Heroes...And The Rest Of Us.

Adam wraps his arms around me, hugging me close against his chest and putting his lips on my forehead. I put my arms through his arms and rest my hands on his shoulders. We're standing outside of his bus in an arena parking lot in Peoria. Tonight was the first show of the tour and since it was so close to home, Jack and I came out to watch it and say goodbye to Adam before he left.

I feel Adam move his hands up and down my back, catching his fingers on the hood of my leather jacket once. I pull back from our hug and look up at his face.

"Promise you won't forget me?" I ask him, a little childishly. He gives me a half smile.

"Promise."

"Really? Even when the blonde groupies are putting their boobs in your face?" He laughs and runs his fingers backwards through my hair.

"No groupie is going to make me forget you, Babe, ever."

"What if they're beautiful? And, they tell you 'Adam when you sang that song, it was like you could see into my soul'" I say very theatrically. He laughs and gives me the full on smile now.

"Well, as long as they can't see into my sould, we're all good then." I smack his shoulder.

"Babe! You're not doing anything for my peace of mind here." He laughs.

"I'm gonna be too busy for that shit, Babe. I'm going to call you and text you everyday, I promise there will be no forgetting happening." I smirk at him.

"Well then, maybe I should give you something to remember me by, just in case." I say seductively, placing my hand on his flat stomach, sliding it down until I find what I'm looking for. He inhales sharply and grabs me around my wrists, pulling my hand out of his jeans and shoving me away from him.

"You're fucking shameless, you know that?" He says with a smile. I start laughing loudly while he holds me out at arms length. I look over his shoulder and see his bandmates, and Jack starting at us from over by the bus.

"Maybe that will help you to not forget me. Knowing that I'm waiting here to fuck you shamelessly." I say, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing his lips.

"I miss you already, and I'm not even gone yet." He says, hugging me back. I hear footsteps approaching us and look up to see Jack. Adam must have heard him coming, too, because he releases me from the hug.

"Hey baby, whats up?" I say to Jack.

"Chris is doing bus call in five minutes." He tells Adam.

"We should get going then." I say. He nods. I kiss Adam one last time and hold his hand while he gives Jack a hug with his free arm.

"Take care of yourself, and take care of her until I get home." He says to Jack. Jack nods once and Adam looks back at me.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Babe."

"I'll see you both soon." I nod, not really sure if thats true or not.

"You guys drive safe. Text me when you get home."

"We will."

"Alright." He gives me another small kiss on the forehead, still holding my hand.

"Take care of yourself."

"You too." I say.

"Bye." He walks away still holding my hand, only letting go when he gets too far away to hang on. Jack nods in the direction of the car and I walk beside him towards it.

I toss him the keys when we get there, so he can drive us home. I watch as the busses pull out of the parking lot, towards the highway. Jack and I drive home in complete silence, and when we get there its about 2 a.m. We go inside and stand in the foyer for a few minutes, still not saying anything.

"Well, we should go to bed now." He says finally. I nod.

"Yeah." I say quietly to him. He gives me a one armed hug around my shoulders and walks off to his bedroom. I go into my room and take my clothes from the show off, changing into some pajamas, then I take my make up off and brush my teeth. Once I'm ready for bed, I stand on Adam's side of it and stare at the perfectly made bed. I pick at my nails and think for a minute before finally crawling in on my side.

I lay there in the complete darkness for awhile and toss and turn. I roll over and look at Adam's side, which is still perfect, so I reach over and mess the blankets up. Grabbing the pillows and putting them in a line next to my body. I put my arm around one of them and hug it close to me, but it's still way too quiet in here.

I roll back over and turn on the TV. I lay there until 3 a.m. when I realize that I'm freezing and the pillows are doing nothing to warm me up. I get out of bed and walk out to the living room. The dogs are sleeping on their beds, so I walk over to them and stroke their heads until they wake up.

"Mabel, Simba." I whisper. They both raise their heads up and look at me.

"Come on guys, wanna sleep in mommy and daddy's room tonight?" They both stand up sleepily and follow me into the bedroom. I pull the covers back on Adam's side and pick Simba up off the floor.

"Come on, Simba. You can sleep on daddy's side tonight." I set him down on the bed and he curls up, resting his head on Adam's pillow.

"Come on, Mabel." I say, patting the bed next to Simba with my hand. She just stares at me, so I bend down and pick her up, placing her on the bed next to Simba. I cover them both with the blankets and make sure that they both have pillows under their heads. Then, I go back around and crawl in on my side.

I try to think back to when the last time I had to sleep in a bed without Adam was. It was when we were in Vancouver, after our big fight when he left. The dogs are back to sleeping soundly, so I watch TV for a little while. I wonder if Adam is sleeping. I texted him when we got home and he didn't answer, so I assume that he's sleeping.

I get out of bed again and walk out to the dining room, and knock on Jack's bedroom door. He doesn't answer, so I knock again. I hear a noise from inside, and a second later he answers with no shirt on. He looks down at me, sleepily.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"I can't sleep."

"I see that." He steps out of the room and we go into the living room and sit on the couch.

"Where are the dogs?" He asks, looking down at the empty dog beds.

"In my bed."

"They didn't help?"

