Tim looked at his reflection in the mirror as he readied himself for the day. Dark circles hung beneath his eyes, clashing with their bloodshot color. His cheeks were red from having pushed them so far down into his pillow in hope of drowning out the music from next door. The shirt he'd worn to bed was soaked in sweat and clung to his sticky body.

It had, of course, been another sleepless night, between the party next door and the torturous heat of the room. When he'd called down to the desk to complain about both, he was told that the AC had broken and that they were working on getting it going again. As for the noise? "I'm sorry sir, but we have no control over that party. The person paying for the room is the son of our manager. It's his birthday and he reserved the room for a two-day party." Tim groaned when he heard that. The woman he took his call must have sensed his frustration. "I wouldn't worry, sir! The group will be gone tomorrow, so tonight will be the last you'll hear of them." Even with his mounting headache, Tim grinned in relief about that.

His mood had soured when he'd woken up the next morning. He'd opted to really sleep in – 9:30am – but even with the extra sleep he didn't feel well-rested. He likely would have spent the day in bed if it weren't his last day in the city. There was no way he'd miss the Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum. Lord knows he'd had to push through work after nights spent assessing crime scenes, so he could certainly make it through a couple of museums, so long as he had come coffee pumping through his veins.

Strike One: The maids had come through his room the day before, but they'd neglected to leave a complimentary bag of coffee for him. Strike Two: Because he'd slept in so late, he'd missed the free breakfast and the only coffee left was decaf. Strike Three: Even though the city had a café and coffee shop on every corner, they all seemed to be jam packed with people, giving Tim at least a twenty minute wait, no matter where he went. He finally decided to stick it out and waited for half an hour at a Caribou Coffee.

"I think I know the answer to your question of the day," he told the barista while stifling a yawn. The blackboard behind the counter asked the question, "What name is given to the elements located on the far right column of the Periodic Table?" promising ten cents off to any customer who could correctly answer it. "They're the Noble Gases."

"Well, done, sir," the young woman said, ringing up his purchase with the ten cents off. Tim, with his steaming cup of coffee (10 cents free!) took off toward the nearest train station, hoping that this was a sign of better things to come.

"Your attention please: We are standing momentarily, waiting for signal clearance. We expect to be moving shortly."

"I heard you the first twenty times," Tim muttered under his breath to the digital voice that continued to tell them why the train had been stationary for the past ten minutes. He rubbed his temples as his headache began to come back with full force. In an attempt to relieve his stress, he squeezed his hand around his now empty coffee cup and watched the cardboard crumple up. It didn't help.

"Don't worry, they've been stopping these trains on and off for a while now. Something to do with construction work." Tim looked at the rotund man who was smashed up against him. The man, much like eight-five percent of the people riding in that particular car, was dressed in a Bears jersey and had paint smeared across his face. His ridiculous appearance made him blend in with the sea of blue and orange that was piled in the car. Everywhere Tim looked, he saw a foam finger or a large Bears sign or some other Bears paraphernalia. One bare-chested man even had "We're #1!" painted on his body. Tim was certainly in the minority on the train.

"How long does it usually take?" Tim asked. His lower stomach growled and he was regretting his decision to down his cup of coffee. He had looked around and there wasn't a bathroom in sight.

The Bears fan shrugged. "Anywhere from twenty minutes to forty-five minutes."

"What?" His stomach growled again and Tim groaned. "We may be stuck here for forty-five minutes?" In the time it was taking him to get downtown he could have walked there. Not only was he stuck in a small train car (underground!), but his company consisted of a large group of hyperactive Bears fans and their far too large Bears props.

"Don't worry, buddy!" the man said, giving Tim a smack on the back. "At least you've got some great company!" He stood and shouted across the way, "Who's gonna win?"

"Da Bears!" the crowd responded.

"Who?"

"DA BEARS!" The train erupted in cheers and woots as people talked about the upcoming game.

"Isn't the game tomorrow?" he asked.

"We like to start the party early!" the man exclaimed. His announcement was met with more cheers. "You should come with us! It's not a Chicago vacation unless you get the full Bears experience."

"I'll pass," Tim mumbled as he willed the train to start moving again.

"You're gonna be here a while, kid," another fan pointed out. "You may as well get in the spirit. Stop being so mopey!" He reached into his small cooler and passed a bottle of beer to Tim. "It's on me, kid!"

Tim grimaced at being referred to "kid" and waved off the bottle. "I'm not a beer drinker."

"Heh, not a beer drinker!" the man exclaimed with a chuckle, elbowing the man beside him. The two shared a laugh at Tim's expense.

"So where you off to, kid?" the man next to him asked.

Tim resisted to the urge to let them know that his name wasn't "kid." "I'm going to the Field Museum and the Adler Planetarium."

