Fallen Embers

The next day, Sabrina woke up and the foursome headed over to the SNL studios for more meetings and read throughs of what skits were starting to get finished. There was one skit that they walked through that Sabrina was looking forward too. It was a kind of send off about Green Day and teenies. It was really funny and would translate well on the TV.

About 4pm they left since Sabrina was to perform on The Letterman show which actually was shot earlier and edited and then shown at its normal late night time. Sabrina had a change of clothes with her so they went from NBC studios to the Ed Sullivan Theater. They arrived early so the band could do a sound check and run through 'Only Women Bleed' with Beth.

Upon entering the stage area, Paul Shaffer was all ready there with his band jamming away to some songs. Sabrina and Beth were there before the rest of the band, so they grabbed guitars and started to jam along with Paul. The bald man smiled at Sabrina and the band went through some interesting music. Sabrina had played with his band before at Rock and Roll Hall of Fame shows, since they were the house band.

Beth was enjoying playing different sings then she normally did. This was some funky blues type of music that was wild and free flowing. She enjoyed being challenged playing since it was boring to play the same thing day after day. She was glad to be playing and had a feeling that Sabrina was never going to be predictable on stage.

Soon the rest of Sabrina's band showed up and they did a few songs for sound check. Sabrina was in a country mood, so they did some Dixie Chicks songs, before rehearsing 'Only Women Bleed'. A run through or two quickly ended and everything was set for the performance. The band was ushered into the green room where Beth smiled at the Cherry Pepsi and Very Vanilla Silk soy milk which was on hand along with Diet Pepsi and other beverages for the people. She looked over to Sabrina who smiled, "The Tour Rider Gods." with a wink at the younger woman.

6pm came around and soon the show was starting. Sabrina had changed into her normal outfit of jeans, white wife beater and completed the look with a pair of high heel boots. The woman paced the room while waiting for her turn to be on air. The other guest for the night, famous actress Holly Rinedoller, laughed at the blonde's nervousness. "Breathe in and out and repeat after me," She said to Sabrina, "Mecca lecca high, mecca hiney ho."

It had the desired effect since Sabrina snorted with laughter, "Gotta love Jambi." she said back to the calm actress.

The two listened to Dave's Top Ten and Sabrina watched as Holly went out for her piece. Finally it was Sabrina's turn. She was going to be interviewed and then after a commercial break, she would perform her single. She was escorted to behind the stage area as Dave said a few funny things about her, and then she was walking out on stage to meet and greet Dave.

After a hug and kiss to Dave, Sabrina settled into her chair and awaited Dave's questions. "Sooooo... " Dave began.

"Sooooo... " Sabrina answered back with a smile, which got Dave's trademark laughter to ring out.

"Okay, I know its old news, but I have to ask... BUT please roll the clips we have here." Sabrina looked into a monitor and saw the clips of Tre's antics each time Green Day was on the show. She smiled as her favorite one, the flour during 'Waiting' and the one where he was the cutest, "Good Riddance' was played. When the montage ended, Dave continued, "Sooooo I can't believe you married that crazy boy. He has issues; he always seems to hurt himself."

Sabrina laughed, "Yes, Tre is a little on the accident prone side. Uh, lemme think; while recording I believe he did crash a go-cart or two and end up in the ER."

Dave switched gears and began asking about the new record, to which Sabrina mentally wiped her brow. She really didn't want to end up on such a dismal subject, though she knew at some point in time, the truth had to come out.

Sabrina and Dave talked a bit more... discussing her and Billie's birthday party, in which he attended and that she DIDN'T remember much of. He also discussed her burning of the tapes at the studio. Sabrina retold the story with vengeance and had everyone laughing when she said, "I pulled that out of Tre's bag of tricks."

Finally the interview came to an end, and Dave went to commercial. After the cameras were off, Sabrina stood and moved over to where her band was waiting. They had a minute before cameras started to come back. She took a sip of water and got in position as the stage director started counting down... 5, 4, 3, 2, and Dave introduced the song and had a Rebirth CD to show the folks. With Dave's intro finished, the band began to play.