"No, not really. But, it did help not rolling over and seeing a perfectly made bed."

"Mmm." He grabs the TV remote and turns it on, flipping through channels until he finds The Nanny.

"You hungry?" He asks me.

"Mhhmm" He gets up and goes to the kitchen, and starts looking in the cupboards. He finds my stash of mint milano cookies and brings the package to the couch.

"So, what seems to be the problem?" He asks, stuffing a whole cookie in his mouth before passing me the package.

"I don't know. I mean, It's not like this is the first time Adam's gone on tour since we've been together. And, it's not the first time I've had to sleep alone since we've been together. I guess there's just a lot more to worry about this time."

"Well, it's the first night. Tomorrow night, you'll be so tired from not sleeping tonight, that you'll fall right asleep."

"I hope so." He mumbles something under his breath that sounds a lot like, "Me too.", but I can't be sure on that.

We sit and watch 4 episodes of The Nanny, and eat the rest of the cookies. We talk a little bit more and after awhile when I look over at him, he's asleep. I think about waking him up, but I realize that just because I'm awake doesn't mean he should be.

At six a.m. I get up and get dressed, leaving Jack still sleeping sitting up on the couch. I feel really bad about waking him up in the middle of the night, just so I had someone to talk to other than myself. I hang out in my bedroom by myself for awhile, browsing the internet, doing my hair and make up, making the bed so it's perfect again, and drawing. At about eight, the doorbell rings. When I answer it, it's Adam's mother. I see her give me a once over and take in my strapless hot pink bandeau top and mini shorts. My pink and blonde hair teased out in all it's glory, and all of my tattoo's on display.

"Oh, hello." I say to her.

"Hello there. Is Adam here?"

"No, he left lastnight." It dawns on me that his parents might not have even known about the tour.

"Where did he go?"

"On tour. I don't know for sure when he'll be back."

"Oh well, I was just stopping by to tell him that there is a tournament coming up in July at our club. I thought it would be a good way for him to patch things up with his father and brother."

"I really highly doubt that he would be interested in that, and truthfully he doesn't need to patch things up with anyone. Him and Cale are fine, in fact he was over for dinner the other night with Caitlin and her husband. I don't really see what there is to patch up. Adam made his feelings towards both you and your husband known."

"Yes he most certainly did. Thats why I thought this tournament would be a good thing. It would force them to be together so Adam could apologize to his father."

"So Adam could apologize? What about his father? And, what about you?"

"Adam embarassed both of us in front of a very dear friend of ours."

"Yeah, who just happened to be the former sheriff of Peoria! You don't think that Adam was embarassed to have you air all his dirty laundry out in front of that guy?"

"Well, its certainly not my fault that he chose to live how he did, and engage in that type of behavior. And, it most definitely doesn't excuse how he acted."

"Oh my God. What is with you people?"

"Maybe if my son had chosen a wife that better represented him, he wouldn't have the problems that he has."

"What the hell does that mean?" Jack walks up beside me sleepily, still shirtless and in his sweats.

"Whats going on our here?" He asks. Adam's mother looks at him with her mouth open.

"Who is this, Sophie? Your shoulder to cry on while my son is out make a living so that you can continue to live in this nice house, and have this wonderful life? You can bet that he's going to hear about this."

"What? That just shows how little you know about your son and his life, Marie. This is practically our son, if you told Adam what you just told me, he would tell you that you're a lunatic."

"Oh please don't tell me that he's your son. I don't need to think about my grown child raising your grown child."

"What?! Are you out of your mind?"

"I will tell you this much, Adam will be hearing about this little conversation, and when he does you will be out on your ass with no Gontier ties to get you out of it."

"I wouldn't count on it." I slam the door in her face and look back at Jack.

"What the fuck was that?" He asks. I shake my head at him, still reeling from what just happened. I walk into the kitchen and start making breakfast. Jack is looking at me like I'm a friggin' nutcase because I still haven't said a word.

"Sophie?"

"What?" I ask, pleasantly. Kind of creepily, actually.

"You alright, mama? I thought you were gonna punch that bitch in her fucking face, and now you're just like, calm."

"I will not lower myself to her level, Jack. Now, how do you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled?" He says quietly.

"OK, coming right up." I start cracking eggs into a bowl and whisking them. I turn around to get some milk out of the fridge, and when I do, an egg rolls off of the counter and crashes onto the floor.

"Son of a fuck! Dumb fucking man whore bitch!" I scream. Jack looks at me with wide eyes as I toss the whisk across the kitchen. I take a few deep breaths to calm myself, the go to work cleaning up the egg mess. Jack is still staring at me.

"What?" I snap.

"You know how you told me that you used to go shooting with your dad and your brother?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you need to shoot something. Preferably not a human, 'cause that would ruin your whole week." I laugh at him.

"I think I'm OK, now."

"Really? 'Cause you just called the whisk a man whore." I'm laughing hysterically now, literally, I'm in hysterics leaning over the kitchen sink, gasping for air and coughing. Jack comes over and gives me a glass of water.

"Maybe you should go to bed now." He says.

"That might be a good idea."

I go into the bedroom, leaving the breakfast behind, and get in my side of the bed. I leave Adam's side alone this time, and within 5 minutes, I'm asleep.