Summary: Kurt Hummel, Blaine Anderson, Rachel Berry, Nick Duvall, Jeff Sterling, and Elliott Gilbert make up Pamela Lansbury, a rock/pop band that hit it big after their first single was featured on popular tv-show Sing. A little over two years later the band is still dealing with the pressures of fame, their differing dreams, their fans, "shippers", and finding love.

Author's note: Alrighty, so remember how in my first author's note I mentioned that this was partially inspired by the show Nashville? Well there are a few reasons for that...so note about that at the bottom. Also while writing this chapter I spent a lot of time doing research on record label contracts and one direction? (research leads to a very big void...I once learned way too much about panda bears while researching Leonardo Da Vinci)...Anyway there's a bit of a long rambly note about stuff down there. If you don't want to know about "Masters" and record label contracts be sure to skip the first note.

And something I forgot to add for the last chapter:

Roseland Ballroom which has been mentioned last chapter and this chapter and next chapter does indeed exist. If any of you are from the New York area and fans of Darren Criss outside of glee, you would know it as the place he performed for the NY date of the Listen Up tour (I was actually there somewhere along the third row). Roseland has actually been shut down since then due to reasons. It was an absolutely lovely place and I was lucky enough to see Darren and a few other people there. I wanted to use it or Irving Plaza (Darren played a show there on a day off the Glee Tour after season 2...consequently some warblers were there including Curt Mega (Nick) and Riker Lynch (Jeff) and I think I still have a video of when they performed Teenage Dream together that night) just as a reference to Darren and the NYC music scene outside of Madison Square Garden and Met Life Stadium (which is actually in NJ) - and just the fact that Pamela Lansbury is not going to be playing Taylor Swift size concerts.

Chapter Five

Kurt leaned his head on Blaine's shoulder, peering over at where Jeff and Nick had fallen asleep in what looked like uncomfortable positions on Wes' couch. It was too early to be up, but they had all been dragged out of bed and over to Wes' apartment for what would be the longest day ever. Kurt had wanted to at least sleep in on the first day of the concert but that just wasn't going to happen. He yawned.

"Don't," Blaine muttered, "those are contagious."

Kurt yawned again.

"Stop," Blaine muttered and Kurt could practically see the smile on his lips.

"If I were in any kind of state to be awake I would post pictures of them on the internet," Elliott muttered from the floor where he had deposited himself upon walking in, "where the hell is Wes?"

Blaine shifted, leaning back on the couch and Kurt followed, still leaning against him. He moved into a better position and closed his eyes. Maybe if Jeff and Nick were allowed to nap he would be too.

"If we have bags under our eyes tonight we can all blame Wes," he whispered to Blaine, "we can tell everyone on stage."

"Sure," Blaine said through his own yawn.

"Not kidding, B," Kurt said, "we'll tell the fans."

"Tell the fans what?" Wes asked.

He was freshly showered, already in a suit, and holding a stack of paper. Kurt settled a glare on him.

"You guys are welcome to my coffee, you know," Wes said, "and tell the fans what?"

"Sent your assistant to get Starbucks," Blaine said, "your coffee is crap."

"Seconded," Elliott added.

Wes rolled his eyes and sat down in the armchair. "Guys, I'm sorry for the wake up, but the label called me this morning at five and almost demanded a meeting with all of you. I told him it was impossible to do with the tour starting today so instead they faxed me and told me to talk to you. Has anyone seen Santana?"

"Nope," Kurt muttered.

Wes rolled his eyes. "Figures. So, anyway, there's just a few things I have to go through with all of you. Someone wake tweedle dee and tweedle dum over there."

Kurt grabbed a cushion and threw it in their direction, but it landed about halfway there.

"Oh, come on," Wes said, "were you guys up late or something. I told all of you to get a good night's rest. I swear, Santana is right when she says you need someone to take care of you."

Wes walked over and shook Jeff and Nick who woke up and almost fell off the couch they were both on.

"Too early," Jeff whispered, his voice heavy with sleep.

"What is this even about?" Elliott asked.

