When Everything Gets Crazy, I Get Lost In You.

I roll over in bed in the middle of the night because I hear a noise in the room. I see Adam walking into the room. He waves a little when he sees me. He flew out to California early this morning to have a meeting with the main executives at his record label about a new tour schedule, and he was supposed to fly back tonight after the meeting. He wasn't home when I fell asleep at midnight.

"Are you just getting in?" I ask him sleepily.

"Yeah," he says, taking off his clothes and putting them in the laundry hamper.

"What time is it?

"Three a.m." I yawn.

"How was the meeting?"

"Good. I'll tell you about it in the morning." He crawls into bed beside me and props himself up on his elbow looking down at me.

"I'm tired, but wound for sound at the same time," he says, yawning.

"Do you want me to stay up with you?"

"No, you go back to sleep. I'll just lay here for a while. Maybe I'll fall asleep."

"OK," I say, more than satisfied with the idea of going back to sleep. I scoot my body backwards so that I'm laying against him and he puts his arm around my waist, resting his hand flat on my stomach.

I hear him hum to me a little and sing quietly until I fall asleep. The next time I wake up it's because I hear the bedroom door creak open. I roll over a little, so I don't disturb Adam, who is sleeping with his arm around me still. I see Nikki walking around the bottom of the bed. She looks up at me and continues to tip toe to my side of the bed.

"What are you doing?" I whisper to her.

"My car won't start. Will you give me a jump?" I nod and carefully get up out of bed without waking Adam, and follow her out to the garage.

I shudder a little when my bare feet touch the cold cement floor in the garage. I'm only wearing a tank top and a pair of boxers. I rub my arms a little and grab the set of jumper cables from the hook on the wall that they're hanging on, and take them over to Nikki's car which she has the hood up on.

"Where's Jack?" I ask her as I pop the hood on my car.

"Work, I guess. He was gone when I woke up to get my shower." I nod and attach the cables to the battery under my car's hood.

"Open the garage door," I tell her as I start my car. She runs and hits the garage door opener that's inside of my car. Usually my car lives in the driveway with Jack's and Nikki's, but lately Nikki has been having a lot of trouble with her car, so it's been living in the garage with Adam's. Since Adam was gone in his car all day yesterday, I pulled my car in the garage for the day.

Once we get Nikki's battery charged enough for the car to start, I shut my car off and we take the cable's off of both cars, keeping hers running.

"You're ready to go. If you have any problems call my cell," I tell her.

"OK. Thanks Sophie," she says, getting in her car and backing out of the garage. After she's out of the garage, I close the garage door and go back into the house.

"Brr," I say out loud to the dogs, doing an exaggerated shiver. I sprint through the house to the bedroom and crawl into my bed quickly. Adam is still sleeping peacefully. I scoot over close to him so I can feel his body heat, and press my icy cold feet against his legs. He comes awake immediately, pulling away from me and cursing under his breath as he opens his eyes. He takes a minute before he says anything to me. I smile at him and cuddle deeper under the blankets.

"Why the hell are you so cold?" he asks me after he's woken up a little.

"I was helping Nikki jump her car."

"Jesus Christ. I swear to God, wife, I'm buying them both new cars."

"Babe!" I say giggling.

"I'm serious. Both of them, Bob's Car Lot used specials."

"Isn't that what they already have?"

"Pretty much," he says putting his arms around my body and pulling me into his chest. "Come here." I smile and nod my head a little against him, putting one of my legs over his. He yawns.

"Why did you have to wake me up?"

"I'm sorry, Babe."

"Don't do it again," he says, shutting his eyes and cuddling against me. He falls asleep almost instantly. I stay awake, just feeling him breathe his warm breath against my skin, and his arms around my body... and then the doorbell rings. I look up at Adam and see that his eyes are still shut, but his mouth is in a straight line.

"Babe," I say.

"Ignore it." It rings again and he grimaces.

"I have enough energy to make us both ignore it," he says.

"No you don't."

"You're right, I don't. Are you going to see who it is?" I get up out of bed and walk around the end of the bed.

"Shut the door," he tells me as I walk out of the room. I pull the door shut behind me and walk across the foyer to the front door, and look out one of the skinny windows that are next to it. I see Jackie standing on the other side of the door with the baby carrier in her arms. I quickly open the door, and she looks at me startled then bounds into the house past me.

"If I have to look at his useless fucking face again, I'll fucking strangle him, Sophie, I swear to God!" she yells. I raise my eyebrows and follow her into the living room. She sets the baby carrier down on the coffee table.

"Austin?" I ask.

"Yes Austin. That useless motherfucker doesn't do anything but sit on his lazy fucking ass all day and he never helps with the baby or the cleaning, or anything."

"Did you try what the guys' and I told you the other night?"

