This chapter doesn't have any songs in it at all. I know, I'm shocked too. But next chapter is the concert.

Danny swatted at the hand poking him in the side. "Go away." He groaned. When the finger stayed where it was, he opened his eyes against his will.

It wasn't a finger, was his first deduction. It appeared to be a pen. Now what was a pen doing underneath him.

Memories of last night's hasty scribblings trudged into his head. He groaned, looking at the mangled lyrics beneath his head.

Abandoning his work, Danny stretched, lifting his arms above his head to soften up the stiff muscles in his shoulders. He stumbled into the area Tucker had identified as the kitchen yesterday. He gathered breakfast supplies, while thinking I better call mom and dad so they don't think I'm dead or gone again.

As he sat down at the table, he realized the presence of everybody else. It really wasn't a surprise he hadn't seen them before. Tucker was tuning a guitar, Valerie was cleaning her ghost hunting equipment and Sam was in what looked to be a deep vegetative state with her headphones on.

He grumbled, plopping down in his designated seat at the breakfast table. Tucker grinned. "Is somebody a little sleepy?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

Valerie raised her eyebrows. "Somebody's clearly not a morning person…" She said in a singsong voice.

He decided to ignore that comment. It was too true to come up with a good comeback. Danny gestured with his head towards Sam. "What's up with her?"

Valerie shrugged, cloth in hand. "She does this before every show. If she doesn't listen to Punk rock before a show, she screws up and her banter will be off."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Banter?"

Tucker rolled his eyes. "Have you ever been to a concert, Danny?"

"Yeah," Danny said offensively. He had hitched onto tickets with his friends in New York.

"Banter is the stuff the musicians say between songs. Without banter, it's just the CD live. And lame banter can sink a band."

Danny raised his eyebrows at Sam, who had her head turned to the side, nodding slightly to the music. She looked beautiful. Every move filled with grace, move incidental. She ran a finger up and down her leg…

Valerie smirked at him. "Danny, you're drooling." Danny's hand shot to his mouth and Tucker snickered.

Danny blushed. "Shut up." He shoved a few mouthfuls of Crispy Bits in his mouth. Sam nodded to the music.

oOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOo

Apparently Sam had a full before-concert prep tradition. Valerie and Sam headed off to Creamer's for buckets of Soy-Chocolate Nightmare. As Tucker put it, "That stuff would put a hummingbird in a diabetic coma." Sam ate about a pound before she took off the headphones and started acting normal again. Around everybody else, of course. She wouldn't look Danny in the eye and they didn't really speak to each other.

So Sam and Valerie went around, doing their prep thing, Tucker messed with the equipment and Danny sat at the hotel desk, surrounded by crumpled paper balls, nearly tearing his hair out with frustration.

"How can she write all these songs!" He exclaimed. "I can't get one chorus down!"

Tucker walked over to check over his shoulder. "Dude, you're patching together old Bowling for Soup songs." Danny growled and crumpled up the paper. Tucker sat on the desk. "Maybe you should do something about how you really feel. If you've noticed, Sam always does songs about personal pain in her life. Why don't you try doing something like that?"

Danny groaned, but put pen to paper and started scribbling.

oOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOoOºOo

Two hours before the show and one hour before the band had to leave, Danny spied Sam playing Sudoku in a huge black sweater, while sipping tea. Her hair was sticking up at odd angles. He leaned against the doorway, just looking at her.

She spoke up. "Danny, I know you're there."

Danny stood up quickly and nearly fell over. "How do you always do that?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Sam smiled slightly. "I can always tell where you are Danny." She sighed and recapped her pen. She pulled her legs up underneath her on the chair. "At least, I used to be able to."

Danny sighed and sat down at the table. "Sam, I'm really, really sorry." He knew he was probably destroying his chances of apologizing with a bang, but he needed to do this. Even if it meant having to burn the masterpiece that took him all day.

Sam's eyes teared up slightly and she looked away, looking at the wall. Almost reading his thoughts, she said, "Danny, I could never hate you. I guess that's my huge problem." She laughed, hiccupping a little. A tear stained with eyeliner rolled down her cheek.

Danny felt awful. Heart-stoppingly awful. He put out a hand and caught the tear with his finger. Sam shied away slightly, but he cupped her chin in his hand. "Sam, I just wanted to say…" They were getting closer. Sam was looking at him through her misted-up eyes. Danny gulped slightly and tried again. "I wanted to say I-"

Tucker barged in. His timing was impeccable. "Come on, you guys. We need to head to the stadium earlier than usual."

Sam stood up and grabbed her black bag, decorated with a phoenix in silver paint. She smiled slightly at Danny before leaving the room.

Danny hung his head. Well, I guess the song didn't go to waste after all.

Silvermoonphantom: Please, help me out here. If you want me to use your lyrics, tell me that you're okay with me improvising on it or you can send me a completed version of your song. Just contact me about them in SOME way.