Wes sighed. "Alright," he said, "so I expected something like this to come up when we were having meetings about the tour and new album but nothing ever did. You guys know that I have your best interest so I wasn't about to bring it up myself but it seems that something Rachel said in an interview was brought to the label's attention."

"Oh," Blaine said, "what did she say?"

"Something about her dream always being Broadway," Wes said, "I think she meant to praise the band as the platform that allowed her the success she foresees for herself in that Austen musical, it came off like she didn't care how she got the fame as long as she got it which isn't too far from the truth really. But anyway, she also mentioned Kurt's aspirations for Broadway. It's made them a little bit worried."

Kurt groaned. Everything went back to Rachel. So what if he had once wanted to be on Broadway? Really what he'd wanted was to be a performer and he was doing that. He loved Pamela Lansbury and everything that it had become.

"So, what does that mean then, what do they want from us?"

Before Wes could answer his door opened and his assistant walked in holding a cardboard box on which she balanced all of their coffee and the rest of their breakfast orders.

"Whit, you're the best," Jeff said.

"Yeah yeah," she said with a small smile and started passing out their coffee and food.

"No, you are fantastic. Wes, Whitney deserves a raise," Nick added.

"I agree," Blaine said once he'd taken a sip of his coffee.

Wes cleared his throat. "As I was saying," he said, "they want you to sign your contracts early. We have something like four months until the two year agreement is up. Rachel chose to leave at a perfect time. The tour hadn't been announced, the new album hadn't been worked on. We had six months left of the contract. Her breech wasn't a big deal and they let it go ultimately but they just want to make sure none of the rest of you decide to leave."

"Me, you mean," Kurt said.

Kurt let out a sigh. No one had prepared him for what it really meant to get a recording contract or for that matter what it meant to be in the music industry.

Wes nodded. "Yes. So, they want all of you to sign the new five year contract we would have looked at in a few months, early."

Kurt didn't know what to think. He knew that all five of them were planning on signing the contract again in a few months, but it felt different to have the label put pressure on them to do so. Five years also felt like a lot. The first contract they signed had been for a year and it had stated that they needed to get out at least one album in that time. When the end of that year came, they were signed for two more years with the label's expectation of two more albums and a tour.

"They can't force you," Wes said, "but they told me to bring it up to you at once. Really they're just scared. The band is doing very well and there is a growing fan base so of course they're scared that something may happen and that you guys will break apart or just disband. They just want your word that you are committed to the label and to the band."

"And to be able to sue us if we pull a Rachel," Elliott muttered, "they're trying to make sure they don't lose on profits."

"Five years," Nick said, "is a long time."

Kurt nodded slowly. "Was it always going to be five? I thought it was going to be just another two to make a full five years with another contract at that time."

"Even if it were just two more years that wouldn't really change much," Blaine said, "I mean we're signed to them and they have control of our music – they own the masters to any song we've recorded including the ones that didn't even end up in the last two albums. They basically have the copyrights so unless we decide to break up the band and go our separate ways there isn't a reason to not stay with the label. Not signing is an option but it would be a hassle if the band is what we want to keep doing. Right, Wes?"

Wes nodded. "Essentially, yes," he said, "they expect an answer before we leave New York in two days. I have copies of the contracts for all of you to read over. They haven't changed much from the ones from before but I did have the lawyers mark the places where things were added or taken out."

Kurt took the copy of the contract in both hands. It was just as big as the old one and Kurt knew that he probably wouldn't understand half of what it said but he trusted Wes and he knew that if there was anything in there to worry them he would have brought it up already. Kurt's only problem was that deep down he wasn't sure if he really wanted to continue with the band for five more years. He didn't know how the rest of them felt exactly but at least one of them had to be having a few doubts.

"I guess we'll talk about it later and we'll let you know when we've figured out what we want," Elliott said.

Wes nodded. "That's perfect."

"What do you think?" Nick asked.

He and Jeff were sitting in the green room which brought back lots of memories about their first time playing at Roseland.

"About?"

"The contract," Nick said, "I mean, do you want to keep doing this for five more years? It's madness and it's fun and crazy but we didn't exactly go to one of the best prep schools in the country, or go to NYU only to become famous rock/pop stars."

