Angela was just about to reach for her phone to find out where the hell Rayanne was this time, when her attention was drawn to the street outside the diner by the deep growling of the motorcycle that pulled up outside. Her jaw dropped and a single glance at Sharon confirmed that she was wearing a similar expression. They were still sitting open mouthed when Rayanne skipped across the room and deposited herself breathlessly in the seat opposite them, bike helmet still in hand.

"What?" Rayanne asked as she took a seat and noticed their shocked expressions, before shaking out her long, wavy locks. "Do I have helmet hair?"

"Who was that?" Angela asked, referring to the leather clad driver of the motorcycle which had already weaved back into the passing traffic and disappeared from view.

"That was Frankie."

"I thought he was an artist, not a Hell's Angel?" Sharon asked. "Not to mention a one night stand?"

"Last night was officially our fourth one night stand." Rayanne smiled. "Anyway, he is an artist. He makes sculptures by welding things together. Think Flashdance without leg warmers or 80s inspired montage dancing and a whole lot more sex. Plus, he looks great in leather and so do I."

"How can it be a one night stand if there's been more than one?" Angela queried in confusion.

"One night stand? Casual, no strings sex? Fuck buddies? What's the diff?" Rayanne replied. "I mean, we're definitely not dating. We just happen to bump into each other around town occasionally and, when we do, one thing tends to lead to another."

"But isn't that a little on the empty side?" Sharon asked. "I mean, if you like him, why don't you actually date him or something?"

"And if they're just one night stands, why did you keep the bike helmet?" Angela pointed out.

"One night stands one to four were, like, wow. I mean, really. It's like we have this animalistic attraction and just can't control ourselves. I figure, why not give him an excuse to come over for round five." Rayanne shrugged.

"Sounds like more than casual, no strings sex to me." Sharon challenged but Rayanne just rolled her eyes

"If it makes you happy, I promise I'll make him buy me dinner if we ever make it to our tenth one night stand, okay? I'll even tell him I'm not really 32." Rayanne smirked. "Anyway, last night I was hanging out with Tino at Vertigo and that's where I bumped into him. Frankie, I mean, but Jordan Catalano was there too."

"Oh?"

To Angela, Sharon's tone of voice displayed equal measures of curiosity and desire to stop this topic of conversation before it even got started. It mirrored exactly the way she was feeling. She had, of course, heard everything from Sharon and she was just as bewildered as her and also sort of hurt in a weird way that was hard to define. It wasn't as if Jordan Catalano had done drugs when he had been part of her life, so she had no right to be hurt by his actions. She supposed it was disappointment more than anything else but there was also some anger mixed in with her feelings. When they had been together, he was always so responsible. Sure, he used to drink at parties but he had always seemed like he was in control. He never took it to excess like some of his friends did and she had never had to carry him home like she had done with Rayanne on more than one occasion. He always said that he knew too much about the crazy stuff people did when they got too drunk, he knew about how they hurt the people they were supposed to love the most. It didn't take a genius to realize that he was referring to the way his father often behaved and, even though she knew that he would never physically hurt her, it had been comforting to know that he wanted to protect her. How could some one with that attitude go on to do something so reckless as experiment with illegal substances? You certainly couldn't tell just by looking at him and she had to admit, even if it was just to herself, that she had been looking a lot.

"Yeah. He played a set of angst ridden, melancholy tunes, which the audience seemed to dig for some reason, and then sat by the bar nursing a beer for a couple of hours. He was…not much fun, actually." Rayanne continued

"And you're telling me this because?" Sharon asked while Angela tried to not look as interested in the answer as she was.

"Because I thought you might want to know. I tried talking to him about my AA and NA groups but he wasn't exactly enthusiastic or, well, interested at all."

"I still can't believe it." Sharon said. "One minute he's offering me actual money, telling me he wants to contribute financially to Edward's upbringing and the next he's telling the kids about drugs. I mean, the thought of it is just wrong. Urgh, I hate shots! I could never do that to myself."

"Flu shots and getting the best high of your life are not exactly the same thing. Not that I'd know, or anything. I might have partied too hard in my wild days but I never partied that hard. But, if you think about it, it's not that surprising. Musicians and drugs go together like…two things that go together. Take, for instance, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain…I could go on."

"Rayanne, they're all dead!" Sharon pointed out.

"Fine, you want living examples, how about Scott Welland, Steve Tyler, Amy friggin' Winehouse?"

"Aren't they all still battling their addictions?"

"Whatever. My point is, it's not unheard of and, if you take everything into consideration, Jordan Catalano is a walking wet dream for any sociology major in need of a case study for their final paper."

Angela wouldn't have put it in those words but she supposed Rayanne had a point. Jordan grew up in a single parent household with an alcoholic, sometimes abusive father and suffered from literacy problems for his whole school career. In terms of statistics, he was probably lucky not to be a burnt out greaser with no teeth and a parole officer. However, she still couldn't reconcile the Jordan Catalano she knew with the images she saw of drug addicts in movies or on TV. In some ways, she now had the perfect reason to stay away from him because what he had done was just not nice. It was beyond distasteful. She would even go as far as to call it seedy. However, in other ways, it seemed to add to his attractiveness, which she knew was so completely wrong but she couldn't help it. It was like he was some kind of tortured soul in need of understanding and nurturing. She couldn't believe she was trying to put some kind of romantic spin on it but that was what she was doing and all she was achieving was more confusion within herself.

