Music and Passion

"Thank you Austin!" I yelled into the microphone before exiting the stage with the rest of Before Dawn. We had a packed out show tonight. Who knew we all had so many fans in Texas!

"What a rush," Keith breathed with a grin.

"You look like you have a coat hanger in your mouth," Randy snickered, poking Keith`s cheek to emphasize his point.

He immediately swatted his hand away and muttered, "Yeah, yeah. Shut up."

Jeff nodded to himself and murmured, "It was a good show."

"Good crowd too," Nikki pointed out.

"It was," Jeff agreed with a chuckle.

"It feels so good to be back on stage!" I gushed. "If only I could move round like I used to."

Randy snickered and opened his mouth to say something but Jeff slapped his hand over his mouth before he could.

"You move around just fine," Jeff assured.

I snorted. "Trying to lie to me to get back in my good graces isn`t going to work. I`m five months pregnant. I know I waddle instead of walk."

"You do not waddle," Nikki insisted.

Keith grinned and added, "But your pretty damn close."

I pouted and flipped him off, making the rest of my band laugh. While they continued to laugh I made my way to Dir En Gey`s dressing room. They all should be showered and ready to go by now. My band closed the show this time per Toshiya`s insistence. He said something about me needing more rest. I think. I`m not sure. I mostly tuned him out the second I noticed Kyo changing his shirt. It wasn`t that I meant to stare or anything. He just...has very nice tattoos. And surprisingly nice tattoos. You know, I don`t think Iv`e ever seen him smirk as much as he did when he caught me staring.

"Anyone home?" I called into the room while knocking on the door.

"You can come in, Sam. We`re all dressed," Kaoru called back.

"You won`t be able to stare at Kyo this time," Toshiya teased as I walked through the door.

"Oh hush," I huffed at him. I walked over to Kyo and carefully sat down next to him.

"Hello," he murmured.

"Hi. So, are we still going out tomorrow?" I whispered.

He nodded and whispered, "We stop at a hotel at five so I thought by six we could go out."

I nodded. "That works."

"What are you two whispering about?" Die asked.

"Something naughty?" Toshiya teased.

I rolled my eyes and pointed to my belly. "You think I can do something naughty like this?"

"There are pregnant women who enjoy a healthy sex life," Kaoru informed with a chuckle.

Kyo and I shared a look, only to look away seconds later. I`m sure we just gave ourselves away.

"Are you two wanting a sex life?" Kaoru questioned.

Kyo shrugged. "I would mind. I don`t think I`d be gentle enough though."

I felt my face heat up. Well we definitely gave ourselves away now. "How gentle do you think you`d have to be?"

"Enough to not hurt the baby," he murmured.

Kaoru began to explain just how cradled and protected the baby really is but I quickly found myself drowning it out. As sweet as it was that it appeared Kaoru had done research I was distracted by the man sitting next to me.

I placed a kiss to Kyo`s cheek. "Thank you for caring about my baby."

He looked surprised for a second before a little smile graced his lips. "It`s a part of you. I can`t help but care."

I grinned at his words. He may not think he can be a father but he sure seems to care enough. This man is starting to become a walking contradiction, I swear. One minute he holds no interest when it comes to the baby and the next I find him reading my baby book. I meant it! When I was staying on their bus I caught him reading a baby book I brought with me. He claimed it was because he couldn`t sleep but I have my doubts.

I placed a kiss to his cheek and very carefully, but with a bit of difficulty, stood up. "Iv`e gotta go guys." I received groans of disappointment that I waved off. "I`ll see you all tomorrow."

I made my way to Before Dawn`s dressing room to shower and get ready to leave the venue. We`ll be driving most of the night to the next city for our day off. Unfortunately most of it will be spent on a bus. It wasn`t exactly the ideal way to spend the day but it worked. Most of the time anyway. Cramped up on a bus all day can make anyone butt heads. Especially crazy men who happen to be musicians.

