Maria saw her plane leave Callumet City as well as her friend and true love behind. She sighed sadly and a few tears went down her cheek. She felt sad not only because of not seeing Elwood, but because she was going to miss the other guys. Jake, Blue Lou, Matt, Murph and the rest of them. They were the best band she had been a part of and she was grateful for her time spent with them.

I wish I didn't have to leave the band...I wish they had a chance to experience the life of touring with me

"Hey, what's with the water works?"

Maria looked up and saw Pete approach her with some paperwork in his hand. She wiped the tears from her cheeks embarassingly. Elwood noticing her crying was one thing, Pete was another. She barely knew him personally and honestly didnt want to.

"What do you want?" she asked rudely

"I want you to read the offer you have been given, thanks to that video."

Maria remembered what he meant. The week before, Pete had asked her to create a video of a medley of her best cover songs so that he could sumbit it to bands in need of a guitarist or singer all along Chicago and the west coast. She had gotten one offer, according to Petes paperwork, but he knew she was going to like what she was about to see. He handed her a letter and she read to herself.

Dear Miss Valens,
We have receved your video medley and we thank you for subitting it. We found it highly interesting that you have so much talent yet almost no publicity. We would like to be the ones to help you create more publicity for you as well as us. As you may know we were a band that broke up nine years ago due to the absense of our main singer and we would be much interested if you would fill in his place. You have enough charisma to complete this band and so we humbly ask you to join.

Much respect,
Robby Kreiger, Raymond manzareck, and John Densmore

The Doors

Maria reread the the final three names in awe as her eyes grew "Oh my god..."

She looked at the letter and looked at Pete, not beliving what she had just read.

"You better not be bullshitting me!" she snipped at her agent.

"I didnt make this up! that's their letter, I swear to god!" he argued "I have their number on speed dial!"

He speed dialed ray manzareck and put the phone on speakerphone.

"Hello?" the voice answered after a few rings

"Hey Ray, it's Pete. How are ya' man?"

"Hey Pete, I'm doing good."

"Good...Say Ray, you know Maria Valens?"

"The one who sang the medley right?"

"Yeah"

"Yeah what about her?"

"She didn't beleive thst you and your bandmates wrote that letter to her. and so I have you here on speakerphone with her listening."

Ray then adressed Maria "Hey Maria. Whats up?"

"Is this the Real Ray manzareck?" maria asked suspiciously

"Yes or course it is!"

"Quick, where and when did you first meet Jim Morrison?"

"UCLA film school in 1965"

"and what song did he sing for you?"

"Moonlight Drive"

Maria paused for a bit "What was the name of the band you had with your brothers that featured john Densmore on drums?"

"Rick and the Ravens"

She sighed defeated "Alright...I beleive you are Ray manzareck. I just had to make sure this wasnt some cruel joke or anything. I've been lied to before so..."

"Oh no, we are legit." Ray said "but I understand why youre suspicious. Not everyone is trustworthy and not everyone has an opportunity to talk to A memeber of The Doors."

She sunk back into her seat, overwhelemed. One day she's singing two of their songs in Vegas and the next day, they were asking her to sing for them.

"This is an honor, man." she said barely concealing her excitement "I cant belive you and the guys like my singing! I am a huge fans of yours!"
"And thats why we need your vocals." Ray said "We need someone who's willing to sing with us and sing well."

"I'm in!" she said "Wow, I can't wait to tell Elwood about this!"

She stopped at the mention of his name and her heart sank to her stomach.

"I assume Elwood is someone you know?" Ray asked, a bit comfused over whom she was talking about

"Yeah..." she said feeling a bit sad again "He's my boyfriend..."

Meanwhile in the Bluesmobile, The Blues brothers were driving home in complete silence. Jake felt bummed out while Elwood felt heartbroken; even though he tried not to show it. The tension was felt in the air and it was getting really uncomfortable.

"I shouldv'e known this was gonna happen sooner or later." Elwood said, finally breaking the silence

"How so?" his brother asked

"I always knew she was too good for this band" Elwood admitted "I even told her that the night of our first kiss."

"Look man" Jake said sympathetically "I know you love her and all, but she's gonna be happy. Besides that, we gotta get someone new if we wanna be in some gigs."

"Who else could we get?" Elwood asked "Steve and Maria were the best guitarists we've had. The only way this band can feel alive again is if BB King himself played for us."