"Anyway, how much money are we talking?" Rayanne asked, bringing Angela out of her thoughts to tune back into the conversation again.

"We didn't get as far as the particulars. It was just a general, unspecified offer he wanted me to consider and we haven't really talked about it since."

"Why not?" Angela asked, deciding it was time for her to actively participate rather than just listen in.

"We're back to doing that faux divorcee thing where we're incapable of communicating with each other beyond me making it clear that I am not impressed and him making it clear that he doesn't give two hoots what I think." Sharon explained. "He's still, like, making an effort to spend time with Edward though. Not that I'm entirely convinced at this point that that's a good thing."

"How's Edward taking it?"

"Oh, he's great. I'm the basket case."

"Amy and Rebecca are just the same." Angela had sat them both down to have a discussion on the dangers of drugs but it had gone down just as well as her attempts to talk to them about sex and she still wasn't sure whether they had actually listened to anything she said or not.

" Of course they're great. They've got other things on their minds." Rayanne chipped in. "If I were Amy and Rebecca, running around with Mike and Eddie, I wouldn't be worrying about Jordan Catalano's capricious youth either. "

"The only thing they've got on their mind at the moment is the competition at Pike Street. Shane has been an absolute godsend when it comes to the band. I don't know what the boys would have done without him. Apart from drive me insane, that is. He's been really good with all this stuff with Jordan too." Sharon admitted. "He's always trying to make me feel better about it. Like, reassure me everything's all ok, or something. So, of course, I've repaid him by taking complete advantage of him."

"Ooh, this sounds juicy." Rayanne smiled in delight. "Just how would one take advantage of Shane Wright?"

"Not like you're thinking! I just meant that I've been using him as a way of communicating with Jordan. He's basically piggy in the middle of our little domestic insanity which cannot be a fun place to be."

"He wouldn't be doing it if he didn't want to." Angela pointed out.

"I suppose," Sharon shrugged. She was grateful he was there but she was worried that he would think she was trying to make him choose a side. She was even more worried that he would choose Jordan's. The truth was, she was kind of getting used to him hanging around the house and she liked that he was there. Once the competition was over, he may well decide that his obligations to the band were over and she was beginning to think that, if that happened, she would sort of miss him. A few weeks ago, if someone had said to her that she would soon be thinking of Shane as someone she could depend upon, as her rock, she would have called them mad but that was what was happening and she had no idea how to tell him just how much she appreciated him being there for her and Edward. "You guys are still coming to Pike Street, right? To help me cheer them on?"

"Of course," Rayanne replied. "And I still say we should make a night of it. Clubbing, sleep over at my place, the whole nine yards."

"I don't know." Angela said, torn between wanting to keep an eye on the girls and feeling too old for rock concerts and clubbing. "I don't have anything to wear to a place like Pike Street anymore, let alone night clubs."

"Well, I'll lend you something." Rayanne responded, knowing that she would be able to talk Angela into attending. "You're up for a girls night, aren't you, Sharon?"

"Edward's been hinting at throwing some kind of after show party at the house but he's giving pretty big hints that he'd prefer to have the place to himself."

"Like I said, you can stay at my place. It'll be like old times."

"It's not like I'm leaving him for a quiet night home alone. He's going to be all hyper after playing at Pike Street. They all will. I keep having nightmares that I'll come home and the house will be trashed." Sharron replied.

"Really? What's the worst that could happen?" Rayanne asked.

"One of them could handcuff themselves to Sharon's bed." Angela dryly suggested.

"Yeah, like Sharon even owns handcuffs" Rayanne scoffed. She expected Sharon to sneer at her attempt at humor but her comment was met with an awkward half laugh. "Oh my god, you own handcuffs?"

"They don't belong to me, technically." Sharon replied, unable to believe that she was trying to explain herself. "You remember that guy, Thomas, who I used to date? He had a fetish."

"Didn't you date him, like, five years ago?"

"Yeah. So?"

"So why do you still have them?"

"Just because it was his fetish doesn't mean it wasn't fun occasionally." Sharon shrugged. "Waste not, want not?"

"Well, if you really wanted to take advantage of Shane, I think you've got the perfect tools." Rayanne laughed. "If all else fails, just tie him down and tell him to think of his happy place!"

"Maybe being handcuffed to Sharon's bed would be his happy place." Angela added with a chuckle of her own as Sharon started to blush.

They were still teasing her when the waitress finally arrived to take their order.

"Hey," Amy smiled as she felt Mike's familiar arm wrap around her waist. She didn't need to even turn from her locker to know it was him. She knew it from the way he smelled and the way his body seemed to mould itself to hers.

"Hey," he repeated back, pulling her closer and using his free hand to brush her hair away from her neck before leaning down to kiss her in the spot that always seemed to make her breath catch in her throat. The way she sighed and leaned back into him confirmed he was having the desired effect.

Amy was surprised that her brain was working at all but somehow she managed to string a coherent sentence together. "Did you talk to Edward?"

"Sure," Mike murmured into her ear has he transferred his lips from her neck to her ear lobe.

"What did he say?" she asked quickly, before her brain became completely addled.

