The Perfect Job By: Auds

*Chapter 26*

Urs turned round slowly not sure if he was hearing things. He looked up and saw Auds sitting halfway down the stairs. He turned and said to David “Can you see Auds as well or am I just imagining things?” David smiled at his friend and said “yes, I can see her as well.” He turned back to her then took a few steps towards her. Simon patted David on the arm and nodded towards the lounge door. David nodded and shutting the front door followed him through and said “Has she been here the whole time?” Simon nodded “When she came to see me, she was in a terrible state and she didn’t have a clue where she was going, just kept saying it would be somewhere Urs would never find her. I couldn’t let her leave in the state she was in as anything could have happened to her and we would never know.” he looked at David then said “I said she could come and stay with me until she was ready to be found.” David shook his head in amazement then said “but you’ve seen how much this has been hurting Urs, and you’ve known all along where she was.” “Yes, but she didn’t want him to know and at least if she was here I could keep an eye on her and make sure she was eating properly. I came home every night and told her how bad Urs was and I let her talk to me if she wanted to. If she was out there on her own somewhere I couldn’t have done that and I would have been as worried as you guys.” said Simon.

Out on the stairs things were quiet. Urs had sat down a few steps below Auds and was just looking at her, he couldn’t believe that she was there, in front of him. He took in how thin she looked, the dark circles under her eyes which were red from crying. He could still see pain in her eyes and it made him feel even worse knowing he was the cause of it. He opened his mouth to speak when Auds said “ I heard everything Urs, Jodie’s confession, how you really felt, everything. I was sitting in the kitchen, but I panicked when Simon told you to come in and I ran upstairs.” Urs nodded and said “he did look a bit confused when I came back .” Auds managed a weak smile and said “I don’t think he’s used to having a woman in his house, never mind one that spends most of her time crying and running away from him.” Urs tried to hide the grin that was appearing on his face by looking down at the floor. He looked back up at Auds again and said “I really am sorry, both you and David were telling me that Jodie wasn’t to be trusted and I was just being sucked in by her. I didn’t even notice that she never made any effort to be friends with anyone else.” He looked away again then said “this past week has been so hard, I got so bad that I even lost the will to sing. I did the last few shows in America so badly that I’m sure the fans could tell I wasn’t wanting to be there. My body was there, but my spirit and my voice definitely wasn’t.” Auds stared at him, noticing how pale he was and how he’d lost some weight from his face and his body. His eyes had lost their sparkle and their ability to drown anybody who got caught looking into them. “Have you not been eating? She asked him. He shook his head “Not unless I was being forced to, I have spent all my time when I wasn’t working looking for you, I never bother stopping to eat anything.” Auds sighed and said “I’m sorry as well, I sometimes wish that I had never got the job, because then I would never have met you and we wouldn’t be here now in all this pain.” Urs shook his head and said “Don’t say that, meeting you and falling in love with you has been the best thing to ever happen to me. I could see us being together forever.” he let the tears start falling again and he turned away from her.

He felt an arm go round his shoulder pulling him in close as Auds had moved down to sit beside him. He leant his head against her shoulder and she let him cry until he had stopped then she waited until he lifted his head to look at her and she said “I know that you love me and I still love you, I always will, but…” Urs felt his heart sink when she said that and he looked away. She brought his face back round to look at her with her hand and said “But…I don’t want us to go back to the way we were before. We never talked, we didn’t trust each other, that’s why we kept arguing and falling out. I want us to take things really slowly this time.” Urs smiled through the tears and said “I can do that, but how slowly are we talking about?” he asked. She looked at him then smiled and said “I want us to be friends first off all, we just seemed to go straight into being a couple, we never really got to know each other first. Simon wouldn’t take my resignation, just told me to take some leave and to come back when I felt ready. So I will come back to work, but you and me are only going to be friends and we are going to talk more and get to know each other properly and if anything happens after all that then maybe we are meant to be. But if it doesn’t then it doesn’t and I will still have a wonderful friend in my life.”

Urs nodded although he didn’t like the thought of not having Auds in his life as anything less than his girlfriend, he would do everything she asked him to do and just hope that they were really meant to be.

They sat there in silence for a while then Auds got up and went down into the lounge, Urs sighed and followed her. Simon and David looked up as the door opened and they watched as Auds then Urs walked through it. They sat down beside each other and Simon looked at Urs and said “I’m sorry I never told you she was here, but she kept saying she would walk away if I told you.” Urs looked at their manager and thought how hard it must have been on him to have known where she was and not be able to tell him. He shook his head and said “Don’t worry about it, I would have done the same, all that matters is that I have found her now.” David looked at Auds who was sitting quietly. “So, are you two going to be alright?” Auds looked at him and said “We’re not going to be a couple anymore. I want us just to be friends, get to really know each other properly and if we are meant to be together it will happen eventually.” David looked shocked at this and said “I am so sorry Auds, I should never have brought Jodie out to stay with me.” Auds shook her head and said “Its not your fault David, if anything, she made me realise how easily we fell apart. I thought that we were really strong but she showed me that we weren’t.” Auds looked at Simon and said “I owe you big time Simon, you let me come and stay with you this week knowing that you would have to go see Urs every day.” He smiled at her and said “I wasn’t going to let you just walk out of my office and disappear, the state you were in anything could have happened.” “Well, I shall just go and get my things and get out of your way now that I can go back to my own place.” she said standing up. Simon stopped her and said “Just sit back down, its far too late to start packing and leaving, stay tonight and you can go home tomorrow if you really want to.” Auds looked at Simon in surprise and said “I thought you would be glad to get rid of me, all I’ve done all week is cry and run away when you tried to talk to me.” Simon grinned and said “True, but I’ve kind of got used to having someone else in the house. I’ll miss it when you go.” Auds got up and gave him a hug then said “Thank you, but I really should go back to my own place tomorrow.” Simon nodded and said “That’s okay, I understand.” David stood up then and said “We really must get going as well, it is late and we’ve all got work tomorrow.” he gave Auds a hug and said “Will we see you at the office?” She shook her head. “I’m not going to start back until you start the Castle shows, so I have another couple days free.” She turned to look at Urs and said “I’ll talk to you soon, yeah?” Urs nodded and gave her a quick hug. Then Simon showed David and Urs out the front door.

*Chapter 27*

Over at Seb’s place he and Sonia were lying in bed talking about Urs, unaware that he had found Auds, and how worried they were about him. Seb had his arm round Sonia who was cuddled into his side with her head on his shoulder. He ran his fingers slowly up and down her arm as he said “I feel so sorry for him, I know he was a complete idiot for doing what he did, but he is hurting so bad right now that I really believe that if he doesn’t find her soon, he’s going to just give up altogether.” Sonia was trying to listen to him, but was battling against the feelings his wandering fingers were producing. “He really didn’t want to do those last shows did he?” she said. Seb shook his head and said “It took all 3 of us plus Steve to get him to agree to do them, but you could tell he didn’t want to be there. He just wanted to get back to London and start looking for her.” He moved his arm from around her shoulder and placed his hand on her thigh and continued to let his fingers wander over her again. She let out a quiet moan as the feelings grew stronger. She lifted her head and turned to look at him. He could see the look in her eyes and he smiled. He bent down to kiss her mouth then placed a trail of kisses down over her throat and neck. All thoughts of Auds and Urs were forgotten as Seb ran his hand up Sonia’s leg and under her nightdress pulling it up with him as he lifted it over her head and threw it down onto the floor followed by his boxers. He pushed Sonia softly back down onto the bed and placed kisses all the way down her body then back up to her mouth. He could hear her moaning softly and after teasing her a bit more he finally made love to her.

Carlos was just returning home from a date with Michelle, he had dropped her off at her place and told her he had had a wonderful time as he always did whenever she was around. She had blushed and he had given her one of his kisses that always left her feeling as though she couldn’t move for ages afterwards. Her two weeks of holiday had ended but as they were in the UK for the next few weeks she was still able to see him. She had actually gone back to work for the week they were in the office and had taken more time off the following weeks so she could go to all the Castle shows with him. He sat himself down with a drink and thought about her, about how she made him feel, he thought about her all the time, he missed her when she wasn’t there and he was finding it harder to pull away at the end of each night. He knew she wanted to take things slowly and he was doing that, but he never realised how hard it was to have someone in his life who he cared about so deeply but not being able to go any further than just kissing her goodnight. He had hoped when she had showed up in America that it was her way of saying “I’m ready.” But she hadn’t said it and he hadn’t wanted to push her. He sighed and wandered through into his bedroom and got into bed and fell asleep almost straight away thinking of her.

David dropped Urs off at his apartment after he refused David’s offer to stay at his for the night. He got back to his own place and looked at the mess they’d left behind in the kitchen, all the now cold food that was stuck to the bottom of the pans, he sighed and left them where they were and got ready for bed then sat down and picked up the phone to call Janice. She answered and he smiled and said “Hey baby, how are you?” “I’m fine babe, missing you though.” Yeah, I miss you too. You’ll never guess what happened tonight?” “What, have you finished picking the songs for the new album? Tell me what they are, please” David grinned and said “No, its much better that, Urs found Auds, or rather Auds found Urs.” he heard Janice scream then she said “OMG, that is awesome, where was she, how is she, how is he, what happened, are they back together?” David laughed and said “Well, if you let me get a word in I can tell you!!” He then told her the whole story of how Urs had finally talked to him and they had gone to Simon’s to get a number and the confession from Jodie and how she had appeared just before they were about to leave.” “So she had been staying with Simon all this time and he never let on?” she said amazed. “How did Urs react to that?” “Better than how he’s reacting to what Auds said, I think” He heard Janice sigh then she said “Why, what did Auds say?” “I’m not entirely sure of everything she said, but the main part of it was that she didn’t want them to be a couple anymore, she just wants them to be friends and to get to know each other properly and if they really were meant to be then it would happen eventually and if it didn’t, then they would still be friends.” he said sadly. “Oh god, poor Urs, is he still there with you?” David shook his head before remembering she was on the phone and said “No, he just wanted to be alone, I dropped him off at his apartment then came home.” He sighed and said “Auds and Urs have both said they don’t blame me for bringing Jodie over, but I can’t help it Jan, they were doing fine before she appeared and she is my sister, so I feel responsible for what she does.” “Listen David, I know what Jodie is like too, and you can’t blame yourself for anything she does.” He sighed again then said “I wish you were here baby, I could use one of your hugs right now and to be able to fall asleep with you in my arms. I love you so much and I can’t wait to get back home and to you.” “I love you too David and I can’t wait for you to get back here either.” She sighed then said “what are you going to do when you hang up?” David grinned as he looked down at what he was wearing. “Well, I was going to go to bed, I’m sitting here in just my boxers.” Janice smiled to herself as she pictured him sitting there then said “I hope you’re still keeping that look for the one special Diva in your life?” David grinned and said cheekily “Well of course, I’m actually just waiting for her to arrive, she should be here any minute.” He heard Janice gasp then say “David Millar, if I was there I would hit you.” “If you were here Jan, I wouldn’t be needing her.” then he laughed. “Seriously honey, if you were here, I wouldn’t even be thinking of sleeping, there are far too many other ways to pass time.” he grinned then groaned as he looked at the time. “I have to get some sleep hun, I’ve got another early day tomorrow.” “Okay babe, tell Urs I’m asking for him and not to lose hope with Auds and I love you.” “Sure, I’ll see you soon babe and I love you too.” then he hung up and got into bed wondering how he could get to see her sooner rather than later.


The next couple of days passed pretty quickly, Seb and Carlos were happy when Urs had told them he had found Auds and the girls had been on the phone to her straight away when they heard. The songs for the new album had been discussed and decided. They would go into the studio after they had done the upcoming shows and had a holiday. They had their first show the next night at Warwick Castle and although they had done this show practically every night for the last six months, they were still nervous each of them for different reasons. Carlos, because he realised that time was running out for him and Michelle and he was lost as to what to do or say to make her open up to him more. David, because he didn’t have Janice with him and she’d started this thing about giving him a kiss just before he went on stage and now she couldn’t do that. Urs, because tomorrow was going to be the first day Auds was back working for them and he wasn’t sure how she was going to react around him. Seb was the only one who was actually happy and enjoying things. They were making their own ways to Warwick, as they didn’t really want to attract the attention that came with them travelling altogether. David was driving himself and Urs down as they were the only two without a girlfriend. They arrived late afternoon and checked themselves in. Urs headed straight for the gym to see if that would help get rid of his nerves at seeing Auds again. He had talked to her a few times since the night at Simon’s but not about anything major, just like small talk. Seb and Sonia arrived not long after they did and they went straight to their room. It was pretty late by the time Carlos and Michelle arrived as they had stopped of somewhere for dinner on the way. They all met down in the bar for a drink. Urs was really quiet, more so than usual and David asked him if he was alright. He nodded and said “I’m just worried about what I’m going to say to Auds when I see her. Is she here yet?” David shook his head and said “I don’t know, I haven’t seen her.” He leaned over and said something to Sonia who nodded and took out her phone. “Sonia is going to phone her and find out where she is” he said. Urs nodded and waited for Sonia to finish chatting. When she finally came of the phone she looked at Urs and said “She’s not here, she’s still in London.” Urs and David looked at each other then looked at Sonia and said “Why?” “Something to do with Simon, I think. She wasn’t very clear. But she isn’t arriving until tomorrow.” David nodded and said “Thanks Sonia, I would have done it, but I thought it might be better if it was you phoning.” She smiled and said “Don’t worry, things will sort itself out soon.” then she turned back to Seb.

