Second Chance

It was a huge milestone for us.

I was digging in Zacky's bag, searching for batteries. He'd sworn up and down that they were in the side pocket, but I hadn't found any sign of them. I was already kicking myself for not having checked the camera earlier on in the day, and this wasn't a great continuation to my mood. I gave up with a defeated sigh.

That was when Brian came into the room, eyes searching. I kept still and quiet, like a piece of the furniture - just the way he liked me to act whenever he was around. Much like I had been doing, he began rummaging through a bag - his own, I was sure. He came out empty handed with an annoyed growl, his eyes darting around the place again. They trailed from one corner to another, taking in everything.

"You haven't seen my hat by any chance, have you?"

Every fibre of my being believed that he had to be speaking to somebody just outside the room, somebody that I hadn't noticed yet. So it was a shock when he turned and met my eyes, his expression expectant. It took several seconds before I realised that he had, in fact, directed his question at me.

"Oh! Er..." I had seen his hat. I knew I had. I just couldn't recall where. I gave it a moment of thought, trying to remember. "I think I saw it in the bathroom, actually."

He didn't waste a moment before heading into the aforementioned bathroom. I watched on curiously, still stunned at the fact that he had spoken to me willingly, with not a single bad intention behind his words. When he returned, he was wearing a grin with his fedora.

"Thanks."

I nodded and returned to pointlessly searching for the batteries. If only finding them were as easy as being directed to the bathroom. I checked and double checked the outer and side pockets of the bag again, to no avail. If I thought there was any chance of them being in the main pocket, I would have searched that again, too. But I'd already searched it enough times to know that they were definitely not in there.

"Something wrong?"

I looked up. And there was Brian, still standing on the other side of the room. Having had expected him to leave again as soon as he'd found his hat, I was stunned to see him there. And even more stunned to realise that he was willingly speaking to me again.

"Batteries." It sounded stupid when I said it, so I quickly composed myself. "The camera batteries are dead. Zacky said he had spares in the side pocket of his bag, but he doesn't have any in here at all."

I hadn't even finished speaking before he was walking over to his own bag and rummaging through it. Looked like he didn't care after all. I let myself fall back against the wall, closing my eyes. Such a simple job that I had given myself, and now I couldn't carry it through for the night because of some dead batteries. It was almost insulting.

"Here."

I opened my eyes again; if I hadn't already been against the wall, I would have jumped back several metres in surprise. I hadn't heard Brian walking across the room, and I had never expected to see him standing so close - especially doing something as nice as offering his own camera to me.

I could see that the situation was as strange to him as it was to me; we stayed like that for several moments before I finally reached out and took the camera from him.

"...thanks." He gave a short nod. "I'll take good care of it and get it back to you tomorrow."

"You keep it," he said instead. "I never use it. Poor thing's neglected." Seeing the look on my face, he quickly asked, "What?"

"Why are you suddenly being so nice?"

It probably wasn't the greatest question to ask. I knew that it was probably going to earn me a growl and the return of his nastiness, but I had to know. It was too bizarre.

"Would you prefer I go back to being a jerk?" he asked in surprise, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, no," I admitted, "but...I just...I thought you hated me."

I expected to hear, "I do hate you," or something along those lines, but he said nothing of the sort. Instead, he sighed and sat down beside me. Curiousity got the best of me and I remained in my place, watching him carefully as I waited for him to speak.

"I don't hate you. Anymore." He shot a quick glance at me to assess my reaction, but I merely shrugged. "I did at first, 'cause I was pretty sure you were just some ditsy fan trying to weasel your way into our lives for whatever reason, and with Gena's recently passing it was the perfect opportunity." He absently reached up and adjusted his hat, a habit. "But...I don't know. I'm starting to think that I might have been...wrong.

"That doesn't mean I'm going to let my guard down, though. I'm still gonna be keeping an eye on you." I nodded. "But whatever it is you are doing, I think it's really helping him. And I appreciate that. We all do."

"But I'm not doing anything," I told him. "I'm just..."

I didn't even know.

"You're a comfort to him. Someone else to talk to, maybe. Or just somebody to be there."

"But he doesn't talk to me about much."

"Somebody to keep his mind occupied, then."

It was a huge compliment coming from him, so I left it at that. We sat there in silence for a while, and for the first time ever it wasn't awkward or unnerving. He seemed lost in thought, and I was unwilling to interrupt him.

"Think I might ask him about it later," he said at long last. "Get a better look at what's going on inside his head." He glanced at his watch. "Better get a move on or they'll start without me. You comin'?"

I nodded and got to my feet, turning to the door just in time to see Jacobson enter the room. I had to force myself to supress an annoyed groan. Having made such progress with Brian in just a few short minutes, I wasn't in the mood to deal with the manager. He cast nothing but a glance at me before turning to Brian.

"Planning on getting your ass out there anytime soon?"

It was the first time that I had seen these two men together without any of the others, I realised, and what a difference it made! I expected a muttered response, a roll of the eyes or some sarcastic remark about how he was going. Instead, the guitarist growled at the man.

"Piss off, will ya? You're worse than my fu...reakin' mother."

I snickered at Brian's sudden change in words, and it brought a tiny grin to his face. He ushered me past Larry, out into the corridor, and together we headed towards the stage.

"Have a great show," I told him when we had to part ways. "Don't trip."

He flipped me the bird, but there was no hate behind it. His grin said as much.

"Tell the fans I said hi," he added. "Actually, bring a few back to the bus with you after the show. That'll be a nice little surprise for them."

And with a quick wave, he was gone.