"Urm, about what?" he softly replied, trailing kisses back down her neck

"About Jordan Catalano."

"Oh…yeah."

"I thought you said you talked to him!" Amy said, turning around in time to catch his sheepish expression.

"I did talk to him." he protested, soon realizing from the look that she was giving him that it was a lost cause. "…about the band."

"You were supposed to talk to him about Jordan Catalano, like I asked you to."

"The subject didn't come up. Come on, babe, what did you expect? It's not like we were going to have a deep and meaningful talk and cry or anything. That's, like, girl territory."

"But he needs to talk to someone because he's not talking to me or Rebecca about it. He just keeps saying that everything's fine."

"Maybe that's because everything is fine." Mike shrugged, taking full advantage of the fact that she was now facing him to capture her mouth with his.

For a moment, Amy was incapable of doing anything but kissing him eagerly back but, as much as she wanted to continue doing that, she eventually managed to pull away. "It's not fine. All he has talked about for weeks on end is Jordan Catalano this and Jordan Catalano that. Now that something huge has happened, we get nothing. Sharon's freaking out, my Mom's been making 'just say no' speeches but Edward's hardly talked about it. It's not normal."

"Since when was Edward normal?" Mike joked, leaning in for another kiss only to have his advances spurned.

"I'm being serious." Amy replied, leaning back to prevent him from kissing her again. She knew that once he did, this conversation would be over. "I'm, like, concerned. So is Rebecca."

"You're both worrying about nothing."

"Look, they're coming now." Amy said as Rebecca and Edward came into view walking hand in hand down the corridor towards Edward's locker. "Please just talk to him."

"Now?" Mike asked, cupping her ass and squeezing slightly, making it clear that he'd rather be not talking with her somewhere more private.

"Yes, now." Any rolled her eyes before reaching behind her to grab his wrists and remove his hands from her body.

Mike groaned as she stared to pull him towards the other couple but there was nothing he could do to change her mind. It was clearly already made up so he would just have to put his naughty thoughts on hold and try his luck again later, after he had had the required talk with Edward. He just hoped said talk would be over quickly.

Forgoing any form of greeting, Amy stopped in front of Rebecca. "You need to come to the girl's room with me. Like, right now"

"What?" Rebecca asked in confusion. From Edward's expression, she knew he had no idea what was going on and as Mike leaned back against the lockers, his expression was unreadable. He was giving off hints of boredom but was also looking at Amy like she was doing something to amuse him. "What's going on."

"Nothing." Amy replied a little too quickly. "Nothing at all. I just need to speak to you. You know, about that thing….that thing you wanted to talk about."

Rebecca's face started to scrunch in even more confusion but some serious wide-eyed shakes of Amy's head in Edward's and Mike's direction helped the penny to drop. "Oh! Right, that thing!"

"What thing?" Edward asked.

"Nothing." Rebecca said, aiming for a reassuring smile but producing something more like a grimace. "Just…girl stuff."

"Yeah, girl stuff." Amy agreed. "We've got to go and talk about girl stuff."

"Remind me at some point to teach Amy the meaning of the word subtlety." Mike said as he watched the girls hightail it to the nearest restroom

"What's going on?" Edward asked as soon as the girls had disappeared from view.

"They want me to talk to you about Jordan Catalano. Apparently, you've not been sharing your feelings enough, or whatever, and now they're all, like, concerned."

"Everything's fine."

"That's what I said but you know what chicks are like." Mike shrugged. "I guess they just think you should be talking about it more, or something."

"What's there to talk about? I mean, if he was still doing all of that stuff then, yes. There would be something to talk about but he isn't so it's just not an issue. Besides, how can I be stressed out about stuff that happened before I even knew him?"

"Are you sure?" Mike asked, uncertainly. Edward's frown and the set of his jaw didn't exactly look stress free. Until Amy started wigging out he'd been quite happy to accept Edward's line of 'everything's fine' and not think about it any further but maybe she had a point after all.

"What do you want to me say? That I'm pissed off? That I'm…"Edward shook his head and continued to throw text books into his locker, each one landing with a load thud, rather than finish the sentence. He didn't want to finish it because to do so would be to admit his fears aloud and the last thing he wanted to do was admit he was scared that Jordan would relapse. His fears were partly his own fault. They were the result of too much curiosity and an overactive imagination but that didn't make them any less real.

He and Jordan had talked about things and, while it wasn't exactly easy, he'd soon come to realize that Jordan would answer any question he asked without trying to put an kind of spin of it. He had come to realize that Jordan didn't lie. So, when he said that he didn't do that any more, Edward believed him. But it turned out that Edward liked Jordan's honesty a little too much because he kept asking questions and Jordan kept answering them until Edward understood the meaning of the phrase 'too much information' all too well. He knew about the good times and the bad times; he knew about crazy stuff Jordan had done to fund his habit; he knew about Jordan becoming so strung out that he couldn't get up on stage and perform, let alone write music; he knew what withdrawal felt like; and he knew about Jordan's stint in rehab. Some of the things Jordan told him actually made him glad that Jordan hadn't been part of his life at that time, which was a complete contrast to the way he had been feeling the last few weeks. Rather than wishing that he had known Jordan all of his life, he was now sort of relieved that he hadn't had to witness all of the bad stuff first hand.