"I can`t wait to sleep in a hotel bed tomorrow," Keith groaned as he plopped down into a bus chair.

I rolled my eyes and asked, "What makes me think they`ll be good beds?"

He scoffed. "Your just bitter because everything hurts your back now that your pregnant."

I glowered. He`s trying to push my buttons and he`s succeeding.

"Would you rather stay on Buck-Tick`s bus? I don`t think they`ve left yet," Jeff offered. "It`ll get you away from Keith."

"I`ll be fine," I muttered. "He`s just trying to be an asshole."

"What else is new?" Randy snickered.

"Hey!" Keith protested. "I can be nice!"

I rolled my eyes and decided to drown him out. Instead I turned my attention to Nikki who was sprawled out on our little couch. He looked absolutely exhausted.

"Nikki," I whispered. "Go to bed, sweetheart. It looks like you need it."

"But you aren`t ready to go to sleep yet," he murmured.

"That doesn`t matter. Go lay down," I instructed. "I`ll join you when I feel like it."

Nikki eyed me for a minute and then let out a huff and stood up. He placed a kiss to my cheek and left for the bunks. I watched him crawl into his bunk before I laid down on the couch he vacated. I think he`s been over doing it. That or covering for me really took it`s toll on him. So tomorrow I`m gonna make sure he gets as much sleep as possible.

"You alright, Sam?"

I glanced at Jeff and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, I`m fine."

"The baby doing okay?" He asked.

"The baby is just fine," I chuckled. "What are you so worried about all the sudden?"

"I just want you two to be okay. You already passed out on us once. Its kinda hard not to worry after that."

"I can understand that."

Jeff nodded. "So I uh, I hear you have a hot date tomorrow."

I groaned and covered my face with my hands. How the hell did he find out? I tried everything I could to keep it a secret from him so he didn`t freak out and go all protective big brother on me and Kyo. "Who told you?"

"Your not as good at keeping secrets as you think," He chuckled.

I gave him a pointed look and motioned to my stomach. "You were saying?"

He rolled his eyes and said, "That`s beside the point."

"Is it?" I snickered.

"On another note," he groaned. "I wanted to talk to you about this date."

"What do you wanna know?" I grumbled.

"Where you are going, what time you`ll be back and what Kyo`s intentions with you are."

I started at him in shock for a good few minutes before I finally asked, "Are you kidding me?"

Jeff frowned. "Why would I joke about this? This isn`t some random guy your having a fun little outing with. You have a baby to think about, Sam."

I cleared my throat and carefully sat up. "Listen, I appreciate your concern. I really do. It means a lot to me to have friends so willing to protect me and my child. But Kyo and I have already discussed this. Besides, this date is really just to see if we could even attempt to be more than friends. Things could be absolutely awkward and nothing comes of it. Kyo knows I have my child to think about and he understands that. Like I said, we already discussed this. You don`t need to worry about this, okay? Everything will be fine."

"I understand that," he murmured. "But I feel like I watched you grow up, you know? So seeing you go out with guys can be hard for me. After what happened with James and now that you have a baby on the way it`s hard for me to not worry."

Once again I was shocked by his words. Though I guess I shouldn`t be. Being the oldest, Jeff has always taken on this kind of fatherly role. Always trying to protect us, scolding us even when he probably shouldn`t but his worry getting the best of him, he was always trying to take care of us.

"Thank you, Jeff. Thank you for worrying even though I don`t think you need to. But in the event that something goes wrong, I give you full permission to beat up Kyo."

He laughed and nodded. "Thank you for that. But I don`t think beating him up would be possible. He`d probably kill me before I could try anything."

"Probably," I chuckled.

The rest of the night was spent talking, laughing, reliving some good memories and Jeff generally making up for trying to be over protective. This time I didn`t mind it as much after hearing the reason behind it.