*Chapter 28*

The next morning came and went without any sight of Auds around the hotel. The guys got ready and headed for the castle to do their sound check. Urs was worried, more so now about the fact that Auds hadn’t turned up yet, rather than about seeing her again. They did the sound check and started getting into their stage clothes. The others were worried about her as well and Carlos had even asked Steve if he could find out what had happened to her. Sonia had tried calling her, but kept getting no answer. They had to start the show, but Sonia and Steve promised them that they would try and find her. After trying everything they knew to get hold of her without success, Steve decided it was time to phone Simon. He dialled his number and waited for him to pick up. When he did he said “Hello Simon, its Steve. No, everything is fine here, the show is underway. I was just wondering if you knew where Auds was, she hasn’t turned up yet and if she has, nobody can find her.” Simon sighed and said “I swear that woman is going to drive me insane, I’m sorry Steve, she was here last night with me having dinner and we were talking about how she felt about having to be around the guys again, Urs in particular and she was awfully nervous. She seemed to be having doubts about whether she could do it. But when she left here last night she was definitely going. She was going to drive down this morning.” “Okay, I’ll just keep trying to get her on her phone.” Steve said. “She probably isn’t answering it, when she was here and everyone kept phoning her, she just ignored it all the time. Let me try and see if I can find her. She may still be around here. But let me know if she turns up” “Thanks Simon, I’m sorry for bothering you and I will” then he hung up. Simon put down the phone and picked up his jacket. He walked out of his house and headed for Auds apartment to see if she was still there. She wasn’t there, so he tried ringing her and was surprised when she answered. “Auds, its Simon, where are you?” There was silence and then she said “Sitting in my car at a petrol station halfway to Warwick.” Simon was confused and said “Why, are you okay?” He heard Auds take a deep breath and then she said “I don’t know Simon, I really don’t know. I got so far and then something made me stop. I turned off at the next junction and have been sitting here ever since.” Simon shook his head and said “Okay, stay there and I’ll come and meet you, what’s the name of the place you pulled into?” Auds gave him the name and then said “I’m sorry Simon, I didn’t mean to cause anymore problems.” “Its alright Auds, but can you please phone Sonia or Steve as they are practically sending out a search party looking for you.” Auds groaned and said “God, I forgot all about them, I only just switched my phone on. I will do and thanks Simon.” then she hung up and started to dial another number. She got halfway through it when she stopped and changed her mind. She cancelled it and dialled a different number and waited for it to be answered. When it wasn’t she quickly left a message on the answer phone and then switched her phone off. She sat there for ages until Simon appeared and she must have been dozing as she jumped when he knocked on her window. She got out and just stood there looking at him. It was pretty late now and quite dark. He looked at her and said “What happened? You were fine last night. “ Auds nodded and said “I know, lets go and get a coffee, this place seems to be still open.” He nodded and she locked her car and they headed towards the little café.

They walked in and found that the place was open, but there was no other customers, they sat down at a table and ordered two coffee’s. Auds looked at Simon and said “I don’t know what happened, I was driving along one minute then the next I just couldn’t do it. I turned off at the first junction I came to and came into this place. I just sat there and did nothing for hours. I totally forgot about everything, where I was going or meant to be going, the fact that people were expecting me, everything. I just knew that I couldn’t drive down that road and go to that hotel.” She looked down and then said “And on top of all that, I’ve really lost Urs now.” Simon stared at her before saying “What do you mean, I’m sure he’ll realise that you’re just nervous, once you actually get there and see him you’ll be fine.” Auds shook her head. “After you told me to phone Sonia or Steve I dialled Sonia’s number then changed my mind and decided to call Urs instead, but he didn’t answer. So, I quickly left him a message and hung up. He’s obviously not wanting to talk to me or he would have answered.” Simon looked at her face, it was full of sadness. He looked at the time then said “I told you to do that about 2 hours ago, they would have still been on stage then, that’s why he wouldn’t have answered, did he phone you back?” Auds shrugged “I don’t know, I switched my phone off after I did it.” Simon shook his head in amazement then said “I am never going to understand the way women think, switch the bl**dy thing on and see if he phoned you back.” Auds smiled and said “Okay dad.” Simon frowned at her and said “God, I don’t sound like a dad do I, that makes me feel old.” He saw the grin on Auds face and said “Don’t even think about it. She laughed and switched on her phone. She had two messages, 1 text and 1 voice, she opened the text first. It said “Glad you’re okay, you had us worried, see you tomorrow. Sonia.” then she listened to the voice message which was from Urs. “Auds, its good to hear from you, I was getting worried when you didn’t arrive, I guess I shall see you in Cardiff tomorrow then.” Simon looked at her and said “Well?” She hung up and nodded. “He said that he had been worried when I hadn’t arrived and that he’ll see me in Cardiff, Sonia said the same in the text message.” Simon smiled and said “You are going to make it Cardiff aren’t you?” Auds looked down and Simon went “Auds” she looked up and said “Maybe” Simon sighed and said “What’s stopping you? Its obviously not Urs or you wouldn’t have phoned him.” She looked down again then said “Its David, I’m nervous of seeing him again.” Simon looked confused. “What did David do?”

Auds sighed and said “Nothing, but ever since the night at yours I’ve done a lot of thinking and I know it wasn’t his fault, I even told him that, but he’s Jodie’s brother and seeing him is going to be like having a constant reminder around of what she did to us.” Simon nodded then said “I’m beginning to understand, but you were alright with him the night at mine.” Auds nodded and said “That’s because I never really noticed he was there, I was more focused on Urs.” Simon nodded then said “Okay, this is what we’re going to do, we drive back to London to my house and we fly to Cardiff on the first flight we can get, okay?” Auds stared at him then said “You would do that for me? What about your work?” Simon smiled and said “Yes, I would and the guys are my work, so I can get away with going to see them.” Auds smiled then nodded and said “Okay then, thanks Simon.” They got up and left to drive back to Simon’s house in their own cars.

*Chapter 29*

The next day, they arrived at the hotel around lunchtime and they checked themselves in and went down to the dining room for some lunch. They were still in there when Auds’ phone rang. She answered it and heard Sonia’s voice say “Hey Auds, just checking on you, are you in Cardiff yet?” Auds smiled and said “Do you think I’m not going to turn up again?” She heard Sonia laugh and said “Well yeah, we did wonder!” Auds grinned and said “Well you can stop wondering, I’m sitting in the hotel dining room having lunch, where are you?” “We’re just coming into Cardiff, we’ll see you soon.” then she was gone. Simon was smiling at her and she said “That was Sonia checking up on me, for some reason they thought I might not turn up again! They are not far away.” they had just finished eating and were leaving the dining room when she heard “Auds” she turned to see Sonia, she smiled and walked over to her and gave her a hug. “How are you?” she asked. “I’m fine, how are you?” “I’ve been better, but I’m getting there.” Seb came up behind Sonia with their room key and gave Auds a hug then said “Don’t you ever leave us like that again, right.” Auds could see the grin on his face and she said “I’m sorry, god, I’m sick of that word, I’ve said it so many times in the last week.” then she laughed. Simon appeared beside her then and Seb said “Simon, what are you doing here?” He smiled then said “Nice way to greet your manager Sebastien.” Seb blushed and said “Sorry” Auds and Sonia burst out laughing and Simon looked at them with a funny look on his face. He said “I’m here with Auds, to make sure she arrived this time. Where are the others?” Sonia looked at Seb and said “Carlos and Michelle should be here already and David and Urs were leaving not long after us, so they should be here soon.” Auds glanced nervously at Simon who just smiled at her. Sonia and Seb saw the look and Seb said “He’s really missed you Auds, he did get better after he found you, but he still misses you and he’ll be glad to see you.” “Talk of the devil.” said Sonia as she saw him and David walking into the hotel. “We’ll leave you to go speak to him.” then they walked away. She looked to see where they were, they were at the reception desk checking in. Auds looked at Simon and said “They haven’t seen us yet, we can still leave.” Simon just looked at her and said “Too late.” Auds turned slowly and saw them both walking towards them. They both looked surprised to see Simon there and David said “I take it you’re just making sure she came Simon?” Simon smiled and nodded. “I’m just here for the day, I’m going to watch the show tonight and go back tomorrow.” Urs was looking at Auds and said “We missed you last night.” She half smiled then said “I know, my car broke down and I had to go back to London.” then she looked at the floor to avoid Simon’s look. Seeing that she wasn’t going to talk to David without help he said “Urs, why don’t you come for a drink with me, I wanted to talk to you about something anyway.” “Sure, just let me go dump my bags and I’ll meet you in the bar.” He smiled at Auds then walked away. Simon looked at Auds and nodded his head before walking away towards the bar leaving her and David alone. She looked at him and said “Well, I should really go and…David interrupted her and said “I think we need to talk Auds, we never really got a chance after what happened and I need to say a few things, will you come up to my room?” Auds looked uneasy then he said “Please?” and she nodded her head. Picking up his bags they made their way to his room.

They got into his room and David sat down while Auds stayed standing near the door looking nervous. He stared at her and said “I don’t want us to lose what we had before everything went wrong Auds.” he looked away from her and took a deep breath then said “I know it must be hard for you with me being Jodie’s brother and I can’t do anything about that I’m afraid, but you know me and you know that I am not like her and I wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt you or Urs. If its going to make you nervous or worried about seeing me then I can try and keep my distance, but i don’t want to do that as we were so close and you knew that you could come to me with anything that was bothering you.” He looked up to see that Auds had leaned back against the door and had her head in her hands. He stood up and went to give her a hug. She looked up and said “Don’t David, please.” He stopped and stood where he was and looked at her as she wiped away the tears. He said “Auds, please I hate to see you sad like this and knowing that its partly my fault.” Auds looked at him and said “Oh god, this is such a mess, it was not your fault, you didn’t know that Jodie was going to do what she did.” “No, but I knew what she was like, I should have spotted that she was up to something.” “She was your sister, of course you weren’t going to notice anything like that.” David shook his head and said “I was so nervous about seeing you when you came back, you never really spoke to me much the night at Simon’s. I know you said it wasn’t my fault, but I still couldn’t get rid of the feeling.” Auds moved towards him and took his hand and said “I never even thought that you might be nervous as well, I don’t want us to lose what we had either. You mean so much to me David, as a friend. You were there for me when I flew back from Spain after the crash and you were there for me whenever Urs and me had a fight. I could turn to you when I had a problem.” She looked at him and he smiled one of his special smiles that she knew made all his diva’s want to melt and all her nerves at being near him left her and she smiled back at him and he pulled her into a hug. They stayed there a while longer just talking things over properly.

It was getting late and Urs, Carlos and Seb were all down in the hotel lobby waiting for David so that they could go do their sound check. Sonia and Michelle were staying behind to catch up with Auds and just go down later for the show. David and Auds appeared then and David said “Sorry” and they left. The girls all headed for the bar and got a table and some drinks then Sonia said “Its not been the same without you Auds, Urs was really bad and David wasn’t too happy either.” Auds smiled and said “I’m sorry that I didn’t say goodbye to you guys, but I knew that if I went to see you, you’d talk me into staying and I needed to get away.” “So, how are things with you and Urs now?” asked Michelle. Auds sighed and said “They’re okay, I can talk to him and not feel like running away, which is good, but we’re still slightly strained.” Sonia hugged her and said “It will get easier, just give it time, now tell us why Simon is really here, you didn’t have car trouble yesterday did you?” Auds blushed then shook her head and said “No, I got halfway there and couldn’t go any further. I pulled of the motorway and sat there for hours until Simon came and found me. He has been wonderful the last couple of weeks, although I’m sure he’s fed up of my running away. He flew here with me this morning as he knew how nervous I was, not about seeing Urs, but David.” Sonia and Michelle looked confused and said “David? Why?” Auds looked at the two girls sitting beside her and said “I thought he was going to remind me of her every time I saw him, I didn’t know if I could cope with that as me and David had been pretty close before that, but we had a good talk earlier and I think that we have sorted it out.” “Aww babe, if you ever need to talk, you know we are here, don’t ever think of running away again.” said Michelle. Auds smiled and said “Yeah, I know and thanks girls. Now, how are you and Carlos getting on?” Michelle went red and said “I think he is getting tired of me wanting to take things slow, other than that everything’s wonderful.” Auds said “How do you really feel about him?” She thought for a minute then said “I feel safe when he’s around, like nothing can happen while he’s there and his kisses are just..” she went red at the thought. Auds and Sonia laughed and Sonia said “Sounds like you trust him hun, so why are you still taking it slow?” Michelle shook her head and said “I don’t know, I guess I feel like taking it a step further will change the way he feels, you know, if I sleep with him then he gets what he wants and he changes the way he is around me.” Auds and Sonia look at each other in disbelief and Sonia says “Carlos is 100% in love with you Michelle, he would never do anything to hurt you and taking the next step to sleep with him is not going to change that.” Auds nodded in agreement. Michelle said “We’ll see, so while we’re talking about men, do you have any problems with Seb Sonia?” Sonia laughed and said “Nope, we’re just fine thank you, thanks to Auds anyway.” Auds shrugged and said “I would have done it for any of the guys.”

They stayed in the bar for a little longer then they had to leave for the show. Auds watched it and realised that there was no way she could ever walk away from these guys again, she loved watching them perform, they really came alive on the stage and showed more of their own characters that the fans didn’t get the chance to normally see. She sat there and thought about what her life would be like if she didn’t have them or the girls in it. She got up and walked through to the back when they were just starting the encore and found herself a quiet little room to sit in. It wasn’t long before she heard them all coming through and doors being opened and closed as they went to shower and change. She carried on with what she was doing until she heard her name being mentioned. She popped her head out of the room she was in and saw them all standing in the corridor talking. She smiled then said “What are you all standing there for?” They turned to see where she was and Seb said “We’re waiting for you, the cars are ready to go.” Auds shook her head and said “Just go without me, I’ll make my own way back, I’ve got some stuff to finish.” They all looked at her then Carlos said “Are you sure? Can you not do it at the hotel?” She shook her head and said “I’ll just end up in the bar with you lot and not doing it, I’m better of staying here.” “Okay“ said Seb. She disappeared back into her little room shouting “See you later” over her shoulder. She heard them all leaving then there was peace and quiet. She sighed and got back to her work. She was almost finished when she heard a noise coming from the corridor, she listened again in case she was just imagining it, but she heard it again, it sounded like somebody was walking down the corridor. She stood up and looked round the room nervously for something she could use if she had to. She couldn’t see anything other than the lamp sitting on the table she was using. She picked it up and stood nervously watching the door as she heard other doors being opened and closed, then she heard the footsteps come to a stop outside her room, the door handle turned slowly and the door opened and the person walked in and before they could do anything she hit them on the back of the head with the lamp and they fell to the floor. She grabbed her stuff and ran out of the room leaving them there, but she didn’t get far as she heard the person saying “Auds” and she froze as she recognised the voice.