After rehab, Jordan had never touched drugs again but that didn't mean he hadn't been tempted. Jordan freely admitted that there were times when he had nearly lost it but, somehow, he had managed to hold it together. Edward supposed that was what having an addiction meant, always craving something but having to master the art of self denial. The only person he could think to compare Jordan to was Rayanne but that didn't really help put things into perspective. Alcohol and drugs weren't quite the same thing but they both could destroy lives if taken to the extreme. Rayanne may have been sober for a long time now but it was no secret that over the years she had fallen off the wagon on numerous occasions and she still used the phrase 'once a drunk, always a drunk' to describe her situation. But he had grown up thinking of her as a sort of crazy aunt. Falling off the wagon every now and then was part of who she was. By age eight both he and Amy knew the signs that meant she was drinking again just as well as their parents did and she always seemed to pull herself back together before things got too bad. The phrase 'once a junkie, always a junkie' didn't sit as easy with him, especially when he was applying it to his father. The thought that Jordan might one day give in to his temptations, just as Rayanne occasionally gave into hers, was eating away at him. He had no idea what signs to look out for when it came to Jordan and he didn't even want to think about what would happen if Jordan did relapse but couldn't pull it back like Rayanne always managed to.

The girls were right when they said he should be talking more but who could he talk to? It wasn't as if he and Amy really had any alone time anymore. When they were together, Mike and Rebecca were invariably there as well or at least not far away. When it came to Rebecca, alone time meant he usually had other things on his mind and given a choice of having an angst filled conversation about something he had no control over or making out, he knew which option he would chose. He couldn't talk to Sharon about it because she was freaking out enough as it was. Shane probably knew more about it than anyone else but whenever he was at the house, the rest of the band was there too. Even after practice, it was impossible to speak to him privately because Sharon was always there, practically fawning over him. As for Mike, he was the last person Edward wanted to have this conversation with because, if his worst fears did come true and Jordan did give into temptation, Edward had a pretty good idea who he'd turn to to get his fix.

"I know it's, like, unexpected but it's all in the past. I mean, he's not into that scene anymore." Mike tried, hoping to sound reassuring. "It's not a big deal."

"Yeah. You would say that."

The sudden anger in Edward's voice and the fact that it was directed at him took Mike by surprise but after a second he managed to speak. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, a drug dealer would think it's not a big deal, right?"

"I'm not a -" Mike started to protest but Edward cut in.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot. You're not a dealer. You just deliver things for Tino."

"Keep your voice down, dude" Mike replied, eyes darting up and down the corridor to check if anyone had overheard.

Edward ignored him though and continued regardless. "You ever think about what happens to the shit you peddle? Who takes it? What it does to them and their families? I mean, who knows how many strung out people in the tri country area are waiting for your next delivery."

Mike would have had to admit that no, he didn't think of any of that stuff because it was easier not to. However, he didn't get the chance to reply before Edward continued.

"You probably don't even care. You just go along with whatever Tino says." Edward said, banging his locker shut. He knew none of it was really Mike's fault but now that he had focused his anger and frustration at something it was impossible for him to stop. "I bet Tino would be glad if Jordan did start taking drugs again. One more person to make money off of. Hell, I bet he'd have you deliver the stuff to Jordan personally."

With one last glare at Mike, he stomped off down the corridor, leaving his friend staring in shock at his retreating back.

"Shit." Mike said as he closed his eyes and leaned back against the locker, intentionally bumping it with the back of his head in frustration. To say that that conversation hadn't gone as expected would be the understatement of the year. He was still leaning when a semi authoritative voice reached his ears.

"Everything ok, Michael?" Brian asked

Mike looked at him for a moment, trying to decide if he had been eavesdropping all along, but the look of mildest concern on Brian's face convinced him otherwise. If Brian had heard anything, he doubted he would have stopped to chat. He'd just have frog marched him down to the Principle's office instead. Still, he wasn't in the mood to play nice. "Uh, people don't call me Michael, except like my Grandmother, and she's dead."

"Oh, okay. I'll try to…"Brian started but trailed off awkwardly when he realized the teen wasn't really listening to his response. It seemed as if Michael, no Mike, was one of the few students he hadn't been able to win over with what his wife called his mixture of adult authority and geek boy charm. Trying to remember the advice Mrs. Learner gave about reaching out to the kids even if they don't take the next step, he offered what he hoped sounded like encouragement. "Anyway, I'm glad you changed your mind."

"About what?"

"About the extra credit assignment." Brian's smile faltered as he took in Mike's look of incomprehension. "Remember, we talked about it?"

"Yeah, and I said I wasn't interested."

"But you changed your mind." Brian replied, trying to make it sound more like a statement than a question.

"I'm positive I didn't." Mike replied, wondering what planet his math teacher was on.

"Well, here's the signup sheet." Brian said, producing a piece of paper with names scrawled on it with a flourish." I mean, that's your name right there, isn't it?"

True enough, his name was right there. It was written in Amy's unmistakable scruffy handwriting just above her own name. He couldn't believe she had signed him up without asking him. He couldn't believe that Krakow actually expected him to, like, attend.

"We're having the first meeting today after school so I guess I'll see you there." Brian said with funny looking, triumphant sort of grin on his face.

Before Mike could protest further, Brian had stepped around him and disappeared into the flow of students heading towards the cafeteria.