The song ended as quietly as it began and Sabrina stood there as Dave came over to say goodnight. After ending credits and the show ended, Dave hugged her and told her that the song was great and the CD was even better; he had listened to it on his commute into town. She smiled and went to move away but he still had her arm. "It's a damn shame what happened between you and that young fellow, as crazy as he is, he was a good fellow." Sabrina just nodded her head and said goodbye, knowing how much of a good fellow Tre was.

Sabrina and the band were quickly ushered out since they had to head back to the SNL studios to resound check the equipment after it got reset up there, and Sabrina had to do some run through of skits. They quickly made their way back to NBC. While the band helped the roadies, Sabrina went to where the walk throughs were being done.

Sabrina favorite skit had made it to the list ones that needed to be wokred on for air. They read through it and the powers that be decided it was going to the finla show.

When the walk throughs were done, Sabrina went back to the studio to do a quick sound check before heading off for the night. She and Adie decided that they were going to go have their 'Girl's Night Out' and they were gonna drag Beth with them kicking and screaming if need be. Beth protested but the two older women won out and soon the three girls with Toby as an escort were off to paint the town red. They decided to go to a small bar near Sabrina's penthouse, so they would only have to walk or rather stumble not too far of a distance.

The three women started off slow, but as the night progressed and Beth opened up a little bit, the three started actually having fun. By the time midnight came around, you would have thought that the Adie, Sabrina, and Beth were long lost friends who were enjoying a reunion. The three were quite toasted to the gills and laughing uncontrollably at the surrounding patrons.

Toby's cell phone cut through the noise and when he saw the ID, he grinned. "Hello Billie my man."

"Hey Toby, Do you happen to know where my wife is? She isn't answering her cell phone."

"Well..." Toby began, but was cut off by female voices raised in song, though WHAT song was being sung was undeterminable at that moment on time.

"Is that?" Billie asked cautiously.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is... "

"Oh my god; are they... "

"Yes, but I would say they are TRYING to sing." Toby cocked his head for a moment to listen to the voices.

"The mouse takes the cheese; the mouse takes the cheese... Hi Ho the Dairy-O, the mouse takes the cheese." The three drunken women bellowed.

"I believe they are singing or rather butchering 'The Farmer in the Dell'." Toby explained with a laugh.

"That sounds nothing like... wait, the farmer in the dell? How the hell did they start to sing that?"

"Let's see, Sabrina got on the subject of food, which brought on the subject of jam by Beth, which brought on the subject of toe jam by Sabrina and then Adie brought up cheese and then both Sabrina and Beth got the song from that. Don't ask me HOW they did, but they did."

Billie groaned, "Talk about six degrees of separation. Is the bar crowded?"

"Not now, they did a pretty good job of clearing out the place. It's a little hole in the wall anyway and I already gave the owner a couple hundred when we walked in just in case the girls got rowdy."

"Oh god, you mean you thought this could happen?"

"Billie, think about it, three women on a 'girl's night out'. That's a recipe for rowdiness my friend. Besides, I know Sabrina when she really cuts loose, I mean REALLY lets her hair down, and she gets wild. Imagine 'Girls Gone Wild' without the nudity."

"She never was like that with us... " Billie mused.

"That's because she never really let her hair down... WAIT, remember what I said about the nudity... "

"Yea."

"Well scratch that, I got to go."

"What's happening?" Billie asked getting concerned.

"Well they are starting to compare breast sizes and I want to head them off at the pass... Bye!"

Toby switched off his phone and went over to the women who were in a debate on whose boobs were bigger. Right as Adie was reaching to lift up her shirt, Toby grabbed her hand. "Come on girls, I think it's time to leave."

"Awwww but DDDDddAAAAaaaAAAAaaaaDDDddDD" Sabrina and Beth whined together in perfect harmony.

"No buts, we need to go. Besides you can finish off your night at the penthouse, and drink till you pass out, if you please."

He rounded up the women, and after tossing another couple of hundreds to the owner/bartender, they left the bar. The drunk girls were trying to walk down the sidewalk towards Sabrina's place like 'The Monkees', complete with singing the theme song.

Toby followed behind with a smile on his face trying not to laugh out loud. The three were trying not to slip up and trip each other as the walk was rather difficult sober and near impossible drunk.

