotted the skin beneath his eyes, signifying how tired Yzak was at this point, but given the circumstances who could blame him?

As Yzak rounded a corner heading towards his car, he saw someone he hadn't expected to see. The brown haired policewoman that had saved him from the mob the week before, who had also introduced him to the extravagance of English brewed beer at Dillon's. Shiho too was astounded to see Yzak round the corner and head straight towards her position directing the remaining cars out of the parking lot where Yzak's car was. With widened eyes, Shiho frantically motioned for him to duck behind the corner so that the people coming out of the parking lot wouldn't recognize him. Not wanting to suffer the consequences of another hysterical mob chasing after him, Yzak wisely ducked back behind the corner and waited. He donned a pair of dark sunglasses in order to make himself look even more anonymous and stood his guitar case on its bottom so he could hide it behind his body. After about five minutes Yzak heard her whisper his name and say that it was okay for him to come out. Yzak stuck his head around the corner and saw no one but Shiho. He slowly slunk his way around the corner and said, "Thanks."

"No problem," she whispered back quickly. "Why didn't you leave yet?"

"I drove myself," Yzak responded.

"Why?" Shiho sounded more annoyed than curious.

"Because I like driving myself every once in a while," Yzak retorted. "It's not every day you the chance to be behind the wheel of a brand new Aston Martin, but besides that."

Shiho sighed. "Okay I can understand that. I'm sorry."

"Forget it. Can you get me to my car without a mob seeing me?"

"Follow me." Taking the quickest way possible, Shiho led Yzak across the road, using her status as a police officer to stop traffic and allow the rock star to pass. Fortunately enough for them, it was dark enough outside that no one seemed to recognize Yzak as he crossed the road with just a scarce amount of cars on it at this time of night.

"I didn't know you'd be at the show," Yzak huffed as he kept pace with Shiho.

"You never asked," she reminded him, ducking between two parked cars in the parking lot. "Everyone British law enforcement officer that was available was assigned here. Scotland Yard was no exception. I had crowd control for most of the day. They asked me to stay late to help with the traffic outflow and I agreed."

"Huh..." Yzak mumbled.

"Don't give me that crap, Yzak," Shiho said sternly. "I wasn't waiting for you."

"Why the hell would I want you too?" Yzak responded harshly.

"Fine!" Shiho finished. They said nothing else as they reached Yzak's silver rental Aston Martin. Yzak popped the truck and loaded his guitar case. "Everything set?" Shiho asked, her voice dropping below frustration once again.

"Yeah. Listen...I'm sorry about that...I didn't mean anything by it. Its-."

"-Just how you are," Shiho finished, much to Yzak's annoyance. "I've heard about your theory on women in the news, Yzak. That you think love's worthless in this world of yours. That's the inspiration for your song, Love Bites."

"How do you know that?"

"I read that journalist's article. The one that's traveling with you."

"Oh." Yzak shook his head. "Listen, it's nothing personal okay. It's just that...uh...I've had some bad experiences with women in the past, okay. Some...bad stuff's happened..."

"It's okay," Shiho said quietly. "Don't worry about it. Well...I'd better be going..."

"How far's your place?" Yzak asked casually.

Shiho turned back towards him and said quietly, "Only about a mile from here."

"Hop in, I'll give you a ride. It's the least I could do after everything you've done for me these past weeks." Yzak hopped into the right front seat behind the steering wheel and slammed the door. Shiho remained outside for a few seconds, but Yzak's, "Are you coming or not?" finally got her into the passenger seat beside him. "Where's your place?" Yzak asked, after starting the car's motor and pulling into the main flow of traffic.

"An apartment just north of Camden Town," Shiho said simply, not even bothering to look Yzak in the face. "Just drop me off at the front."

"Whatever you say," Yzak answered. The roads were empty at this time. Yzak glanced at the car's clock and it read 11:30 p.m. Damn, I gotta get some sleep... he thought to himself as he made a right hand turn across traffic onto the next road. He and Shiho said very little to one another as they made their way slowly towards her apartment. "So...what'd you think?"