"Fuck yes I tried it! And do you want to know what he said to me? He said that he didn't know why I was so tired, it's not like I do a lot of cleaning or anything. The house is always a mess."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes! I kicked him out of bed and made his sleep on the couch like a dog," she says, getting an evil grin on her face.

"Wow."

"Yeah, and he doesn't even pick up his own fucking laundry up off the fucking floor, either. He just expects me to do everything. Cook, clean, feed him three times a day, feed the baby fifty times a day, and be his pretty little perfect wife and have sex with him every night! I'm fucking sleep deprived!" I hear the bedroom door creak and when I look up I see Adam walking out looking well past Jackie in the sleep deprived department. He has on a pair of sweatpants, a ribbed white undershirt, and his socks. He also has a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, holding it in the front with his hand. His long black hair is sticking up in 3 different directions.

"Morning, Adam," Jackie says to him. He grunts at her and goes over to the baby carrier, and picks up baby Austin. He holds him against his chest and says something to him quietly, then takes him over to the couch and lays down on his back, still holding the baby against his chest while he sleeps. I smile at the sight and look over at Jackie, who still looks pissed but the sight of Adam with her baby seems to have calmed her a little.

"So what happened today?" I ask her.

"It actually happened this morning. I didn't get any sleep lastnight because Austin was up all night and he wouldn't go to sleep. When he finally did get to bed it was about six thirty this morning. So, I was going to go to bed then, but then Austin came out and was like, 'What are you making for breakfast?'" I grimace a little.

"So I flipped out. Like, dude, if you want fucking breakfast, you have two perfectly capable hands, go make your own fucking breakfast, ya know? Well he decided to tell me that I was PMSing and that wasn't his problem, and that I was being unreasonable."

"Oh Austin," I say under my breath.

"Oh yeah. So I came over here because I need to cool out for a little bit, away from that pig. He doesn't understand, I need a break sometimes. I need help sometimes from him! I had to bring the baby here because I was afraid to leave him alone with that jerk. I didn't know if I'd come home and find him dead of starvation and swimming in his own shit!" What a mental image. Thanks Jackie.

"If you want, Adam or I could talk to him." I see Adam cut his eyes from the baby to me and he gives me a dirty look.

"And, since you got no sleep lastnight, I will go in and change the sheets on Jack's bed and you can get some sleep in there. Adam and I will take care of Austin," I say to her.

"That would be wonderful. Thanks so much Sophie."

"No problem." I walk into Jack's bedroom and see that it's mostly clean, just the bed is unmade and there are a couple things on the floor. Jack and Nikki are both very neat people, and they usually keep their room here very clean. I pick up the clothes that are on the floor and put them in the hamper, then I take the sheets off of the bed and go out to the linen closet to get clean ones.

Jackie is sitting on the coffee table across from where Adam is laying on the couch with the baby still on his chest. He has one of his hands on the back of the baby's head, and the other on his back. Jackie looks up at me and raises an eyebrow.

"You know you can see your nipples through that top, right?" I bring the sheets I'm carrying up against my chest self consciously, and I see Adam glance over. I look around the room until I see one of Adam's hoodies hanging over the back of one of the dining room chairs. I put the sheets down on the table and put the hoodie on quickly.

"Are those Adam's boxer briefs?" she asks me after watching me do all of this.

"No, they're my boxers. They used to be Adam's boxer briefs, but then I shrunk them in the dryer. Adam got new boxer briefs."

"Oh, I see." I go back into Jack's room and start making the bed. When I'm done I go back out to the living room and tell Jackie, and she gets up and goes into the room, shutting the door behind her. I look over at Adam and see that he looks half asleep again.

"I'm going to get dressed now," I tell him. He opens his eyes and nods a little.

"Do you want me to put the baby back in his carrier for you?"

"No, he can stay where he is."

"OK." I go into my bedroom and change into clean jeans and a t-shirt with a Fleetwood Mac album cover on it, and a plaid button up shirt that has lace on the shoulders. When I go back out to the living room, Adam is asleep. I go over to him and pick the baby up and hold him against my chest, going into the kitchen to start some coffee.

"Hey baby," I coo to him. "Yes, you're a good boy. You don't like it when mama and daddy fight, do you? No. We're gonna make it right for them, though. Yeah."

"We're doing a headlining tour across Canada," I hear Adam say from the couch. I look up at him and raise an eyebrow.

"How long?"

"About a month. Three weeks of actually touring, but a month with travel days." I nod and rub my hand on the baby's back gently.

"I don't see any reason why you can't come. Jack has been in recovery for a while now and he seems to be doing fine."

"He's doing great," I say. The coffee pot beeps and I pour myself and Adam a cup.

"Yeah, so I think you should be able to come with us this time."

"When does it start?"

