Dry Counties.

"Kimmy!" Vic shouted and linked arms with me and dragged me out of the hotel room as mike laughed and waved.

"Vicky? No that just sounds wrong." I laughed dryly as we waited for the elevator.

"It does, anyways I'm taking you shopping!" Vic stated proudly.

"Why ?" I asked shocked that a guy like Vic wanted to go shopping. personally I hated shopping, I'm a weird girl I guess.

"Well, I wanted to get you the perfect outfit for tonight." Vic said smiling the signature smile That I've recently began to notice as the days went on.

"Oh? So you know what I'm getting into tonight?" I questioned hoping he'd shed some light on mikes plans. but I doubt that would happen.

"Well, lets put it this way, I know what mike likes." He had a weird tone in his voice. Am I not what mike normally likes?

"Wait. Is there something wrong with me?" I asked sort of applauded by his statement. Vic stopped dead in his tracks and grabbed my wrists in his hands forcing me to look at him, his touch was gentle but by his body language i could tell he was clearly upset. was he upset with me?

"Kimberly. No. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Your a beautiful woman, who deserves the best, I didn't mean to offend you in any way. Kim, your a wonderful person, mikes very lucky to have you. I'm so sorry." I hugged Vic tightly. He rubbed my back. I felt tears brim the corners of my eyes. the pain I've been hiding was starting to come out.

"Oh Vic, I just don't know what's wrong with me.. And the way you said how you knew what mike likes made me feel like I wasn't good enough, like I would end up having a repeat of Myles. Where did I go wrong ? Am I really that awful? I just want to know why!" I sobbed into Vic's chest, his body froze and I felt his muscles tense.

"Come on sweetheart, we need to have a long talk." Vic whispered near my ear and hugging me closer to him. He walked me to the nearest Starbucks and sat me down. I was still sniffling and silent tears still fell down my cheeks. Vic gave me a weak smile and placed an order at the Counter. I stared at my hands watching my tears hit the table, before I knew it Vic returned with two cups of coffee in hand.

"T-thanks" I stuttered letting the hot cup warm my now clammy cold hands.

"I'm sorry Kim, I really am... I... I know how you feel." Vic's eyes held sadness and he was genuine.

"M-mike told m-me to talk to you... That you'd know what to say... About how I'm feeling." I started opening up to Vic who wore a hurt yet knowing expression on his face.

"What are you feeling sweetheart?" Vic urged me to let it all out, which made the tears flow faster.

"I just feel like I wasted such a huge part of my life with someone who ended up being nothing. He meant so much to me and I alway treated him right.. I don't understand what I did that made him hate me so much... What was it about me that drove him to another woman ? I feel so worthless... Why wasn't I good enough for him?" I asked a million times over and over in my mind. why wasn't I good enough? what did I do wrong ?

Vic took in a long heavy breath. And took a sip of his coffee that he had taken the lid off of and let cool.

"Kim.. The quicker you realize that your not at fault here the faster you can heal... It took me... years to get over... Cara. My mind constantly raced, I always found my mind asking me in silence 'why didn't she want me anymore?' 'What didn't I provide for her?' 'Why wasn't my love good enough for her'.... I learned that, that just Constantly wondering about what happened isn't healthy, it holds you back from moving on Kim. You just need to realize that. Ill admit I'm still not fully over what happened... As human beings our minds will always wonder why things turned out the way they did.. Try to find a reason to make us feel better. Sometimes, you need someone else to mend those wounds, sometimes your own thoughts are deceiving and as soon as you make progress it takes you right back to rock bottom- but when someone's willing to help you mend your wounds, that's special. You have that Kim, you have a chance with mike to mend all those things. I'm not ready to mend yet... But I'm finally at peace with my experience." wow Vic is very wise and what happened to him? The sweetest guy I've ever met... And he feels the same way as me. that's can't be right, who could hurt someone like him?

"Vic? What.... Did she do to you?" I asked nervously hoping he wouldn't be upset with my curiosity.

"It's okay kimmy, I don't mind talking about it. Hell I wrote a whole song about it. Cara... For a long time I thought she was the perfect one for me, I loved her more than any song I've ever written could possibly describe. For years she always slipped through my fingers, then When I finally got my chance, I vowed to never let her go. For awhile things were perfect, all my dreams were coming true and I was with the girl that held my heart for so many years. The greatest part was... She loved me back. She gave me her heart and I felt special. However... Things changed, for her. She left me when I was on tour one year, I came home to an empty apartment. I was crushed, I kept finding little things she left behind and I couldn't get her out of my mind, no matter how hard I tried. Everything reminded me of her, the little things he left behind and the apartment itself that we shared. I found out a few month after her leaving that she had been cheating all along... She had a baby nine months after leaving me, with the other man." Vic sighed heavily, he's clearly told this story many times. poor vic. He took a few sips of his coffee before continuing his explanation.