"I cannot believe they let people like that teach." Mike said but the few students still loitering in the hallway either didn't hear or weren't taking any notice. So far, his day was going from bad to worse and he didn't like it one bit.

Damon got out of his car and looked at the gifts he was baring with trepidation. It had seemed like a good idea at the time. He figured he'd do something nice that Angela would appreciate. Flowers always got a smile from her and a chilled glass of her favorite Pinot Grigio waiting for her with a candle lit bubble bath was bound to be appreciated when she got home from her night class. However, instead of arriving home to an empty driveway, her car was parked in front of the garage and his idea suddenly seemed stupid. As if attempting to put the romance back in their marriage was going to have any affect what so ever. He hated the expression, even. It made it sound as if romance was this thing you misplace when really all it is was glossing. The flowers might look nice and the wine would taste great but neither would be a magic wand. It wouldn't actually fix anything, even if he could identify what exactly needed fixing in their relationship. Also, he knew that she would see straight through it. For at least the past decade, the purchasing of flowers meant only one thing; he had done something she wouldn't like and was trying to make up for it. Technically, he hadn't actually done anything this time but he was thinking about it and his pre-emptive apology would not change the fact that Angela would not be impressed. Hell, he wasn't impressed. If it had come at any other time he would have been jumping at the bit but it was the worst timing possible.

"Hey, I'm home." Damon shouted as he opened the front door. "Angela, Amy?"

"In here," Angela shouted from the kitchen, continuing when she heard his footsteps heading in her direction. "Amy will be home soon. She stayed late at school for an extra credit assignment for trigonometry."

"Extra credit? Didn't she end up in a bar last time she used that story?"

"Oh, I checked. Brian Krakow tried to, like, explain the purpose of whatever it is they're doing to me. It's definitely legit this time." She replied, as she flicked through her cook book. Her eyes were still down, looking at the ingredients list when she felt his arms go around her waist. Rather than pull her into a hug as she expected, his arms continued to extend until the red tulips and wine he had bought were all she could see in front of her. She gasped in happy surprise but when she spoke, her voice contained more than a pinch of suspicion. "What did you do?"

"What? Can't a guy surprise his beautiful wife without having an ulterior motive?" He replied, kissing her neck

"Not in this state." she replied, but she couldn't help smiling and turning in his arms to be able to kiss him back.

"What are you doing home anyway? I thought you had class tonight."

"It was cancelled again." Angela frowned. On the one hand, she was glad she had received the message before she had driven all the way to the college but, on the other, she was disappointed and she knew that not all of her disappointment came from the fact that the class was not going ahead. It came from the fact that she was not going to be anywhere near the vicinity of the campus. She couldn't even pretend that she had a 'whatever happens, happens' attitude or that it was all up to fate because it was a complete non-starter. The funny thing was, she wasn't even completely sure that she wanted to see him, and by 'him' she of course meant Jordan Catalano. What would she even say to him, knowing what she now knew about him? What polite conversation could she possibly make with him when she had spent a great deal of her lunch hour discussing him with Sharon and Rayanne? But, until she saw him, how could she be certain that she forgave him? Not that she was sure forgive was actually the right word. It wasn't like he actually owed her an apology and she didn't really expect him to offer one. Also, if they did meet, she doubted their conversation would be polite. After all, last time he spoke to her, he asked her to have sex with him and, even though she had sort of convinced herself that he had not been serious, she was kind of curious as to whether he would ask again and what her response would be. She knew that the response should be a loud and definite 'no' but she had the feeling that she would be unable to manage nothing more than a repeat of her shocked cackle. Mentally shaking herself, she decided to concentrate on the man in front of her and no one else. "It's nice we're both home a little earlier. We can spend some time before Amy get's home."

"I like the sound of that." Damon smiled.

"I still want to know what the surprise is in aid of though." Angela smiled back, rather than allowing him to pull her in for another kiss.

"It's a celebration…of sorts." Damon replied, producing another questioning look from his wife. "I landed the account."

"The Kansas City building?"

"They're going to call it the Sprint Center." Damon nodded.

"Damon, that's fantastic! You worked so hard." Angela exclaimed but it soon became apparent that his enthusiasm didn't reach the expected levels. "I don't understand."

"When they told me, I couldn't believe it. Landing it means that I'm really doing this. This is my job, this is my life! I mean, this project was bigger than anything I'd ever done and, for that moment it was all that mattered. I thought there was no way they couldn't make me an offer now. I thought for sure that would get me promotion. I mean, in that one deal I brought in more revenue than the rest of the office has all year."

"So, they didn't offer you promotion?" She asked. She knew exactly how hard he had been working and just how disappointed he would be.

"No. They've offered me a temporary position covering for one of the senior partners while he takes a sabbatical. I guess they want to see how well I cope with the pressure before they commit to anything permanent."

"But that's still good, right? I mean, so what if they get to try before they buy? You know you'll do more than just cope." She didn't understand why he wasn't jumping for joy. It might not be exactly what he was hoping for but it sounded like a pretty big step in the right direction. Unfortunately, his next words explained everything.

"It's in the Memphis office."

For a second, she could only stare at him in disbelief. "Memphis? As in Memphis, Tennessee?"

"Yeah."

"As in country music and Graceland?"

"Yeah."