*Chapter 30*

She turned round and slowly walked back towards the person she had just hit and watched as they tried to stand up. She wasn’t sure if she had heard right but she gasped as their head turned and she saw who it was. “OMG, Urs” She went up to him and knelt down beside him and said “What are you doing back here?” She held out her hands for him to hold onto and helped him to get up and then sat him down on the chair she had been sitting on. He winced as he lifted his head to look at her and said “I was worried about you being here by yourself and Sonia had left her jacket here, so I offered to come get it for her and to check up on you, I can see now that you can look after yourself.” He put a hand up to the back of his head and winced again. Auds blushed bright red then said “Oh god, I am so sorry, I heard footsteps and doors opening and I got scared, let me take a look at your head.” She stood behind him and ran her fingers gently over his head. She stopped when he said “Oww” She pushed his hair out of the way and saw a large lump. “Is there anything there?” he asked. Auds let the hair go and sat down in front of him again then nodded and said “There’s a lump, I think that you’ll have a sore head for a while.” “Its already started” he said. Auds looked at him and was worried about how pale he had gone all of a sudden. She helped him to his feet and then said “Come on, lets get you back to the hotel.” She found the car he had driven there in and managed to get him into the passengers seat then climbed into the drivers side and made her way back to the hotel. By this point Urs had almost fallen asleep and was complaining of feeling sick and she couldn’t move him by herself. She left him in the car and went inside to get help. She went to the bar to find the others, but they weren’t there. She ran up to the floor she knew they guys were all on and she knocked on the first door she came to. Michelle opened the door and said “Auds, you look terrible, are you okay?” She shook her head and said “I’ve really hurt Urs, he’s sitting in the car almost sleeping and complaining of feeling sick and I can’t move him by myself.” Michelle disappeared then came back with Carlos who was on the phone to David and he went with Auds to get him inside, saying goodnight to Michelle as she left for her own room then. David joined them as well and when they got back to the car Urs had his eyes shut and was lying back against the seat. David and Carlos looked at him in shock and said “What did you do to him?” Auds went red then said “I hit him over the head with a lamp, but I didn’t know it was him or I wouldn’t have done it.” They stared at her then David said “He might have a concussion or something like that.” “He shouldn’t be sleeping, we have to get him up and walking.” He put one arm under his and managed to drag him out of the car and Carlos went round the other side and supported the other side. They walked him into the hotel and David looked worried as they couldn’t get him to open his eyes. “I think we need to have a doctor look at him, can you go see if the hotel can find us one Auds?” She nodded and ran to the reception desk and asked there where they would be able to find a doctor. The lady on duty made a phone call and said “One will be here shortly, he is the doctor we always use if any of our guests need one.” Auds nodded and said “Thank you” then went back to the others and told them that.


The doctor arrived and started to look over Urs. David looked at Auds who was really shaken and said “I know the two of you aren’t exactly too happy right now, but why exactly did you hit him?” Auds looked down then said “I was all alone and I heard footsteps and doors opening, nobody shouted out, so I got scared and grabbed the only thing I could see, which was a lamp and when he opened the door I didn’t wait to find out who it was, I just hit out and ran.” She looked over at him and said “Is he going to be alright., he went awfully pale?” Carlos smiled at her and said “I’m sure he will be fine, it will just be sore for a while.” They looked up as the doctor came over and said “He’ll be fine, he’s just a bit shocked and sore. Let him sleep for a while then wake him up for a while and make sure he takes two of these tablets every four hours to help with the pain.” David took the bottle of pills and said “Will he be able to sing at our show tomorrow night?” The doctor nodded and said “Yeah, he should be alright, just see how he is by the afternoon.” Carlos thanked him and he left. They went back over to Urs who was still sitting in the seat they’d put him in and David said “Come on, lets get you up to bed.” and helped him to stand up. He walked to the lift with them and Carlos left them then and went back to his room and David and Auds went with Urs. In his room he stripped down to his boxers and crawled between the sheets, he took a couple of the pills and fell asleep almost straight away. David looked at Auds who had sat down on the bed and was staring at him and said “I’ll stay with him and wake him up to give him his next lot of pills if you want to go get some sleep?” Auds shook her head and said “I’m not leaving him, this is my fault and I want to make sure he’s really going to be alright, besides you’ve got a long trip to Sussex tomorrow for the show at Petworth Castle. You need to sleep more than I do.” David frowned then said “Okay, we’ll both stay and one of us can sleep while the other keeps an eye on Urs, then swap over. That way we both get some sleep.” Auds looked at him and could see that he wasn’t going to leave anymore than she was, so she nodded her head and said “Okay, but you get some sleep just now, I’ll sit up and watch him.” David nodded and said “Okay, wake me up when you wake him up for his tablets and I’ll take over then.” Auds nodded and watched as he lay down on the top of the bed beside Urs. After he had fallen asleep Auds sat and watched them both for a while, neither moved that much and after a while Auds felt her eyes starting to close. She rubbed them and switched on the television to give her something else to focus on.

The night passed slowly, Urs never moved until Auds woke him up to take more tablets. She woke David as well who sat up with Urs then and let her sleep. He woke them both up in the morning and Urs looked better than he had the night before, but was still looking a bit pale. He went for a shower and took a couple more tablets. Auds had gone to her own room to shower and change and was going to meet them downstairs for breakfast. When she arrived they were all already there and Seb, Sonia and Simon had been filled in on all that happened. Simon had decided that Auds, David and Urs were flying to Sussex as Urs couldn’t drive the way he was feeling and he didn’t want either Auds or David driving as they hadn’t had much sleep. The others were going to drive down and Simon was going back to London. The rest of the day passed without anymore problems and Urs was looking a lot better by the end of the afternoon and had said He would be fine to sing as the tablets were stopping the pain of the headache. They went to the castle and did the show and at the end of it Urs said “I’m glad we have four days til the next show, I just want to relax and do nothing at all.” He looked at the others and said “What are you all planning to do?” “We’re going for a couple of nights away somewhere, we don’t know where yet, we’re just going to drive and see where we end up.” said Carlos. Sonia smiled at Seb and said “We’re going home to Paris to try and start making wedding arrangements.” David nodded and said “Yeah, I’m going home too, I want to surprise Janice and spend the next couple of days with her.” Urs looked at Auds and said “What about you? Do you have any plans for the next few days?” Auds shook her heads and said “I’m just going to go back to London and do nothing.” Urs looked at her and said “Well, that’s what I’m going to do as well, nothing I mean. How would you feel about us doing nothing together, just as friends? It would give us a chance to talk and get to know each other better like you wanted.” He smiled at her and hoped she would say yes. She stayed silent for a while and then said “I’m surprised you still want to spend time with me after everything I’ve done to you lately.” Urs looked surprised and said “Of course I want to spend time with you” then he grinned and said “Besides, I don’t think there is much more that you can do to me” Everyone else started laughing and Auds went red and said “Okay then, I would love to spend the time with you.” They all made their way back to the hotel then and David just grabbed his bags and left for the airport to catch his flight home while the others were going to wait until the next day to leave.

*Chapter 31*

David had just arrived at the house that he and Janice lived in and he let himself in knowing that Janice would be at work. He had a shower and unpacked his bags then left to go see Janice. He couldn’t wait to see the look on her face when he just turned up, she knew they had this small break, but wasn’t expecting to see him during it. He smiled as he pulled up outside her offices and got out of the car. He walked into the building and went straight for her office. He could hear her voice coming from inside the room and he stood there for a minute before knocking on the door. He heard her say “Come in” and he opened the door and saw that she was on the phone. Her mouth dropped open when she saw David walk in and then she said Uhm, I’m sorry, I’ll have to call you back” and hung up the phone. She got up and went straight over to him and gave him a kiss then said “OMG, David, what are you doing here, when did you arrive, how long are you here for and why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” David laughed and said “Because I wanted to see you react like that!! I thought I would come and see my girlfriend when I had a few days off, but if you don’t want me here I can just leave again.” and he started to turn. Janice grabbed him and said “Don’t you dare.” and she grinned and said “I can’t believe you’re actually here, I have missed you so much since I came back.” He leant down and kissed her softly and said “So have I Jan, so have I” then he kissed her again harder this time and reaching behind him he locked the door of her office and then he walked her backwards while still kissing her and he lifted her up onto her desk pushing all the stuff on it onto the floor. He started to open the buttons on her shirt and he pushed it of her shoulders then placed kisses all over her neck and shoulders. She pulled his shirt off him and threw it onto the floor and ran her hands over his bare chest and pulled him closer to her. He pushed her back so she was lying on the table and pushed her skirt up to reveal her long legs. He quickly pulled his jeans off and they made love right there. They lay together for a few minutes then Janice’s phone rang and she got up to answer it. She watched David getting dressed as she was listening and when she hung up she picked up her shirt and put it back on and sorted her skirt and hair then looking at David said “I can’t believe we just did that in my office, you don’t know how many people are on the other side of that door.” He grinned then and said “No, I don’t, but I only have eyes for the person on this side of the door.” then he kissed her and said “I’ll see you at home later” and kissed her then unlocked the door and was about to open it when Janice said “Wait” and rubbed her finger on his cheek. “Lipstick mark” she grinned. He left her to get on with her work then although she didn’t get very much done after he had left.

Seb and Sonia were looking at venues for the wedding ceremony and had arranged to visit a few the next day. They were sitting with a takeaway and a bottle of wine looking through templates for the invitations and trying to come up with who they actually wanted to invite. Seb pushed the books to one side and said “Can we not try organising another part of the wedding?” Sonia looked at him suspicious and said “Which part would you prefer to organise?” Seb grinned and said “The most important part of course and one that needs lots of rehearsal.” Sonia looked confused and hit Seb as he started laughing. “What are you talking about Seb” “The wedding night, of course” he grinned. “It definitely needs a lot of organising and rehearsal.” He ran his fingers up her arm and then leaned in towards her and kissed her softly. She grinned as he pulled away and then nodded in agreement. “mm, you’re so right baby, we definitely need to rehearse that a lot” He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her again deepening the kiss as she let her hands start to wander over him. He slid a hand under her top and started to run his hand over her bare skin, she shivered at his touch and she pushed his t-shirt up and over his head then started to kiss him all over his bare chest. He let out a moan as she ran her tongue over a tender spot and he put his arms under her and scooped her up then stood up and walked through into the bedroom kicking the door shut on his way past and they rehearsed their wedding night for a long time.

Carlos and Michelle had ended up driving North so that they wouldn’t have too far to go when they had to leave for their next show in Edinburgh. They had booked themselves into a small Bed & Breakfast in the Scottish Borders run by a lovely couple, much to the delight of the wife, who couldn’t believe that one of IL Divo was staying in her small place. They spent the next two days acting like tourists going round all the local sights and eating out plus Michelle dragged him round the shops more than once. It was their last night there before leaving to go meet up with the others in Edinburgh. They were both in their rooms getting ready and Michelle was sitting doing her make up thinking about what Auds and Sonia had said the night in Cardiff. She had a surprise for Carlos and was going to give it to him that night. They met up down in the lounge and sat down there for a while before leaving for dinner. Carlos had booked a table at a restaurant recommended by the couple who owned the B&B. They spent a lovely night in there with good food, wine and each others company. They walked back to where they were staying slowly arm in arm and Carlos being the gentleman he was walked her to her room and then he kissed her goodnight as he always did and went to walk away. Michelle grabbed hold of his hand though and looked at him then said “Would you not rather come in?” He smiled and said “I guess I can come in for a while” Michelle looked at him and kissed him before running her finger down his chest through the open shirt and said “I meant, would you rather not come in and stay?” She smiled at him and walked backwards into the room leaving him standing there with a shocked look on his face. He walked towards her slowly and said “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? Are you sure about this, I mean we don’t have to if you’re not ready?” Michelle grinned and put a finger on his lips to shush him. She followed her finger with her lips and kissed him softly then said “If I didn’t mean it, I wouldn’t have said it. I think we’ve waited long enough Carlos, I want us to be together in all ways.” This huge smile appeared on Carlos’ face and he pulled her into him and said “Well then Red, that is what we shall be” and he went to kiss her. “Just one thing first.” she said trying to stop herself from grinning. Carlos let her go and sighed “Anything for you my dear.” She looked at him really seriously then said “Could you shut the door please?” then burst out laughing. Carlos grinned and quickly went to shut the door then came back and grabbing Michelle round the waist he started tickling her. She squirmed and yelled under his touch, but he wasn’t letting go of her and they ended up on the floor with tears running down their faces from all the laughing. Carlos managed to get himself on top of Michelle and although she tried to move, she was pretty well stuck between him and the floor. They tried to stop laughing and Carlos brushed away the remaining tears from Michelle’s face then he leant down and kissed her softly then deepening it as he felt her responding. She let her arms go round his neck and she twisted her fingers into his hair and she let out a low moan as his lips started to explore her neck and shoulders. He pushed the thin strap of her dress off her shoulder and then let his hand wander down her body, he got off her then and put out a hand to help her up and his eyes wandering up and down her body he slipped the other dress strap off her shoulder and sucked in a breath as it fell to the ground exposing her body. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and he just stood there as she stepped out of it and came towards him and started to open the few buttons he had tied on his shirt and pulled it of to reveal his chest, she ran her fingers through the thick hair covering it and felt him shudder. He pulled her close again and giving her a kiss he moved them back towards the bed and laid her down on it gently then quickly removed his trousers and underwear. He saw her eyes wandering all over him taking him all in like he had just done with her and he moved to the side of the bed and lay beside her and whispered something to her. She nodded and smiled at him. He started with her lips then placed kisses all the way down her body and then back up again. He could feel her trembling and when he saw the look in her eyes when he reached her lips again he almost melted. He couldn’t hold back any longer and he made love to her then taking them both to a place they would never want to return from. They fell asleep in each others arms and Carlos woke up during the night and just lay there looking at her and wondering, not for the first time, how her ex boyfriend could have treated someone as exquisite and warm and loving as her with such malice.

*Chapter 32*

Auds and Urs had flown back to London and had done exactly what they had said they were going to do.. Nothing. They spent their time in either his or her flats just lazing about watching dvd’s, having play station competitions and eating takeaways. They had done a lot of talking as well, about her family life and about his, how they had got on in school, what colleges etc they had studied in, previous boyfriends/girlfriends. He had told her all about the rock band he had been in years before IL Divo and had played her the album they had made. It had taken all her strength not to laugh at how he had sounded then compared to the way his voice sounded now and he had threatened her with being tickled if she so much as grinned. He was using that threat all the time since he had discovered she was very ticklish. It was their last night before they were flying to Edinburgh and they were at Urs’ place as he had said he would cook dinner for them instead of having their usual takeaway dinner. He had decided that he was going to try and make the night as much of a date as he could without her realising what he was doing. She arrived and just walked in as he did at hers. She shouted “hello” and he shouted back that he was in the kitchen. She took of her jacket and hung it up and went through to find him in rather a mess. She burst out laughing as she saw him wearing an apron and covered almost head to toe in flour. He just glared at her but she couldn’t stop herself from laughing, no matter how hard she tried. Eventually she managed to get herself under control and said “Are you having fun?” then started laughing again. Urs tried to be mad at her, but her laughter was infectious and he soon found himself joining in and after they had both stopped Auds looked at him and brushing away the tears said “Can I do anything to help?” Urs looked around him and said “Um, yeah, you could chop those vegetables for me.” and he handed her a knife. She took it and grinned once more as she looked at how white he was. She turned to look at what she was doing and never noticed Urs had moved so that he was behind her and let out a shriek when this cloud of white powder suddenly flowed down over her. She turned to see Urs standing there with a bag of flour and a grin on his face. She shook her head and flour flew everywhere, her black top was now almost white and she was sure it had gone inside her top and was making her black bra white as well. He said “Oops, I’m sorry, I seem to have made a mess.” his eyes twinkled as he saw Auds looking round the kitchen and her eyes fell onto the other bag of flour he had sitting out.

