Author's note/Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anybody at all except myself. I just needed a break from the nonstop angst-fest that is my other story (Surrender), and this idea just sort of hatched without warning. :) The song quoted throughout the story is "Iowa," by Dar Williams. Oh, and also? I'm a little foggy about the actual geography of the bus itself, and in reality, the idea of 8 people in that small a space for that long a time is pretty scary, so please suspend some disbelief. :)

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It felt like they had been on the bus for eight months instead of three weeks. Annie was still her perenially optimistic self, but even her unwavering good temperament was feeling the toll of the confinement and the constant movement. The sun charged obnoxiously through the blinds of the room that she and Fi now shared. Annie stretched and yawned, glancing around the room before doing anything else to make sure her spirit animal was still watching over her. Yep, he was in his usual position, sprawled out on the floor. "It's a good thing no one can see you," she told the panther with a smile. "Otherwise, everyone would always be tripping over you!"

Then she noticed that Fi was nowhere in sight and the bus seemed to have actually stopped. She bounded down the hall and realized that everyone, actually, was gone. Why would they have left her behind? She pouted a little and flopped down on the couch, because obviously she couldn't leave the bus in her pajamas. Even if they were super cute. "Ouch," she muttered, removing a small piece of paper from underneath herself. It was folded into about a thousand tiny little squares. On it was written a poem. Annie looked around to make sure no one was watching her (well, except her spirit animal, of course, because he was always with her) and devoured the words with the guilty grin of someone who knows what they are doing is very, very wrong.

I've never had a way with women,
but the hills of Iowa make me wish that I could.
and I've never found a way to say I love you,
but if the chance came by, oh I, I would.

She read the first stanza and stopped, nearly scratching her head in pure puzzlement. They had passed through Iowa a few days (weeks?) ago, so that part was easy to figure out. "I've never had a way with women..." Well, that would go for pretty much everybody on the whole bus, wouldn't it? She giggled. But maybe the writer's intentions were easier to figure out than just through the words on the page. She was the only one left on the bus. Maybe the mystery poet had left it for her specifically to find! Then who would it be? Well, she didn't know Clu that well, and she got the feeling that Fi didn't especially like her. It wouldn't be any of the grown-ups. Definitely Jack or Carey, then. But which one? She decided to consult with the wisest soul she knew. Her panther, of course!

"Hey, kitty. Do you think this was written for me by Jack, or by Carey?" She knelt down beside the sleepy spirit animal and showed him the wrinkled paper. He seemed to peruse it, and then yawned once. "Come on... wait. One yawn. One syllable. Jack, of course!" She hugged the quiet panther in delight. "Wicked!" She scampered off to change her clothes and find Jack straightaway!