I awoke the next day at around two thirty in the afternoon. Since we had the day off, it didn't matter what time I got up. The first thing I did was make a reservation at the restaurant for that evening. I didn't want to take the chance of it being full. After that was settled, I took a shower. While doing so, I thought mainly about the fact that we would be leaving this city soon, and I was defiantly not going to lose Victoria again. It was the last day of the month, so she wouldn't be paying rent for her apartment until tomorrow, so I had until then to convince her to come on tour with us. First, I had to convince our tour managers. When I was done with my shower nearly an hour later, I dressed in an old t-shirt and a pair of dark jeans. I exited my hotel room to find my managers, and almost walked right into Georg and Gustav.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Gustav asked.

"Where's Jost?" I asked, not bothering to answer.

"In the lobby, where are you-"

"Ask Tom to fill you in," I called over my shoulder, already walking quickly towards the elevators.

When I got to the ground floor, I did a quick scan of the room for Jost. I spotted him at the front desk, probably arranging us to check out. Twenty minutes later, I had his approval of Victoria joining us on our tour. I was so thrilled, I was almost skipping back to the elevators. I was tackled by Georg and Gustav coming out excitedly.

"Is it really Victoria? You actually found her?" Georg was smiling from ear to ear.

"Yes, now will the two of you get off of me?"

They stood up and helped me up, too.

"I can't believe it's been four years since we saw her last," Gustav said, also with a big grin on his face. "How's she been?"

"I wish she'd been better. She lives in a shit hole of an apartment and I don't like it one bit. That's why I'm hoping I can convince her to come on tour with us," I told them.

"I hope she does; haven't seen her in forever. I miss having her around," Georg said.

The two of them walked away talking about old times. I headed upstairs to get ready for our date that evening. After putting my hair up in its usual lion-mane style and putting on my usual dark eye-make up, I moved to what I was going to wear to the restaurant. Since it was a semi-formal place, I chose a black button-up shirt to wear with my jeans. After that was all decided on, I realized I still had an hour before I was suppose to meet Victoria. I sighed and decided to watch T.V to pass the time. The instant I turned the television on, there was a knock at my door.

"Come in," I called. Tom walked into the room and stood by the bed near the door.

"So, when are you meeting Victoria?" he asked.

"In an hour; why?"

"Have you thought about what she's gonna do when she comes with us on tour?"

"Well, no." Come to think of it, I hadn't thought at all about what she was gonna do.

"Bill, you gotta think about these things in advance. Now we both know she's not gonna have a lot of fun just sitting back stage," he lectured.

"Tom, did you just come in here to tell me she's gonna be bored?"

"No, I came here to tell you that I managed to get her a job on our equipment crew."

"And you couldn't just say that part because…" I prompted.

"It's more fun when I can act like I'm actually significantly older than you." He ducked out of the way just in time as I threw a pillow at him.

"A simple 'thank you' would be better, but ok then," he laughed.

"Thanks, I don't know what I'd do without you here to think about these things," I said sincerely.

"Other than have a very bored girlfriend?" He wasn't fast enough to dodge the next pillow that hit him square in the head.

"Beatles!" I shouted. We both burst out laughing, thinking about that one night so long ago…

*~*~*~FLASHBACK! ~*~*~*

We were all at Victoria's house, in the living room. We were sitting on the couches, playing music and just goofing around. Georg and Victoria were talking about some oldies rock bands, and it was quickly turning into an argument.

"What are you talking about? The Beatles could kick The Ramones' asses!" Victoria said in a matter-of fact-ly way.

"Alright, I'll give you that; but AC/DC tops all, including The Beatles," Georg said, emphasizing the last part. Victoria stared at him with wide eyes and mouth agape.

"Take. That. Back," she said slowly.

"No," Georg said to torment her. "AC/DC has always been better than The Beatles, and they always will be."

"Beatles," Victoria stated.

"AC/DC."

"Beatles."

"AC/DC." They were talking louder and louder until they were shouting.

"Beatles!"

"AC/DC!"

"Beatles!"

"AC-" a pillow hit him right in the face.

"Beatles!"

"Did you seriously just throw a pillow at me?"

"You were asking for it," Victoria said, looking away and crossing her arms.

"So you threw a pillow at me?"
"You pushed me too far!" Victoria shouted and covered her face with her hands like a little kid.

We all laughed at her silly child-like act. I laughed even harder when I saw her peeking at me from behind her fingers. Her dropped her hands and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What?"

"You are so cute," I said, pulling her into me.

*~*~*~ END FLASHBACK! ~*~*~*

"I hope she does come with us on tour. She's always fun to have around," Tom said as he left my room.