Jeff who was in the middle of eating lunch finished chewing before he answered. "We had no idea what we wanted to do, though. I mean, I jumped from major to major and you were doing business because you thought you had to. This band changed everything for us but for the better. Who wouldn't want this?"

Nick nodded slowly. It was hard when put like that and the thing was: Jeff was right. Back when Blaine had approached them about the band – after Kurt made it clear he really was serious about it – they had gone ahead with it because it seemed fun. He and Jeff had been in a band before with Elliott which had mostly come out of a few parties and just getting grouped together. It hadn't lasted. They hadn't been heartbroken about it.

"I mean," Jeff said, "this doesn't happen for everyone. So why should we throw everything away when we don't know what we'd end up doing. I don't know why this is even a problem really."

Maybe it was because of Rachel. Nick didn't know, because he loved the band. He loved everything that Pamela Lansbury was, and yet he couldn't help but wonder if there was something else that he might want more.

"Hey, you guys ready?" Elliott asked, "all the crew coming with us is all here and Wes is calling a quick meeting. Blaine and Kurt are already out there."

"Oh, sure," Nick said and he and Jeff followed him out to the stage.

No one ever really considered what it took to put on a concert tour and the number of people that were actually involved in all the work. From the people that worked at each venue to the organizers that dealt with their meet and greets and all of their equipment and instruments and even down to making sure their stages all shared the same themes despite the different venues. Then of course was their security, the drivers, and all the assistants that would be running around fetching them anything they needed and helping in any other capacity. Supervising all of them was their tour manager and they had yet to meet the new guy. Everyone else were all familiar faces.

"No way," Jeff said and Nick came to a stop behind him, eyes wide. Elliott didn't seem to have noticed they stopped because he continued on towards Cassie, their stylist.

"What the hell is Sebastian Smythe doing here?" Nick said.

"Better just be visiting or something," Jeff whispered back.

They stepped further into the stage, and Nick snapped out of staring at Sebastian when one of the crew greeted him and then he started saying hello to everyone around him until they were standing by Kurt and Blaine. Kurt seemed to only be able to glare at Sebastian and Blaine looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole.

"What happened?" Nick asked.

"Wes hired Sebastian as our tour manager," Blaine muttered.

Nick who had been hoping otherwise couldn't believe his luck.

"And Kurt who has never met Sebastian before is glaring at him, why?" Jeff asked.

Blaine let out a sigh. "Well, that may have something to do with the fact that the first thing Sebastian did when he saw me was hit on me and then imply that Kurt was a girl. Same old Sebastian."

"And where is Wes?" Nick asked.

"Who knows," Blaine said, "but this tour is starting off well."

Nick sighed and then he moved around Blaine to stand next to Kurt. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked.

Kurt grunted and continued to stare at Sebastian sullenly and Nick had to wonder if it was more than what Blaine said.

Wes appeared suddenly and Kurt was on him at once and Nick winced because this was not going to end well. He wished that Wes had given them even a bit of a hint as to who he had hired.

"I want him fired," Kurt said, "at once. Actually, considering that we the band pay you, technically I employ him as well. So fire him. Now."

"What? Kurt, what are you talking about?"

"Sebastian!" Kurt snapped, "he can't be our tour manager. I think everyone else agrees with me as well. So, fire him."

Nick nodded quickly. "Yes," he said, "definitely."

He remembered suddenly that Wes hadn't actually been there for the year when Sebastian basically tried to take over The Warblers and made a mess of things. It had been he, Blaine, and Jeff on the council and then Sebastian had swept in and the dean appointed him their captain or something. That year they didn't even place in Sectionals because of all the in-arguing all due to Sebastian and how quick he was to not only cause disagreements but just get in the way when things were finally getting together.

Wes looked startled especially after Jeff added his agreement and Blaine nodded along with them too though a bit more cautiously. Only Elliott, shrugged his shoulders with no real opinion.

"He signed a contract. I mean, it's the first day of this tour and we can't just find someone in such short notice. I'm sorry, but at least for time being he's going to have to stay. There's no one else."