Thankfully, they arrived at the building without any major accidents, though at one point, the three nearly came crashing down in a heap. They caught themselves just in time and stopped dead in a huddle in the middle of the sidewalk. He could hear the whispers and giggling and groaned. He did not want to be the poor bastard who was going to be on the end of their drunken plans.

When they finally got to Sabrina's place, Toby breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay ladies, I am going to bed. Please do NOT leave the penthouse. I don't care what you do, just keep it here. Okay?" he watched as they nodded their agreement and got back together in a huddle.

Once Toby was gone off to bed, Sabrina broke out the wine to continue the night's drinking festivities. Once Adie, Beth and herself had filled glasses, they went about putting their plans into action. They gathered around the landline phone and Sabrina clicked on speaker phone and began to dial a number.

The phone could be heard ringing as they kept shushing each other and trying not to laugh. "Hello?" said a sleepy voice.

Adie smiled and spoke in an authoritative voice, "Hey this is SB&A Electric...we're just making courtesy phone calls to everyone in your area with a few questions. Is your refrigerator running?"

Mike groaned at the comment, "Yes." He answered knowing what the next line would be.

"Well then, you better go catch it!" Sabrina said barely able to get the sentence out before the three erupted into a fit of giggles.

"Hello Angels." Mike said with a smile on his face.

"Hello Charlie." They cooed back to the man.

"I can hear a bunch of someone's that got a little drunk tonight."

Sabrina snorted, "Noooooooooooo not us? We would NEVER drunk dial, that's just wrong. Right?"

"I'm not as think as you drunk I am." Adie shouted a little too loud.

"Adie, my virgin ears, think about my poor ears." Beth giggled.

"Wait, who's that?" Mike asked wondering who the third voice belonged to.

"Who's what?"

"The other person there, I know it's you and Adie, but who else is there?"

"Hello, Mr. Rock Star." Beth supplied.

"Oh my god, Sab, is that... "

"Yup, meet my new guitar player, Beth."

"Oh my god and you ALL got drunk together?" Mike asked.

"It's not us you need to worry about, it's Toby." Beth said laughing.

"Poor Toby, he is a saint... " Sabrina started to say before smiling and gesturing to the others to join her.

"He's the patron saint of the denial, with an angel's face and taste for suicidal." The drunken women sang just a bit off tune.

Mike held the phone away from his ear and grinned at them. He knew it wasn't often that Adie got hammered, and Sabrina too for that mattered. Now Beth on the other hand, as long as she wasn't mean to him, he was happy.

"Hey there Mr. Rock Star, what are you wearing?" Beth cooed to the man on the other end of the line.

Mike stopped at the sound of her deep sensual voice. He wondered where this was going to go. "I'm wearing lounge pants and that it, I was sleeping; you know sleeping in bed."

"Alone?" she purred.

He swallowed hard at her tone. "Yes, alone."

"Shame, you are all the way over there and we're all the way over here."

Mike closed his eyes are her voice and tried not to go where he was thinking of going. "And why is that?"

"Cause we can't party together with you all the way over there, and us all the way over here." She pouted.

Mike laughed at the little girl tone in her voice. "Don't worry, I'm sure I'll see you soon enough. Now you three need to go to bed and no more drunk dialing, it's bad for other's health."

"Okay Mike," Sabrina said, "Talk to you later. Night."

The women hung up the phone and continued to party until all three passed out in various positions in the living room furniture a little while later.

Mike hung up the phone and shook his head. He wondered why Sabrina went and hired that girl. He had watched Sabrina's interview on Letterman, but Stella called before the performance part so he ended up missing it. He was happy that he would get the chance to get to know Beth better, but just a little anxious about the upcoming tour. The guys and management had already discussed when they went out on the road again that Sabrina was coming along as opening act. How would Beth act towards him during the time on the road?

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind about the beautiful younger women and decided to try to go to bed again. It was several hours later before the women left his mind and he was able to fall asleep.

The rest of the week sped by for Sabrina. She spent most of her time at SNL studios rehearsing the skits she was doing to be in, her opening monologue, and the performances. On a live show, timing was of the essence, so the music had to be exactly on time and not run over.