She reached out for it and said “Oh, you are going to pay big time for that mister” and shook her head. She put a hand into the bag and took some flour out and he had done the same. They stared at each other for a few minutes then Auds suddenly threw her flour at him and they started just flinging flour at each other. Urs suddenly grabbed Auds round the waist and pulled her into him tight so she couldn’t get free and they stared into each others eyes for what seemed like ages, he leaned in closer to her and Auds’s breathing became deeper then just as she thought he was going to kiss her, he pulled at the front of her top and emptied his bag of flour down it. Then he let her go and she leaned back against the counter getting her breath back. She looked around the kitchen and tried to see something she could use that would really make a mess and grinned when her eyes fell on something. He had turned his back on her at this point, obviously thinking of what else he could use as well. She moved quietly over to pick up what she had seen and just waited for Urs to turn round. When he did she threw it at him and he spluttered as the basin of cold water hit him and soaked the front of his t shirt making it go even tighter than it already was. Auds burst out laughing then tried to run as she saw the look in his eyes. He caught her by the arm as she ran past him though and kept hold of her while he looked for something to get her back with. She squirmed and tried to get out of his grip but he was holding her too tight. She could see him smile as he took something out of the fridge and her eyes widened when she realised what it was. “You wouldn’t?” she said. Urs grinned and said “Yes I would” and he poured the jug of orange juice he’d made up earlier over her head. She blinked as it ran down her face and into her eyes. She could feel it all sticky and it was turning the flour into a gooey mess. She looked at Urs and said “Okay, I give up if you do?” Urs looked at her and decided to quit while he was ahead and said “Okay” then they both looked at each other and burst out laughing at the state they were both in. She collapsed onto the floor and stayed there until she had calmed herself down. Urs sat down beside her and said “Oh god, that was fun. I don’t think we’ll be eating this dinner tonight though” Auds smiled and said “Oh, I don’t know, just because we’re wearing it, doesn’t mean we can’t eat it.” then blushed as she realised how that had sounded. Urs noticed this and said “Don’t be embarrassed Auds, I think this has been good for us, we haven’t been like this with each other for ages. I missed it.” Auds nodded and said “Yeah, so have I, I haven’t felt like we were coping too well before. What with me running away, then almost knocking you out.” He turned to look at her and he looked into her eyes and saw that the sparkle was back and he wondered if he should. He was brought out of his dream by Auds saying “We should really get out of these clothes before we do anything else.” Urs stared at her and waited for her to realise what she’d just said then burst out laughing at the look on her face. “I can do that.” he said and pulled his t shirt off and throwing it away. Auds took a deep breath and said “I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.” Urs laughed and said “I know that, but I took my top off, what are you going to take off?” his eyes twinkled as he wondered if she would play along with him or if he was pushing his luck.

They were all on their way to Edinburgh, messages and phone calls had been going round and everyone was on their way, some happier than others. David was sitting on a plane missing Janice already. It had been mad him going all the way home for two days, it takes longer than that to get over the jetlag, but he had wanted to see her. He smiled as he remembered what they had done in her office the day he had arrived and how he had gone home afterwards and decided to cook her favourite meal for dinner. He’d gone to the markets and bought some large steaks and all the stuff he needed to make his own special sauce. He prepared it all, then laid out the table, putting two candles on it, as well as a single red rose on her place setting. He had white wine in the fridge and red wine so she could choose whichever she fancied. He checked the time and headed for the shower then got dressed and went to start cooking. He was busy with it all when Janice arrived home and he didn’t realise she was there until she had put her arms round his waist and said “MM, something smells delicious babe.” David turned himself round and kissed her then said “Would that be me or the food?” Janice grinned and said “Oh, the food definitely.” David pouted then turned her round and said “Go have a shower and freshen up while I finish off here.” Janice smiled and kissing him headed towards the bathroom then heard him shout after her “Red or White wine?” “Red” she shouted back. He opened the bottle of red and poured her a glass and placed it on the table. He was just ready to serve it when she came back. He put the plates down and handed her the rose. They ate the meal and chatted away, David telling her about his talk with Auds and how she had hit Urs over the head. They finished the meal and Janice sat back and said “Oh, that was wonderful baby, I’d forgotten how good you could make that sauce, it never tastes the same when I make it.” David grinned and said “That’s because I put a special ingredient in it, that’s what makes it ‘my’ sauce. Janice looked at him and said “I’m going to get it out of you one day.” David shook his head and said “You’ll have to torture me first.” Janice grinned and said “That can be arranged.” She helped him take the plates through and jumping up to sit on the worktop said “So what’s for dessert?” David looked at her then said “I kind of ran out of time and didn’t make anything, so I was hoping that you wouldn’t mind if we had a different kind of dessert tonight?” Janice looked at him weird and said “What kind did you have in mind?” She watched as he walked towards her and he stood in front of her pinning her in. He took her hands and put them around his neck and she curled her legs round him. He leaned forward and kissed her on the nose then on the mouth. He let his hands wander up her legs from her knees towards her thighs and then up under her silk shirt and over her bare skin. She shivered as he unclipped her bra and pulled the straps of her shoulders. He brought his hands to the front of her shirt and started to open the buttons slowly keeping his eyes locked on hers the whole time. He let the shirt fall to the counter below and threw the bra off as well. He put his arms round her and lifted her off the counter and carried her through to the lounge and laid her down on the rug by the fireplace. He took his shirt off and laid down beside her and kissed her before just letting his eyes wander off her. He had seen her like this so many times, but he never got tired of looking at her. He blew softly onto her stomach and she moaned at the sensation it had caused. He carried on doing that for a bit longer until he realised that Janice had almost fallen asleep. He smiled as he looked at her lying there with her eyes closed and her hair all round her. He got up and wandered through to their bedroom, grabbed the duvet and put it over her and getting underneath it as well cuddled himself into her side and put his arm over her and fell asleep beside her.

*Chapter 33*

Auds still couldn’t believe how well things had gone with her and Urs in London, she had been worried that they couldn’t get things back to the way they had been between them. But the last four days had made her realise they could and did. They had just needed to spend some time alone where they could let things progress naturally. She blushed as she remembered the night before and the flour fight and how she kept managing to put her foot in her mouth whenever she said something. It had lead to Urs challenging her by doing what she had said and daring her to follow. She had thought about it for a few minutes, wasn’t sure if she could do it, but then she had seen the look in his eyes as if he thought she wouldn’t do it, so she made up her mind then to not only do it, but to beat him as well. She had turned to him and said “I’ll take my top of as well” and pulled it off throwing it beside his. She could see the look of surprise in his face and she said “Your turn.” He looked at her and then down at himself and said “Okay, I’ll take my trousers of.” and he stood up and unbuttoned them and pulled them down throwing them to the side. He sat down again and smiled at her. She felt nervous, but didn’t want Urs to know that so she took a few breaths and quickly stood up and pulled her skirt off and throwing it away. She sat down again, but not before Urs got a good look at her and wondered what he was going to do next. He was only wearing his boxers and his socks and he didn’t want to look like a wimp and take his socks off, but he didn’t really want to end up with no clothes on at all. He really hadn’t expected her to take him on and was now wishing he hadn’t started it. Auds stared at him and said “Well, what’s coming off next?” She could see that he was having doubts and she was trying not to laugh at him. He noticed that she was trying to keep a straight face and decided that he wanted to see how far she would go. He took his socks off and said “Okay, your turn again, what you taking of Auds?” He saw the smile slip slightly and she looked down at the bra and panties she was wearing. She couldn’t let him win, but could she do this. She took a deep breath and said “I shall take my bra off.” and she reached behind her back with shaking hands to open it. She had it open and was just about to slide it off when Urs stopped her and said “Don’t, if you’re not comfortable then don’t do it. I was being a fool, when you said that we should take our clothes off, I thought I would see if you would do it. I honestly didn’t think you would and once you did I didn’t want to look like a coward, so I carried on. You don’t need to take it off.” He put the straps back on her shoulder and clipped it back together for her. She turned to face him and looked into his eyes then said “Thank you, I was just being a fool too, I saw it in your eyes that you didn’t expect me to do it, that’s why I did.” she put a hand up to his face and covered his cheek then brushed some of his curls behind his ear never looking away from his eyes. She moved her hand round to the back of his head and pulled it in towards her then kissed him really softly on the mouth. He put his arms round her and pulled her into his chest then kissed her back this time deeper and he let his tongue explore her mouth as she opened it a little. They pulled apart and looked at each other and Urs said “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” Auds shook her head and said “Its alright, I wanted you to. I miss you Urs, and I know that I don’t deserve a second chance after everything I put you through, but, I would like to be your girlfriend again.” she blushed and looked away before saying “That’s if you will have me back?” Urs brought her face round to look at him and he couldn’t stop smiling. “Of course I will have you back, I never wanted to lose you in the first place.” Auds grinned and hugged him tightly.

Michelle and Carlos arrived at the hotel and saw Seb and Sonia checking in. They went to greet them and Carlos left Michelle chatting to the two of them while he went and got their room key. He came back and put his arms round her and kissed her cheek from behind, Michelle smiled and turned to kiss him back. Sonia looked at Seb then said “Something’s different about you two, what happened over the last four days?” Carlos looked at her funny and said “Nothing.” then he said to Michelle “If you want to stay down here and catch up with Sonia, I can take your bags up to our room for you.” She said “Thanks darling” then kissed him and put her arm through Sonia’s and took her off for a coffee. Seb and Carlos picked up the abandoned bags and went off to find their rooms. The girls had sat down with their coffee and were telling each other about their time off. All of a sudden Sonia said “Hang on, did Carlos say he would take your bags up to ‘our’ room?” Michelle went red then said “Yeah, I think so” Sonia shook her head and said “You’re not telling me something Missy, what’s going on?” “Lets just say that I took the next step.” she said with a grin. Sonia just smiled and said “About time! And he obviously never changed after he got what he wanted then?” Michelle nodded “He did, but for the better, he can’t keep his hands of me now.” then she started laughing. Sonia joined in and then said “I wonder how Auds and Urs got on in London, did you hear from her at all? Michelle shook her head and said “No, not even a text.”

Seb and Carlos walked into the room just then with David who looked exhausted. They all sat down and Sonia said “When did you arrive David?” “About 10 minutes ago, I just dumped my bags and was going to crawl into bed and sleep for a while, but these two appeared and told me I had to come down and have a drink with everyone.” “Aww, you should have ignored them, you look like you could do with some sleep.” said Sonia. David nodded his head and said “I really wouldn’t advise anyone to fly to America and back within four days. Its not good for you.” Seb was about to say something when he saw Auds walk through the door. He smiled and when she had reached them said “What have you done to him now?” She laughed and said “Nothing, he’s fine. Just putting his bags up into his room and he’ll be back down. How are all you guys?” They all stared at her and Michelle said “You look a lot happier than before you went home, what happened between you two?” Auds smiled and said “Nothing, we did a lot of talking, and watched a lot of movies, ate a whole load of takeaways and we had a flour fight last night” “Carlos looked confused and said “You had a flower fight, how can you have a fight with a bunch of flowers?” The others burst out laughing and David said “I think she meant the other type of flour mate, the white type that makes a mess when you cook with it.” Auds nodded and said “Yeah, that’s what I meant, you should have seen the mess we made in his kitchen and of ourselves.” she grinned then as she remembered. Carlos went red and said “Oh, I understand now.” then he looked at her and said “Why did you have a flour fight?” Auds grinned and said “He started it. He said he would cook us dinner last night instead of us eating takeaway like the previous nights, so when I arrived at his place I found him all covered practically from head to toe in flour and couldn’t stop laughing at him, so he waited until I had my back turned to him and he emptied a bag over my head. It pretty much started from that and got a lot worse and messier when the water and orange juice came in to it.” She laughed at the looks on the faces of the people in front of her and just then Urs walked in and looking at them said “I take it you’ve filled them in on the fight we had” and grinned. She nodded and sat herself down on Urs knee once he had sat down and he put his arms round her. David choked on his drink and said “What else are you not telling us?” pointing at the way they were sitting. Auds smiled and said “It made me realise how much fun we used to have with each other, and how much I missed all that fun. I kissed him and he kissed me back and it just felt so right.” So you’re telling us that you two are back together properly, as a couple and not just friends?” said Sonia. They both nodded and Sonia just shouted “Yesss, I think everyone had a good few days then” grinning at Michelle who blushed. Seb looked around at all his friends sitting round the table and said “Sonia and I did a lot of planning for the wedding and we found a venue for the whole thing, ceremony, reception and we can rent all the rooms for the entire wedding party and guests so that nobody has to drive home.” he took out a brochure of the place and handed it them to see. “Its called Chateau de Esclimont."

Sonia looked at the girls and said "I also wanted to ask you if you two and Janice of course would be my bridesmaids?" Michelle and Auds looked at each and screamed then said "Of course we will, we'd be honoured babe." They started talking away amongst themselves then about dresses and accessories etc.. The guys shook their head and Urs said "This place looks lovely Seb, very romantic place to get married in. Did you go and look at it?" Seb nodded "We went to a few places, but the minute we saw this one, we both fell in love with it and luckily it was free on the date we wanted." David smiled and said "I'm glad things are coming together mate, now if you don't mind, i'm going to go and get some sleep. See you all later." and he got up and walked away. Urs moved Auds off his knee and into the space David had left and said "We're going to go and leave you girls to your wedding talk." and he kissed Auds and they all left them in peace.

*Chapter 34*

The next day was spent with them all exploring Edinburgh before they headed to the Castle to do their sound check. This was the one they had all been looking forward to doing as it was the only Scottish Castle show and they had all heard how beautiful that particular castle was. They wandered round it looking at how beautiful it was and then Steve shouted at them to get on the stage and do some work. The guys grinned at each other, and made their way onto the stage and sang ‘Heroe’ for their sound check as the girls all sat and watched them from the front of the stage. Sonia giggled and said “I’m going to miss this when the tour is finished. I mean, we’re not going to get to hear the guys sing every night after that.” “Yeah, its going to be so different not having to leave for a different place almost every day and being able to stay in one place for more than a few days.” said Auds. Michelle looked sad and said “Well at least you two will still be with your men. I’m going to have to go back to work and not see Carlos anymore unless he happens to be in London.” Sonia and Auds gave her a hug and told her not too worry as they would be spending loads of time in London when they start recording the 3rd album. Michelle smiled at them and then they heard voices behind them saying “Can we join in or is it only girls allowed?” They all pulled back and saw Urs, Seb and Carlos standing behind with bemused looks on their faces. Michelle looked at Carlos and said “The girls were just making me feel better, we were talking about after the shows end and how I’ll have to go back to work and not be able to see you everyday anymore.” Carlos put his arm round her and gave her a kiss then said “I know, babe. Its not fair that we have to say goodbye again so soon, but we still have four nights together and we’ll make the most of them.” and winked at her making her blush and the others laugh. They left the castle and headed back to the hotel until it was time to come back for the show. David had already gone back, he was still suffering the effects of the long haul flight and was probably back in bed getting some more sleep.