The next day was spent sleeping for as long as possible in a moving bus. Unfortunately that wasn`t very long. By ten I was wide awake and irritated. Let`s just say I would of liked to of slept in till at least noon. Oh yes, noon would of been lovely. But no, it had to be ten. Damn bus. At least Nikki got more sleep than I did. Even if it was for thirty minutes. The poor thing woke up grumpy and still exhausted. Hopefully he`ll be able to sleep better and longer tonight.

Around noon we made a quick stop to grab lunch and we didn`t stop again until six when we arrived at the hotel. It wasn`t extremely fancy but it was nice and there was a decent sized bathtub that I could relax in later. And the beds were pretty soft so that was a plus.

After getting settled into my room with Nikki I spent about thirty minutes looking through my bag for a dress to wear. It was more of a struggle to find something to fit my ever growing belly than anything else. The idea of maternity shopping irks me but I know I`ll have to do it soon before nothing fits.

I finally found a nice black dress to wear and began getting ready for my date. But not without being teased by Nikki. It seemed tonight he was taking on the role of older brother. Not only was he teasing me, he was also telling me all the things he would do to Kyo is he hurt me. I don`t think Iv`e ever snorted or snickered so much during one conversation. I almost smacked his head at one point to get him to shut up. I know his words were just that. Harmless words. But goodness that boy can annoy the hell out of me when he wants to.

I had just finished my makeup and was in the middle of putting on my shoes when there was a knock on the door. Nikki just about bolted to the door so he could answer it. When he opened the door to reveal Kyo standing there I was sure the singer was going to get a lecture. But Nikki surprised me and said nothing.

"Hey, Kyo," I greeted while standing up from the bed.

"Hey. Ready to go?" He asked.

"Yeah," I chuckled. "You got here just in time."

He chuckled a little and nodded. "Let`s go then."

"Gonna tell me where we`re going?" I teased.

"Not a chance," he teased back.

I playfully rolled my eyes and followed him out of the room. He`s lucky I don`t mind surprises. Usually anyway. Sometimes they aren`t the best but I bet this one will be good. Well, I hope so anyway.

"Hey, Kyo can I talk to you for a minute?" Nikki suddenly spoke up.

"Oh dear," I muttered. This can`t be good.

"Sure," Kyo murmured, shooting me a confused look.

All I could do was shrug and mouth 'sorry'. I`d explain later that Nikki was just being protective. But for now I couldn`t really do anything other than watch. If Nikki was too hard on him I`d do my best to interrupted and pull Kyo away but hopefully it wouldn`t go that far.

Nikki pulled Kyo to the side and began to whisper something in his ear. Kyo seemed highly amused thought it seemed he was trying to hide it. After a few minutes my guitarist pulled away and patted the singer on the back.

"Take care of her," Nikki said with a slight grin.

Kyo nodded. "Of course."

"Can we go now?" I questioned.

"Yeah," Kyo murmured. "Let`s go." After we were out of hearing range he asked, "Is he always like this?"

I chuckled and shook my head. "No. He was fine until I started getting ready. I think Jeff got to him this morning?"

"Got to him? What do you mean?"

"Last night Jeff kind of gave me a lecture about our date and basically told me to think about my kid before anything else."

Kyo tilted his head to the side and asked, "Does he not want us together?"

I smiled and shook my head. "No. It was just his way of showing he cares by being over protective. Jeff is the oldest so he kind of takes on the role of the parent in our group."

"He`s like your leader," Kyo murmured.

"I guess so."

"Kaoru`s like that with us. He`s almost like a parent at times."

"It can be a pain in the ass can`t it?" I asked with a snicker.

Kyo followed me into the elevator as he spoke, "Oh yes it is."

"So, are you really not going to tell me where we`re going?" I asked.

He smirked and shook his head. "Not a chance."

"You`re lucky I don`t normally mind surprises."

"Mhmm I`m sure I am."

I smirked and rolled my eyes. "Oh hush."