"February sixteenth." I nod again and bring him his cup of coffee. He sits up on the couch and takes the cup from me, and I go back to the kitchen to get mine. I set the baby back in his carrier and sit on the couch to drink my coffee with Adam.

"Sounds good to me. I always wanted to see more of Canada when we were up there recording last year," I say to him.

"You'll get to see a lot of it."

"And we'll get to see Christian," I say cheerfully. He grins.

"We'll have to get him out to some shows." I nod.

"So what are we going to do about Jackie and Austin?" he asks.

"I guess I'll go over and talk to Austin this afternoon, see what his problem is."

"If you can't get through to him, I'll go over there and deal with him. We can only have so many people living in this house at one time, Sophie. We already have Jack here full time, and Nikki here most of the time. We can't have her and the baby here too."

"I know," I say thoughtfully, looking out the windows at the snow. My cell phone rings in the other room and I get up and run to get it before it goes to voicemail. When I look at it, my heart drops. It's Nikki.

"Hello?"

"It's me. My car broke down on the side of the road."

"Oh Lord."

"I called Jack and he's going to come get me, but I need a wrecker to come get it."

"I'll call a wrecker. Are you OK?"

"I'm fine. Just a little cold."

"OK, well I'll call a wrecker to come get the car towed to a mechanics. Where was Jack when you called him?"

"He was on his way back to your place from an early class that he had. He said that he would drop me off at work."

"You still aren't at work?!"

"No, I was at work, but I went out to get coffee for my co-workers."

"Oh, I see."

"Here's Jack now." She quickly tells me where to send the wrecker and hangs up with me so she can talk to Jack. I go back out to the living room to see Adam.

"Bad news," I tell him. He raises an eyebrow at me. I tell him the story about Nikki's car then I call a wrecker and have them go out to where the car is.

"This day is already a nightmare," Adam says to me.

"I know." We sit on the couch in complete silence for about ten minutes, when Jack walks in the front door. We both look up at him when he comes in the room.

"What are you guys doing?" he asks.

"What the fuck are you doing here? Where's Nikki?" Adam asks.

"She's at work." I raise my eyebrows.

"Did the wrecker come? I just called them ten minutes ago."

"I assume so."

"You assume? You didn't stay to see if they came?!"

"No, we left right after Niks got off the phone with you."

"Jack!" Adam groans.

"What?"

"You were supposed to stay out there and make sure the guy came and took the car. Find out which mechanic he took it to, find out how much this was gonna cost me."

"I'll go," I say, getting up. "You stay here with the baby."

I go out to the driveway and get in my car, putting the key in the ignition and turning the engine over. I back out of the driveway and almost get hit by a snowplow. I blow my horn and the driver doesn't even look my way. Some people, I don't know how they get by in life. I drive out to where Nikki's car broke down and see the wrecker waiting. I park behind Nikki's car and walk up to the cab of the wrecker and knock on the window to get the drivers attention. The guy gets out and tells me how much to write the check for and where they're taking the car for repairs. When I ask how much he thinks that the repairs are going to be, he just gives me a dirty look.

When I get back to the house, Adam is dressed and sitting on the couch with Jack. The baby is now in a little bouncy chair thing that Jackie must have brought with her. It has little stuffed things hanging from it, and a little mirror for the baby to look in, and some plastic pieces that spin around when the baby hits them. I smile at the baby, then look at the guy's.

"Get it all taken care of?" Adam asks.

"Yes. And don't ask how much it's going to cost, because I have no idea." He laughs.

"Well OK then." I crouch down on my knees on the floor in front of Adam and pet the dogs who are laying on the floor next to the couch.

"I guess I should go see what the hell Austin's problem is now," I say, starting to get up. Adam grabs my arms and pulls me to him, so I'm half laying across his body.

"Stayyyy," he says.

"Babe, I have to get this over with so that when she wakes up she can just take the baby and go home."

"Come on, Mama," Jack says. "I have the whole rest of the day off of school and work. I thought we could just hang out here, just the three of us, like old times."

"I would love to, baby. Trust me, that sounds amazing, but I have to get these two dealt with first."

Adam pulls me up to him and gives me a kiss on the lips and I start to get up again, only to be pulled back down by both him and Jack.

"You can't go, we won't let you!" Jack says, grabbing my leg. Adam smacks me on the ass and I laugh at them both.

"You have to stay here and hang out with us, and cook wonderful Italian food for us!" Jack says.

"I will just as soon as I get this done. I promise."

"Good, cause I have to talk to you about something."

"OK, we'll talk when I get back," I say, finally pulling myself up and walking towards the front door.

"Love you!" I say to them.

"Love you!" they yell back.

I go back out to my car and get in, repeating the process from earlier, minus the almost getting hit by a snow plow. When I get to Austin's apartment building, I park and take the elevator to their floor, knocking on his door. I hear footsteps and talking on the other side of it, and when the door opens, Cody's on the other side of it.