Before she knew it, Saturday had arrived and she became part of the well oiled machine that was old hand at the game of live TV. As the clock struck closer and closer to 11:30pm, Sabrina got more and more nervous. By 11pm the audience was seated and Sabrina was in her opening outfit. She decided on her normal look with a twist, her Levi's were low riders that hugged her curves and were accented with a studded belt. Her Adeline Street tank top was cut off and showed off her still taunt and lean belly. Her hair fell in waves down her back; natural and free flowing and her now favorite earrings she found at Claire's; a pair of black wings adorned her ears.

Sabrina, Toby, Beth, Adie, and her band were in the largest dressing room available. Everyone was relaxing except Sabrina who was pacing around. When the tones of 'Governator' started to play, she grabbed her phone from the table where is sat and flipped it open with a smile.

"SB&A Electric, how may I direct your call?"

"Haha, was that the best you could come up with?" The man grumbled.

"Shush, like you have never drunk dialed before." Sabrina laughed back.

"True, true; I just called to wish you luck, Sabrina. We'll be watching."

The woman groaned, "Great. If that was supposed to lessen my stress level, guess what... it didn't work."

The sound of Mike's laughter rang through the phone. "Sorry Sab. I just wanted to let you know we're pulling for you. Even Tre is, though he isn't admitting it."

Sabrina smiled and chuckled. "Ok, Mike. I gotta go, almost time to make an ass out of myself. Thank god I have a self deprecating sense of humor."

"Okay Sab, get going. Break a leg, or whatever it is. Talk to you later, love ya. Bye!"

She clicked her phone shut and shook her head at her best friend. "What an ass. Remind me to remind HIM that paybacks are a bitch." She said to the room.

Within minutes, an intern came to show Sabrina to her place for the opening of the show. She could hear the band playing to warm the crowd up. She quickly stretched a little and pulled a 'scorpion' position, which got whistles from the crew standing where she was. She smiled and blew a kiss and turned back to wait for her cue.

She heard Don Pardo's voice begin his opening lines. The band played the familiar SNL theme song and she found herself tapping her foot along. All of a sudden she heard, "And now our host for tonight's show, Sabrina Sanders."

Sabrina was gently pushed to open the door which was located behind the band and she pushed it open and appeared to the audience. She took off running and leapt into the air, clearing the stairs and coming to rest in the middle of the stage, just shy of her mark for the monologue. She smoothed down her outfit and smiled to the cameras and walked to her mark.

She went to open her mouth but the crowd kept clapping. She waved her hands in a sit down motion as she actually blushed at the crowd reaction to her. "Sit folks, we can't start the show when y'all still standing." She laughed.

The crowd began to take their seats and Sabrina paused and began her monologue. "Good evening folks. No you don't have to adjust your sets, this is a special Summer Edition of Saturday Night Live. Which means this is LIVE and not a rerun." She began with a wink.

Suddenly from stage right, Andy Samberg, one of the newest cast mates appeared and started moving closer. "Hi, Andy... ummm I'm kinda busy here."

"Oh don't mind me, I'm just watching you."

"Could you not do that so close to me?"

"Can I touch you?" he asked with a geeky grin on his face.

"Will you go away if I let you?" she replied.

"Ummm sure."

"Fine, hurry up, I'm in the middle of my monologue here." She assumed an annoyed stance with her hands on her hands and weight sifted to one leg. When she turned to look at the young man, she cocked her head at him "Hurry!"

Andy moved closer and outstretched a shaky hand and slowly moved it towards Sabrina. The crowd laughed at the interaction between the two people; Sabrina annoyed look, and Andy's terrified look.

Finally Sabrina could take no more, and grabbed his hand and placed it on her breast. "There dammit," she said with an angry snort, "happy?"

Andy got a huge shit eating grin on his face. "Mmmmm, me very happy now." He seemed to melt into the woman's side as she stood there.

Suddenly Horatio Sanz appeared at Sabrina's left with a puppy dog look on his face. "What about smee?" he asked balefully.

"Fine." Sabrina barked and grabbed his hand and placed it on her other breast. "Happy?"

