``````````````````````

After the band had finished their pizza and packed up they all headed back to the hotel and crashed in their respective rooms after the five hour practice from hell.

This excluding Meg, who had excessive energy left over from their late afternoon coffee run and was running through the girls' room like crazy, repeatedly finding things to do that were extremely important--such as lining up the contents of the minibar in alphabetical order.
Alyssa looked, agitatedly, away from the tv screen--blaring a Dick Van-Dike rerun-- to her sister.
"Meg!" she accused.
Meg stopped in the middle of the kitchen and looked at her in state of semi-shock at the interuption.
"What are you doing?" Alyssa asked. Aimee groaned in anticipation. Possibly of Meg's answer, possibly of the argument this may enduce.
Meg shrugged.
"Can you either not do it or do it somewhere else?" Alyssa asked.
Meggin sighed and left, barefoot, out the door.

Isaac was in the hall, standing outside the door to his own room, key card in hand.
"Hey!" he greeted, cheerfully. He was obviously happy with the rehearsal they'd just been through. "Did they throw you out again?"
"Yes." she confirmed, "What are you doing out here?"
"Vending machine." he waved a Snickers bar at her, "You can hang out in here if you want." Ike offered, opening the door.
She nodded and followed him inside.
"Hey. I come bearing tiddings of meggin." Ike announced to his brothers, who were sitting on one of the beds, playing cards.
"Meggie!" Taylor screamed, without looking up. Zac held out a hand to her.
"What are you playing?" Meg asked, going over to them and grabbing Zac's hand. When you spend every waking hour with the same people, for some reason you get very touchy. The whole group was always sitting and sleeping all over each other.
"Poker. I'm winning."
"No you're not."
"No I'm not."
Meg pulled on Zac's hand.
"Why is everyone so boring today?"
"Sorry." Tay appoligized, lamely.
Meg sighed "I'm gonna go look at the giant rocking chairs." she announced, "When Aimee and Alyssa come looking for me, tell them I was heart broken when they made me leave so I threw myself into traffic."

``````````````````````

Sure as they always do, her sisters did come searching her out near an hour later.
"Something about throwing herself at a giant rocking chair." Taylor muttered. He had switched over to watching tv after losing at poker.
"And no one stopped her?" Aimee asked, incredulously.
"She's seventeen." Isaac reasoned, using the same tone she had.
"Yeah, but she's...I dunno, weird." Aimee answered.
"She has a cell phone, you know." Zac stated, blankly.
"Oh yeah." Aimee said, remembering her common sense.
"She's your sister, why don't you know these things?" he laughed.
"You know what, I'll sell her to you." Aimee muttered, going for the phone.
"Forget it." Zac reached over for the phone from her and put it back down, "I'll just go find her." he got up and sauntered, lazily, over to the door and left.

```````````````````

The city of Charlotte, North Carolina is covered in giant rocking chairs. Meg was taking pictures to send home to her brother of one when someone walked up behind her and covered her eyes.
"Guess who."
"Umm...Jim? Bob?..Jim Bob?" she asked, innocently.
"Close." Zac took his hands off her eyes and wrapped his arms around her neck, "What are you doing?" he asked, boredly, "They're looking for you...Meggie, you're not wearing shoes."
"I know, I know. I didn't realize it until I was outside." She answered, snapping another picture of the cadillac style chair.
"Want a piggie back ride?" he asked.
"Nah." she shrugged.
"Want me to carry you?"
"Nope."
"How 'bout if I just knock you out and sling you over my shoulder, Waters." he tightened his grip into a headlock, "You're gettin' on my nerves."
"Oh, go away." Meg shrugged him off of her and started to walk away, "Lets go, Hanson, keep up."
"Oh!" he raised his arms into the air as she walked ahead of him and announced to the sky, "She's gonna race me barefoot!" he swept up behind her and grabbed her at the waist, raising her over his head.
"Hey!" Meg kicked her feet, "Lemme go, Hanson, you woman!"
"Oh no she did not." Zac swung Meg back  to the ground and started tickling her furiously until she screamed for mercy.

