Kintra blinked, trying to clear her bleary vision. She groaned and rolled carefully out of bed, watching where she stepped. Now would not be a good time to trip and fall. If she kept bumping into things, she'd be a walking, talking bruise. Her hand crept up to hold her elbow where a new bruise was forming as she stared at the calendar, smiling in spite of her blotchy state. Her treatments were over! They were completed and the doctor seemed hopeful this time. In one week's time, she would be on her way out to Colorado to see her friends. Just thinking about them made Kintra excited. She could hardly wait to see the Grey family once more.

There was a knock at her door and Emma stepped into the room. "Hey," she responded cheerily. She seated herself on Kintra's bed, watching without comment as her sister crossed off another day. "Nick called again."

Kintra turned to glance at her sister. "Again?" she asked, frowning.

Emma shrugged. "Could you really blame him? He wants to know how you're doing. He's worried about you."

"Why?" Kintra asked.

Emma shrugged her shoulders. "Oh I don't know. Maybe because you're his friend?" She smiled. "He told me to tell you that Kevin is dating some really nice girl from their orchestra, and Joe's found a really awesome girl named Christina. They've been dating for a month now, and Nick says that Joe's so in love, he can barely figure out which end of the world is up."

"Does he care, for that matter?" Kintra asked, grinning.

"Doubt it," her sister replied cheerily. She changed the subject, seeing the suitcase lying on her sister's floor. "Got everything packed up for the trip?"

"Almost," Kintra responded, her face brightening with the prospect of seeing her friends again.

"Well you'd better get ready. Mom asked me to come up here and tell you that your flight leaves at four fifty." Emma strode to the door, smiling as she glanced over her shoulder at her sister. "I wish I could go with you and see their surprised faces."

It was only then that Kintra understood what her sister meant. She was leaving a week early as a surprise for the Greys! Despite her easily-bruised state, Kintra scrambled around the room, grabbing random sets of clothes and shoving them into her suitcase. She checked the clock, realizing that she had no idea what time it was. Two thirty. She had time.

"Say hi to everyone," her mom called as she let Kintra off in front of the airport. Kintra waved, slightly disappointed that her mom couldn't come with her into the airport. Once the car pulled away, Kintra felt a sense of loneliness. She felt cheered only by the knowledge that the music inside her head was playing just as loudly as before. Who needed an iPod anyway?

Kintra went through all the chains of security and waited for her flight to begin boarding. Once seated, Kintra snuggled into her seat, glancing out the window to her left and smiling. She couldn't wait to see the Greys.

Airports in Colorado were confusing. Kintra came to that conclusion the minute she stepped off the plane. She felt completely lost, and kept turning in circles until she spotted a sign in the distance that read, "Taxis." Making her way there after claiming her luggage, Kintra paid the valet who hailed the taxi for her, and then instructed the taxi driver as to where she wanted to go, having written the address down on a piece of paper in advance. Once she arrived at the venue, she thanked the driver wordlessly, making her mouth movements over exaggerated, and tipped him. She pulled her luggage out of the taxi and then made her way over to the tour bus that stood in the middle of the snowy, deserted parking lot. She tapped on the door and waited, biting her lip in order to quell her anticipation.

The door opened and Kintra looked up. There stood Nick, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets as he stared at her. "Way to make a person feel welcome," she signed sourly.

Those motions brought Nick out of his trance. "KINNY!" he cried, launching himself down the stairs and into his friend's arms. The cry brought the rest of the family out to see, and Kintra was passed from one member to the other. Even Frankie threw his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

"Hello, Kintra." The icy voice broke the happy moment and Kintra turned to find Catie leaning against the tour bus door, glaring at her.

"Hi," Kintra waved, trying to be pleasant. Catie threw her hair back over her shoulder and marched away, ignoring Kintra's kind acknowledgment.

Nick put his hand on Kintra's shoulder. "Don't worry about her, Kinny," he said, and the nickname, coming from his lips in a more personal and controlled manner, made Kintra's heart speed up, despite her platonic resolution. "When you have a chance, I need to talk to you." He looked around, seeing his family standing there, and added, "Alone."

Kintra nodded and signed, "So, where do I sleep?"

That night, after Catie had left and dinner had been eaten, Kintra stepped outside and sat down on the trailer steps, gazing up into the sky, which was beginning to turn the color of a deep purple. Kintra smiled as she looked up. 'Looks like my bruises,' she thought wryly, rubbing her leg absentmindedly where plenty of bruises had formed. She drifted off in thought, drowning out the music that was her constant companion. She was remembering everyone's happy faces and tight hugs when the door opened behind her.

"Mind if I join you?" Nick asked, stepping in front of her so that he could see her hands. Kintra shook her head, a smile lighting up her face as she scooted over so that Nick could sit down. Without warning, her heart began speeding up again as she felt Nick's shoulder brush against hers.

For a long time, the two teens sat there, absorbed in their thoughts, and staring out into the darkness of the parking lot. "I missed you all so much," Kintra finally signed, breaking the silence as her hands caught Nick's attention.

That statement seemed to make something click for Nick. He twisted around swiftly to face her fully and took a deep breath. "I have a question for you," he said.

Kintra nodded. "Shoot," she signed, smiling so that he knew that she was all ears.

"I have this girl," he began, and Kintra immediately thought of Catie. "She amazingly smart, and talented, and she's, like, my best friend." He looked at Kintra to make sure that she had understood all of that. "When I'm near her, I feel this really weird rushing feeling, and my heart starts beating really fast. At first, I tried to ignore it, but it's getting harder and harder to do. All I want to do is be around her, and if she left again, I think my world would fall apart. I want to protect her, and never let her go. I have this amazing connection with her." He smiled a bit shyly. "It's almost like she's the missing piece that I never thought I needed, but I've been totally missing, as cheesy as that sounds." He looked up again. "What would you call that?"

Kintra felt her heart sink. If Nick thought all that about Catie, either he needed glasses badly, or everyone else in the family did. She lowered her head for a moment, pretending to think. She could, no, she would be happy for him. If Catie meant all that to him, then she would do her very best to be glad for them. To be happy for them was a whole other matter.

Feeling in control of her emotions once again, Kintra looked up, only to find Nick's eyes boring into hers. She pasted a smile onto her face and signed confidently, although her hands shook as she did so, "I believe they call that 'love.'" She smiled once again. "I've heard that it's a rather pleasant thing, although people come down with the weirdest symptoms when they fall in love. When they step into love, that's an entirely different thing."

She was expecting Nick to smile at her joke, thank her for being so supportive, and leave, but he looked at her curiously, his eyes rapidly moving back and forth, scanning her face as he asked, "Then why am I feeling these things about you?"

Kintra was still waiting for her breath to return after she gasped.