I looked at the clock and realized I had half an hour until I was meeting up with Victoria. I decided to start heading down to the restaurant now. I exited the hotel and decided to walk to the restaurant. It was a good eight blocks, so I figured I would get there in time. On the way, I saw a pair of guitar pick shaped earrings in a store window. I bought them for her, knowing she would like them. There was a store by The Shadow Corner that sold a lot of punk clothes and accessories. She often looked at the stuff in the windows, but refused to let me buy anything for her. Now that I had found her again, I wanted to give her the world. But since the world can't be put in a box with a bow on top, I guess I could start with a pair of earrings.

I made it to the restaurant with ten minutes to spare. I waited outside for a few minutes before Victoria walked up from across the street. She was wearing a black halter top that had a rather low neck line and jeans. Oddly, she was wearing a large pair of sunglasses, which she never used to. Whatever she wore, I always thought she looked enticing.

"Hey," she said in greeting.

"Hey," I pulled her in for a soft kiss, wrapping my arms around her waist.

We pulled apart and walked into the restaurant, my arm still around her. We sat down in a dim, quiet corner of the restaurant where she finally removed her sunglasses, but kept her hair covering part of her face.

"So, what have you been up to since I saw you last?" she asked after the waiter had taken our drink orders, "other than becoming famous world-wide?"

"Well, other than music, there was thinking of you, and then nothing," I answered. She blushed slightly. "What about you, other than music?"

"Let's see; after you left last night, I took a shower, ate some ice cream, and went to bed. Prior to that, there was moving around a whole f-ing lot, and, to skip all the depressing details, nothing."

"Fun," I said sarcastically. She just rolled her eyes in amusement.

"So, those last few songs you threw in on your first album, where did they come from?"

"Any chance you can be more specific?"

"Wenn Nicht Mehr Geht, Rette Mich, then there was Heilig and Totgeliebt and Hilf Mir Fliegen. Where did those come from?"

I looked into her sapphire blue eyes.

"They came from you," I said. "When you left one of the ways I tried to cope with it was writing new songs."

"I didn't have the time or resources or paper, for the record, to write any new music. Which really sucks 'cause I've had songs stuck in my head for-I don't know-ever."

The waiter came by our table to take our orders. We went through the rest of the meal talking about music and old times and any other random thing that we could think of. When we left the restaurant we decided to walk down to the pier. It was dark outside by now and the streetlamps were on, casting a soft light on the empty side walk.

"So how did you find your apartment?" I asked.

"When I first came to this town I asked the people I went to for jobs. They said that neighborhood had cheap rent," she said cautiously.

"How much is your rent, if you don't mind my asking."

"Not at all; about $325 a month."

"Hmm, that's not so bad."

"Yeah, but when you have to buy food, gas, and pay taxes and phone bills, it's not easy to pay all of it. And my landlord does not like it when I can't pay my rent," she said the last part very softly, but I still heard her.

I stopped walking and stood directly in front of her small frame.

"Victoria, does he hurt you?" I asked in a serious tone.

After staring at me for a minute, Victoria turned her head to her left and pulled her hair away from her face. Behind her soft brown locks was a large bruise along the side of her face. I felt my own face being taken over by an expression of horror. I tilted her face several different ways under a streetlamp, examining the injury. It didn't look too bad, but the fact that someone would dare strike someone as innocent and harmless as Victoria just didn't make sense to me.

"I'm not gonna be able to pay it all by tomorrow," she said softly.

Her eyes were closed and there were tears running down her face. I pulled her into a tight embrace. She leaned on my shoulder and sobbed into it softly.

"I don't want him to hurt me again," she whispered. "I don't want to lose you again."

"Then don't," I said.

Victoria pulled back to look up at me.

"What do you mean?"

"Come on tour with us. You'll get to see the whole world, and be able to write your music, and Tom already has a job for you on equipment and-"

She covered my mouth with her delicate hand.

"Bill, I don't think I can," she said, looking sadly into my eyes. She moved her hand away.

"What do you mean? If your landlord treats you like shit, why stay?"

"He says I owe him for all the other months I couldn't pay full rent, and he'd call the police if I left without paying it all."

"How much do you owe him?"

"Not including the rent I have to pay tomorrow, about four hundred dollars."

I wiped the tears from her face with my thumb.

"Starting tonight, you won't have to worry about that anymore," I told her. She gave me a confused look. "We're making a quick stop at the bank, and then we're going to get your stuff from your apartment. I'm not letting you spend one more night away from me."

She gave me a hopeful smile, eyes shining now from excitement rather than tears."

"Would you really do that for me?"

I kissed her softly on the forehead before answering.

"For you I would do anything."

She pushed herself up on her toes to kiss my mouth before we walked off hand-in-hand to the nearest ATM.