"But that's miles away! Memphis? What are they thinking? You can't just go to Memphis!"

"I told them I'd think about it. If I say yes, I'll have fly out at the end of the week."

"The end of the week! It's Wednesday tomorrow!"

"Yeah, they want an answer in the morning."

"How long for?"

"A month. Maybe two."

"I can't believe you're going to Memphis. I mean, really!"

"Nothing's decided yet."

"Of course it's decided. You bought the damn flowers, didn't you?" Angela replied angrily as she pushed her way out of his arms and stomped in the direction of the stairs.

"Oh honey, come on" he pleaded as he followed her out

"Damon!"

"Honey! It's what I've been working towards for years." Damon replied but she just glared at him. "So, you don't want me to go?"

Part of him was secretly happy that she was putting up resistance to the idea. Things couldn't be that wrong between them if she didn't want him to go work away for a while. The more insecure part of him wanted her to beg him to stay and proclaim that she couldn't cope without him for that long. He may not be getting quite that reaction but her anger and annoyance put him at ease much more than eager compliance would. However, another part of him was longing for her blessing because it really was what he had been working towards since he had joined the firm. If he passed up on this opportunity, who knew if he would ever be given a second chance? However, he didn't get a chance to hear her reply. Amy chose that moment to burst in the front door followed closely by Mike.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Ask your father." Angela answered through gritted teeth before fleeing up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door firmly behind her.

"Nothing, sweetheart." Damon placated. " I just might be going away on Friday for work. Just for a little while."

"Bummer," Amy replied, with a shrug. "You're going to miss the band play at Pike street."

Damon watched open mouthed as his daughter walked past him, following the path of her mother to the top of the stairs before deviating into her own room. Her boyfriend trailed closely behind, giving a slight nod and a murmured 'Yo, Mr B." as he passed but that was the extent of the reaction he received from the juvenile population. Of course, they had other things on their minds.

Mike stayed at Amy's house for as long as he could but he had to leave eventually. Staying any longer would have raised more question from Amy than he would be able to answer about why he was missing band practice. Even with the stupid extra credit assignment she had roped him into acting as a distraction, it had been hard enough avoiding her questions about what he and Edward had discussed when they had their talk and he didn't want to raise any suspicions that there was something wrong. Well, any more suspicions than she already had. He was sure she believed his line of 'everything's fine' just as much as she believed Edward.

However, as he parked his car outside the Cherski residence, he wasn't sure that he was doing the right thing. Since their little hallway chat, Edward had hardly looked at him and hadn't spoken to him at all, not even in shop class where they normally partnered up. No, that afternoon Edward had bypassed Mike's work bench in favor of Jake's over the other side of the room. As far as Mike was concerned Jake was still the biggest jerk in school and until then he thought that Edward shared his opinion. Edward must have been severely pissed off to take choose Jake over him. If he was too pissed off to share a work bench, Mike doubted that his presence would be welcome in Edwards home. The thought hurt him more than he expected, not that he would admit that to Edward, but he didn't like being at odds with his best friend. He had enough stress in his life without falling out with Edward adding to it. So, rather than think about that, he took the easier route and got mad instead. Edward might not agree with the way he lived and the jobs he did for Tino but that was nothing to do with the band. They were two completely different things and the band was just as much his as it was Edward's so if Edward didn't want him to be there, it was tough luck.

"You're late." Edward growled as soon as Mike stepped into the garage.

Rather than reply, Mike gave him a one figured salute as he walked across the room and picked up his guitar. In itself, that wouldn't exactly be an uncommon occurrence but the happy smirk he would normally be wearing to show that it was in jest was replaced with a scowl to match Edward's.

If either thought that the frostiness between them had gone unnoticed, they were mistaken. Shane looked at them in confusion before turning to Steve, only to find the same look of confusion mirrored in his features, and the teen could only shrug to indicate that he had no idea what was going on between the other boys. Deciding that the best course of action was to ignore it and just get on with practice, Shane picked up his sticks and sat down behind his kit.

"Ok, let's run through the whole set. From the top, ready on four?" he asked.

The replies he received where less enthusiastic than he had become used to but when he counted them in, the boys started playing and they got off to a pretty good start. However, the music failed to heal whatever breach had developed between Edward and Mike and it wasn't long before the bitching and moaning started. What started out as eye rolling and huffing at the slightest wobble soon degenerated into verbal insults which the boys didn't even try to hide under their breath. Unsurprisingly, as tempers started to fray, small wobbles started to turn into actual mistakes, the insults got more personal and Shane started to reach the end of his tether.

"That's it. I'm out of here." Shane said after some particularly colorful choice phrases where shouted across the room.

It took a second for Mike and Edward to realize that he had gotten up and was making his way to the door but when they did, they both seemed surprised, as if they hadn't noticed the effect their behavior was having on the rest of the band.

"Hey, where're you going?" Mike asked

"Yeah, we're not done yet. We've only been practicing for an hour." Edward said.

"This isn't practicing. This is you two acting like dicks." Shane replied, not concerned about holding back either. "I didn't sign up to baby-sit brats squabbling like first graders."

"So, what? You're just going to quit? You're going to quit the band?"

"Did I say I was quitting the band?" Shane asked rhetorically, "No. I'm going to go where the grown up people are, have a few beers and relax where I don't have to listen to little kids yell at each other. I'm probably insane but I will be back tomorrow and you guys had better get your act together by then or maybe I will quit."

