The tour busses are here. It's late and the afterparty is slowing down as people get tired. Nate and I slip out to see the 90 Nate Hollan Around The World tour buses all lined up, taking the the entire parking for the arena. Two of these are luxury busses that have been gutted out to act more as apartments. Luxury apartments.

Nate rambles on and on as we walk out to the parking garage.

"You, Paul and Casey can take this one. While Me, Jonah, James and Julia take this one." Nate points to the two busses. Wait. Is he kidding me right now?

"We've always been together. Are you serious?" I am full of disappointment while walking out of the venue. Nate and I ALWAYS travel together. Since day one.

"Trish. I need a nurse with me. Not just for me but for James AND Julia. Jonah takes care of all our medications and knows Julia's schedule and doses by heart. I'm not gonna make Casey live in a bus with Paul all by herself when you can sleep in that one."

"So why can't it be me, you, Julia, and Jonah? James and the dog can be with Paul and Casey." I ask.

"Two males and only one female? Casey is gonna feel weird with that. I guarantee it. Anyway, I thought you'd be happy you wouldn't be sharing a bus with Julia. I was thinking of you."

"I bet we could all fit in one bus." I press on. There's plenty of room.

"How about this? The second bus is already paid for and staffed with a driver. Either way, it's coming with us. So if we feel like things are getting too squished in the one bus, then some of us can relocate to the second, ok? Now why don't you get everyone else so I can show them our new living quarters."

******

*James*

Julia is still high but not nearly as high as she was an hour and a half ago. Nate and Trisha bring us all out to see where we will live for the next year, give or take.

"Holy shit. This isn't just any bus. Look at this thing!" Jonah looks around the luxury tour bus wide-eyed just like Casey, Julia and myself. This is insane.

"This is the main one we will sleep in. We also have the lux bus behind it." Nate states.

"Two lux busses?" Julia asks. "This one is huge." 

"There's a trundle bed under the couch. The second bus is if we feel too crowded together, some of us can move to that one over the course of the year. Plus, we still have flights in the jet plus hotel rooms when we have back to back shows in the same state."

I have a feeling Nate couldn't separate people the way they wanted, could he? 

"Trish is used to traveling with you. Me and James and the dog can take the other bus if that helps. Paul can come with us, right Paul?" Julia continues.

"Jule..." Nate groans.

"We're not together, Nate. Look. No ring." She waves her hand in Nate's face. Yep, she's still a little high. Both me and Trisha look at each other and shake our heads at the same time.

"Knock it off." He swats Julia's hand away. "C'mon Julia. I made one stupid mistake. Are we seriously really doing this now?"

"You need a nurse too. I'm the one in control of your medications." Jonah reminds her.

"Guys, let's just try this out and see how it works ok? Our first trip is only a few hours. We're all beat and just gonna sleep through the night anyway. Everyone pick a bed." Trisha takes over and steps to the side.

"I call this top one!" Casey is the first to claim her spot and climb up to her bed. "Guys, look! A TV!" She pulls down the small screen and I notice all the beds have their own built TV's. Ok that's kinda cool.

"I'll take the other top one." Julia climbs up on to the other bunk and Nate's face drops.

"Jule.." He says again after he pulls out the trundle bed which is much larger than the single bunks.

"Fine. Me and James will sleep there." She huffs and drags me into their argument.

"Julia. Come on. Can you please stop with that? You can't just break up with me from a text response."

"You lied to me. About breaking it off with Mila. We are NOT together." She hops off the bed and gets right in Nate's space. "Do you really want to do this now?"

Paul pushes Julia back a little and shakes his head. "No, we really don't, Moretti. Trish, you're small. You get top bunk. Then Nate. Then myself. Jonah under Casey. The damn dog can have the extra bottom bunk for now."

"That or you can always ask Mila if she'd like the extra bunk. I'm sure you'd love that, wouldn't ya?" Julia really went there.

"This is ridiculous, Julia." Nate snaps and walks off the bus.

"Really, Julia?" Trisha storms off in anger as well now. Good grief.

