Author's note: There's a line early in this chapter I've given to Happy I believe speaks for the whole Waige fandom. At least it speaks for this Waige shipper. Plus there's a whole lot of Walter and Happy interaction in this chapter. I love their sibling/friend dynamic, it's fun to write.

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Where the hell are we? And why is it so damn hot?" A groggy Happy rose up into a sitting position across the bus aisle from Walter, pushing her hair off of her face.

"We are traveling west on Interstate 8 approximately five miles east of Yuma Arizona," he replied. "And it's hot because we're in the Sonoran Desert during the summer and the air conditioning is on the fritz."

"Thanks for the detailed update, smart ass." She took off her sunglasses to wipe at her eyes then put them back on. "Are we stopping any time soon? I could take at look at the A/C. And I really gotta pee. Paige made me drink three cups of coffee this morning."

He nodded. "We're stopping in Yuma for lunch and fuel and a, uh, bathroom break."

"Good." Craning her neck, Happy looked at the occupied seats behind them before bending low and whispering, "We need to talk. Privately."

"Uh, okay." He glanced over his shoulder as well. Most of the other roadies were still sleeping. A few were awake but almost all of them were looking down at a screen of one kind or another. "I need to talk to you too."

"If it's about last night. . ." She glared at him menacingly.

"I, um, didn't know you were still into. . .uh. . ."

"What? Having sex with women?" She rolled her eyes. "You should try it sometime, O'Brien."

"Uh. . .I. . .I've. . .um. . .I. . ."

"Jesus, don't hurt yourself, Walt." Happy shook her head as she took off her leather jacket. "I'm in love with Toby, who just happens to be a man. I still find women. . .and other men attractive. I'm not dead."

Walter had quit paying attention when he recognized the sleeveless red top she was wearing. It belonged to Paige. On Happy it was much looser, it didn't conform to the curves of her body as it did on the liaison. He recalled how it had clung to her breasts and. . .

"Oh shit. . .you sick freak," hissed the mechanic, shaking him from his erotic fantasies. "You're thinking of Paige in this stupid shirt, aren't you?" With a huff of annoyance, she yanked a lump of grey cloth from her jacket pocket and pulled the badly wrinkled tee over her head. "I told her I didn't want to borrow it but she insisted I needed something clean."

Happy flopped back in her seat, crisscrossing her arms. "I swear, O'Brien, if you don't grow a pair and make a move, I'm going to lock you both in a closet and not let you out until you've screwed each other's brains out."

It was a half an hour later when they were parked at a truck stop, Walter approached Happy, bringing her a peace offering of a sub sandwich and a liter of cola. The mechanic and the bus driver were elbow deep into the vehicle's engine, trying to determine what was wrong with the cooling system.

"Hey, thanks." She wiped off her hands on her jeans as she accepted the food. "Kevin, why don't you go get something to eat? I can go solo on this for awhile."

"Sure." The driver took off across the parking lot. Happy took a bite of her sandwich before washing it down with nearly half of the pop.

"Okay, last night, before things got a bit. . .crazy. . ." she began before interrupting herself with a burp.

"Crazy is one way to describe it." Walter scratched the side of his face. "Irresponsible is another."

"Spare me the lecture, Grandma."

He ignored her insult. "How much do you remember?"

"Not much after I started smoking weed." She ducked away from his disapproving stare. "Akim told me he's Yuri's cousin and that Yuri trusts him with all the important stuff." Shaking her head, she added, "He was trying to get into my pants so he might have just been saying that, thinking it would impress me. Anyway, I let him cop a feel then asked him what kind of important stuff.

"He told me the really important stuff that had nothing to do with the band," she continued. "I couldn't get him to tell me any more, then Anya showed up with some pot and. . . Well, you know what happened."

"We need to clone Akim's phone," Walter suggested. "Yuri's too. See if there are any incriminating texts or calls. I'll give you the cloning device when we get back on the bus." He watched as she wolfed down the rest of her sandwich, wondering how to reintroduce the subject of her reckless behavior.

"Uh, you shouldn't have to put up with, you know. . .what Akim did," he said. When she looked at him blankly, he explained, "T-Touch you. C-Cop a feel."