"Well there has to be," Kurt said, "plenty of people are out there looking for jobs perfectly capable of doing this one."

Nick looked towards Blaine, wondering if Blaine had left something out earlier but he looked as confused as Nick felt.

"I'm sorry, Kurt," Wes said, "and we really should speak about this privately."

Kurt, cheeks a little pink sighed and nodded before he walked off. Wes let out a frustrated sigh. "Could someone just go check on him or something?"

Elliott volunteered and they watched him walk after him.

Elliott found Kurt in the green room, phone pressed to his ear.

"No, this isn't because of Blaine. Stop saying that, San, this is about how I was an idiot a few weeks back and that this guy is an asshole. None of us are happy he's the tour manager. How do you think this is going to go down?"

Elliott coughed and dropped to the seat next to Kurt who glanced at him and mouthed "Santana." Then, he put it on speaker.

"We should have met him last week," Kurt said, "the fact that Wes waited this long to introduce us when he's the one that will be in basic charge of everything is ridiculous. Please, Santana, you're just as much in control as Wes is. Couldn't you find someone else? So many people applied."

Santana sighed on the line. "It's not just that, Hummel, there's background checks and contracts and frankly we don't have the time."

"You or Wes could do it, then," Elliott said and then added, "hi, Santana."

"Hey, El," Santana said, "and no. This tour was supposed to be my down time. At least the first month and I'm not giving that up because Kurt wants to be a baby and not spend any time with his one night stand."

Elliott gasped. "Oh," he said and glanced at Kurt whose cheeks had reddened.

"Yeah," Kurt said and then, "how fast can someone else be hired then?"

"A few weeks," Santana said, "but Smythe's already put in the work. Look, I get it, it'll be awkward and you don't like the guy but Wes vouched for him and so did David. Not to mention that he has a pretty good resume. I took a glance at it when we made it official so unless he majorly screws up and messes up this tour there is no real reason to fire him. I'm sorry, Kurt. You didn't really like Beiste when we hired her either or for that matter the tour stylist."

Kurt groaned and muttered, "didn't sleep with either of them," and then louder, "what if I throw a Rachel style diva fit and refuse to perform?"

Elliott rolled his eyes. Kurt would never do that. Santana probably knew it as well because she laughed.

"That will only hurt the fans," she said, "just man up."

She hung up and Kurt slumped back on the couch. "You can't tell the others," he said, "about the whole one night stand thing."

"Sure," Elliott said, "want to talk about it?"

Kurt shrugged his shoulders and he closed his eyes clearly still frustrated and Elliott knew it wasn't fair. Kurt didn't deserve to have someone he clearly didn't like hanging around while he was trying to work.

"We met at the HK Lounge that night I went out on my own," Kurt said, "I wasn't planning on doing more than getting a few drinks and maybe dance a little but then he was there and he was so damn charming. And you noticed he was hot, right?"

Elliott laughed and nodded because yeah, Sebastian had a lot going for him when it came to his looks.

"So, he took me back to his and it was fun. For a bit there it wasn't even sexual but he's heavy with the innuendos. We were just drunk and happy. Maybe he's a good person when he's drunk, I don't know, but he was nice and fun and I had a good time. He had no idea who I was too which was a plus and then I figured I'd never see him again and I was perfectly okay with that."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Elliott said, "I mean, it's not like he's here expecting anything from you or anything."

Kurt nodded and he was quiet for a while so Elliott pulled out his phone to check the time. They still had a bit of time before they needed to get going with their sound check before their meet and greets.

"So I knew his name was Sebastian," Kurt said, "but I didn't know he was the same Sebastian that Blaine told me about from high school."

Elliott sat up in interest. "What?" he asked. He should have known that there was more to story especially if Sebastian was known to Wes and David and probably the others too.

"Yeah, so back when we were in high school Blaine was always texting me about this guy who was always pestering him and hitting on him and trying to hook up with him. Anyway, Blaine kept turning him down, but even I could tell he was flattered by it and I never did find out if anything came of it, if it did, but I was really jealous of him for a long time because I could tell Blaine liked him."