"I'm scared to trust again Kim, the sad part is I still love cara, a part of me always will. But I would never go back to her, I'm also not searching for anything or anyone new. I don't want to be with someone again that I had to chase, I want fate to bring me together with that person whose meant to heal me. Searching for that person doesn't feel right, because surely they wouldn't be the right person and I'd end up back in my misery that was 'caraphenelia'." My eyes grew wide, I wasn't searching for mike... And here I am. Fate worked faster for me than it has with Vic, but maybe there's a reason for that. Was fate working on mikes side? Am I looking at this the wrong way?

"Thank you Vic, I feel a lot better, I just wish fate would finally bring you who you've been waiting for all this time." I whispered as I set my empty coffee cup down.

"Kim, I've been waiting for three years, my patients has never drawn thin. I will wait forever if that's what it takes, but mike... He's a whole other story. I'm happy for him, I'm happy for you. I want you two to see how this works out. I love my little brother... But he never does things like this for any women he's ever met, I think there's a reason you were put into his life Kim." I smiled at him as his facial expression finally went from rigid and unreadable to relaxed and soft.

"You really think so Vic?" I asked sheepishly, he laughed and grabbed both out coffee cups.

"Of course I do Kim, now come one lets get you an outfit that will make Ol' whiskey hands jaw drop." theres that whisky hands nickname again.. Vic tossed the cups in the trash and grabbed my hand leading me outside and across the street to the mall that was just a few blocks from our hotel.

Vic dragged me from store to store, each store having outrageously more over priced garments of clothes than the last.

"Vic! I can't afford any of this stuff! I'm not even sure I could for any of these clothes! This store must be for models or something!" I whispered harshly looking at the endless racks of tiny clothes.

"Wow, you are not a confident shopper. Look, I'm buying so stop worrying about the money, and your even skinnier than me love, so stop letting the sizes scare you because you could fit anything in here. Your beautiful, now lets show it off!" Vic handed me an armful of clothes he had been picking out for me as we walked around the high priced store. He shoved me into a dressing room.

I hung the clothes across from me on the door and looked I to the mirror. My brown hair was wavy from lack of straightening and my current outfit was modest, but I guess Vic was right it didn't do me justice. I looked through the clothes he had picked for me. he had really good taste. I tried on every outfit and modeled them all for him. He was a rough critic, but when I got to the last outfit he was speechless.

"Holy shit Kimberly." He finally choked out. An employee of the store stopped dead in his tracks as he walked by me and Vic.

"Oh hunny, I am ringing you up for that right away, it's absolutely perfect." Vic agreed with the man and handed him a credit card before walking up to me and taking my hand and twirling me.

"Your wearing this out of the store darling, cause its about time we meet up with mike." Vic gave me a devilish smile and winked at me as I looked. In the mirror across from us at myself.

I wore a knee length silver strapless gray dress that had a shine Finnish and a sweetheart neckline. It clung tightly to my body and it pushed my bust up in the most perfect way. Even I couldn't stop letting my eyes wonder to my chest. The dress had elegant draping that accentuated my curves and it made my butt look flawless. To top off the outfit I had on black see through leggings with a seam that ran right up the middle of the back of my calves, and a pair of silver gladiator closed toe sandals. I really did look amazing, would mike think so?

"We're ready to go beautiful!" Vic smiled walking over to me with a bag full of my old outfit.

"Vic, what are we going to do about my hair?!" I started freaking out since it didn't quite go with the outfit.

"Here leave it to me." Vic grabbed my hand and lead me downstairs to the bathrooms.

Vic stood me in front of the mirror just outside the two bathrooms in the mall. He pulled out some clips and bobby pins from the bag from the store. he must have noticed my hair earlier.

Vic pulled my hair into a messy bun and clipped it in all the right places letting just a couple of my curliest strands of hair hang from the sides of my face. He did a good job. He placed a big black and gray flower into the side of my bun and backed away.

"Perfect!" He said happily.

"Wow. It really is, thank you Vic." I have him a tight hug and kissed his cheek.

"Now lets get you back to mike." Vic laughed as I quickly applied some black eyeliner and light foundation as we walked to the hotel.

"I'm so nervous." I admitted as we walked the dimly lot Chicago street.

"Don't be, everything will be okay, I promise." He placed his Hand on my bare shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

We approached the hotel once again. I took a deep breath before stepping into the lobby. My eyes left the ground And instantly made contact with a very wide eyed mike. Well, the night I've been waiting for... Has officially begun.