They all split up and went to their various rooms to get some rest before the show. Although they had made things right between them Auds had decided that she didn’t want to share with Urs again just yet and had her own room. She got into it and kicked off her shoes then decided to have a bath. She set it running and grabbed her book out of her bag and stripped of her clothes and turning the water off slid into the water. She felt herself relaxing as the bubbles surrounded her and lying back she opened her book and started to read. She lay there for a while then washed her hair and got out. She dried herself off and put on her silk robe, she was just getting some clothes out of her bag when there was a knock on the door. She opened it to find Urs standing on the other side, his mouth dropped open when he saw what she was wearing. She grinned and said “Something wrong Urs?” He shook his head and looking up at Auds said “I was just wondering if you wanted some company, but if you’re doing something then I can go away again.” Auds shook her head and said “I’ve just come out of the bath and I would love some company.” she smiled at him then walked back into the room. Urs stared after her, her body outlined perfectly through the thin robe. He followed her inside shutting the door behind him. He went and sat down and watched as she brushed her hair. He stood up and going to stand behind her he took the brush off her and started to brush her hair for her. He stood there for ages just gently brushing her hair and then he said “Would you like me to dry it for you?” Auds turned to look at him and smiled then said “No thanks baby, I never dry it, I just leave it wet.” She took the brush from him and put it down on the table in front of her. She felt his hands softly start to massage her shoulders and she leaned back into the chair and closed her eyes. He did this for a few minutes then let his hands start to wander down her neck and inside the top of her robe. She moaned as one hand brushed over her chest and she shivered when she felt his lips on her neck. She turned to face him and he kissed her on the mouth softly then pulled away. Auds put a hand up to bring his head back to hers and kissed him harder than before. He ran one hand through her wet hair and the other was trying to open the belt keeping the robe shut. She pulled back and took his hand away from the robe. She walked away from him a little then with her back to him pulled open the robe and pulled it back a little revealing her shoulder then she pulled it back and did the same with the other side. She looked behind her to see Urs had sat down on the bed and seemed to be having trouble breathing. She turned round and walked towards him slowly, quickly opening and shutting the robe every so often. He ran a hand through his hair and stared at her as she reached him and sat herself down on his lap letting the front of the robe fall open. She heard Urs take a sharp intake of breath and then she bent down and kissed him softly then deepened it. Urs brought his hands up to her waist and curled them round her pulling her in closer to him. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to cope with this for too long and he managed to turn them round so Auds had her back to the bed and he laid her down removing the robe completely and quickly stripped his clothes off and he lay down beside her just looking at her. He ran a hand through her hair which was curling slightly as it became drier and then he just kissed her hard and they made love for the first time since they had got back together.

Auds looked at the man lying beside her in her bed sleeping. He looked even sexier with his eyes closed and his hair fallen over his face. She smiled and thought about how she had very nearly thrown all this away. She was just about to lean over and kiss him when her phone rang. She sighed and turned over to pick it up. “Hello” she said. The next minute she shot upright saying “$hit, okay, yeah he’s here, we’ll be right there as soon as we can.” she flung the phone back where it had been and she shook Urs to try and wake him, he didn’t move, so she kissed him and then ran her fingers over his chest. He stirred and opened one eye and said “You’d better be careful what you’re doing baby, you don’t want to go starting something you’re not going to finish.” She pulled herself out of the reach of his hands and started getting dressed then said “David was just on the phone, Steve’s going mad, you are so late, you’re due on stage in half an hour.” Urs almost fell out of the bed and started muttering in Swiss. He gathered up his clothes and had a very quick shower then came out dressed and almost pulled Auds arm out of its socket in his hurry to get out of the room. They got a taxi to the castle and arrived with five minutes to spare, he quickly got changed into his first suit and he came back to find the others talking to Auds. They looked up when he appeared and Seb said “Um Urs, your hair is curly.” Urs stared at him and said “Does it look like I have time to straighten it?” David and Carlos burst out laughing and Sonia said “Well, at least you’re Ubers will be happy, they’re always saying on the forum that you should leave your hair curly on stage.” Auds said “I love your curls babe” and kissed him quickly then they had to go. Auds, Michelle and Sonia took their place in the crowd and watched as they started the show. As they expected the minute Urs appeared with his curly hair the crowd started screaming. Auds grinned at Sonia when the girl next to them said out loud “OMG, I’m going to faint, he’s left his hair curly.” The show went well, as it always did, then they were finished and as usual the guys stopped to talk to the fans on the way out.

They eventually made it back to the hotel where everyone went into the bar except Urs who was getting shouted at by Steve for being so late. Michelle looked at Auds and said “So, what did make you so late?” Auds blushed and said “Well, he was in my room and things got a bit you know, and then we fell asleep.” she looked round at their faces and said “What?” “Nothing, its just good to see you happy again and if it means that Urs gets into trouble for being late, that’s even better.” grinned David. Auds smiled then said “Please don’t tease him about it David, you know how he gets.” David looked sad then looked at Auds and said “Okay, but only because you asked me not to.” then he turned and winked at Seb and Carlos. Urs appeared then and sat down beside David. Carlos said “Was Steve really mad?” Urs shook his head and said “Worse, he said he was disappointed in me.” Auds could see David about to open his mouth and glared at him so he shut it again. “I’m not surprised mate, I mean, how many times have you shouted at us about being late? To use one of your sentences, ‘I am never late, I don’t believe in being late, it is such a waste off time’” said Seb. Everyone looked at him in surprise and then David started laughing which started everyone else off and Urs just sat there and said “Go ahead, get it all out, I’m never going to live this down am I?” “I’m sorry Urs, I couldn’t resist it!!” said Seb still trying to stop laughing. Urs grinned and said “Don’t worry, I was actually quite shocked it came from you and not David.” Auds grinned and said “That’s because I made him promise not to say anything.” Urs grinned “You obviously forgot about the other two then?” She shook her head and said “I didn’t think I would have to tell them to keep their mouths shut, but I shall remember that the next time.” Urs looked shocked and said “You really think there’s going be a next time? I am never going to be late again.” Auds smiled then said “Okay, so the next time you want to do what we did earlier before a show, I’ll just tell you to go away then shall I?” Urs blushed and said “No, but you could maybe just keep an eye on the time and not fall asleep!!” then said “Oww” as Auds hit him on the arm.

*Chapter 35*

They did the last three shows without any problems and as they performed ‘My Way’ for the very last time they all looked out at the crowd and thought about how much they were going to miss this, the personal contact with their fans every night. They finally came off stage after saying thank you to everyone who had taken part in making the shows such a success. There was going to be a big end of tour party the next night back in London for all the crew, band, everyone who had been involved in the tour. The guys were all flying back to London after the last show and would be having two weeks off after the party before coming back to London to start recording the new album. They were all back at the hotel packing their bags and getting ready to go to the airport. Michelle was sad because this was her second last night with Carlos as he was flying home to Spain to spend the two weeks holiday with his family. He knew how she felt, he didn’t really want to leave her either, but he would see her when they were over recording the album, this was the only time he would get to see his family. He would make it up to her when he got back.

Over in America Janice was sitting in a doctors surgery waiting room, she hadn’t been feeling well for days now and with David coming home in a couple of days she wanted to feel better. She looked up as she heard her name being called and she went through. She sat down and explained to the doctor how she felt and how long it had been going on for. She was shocked by what the doctor said to her, but she went along with it and waited for her to finish. She was then asked to wait outside in the waiting room while the results came through. She went out to sit back where she’d been and watched the next few people go through and come out again, then she was called to go back in and she sat nervously looking at the doctor. She went through and sat down looking at the doctors face to see if she could see anything. She listened to what she said and couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How was this possible? How had it happened? How was she going to tell David? How was he going to react? All those questions and more were going through her mind. She thanked the doctor and walked out of the surgery in a world of her own. She called her work and said she was ill and wasn’t going to make it in and headed for home. Once there she changed into her comfy pyjama’s and slippers and wondered if she would get David if she phoned him. She decided against it as she had a lot of thinking to do before she told him anything and she didn’t want to tell him over the phone anyway.

Back in London Auds and Urs were at their own flats, Carlos and Michelle were at her place, Seb and Sonia were at Seb’s apartment and David was at his flat. He hadn’t bothered to unpack anything as he was flying home to be with Janice the next morning. Seb, Sonia and Auds were flying to Paris so that Auds and Sonia could go hunting for the perfect wedding dress and bridesmaid’s dresses with Auds promising Michelle that she would take pictures of everything they got, so she could show her when she got back. After she came back she was going to make a start on getting their itinerary together for the promotion of the new album. TV shows had to be booked well in advance and then there was the overseas tv shows as well. It was going to be almost as hard as the tour with all the travelling and hours they would be putting in. Urs was going home to spend the time with his family as was Carlos. They all arrived at the end of tour party around the same time and spent the night drinking, dancing and just enjoying themselves. After the place they were in had to practically throw them out they all headed home.

Carlos and Michelle got to hers and they sat down with a bottle of wine and she leaned back into him using his front as her cushion then sighed. He looked down at her and said “I know darling, I wish you could come with me, but I’ll be back in two weeks and then I’ll be here until we finish the album.” he grinned then and said “You’ll be sick of seeing me, you’ll be asking me to go away for a couple of weeks.” Michelle smiled and said “That will never happen, I love being with you everyday and seeing you everyday.” then she kissed him and ran a hand along his thigh and up towards his chest opening the buttons and then running her hand through the thick hair covering his chest. He let his hands wander over her stomach and up under her top. She let out a slow moan as she felt a hand on her leg starting to push her skirt up. He pushed her forwards so that she had to stand and then took her hand and led her into the bedroom where they spent the rest of the night making up for the fact that they would be apart for the next two weeks.

David pulled his case off the conveyor belt, apologising to the lady who he’d managed to hit with it on the way and headed towards the exit. He walked through the door and saw Janice standing there waiting for him. He was surprised as he hadn’t been expecting her to meet him as she should have been at work. He walked over to her and gave her a massive hug and kissed her then said “What you doing here babe, I didn’t expect to see you until later” Janice smiled and said “I phoned in sick and told them I wasn’t coming in today.” He looked worried and said “You’re not sick are you?” She shook her head and said “I lied, I just needed to see you baby” then she put her arm through his and started to walk. David looked at her and thought something was up, but he knew better than to push her, she would tell her in her own time if something was bothering her. They drove home in silence and David took his stuff inside and after getting all the unpacking out of the way went through and got a beer out of the fridge and sat down beside Janice and said “Its good to be home and for more than a couple of days this time” he smiled and then frowned. “Jan, are you okay? You’ve been really quiet since I got here and you called in sick when you’re not, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen you do before.” He ran his hand up her arm and was amazed when she pulled away from him. He looked at her and noticed that she was trembling and he said more urgently this time “Janice, what’s happened, please tell me.” Janice turned to look at him and said “I was at the doctor’s the other day, I haven’t been feeling too good for the last while and I wanted to just get checked over.”

She could see the look on his face, it was full of concern and worry, she wondered how she was going to say this. “Baby, what did she say? Please tell me its nothing serious.” said David who was trying his hardest not to let his imagination run away with him about what was wrong with her. Janice took a deep breath and said “Do you remember the night we spent together in America, during the second leg of the tour?” David looked confused and said “We spent almost all of those nights together babe, you’ll have to say which exact one you’re meaning.” “The one where it was just you and me alone in that big house you had borrowed from your friend for the night.” David nodded and smiled at the memories from that night. “Well” said Janice. “That was the night that we created our first child.” David looked at her for a minute before his eyes widened and his mouth dropped open and he said “You’re pregnant? I’m going to be a daddy?” Janice nodded and said “How do you feel about it? I mean, you always said you didn’t want to have a family and never be here to see them grow up.” He grinned and said “I think its wonderful baby, the best news I’ve heard for a long time. I can’t believe I’m going to be a daddy.” he pulled her towards him and kissed her deeply and then put a hand on her stomach and said “How far along are you?” She leaned into him and said “Seven weeks, almost eight. Are you really sure you’re okay with it, I wasn’t sure how to tell you or how you’d react.” David turned her round so he could see her face and said “I really am okay with this, I love you and I love this baby already.” He put his head to Janice’s stomach and lifting her top said “Hello, little one, this is daddy” then kissed her stomach. Janice laughed and said “I don’t think it can hear you yet” and pulled her top back down and went to stand up when David said “What are you doing?” Janice turned and said “Well, I was going to make us some lunch.” David shook his head and said “Sit right down, you are not doing anything while you are having this baby. I shall make the lunch and then you can have a lie down.” He got up and made sure she was sitting comfortably then started to busy himself making the lunch. Janice smiled as she watched him and thought how amazing he was and that he was going to make a wonderful daddy.

*Chapter 36*

Sonia, Seb and Auds had been in Paris for a couple of days now and all the wedding plans were falling into place. The invitations had arrived while they were over doing the Castle shows, so they were all written and waiting to be posted. The cake had been ordered at the best bakers in Paris, the transport to and from the church had been booked, but Seb wasn’t telling Sonia what it was, said he wanted it to be a surprise. Her and Auds were going to spend the next day looking for the dresses. They got up the next morning and had breakfast before leaving Seb behind and heading of to the shops. They walked arm in arm down the main shopping street in Paris, a warm breeze making the trees sway slightly, you could tell the summer was almost over and that the autumn was on its way in by the colour of the leaves which had already started changing. They reached the shop they had been looking for and went inside. Sonia let out a little sigh as she saw the rows of white, cream and ivory dresses around the place. She looked at Auds and said “How am I supposed to just pick one? They’re all gorgeous.” Auds grinned and said “Just think of all the fun you’ll have trying them all on.” They both laughed then and a shop assistant approached them and asked if she could help them. Sonia nodded and said “I’m looking for my wedding dress and three bridesmaids dresses.” The lady smiled and said “Come through here and I’ll get all your details and sizes done. I’m Martha and I will do everything I can to make sure you leave here today with the dress you’ve always dreamed off getting married in.” She ushered them into a private changing room and offered them both a glass of champagne which they both accepted saying “Thank You” After she had taken all the information she needed for Sonia and Auds she looked up and said “Will the other two bridesmaids be joining us?” Sonia shook her head and said “Unfortunately not, one lives in America and the other in London and neither can get any time off for anything other than the wedding itself. But, if you tell me what exactly you need to know, I can get all their details for you.” Martha smiled and said “That’s fine, now, lets get started, you wait here and I’ll be right back.” then she left them alone in the room. Sonia grinned at Auds and said “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this, I’m picking my wedding dress and I’m finally marrying my Seb.” Auds laughed and said “I’m really happy for you and Seb, its going to be weird having to call you Mrs Sebastien Izambard though.”