Elliott didn't have the greatest understanding of Blaine and Kurt, but he knew enough to be convinced that the two of them belonged together. He knew all about how besotted they had been with each other while they were in Ohio and then how quickly they had become inseparable best friends once they met again in New York. He just didn't understand why that friendship had never turned into more.

"So, anyway, today, the first thing he did was hit on Blaine," Kurt said, "and then when he saw me he didn't even have the respect to just greet me although he must have been shocked to see me if he even remembers. Who knows. Anyway, he just laughed at me and said a few things and just kept trying to talk to Blaine."

Elliott chuckled. "So, are you mad that he's pretending he doesn't remember sleeping with you or that Blaine didn't stop him from hitting on him?"

Kurt slapped his arm. "I could care less about Sebastian Smythe," he said.

"Ah, so it is Blaine, then."

Kurt blushed and Elliott grabbed him into a hug. "The two of you are idiots and I wish you would tell him how you feel."

"Oh, yes, and when we break up what will happen to the band? And with all this talk of renewal contracts and whatever. No, I value his friendship too much to ruin it."

Elliott knew it was useless. Nothing was going to change Kurt's mind.

"So, what's the plan with Sebastian then?" Elliott asked.

"Well, if Santana can't help and we can't convince Wes to fire him, then we make his life miserable and in the meanwhile I'm going to try and find a replacement."

Author's Note:So one thing I found fascinating about Nashville is how the performers were signed to their particular labels and what that entailed. So I did some research. Most bands/performers who are discovered usually get a contract that lasts a year. During this time they get out at least one single and definitely an album. They are also required to do promo, tours and such to bring up sales. Their success usually leads to another contract with more expectations. But the thing about signing a contract like this with a big label is that essentially all of your music is technically owned by the label. By that I mean the "masters" - so any song recorded for the label and even written while under contract is the label's. So in order to switch labels or whatever, the artist almost has to buy themselves out depending on what kind of contract they signed. Or they just won't use their old music...they would actually have to pay to use it? Like Glee was doing whenever they used a song on the show (Think of The Beatles and how Michael Jackson actually owned their music and as such he was the one profiting from it...and how Paul McCartney had to pay to be able to sing songs from The Beatles during his concerts which to me is still crazy.) So artists are basically paid royalties twice a year for their music.

So anyway, the reason that One Direction came into my research is that I was fascinated by what their contract has been like. (I have friend who is a huge fan) To sign a band to a five year contract with the expectation of five albums during that time is crazy specially when they weren't the winners of the X-Factor. Not to mention the expectation of tours and promos for those albums and whatever else was in those contracts. I can understand why they are in need of a break. So I touch on this because of what happens to Pamela Lansbury.

So the band is pretty solid and actually they have a very normal contract. Wes made sure of it and he's a pretty good manager and genuinely he cares about the boys. So I want to make clear that aside from the label basically saying that they expect them to get out a few albums and just remain loyal to the label for those number of years, they aren't demanding too much. However, the label does own their music, and for them to renew their contract is basically to remain in the band for that time. There is always a clause for a band member leaving/being replaced but it depends on the contract and what it means. The label will always be looking out for itself. I wanted to touch on this because of Rachel and how she left with nothing happening to her. Well, she broke no obligations and she isn't a song writer and they couldn't exactly stop her. However, the label was not happy with what happened and the fear of one of the others leaving is basically making that clause a bit harder to use.

I just sorta wanted to make all of that clear because there's a lot of ways to interpret the signing of a new contract...

And now onto Sebastian.

So, he's the tour manager. Yup. That's a thing that happened. Most of you guessed it. I actually really wanted it to be Puck for the sake of my amusement. Also Dani. I really liked the idea of Dani...mostly because I wanted to get her acquainted with Santana and just the band in general. But Sebastian won for a few reasons and no, they don't relate to Klaine.

I am super excited to finally write tour stuff in the next chapter. Yay.

I'm on tumblr at inawickedlittletown if you'd like to follow me there. I usually post writing progress updates there.

Hope you all enjoyed this and thank you for reading.