It was a false threat but he thought the teens looked suitably mollified as he turned to leave. Even though he knew the boys would find a more suitable drummer sooner or later, one closer to their own age anyway, he was having far too much fun to drop out now. He was actually looking forward to the competition but if Edward and Mike continued to argue, there was no way they would play as well as they were capable of, if they made it there at all. He couldn't think of a more suitable kick up the behind then the threat of him ditching on them. The only drawback was that he wouldn't be able to say goodbye to Sharon on his way out, which he felt was kind of rude on his behalf. However, the thought only occurred to him after he had started storming out and it wouldn't have nearly as much effect if he turned around again.

"It's your fault." Edward said sullenly as the garage door swung shut.

"You're the one who started it." Mike replied, just as churlish.

"Dick for brains."

"Fuckwad."

"For God's sake," Steve interrupted, fed up of watching them bicker as well. "Shane's right. You're both acting like cretins. I'm out of here too. Please kiss and make up before tomorrow or I'll kill you both."

They watched their bassist leave just as swiftly as their drummer and an awkward silence descended on them as they each avoided eye contact and bit back recriminations.

"Do you think he's going to go where the grown up people are too?" Edward asked after a moment.

"Nah. They'd only let him in if they're mentally retarded." Mike replied, pretending not to notice the twitch of a smile on Edward's face before he got his scowl in place again. "A few beers sound good though. I bet Shane'll end up in Vertigo."

"Yeah, probably. Maybe Jordan'll be there too."

"I heard he played a really good set there last night. Tino said…" Mike let the sentence drift off as he remembered how they had come to argue in the first place. For the next minute, it seemed as if the strings on his guitar became the most interesting things in the universe and his fingers busied themselves making minute adjustments as he tried to figure out what to say next. "I wouldn't, you know?"

"Wouldn't what?"

"In this hypothetical scenario you've cooked up to drive yourself insane, if Tino asked me to take anything to Jordan, I wouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Just…Just because."

"Hypothetically, you wouldn't." Edward replied. "But what if he really asked you?"

"Dude, I just said I wouldn't!" Mike said. "What makes you think it's ever going to happen, anyway?"

"I dunno." Edward shrugged, unsure how to explain his worries. "I mean, I trust him…I do… but how well do I know him? I mean, if he ever, you know hypothetically, how would I know?"

"You'd know." Mike replied with grim surety. He had seen a lot of things since he started to work for his uncle and it was definitely not a glamorous job. Rather than get into any of that, he tried to refocus on the subject at hand. "Do you remember that day when we were sitting up on the bleachers and you asked if Jordan knew about some of the stuff Tino does?"

"Yeah."

"And I told you that when those guys started smoking pot, Jordan left?" Mike waited for Edward to nod before he carried on. "He left, man. Pot's nothing. I mean, how many stoners do we know in our year alone? But he doesn't want to be around even that so you've got nothing to worry about."

"I guess." Edward replied, feeling slightly more reassured. "But if there's ever a time when he's at Tino's place and he doesn't, like, leave, you'd tell me right?"

"Yeah. I've got your back, bro." Mike agreed. "So, we're cool?"

"We'd be cooler if you stopped being Tino's goafer." Edward tried, but the look he received in response was enough for him to admit defeat on that point, for now. "Yeah, we're cool. So, when they ask what this was all about what are we going to say?"

"Well, you obviously did something stupid, acted like douche bag. But it's ok, I forgive you."

"Oh, really?"

"You cried like a baby, begged my forgiveness. It was pitiful really. You may have even bared your soul."

"Yeah, it's been emotional." Edward replied with a roll of his eyes and a crooked smile as he wondered what embellishments Mike's imagination was giving to their little disagreement. "Wait a minute, we didn't have to hug, did we?"

"No," Mike said, looking at Edward as if he were mad. "Dude, we don't hug."

"Who doesn't hug?" Sharon asked as she pushed open the door from the kitchen and stepped into the garage. She hadn't taken more than a few steps before she stopped in her tracks, confusion growing by the lack of band members in attendance. "Where's Shane?…and Steve? I mean, where did everyone go?"

Edward might have been worried about whether his mother overheard more than Mike's last remark if he wasn't so busy trying not to notice that Shane's whereabouts seemed to be her top priority.

"He left."

"Yeah, he had to go." Mike added, "But he'll be back tomorrow, Mrs. C."

"Oh…Okay." Sharon replied, unable to hide the disappointment in her voice. Band practice normally went on for at least a couple more hours and pretty much every night Shane made a point of saying goodbye to her before he left. She kind of liked their goodnight conversations, especially the way they seemed to be lasting that little bit longer each time. Making an effort to appear normal, she handed the drinks over to the boys, successfully sideswiping Mike's attempt to grab what would have been Shane's beer instead of the soda intended for him, and made her way back to the kitchen. "Remember to switch everything off in here when you finish up."

"Yes, ma'am." Mike replied with mock salute as they watched the door swing shut behind her. As soon as the latch clicked, he turned to Edward with an amused smile. "Ha ha, your mom has got it so bad for Shane."

"Bite me."