*****

*Trisha*

"She's really doing this? She's ending it?" Nate whispers to me while we wait outside the second tour bus. I feel bad but. Yes She is really doing this .

"Looks that way, Playboy. Where did you put the ring? It needs to go in a safe."

"It's back in the box in my suitcase. It's coming with me, Trisha. I'll get it back on her finger."

"Nate...."

"She belongs with me." Nat hufffs and folds his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, well, she's sharing a bed with Gallo...sooo..."

"This is so stupid. This whole thing with Mila. It's fucking over. It's been over. Why can't we all just move on from it? She's can't break up with over something like this!"

"Nate, she can do whatever the hell she wants. You don't own her. You know I love you. So I say this in love. You sometimes treat her like shit. You may not even realize it. Like the way you snapped at her the first time she brought up Mila's name. Things are only gonna get harder now that she's doped up again." I rub his back "And I'm never gonna stop worrying about you and your stress level. That big ol heart of yours. Maybe she'll come around. Just let things go for now and focus on what we came here to do, yeah?"

"Yeah." 

"I'm sorry things aren't going great. This should be a fun experience for you. You've worked so damn hard and been through so much." I sigh.

"I just thought... Nate's voice cracks making me look up at him. "I just thought it'd all work out? You know? Everyone together..." His eyes begin to water and he looks away, shaking his head. I hate this. I hate seeing Nate so sad like this.

"Well, tomorrow's another day. Things will be different. We'll make sure it's a good day, ok Playboy? You deserve to be happy and do all the things we planned. I'll make sure everything works out.

And I will. I will do anything to make this a positive experience for Nate. He deals with so much. ALL the time. Between his sister, his health,  this circus freak show of friends and now this shit during tour. I will do everything to make it better for him.

*****

*James*

Julia DOES sleep with me on the trundle bed just to spite Nate. I'm aware I'm now being used but I don't care. I feel asleep fast with Julia by my side. What I didn't anticipate was waking up in the morning to see her back in Nate's arms.

"Seriously?" I grumble and sit up.

"Good morning to you too?" Trisha smiles down at me and takes my hand, pulling me up to my feet. I'm only in my boxer briefs and like most mornings, sporting a semi that she notices.

"Put that thing way, hotstuff. You're gonna hurt someone." She laughs and throws my sweatpants at me. But then she remembers I will need help and has to face the semi anyways, making me laugh.

"You think you're funny, don't you?" She snorts.

"I mean... yeah. A little." I smile at Trisha, earning an eye roll.

"Coffee. We need coffee." She helps me push my bed under the sofa seeing as the two people we are in love with are sleeping together right now, and makes me a cup of coffee.

Trisha helps me hold my mug as we sit on the couch, waiting for these two to wake up.

"I really hope today is gonna be a better day. I don't know what happened last night but it was enough to have them sleeping on the recliner together." Trisha whispers to me and I nod.

Julia begins to wake up first and then notices where she is and who she is with. She looks disgusted with herself and suddenly tries to get up. She sways,  being lightheaded from the Ativan and Nate grabs her arm quick while waking him himself.

"Jule, hold on." Nate says in his raspy voice. "You're dehydrated from taking too many pills, remember?"

Nate quickly gets up and sits Julia down in his place. Julia covers her face with her hands, now sober and thinking of yesterday. I had a feeling this would happen.

"Hey.... it's ok. You made a mistake." I kneel down and pet Maggie who is right in front of Julia, sensing she's upset.

"It was a slip up, that's all." Nate says, trying to make light of it. He opens the small fridge and grabs Julia a water.

"I don't know why I do what I do." She cries.

"Well it's over now, so lets just have a good day. The catering company has already set up breakfast in the building. We've got a busy day ahead." Trisha says as both Jonah and Casey wake up and hop off their bunks. "There is a small shower in the back bathroom but there are regular showers in the arena's dressing rooms. Showers then breakfast. Chop chop." Trisha chirps, full of energy. She gives me a slight nod and I smile at her. She's trying to move on and make the best of this new day.

