AN: I am sooooo sorry it's been so long since i've updated. I recently started my first real job and am also in the process of starting college. This is kind of a filler chapter, so i'm sorry for that too. But worry not, because the plot will be back in the next chapter and so will Regina. Thank you all so much for your continuous patience and your wonderful reviews!

Chapter 13

Emma shifted the case holding her bass guitar to her left hand ans rang the doorbell. After a moment, Killian opened his front door and beckoned Emma inside. "Lacey isn't here yet. She's on her way."
"Thanks for inviting me," Emma said. She'd been holed up in her apartment for almost three weeks waiting for Neal to get better so they could go back on tour. When Killian invited her to help work on the new album, Emma had almost pissed herself with excitement.

"Why are you thanking me?" Killian said. "I'm putting your ass to work."
Which suited Emma just fine. This was only the second time Emma had been inside Killian's condo. The first had been Killian's housewarming party, probably the wildest in the history of man. Emma didn't remember most of the evening. She'd passed out on the roofing patio in nothing but a pair of men's blue satin boxers, and Lacey had drawn flowers all over her back with an edible marker. Emma didn't recollect where she'd gotten those boxers.

Killian's place was huge and extravagant. Maybe it was time for Emma to buy a place of her own. Her little apartment didn't get much use, but Lucy would probably like a balcony she could sun herself on. It just seemed a waste to spend all that money on something so rarely used. Normally, Emma was on the road far more often than she was at home, but since Neal was out of commission until his finger mobility improved, they'd had to cancel a bunch of tour dates.

Emma followed Killian through the huge, open living room with its twenty-foot ceiling and red, white, and black decor. The second floor of the condo had a master bedroom and an open loft equipped with everything from a wet bar to a pool table. On the first floor, there were two additional bedrooms. One served as a guest room, but the other had been converted to a recording studio. They entered the studio, and Emma set her bass behind the black leather sofa. She took her jacket off, tossed it on a chair, and went to inspect the amps and other equipment.

"Wanna beer?" Killian asked.

"Yeah."
Killian opened a mini fridge in the corner, pulled out a couple cans, and tossed on to Emma. While Emma sipped her beer, she fiddled with a soundboard. She couldn't guess what all the knobs and sliders and switches did. "Do you actually know how to uses this thing?" she asked Killian.

"No fucking clue." He laughed. "I think Lacey might. I dunno."

The doorbell rang.

"That's probably Lacey now." Killian left to answer the door.

Suddenly nervous, Emma perched herself on the edge of the sofa. Lacey would give Emma shit for being there. For intruding in her creative process and for trying to take her best friend Millie's place. Lacey and Millie had composed Sinners' last three albums together. As a band, they were driving into new territory, and Lacey was sure to resent Emma for not knowing what the fuck she was doing. Emma wanted to learn—wanted to help and to share her ideas—but feared she'd just get in the way and somehow make Sinners less.

Lacey entered the studio, examined Killian's equipment setup, and then sat in the chair across from Emma. "Hey, princess. Been keeping busy?"

Emma rubbed her earlobe, fiddling with the earring there. "No. I'm ready to get back on the road." Or make a run to Vegas to see Regina. So far she'd been able to resist the darker woman's pull and intensify her misery, but Emma knew she wouldn't hold out much longer.

"Yeah, no kidding. I hope Neal gets better soon."
"He won't get better until he starts trying. Lazing around by his parents' pool all day isn't helping." Killian scowled. "I guess I'll have to go straighten him out."
Emma hoped Killian wasn't too hard on Neal. She knew Killian meant well, but he wasn't too easy on a person's feelings.

"Let's get busy," Killian said.

"This should be cool." Eagerness getting the better of her, Emma sat up straighter so she could see all the scrapes of music on the coffee table. Maybe if she stayed quiet and tried not to interfere with Lacey's genius, they wouldn't make her leave.

Lacey rifled through the stack of guitar music she'd brought with her. Stuff August had composed while fucking Ruby. Emma wasn't sure how anyone could think well enough to write music while having sex, but it seemed to work for their lead guitarist.

Lacey arranged bits of guitar music and sheets of paper that contained Killian's lyrics. Emma's heart rate accelerated. Few things excited her. The talent of this band was at the very top. A set of sexy red lips smiled at her in her mind's eye. Well, and Regina but she excited her in an entirely different way.