```````````````````

The next morning, everyone met in the hotel sitting room to await news of the day's battle plan.
"Good morning!" Lennon screamed, walking in with Matt, their very very quiet band member.
"Morning, Lenny." Alyssa answered, before going back to her conversation with Aimee. The three girls were sitting on a leather couch against the far wall.
"Don't call me Lenny, sweetheart." he said, far too tired of the whole situation to argue much.
"Hi, Lennon." Aimee corrected, "Hi, Matt."
Matt smiled.
"Thank you, Aimee." Lennon stated. They smiled at each other and everyone else exchanged looks.
"What?" lennon asked, catching their exchange.
It was suspected within the group that Aimee and Lennon were secretly seeing each other.

"What?!" he asked again, but louder.
"Get a room already." Matt laughed, quietly, as he shook his head and smiled at the floor.
Lennon gave him the most fake hurt look he could conjure up, "How come everytime you gotta talk, you're makin' fun of me?" he shook his head in disgust and turned back to the girls, "What's going on today? And what's wrong with Meg?"
Meg was asleep on aimee's shoulder.
"the guys have a photo shoot then we're meeting them for lunch before rehearsal." Ayssa answered, "And Meggin and Zac were up all night terrorizing people in the elevator."
Mrs. Hanson walked into the room and addressed them.
"Good morning, everyone. It was made my job to tell you to be back here by twelve, alright?"
"Yep." Aimee answered.
"Great. Then I set you lose on the world. Have fun."
"We all had to get up, get dressed, and come all the way down here for THAT?!" Lennon called after as she walked away. She just smiled over her shoulder at him.

"Come on, come on." Alyssa jumped up and turned to her sisters, "Wake Meg up, we're going shopping."

```````````````````````

"Meggin...Meg...Meg, come in Meg, come in."
Meg snapped to attention.
"What? You don't need me for this one." she glanced around in a combination of confusion and agitation.
They were in rehearsal and she was spacing out completely.
"Yeah we do." Isaac answered, "We added a flute part on this one, remember?"
It was Meg's part in the band to provide any obscure instrument they decided to throw in. Such as sax, violin, trumpet and, in this case, flute.
She muttered something that slightly resembled 'oh yeah' and moved over to the side of the stage where her flute was.

"Are you okay?" Lennon asked softly, as she opened up her flute case.
"Yeah." she answered, absently.
"Liar."
"Shut up, Lennon."
"Yeah! Shut up, Lennon!" Taylor echoed, eager for a chance to annoy him.
"Yeah, shut up." Isaac agreed, though he was a little bit more serious than anyone else.
"Fine!" Lennon defended, "Always picking on me.."

`````````````````

"Sh, sh, sh, sh!" Aimee laughed, "They'll hear us!"
Her and Meg were sitting on the floor in the opening between stage and backstage. The concert was half over and they were not needed on the current song.
Their sister however, was hammering on the bells, in hysterics. Alyssa provided back-up percussion for the band.
"Stop making her laugh!" Aimee moaned.
Meg pulled another face at Alyssa and she nearly doubled over in laughter.
When the song ended, she came over.
"Yeah, baby!" Meg laughed, "Play that glockenspeil!"
"That's it, Meggin." Alyssa warned, "When this is over..we're fighting."
Meg grabbed her sax and stood up, prepping for the next song.
"Okay, you can't make me laugh." she giggled, "You can't play sax and laugh."
"Will you guys shut up?" Lennon asked, as Meg came out onto the stage, "Someone's gonna hear you."
Meg gestured towards the audience.
"There are thousands of screaming girls out there, no one can hear us."
"I can."
They all looked up at Zac, who had turned away from the drums and was looking back at them. Everyone was still for a second.