I like that about Trisha. Her ability to just bounce back the way she does.

"You ok?" I stand up straight now and both me and Nate back up to Give Julia a little room.

"I'll get your suitcase down." Nate heads to the other side of the bus but I stand still, keeping my eyes on her.

"What happened last night, Julia?"

"Which part?"

"You know which part, babe." I cock my head and raise a brow. No more gameplaying.

"C'mon. I'll help you shower." She ignores me.

Ugh!

We all walk off the bus and into the venue together. Leslie is already waiting at the door for us like she knew we were coming in. She must text Trisha often to make sure we are on schedule. They are like the same person, Trisha and Leslie.

"Good morning! Welcome To Cardiff." Leslie begins to walk down the hall and we follow.

"She does this every time, to remind me where I am. After awhile you tend to forget." Nate's British accent fills the hallways as we hurry to catch up to speedwalking Leslie.

"There's four dressing rooms here. All with showers. Two showers in this main one. Nate, yours is set up with everything you need as well as your wardrobe for tonight." Leslie says. She hands Trisha her binder and opens up the doors. 

"Down the hall to the left is the main room. Everything is already set up and breakfast is ready when you all are. Nate," Leslie looks down at her binder and back up at him. "You have a busy day ahead. A radio interview at eleven, then a backstage signing event at one. Lunch in between and after you have your soundcheck. Then it's up on that stage!" She sounds just as excited as Trisha.

"Coffee is brewing in Nate's dressing room." She says to the rest of us before looking at Trish. "Shower and eat. You have a meeting in an hour."

 Trisha quickly wheels her suitcase into the first vacant dressing room. Jonah and Casey go into the second one, still groggy.

"You guys can shower and get ready in my dressing room if you want." Nate offers. Julia looks at me and I nod, giving Paul the extra room.

"Jesus. Look at the difference between your dressing room and everyone elses." I look around the luxurious dressing room. "Who sets all this up? This is all the shit you eat too."

"I have people for that. They know what I like." Nate says in a nonchalant way. "Help him shower but no funny business in my dressing room."

"Yeah yeah." Julia waves Nate off as he disappears into his bathroom to shower. "Just take one together then?"

"You seriously have to ask that? Um, yes." I laugh.

"We're not doing anything but showering, James."

"Still yeah." I smirk. 

Julia takes Maggie's leash off and my dog takes advantage of the situation, hopping up on the sofa, with a big doggy smile on her face.

"You're gonna get yourself in trouble, miss." I scruff up her ears before we head into the shower.

I respect Julia's decision and we don't fool around. Instead, we wash up .....and talk. Talk like we would if we  were in the Marriott lobby. Julia lets it all out.

"I don't know why I did what I did." She admits honestly. "I just... God, I saw Mila on that screen and I lost it. I can't seem to get over it. I'm having a really hard time."

The first thing I want to say is how she SHOULD be having a hard time. Nate lied to her and she already has trust issues. But I really don't want to go badmouthing the guy either. It's not my place to. Instead I nod and listen to Julia like she needs me to.

"And then.. I woke up in the middle of the night crying and no longer high like I wanted and I felt everything all over again. Nate was the one to console me. That's all that was." Julia explains.

"I know sweetie. I feel so bad you are going through all this.  This experience was supposed to be fun for you."

"And you. I feel like I'm letting everyone down. Because I am." She washes my back while she talks and I let out a slight sigh.

"It's not about letting anyone down but yourself, Julia. You know from the start I wasn't fully on board with this idea.  Because you need to work on you and get healthy, ya know? I'm glad we are here and grateful as always, I just wish you were in a better place mentally."

"I get what your saying. But what if this is it? What if this is as good as it gets and we realize there is no better place mentally? What if I just keep getting worse instead of better." Julia begins to get emotional and I turn  around.

"You know I pray for you every single day?  Every. Single. Day. Because I believe everything happens for  reason. Babe, you're gonna get better. You're gonna get better and be happy. You just need to trust God. Trust the process. I know it seems difficult and out of reach now but you just wait. You're time is coming. I pray for your healthy and happiness every change I get, sweetie."