"This feels like Deja Vu," I tell him. He grins.

"Hey gorgeous. I haven't seen you in forever, how're things with the husband and the kid?" he asks, stepping in and giving me a kiss on the cheek, then stepping to the side so I can come inside.

"Things are really good. We found out that we're going back out on tour in February, in Canada. So that will be fun. And Jack is doing great," I say as I walk into the living room. I see Austin, Mike, Blower and Mark all sitting, drinking beer and watching TV.

"Are you serious, Austin?" I say to him. He looks up at me and gives me a devilish grin.

"Sophie, it'll be like the old days when we'd all get together and drink in the middle of the day for no good reason," he says.

"You want a beer?" Cody asks from behind me.

"No thanks. I try not to drink before one in the afternoon these days."

"Suit yourself," Austin says.

"You want it to be like the old days, Austin? Is that what your problem is?"

"It was a hell of a lot less complicated, that's for fucking sure." I nod my head and stomp over to the TV, shutting it off.

"Hey! What the fuck!" the guys all yell at me.

"You want it to be like the old days, well guess what Austin, the cable just got shut off because you couldn't afford to pay for it, because your band isn't playing any gigs and making any money. That's why we sat around drinking beer, that I payed for in the middle of the day. Because you guys couldn't afford to watch TV at your own houses, so you had to come to mine!" I shout, and stomp over to the kitchen area where the fuse box is and slam all of the fuses off. The lights go out immediately and Austin just stares at me.

"The power just went out," I say blankly.

"What's the point of this? Because I know you're trying to make one."

"The point is, Austin that things weren't that great back in the day. You guys weren't doing anything with the band except rehearsing for gigs that were non existent. You all got into a lot of bad shit back then, that I don't think I need to bring up now. The point is, that we've all grown up. We're married, you have a baby, we have nice things, we have nice lives. Why do you want to screw it all up? So that it can be the way it used to be? Are you kidding me?"

"I don't know what you want from me, here Sophie."

"I want you to use some common sense because I know you have it! All that your wife is asking of you, is to put your fucking laundry in the hamper and help her feed the baby in the middle of the night so she can get some fucking sleep!"

"Listen, you don't know what it's like, OK? You don't have to be me." I sit down in front of him on the coffee table.

"Really Austin, is it that bad? Lets do something right now, OK? You and I have grown up together, so we've been through a lot of shit together, we know a lot about each other, probably some things that our significant others don't know. So, lets take a trip down memory lane, why don't we?" He raises an eyebrow at me and doesn't say anything.

"OK, lets see, hmmm. Oh, remember when we were nineteen Mike got hooked on cocaine and you and I had to go drag him out of his fucking car to take him to my parents house so he could get some help? Or, how about when your parents got divorced when you were seventeen and you thought the world was ending? Or, how about when I got pregnant and had a miscarriage? Is it as bad as all of those things, Austin?" He stares at me.

"Well, is it? Or would you like me to continue?"

"No, you made your point."

"You have this beautiful life, Austin. You have a beautiful wife and a beautiful baby boy who is at my house right now, breaking my husbands heart." He smirks a little.

"All you have to do, is pick up the fucking dirty clothes, and maybe help give your wife a break during the day." He rolls his eyes.

"What is with the sarcastic eye rolling? This is what you signed up for when you married that girl and got her knocked up, Austin. This is the life you asked for, so take it for what it is."

"I hate it when she makes me out to be the bad guy all the time," he says.

"What do you mean all the time?"

"I do the best I fucking can around here. But, I have to put fucking money on the table so we can keep this life, because like you said before, life sucked. We all had shitty jobs and weren't making shit. What we were making we spent on booze and cigarettes and that shit Mike was shoving up his nose. Now I've got all this, and sometimes when the dishes aren't done, I don't want to feel like it's my fault, you know?"

"You both need to play equal parts here. You have a job and the band, and that's great, but she also has a full time job raising that baby. You both need to do your part in helping out around here, and you'll both be a lot happier." He nods and gives me a hug. I stand up from the coffee table.

"Can we turn the TV back on now?" Blower asks. I laugh.

"Yes, Blower. Sorry." I turn the TV back on and turn down the guys' offer of a cold beer, and tell Austin that I'll talk to Jackie and have her come back here when she wakes up.

As I drive back to my place, I'm feeling quite satisfied with myself. I hated to bring up old and bad times to Austin and the others, but I guess that's what he needed. When I pull back into the driveway, I see Jack and Adam standing outside smoking by themselves.

"What are you guys doing out here?" I ask them when I get out of my car.

"Jackie woke up and is on the phone with Austin. It didn't sound very good." Oh boy.