"Well," Davy asked as Micky walked down stairs "How is he?"

"He's asleep." Micky said "He's not going to tell us what he's doing and I guess we'll have to respect that." Davy let out a frustrated sigh as Peter nodded.

"I'm going to see if I can hunt down some gigs for us to play at." Davy said as he grabbed his coat and headed out.

"Okay, just be back before-" Micky started to say but Davy interrupted him.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, be back before nightfall." I know." Davy said, waving Micky off, there had been a wave of crime in the area and all four of them had tried to avoid being out really late at night except to play gigs. Micky briefly wondered if Mike had been beat up by a gang, but Mike said he wasn't fighting so he dismissed it.

"Do you wanna play checkers Micky?" Peter asked, holding up the checkers board.

"What-oh, yeah sure Pete." Micky said and they sat down at the table and set it up.

"So…he didn't say anything?" Peter asked, lining up his tiles.

Micky sighed and shook his head.

"Not anything that really helps." He said, moving a piece forward. "He did say that he's not getting in fights and is not in trouble. He said he's fine."

Peter frowned and moved a piece of his own.

"I don't like it when he does that," he muttered, looking down.

"Does what?"

"When he lies to us so we don't worry about him."

Micky sighed.

"Yeah, I know, but maybe he wasn't lying this time." He offered with a slight shrug. "Maybe he really is fine and we're just worrying over nothing?"

"I don't know…" Peter said softly.

"He wouldn't tell me what it was because he thought it was too embarrassing," Micky sighed, moving one of his tiles forward. "But he did say it's not him fighting or dealing or anything illegal?"

"Dealing?" Peter frowned and looked up at him, confused. "Like cards?"

Micky smiled slightly at his friend's innocence. He didn't know if he should tell him.

"More like trading things illegally for money."

"Oh," Peter said quietly. Micky couldn't tell if he understood what he meant. It did make him wonder for a moment if Mike had been gambling. That would explain how much money he's been getting, after all. It wouldn't explain the injuries since Mike said he wasn't in trouble with anyone. Micky shrugged it off when an exhausted Mike trudged down the stairs.

"Do we have any coffee?" He asked as he went into the kitchen.

"No," Micky said "but there's soda in the fridge left over from that cookout we did with the Giants if you want that."

"Hmm." Mike said, opening the fridge and grabbing a coke.

"Where's Davy?" He asked digging around for the church key.

"He went out to see if he could find us a job." Micky said.

"Ahh," Mike said, finally locating the bottle opener and popping the top off.

"Mike?" Peter asked, looking at the Texan.

"Yeah Pete?" Mike asked as he gingerly made his way over to the couch and sat down.

"Are you okay? Do you need some ice or something?" Peter asked, looking at the bruises on Mike's arm.

"No," Mike said, rolling his right shoulder "I'm fine."

"Okay, is your shoulder bothering you?" Peter asked.

"It's fine, it's just a little sore." Mike answered as he got up to turn the TV on.

"Want me to give you a backrub?" Peter asked. Micky and Mike both looked at him.

"What?" Peter asked, "I used to give my siblings back rubs."

"I'm fine Pete." Mike said.

"Okay, but the offer's there if you change your mind." Peter said "Micky, wanna play go fish?"

"What-oh, sure." Micky said "Mike wanna play?"

"Naw, you two go ahead. I wanna watch the news." Mike answered. Micky frowned and shrugged, going back over to the kitchen table to play. He kept glancing back over at Mike, making sure he was still okay. He looked at Peter who shrugged.

"Hey, Mike?" Micky called out. "Are you going out tonight?"

"Hmmm, yeah," Mike said through a yawn. "It should only be until 9 or 10 tonight, so I'll be home earlier."

"Maybe you want to pass?" Peter suggested. "You're hurt and tired."

"I'm fine," Mike sighed. "I wanna go." Micky looked at him and nodded.

"Okay, but please be careful. We don't want to get a call saying you ended up in the ER or something." Mike sighed.

"I'll be as careful as I can, how's that?" Mike asked. Micky nodded.

"Okay, I guess that'll do." Micky and Peter went back to playing cards as Mike watched the news dozing off now and again, jerking awake when Davy walked in whistling.

"I found us a job." Davy said happily.

"Yeah, where at?" Mike asked, getting up and rubbing his lower back.

"A roller rink." Davy answered "They're doing some big roller skating contest thing and they want us to do the halftime band music, we're getting 100$."

"A 100$!" Micky said, his eyes wide.

"Yeah, apparently this is a huge contest." Davy said.

Mike frowned and looked down. He was busy processing what had been said when Micky nudged his shoulder.

"Hey, Mike, did you hear that? We got a gig at a roller rink!"

"Great," Mike nodded slightly, keeping mostly to himself.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, just thinkin'," he ran his hand through his hair and let out a deep sigh. "You'll have to play without me."

"We could give you the address so you can join us when you can?" Peter suggested with a slight smile.

"Yeah, sure…"

"Actually," Micky interrupted. "You should probably rest and go straight home after. We can play so you can take it easy."

Mike smiled slightly and nodded.

"Yeah…"

"You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah," Mike repeated, standing up. "What time do you guys play?"

"Umm…I think the contest starts at about 6. We're playing before when all the people are getting ready and then a sort of half time show as well."

Mike nodded and let out a sigh.

"If you can't make it, Mike, then it's fine." Peter said with a smile.

"Yeah, I know…"

"Okay." Peter said.

"I'll try to make it." Mike said.

"Alright." Micky answered.

"When is it?" Mike asked.

"Day after tomorrow." Davy said. Mike nodded. That gave him enough time to practice for the roller skating contest and make it back to practice for the gig. If he changed the practice time around so it was before supper.

"Mike, hello earth to Mike." Micky said.

"Hmm, what do ya want Mick?" Mike snapped.

"I said we should think about a time to practice." Micky said "a day isn't that much time."

"No, it's not." Mike said "maybe we should do songs we know really well? Then we won't have to try to learn any that are new or we don't know as well."

He looked up at the clock. He had been sleeping most of the day and it was now almost 5.

"Shit," he muttered to himself, looking down. "Look, uh, I better get going pretty soon. You guys can go ahead and pick a set list and practice without me."

"You can miss your thing for one night, can't you, Mike?" Davy asked with a frown. "We need this gig."

"I know," he said, going upstairs to grab his bag. "I need this, too."

Davy sighed and shook his head, there was no talking Mike out of this.

"Sure, Mike. You can go."

"Please be more careful!" Micky called out as Mike emerged from the bedroom with a large black bag. He nodded slightly and pushed past them and out the door.

"Is he going to be alright?" Peter asked.

"He'll be fine," Micky said "I'm positive."