Five

They walked hand in hand back through the woods. Mike noticed that El's head was hanging maybe a bit lower than it should have been. Mike had the duffel back strap over his shoulder.

"I know what you're thinking." He said.

"You do?" She didn't look at him.

"Let me put this in the most Victorian way I can. You gave yourself to me. I know that is a much bigger deal for girls than it is for guys. You're having second thoughts and now you are wondering if I feel any different about you."

"Do you?" The expectation in her voice was raw. Mike leaned forward and kissed her scar.

"A little. I now know a side of you that nobody else does. I feel a responsibility to keep your secrets. I'm excited that we have a new… I don't know… dimension… to our relationship. If it was even possible to love you more… yeah, that too."

Mike could see the car just up ahead. "Yeah, this looks like the spot."

"Mike… do you know what this place is?"

"I do El. This is where your dad found you and protected you..." Mike hesitated for a bit.

"I want to protect your heart El... and I can only think of one way to do that." He put down the duffel bag. Holding both of her hands he got down on one knee and looked up at her.

He was about to speak when El nodded slowly. "That is the best way to protect my heart Mike. Yes I will marry you."

"I didn't forget these." Mike stood up and dug into the pocket of his jeans.

"I felt… good… about having these done, I hope you do to." He slipped a ring on her finger, and one on his own.

"This is heavy, what is it made of?"

"I wanted something unique for you, not traditional, but I was scared to death to do it." Mike looked into her eyes.

"Mike?"

"I had a jewel worker make these… what you are wearing has Paladin inscribed on the inside. It's the tuning peg from your bass… the one that made my scar. Mine has Pixie inscribed, and it's the tuning peg from my guitar… the one that made your scar."

"I'm never taking this off... Never."

Mike breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"Did you think I'd be mad?" El asked.

"Mad was the best thing I could think of. I thought it could end our relationship. I was terrified El."

"If you feel that strongly about something Mike, chances are I do also. This is perfect. You are perfect."

A single tear made it's way down her check, it was followed the line of her scar to the corner of her mouth.

That's where Mike kissed it. "Let's go home."

XXXXX

"Uh, wow El, is that a new bass?" Dustin said from behind his drum kit.

"Mike destroyed my favourite bass." Max and Dustin looked at Mike. They looked confused.

"He had this custom BC Rich made. As you can see it's a double-neck, but it's a modified Bich shape. You can't tell from just looking at it, but it has unison D and G strings and octave B and E strings strung in the opposite direction from the other six strings, with additional tuners past the bridge. Will be a little harder to get used to, but it's got the sound I want."

El played a little riff on it. Max said, "El, is that a ring on your finger?"

El blushed, her shyness was not something they were used to. "Mike asked me to marry him last night… I said yes… we had a civil ceremony this morning. Mike's mom and my dad were there. I'm the El Wheeler now."

Mike winked at her.

Max came over and kissed Mike's cheek and then El's.

"Did you change your mind, Mike? Are you in the band again? And why are you also wearing a bass?"

Mike frowned. El stepped in. "After the NoYes debacle, I'm changing the sound yet again. All my idea, none of these are his."

Max held up her hands, "ok, ok, we get it."

"Suzi Quatro plays bass, and as the lead singer of her band, it naturally has a… more of a bass presence, and she tends to play a little on the funkier side too. I don't want to do straight up funk though. I've written some songs I want to play for you guys, Mike and I will play bass off each other, and Mike will play off you Max. Like before but on bass."

"Ok, the first one I want to try… Lucas, play Brubeck's Take Five."

El waited until the saxophone started she let it go through the first bar. "Ok, you can stop it there."

Max said, "you want me to try and duplicate that sax sound on a keyboard?"

"No, you play the piano parts the same way, Dustin does the drums not too far from the original. Mike does the bass parts the same way, and I do the sax on this bass." She duplicated the notes on the bass.

"Ooh, that's nice." Dustin said. "Brubeck doesn't actually play that does he?"

"No, his sax player composed and played that. That's the song I want to open the new album with." El looked down.

"It's our fifth album, I want to call it Five but use the V scar photo Lucas took for the front, and , the 11 scar photo from the back."

"You guys will be in the background, of the photo. We can talk about poses or facial expressions. We are producing and releasing this album ourselves. No record company gets to tell me who we can have on the cover. This is a band, I'm not Cher, I have band mates I respect and love. I want you guys in the photo."

"If nobody likes the idea, we don't have to do it." El looked at Max and Dustin.

Max said, "you know us, El. Dustin and I are all about the music. I'm totally ok with it."

"Uh, if Mike is going to be on the cover, and playing on the album… is he gonna be on stage?"

"That's the 64,000 dollar question, Mike?" El looked at him. They all did.

"One condition. Pixie."

"There's a guy named Ken Schaffer who's developed a wireless guitar system. I thought we'd get it and at least try it out."

"Why does that name sound familiar?" El said.

"He's the publicist for Alice Cooper, and a few other bands. I guess he's an inventor too."

"Mail for El Hopper." Lucas said from the control booth.

"It's El Wheeler, now Lucas" El said.

"I know, but the founder and president of Eleventeen doesn't know that yet."

Mike raised her eyebrows to El, "remember her?"

"I wouldn't forget her Mike, I still think of that hug you gave her."

Lucas brought in an envelope. El opened it up and started reading. She lowered the letter and put her hand to her mouth, she passed it to Mike.

"Dear El and Mike,

The fan club has heard about your accident. We are very sorry. If you need hugs, I can get the local chapter together and we would all hug you.

Your biggest fan, Holly"

Mike looked at El, she just nodded and cleared her throat, "Lucas?"

"Already arranged El, you guys catch a plain tonight."

XXXXX

When Holly hugged El, she whispered into her ear, "don't worry El, you're still pretty. I bet Mike thinks so too."

El cried on the little girl's shoulder, and Holly whispered again, "Mike told me in a letter about hugs to sniffles, so i'm not going to stop."

The girl let El cry on her shoulder for a good twenty minutes.

"Thank you sweetie, you are my biggest fan."

"You ok, Pixie?" Mike said giving El a hug also.

"We should do something special for them." El said.

"Lucas already set it up for us to play at her school. They will get to hear some of the new songs before anyone else... " Max said.

"And we will stay so that everyone gets a photo and an autograph." El said.

Mike turned to Holly, "it's the least we can do to pay for all the hugs we just got."

She smiled at the band.

Mike turned to the rest of them, "um, that smile is why I'm doing this."

XXXXX

"Guys? Did we just record an album in record time?"

"It's because El wrote some good songs that were fun to play," Max said.

"The new sound is great, but there's still 11 in there, it will sound like we aren't getting stale."

XXXXX

Can I just say wow right now? Polly Urethane is the catchiest g song I've heard since The Sweet's Wig-Wam Bam. That's right I'm listening to 11's new album Five right now. It has a different sound than fans are used to but so did NoYes. El Hopper, sorry Wheeler now, is a brave girl, having photos taken like that. One thing is for sure. The accident didn't affect her voice at all, I think she hit her entire range on the song Castlewitch, and the positively haunting song Tally Rand is acapella. Rumour has it it's based on an old Ray Bradbury story. Long story short. 11 is back, and better than ever. The album opens with the bands take on Dave Brubeck's Take Five the jazz classic with Ms. Wheeler's double base subbing in for Paul Desmond's sax. I could go on. It's much better if you buy the album and listen to it yourself. Fan or no fan, this is good stuff.

- Rock Music Magazine.