"Oh yes, yes I am." Horatio smiled back to Sabrina who stood there with the two men 'attached' to her body parts.

"Want to know the sad thing boys?" she asked as they shrugged their shoulders. "This is the most action I have had in weeks." The crowd laughed at the remark and Amy Poehler came out and gave the men a dirty look. "Finally, Amy please, help me."

"Oh well, sure. 'Ms. I'm so beautiful. I have to have men hanging off of me'. Now you need help of little old me, Plain Ol' Amy. What is it all the beautiful girls have to have a plain friend for help?"

Sabrina gasped at her rant and pleaded, "Help please?"

"Sorry no can do Pretty Lady, I came out here for a piece of that rockin' ass!" Amy screamed and went around behind Sabrina and grabbed her rump.

The four people stayed in their bizarre dance for a few moments while the crowd laughed. Lorne Michaels himself came out and slapped the cast members away, "How many times have I told you three to stop feeling up the host!" he chided them as they scurried away off stage.

Sabrina collapsed into Lorne's outstretched arms, "Thank you Lorne for coming to my rescue." She 'cried' onto his shoulder.

"Did they scare you?" She nodded her head up and down. "It's okay, I sent them away." He pulled away from her and stood back a little, and the rest of the cast came out and lined up behind Sabrina.

Then Lorne started to sing. "Those cast mates won't scare you, put on a happy face. You need to get your chin up, put on a happy face. The shows just starting you need to cheer up and put on a happy face." Soon everyone was doing a really cheesy chorus line complete with kicks and such.

When the singing ended, the crowd cheered and Sabrina came forward "We got a great show tonight for you folks, so stick around we'll be right back!"

They started singing again as the show went into a filmed commercial. Sabrina was hustled off the floor and back to her dressing room to change for the next skit she was going to be in. Everyone clapped as she walked in, "Asses." She muttered as she went into the bathroom to change for her next spot.

The show continued running smoothly and after the midnight hour came, the band got ready for their first song. They were escorted out the stage area and waited in the dark for them to be introduced. As the skit being down was ending, Jimmy Fallon came out to the center stage and when the lights came up, "And now performing her new hit single, 'Only Women Bleed', let's give it up for Sabrina Sanders!"

Sabrina listened as the acoustic guitar notes began with the string section recording that Danny had in his keyboard computer. Sam Bayer had whipped up for concerts, a version of the music video that didn't have any music performance in it, just her and Hunter acting out scenes, which was playing on two TV screens on either side of the stage.


Man's got his woman
To take his seed
He got the power
She got the need

She spends her life through
Pleasin' up a man
She feeds his dinner on
Anything she can

She cries alone at night too often
He smokes and drinks and don't come home at all

Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed

Man makes your hair grey
He's your life's mistake
All you're really looking for
Is an even break

He lies right at you
Ya know ya hate this game
Slaps you once in a while
And you live and love in pain

She cries alone at night too often
He smokes and drinks and don't come home at all

Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed

The music turned into haunted sounds of someone afraid. The guitar and drums rained down around Sabrina like a shower of pain. It sounded like someone was coming for her. Suddenly the music crescendo into the chorus.

Man's got his woman
To take his seed
He got the power
She got the need

She spends her life through
Pleasin' up a man
She feeds his dinner on
Anything she can

She cries alone at night too often
He smokes and drinks and don't come home at all

Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed

The music again came up into a crescendo around the woman standing in a spotlight. The drums crashed and suddenly she closed her eyes and turned into the aggressor to sing the next part.

Black eyes all of the time
Don't spend a dime, clean up this grime
And you there, down on your knees
Beggin' me please, come watch me bleed

The music changed back to the soft melody and Sabrina too changed back into a bruised and bloodied woman who was condemning herself to her life.

Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed
Only women bleed

The song ended like a current drifting away out to sea. The studio was quiet as the last guitar notes from Beth's acoustic faded from the range of hearing.

The crowd, along with the backstage cast and crew; erupted into cheers and clapping. People jumped to their feet in the audience and gave Sabrina and her band a standing ovation as the show went to commercial. With a few bows and acknowledgements to her band, Sabrina left the stage. Everyone backstage clapped her on the back as she went by.