A right

Kyle sighs deeply, but he did respect Karla's response. "Yeah... I know it. It's just kinda hard when it's always a one-sided conversation." He purses his lips and shrugs. "I can try again though."

"And if he still doesn't give you an answer?" It was Erik who spoke this time.

Kyle looks his way, then back to Karla for a long moment, then back to Erik. "Then we continue with the forward momentum we've been provided."

Russ frowns. "I thought we weren't going to leave him behind."

"There's a difference between leaving a man behind when he's down, and moving on when a man refuses to make a choice." Kyle didn't want to be harsh, but to him, it was the truth. He was staring at a group of people whose futures were riding on this band's survival, and they were looking to him as their leader. If he held back because of Kip, he would potentially be holding back the futures of the entire band, and he couldn't do that.

"But if he doesn't come and we leave him in the dust, where's that leave us?" Russ shakes his head. "Where's the bass player then?"

"Well, it could be you, Erik or Twila, really. Or we find someone else. None of us want that, but Wayne and Jackie aren't gonna take "no" for an answer. If we back out of the gigs they line up because we don't have it together, they're gonna drop us. And if they drop us, then we all better start looking for jobs."

The final note is a grim one. Band meetings usually ended with laughter, so tonight, it felt strange. But as the gang splits up until the next day, not much more is said. Perhaps Kyle's own words didn't set right with him, but nobody argued or accused him of being too harsh. Tonight, they had begun to face reality.


Kip sits out on the back porch at Gram and Gramp's - his usual perch on the middle step with his legs stretched out across it. Leaning his head back against the railing, he could make out a few stars, and the moon shone brightly tonight. Things seemed a little dimmer than that in his soul though. If asked to describe the days lately, he might have said it was like wading through mud. It was slow... hard... and he seemed to be getting nowhere.

Readjusting his weight so his leg didn't fall asleep, he keeps his hands in his hoodie pocket and his hood up around his head to thwart the chilly night air. He didn't know what time it was, but he didn't really care. Time didn't seem to matter much lately.


An old man... Jason hadn't thought much about that until now when Katie mentioned it. He'd never had much use for looking that far into the future. Now though... it seemed ironic that he would want to become old.

Sighing, he lets his arms wrap around Katie and just hold her close. It was strange - it was almost as if he felt her tears more now than he could have when they were connected. Perhaps without feeling so many emotions all the time, his instincts had room to breathe again.

It was only a few more moments until Jason had drifted to sleep.


"Got a call from Reese today..." Eli hands a bowl of ice cream to Ryan and one to Tal on the couch. He picks up his own and settles into his chair before turning the movie back on. Scarlet was busy tonight, so it was the threesome again, which was growing more and more normal.

Eli eyes his sister but remains casual. "I guess Alec's got a hearing this week that'll probably help determine whether he'll walk or be put in the slammer for life."

Tal sucks on a spoonful of ice cream, remaining outside of the conversation, even though the corner of his eye kept watch on Ryan. Even if she and Alec weren't an item anymore, it probably didn't feel very good to her to hear about all this. Not that he blamed Eli - Ryan had a right to know.

Tears

Hearing that the band would be opening for another made Karla's heart race as she penciled them in one the little calendar they had to keep tract of practice, events, going to the recording studio. She felt excited for the band and couldn't wait. But as the attachen was reverted to her at the mention of Kip She could feel her cheeks turn a little warm. He was missing out on a lot, and no matter how hard she tried. She felt bad, and wished she could do more, but all she could do was just comfort him and be there.

"I'll let him know about the gig, and see if he is up for it, but really Kyle any more information than that you need to ask Kip yourself and not avoid it. He needs to tell you, not me and than have me relay it. I'd tell him the same thing too."

Karla really felt it was important for Kyle to go to Kip, or Kip to come to the band. To many lines could be crossed if there was a middle person and thats something she really didn't want out of respect for both of them. She just hope Kip would be ok, and he'd find his place again. There was so much talent there just waiting to burst forward it hurt to see him holding it all back.

Leaning her head into Jason's hand Katie just lets his skin drift over hers. The feeling of his soft finger tips brush over her skin. She loved the way his hands felt on her, the way let sent tingles all over her body. Looking deep into his eyes as his hands just seemed to sooth her Katie gave the best smile she could.

As Jason starts to talk again she could feel the tears automatically welling in her eyes a little. She tried to hold them at bay as much as she could. She didn't like thinking about life without Jason, and she wished he wasn't even talking like this right now.

"Well, you wont have to worry about it because Rick will find a cure, and you will be ok and go on to be an old man."

She new there was a chance Rick might now but Katie believed that he would, he had too. Rick couldn't let Jason give up, and couldn't give up on him either. There just had to be a cure...God couldn't let this be Jason's end.

Burying her head into Jason a little more so he couldn't see the tears that wanted to escape her eyes Katie held him close to her. They were right next to each other and she felt like she wasn't close enough to him. Time was to short and it just wasn't fair.