Heroes...And The Rest Of Us.

"Hey, it's Sully. Call me as soon as you get this. It's an emergency. Take care, love you. Bye" I sigh. I'm standing in the parking lot at some truck stop in somewhere in Texas, listening to my voicemail's on a payphone. I crush my cigarette under my foot and dial him back.

"Hello." He answers.

"What's up Sully?"

"God, Holy fuck am I glad to hear your voice. Where are you?"

"Texas, what's the emergency?" Barry is standing behind me waiting to use the phone. I reach into my jean's pocket and pull out some money. I hand it to him.

"Will you get me some smokes?" I ask him. He nods and walks away.

"Sarah and Kendra quit last week and Xavier has been working overtime trying to cover for them. And I've been trying to train Tripp, who's a fucking space cadet. We're in our fucking busy season and all of this shit is happening at once." He says.

"So, what are you trying to say, Sully?" I already know what he's going to say, and it really pisses me off.

"I need you to come back home. We're fucking desperate." I do a big sigh in the phone.

"Sully, how long have you and I worked together?" I ask.

"Fuck, I don't know. Six or seven years I guess."

"Exactly, and how long did we know each other before that?"

"What's your point, Sophie?"

"How long?"

"I don't know, we went to prom together, so at least since high school."

"Exactly. I've never taken a vacation that was longer than two days, even when I was going through personal issues that were so huge I wanted to fucking kill myself. I never call in sick. I've worked overtime for you how many times, when your life was fucked up. I sucked it up when you got assistant manager postition, when we both knew that I deserved it more. And now, I go away for a month and a half and you need me? Are you fucking kidding me?" I'm feeling really bitchy right now, and I can't believe that he didn't say anything through my whole little rant.

"All of that is true, but it's not my fault. If we could do it without you, we would. Trust me, I know that you deserve some time off, but we need you here."

"I'm in fucking Texas!" I scream. I look around and see Adam and Brad staring at me from over by the bus. Adam mouths the words, "Are you OK?" at me and I nod.

"I know that. Just find a way, a Greyhound bus, anything. I'll pay your way back here, just please Sophie. I'm fucking begging here."

"Whatever." I spit into the phone.

"You'll come?" He sounds hopeful.

"Yeah, I don't really have much of a choice, do I?"

"Thank you so much, Sophie. I swear, I'll pay for your ticket or whatever, just bring me a receipt or something."

"You can count on it." I say and slam the phone onto the receiver. Barry comes back with my cigarettes and I hand him my leftover quarters.

"Hope your phone call goes better than mine." I tell him. I walk over to where Adam and Brad are standing, talking to the tour manager, Chris.

"I need to talk to you alone." I tell Adam. We go to the back of the bus and I tell him about my conversation with Sully.

"I shouldn't have gone off on him like that, I know it's not his fault." I say.

"This sucks dick, babe."

"I know, but what can I do? It's my job, I can't afford to lose it yet."

"I know."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, but it still sucks."

"Fuck, I don't want to leave. I'm having fun out here."

"Well, if you're home, maybe you can start the wedding plans."

"That will be the only good thing to come of this."

"And you can start house hunting."

"I'll miss you so much, I hate being away from you."

"I'll be fine, and so will you. It's only three weeks."

"I have to figure out how I'm going to get home." I say.

"We're on our way to Dallas. There will be a Greyhound station there, we'll figure out when the next bus to Chicago is and get you on it."

"You're the best. Are you sure you're not mad?"

"No, I'm not mad."

We board the bus and take off for Dallas. I tell the rest of the guys about having to leave and they all agree that it sucks. I go to the back of the bus to pack my shit. It's an off day, no show tonight, so we'll probably stay in a hotel in Dallas. I'm laying on the bed taking a break when Adam comes in. He flops down on the bed next to me on his side and we kiss for a couple of minutes. I spread my legs apart just enough to acomadate him. We havent had sex since we've been out her, which has been almost a month. The bus with kids running around isn't exactly the right place to be getting lucky. He pulls the bottom of my tube top up and kisses my stomach and I grab him by the back of his hair and pull gently.

"I want you so fucking badly." I feel him smile against my stomach and I'm starting to think, what the hell? I can be quiet right? He starts messing with my belt buckle and I'm starting to doubt the quiet thing, so I pull him by his hair up to kiss my lips. He finally get's the buckle and is pulling my pants down... and I hear Roo start crying in the other room.

"Adam." He keeps kissing my neck and shoulders.

"Adam, stop." He stops and looks at me totally dejected.

"I'm sorry, I just can't do this with her out there bawling." Fuck, Roo. I was so close to getting laid. We get up and adjust our clothes. Janin knocks on the door and comes in.