"I can handle it." Happy crossed her arms over her chest.

"You shouldn't have to."

"It's no big deal, O'Brien. You're not my nanny."

"No, but Toby wants me to be. He was pretty upset last night."

She groaned. "Oh, shit, what. . ."

"You might want to check your phone. It's, uh. . .self-explanatory."

The mechanic whipped her cell out of her back pocket and started swiping. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh shit." She squinted at him with a frown. "Where the hell were you? Why didn't you stop me?"

"I wasn't there," he said. "You wouldn't have listened to me anyway."

"I don't mean that." She held up her phone and shook it at him. "Why did you let me text the doc? Where the hell were you?"

"I was loading all the equipment. . .by myself."

"Oh yeah. Akim thought you'd get pissed off and quit." Happy shook her head as she smirked.

"He said as much last night." Walter shoved his hands into his pockets. "About last night. . . Hear me out," he said as she started to protest. "You were kinda out of control. You've kinda been out of control for awhile. You're my friend. . .I-I don't w-want to see you get hurt."

She drained what was left of her drink. "I know," she replied before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I'll turn it down a notch or two, okay?" She shrugged. "Hey, if you want to worry about someone, you should worry about Paige."

"I'm always worried about Paige. But do you have a specific reason?"

"Yeah, Paige is the one who's gonna have to clone Yuri's phone. She's the only one of us who can get close enough to him to do it without causing suspicion."

Walter nodded. "That makes sense. But. . ."

"But you're not gonna like this like. Akim told me Yuri's planning to fuck her after the next concert, if not sooner."

Oh, shit. It shouldn't have been a surprise, not after overhearing the conversation the lead singer had with Paige at the party. But to learn it was common knowledge, that the others were so casually discussing what would be rape. . . His hands curled into fists as he was filled with a burning need to damage more than Yuri's face.

"So, did you and Paige find out anything helpful yesterday afternoon?"

Happy's question sent him careening from his violent thoughts to remembering the kiss he and Paige had shared on the bus the day before. "Uh, no," he said once he'd cleared his mind. "Just a lot of nonsense."

"I heard there was some 'nonsense' going on, all right," she commented with a grin. "I need to thank you. I won a hundred bucks."

"You're the second person to tell me they've won money. I take it you were in on the same bet Darby was," he said indignantly.

"Yeah." She stared down into the bus's motor. "Look, don't get your panties in a wad, it was no big deal. Actually the guys all have a little more respect for you now."

"They're disgusting."

"I'm not disputing that. Here," she said, handing him her sandwich wrapper and empty bottle. "I think I see the problem." She pointed to a hose deep inside the engine. "The connection is corroded and it's leaking Freon. I'm gonna have to crawl underneath to repair it. Make yourself useful and go get the duct tape from the side pocket of my bag."

"Okay." Walter walked around the side of bus to the doors and climbed inside. He sighed as he unzipped the designated pocket of Happy's duffel. If only duct tape could fix every problem.

ooooo

Paige stood just off stage, waiting for her fellow backup singers to appear. Darby had called for yet another rehearsal, saying they were still 'off'. Massaging her temples, she tried to will away the headache she'd had since landing in San Diego. Zalina and Anya were being huge bitches, not only where they not speaking to her, they'd stopped speaking to each other over a pair of shoes they both claimed.

She couldn't believe how shallow and stupid the other women were. Makeup, clothing, drugs, and sex were all they ever talked about. They had no idea what it was like to be responsible for paying bills or raising a child. She missed Ralph more every day she was away from him. She'd called the garage about an hour earlier, only to reach the answering machine. Hoping he and his babysitters were just out on some manly yet safe adventure, she closed her eyes as the pain still throbbed behind them.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up at the one person she was glad to see. "Walter." Her headache easing, she smiled at him. "I am now. What are you doing here?"

"Taking a break." He glanced over his shoulder. "Everyone else is outside smoking."

"Even Happy?"

He nodded. "Listen, I gave her the cloning device." He filled her in on the conversation he and the mechanic had earlier that day at the truck stop. "She thinks Akim might just be bragging, but we both figured it was worth checking out."