"Thanks James." Julia gets out and wraps a towel around herself and helps me dry off.

"For what?"

"For just being you. Always being here for me and letting me vent." She throws her arms around me and I melt into her embrace, as my hard on presses against her stomach.

"Sorry, you knew that was inevitable." I laugh. "You know... you could always-"

"James Gallo."

"You knew I'd at least try." I shrug and let it go, but I got a laugh out of Julia so that's what matters.

All I want is to see her happy.

Once dressed, Julia takes her time in the bathroom blow drying her hair while Nate pours me a cup of coffee, making sure my grip is good before letting go. While sitting on the couch I feel a shooting pain in my head. Dr. Giovanni mentioned "Ice Pick Headaches."  And I think that's what this is. A sharp stab that comes quick and leaves quick but happens often. Ever since the flight. I try to ignore it but Nate just saw me flinch and caught on.

"That happen often, Gallo??"

"Does what happen often?" 

"You just got some kind of shooting pain in your head, didn't you? How long's that been going on?" He quickly grabs my mug for me and puts it on the table in front of us.

"They come and go but the flight did a number on me." I admit.

"Have you told Jonah??"

"Not yet. I wanna wait and see if things get worse. I don't want to worry Julia, ok? It's probably nothing."

"Hey, you need to go eat so you can take your heart medication." Jonah stands in the doorway. "And she does as well as have her virtual meeting with Dr. Donovan."

"Ok." Nate stands. "She can have her meeting in here where it's more private. I'll go hurry her up so she can grab breakfast first."

"You good James? You look a little pale this morning." Jonah studies me for a second.

"Yep. Just getting hungry."My eyes drift to Nate who glares back at me. Jonah isn't stupid and catches on right away.I drop the act and tell the nurse about my headaches since flying.

"When's our next flight, Nate?" Jonah asks with touch of concern in his voice.

"We drive four hours to Manchester tonight for tomorrow's concert. That's all I know. Trisha knows the agenda better than I do."

"Ok, if we need to get you checked we can, James. If this has something to do with the flights and the air pressure changes we may have to figure something out, such as driving more instead of flying. Would that even be an option??" Jonah looks to Nate.

"I think so? I'm not sure. We can ask Trisha and Leslie. I'm sure we can work something out though."

I can tell Nate is feeling stressed about this now.

*****

*Trisha*

"Hey Nate, you're running out of time here and you haven't even eaten breakfast." I walk by the dressing room with Leslie and notice Nate is still here.

"Yeah, ok. Can you bring Julia down to get food?" He asks Jonah and then follows me and Leslie down the hall.

"James's head is acting up." He blurts out.

"What do you mean, acting up??" I hold the door open for Nate and see him look around the room, wondering where the rest of the clan is. "Jonah and Casey are taking the dog for a walk together around the building. Paul is on the phone checking in on the 4th floor back in L.A."  

We grab our food as Leslie gets a call she needs to  and steps out. Oh thank God. I can finally breathe.

"I think the flight fucked him up a little. He's getting these pains in his head. Jonah said if it is due to the flight air pressure we are gonna have to figure out alternative routes. Drive more verses flying."

"Shit, Nate. I mean..."I huff, knowing this task is a big one. "Yeah. I'm sure I can figure something out." TI pull out my binder and then open my laptop. I would have to reorganize everything from this point on. That's almost impossible to do! But I can try and don't let Nate know how stressfull this task is going to be for me. He has enough stress. I will find a way to figure it out. I always do.

"Do you think it's something that would be able to work? Driving more?"

"I'm looking, I'm looking." My eyes dart from the binder to the laptop and back down again while I eat. "If flying is a problem for James we can tweak travel plans as we go, but that also means you may not be traveling together with Julia."

"What do you mean??" 