"We're stopped in Dallas." She says.

I put on my boots and a black zip-up hoodie and follow Adam out to the main area of the bus. Barry comes up behind me and puts his hand on the back of my neck.

"Somebody got laid." He says quietly in my ear so that no one hears. I turn and give him my best PMS look. He laughs and walks off. I flip him a stiff middle finger, which he returns. Adam looks at me strangely.

"What was that about?" He asks.

"Barry thinks he's funny, but he's not. He's an asshole."

"OK." I laugh.

"It's no big deal, he was just joking around. Don't worry about it."

"Alright, I wasn't gonna. Chris is getting us checked in so that you and I can go check out Greyhound times."

"Is the bus station nearby?"

"Walking distance." I nod.

"Well, let's go then."

We walk off the bus holding hands and take off in the direction of the bus station, which is only a block away. When we get there we check out the schedule.

"There's one on route to Des Moines at 9:30. Maybe you can reroute to Chicago from there." Adam says.

"Yeah, it looks like I'll have to reroute from somewhere. There aren't any direct to Chicago."

"Let's ask somebody."

We ask a woman who's sitting behind the service desk. She makes some phone calls and does something on her computer before she decides that yes, the bus station in Des Moines does have a bus leaving for Chicago tomorrow at 3:00 in the afternoon.

"How much of a waiting time would that be in between busses?" I ask.

"About an hour."

"Cool, it sounds like that's my bus then. Can I get my ticket now, or do I have to wait until morning?"

"You can get it now."

I pay for the ticket and Adam and I walk back to the hotel. We haul my suitcase and duffle bag into the suite that Chris booked for us and we both shower. We call the other's to go out to dinner in the restaraunt downstairs. When we get done eating, Adam and I hang out in the room for a while and talk about wedding stuff. We decide that we will write our own vows and that we want to have an outside wedding, preferably at night or sunset.

"We just need a location." I say.

"And after that all the big decision making is done, right?"

"Mmhhmmm."

"Well now that we're alone, in a room with no kids to interupt....." He trails off and starts kissing my neck.

"Sounds good to me."

In the morning we get up and get dressed with saying a whole lot to each other. I said goodbye to everyone lastnight at dinner because I figured that they would be sleeping in this morning. I carry my suitcase on wheels and Adam carries my duffle bag for me. We smoke while we walk the short distance to the bus station. When we get there they tell us where to put my bags so that they make it on the bus, which is leaving in about ten minutes. We sit on the ground and wait.

"I'm sorry babe. This sucks." I say.

"It's nothing to be sorry about. Just go home, kick Sully's ass and plan our wedding. I'll be home as soon as I can."

"You'll call me everyday?"

"Of course."

"Alright, well it looks like my bus is boarding now." We get up and hug for a long minute. When we seperate, we kiss.

"Call me in Des Moines. If you can't get me on my cell, try Chris'."

"OK."

"I love you."

"Love you too."

"See ya when I get home." I nod and walk away from him. I get on the bus and pick a seat near the back, next to the window. I wave at Adam out the window, I see him smirk before he wave's back. I feel a tear fall down my face when I watch him start walking alone back towards the hotel.

God this sucks. Who knew that saying goodbye would be this hard? I put my iPod on and listen to it for the whole drive to Des Moines. I text Mike when I get there to have him come to Chicago and pick me up at the bus station. He was worried and asked me if Adam and I got into a fight or something. I just told him that I would tell him the story later and that Adam and I were fine. I call Adam and tell him that I made it to Des Moines and that Mike is picking me up. He tell's me to leave a message with Chris when I get home, so that he know's I made it safetly.

I board the next bus and sleep the rest of the way home. I wake up when I feel the bus jerk to a stop at the station in Chicago. I grab my bags and head out in search of Mike.

"You look beat, Ross." He says when I find him, giving me a hug.

"I am." We go back to his car and I tell him the story on the hour long drive home.

"Tripp told me that Sully was freaking the fuck out. He's only trained Tripp for three nights and act's like he should know how to do everything." He says. It's doesn't surprise me that he's talked to Tripp. They've been best friends since like sixth grade or something and Tripp is going to move into my room after Adam and I get married.

"That's just Sully in crisis mode I guess."

"So what's your plan?"

"I'm going to eat, sleep, wake up in the morning, shower, go to work and stay there until they make me leave."

"It's only three more weeks. You can plan the wedding and look for a house."

"And train Tripp."

"And train Tripp." He repeats.

We go in the house and I eat quickly and go to bed. Maybe I'll feel better about this in the morning, but I kind of doubt it.