"But they weren't the only guitarists in the world. If Six Strings could play, then imagine how many other women can play?"

"But how many are gonna be as good as her?" Elwood asked "If we need a decent guitar player, we mind as well have Matt play lead."

"I guess that's gonna be the only choise we have" Jake mumbled "Unless we have auditions and put up flyers"

The remainder of the ride home was quiet again. Both men knew things weren't gonna be the same emotionally, musically and buisnesswise with their guitarist gone. When they arrived home, the men got the rest of the band together for a band meeting regarding Maria's departure. The group of men got together, they just sat around quietly until Jake spoke up.

"So guys...we know what happened with Six Strings and it sucks, but we're gonna have to move on and find someone new to replace her."

"Man, this is gonna suck" Matt complained "Six Strings was alright"

"She knew her stuff" Murph said "and she was a nice person to be with."

"I know" Jake said "We all liked her...with the exception of Elwood who's head over heels for her."

Elwood gave him a grimace as if saying Shut up

"And I know she cared about all of us, but she moved on to bigger and better things so she had to make this sacrifice. It sucks, but tough shit. Life sucks."

The band was quiet until Murph spoke up "So what do we do now?"

"We're gonna have to spread the word and hold audtions and if all else fails, then Matt will have to be lead guitarist" Elwood responded

"If it has to come down to that, then I'll do the best I can" Matt said.

In Los Angeles, Maria landed and took a few steps into new land. Well, new land for her. She looked around at LAX airport and found it was enormous in both size and in population.

"Alright, follow me" Pete said as he walked in front of her.

She followed him down the stairs and saw a sharp dressed chaufeurr with a sign that said "Rossenburg and company". Pete approached him and the chaufeur led them to their limoseine.

"Holy crap" Maria mumbled as she got in "I'm not even famous yet and I get to ride in a limo!"

"Well, you in a way are already famous." Pete said "The media already knows you signed with The Doors."

The media knows already? she thought to herself getting uncomfortable I don't want to be bombarded

The limoseine later on stopped in front of The Doors' record studio. Maria nervously held her breath as she stepped towards the inside of the building. She turned a few times down the hall until she heard a group of men's voices. She arrived inside the studio and found a blond haired man with glasses sitting behind an electric piano, a another long haired guy behind a drumset and another guy with dark woolly hair next to the drummer with a guitar in his hand. The men noticed her entrance and approached her.

"Hey, you're Maria Valens right?" Robby Kreiger asked as he put his guitar down.

"Yeah I am..and you're..." she began "The Doors" she added quietly in awe

"You're actually the first person who's actually adressed us as 'The Doors' ever since Jim died" John Densmore, the drummer said

"Oh" she said, feeling bad for them.

"We're glad Pete reccomended you to us. We've haven't performed in nine years and We hope to get that trill again with you on vocals" Robby said nicely

"Well, I hope so" Maria said with a shrug. "I'm not...eccentric like how Jim was."

"We know" Ray said "and we're glad because we don't want to get banned from anywhere."

Maria laughed a bit, remembering how Jim got them banned from The Ed Sullivan show by saying "Higher" in one of the lyrics. She had a weird vibe about being in this band, not just because they were famous rock stars. It had to do more with comfort.
These guys are nice but...I dont know...it feels weird being here.

She wanted to be back in Callmet City with The Blues Brothers and the band, her comfort zone but she knew she couldn't.

Maria mentally sighed to herself Well...maybe I'm just feeling like this because I'm with a new band and I miss my old one. I need to give these dudes a chance and try to enjoy myself. Besides, who else in the universe can say they've sang with The Doors?

The room was dead silent until Robby spoke up.

"So..." He began "Do we jam now or what?"

"Uh.." Maria stuttered, snapping to reality "s..ss..Sure"

Back in Callumet City, The Blues Brothers band along with the brothers themselves, went all around town displaying flyers for a new guitarist in the local music hotspots in town.

"So..." Elwood began "Do we go to Chicago to hand out flyers too?"

"I guess" jake replied "We need one ASAP and Chicago should be chalk full of musicians."

Jake tried to feel enthuiastic about going there, but he wasn't feeling it. He knew Elwood was right about Steve Cropper and Maria. They were the best guitar players they've had and Jake felt like they couldnt be replaced at all, no matter how confedent he seemed to the band and his love-sick brother.

AN: Maria valens, the new singer for The Doors. How will things turn out? This chapter was a filler. It gets better later on, trust me.