They turned as they heard Martha saying “OMG” and saw her standing just inside the door with her arms full of dresses. She came in and hung them up and said “Sebastien Izambard from IL Divo? That’s who you’re marrying?” Sonia glanced at Auds who had a hand over her mouth then said “yes, but please don’t tell anyone, none of their fans know and we don’t want them finding out before the wedding. He’s going to announce it after we get back of honeymoon.” Martha smiled and said “Okay, I promise, I won’t tell anyone, but you are so lucky, he is one handsome guy. Although, I’m an Uber Babe myself.” Auds suddenly looked nervous and couldn’t look at her. Martha’s eyes widened and said “You’re not? Urs’ girlfriend?” Auds nodded and said “Yeah, but we’re keeping it quiet as well!” Martha shook her head in amazement and said “Don’t tell me, the other two bridesmaids are the girlfriends of David and Carlos? Auds laughed and said “Yes actually.” Martha stared at her and said “I was only joking, are you serious?” Auds nodded and her and Sonia laughed at the look on her face. She got herself together again and said “Okay, I brought these dresses through for you to try on, they’re from our bestselling range. They spent the next couple of hours watching Sonia try on lots of different dresses all of which were beautiful, but none of them really stood out as ‘her’ dress. Martha thought for a minute then said “Hang on, there is one more dress we can try, its unique, there was only one of it made and I think it will be perfect for you.” She went away and came back with this dress bag and hung it in the changing area then helped Sonia get into it. When she stepped out of the curtain Auds gasped and said “That’s it Sonia, that’s the one, it fits you perfectly, almost like it was made for you. Seb will absolutely love you in it.” Sonia grinned and said “Knowing Seb, he won’t let me wear it for too long!!” then added “Okay, I’ll take this one.” She got changed out of it and back into her own clothes while Martha put the dress to one side and put the others back where she’d taken them from. She came back and said “Okay, are you ready for the bridesmaids dresses now?” They both nodded and they spent the next hour with Auds trying on lots of dresses and them discussing whether it would suit all three of them. Eventually they came to a decision and they had their dresses. Sonia paid for them and asked if she could collect them nearer the wedding so that Seb wouldn’t be able to find it. Martha grinned and said “Sure, we’ll keep them safe for you.” Sonia thanked her and said “I’ll come back in with the details of the other girls as soon as I get them for you.” then her and Auds walked out of the shop and headed back to the house. Auds was going to fly back to London the next day and let Seb and Sonia have some time to themselves and she was going to get back to work.

It was the last few days before everyone had to go back to London and Janice was actually quite glad that David was going to be away. She had never thought she would ever feel like that, but he was driving her crazy, he wouldn’t let her do a thing, everytime she stood up he would ask where she was going then not let her do it, going to do it himself. If he told her one more time to go and lie down, she was going to scream. She was pregnant, not bloody sick, she didn’t need to lie down and she could still make dinner and do the washing up. She was surprised he was letting her go to work, I mean, she had to get up and move to do that. It had been lovely for the first few days, now it was just starting to grate on her nerves. David poked his head round the kitchen door and said “You two okay in here?” she took a deep breath and said “We’re fine thanks babe.” He smiled and came right into the room then and sat down beside her and said “Are you sure? You look a bit pale, maybe you should go and lie down for a while.” Janice stared at him and opened her mouth then shut it again and stood up saying “I’m going for a walk and I don’t want any company thanks” then grabbed her jacket and walked out the house. David leaned back in the chair and frowned. He really didn’t like the idea of her being alone and wondered if he should follow along behind her just in case she changed her mind about wanting company. He wanted to talk to her about him maybe staying home a bit longer with her, he had talked to Simon about it and he had said that if he wanted to he could record some of his vocals in a studio near him here in America, but he would need to be with the guys for some of the recording to get the harmonies right. He didn’t really want to leave her alone while she was pregnant, he didn’t want her to have to do everything by herself. He decided he would tell her when she got back and went back into the kitchen to finish what he’d been doing.

Auds was at her flat with Michelle, they had both taken the day off and had spent it shopping and having fun. Auds had filled her in on the fun her and Sonia had on the day they got the dresses and Michelle laughed when she heard about Martha, the assistant who was an IL Divo fan. “”I wish I had been there to see her face, it sounds hilarious.” said Michelle. Auds nodded and said “The best part had to be when she jokingly said ‘Don’t tell me, the other two bridesmaids are the girlfriends of Carlos and David‘, and I nodded and said ‘Yes actually!’ She just stared at me with her mouth hanging open!” Michelle laughed and said “Oh god, I miss all the fun.” wiping the tears away. She picked up the photo’s again and said “That is one gorgeous dress as well, Sonia looks awesome in it and the one you guys picked for us is divine, this is going to be a wonderful day.” she sighed. Suddenly there was a knock on Auds door and Michelle looked at her and said “Are you expecting somebody?” Auds shook her head and said “No, I don’t know who that could be, unless its Simon, he likes to come check up on me sometimes.” Michelle grinned at her and said “He’s really sweet underneath that public mask isn’t he?” Auds nodded and said “Can you open the door for me hun, I just need to go to the bathroom.” as the person knocked again. Michelle nodded and walked over to the door and opening it let out a scream. Auds came running through shouting “What? who was it? Michelle?” The room was empty and the front door was open, she started to go towards it when she felt a hand go round her mouth and she was pulled backwards. Then she was spun round and she found herself looking into the eyes of the man she loved.

“Urs” she cried. “What are you doing here, I wasn’t expecting you for another few days.” she kissed him and then said “Where did Michelle go?” Urs grinned and said “Well, lets just say that I’m not the only one back early and she went off with Carlos and she said to say goodbye” Auds smiled and said “Okay, guess I won’t be seeing her again for a while then! So, what made you come back early? I thought you were going to spend all the time you could with your folks?” He nodded and said “I was, but I found that I couldn’t get somebody out of my mind and I just wanted to come back and be with her.” He pulled her in tighter and kissed her deeply then said “I missed you so much Auds, I am never going on holiday without you again.” He looked at her with such intensity it felt like his eyes were going to burn a hole through her. He kissed her again then said “I hope you had no plans for the rest of the day because I am not letting you out of my sight for a long time.” then he picked her up and carried her through to the bedroom where he stared at her and started to slowly undress her until she was wearing nothing. He pushed her backwards gently until she was lying back on the bed and he quickly got undressed and lay down beside her and started to let his hands wander over her body moaning as her hands did the same to him. They very quickly lost themselves in each other as they made up for the time spent apart. They pulled apart quickly when they heard somebody saying “OMG, I’m sorry.” Auds pulled the bedcover over her and Urs and looked up. Whoever had been there was gone and she looked at Urs who was just as puzzled as her. She got up and wrapped a sheet round her and went into the other room and found Simon standing there looking very embarrassed. “Simon, what are you doing here? And how did you get in?” she asked. Simon looked at her just as Urs appeared at her side wearing his jeans and nothing else. “I’m sorry Auds, I came by to see if you were alright and the front door was wide open and you didn’t answer when I called out. I thought something had happened to you, that’s why I came looking in there.” Urs tried not to laugh at the look on Simon’s face and said “She’s just fine Simon, but thank you for checking on her for me.” Don’t worry Simon, I’ll be fine now that Urs is back. He nodded and said “I’ll just leave you to get on with what you were doing then” then went red as he remembered what it was they had been doing. Auds and Urs started laughing and he shook his head and walked out the door shutting it behind him. Urs grabbed hold of Auds and said “You heard him, we have to get on with what we were doing” then grinned and dragged her back into the bedroom.

*Chapter 37*

A few days later they were all back in London ready to start the recording, David included, Janice had finally lost it with him when he’d told her about his plan to stay in America with her and had told him exactly what he could do with that idea. They still hadn’t made up when he had left and he regretted that now.
He still hadn’t told the others yet, he’d wanted to see their faces when he told them all and was going to do it when they all met up later.

Sonia and Seb had just arrived at their apartment and were unpacking their things. They had pretty much arranged the whole wedding now, all that was left was to turn up and enjoy the day. They had sent all the invitations out earlier that week, but had brought the other guys, Simon’s and Steve’s with them to hand them out personally. Sonia looked at the time and said “Seb, hurry up, we’re going to be late for meeting the others if you don’t get out here right now.” He came through from the other room pulling on his jacket muttering away to himself in French. “SEB” said Sonia in shock. He looked up sheepishly and said “Sorry babe, I forgot you can understand me when I do that.” She laughed and said “I would assume that Urs and Carlos do as well, so it must be only David you do that around.” Seb grinned and nodded “Yep, we all do it! Its so funny sometimes, you can just see him wondering what we said and if it was about him.” Sonia shook her head and said “Poor David, I shall have to start teaching him French, so that he can understand you.” Seb pouted and said “Aww babe, that would spoil all my fun.” then he kissed her before she could say anything else then said “Come on then, we’ll be late if we stand around here all day!” and walked off leaving her standing there shaking her head.

They were all meeting up for dinner at Auds’ place, who was delighted to have them all back. Carlos, Michelle and Urs were already there, Michelle having apologised for her very sudden departure the other day! David arrived then with Seb and Sonia not far behind him. They were all sitting down with a few bottles of wine before dinner listening to each others stories about their holidays. When it came to Seb and Sonia she pulled a few envelopes out of her bag and said “You all know that we wouldn’t have the wedding without you guys, but we wanted to give you these anyway. Auds got hers and Urs’ first and she opened it and pulled out a Wedding Invitation.

“Aww, that is a lovely card Sonia, different, not your usual wedding type card.” Sonia grinned and said to Seb “See, I told you the girls would love it, he said that you wouldn’t care what the card was like as long as you got an invite!” Auds and Michelle laughed and Michelle said “Of course it matters, the invites are just as important as the rest of the wedding.” Seb shook his head and said “Women” then ducked as three cushion flew at him and the other guys laughed. David grinned and said “I’ll save you Seb, Janice and I have some news of our own, she’s sorry she can’t be here to tell you herself, but…..” he stopped and waited for a minute then said “She’s pregnant.” he put his hands over his ears as the three girls all screamed. “That’s awesome David, you must be so excited.” said Auds getting up and giving him a hug. He smiled broadly and said “I’m over the moon, we both are, although Janice isn’t actually speaking to me at the moment, she accused me of being overprotective and we had a big argument the day before I left.” Sonia sighed and said “What did you do?” David looked around him and said “Everything, literally, I wouldn’t let her do a thing around the house and kept telling her to go lie down.” The girls were all staring at him like he was mad and Michelle said “No wonder you fell out, she’s not sick David, she’s pregnant. She can still do everything she usually does and more probably.” David looked sheepish and said “Yeah, I realise that now, but she won’t talk to me and let me explain that to her.” He looked so sad that everyone just started laughing at him. He pouted and sat down in a huff ignoring them all. Auds went into the kitchen to get things ready and Sonia and Michelle followed her and gave her a hand. The guys sat down and tried to get David to smile again. They managed it after a while and were just about to start discussing the new stuff they were going to be recording when the girls appeared with the food and the wine. They all settled down and enjoyed the night being back together after two weeks apart.

A couple of days later they were all in the studio for their first day of recording and they were waiting for Simon to arrive with all the details and the backings for the songs which had already been recorded. He walked into the studio and said “Hello” to everyone. He sat down and took a look round at everyone, his gaze faltering slightly when it reached Urs and Auds. He looked down and shuffled the papers in front of him nervously. David grinned and said with a straight face “Seen something you shouldn’t have Simon?” Urs choked on the juice he’d just taken a drink of and Auds buried her head in her handbag looking for something she didn’t really need to cover her grin. Simon went bright red and looking at Urs who was still coughing said “Do you guys really have to tell each other everything?” Seb and Carlos were looking very confused and Seb said “What‘s going on? What have we missed?” David grinned and said “Simon walked in on Auds and Urs the other day when they were making love on her bed.” Simon groaned and put his head in his hands as Michelle said “You mean the day that Urs and Carlos arrived back early and you said the person who’d knocked at the door might have been Simon?” looking at Auds. She nodded and said “He turned up after you’d left and just walked in as the door hadn’t been shut and he thought something was wrong and came looking for me and found me and Urs with….” Simon cut her off then and said “Okay, I think they get the picture, can we get on with some work now?” Everyone looked at his face and burst out laughing. He shook his head and said “Please guys, can we just concentrate?” The laughter died down and they started to listen to Simon who was still looking awfully red in the face. They got started with only the occasional wink and funny looks passing between the guys. The girls settled down to watch as the guys went into the recording booth one by one and started working on the first track. They spent the next few hours just working on the one song trying different ways to make it sound the way they wanted it to. Simon sensing that things were going to progress well had left them to it and gone back to the offices.

*Chapter 38*

David had just got in and he had decided to phone Janice again hoping that she would talk to him this time. He dialled her number and waited for her to pick up, but she didn’t and it went to her voicemail. He frowned and left her a quick message then hung up. He was worried about her, not because she was pregnant, he’d realised he’d been acting like a total idiot over that, but there was something else worrying him and he couldn’t put his finger on it. He sighed and got ready for bed then lying on the bed switched the tv on and started to watch a film. He would try calling again later.

David was worried, he had gone to sleep and had woken up the next day and found no message from Janice and when he tried phoning her again, he still only got the answer phone. He went to the studio and told the others how he was feeling. “Why don’t you phone your mum and get her to try reaching her?” said Urs. Seb nodded and said “She might just be not answering when you call, you did say that you hadn’t made up before you left.” David nodded and pulled out his phone and dialled his mum’s number, he talked to her quickly explaining what had happened between him and Janice and how she wasn’t answering him now and he was worried and wanted her to try talking to her for him, then he listened as him mum told him off about the way he had been treating her. He then hung up and said “Why do all women have to agree on everything?” The others stared at him and he shook his head and said “Don’t worry, I’m just muttering.” He did feel a bit better though knowing that his mum would find out how she was for him. They started their recording then and kept going through lunchtime and just stopping in time for a late dinner. They were all leaving the studio as David was switching his phone back on. It beeped a few times and he looked at it and said “OMG” The others stared at him as he dialled a number and he held up his hand to tell them to be quiet. They looked at each other, all as confused as the other. David hung up and dialled another number saying “Mum’s called four times, she’s left me a message telling me she found Janice at home and she’s taken her to the hospital.” Urs took out his phone and called Auds and Carlos was about to say something when David started speaking “Mum, thank god, what’s happened, where is she, how is she, how’s the baby?” He was silent for a minute then his face fell and a tear ran down his face. He pushed it away and said “How long are they going to keep her in for and can you give me the number of the hospital?” He was silent again then he pulled a pen out of his bag and wrote the number on his hand. “Okay, thanks mum and please don’t leave her alone too much in there.” then he hung up and dialled the number he had written on his hand.