"At least it's something. So far I've been pretty worthless," she said. "Both you and Happy have found leads. I haven't done anything." Except be threatened by her co-workers with both physical and sexual assault.

"Yeah, well." He ran his hand over the back of his neck and his gaze dropped to the floor. "There's something we're going to need you to do."

The fact he was nervous and not meeting her eyes told her she wasn't going to like whatever it was they wanted her to do. Then she gasped, realizing it could only be one thing.

"I need to clone Yuri's phone, don't I?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "If there was any other way. . . If I could. . ."

"No, it's okay. I can do it." Oh, God, at least she hoped she could. Cloning the phone would only take three minutes but that was three minutes too many to be around the perverted singer. Plus she'd have to make sure he had his cell with him before she could even attempt it.

"Th-There's something el-else," he stammered, flicking his eyes between her and his shoes. "Yuri. . ." He gulped, and she knew he dreaded telling her. "He, uh. . . He said he was going to. . . To. . .um, you know. . . Havesexwithyouafterthenextconcert."

Although she didn't quite catch everything he'd said, between his bright red face and the bits of his hurried speech she did hear, she caught his meaning. "He's more or less made that threat to my face already," she pointed out. "I can do this, Walter. I have to do it. It will be all right. Okay?"

"Okay," he mumbled. He raised his head when they heard a door open and several sets of footsteps walk inside the backstage area. "I gotta go."

"Okay."

"Hey, noob, I thought I said to put that amp stack on the other side of the stage," Akim's voice rang out from somewhere behind them.

"I gotta go," he repeated, although he didn't move away. Maybe he was as reluctant to go as she was to let him leave. She wanted. . .no, she needed to kiss him, because. . . It just really felt wrong not to.

He must have been thinking along the same lines as his mouth came down hard on hers, his hands on her hips, tugging her body to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, running her hands through his curls as she entwined her tongue with his.

"Hey, noob! Where the fuck are you? Break's over!"

They sprang apart as the head roadie's angry shouts came from only a few feet away. "S-Sorry," Walter rasped, giving her an intense awestruck stare before dashing off.

She sagged against the wall, her back sliding down it a little as her knees wobbled. Oh, God. She didn't know what it was; the fact they were away from the garage, the sex-charged rock and roll atmosphere, the flannel shirts. . . But damn. . . A girl could only take so much before she snapped. And she was almost at her breaking point.

ooooo

Paige sighed with relief. At long last, rehearsal was over. The rest of the band had left over an hour ago, leaving her alone with Zalina and Anya. The two women must have made up, as they were no longer sniping at each other, instead saving all their venom for her.

"That sounded like strangled cats," Zalina sneered, glaring directly at Paige. "How you get gig anyway? You suck."

The liaison just rolled her eyes. "Whatever." Snatching up her belongings, she stalked off the stage.

And straight into Yuri. "Hey, babe," he purred, pushing her up against the nearest wall.

"I-I thought you left." He'd grabbed her upper arms, applying pressure as she tried to squirm away.

"I did. But I came back. I wanted to see you." Pressing himself against her, she could feel the huge bulge in his tight leather pants. Her stomach lurched and she had to keep herself from being sick.

"You're so pretty," he went on, not noticing or not caring about her distress, she didn't know. He lifted one hand to swipe a strand of hair from her face. "And a beautiful singer. If you would only. . .put out a little effort," he paused before chuckling as if he'd made a joke, "you could have great career with me."

"I-I. . .I don't know. . ." She knew she needed to be more convincing but. . . He was so repulsive she couldn't think straight.

"Maybe you come to my room later tonight," he invited, his eyelids drooping into what he must thought was a sexy stare. "We can discuss. . .your positions."

"I-I. . ."

"Maybe this help you decide." He leaned down, tightening his hold on her as he puckered his lips. Trying to twist away, she was nearly blinded by a firework exploding just a few feet away.

"Fuck! What was that?" Yuri let go of her, shaking his head and sticking his finger in his ear.

Blinking her eyes until she could sort of see again, she watched as Happy stepped forward. "Sorry, my bad. Must have been a malfunction."

Then she winked at Paige.