"About what?" she asked softly.

"About the show," Yzak reminded her.

"It was good..." Her voice trailed off. "But..."

"What?"

"You really need to work on your dancing." Yzak groaned heavily and slumped in the driver's seat.

Yzak had attuned himself to driving on the opposite side of the road very well during his time in England. He navigated the seemingly backwards roads like he'd been driving them all his life. He sped through the empty streets often, sometimes bracing himself for a chide from the policewoman next to him, but none came, much to his surprise. Shiho actually seemed to be enjoying how fast he was going. She even turned up the radio in the car so that the local radio station was sounding loudly in the late night atmosphere.

Passing the bars and taverns of Camden Town, they came to Shiho's apartment at about 11:45. Yzak parked next to the curb in front of her place and turned off the engine. The two sat in silence for several minutes, not bothering to say anything. There really wasn't much to talk about.

"Well..." Shiho managed to blurt out.

"Yeah..." Yzak murmured. "I guess this is goodbye." His voice had a sort of sadness in it that he hid from her. Believe it or not, Yzak was a little sad that he was having to leave England and Shiho altogether. Not that there was anything between them. He just really didn't want to leave this soon.

"Yeah..." Shiho whispered. For the first time during the ride, Shiho actually turned to face Yzak. Yzak tilted his head slightly towards her, not bothering to turn his eyes towards her. He was quite surprised when he felt Shiho lean across the seat and say, "Thank you Yzak." She planted a soft, wet kiss on his cheek and was out of the car before he had the chance to realize what had happened. His eyes were widened with shock and his mouth had gone aghast ever so slightly. Without even thinking, Yzak bolted from the car and stumbled onto the curb.

Shiho was already up the steps towards the door to her apartment when Yzak finally caught up with her, grabbing her by the arm and turning her around sharply to face him. "Wait. What the hell was that for?"

"I don't know what you're talking about?" Shiho said.

Now Yzak was mad. "You just kissed me!" he shouted, not nearly enough to wake the neighborhood, but enough so that it produced an echo down the street. "What was that for?" Yzak demanded.

Now it was Shiho's turn to be angry. "Oh, you want to know. Okay! I just thought it was customary whenever someone drives you home you were supposed to thank them in your own way! But if that's not how you think it should be done-!"

"Well, let's just say that I'm not accustomed to having someone kiss me whenever I just do something to pay them back for saving my ass the week before!" Yzak roared. "You could have warned me a little beforehand stupid!"

What came next was the sharp crack of Shiho's right hand slapping Yzak across his face, knocking him backwards. Yzak stumbled onto the step below where he had been standing and his hand came to his cheek. Anger flourished in his eyes as he turned back to face Shiho, but to his surprise her head was tilted down towards the ground and her eyes were closed. She looked...sad. Yzak held his reddening cheek and took a deep breath, letting the anger seep out of his system. Finally, he said, "Okay...I probably deserved that." Shiho still didn't look up at him. Yzak went up a step and stood beside her just in front of the door and added, "Look...I'm sorry..."

"I know..." she whispered.

"You had a right to slap me. I didn't mean to call you stupid." Shiho nodded. "Will you at least look at me when I talk to you?" Yzak asked, as kindly as he could. Slowly Shiho turned her head to face him and Yzak saw the pained expression on her face. Now he felt even worse. "Look...it's nothing personal Shiho...it's just..."

"It's my fault."

"Huh?"

"The reason..." Shiho began. "...I kissed you because I was worried I wouldn't see you again, Yzak. You've been...a great friend to me these past two weeks..."

"Same here," he said quietly.

"I just was...worried I'd let you go without showing you how grateful I am for what you've done, Yzak Joule." Shiho glanced up at him and added, "I'm sorry."

Yzak closed his eyes. "I'm just as sad to see you go too, Shiho Hastenflauss." He gently took her by the chin and brought her eyes to meet his. "But you know...we don't have to be apart...we can always...meet again..."

"You're leaving tomorrow though," Shiho reminded him. "Will you...write me from America...?"