"Ok well.. Lets see. From here we drive to Manchester. Then Manchester to Antwerp, Belgium we fly for under two hours or drive for nine.. It could possibly be done overnight and still have time for the concert but.." I plug in the distances between one venue to the next while looking at my binder. "IF we were to drive you'd have to cancel your Radio interview in Belgium that morning. I'm not sure Leslie would like that. Or...You could take the flight as planned and James can stay in the tour bus and drive the nine hours. It'd be overnight so he'd just sleep through it and it's not like HE'S the one driving. He's in the lap of luxury in the tour bus. The busses will be driving regardless because they will have to be ready in Belgium for our four hour drive to Paris, France. But James can't be alone and sure as hell can't be alone with Moretti."

"Right. We'd have to separate some people. But it IS doable??"

"Could be. At least for the next few concerts and then we will have to go back and figure out the rest. Probably do this a week at a time in advance. But this is a lot, Nate. A lot of rearranging plans."

"But just for James really. I can still fly and make the concerts if we split up when needed. It's just getting him from point A to point B, right?" Nate begins to eat while I continue to work.

"I'll talk to Leslie. Does he need to get seen? Because we would have to book something ahead of time. Healthcare is different here than the U.S., you know that."

"I'll see what Jonah thinks. Thanks Trish. Really."

I smile over at him with a little nod. I'll make it work for Nate.

*****

*James*

It didn't take Julia long to crave her addiction now that she got a taste of it. I can tell just by the way her hands tremble while she gets our breakfast

"Cuz I've gone all night without Ativan." She whispers to me and I nod. "Where's Jonah?" She asks while looking around the room.

"Walking the dog with Casey. C'mon, lets eat a little. Maybe you'll feel better after breakfast."

"Hey, Jonah said you have a virtual meeting with Jeremy this morning. He has the laptop set up in my dressing room for privacy if you want to bring your food and eat breakfast in there. You know he's gonna wanna see you eat, doll." Nate says to Julia.

"I can help you with breakfast, sexypants." Trisha takes over breakfast for Julia so she can go to her virtual therapy sessions. That's one thing I notice about Trisha. She's good with jumping in, even if it's last minute, to help with something. Like me, for instance. My hands don't work the way I need to an Julia needed to get to that meeting so Trisha didn't think twice. She was willing to stop whatever she was doing to help out.

"I hear your head has been bothering you lately, James the receptionist?" She teases me with our little nicknames as we sit down to have breakfast together.

"It's nothing. Really. I don't want anyone to worry about stuff.....Trisha the personal assistant." I smirk but drop my fork and feel my face get hot. "Sorry."

"Stop saying sorry all the time. Here.." She put the fork back in my hand and helps me stab at my fruit salad.

"Maybe I need to get back on track with my physical therapy and strength training. Maybe that will help with my coordination." I sigh.

"You've come a long way you know that? Look at you. Sitting here with me. Out of your coma, TALKING, feeding yourself. In just a matter of a few months. The progress is amazing. Even the neurologist said so." Trisha shovels food in her mouth like she hasn't eaten in days which makes me thing trying to keep up the pace with Leslie has been so difficult, Trish has had a moment to sit and actually eat a full meal.

"Somedays I don't feel amazing. But thank you. I needed to be reminded of how far I've come." I smile over the the blonde bombshell across from me.

"Before you know it you'll be running with your dog and drinking those God awful green smoothies."

"Hey, leave my green smoothies outta this. They packed with vitamins and nutrients." I raise a brow. "Yours are packed with......sugar."  

Trisha laughs  knowing full well her smoothies are anything but healthy. She doesn't care.  She shrugs and keeps on eating.

"Bet mine don't taste like grass though!"

"Hardy Ha, Ha..." I pick up a grape and throw it at her playfully.

"See? Look, you didn't even realize it and you were able to pick up a grape!" Trisha exclaims proudly.

Well would you look at that.... so I did!

To any other person this would be a silly accomplishment. Not to me. Of course I try to do it again and it doesn't work but I at least did it, which means I know I can do it. I just need to not focus on the things I can't do and  live life. Everything will come back to me eventually and Trisha reminded me of that right now.

"Thanks Trish." I say with a little smile. This just made my day.

******