Then Meg threw up.

``````````````````

There was a knock on the girls' hotel room door, later on after the show. Zac opened it and walked in without waiting to get an answer.
"Hey, sunshine!"
Meg was laying on the couch, wrapped in a blanket.
"Hi." she muttered.
"How you feeling?" he asked, sitting down on her feet.
"Oh God.." she burried her face in the couch, "Embarassed."
Zac laughed.
"At least it was the last song. You know, you should have told me you were sick."
"Don't berate me please." she asked, simply.
"Sorry." he offered, just as simply.
An erruption of laughter came from the bathroom.
"What are they doing?" Zac asked, glancing from the door to Meg again.
"dying Alyssa's hair."
He gasped.
"But then you won't have the tri-color thing!"
The girls, naturally, had three different colors of hair--which often amased, or at least amused, other people.
"No, they're just dying it a different shade. It'll still be brown. They do it all the time." Meg told him.
"Really?" he pulled on a strand of her hair, "Do you do it too?"
"Nice try." she said, flatly.
The guys were always trying to prove that Meg's hair color was fake. It was how they entertained themselves.
Zac put his hands up in defense.
"Okay." he got up to leave and stopped at the door, turning back to her, "Next time you're gonna throw up, Waters, just remember that we'll make you clean it up."

```````````````

"Aimee? What the fuck?"
Aimee honked the horn as she drove up outside the venue on a light purple Harley.
"where'd that come from?" Meg asked.
"I borrowed it." Aimee shrugged, innocently. She had a way of using her sexuality to get things. All she woud have had to do was  flash her bedroom eyes at the poor boy, pout, and promise she'd be right back.
"You know the show starts in half an hour, right?" Alyssa asked, "Not a good time to go riding around."
"I know. We left a guitar at the hotel and we need it. Alyssa, you have to come and hold it while I drive."
"Okay!" Alyssa hopped on the back of the bike, "Meggie, tell them we'll be right back."
"Umm.." Meg stuttered as Aimee reved up the bike, "Okay, but hurry...."
Aimee grinned in response and waved as they drove away.

``````````````````````````

With five minutes to the show, the girls weren't back yet.
Meggin sat outside with Lennon and waited, as he tuned a guitar.
"Where are they?" she questioned, rhetorically. Staring out at the road. The audience has already been pack inside and the parking lot was clear of movement.
"Mm." Lennon agreed, "Relax, M, they'll make it." he muttered, in distraction.
"Well, they need to hurry!" she said, frustratedly as she stood up. "Come on, Len, we need to go get ready." she opened the back door and went inside.
"No sign of them?" Zac asked, as she emerged into the backstage area, Lennon behind her.
"No." she mumbled.
"Don't worry about it. We have back up on back up, we'll be okay. Come on." he waved her over to the opening to the stage. "You ready to go?" he asked, peeking out over the crowd. It was one of his favorite things to do.
Meg shrugged.
"I guess." she said, devoid of enthusiasm.
Zac turned to look at her.
"I'm sure they're fine, Meggie bear." he said, softly, stroking her hair, "Traffic or something."

Half of the show bypassed them, with the guys looking back at Meg between songs, her playing absently, and glancing over at Walker who kept running outside to check for them. By now, everyone was worried.
There was no news however, until the show was more than three-thirds the way over.

Walker got a call on his cell, rushed out of the venue and didn't come back.
The last few songs lasted forever for Meg. When it was finally over, her and the guys left without helping to pack up.

They ran through the crowds outside the hotel and stopped dead inside when they saw Walker and Diana standing there waiting for them.
Diana had obviously been crying and Walker looked exhausted.
Meg stumbled backwards a few steps at the sight of them. She knew what was coming, there was no beating around it. No fanfare necessary.
"They're dead, aren't they?" she told more than asked, deadpan in both face and voice.
"Honey-" Diana started. Meg put her hand up, cutting her off, as she stepped back a few steps more. When she reached the door, she turned and bolted.
Isaac turned back to look at his parents.
"Should we really just let her go like that?" he asked, unsure of what he should be doing.
"I think we have to." Walker answered, staring after her.

```````````````````

"Meg! Meg, where are you?!...oh God..." Taylor put his hand over his mouth as he hurried back down the street, towards the hotel, "Oh, Meggin...shit.." he muttered.
Zac was standing outside in the dark, waiting.
"Dad called the police." he stated, once Taylor had reached him.
"About fucking time. Why couldn't we have called sooner?"
"Didn't want to scare her." Zac answered, monotoneously.
"Zac, are you okay?" Taylor asked.
Zac nodded, "I just realized how small she is..." he shifted from one foot to the other, "I can't stand here anymore, I have to find her." he took off in the opposite direction than Taylor had come from.