The man responded with a guffaw. "I can save you the trip and the money. The Field Museum has a bunch of skeleton bones and the Planetarium has a bunch of stars. End of story."

"Mm, and the football stadium has a bunch of guys tackling each other." He winced the moment he said it, not wanting to start a fight, especially when he was out numbered…and had no where to run.

His fears were unnecessary, though, as the train of fans were barely even listening to him. The ones that weren't talking about the team were talking about Tim and about how he needed to be toughened up. "We'll make a man out of you, kid," the man beside him promised.

The train jolted into motion and Tim breathed a sigh of relief. "Grand is next. Door open on the right at Grand," the voice announced. Though it was a good seven stops away from his stop, Tim jumped to his feet. He couldn't bear the thought of having to stay crammed on the train with the wacky fans.

"Actually, I need to get off here." He ignored the men telling him that this wasn't the stop for the museums and slipped off the moment the doors opened. The thought of his fifteen minutes spent stuck on the train kept him going as he walked the remaining distance to the museums.

The sky was growing dark as Tim finally made it back to his hotel that evening. Despite getting off to a rocky start, Tim had enjoyed his day. The Field Museum and the Adler Planetarium had been money well spent and he had been relieved to find that nothing had really gone wrong for his day. He'd chosen to walk back to his hotel, not wanting to risk being stuck again on one of the trains, so it was no surprise that he was ready to crash by the time he got back. Luckily, the group next door would be moved out by now - the hotel requires that you move out by noon or be charged another night – so he could go to sleep as early as he wanted.

When he pushed through the revolving door, the first thing he noticed was that a group of people – mostly women – had congregated in the hotel lobby. There were at least one hundred people bunched together waiting in anticipation for something. Tim was curious, but he didn't feel like stopping to check out what was going on, and instead he went to push through the crowd. From the corner of his eye he saw Gloria, the woman who had checked him in the day he'd arrived, beckoning to him. "Mr. Gemcity!" she called in what she hoped was a hushed tone. It wasn't.

"It's him!" one of the girls squealed from the crowd. "It's Thom E. Gemcity!"

Tim watched in horror as the crowd quickly migrated toward him, surrounding him in an arc of people. He leaned back against the front desk, not only because he was tired, but also because the crowd was so close he wanted to put as much distance between him and them as he could. At the head of the crowd were the two girls he'd met the day before. "Um…hi…"

"See, guys!" Stacy said smugly, "I told you he was in Chicago!"

"We told the Gemcity fanclub that we saw you yesterday in Chicago," Stacy's friend explained. "We called all of the hotels looking for a Mr. Gemcity and we finally found where you were!"

"I'd have thought you'd make reservations under a fake name," one boy commented. "I mean, that's what most celebrities do."

Tim mentally kicked himself for being stupid enough to reserve his room under his penname. "I guess I didn't realize how much of a celebrity I was…"

"Could I get an autograph?" one girl asked shyly.

"Oh, me too!" cried another voice.

"I want to ask you about your next book!" said a third person.

"Yeah! Are Tommy and Lisa ever going to get together?" asked a fourth person.

Tim held up his hands in an attempt to ward them off. "I'm sorry…I would truly love to talk to all of you, but I don't have time…"

"Mr. Gemcity has a…uh…press conference?" Gloria said more as a question than a statement. When Tim nodded frantically, she reaffirmed, "Yes, he has a press conference. It's private, though."

"Oh…" the crowd sighed in disappointment.

"Um, if you will leave your addresses with the front desk for me, I promise I'll send all of you an autograph," Tim told them sincerely. "I'm sorry, but I, uh, have to go."

"I'll escort you upstairs, Mr. Gemcity," Gloria offered. Tim gave her a grateful smile as he bid his adoring fans good-bye.

"Thank you so much,' he sighed as the elevator doors closed behind. "I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that. How can I ever repay you?"

"Just be sure to include an autograph for me," she said with a wink.

Tim fell into the bed, looking forward to a deep sleep with no interruptions from next door. The AC seemed to be running at full force, as the room was at an almost arctic temperature. His vacation was coming to an end and so far he hadn't been as well-rested as he hoped he would be, so he had decided to get to bed early and to sleep in the next day until at least 8:00am. His flight was at noon, so he'd have to leave here by 9:30am or so, but as long as he got to sleep that night, he knew he'd be fine.

As he drifted off into a sleep, he heard a loud voice from next door.

"Oh my God, Jason! Oh…oh, God yes! That's wonderful!"

"Oh, baby! Oh, God! God, you're beautiful! God…" a voice panted.

Tim's head sunk down into his pillow as moans and groans floated in from the next room. The wall shook as the bed slammed against it.

"YES, YES, YES!"

No, no, no, he thought bitterly to himself.

AN: Only one more chapter to go! Thanks to my faithful reviewers. I very much appreciate you guys!