It rung for ages then a nurse answered it and he asked if he could speak to a patient called Janice. The line went quiet for a minute then David heard Janice’s voice saying “David, I’m so sorry.” then he heard her sniffing and realised she was crying. “Hey Jan, its me who should be sorry, I was an idiot and I should never have walked away from you without telling you that.” He could hear her still sniffing and struggling to speak and he wished he was there and could wrap his arms round her and tell her it was going to be okay. “I don’t know what happened, one minute I was fine and the next minute I couldn’t move, I had this incredible pain in my stomach. I went to the doctor and he said it was normal to have some kind of discomfort in the early stages and gave me some painkillers and told me to rest up for a few days. But, it got worse and that’s why I never answered the phone, it hurt too much to move.” The tears were running down David’s face now and he said “The baby? Is it okay or…” he trailed off and couldn’t finish what he was going to say. Janice sniffed and said “The hospital did a scan and said that the baby’s heartbeat was weak, but still there, they found that I had an infection in my stomach lining which was causing the pain, but until it clears up they’ve said its still possible for me to lose the baby, which is why they’re keeping me in for a while, so that they can treat the infection and keep an eye on the baby’s heartbeat.” David felt his heart sink and he said “You know I would be there with you as soon as I could be if I could Jan, but I really don’t think that I’ll be able to leave just now, but I’ve asked mum to stay close by and I’ll call you everyday as often as I can.” “Its okay David, I wasn’t expecting you to come back, its too far and you’ve only just left. I’ll be fine with your mum, you just carry on with the album, I can’t wait to hear it and I want to be able to play it to the baby so it can hear how good daddy’s voice is.” she said. David gave a weak smile and said “Okay babe, I’ll talk to you later, I love you so much.” “I love you too baby and I’m sorry I got mad at you.” said Janice then hung up and laid the phone down for the nurse to come back and collect.

David looked round him and realised he was sitting on the kerb of the pavement. He looked up at the others who were looking worried and said “When did I sit down?” They just looked at him and Urs said “What's wrong with Janice? Is the baby okay? He stood up and took a deep breath then said “At the moment yes, but they say she might still lose it yet.” he felt some tears run down his face and Seb put his arm around him as he said “I’m only just getting used to the fact that I’m going to be a daddy and now I may not be.” He brushed the tears away and said “Janice has a nasty infection in her stomach lining which the doctor she went to didn’t notice and sent her home with painkillers and the pain got so bad that she couldn’t move which is why she never answered the phone. They’re going to keep her in the hospital while they treat her so that they can keep an eye on the baby’s heartbeat as well.” The others just looked at him in shock and Seb tightened his arm round him as David finally let the tears flow freely. After he’d calmed down a bit they got him into the car and drove him home. Once inside Urs said “I phoned Auds to tell her something was wrong and she said she would get Sonia and Michelle and come round here, they should be here soon.” David smiled and said “Thanks guys, I really don’t think that I could handle being alone tonight, it would give me too much time to think about things.” Carlos patted him on the shoulder and said “That’s what friends are for, being there when they’re needed.”

Janice was let out of the hospital a week later after the doctors were happy that the infection had gone away and she wasn’t in any more danger. They had advised her to take it easy and not try and do too much. They had also done another scan and the baby’s heartbeat had got stronger and looked as if it was going to make it. David had been on the phone so often over the week that he knew all the nurses just by hearing their voices and he was so thankful to them for looking after his girl for him. Janice was planning a surprise for David and was going into work to see her boss the next day to see if he would help her with it.

*Chapter 39*


Sonia and Seb were in their apartment talking about last minute plans for the wedding. Seb looked up at her and said “I can’t believe that this time next week I’ll be able to call you my wife. Sonia grinned and looking up at him said “I can’t believe it either baby, I was starting to think you were never going to ask me” then laughed at the look on his face. “Seriously Sonia, do you ever regret giving up your work at the hospital for me? As I know you loved those kids.” he asked. Sonia moved closer to him and kissed him on the lips then pulled back saying “No, I wouldn’t give up what we have now for anything baby, I hated all the time we spent apart before, but I put up with it as I knew you were happy doing this. When I found out that you weren’t happy anymore and was planning to quit, I couldn’t let you do that and I listened to Auds when she said that it had worked for her and Urs and I listened to my heart and I knew deep down that the only reason I had spent so time at the hospital with the kids wasn’t because I loved them so much, it was because I missed you so much and needed to do something to keep my mind off it.” Seb stared at her and took in how beautiful she was right now with her hair up in a loose ponytail and some loose bits falling over her face. He reached a hand up and tucked them behind her ear and then said “I am so sorry that you felt that way, I always thought you were really happy there, I didn’t realise it was to hide the fact that you felt the same as me. But things are different now, I love you too much to ever let you out of my sight again and after next week you will officially be Mrs Sebastian Izambard.” He kissed her gently then deepened it and let his tongue explore her mouth as she opened it slightly. He could feel her moan as he let a hand wander inside her shirt and over her bare skin. He pulled away then looking at her, her lips red and swollen from the kiss and her hair falling over her face again and placing his hands on her shoulders he pushed her gently backwards until she was lying back on the couch and he slowly opened the buttons on her shirt one by one and let it fall of her shoulders then he trailed little soft kisses all over her body down to the top of her jeans. He unbuttoned them and pulled them down slowly and threw them onto the floor. He quickly undressed himself and lay himself down on top of her and kissed her lips then ran his tongue up the side of her face and over the edge of her ear. He could hear her breathing getting heavier and he could feel her hands wandering over his body. He looked down at her face and saw a look of intense desire blazing in her eyes and he couldn’t wait any longer, he slid down her body so that he was level with her and kissing her gently made love to her right there.

He woke up later feeling cold and smiled when he saw Sonia sleeping peacefully beside him. He got up and went through to get a blanket and going back lay down and covered the two of them with it then cuddling back into her side went back to sleep.

It was four days since Janice had got out of the hospital and three days before Seb and Sonia’s wedding. They guys and Auds and Sonia were all in the studio, they were just concentrating on getting all the group vocals and all of Seb’s solo parts completed that day so that he could go on his honeymoon and the other guys could just finish their solo bits while he was away. They were all flying to Paris the next day to get everything ready. They were all looking forward to it, especially David as Janice was flying over the day after them and he couldn’t wait to see her again. They were just about to stop for lunch when Auds phone rang, she answered it and talked for a while then hung up and smiling at Sonia said “Can I talk to you for a minute Sonia? Away from here?” Sonia looked worried and said “sure” and the two of them walked out of the room leaving the guys alone. Sonia looked at Auds and said “What’s going on? Who was that on the phone?” Auds grinned and said “Janice, she’s just landed at the airport and was wondering if we could pick her up.” Sonia stared at her and said “But isn’t she meant to be meeting us in Paris in a couple of days?” Auds nodded and said “All she said was that she has a surprise for David and she would tell us all about it when we picked her up.” Sonia smiled and said “We’d better go then!” Auds nodded and said “I’ll tell them I’ve got to go out for something and you’re coming with me and you phone Michelle and tell her we’ll pick her up on the way.” “But she’s at work, she can’t just walk out.” said Sonia. “No, but they can’t stop her from having a break for lunch.” grinned Auds. Sonia smiled and took out her phone as Auds went back in and told them that she had to run an errand for Simon and Sonia was coming with her then she kissed Urs and left them to it.

They got into her car and drove to get Michelle who was waiting for them, she got in and they drove to the airport. They found Janice inside surrounded by bags and after they’d all hugged her they loaded the car with her stuff and went to the nearest café for some lunch. After they had ordered Sonia said “So, what is this surprise for David?” Janice smiled and put a hand on her stomach rubbing it gently then said “They told me at the hospital to do as little as possible for a while and I decided that going back to work wouldn’t be a good way of doing nothing, so I went to see my boss the other day and explained everything to her. We came up with this plan between us that I could still work, just not from my office, I could work from a mobile stance and send all my work to her through email and fax. That way I don’t have the hassle and stress of being in the office and I can do as much as I like and not get stressed if I’m not finished by the time the office closes.” Sonia and Michelle looked at her confused and Michelle said “Okay, what has that got to do with David?” Auds smiled and said “I’m assuming you’ve brought all your work and a laptop with you?” Janice nodded and Auds grinned and said “Looks like we have another girlfriend joining the guys entourage!!” Sonia and Michelle grinned and Sonia said “It will be great to have you around all the time girl and David is going to be over the moon.” Michelle looked at her watch and swore “I have to get back to work girls.” Auds nodded and they paid the bill and dropped her off on the way back to the studio. They arrived and Auds and Sonia went inside, Janice was going to follow after five minutes. They guys looked up as they entered and Urs smiled and said “Get everything done?” Auds nodded and looking round said “Where’s David?” He nodded towards the booth and said “In there, about to record some bits that need to be done again.” Auds smiled as she saw him appear in the booth and waved at him and he waved back. She went and sat beside Sonia and waited for Janice to appear. They didn’t have to wait long as there was a knock on the studio door then it opened. Auds wished she had a camera as the looks on the faces of Urs, Carlos and Seb were priceless. She came in and hugged them all the sat down with the girls and waited for David to spot her. He finished the song he was doing and came into the room and said “Surely we must be nearly finished by now? I want to go home and phone Jani……” He trailed off as he suddenly spotted her sitting down. “OMG, Janice, when, where, how, what are you doing here?” He went and pulled her into a hug and kissed her. She laughed and explained to the guys what she had already told the girls. David looked at Auds and said “This was the errand you had to run wasn’t it?” She nodded and said “I didn’t know anything about this until she phoned me to ask for a lift from the airport about two hours ago.” He turned back to Janice and said “I can’t believe you’re really here and you get to stay this time.” he pulled her into his arms and just held her tight for ages. “Okay guys, I’m really happy for you both, but we have to finish up here today or we ain’t flying to Paris tomorrow.” said Auds. David groaned and pulled himself away giving Janice a kiss then said “Okay, lets get moving then.” They all went into the recording booth and spent the next few hours finishing off all the bits that needed Seb’s voice.

*Chapter 40*

The next couple of days passed really quickly and pretty soon it was the day of the wedding. Seb had gone to stay in the Chateau with the rest of the guys the night before, leaving Sonia and the girls in the flat, and had spent most of the night in the bar with all the guests that kept arriving along with Steve and Simon who had flown in that afternoon. The girls were all running about getting themselves and Sonia ready. It was total chaos for a while with the hairdresser doing everyone’s hair and the lady doing the make up arriving late and Sonia’s mum trying to make sure everyone ate some lunch, but eventually it all calmed down and everyone was ready. Auds, Janice and Michelle were waiting for Sonia to appear, she had asked for five minutes by herself. Then the door opened and she walked into the room and stood by the archway.
She looked absolutely beautiful in her dress. She posed for some photos by herself and with the girls who also looked amazing in their dresses taken by her dad
and then the transport arrived. They all watched as it drew to a halt beside them. Auds looked at Sonia who had a hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes. She leaned over and said “Don’t cry, you’ll spoil your make up.” Sonia smiled and said “He remembered, all these years and he remembered.” The three girls all stared at Sonia and she said “Way back when we first met, we were doing a quiz type thing out of a magazine and one of the questions was ‘What would be your ideal wedding transport?’ and gave four answers. I said none of them, my dream had always been to arrive at my wedding in a horse and carriage.

They got themselves seated in the two carriages , the girls and Sonia’s mum in one and Sonia and her dad in the other and they started to make their way towards the Chateau.


Seb and the guys were just finishing off getting ready. They were all in Seb’s room to see how he was getting on, he had asked all three guys to be his best man as he had decided that it wasn’t fair to pick one over the others. He couldn’t believe how nervous he was as he attempted to make his tie look how it should. Urs went over and pushed his hands away saying “Let me do it or we’ll never make it on time” David and Carlos laughed at Urs, always worried about the time, Seb thanked him and said “I don’t know why I’m so nervous, its not because I’m scared she won’t turn up, I know she will.” David said “Its not nerves Seb, more butterflies hoping that the day goes well.” Seb nodded then looking round at the three guys that he’d spent the best part of the last three years with, who had been there for each other through everything and said “I just want to say thank you guys, you three mean so much to me, I feel like I’ve gained three brothers and I am so happy that you’re all a part of my big day, it just wouldn’t be right without you here.” They all looked at each other and met in a group hug. They pulled away and Urs looked at his watch and said “Right, we really need to get you downstairs Seb, Sonia will be arriving soon and we need to be in place before she does.” He nods and they all make their way down to the room the service is going to take place in and take their place at the front. They have been standing there for about ten minutes when they hear the music start playing and all the guests stand up and turn to watch as Auds, Janice and Michelle all make their way down the aisle and take their place then Sonia walks down on her dad’s arm. They reach Seb and she stands beside him and smiles at him. He smiles back and they turn to the minister who starts the ceremony.

“Two lives, two people, so very different, yet so similar. Together we stand as one, sharing our future as it comes. The past is that past. Buds are yet to blossom, with care and trust, the best is yet to be revealed. Honesty and kindness, are the fruits of love. Lord bless this day and always to enrich us so our love will never end. Before you are joined together in marriage in my presence and in the presence of these your family and friends, I am bound to remind you of the solemn and firm nature of the relationship into which you are about to enter. Marriage as most of us understand it, is the voluntary commitment of a man to a woman and a woman to a man to the exclusion of all others and is entered into with the desire, the hope and the firm intention that it will last for life.
We shall now say your vows.”

“I Sebastien Izambard affirm my love to you Sonia Edwards as I invite you to share my life. I promise always to respect your needs. I will endeavour through kindness, unselfishness and trust to achieve the warm rich life we now look forward to. To this end I call upon all present to witness that I take you Sonia Edwards to be my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health while we both shall live.”

He smiled at her as she repeated what he had just said.

“I Sonia Edwards affirm my love to you Sebastien Izambard as I invite you to share my life. I promise always to respect your needs. I will endeavour through kindness, unselfishness and trust to achieve the warm rich life we now look forward to. To this end I call upon all present to witness that I take you Sebaastien Izambard to be my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health while we both shall live.”

He took her hand and said “Sonia, with this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all we shall share.” and taking the ring from Carlos placed it onto her finger.

She took his hand and said “Sebastien, with this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all we shall share.” She took the other ring from Carlos and placed it on his finger. They turned to face the minister again who carried on with the ceremony saying “You have declared before all of us that you will live together in marriage. You have made special promises to each other, which have been symbolized by the joining of hands, taking of vows and the giving and receiving of two ring's. By the authority vested in me as a Minister in Paris. I now pronounce you to be husband and wife. Now that the ceremony is over and the experience of living day by day is about to begin, go and meet it gladly. You may now kiss the bride.” They turn to face each other and Seb lifts the veil off Sonia’s face and their lips meet in a soft, gentle kiss. They pull apart and after going to sign the marriage certificate they walk back down the aisle together as Mr and Mrs Sebastien Izambard.

