A/N.: Hey! If anyone's still reading this, I'm so so sorry for not updating before! I was really busy, but I hope that you'll enjoy this anyway. :)

Chapter 14:

They were stunned – how had the paparazzi been able to film them without being noticed? It had been a private moment for them, one that Shane cherished because he knew he could always count on Mitchie, but now he was practically forced to at least release a statement about why their tour was really canceled. He had been hoping to be able to leave it at 'personal issues', of course that was impossible, because as usual everybody was creating their own theory instead of just focusing on their own lives.

"Shane? Are you okay?" Mitchie asked, watching all kinds of emotions flash on her boyfriends face.

"Just peachy..." he murmured.

Mitchie sighed, she knew better than to try talking to him, so she decided to give him some time to figure out what he wanted to do.

"I'll be in the bedroom if you need me," she said quietly, then left the room.

While Mitchie was laying on their bed staring at the ceiling, Shane received a phone call from the band's publicist.

"Yes, Mitchie and I saw it..." he replied.

"We need you and your brothers at the label first thing tomorrow to work out what you're going to tell the press."

"Alright, we'll be there. See you tomorrow," he said and hung up with a sigh.

As she was staring into place, a lone tear made its way down her cheek; while so many good things had happened to them, there had also been some bad things and it was starting to get to her. She cried about her father, about Shane's grandmother and most importantly about Shane. He didn't deserve this...his grandma didn't deserve this. She knew that life was never fair, which was exactly what was frustrating her so much, she wished she could just stop the world.

Sitting up and wiping away her tears, she realized that those words would make a great song and got out her trusty notebook.

"But I'd stop the world if it'd finally let us be alone..."

Shane walked towards their bedroom and knocked before opening the door. "Mitch?"

"Yeah," she said and turned to look at him. He sat down next to her on the bed.

"My publicist just called... he wants Connect 3 at the office first thing tomorrow to plan a statement," he told her.

"Why do you look so sad? That's good, y'all are going to work out something that you're going to announce and then you won't have to comment on anything anymore," Mitchie said with a small smile and squeezed his hand.

"I guess so, but can you come too? I really want your input on the statement..." he admitted.

Mitchie sighed "Shane, you know I can't. I told you, I have that photo-shoot for my tour that I was supposed to do the day I picked you up... I can't cancel again, my manager is still pretty angry. I'm sorry."

"It's okay... I'll try to call you afterward," he said and let himself fall back on the mattress.

Mitchie could see how much things were weighing on Shane and crawled over to him. She ran her fingers through his hair and looked deeply into his eyes "You can do this. Make sure to tell them exactly how much you're willing to share with the press. I'm sure Nate and Jason will back you up, after all they're going through this, too. I believe in you," she said, trying to encourage him and pressed a soft kiss on his lips.

"You're amazing," Shane grinned at her and pulled her in for a hug.

"Good Morning boys," their publicist Logan greeted and motioned for them to take a seat at the conference table where some other PR people from their label were already seated. The boys nodded and sat down next to each other.

"Now that we're all here, we can finally start discussing the matter," Logan said, opening the discussion.

"Honestly, I don't think that this is going to be bad publicity... all you need to do is tell the world about your grandmother and they'll be feel bad for you. Sad stories almost always make good publicity," one man said, making Shane clench his fists angrily. He was not going to rat out his grandma or any family member, diseases are private matters that only concern yourself and your relatives, not something to use for good publicity and pity. He didn't want pity. Nate, sensing his brothers anger, as well as trying to stay calm himself, decided to speak up.

"With all due respect Sir, we trust your judgment, but this truly is a family matter that does not concern our fans or the public in any way. We will apologize again for canceling the rest of the tour and we'll maybe give some vague information about our reasons, but we're not going to mention our grandmother. She has nothing to do with our careers and deserves her privacy," he stated politely, but firmly.

"Boys, are you sure about this? You already have lost fans, do you really want to risk losing more?" Logan asked, respecting their decision, but at the same time trying to make them see the impact of their recent actions.

"Yes, Nate has pretty much said it all. We're a band, we make a living off music; we're not in a reality show, our private lives are just that – private," Shane said, slight anger lacing through his voice.

Meanwhile, Mitchie, dressed in a cream-colored lace dress that ended just before her knees, a short jeans jacket and her favorite ankle boots, was posing on a small stage that was built inside of the studio they were shooting in. She had her hand on the microphone and was beaming into the camera.

"This is great, hold that!" the photographer, Rick, shouted and gave her a thumbs up.

"And we're done, now we only need to shoot the video," he told her about ten minutes and many pictures later. Mitchie got off the stage and had a quick look over the photos and told him which ones she preferred, before she was lead into her dressing room to shoot the teaser for her tour. She sat down in front of the mirror and turned towards the camera, reciting her planned speech.

"Hi! My name is Mitchie Torres and I'm super exited to officially announce my first tour. I will be touring the US for about two months and I can't wait to play my songs for you. I also want to thank you guys for being so supportive of me and my music, you're the one's who made this tour possible and I'm so excited to finally see you! Tickets are going to be on sale on June 16. I'm looking forward to have a great time with you, bye!" she said with a big smile and a small wave of her hand in the end. She was truly excited for this tour.

When she arrived at their apartment, she realized that Shane hadn't called her yet, she hoped that everything went fine.

"Shane?" she called, but got no reply. Deciding to call him later, she made her way into their bathroom and took off her make-up before taking a quick shower. After that she turned on the TV to see if there was anything interesting on, but there wasn't so she changed out of her sweatpants and into a pair of skinny jeans and a comfortable sweater to pay her mom a surprise visit, hoping she was home.

After the meeting, Jason spoke up "Guys, how 'bout we go visit Grandma together? We haven't been there all three yet, I think we should. I wanna know how she's doing," he said.

"I'm in," Nate agreed quickly. "Shane?"

"I guess so... I just wish she would remember me, you know?" he said sadly.

Jason patted his shoulder "We know... she doesn't remember us either, but we just have to be there for her."

"Thanks Jase, let's go," he agreed with a small smile.

Luckily they'd come with only one car, so they quickly got in and on their way to the nursing home. Shane's heart clenched as he saw the brick building, but he'd decided to be strong for his grandma and Mitchie, who he knew, even though she hadn't said it, was suffering too.

Soo, I hope that was okay.. Also, I've created a Twitter account for my fanfictions, so if you want to do that, it'd be really cool if you'd follow me on there; my username is xSiimplyMeex . I promise to follow back and answer any questions you might have. Thanks for your support! :)