"Of course," Yzak said quietly. Slowly, he took her into his arms and embraced her to the best of his ability. Shiho returned it as best she could, but both of them found this position to be very awkward to themselves inside. "I'll miss you."

"I'll be waiting for you when you get back," she said, her voice just a hushed whisper in his ear. Minutes later, Yzak was back in his Aston Martin driving back towards the hotel thinking to himself, What have I just gotten myself into...?

"Both amps get loaded?" Mwu asked from the base of the truck, the rain beginning to soak his clothes through.

"Yeah!" the worker said, his voice strained from inside the truck. "We've just got the rest of the lights to go before we can get the hell out of here."

"Hurry up," Mwu told him, moving away from the truck. It was then that his cell-phone began to ring. He glanced back at the crew and added, "Just get the rest of it loaded and head for Heathrow!"

"Yes, sir!" Mwu moved under the cover of a small canopy that hadn't been taken down yet and took out his phone.

"Hello?" he said against the backdrop of the lightly falling rain.

"Hello, Mwu," came the pleasant voice from the other end.

Mwu's blue eyes widened with shock as stuttered into the phone, "M-Murrue!"

"Surprised?" her voice asked him. Mwu hadn't seen her in almost three months since he'd been on tour with the band.

"Yeah. I didn't expect you to call me, that's all. I mean it's almost midnight out here."

"But you forget, it's noon in Orb. You didn't think about not answering, did you?"

"Not a chance," Mwu answered, smiling. "I'd talk to you for anything, my love."

"Shh..." he heard Murrue whisper on the other end. "There's someone else who wants to talk with you, honey."

Mwu waited. "Hi daddy!" His face lit up at the sound of the girl's voice.

"Hi sweetie!" he beamed into the phone. "How are you?"

"Fine!" came the voice on the other end. "Jenny's okay too!"

"You've been taking good care of your little sister, haven't you?" Mwu asked his oldest daughter.

"Yes I have," she said proudly. "What are you doing daddy?"

"Oh, just standing in the rain waiting to get on an airplane, sweetie," Mwu told her casually. "The boys asked me to say hi to you too."

"I miss you, daddy!"

"I miss you too, sweetie," Mwu whispered. "Put mommy back on okay." Mwu waited until he heard Murrue's voice on the other end. "They behaving?"

"To the best of their ability," Murrue said cheerfully, bringing a smile to Mwu's face. "They really miss their daddy, though."

"So I've heard," Mwu said quietly. "Look...we're heading for America tomorrow. I'll try to get home for a few days sometime during the lull in the tour next month."

"Don't rush yourself, honey," Murrue reminded him. "The band needs you just as much as we do. You have a job to do, remember."

"So do you," Mwu said. "When are you due to head into the studio for the next session?"

"Next week," Murrue said. "We start production then. Lacus will be here tomorrow."

"Great. Listen, I've got to go, Murrue. We leave in five minutes."

"Okay, I'll see you soon, Mwu."

"I love you, Murrue"

"I miss you too, Mwu." He heard her blow him a kiss through the speaker and then the phone went dead, leaving Mwu alone once again in the falling rain. As he stood there, he thought about how much he missed them.

Back at the hotel, the remaining four members of the band lounged in their hotel suite, drinking down the last of their beer before calling it a night. "Damn that show was insane," Athrun murmured.

"Tell me about it, I've never seen so many people jump up and hit the floor like they did today," Kira said. "I can't believe we can actually do that to a crowd."

"Why? We've been doing this four five years, Kira," Nicol reminded him. "For the past three every crowd we've played for has done the same thing."

"Yeah, but we've never had one that big before," Kira sighed. "I can only imagine what it's going to be like when we hit America next week."

"New York, Boston, Philly, Portland, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Baltimore all in one month," Dearka sighed. "Man that's gonna be wild."

"I know, I can't wait!" Kira said, his voice suddenly excited.

"Me too," Nicol added.

"Ditto," Athrun finished quietly. "Cheers to a successful tour, gentlemen." They raised their bottles and the glass clanked together in a pleasant chime.