Unfortunately, Edward's response only served to increase Mike's amusement. "Shane and Sharon sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-"

"Dude, don't go there. Seriously." Edward interrupted, throwing his guitar pick at Mike's chest.

"-i-n-g." Mike finished regardless, adding a smooching noise effect at the end as he flicked the guitar pick back.

"You are so dead." Edward replied, launching it right back along with the spare he had in his pocket, as he fought a smile.

"You and who's army, Cherski?" Mike asked, wearing a smirk of his own as he dodged the projectiles. "You throw like a girl."

"At least I don't look like one."

This kind of banter, as childish as it was, was a one hundred percent improvement on any real argument they might get into and both boys gave an internal sigh of relief as they realised that normal relations had resumed.

"Can someone get that?" Angela shouted as the shrill ring of the telephone filled the house but, after a few more rings, it became apparent that no one was going to. She huffed as she looked at her cookie dough covered hands before gingerly prizing the kitchen phone off the wall and trying to minimize the spread of sticky fingerprints.

"Hello?" she asked briskly, sure that it would be some kind of marketing call. People were always trying to sell her stuff when she was too busy to actually listen to whatever script they were following.

"Hey."

For a moment she stood in silence, too shocked at hearing the sound of his voice when she least expected it. "…Hi…" she managed at last, suddenly glad that neither her husband nor her daughter had answered the phone.

As he leaned against his own kitchen counter, Jordan's thoughts unknowingly took a similar theme. He didn't know what he would have done if Damon had answered. Hang up without saying anything, most likely. He might have even done the same if it was Amy who answered, but she hadn't. Angela had been the one to pick up the call and he really wasn't doing much better. 'Hey' hardly constituted starting a conversation. He knew that this was a bad idea. He knew that he shouldn't have called but it had been impossible to deny the urge. Now he just had to figure out what the hell to say. "So, urm…you weren't at school tonight? I mean, I didn't see you there and I normally, like, do?"

"No, my class was cancelled again. Our teacher is still sick."

Jordan breathed a sigh of relief. He expected her to say that she was there but she hadn't wanted to see him. Not that they actually arranged to meet, or anything. They just did. It had become a weekly occurrence. Somewhere on, or close to, the college campus they would meet. They would have a meaningless conversation, full of awkward pauses and agonizing half truths, neither one saying what they were actually thinking. When she hadn't been there this week, he had thought that it was because she knew about him. She knew about his past and the things he had done and he thought that it was enough to put her off seeing him ever again. It was weird. He couldn't care less what Sharon thought when Sharon could have stopped him from seeing Edward but, when it came to Angela, it mattered to him and he couldn't explain why. And now that he knew she wasn't avoiding him on purpose, he didn't want to raise the topic with her. He didn't want to have to try to explain himself to her or hear the disappointment in her voice but he had to say something to fill the silence that was starting to develop. "I thought maybe you were having car trouble again," he murmured. It wasn't a lie, technically. It was one of the reasons he had thought of that might explain her absence, but he had dismissed it almost right away. Still, it was something to say.

"Oh no, the car's running fine. I haven't had any problems with it since that night it had to be towed." Angela replied, "I'm glad you called though. I mean this is the first time you've called me…on the phone."

Angela closed her eyes and cringed as she realized how stupid that sounded but when he didn't fill the silence from his end she just had to keep going. "I mean, I know you've called me before because you used to call me all the time when we were…well, you know… and what I meant was you haven't called me recently. Not that I was expecting you to or anything…I just mean…"

"Yeah…I know…" Jordan sighed.

Silence started to stretch out again and she knew it was her turn to say something but what could she say? She could ask what he wanted but she wasn't sure if she wanted to know the answer. Deep down she knew he was calling to enquire about more than the state of her car engine but for him to actually say it would make it all too real. It was practically too real now. He was calling her even though she had never given him her number. He had actually taken the time to drag out the phone book, find her number in the countless Bradley's listed and call her, for no apparent reason. She remembered when she was younger , before she and Damon had moved in together. He used to call her all the time and, sometimes, when she was sleepy he would tell her not to hang up just so he could listen to her breathing as she drifted off. She used to think it was stupid. How could he possibly be so fascinated with the sound of her breathing in and out? But, as the silence seemed to stretch into infinity, all she could hear was the soft sound of inhale and exhale and it suddenly became as fascinating as any other sound Jordan could have made.

"Well, I've gotta go." he said.

Just like that it was over. Whatever it was. She was left standing in her kitchen, staring at the phone and listening to the dial tone.

"Who was it?" Damon asked as he walked into the room.

"No one. I mean, just Telemarketers," Angela lied as she put the handset back in its cradle.

She scowled at Damon as he leaned back against the kitchen counter. She was still mad at him. He was leaving for one, maybe two, months and she did not like it. She was pissed off, truth be told, but there was nothing she could to about it and, if it panned out as Damon hoped, she and her family would be reaping the rewards. Still, she didn't want him to leave. If he was here, she was grounded. It didn't matter what flights of fancy occupied her mind, she had a husband to come home to every night. She had a husband she loved with every fiber of her being but she really didn't want to test the theory of 'distance makes the heart grow fonder'. She wanted him here, not because she didn't trust him but because she didn't trust herself.

Thanks for reading! and big thanks to GoodnightGirl for all of her helpful suggestions and bete skills. ~LJ~