A/N: Having issues getting this chapter to show up. If it appears twice in a row shortly or something, I apologize and I will fix it ASAP.

This is a shift day. There are two updates today.

"Rock the Night Away"

10. Time Come & Time Gone

Artie had no idea where Sugar was taking him, except that her instructions were specifically to 'look very handicapable.' He had no idea what to do with that, but he would play along as best he could. He'd been spending more and more time with her lately, and he felt maybe some time more wouldn't be half bad.

He was more concerned with his being led off somewhere he didn't know. Sugar still wouldn't tell him, and after a while he started to wonder. "Are you lost?"

"I can't be lost," she replied, and he started to calm down. "There's more than one way to get there, and I will find one," she went on, and now he felt his stomach churn all over again.

"We're missing the concert," he reminded.

"It'll be worth it," was her defense.

X

They'd split up, the four of them. They weren't too far off from each other, could still see each other. Jake had suggested it; that way they had more chances of finding a cluster of empty seats. Kitty went along with it immediately, and he followed in this. As for Marley, she was saying yes with her voice, but her eyes didn't look as sure. Still they went, scouring from different stairways.

He tried not to check on her. He knew it was perfectly reasonable, as friends, but then there was the other thing. There was the 'We came so close to being boyfriend and girlfriend, but I missed my shot' thing, a hop and a skip away from the 'You're dating my best friend, and I can't interfere' thing, and forever in the service of the 'But the feelings don't just go away' mega… thing.

He would have wanted nothing more than to be able to move on, to find some other girl who can make him feel the way Marley did, but so far, if she existed, he hadn't found her. So in the meantime he remained at the mercy of the way he felt, and seeing her… sitting next to him, or smiling, or laughing, or dancing, or singing, or kissing… someone else.

She still had the same effect on him she'd had the first time he'd seen her, the first time they'd talked, stronger even. How was he supposed to ignore the feeling he got every time his eyes found her, every time he caught the sound of her voice? It was all there, and he hated to think what he would have done if she'd been going out with some random guy instead of Jake.

"Hey, you want to watch where you're going?" a voice cut through his thoughts.

"Oh sorry, I…" he turned, but then he saw it had been Kitty who'd called him out. "Hey, I just…"

"You just almost tripped over your feet and face planted down into the floor seats," she pointed at the rail just a few steps down from him.

"Right. Did you find seats?" he asked, scratching at the back of his head.

"No, not yet," she frowned, looking around. "Neither did she," she went on, and he knew he'd caught her looking.

"Okay, seriously, I mean I'm starting to come around on her, but there's only so much I can take of all you boys fawning over her," Kitty cut in.

"It's complicated," he insisted.

"It always is," she shook her head.

"It's not like I'll ever do anything about it," he tried to look for seats instead of entertaining Kitty any further. She wasn't bothered.

"No, but you want to. What happens if they break up, which you know they will? Still going to play keep away, or are you going to jump in for a go?"

"Stop," he told her, and she held up her hands in surrender. "I will say just one more thing," she spoke after a beat, and he looked at her, ready to take whatever she threw at him. "I think it's pretty honorable what you're doing." He blinked, not having expected a compliment from her.

"Thanks?"

"Hell if you were my type I would have been all up for the whole white knight thing," she gestured at him and he shook his head, turning to move away from her – he should have known better. "Ryder, wait."

"I'm not listening to you, Kitty, so you j…"

He was cut off when her hand landed on his shoulder and pushed down hard, making him fall on the steps more than crouch, which was what she was doing.

"What are you…" he was shaken, not having expected the sudden drop and feeling the steps digging in his back.

"Stay down, I mean it," she told him, pointing across the section of seats. He sat up just enough that he could see the other side.

There was some sort of security guard type standing in the next stairway over, the one where Marley stood. He had called her up, and standing in front of him, she looked like a deer caught in headlights, which told them it would probably have been triggered by the man asking to see her ticket. Jake had crossed over to join them, and Ryder couldn't hear what they were saying, with the music so loud, but the next thing he knew, Jake had grabbed Marley's hand and pulled her away. They were running, and the man ran after them. Ryder made to stand, but Kitty stopped him again.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm going to help them," he pointed to where they'd run off to.

"By getting yourself in trouble, too. For a white knight, you're not too bright," she tilted her head. He frowned and trailed up the steps anyway. "Fine, be that way!" she called after him. She looked around at where she stood. "One seat. I can do that," she told herself.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)