Author's note: Sorry I took so long to update, I 've been working on a co-op project with my sister, and it's taken up a lot of my time.

Also, I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but it seemed perfect the way it was, short and simple, but sweet, so I decided to keep it like that. Well, here it is, enjoy!

Ventura, CA, two years, six months prior:

Micky grinned as he and Peter finished up a song, they had been practicing in the basement while Penny watched, and she made it very obvious that she liked their sound.

She and Micky had been officially dating for two months, and spent as much time together as they possibly could. Which wasn't much time at all, really. School had started, they didn't have many classes together, they both still worked, and Micky and Peter had to practice. So Penny had taken to coming down to the basement and watching the two boys practice whenever she was hanging around.

"That was great," she said as they finished. "But I bet you guys would get a lot farther if you wrote your own songs."

"Yeah, but it's not that easy to write a song," Micky said. Penny frowned. "What do you mean?" She asked. Micky shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it," he said. "I try to write songs, but I just can't get anything right. The words, the tune, everything."

"Well, let's hear something you've been working on," Penny said. Micky shook his head. "It's no good," he said. "I just don't think I'm cut out for writing."

"Nonsense!" Penny said. "Anyone can write a song, it just takes a little thought. Now, I don't have all day long, so sit and tell me what you've got." "I still don't know how you do that," Peter said, shaking his head as Micky obediently sat down. He looked at Penny.

"Well?" she said. "Sing!" Micky fidgeted nervously and cleared his throat. "Uh, okay, but... but don't laugh, promise?"

"I promise," Penny said. "Peter, do you promise?" She asked, turning to look at Peter. "Oh, I wouldn't laugh anyway," Peter said. "I wouldn't want to hurt Micky's feelings."

"There you have it," Penny said. "Now sing."

Micky took a few deep breaths. How was it he was able to stand on a stage and sing in front of strangers, but he was nervous about singing an unfinished song to his girlfriend and best friend? He swallowed. Well, he thought. Here goes nothing.

"Sometime in the morning, you'll decide to hold her close,

And you'll tell her that you love her before the evening goes

Because she makes you see things that you never saw before,

And you can't live without her, she's yours forever more..."

He trailed off and looked at Peter and Penny. They weren't laughing, they had kept their promise. But he felt his face grow red anyway. "I told you it wasn't any good," he said quietly. "No, it was good!" Penny said. "It just needed a little fine-tuning is all. I liked the basic idea."

"What'd'ya mean, fine-tuning?" Micky asked. "I was gonna scrap the whole thing!"

"What!?" Peter said. "But I liked it! It just needed a little bit of fine-tuning, like Penny said. It's like my bass. If it's not tuned just right, it doesn't sound as good as it should, but that doesn't mean I throw out the instrument!"

"Yeah," Penny said. "Now, let's work on that song! Do you have it written down anywhere?" "Yeah," Micky said. "Let me run upstairs and get it."

When he returned, Penny looked at the rest of the lyrics. "These aren't bad," she said. "But let me show you a few tricks I learned about poetry. They'll probably help you a lot."

"Okay," Micky said, sitting back down on the ground. Penny spread the paper out between them. "First off, 'Close' and 'Goes' don't really rhyme." "I know," Micky said. "But I couldn't think of another word that even sort of rhymed with close."

"Then, I would change the first line," Penny said. "Keep working on the phraseology of it until you find a word combination that fits right." "Okay, like what?" Micky asked. Penny tilted her head. "Let me think," she said. "Sometime in the morning, you'll decide to hold her near, near... hmm. Near, fear, year, tier, dear, dear!" "Uh, what?" Micky asked, confused.

"Oh, that's what I do to find a word combination," Penny said. "It helps me find a perfect rhyme, and I build the rest of my sentence on that. So, sometime in the morning, you'll decide to hold her near, and you'll tell her that you love her and she'll... no, wait... um, huh."

"Well?" Micky asked. Penny shrugged. "I guess it's not dear/near," she said. "Let's see... sometime in the morning, you'll decide to hold her..." "Hey, why not end it there?" Peter asked. "Sometime in the morning, you'll decide to hold her?"

"See, that's good, but it's too short, not enough syllables," Penny said. "Besides," Micky added. "What rhymes with 'her'?" "Well, it's alright to rhyme a word with that very word, if it's in a song," Penny said absently. "Especially if the words right before those words rhyme. Like, let's see, hold... hold, fold, bold, mold, gold... gold? Nah, 'gold her' doesn't even make any sense... scold, cold, told... told!"

"Sometime in the morning, you'll decide to hold her, And you'll tell her all the things you never ever told her... I don't know, it still doesn't sound right," Micky said. "That's because it's too short now, silly," Penny said, smiling. "So let's work a little more on that first line. Sometime in the morning, you'll decide to hold her. How do we make that longer?"

They thought for a moment. "Well, we could change 'decide'," Micky said. "I don't know, replace it with something longer?" "That's a great idea!" Penny said. "So let's see... what's longer than 'decide,' and means the same thing?"

That was how they spent the next two hours, working out the song, line by line, word by word, and after they grabbed a quick dinner (Micky promising to work longer the next day to pay for Penny's plate), Peter started working on a bass line for it, and they practiced singing it a few times, with Peter taking an echo part that really made it sound beautiful.

After Penny left, Micky and Peter practiced for a little while longer and then headed up to bed. As Micky tried to fall asleep, he thought over their accomplishment. He felt very lucky to have Penny as a girlfriend, he would have to thank her sometime tomorrow.

He smiled as he lay, staring at the off-white ceiling. He'd have to thank her sometime in the morning.

They introduced their new song a few weeks later at the club where Penny worked. As Peter started in on the bass line, Micky glanced up to see Penny's reaction. They hadn't told her they were planning to sing it that night.

She looked up when she recognized it, and as Micky started to sing, she met his eyes.

"Sometime in the morning, a simple thought may occur to you and you'll hold her

And tell her all the things you never told her

Your love has shown me things

I never thought I could see, I didn't know

it could be done so easily, now I know

You're where it is for me

Sometime in the evening, you're sitting there by the fireside, and she'll touch you

And you will realize how much you

Never knew before

How much you couldn't see, You didn't know

It could be done so easily, now you know

She's all a girl could be

Now in her childlike eyes,

you see the beauty there,

You know it was always there,

And you need no longer wear a disguise

Sometime in the morning,

You'll just reach out, and she will be there

Close as the summer air

Sometime in the morning, she will be there

Sometime in the morning, she will be there..."

As the song finished, the audience, which had become entranced with the sweet melody, began to clap loudly. But Micky had eyes only for Penny. She was smiling, and he could tell that she knew now, if she didn't before, that he had written it all for her.

From that moment, she became a crucial part to their band. She didn't sing or play an instrument, and they didn't officially add her to their band name, but she was always there to help them write, and every song she worked on turned out sweet and beautiful. The Connecticut Yankee, the California Dreamer, and the Washington Rhymer. It was perfect.