Lacey rearranged the sections several times and then nodded. "Okay, I've got the guitar music worked out. Now we need the bass line." She glanced at Emma. "Did you bring your guitar?"
Emma retrieved her bass from its case and looped the strap over her shoulder. Lacey tapped a rhythm on the table with two pairs of drumsticks. "Match it."
Emma more than heard the beat, she felt it. She'd listened to Sinners' songs so many times that she instinctively knew what the bass line should sound like. It echoed in her mind. Complimented the beat. Filled it. Enriched it.

She plugged her bass into a small practice amp and played the series of notes running through her head.

Lacey smiled. "Not bad."

That was almost a compliment. Emma couldn't help but grin. She noticed Killian watching her with an introspective look on his face.

Lacey glanced at Killian. "You ready to sing?"
"I'm ready." Killian cleared his throat.

Lacey related her vision of how the lyrics should sound, and Killian tried to copy her. It took several tries to figure out that Lacey should sing it, and Killian should do his typical rumbling screams in accompaniment. Emma's heart thundered as she listened to the unique duet. That was it. That was the sound that would get them to the next level in their music. To grow. Together. Emma couldn't believe she was finally a part of this. When they stopped singing, Killian and Lacey stared at each other in surprise. They knew it too. Emma's only regret was that August and Neal weren't there to share the moment.

"That was awesome," Emma said. "Holy shit. Do it again."

When Lacey broached the possibility of using an electric violin in some songs, Killian was less accommodating to her vision.

Electric violin? Did they really need another stringed instrument? Something like a piano would be better, but Emma was too intimidated to say it. Lacey obviously knew what she was doing. Emma needed to curtail her eagerness and let the woman work.

"Just try it," Lacey said to Killian. "I'll be trying something different. You should too."
Emma leaned forward. She couldn't help it. She wanted to participate. "Do I get to try something different?"

"No," Lacey said.

Emma's hopes plummeted.

"Well, maybe," Lacey amended. "You should add more embellishments to the bass lines to compliment August. You're a better bassist than Millie was. I think you need to push your skill level on the new album. You must be bored as fuck playing that repetitive shit Millie composed before you signed on."

Better bassist than Millie was. Lacey recognized that? She was probably just jerking Emma around, but hope insisted on floating back to the surface. Emma grinned until her cheeks hurt and glanced from Lacey to Killian and back to Lacey. "Okay."
"I'm going to call Neal," Killian said unexpectedly. "He needs to be here a lot more that I do. Lyrics last." Killian climbed to his feet. "Carry on. I'll be right back."
"Hey, I can't wait around all day. I've got shit to do," Lacey said.

Killian left the room.

"Like what?" Emma asked.

"None of your business," she said. "Go get me a beer."

She didn't have to be such an ass about it. And Emma was not going to get her a beer.

Lacey stared her down for a few moments and then reached for another set of music. "Okay, princess. I've got another beat for you. Match it."
She listened to Lacey's tapping on the table, and like before a complimentary bass line sounded in her head. She started playing before Lacey had completed her progression.

"How do you do that?" Lacey asked. "have you been writing music behind our backs?"
Emma shook her head. "I don't know. I hear your beat, and I just know what goes there. I think because we've been playing together for a couple years now."

"I guess it has been that long, hasn't it?" Lacey looked nostalgically sad. "Here's the next one."
They continued that way for a while. Lacey producing a beat. Emma matching it with bass lines. Lacey scribbling down the notes Emma played. Killian still hadn't returned.

"I wonder where the fuck Killian went."
Emma shrugged.

Lacey left the room. Emma scanned the score sheets on the table until Lacey returned a few minutes later. "he's going somewhere with Tina."

"Something wrong?"
"She looked upset, but what's new? Drama follows her like a little lost puppy. But Killian loves her, so what can we do?"

"We can keep writing while he's gone."
Lacey considered her for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. What do you think about the electric violin idea?" Lacey asked. "Brilliant, huh?"

Emma lowered her eyes. She knew Lacey just wanted affirmation, but she still didn't see the point of adding yet another stringed instrument to a band that already had three of them. "Maybe a piano instead," she said quietly.

Lacey stuck her finger in her ear and wriggled it around. "I swear I need a hearing aid. Too much drumming, I guess. What did you say?"

"I said, maybe we could do a song with some piano music."

"Piano?" Lacey sat there for a moment. "Well, that's a swell idea, princess, but Killian doesn't play piano, and I can't play while I'm drumming."