Taylor sighed and continued on, into the dark, searching for some kind of sign or anything to point them in the direction of Meggin.

``````````````````

An hour later, they were still searching the city, and Meg was no where to be found.
"We shouldn't have let her run off like that." Tay groaned in frustration as him and Mack searched the same street they'd searched three times.
"Tay." Mackie stated, "Pointing across the street at a super tall building.
"What?" Taylor asked, looking over at the building.
"On top, moron!"
He looked to the top of the building.
Hair blowing around her, he could see the dark shilloutte of a girl, standing still on the edge, staring out at the sky.
"Fuck!" Tay screamed, running across the street.
By sheer luck, the door was unlocked. He ran inside and, rather than wait for the elevator, headed for the stairs.
Adrenaline got him up seventeen flights of stairs and onto the roof. Standing on a three foot cement wall that wrapped around the edge of the roof, was Meg.
"No!" Taylor screamed.
He bolted over to her and grabbed her around the middle, pulling her backwards off the wall.
His knees collapsed underneath him and he landed on the cement, clutching her to his chest, rocking back and forth.
"It'll be okay." he whispered, "It'll be okay..."
She didn't say anything. She was shaking like crazy and her hands were balled into tight fists.
Within a couple minutes, Isaac, Zac, Walker, and Mack appeared on the roof too.
Walker knealt down next to them.
"Mackie called us." he said softly, "Lets get her back to the hotel." he held out his arms and Taylor passed her over to him before standing up and following them back.
Once they got back to the hotel, they decided that Meg should not spend the night alone, so Ike, Tay, and Zac stayed in the room with her. It was uncomfortable for them, not knowing if they should say anything, or what to say if they did. For a while they just sat there in silence before Meg finally spoke. She was laying on her stomach, outside the covers, on her bed and didn't even open her eyes to speak.
"Please don't be quiet." she said softly.
Isaac glanced at his brothers then stood up slowly.
"What do you want to do, Meggie?...How 'bout we watch tv."  he waited for a response but didn't get one, so he just took the remote from the bedside table and turned on the television, "Cosby Show. Cosby Show's funny." he offered, before resuming his spot, sitting against the pillows of one of the other beds.
Taylor sat down next to him and pretended to be interested in The Cosby Show as well.
Zac crawled up next to Meg, facing her so he could see her face.
"Were you gonna jump?" he asked softly.
"I don't know." she whispered, eyes never opening.
"Are you gonna be okay?" Concern was evident in his voice.
"Maybe tomorrow." she offered.
He smiled sadly, even though she couldn't see him.
"Meggie...I can't...imagine what's happening inside you right now, but...don't stop being you...you know?" he paused, waiting for her to make some sign she heard him, but she didn't, " Maybe..maybe not today, hell not even tomorrow, but someday you have to be Meggin again...or some version of Meggin...God, what am I saying?" he closed his eyes for a second, "Look, I've never been alone. I have Ike and Tay and it's great, but it does something. I don't think I'd know how to be me without them..I just..I just, I want you to be you. Just be you different...like, forever. You know?....Forever."
She sighed.
"I know. But...maybe tomorrow. We'll start forever tomorrow."
Zac smiled and kissed the end of her nose
"Go to sleep." he suggested.

````````````````

The next morning, Isaac, Taylor, Zac, Lennon, and Matt accompanied Meg to the airport. She had a seat on the eight o'clock flight from Charlotte back to Hoboken.
"You know we love you, right?" Lennon asked, hugging her goodbye.
"I know. And I love you all too." she smiled softly, going to hug Matt.
"Take care, kiddo." Matt said, kissing her goodbye.
Meg hugged the rest of them, took a last look at thm, then set to walk off.
"Are you gonna come back to visit us?" Lennon called after her, desperate to reassure himself it wasn't all over.
"Oh, she'll be back." Zac answered, "She's our girl!"
Meg turned back and smiled, tears lining her eyes.
"Forever!" she called.
"Yes! Forever!" Zac yelled back to her, "A New Forever..."