"I play." The moment it was out of her mouth, she wished she could take it back. She'd given up on piano over a decade ago when her foster mother had died. That had been the thing they had always done together, and she never felt right playing without her.

"You do?" Lacey said, shifting forward in her seat. She had that thinking look on her face, and Killian wasn't there to talk her down.

"No, I-"

"You've been holding out on us? Are you any good?"

She was, but she sure didn't want Lacey to know it. "No, I suck. Forget I mentioned it."
Lacey refused to be deterred, and after much berating, pleading, and bullying, got Emma to play something on the keyboard. It wasn't a piano technically. At least that's what Emma told herself as her fingers moved over the flimsy keys.

"Well, there you go," Lacey said. "You get to try something different."

"I'm not really comfortable playing the piano."
"Why not? You rock at it?"

Emma lowered her eyes. "My mother-"

"Don't have one of those, so can't relate, sorry. Can you play a guitar riff on the piano?"

Emma shrugged. "I guess."
Lacey had piano music embedded into a song in a matter of minutes.

"How do you do that?" Emma asked.

"Do what?"
"Put all that together so quickly."
Lacey shrugged. "Don't know. The layers just mesh in my head. Where the hell did Killian go? I have this thing I need to go to."
"What kind of thing?"

"Some program to keep kids off the street. I was hoping Killian would come with. August used to go and give the kids guitar lessons. They loved that shit, but he's MIA—probably lost between Ruby's thighs. So I figured Killian could take his place. He's great with kids, believe it or not."
Emma didn't find that hard to believe at all. Killian kind of took a father figure role with everyone around him. Emma included.

"You wanna go?" Lacey asked.

Emma's heart thudded. "Me?"
"Yeah, why not? The kids probably won't have any idea who the fuck you are, but we can still have fun with them."

"I'm not good with kids."
"It probably would be a pain in the ass to have to look up to eight year olds all the time."
And they were back to making fun of Emma's height. "Yeah, it does put a kink in my neck."
Lacey laughed and pounded her on the back enthusiastically. "So you're coming with right? I don't want to go by myself, and you're the only one here."

Emma was surprised she asked, even if it was because no one else was available to coerce. "Yeah, fine. Whatever. I've got nothing better to do."

"Awesome. You'll look real special in the purple dinosaur costume."
"What?"

Thank God for small favors; there was no dinosaur costume. Emma had a great time showing underprivileged kids how to thumb a bass groove, but she had even more fun watching Lacey, the human jungle gym, make a total and complete ass of herself for their amusement. When Lacey finally got around to her reason for being there, she gifted each kid with a set of drumsticks. Emma considered telling Lacey about the drumstick she had treasured for the past ten years. How Lacey had changed her life without even knowing it. Emma just couldn't find the words. Her one-sided connection with Lacey was too personal. Too stupid. Embarrassing. So she accompanied Lacey's obnoxious table drumming with an improvised bass line instead.

To keep time with Lacey's beat, the kids drummed each other more than solid surfaces, but everyone was laughing and having a good time. Even Emma.

Their hour with the kids flew by. Lacey had more energy than all twenty kids put together. On their way out the door, Lacey pounded Emma on the shoulder. "Let's grab a beer or two. What do you say?"
Emma smiled. Was she finally making that elusive connection with Lacey? "Yeah. Sounds great."
Two beers turned into ten or twelve. Emma lost count. Being a quiet drunk, Emma stared into her magically refilling mug while Lacey chattered enough for five people with everyone in shouting distance. She kept herself and half the bar entertained. Emma wasn't sure that Lacey was even aware of her presence. She wondered what Regina was up to. Three weeks was long enough to let her pain fester. Maybe she'd drop in on her the next day. Assuming she didn't die of alcohol poisoning or asphyxiate on her own vomit in the night.

"You drunk, yet?" Lacey asked near midnight.

Emma closed one eye to get rid of the three or four extra Laceys in her line of sight. "Define drunk."

"Wanna go get a tattoo with me?"

Emma nodded.

"Let me pick it out. I promise it will be wicked awesome."

Emma shrugged.

"Then you're drunk enough."

Apparently, Emma was also drunk enough to get her nipple pierced, which hurt less than expected. And too drunk to stay conscious through the tattooing, despite the evil grin Lacey sported as she talked to the tattoo artist who was preparing the skin on the top of Emma's foot for Lacey's idea of a "wicked awesome" design.