They had finished with all the photo’s the photographer wanted and had just finished the meal and were waiting for the band to get ready and the dance to start at night. Some of the guests who could only make it to the evening part of the wedding started to arrive. Auds looked at the door and then to Sonia who was standing beside her and said “Did you invite Martha?” Sonia looked towards the door and smiled as she saw her standing nervously there and said “Yeah, when I went back to pick up the dresses I gave her an invitation as a thank you for keeping it secret and I thought it would be nice for her seeing as she is such a fan of the guys.” She started walking towards her and Auds followed. “Martha, you made it, its nice to see you again, I’m afraid i can’t stand still for long, I have to go talk to everyone, but Auds will make sure you’re okay.” Martha smiled and nodded then Auds said “Okay, you said you were a fan of Urs, so how about I introduce you to him?” Martha looked nervous suddenly and said “I couldn’t, lets not bother him just now.” Auds smiled and said “Its okay, he’s lovely and he won’t mind.” “What won’t I mind?” said Urs and Auds grinned as his arms went round her waist and he kissed her cheek from behind. She turned round and kissed him on the lips and said “You won’t mind meeting Martha here, she’s the lady who owns the dress shop Sonia got her dress and our dresses from and she’s an admirer of your music and of you.” Urs let go of Auds and looked properly at Martha and said “Hey Martha, its always a pleasure to meet our fans, especially beautiful ones like you.” Martha blushed as he leant forward and kissed her softly on the cheek. He then said “I want to thank you for making my lovely girlfriend here even more gorgeous than she usually is, the dress is so beautiful, although I don’t plan on her wearing it for too long tonight.” “Urs” said Auds blushing. He grinned and said “You’re face almost matches your dress now” then said “OWW” as Auds hit him on the arm. She turned to Martha and said “You’ll have to excuse him, he’s got a one track mind when he’s not working.” Martha laughed and said “Don’t all men?” Auds started laughing and Urs pouted and said “That’s it, I’m sleeping with David tonight.” Auds giggled and Martha’s eyes grew big and she stared at him. He muttered something in Swiss then said “That came out wrong.” The girls laughed at him and he was about to say something when the band announced that it was time for the bride and groom to have their first dance. They watched as Seb and Sonia took to the floor and Urs said to Martha “Don’t go anywhere, I’ll save a dance for you later” then he took Auds hand and joined David, Janice, Carlos & Michelle on the dance floor. Seb and Sonia were in their own little world as they danced. They had asked the band to play ‘their’ song for the first dance and Seb was singing along softly to it.

Every time our eyes meet
This feeling inside me
Is almost more than I can take
Baby when you touch me
I can feel how much you love me
And it just blows me away
I've never been this close to anyone or anything
I can hear your thoughts
I can see your dreams

I don't know how you do what you do
I'm so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I want to spend the rest of my life
With you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby, I'm amazed by you

The smell of your skin
The taste of your kiss
The way you whisper in the dark
Your hair all around me
Baby you surround me
You touch every place in my heart
Oh, it feels like the first time, every time
I want to spend the whole night in your eyes

I don't know how you do what you do
I'm so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I want to spend the rest of my life
With you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby, I'm amazed by you

Every little thing that you do
I'm so in love with you
It just keeps getting better
I want to spend the rest of my life
With you by my side
Forever and ever
Every little thing that you do
Baby, I'm amazed by you



The night got late and Martha had met all the girls now and also the rest of the guys who were getting drunker the later it got. Urs stood up from the table they were sitting at and said “I think its time we had that dance Martha” and pulled her up and onto the dance floor. The music changed as they got there and the band started playing a slow song. Martha looked like she was about to turn and walk away when Urs put one hand round her waist and taking her hand with the other pulled her in towards him and started to dance. He smiled at her and said “Just relax and enjoy the dance.” She looked at him and thought to herself ‘How can I relax when I’m dancing a slow dance with the Swiss Rock God.’ The night came to an end not long after they had finished dancing and all the girls gathered together to try and catch Sonia’s flowers before her and Seb left for the night. Urs smiled to himself when he saw that Auds had caught them, he knew what that meant as well as anyone else and he wondered what she would do if she knew what he was thinking right then.

*Chapter 41*

Seb and Sonia left then after saying goodbye to everyone and went up to the honeymoon suite in the Chateau. They were staying there for the night and then moving on to wherever Seb had booked for their honeymoon. He wasn’t telling Sonia anything about it and she wasn’t too happy at not knowing where they were going. Seb opened the door to the suite and picked Sonia up and carried her over the threshold. When he put her down she said “You’re meant to do that through the door of your house, not your hotel room” then smiled and kissed him. He kissed her back and said “I will do it again when we get back to the house then.” She pulled away from him then and said “I think I will go and get into something a little more comfortable babe, don’t fall asleep while I’m gone.” then she picked up a bag and went into the bathroom locking it behind her. Seb went to sit on the bed and started opening the buttons of his shirt, the tie had been removed a long time ago, he pulled it off and hung it on the back of the chair. He took his trousers off as well and put them on the chair then lay down nervously on the bed. He kept glancing at the bathroom door wondering what was taking Sonia so long and he kept moving and trying to sit or lie a different way. He was just about to get up and knock on the door to see if she was alright when he heard the lock opening and the door opened. His mouth dropped open and he just stared at her when she walked out and stood at the bottom of the bed. She had changed into a very short, very revealing black silk negligee and had taken her hair out and let it fall loosely around her face. He slowly closed him mouth and licked his lips as he moved towards her. He put his hands on her sides and pulled her down onto the bed beside him and said “I didn’t think you could look any more gorgeous today than you already did, but you do.” He took a long look at her then drinking in all the parts of her he loved then he brought his eyes back up to hers and he said “I think you need to lie down Mrs Izambard.” Sonia shivered at the way he had said that and she moved up the bed and lay down with her head on the pillow. Seb moved over so that he was on top of her and he leant down and traced the line of her negligee from her shoulder down and then followed it again with his lips. Sonia ran her hands through his hair and let out a soft moan when his hands went down to the bottom of the negligee and up under it. Seb could hear her breathing getting deeper and let his hands keep wandering. All of a sudden he found himself being turned over and Sonia was on top of him. She stared down at him and let a strap fall of her shoulder revealing even more skin to him. He put his hand up to run through her hair and he pulled her gently down and kissed her lips softly at first then deepening it as she relaxed into him. He pushed the other strap down as well and quickly pulled it over her head throwing it on the floor below. He lay there, his hands touching every part of her body while she was raining kisses on his bare chest. He moaned as she reached the top of his boxers and he moved slightly so she could slip them off. They soon gave in to each other and made the day complete by losing all awareness of anything around them but themselves.

It was almost lunchtime the next day when everyone finally made it out of their rooms and met down in the dining room for lunch. The guys were all looking a bit worse for wear after the nights drinking and the girls had no sympathy for them at all. Michelle looked at the other two girls and said “So, what have we got planned for today?” Janice looked at David then said “I’m not sure the guys are up to anything, they seem a little hung over” then grinned as Auds said “A little, I’d say a lot.” Janice said “I know, why they do it every time I don’t know.” David looked at her and said “Well, I have to drink for both of us now that you can’t drink.” Janice groaned and said You mean I’m going to have to put up with you like this until the baby is born?” Auds frowned and said “God, I hope not, he’s bad enough to cope with without him being hung over all the time, plus I don’t think Simon would be too happy.” Simon walked in then and approached their table and sat down beside them saying “I need coffee and I need it now.” Everyone laughed while Auds shook her head. Simon and Steve were heading back to London and Sonia and Seb had left in the early morning to catch their flight so the others decided that they would just head back to Sonia’s flat which Auds had a key for and stay there for the night and fly back to London the day after to finish the recording of the album. Once they had arrived there the girls left the guys who had all laid down somewhere and fallen asleep and went for a look round the area.

They spent a wonderful afternoon going in and out of shops, wandering through the nearby parks stopping to feed the ducks after buying some bread from an old lady selling it. It was late afternoon/early evening when Michelle’s phone rang, she took it out and answered it. She talked for a while then hung up. She looked at the girls and said “That was Carlos, wondering where we were, when we were coming back and could we pick up some wine and beer on the way” Janice rolled her eyes and said “How can they want to drink after last night.” Auds grinned and said I bet he never asked you to get food did he?” Michelle smiled back and said “Actually, he said there was plenty of food, just no drink. We’d better go, I don’t like to think of what they’re up to.” Auds and Janice laughed and they all made their way back to the flat stopping off only to buy the drink. They entered the flat expecting them all to be either sleeping or waiting for their dinner to be made, but they got a shock when they saw a table beautifully laid and Urs and David in the kitchen surrounded by pans and dishes. Auds looked at Urs who winked and she blushed remembering the last time they had been in a kitchen with him cooking. She walked in as David walked out and she kissed him then said “Am I actually going to get to eat this diner?” He grinned and picking up a bag of flour said “Well, you can wear it if you like, but I don’t think the others would appreciate it as much as I did.” Her eyes sparkled as she grinned and put her hands round him and down over his bottom. She kissed him hard, then leaving one hand where it was, brought the other one up and under his t shirt and over his bare skin. He moaned softly and pulled her in closer, running his hands through her hair then down over her body and lingering at the top of her jeans. She leant against him as his hands made their way over her bottom and she moaned then jumped as this loud voice said “Can you two not get a room instead of doing it in the kitchen?” They pulled apart and blushed as Carlos stared at them. “I was the one chosen to come see what was taking dinner so long." he said. Urs grinned and said “Sorry, got a bit distracted, its just coming.” Auds left the two of them to finish things off and went to join the others in the other room. They spent the rest of the night eating, drinking and enjoying their last night in paris.

They all flew back to London the next morning, back to their own apartments. They had the day free as they didn’t have to be in the studio til the day after. Janice and David were in his apartment and they were talking about the baby and how he had almost lost the two of them. “You can ask the others, I went to pieces after I spoke to you on the phone and realised how serious it was.” I really wanted to be there with you Jan.” Janice smiled and lay down resting her head on David’s lap and said “I wished you were there too babe, I mean, your mum was wonderful, but she wasn’t you.” He leant down and kissed her softly then ran a hand down the side of her face onto her neck and down her shoulder. He paused as she started to run a hand over his chest opening a few buttons on his shirt. She looked up at him and said “What’s the matter?” “It won’t harm the baby will it? Us, you know?” Janice smiled and shook her head “Don’t worry babe, I checked it out and it won’t hurt the baby at all.” David grinned and said “In that case” He bent over and kissed her again, running his hand slowly over her stomach feeling her tremble. She sat up then and finished opening his buttons pushing the shirt off his shoulders then ran her tongue all the way down his chest from the shoulder to the top of his trousers. She fiddled with the buttons on his jeans and eventually got them open. She stood up and held out her hand for him to take. He took it and stood up then followed her into the bedroom where the rest of their clothes were quickly shed and they spent the day in bed pretending it was them that was on honeymoon.

*Chapter 42*

*2 Weeks Later*

The album was finished and the guys had some time off as they couldn’t do anything else until Seb came back from his honeymoon. He still had another week left of it as he had booked three weeks off for it.

*************************************************************

Sonia laughed as Seb hit the water head first and went under. He came back to the top spluttering and said “I’m glad you think its so funny.” He pulled himself out of the water and looked down at himself. He was dripping water and his shirt was now firmly stuck to him showing off his chest and his trousers were plastered to his legs and his shoes were ruined. He took one of and tipped it up to let the water run out. He looked at Sonia who had sat down and was trying to stop laughing, but failing miserably and said “I don’t know why you’re laughing, you’re going in there next.” Sonia stood up and said “You’ll have to catch me first.” and ran away from him. He shook his head and grinned, he followed her slowly knowing where she was heading. They had been staying in the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa in the Maldives for the last two weeks, the hotel only had six rooms and each one was situated on posts above the water and apart from each other, which had meant they didn’t see too many other people around.
They had spent most of the first week in and around the hotel, never straying too far from their room, it was only towards the end of the week that they had started to explore the place a bit. That’s when they found the little cove in the beach and they had spent some time there. He made his way slowly to the cove, squelching with every step. He turned the corner and stopping to take his shoes and socks off and roll up his trouser legs a bit walked onto the sandy beach and looked out over the gorgeous deep blue sea which was as still as a pane of glass. His eyes twinkled as he approached the cove and saw Sonia sitting on the sand waiting for him. He stopped to stare at her for a moment sitting there with her legs pulled up and her arms wrapped round them. She was staring at the water and he had an idea. He changed his route so that he would come out behind her and when he reached her he just picked her up and walked towards the water with her shouting at him and hitting him. He smiled at her and said “But I am already wet cherie, it is not fair that you are not as well” and reaching the water he walked in until it was up to his waist and then smiling at the look on Sonia’s face let her go. When she resurfaced she stood up and looked at Seb who was just standing there with his mouth open. She looked down to see why and realised that her dress was sticking to her and had gone see through and she was revealing a lot more than she had been. She shook her head at Seb and pulled him close to her and kissed him then said “Hmm, I think we need to go back and get out of these wet clothes babe” then winked at him and walked out of the water. He followed her and catching up with her pulled her down so that she was sitting on his lap and he kissed her deeply letting one of his hands wander over her. Sonia grabbed his hand and said “As much as I like where this is going I would prefer to do it somewhere a bit more private.” and nodded her head in the direction of the couple who had just walked down onto the beach. Seb sighed and he let her stand up then got himself up and hand in hand they walked back tot heir apartment where they soon shed all their wet clothes and went straight back to where they had left off.

The next morning Sonia woke up and looked down at Seb who was sleeping beside her and smiled, 2 weeks later and she still couldn’t believe that he was her husband. She got out of the bed and headed for the shower, turning it on as hot as she could stand. She got under and wondered what he had planned for them today. He had said something last night about having something different planned for every day of the last week and not just lazing around the hotel or beach like they had done for the past two. She was out of the shower and dressed before he even stirred and when he opened his eyes he saw her watching him. He smiled and said “What are you doing up so early?” She grinned as she moved out of the way of his hands and said “You said you had something planned for everyday this week, so I thought we could have an early start on today’s plans” She laughed as Seb dropped his head back on the pillow and said “Do we have to? Its still early and I can think of better things to do with our time.” Sonia shook her head “Honestly, you would think we were on our honeymoon or something the way your mind is working.” then laughed again at the look on his face. Seb stretched out and pushed the covers off him in defeat and said “I’ll be ready in a few minutes then we can go have breakfast and then I will tell you what I have planned for today.” then he walked into the bathroom shaking his head. They were sitting down having breakfast when Seb told her his plans for the week. “Today we are going on a safari boat trip to try and do some Whale and Dolphin spotting, which they say Maldives is famous for, Tomorrow we are going to have a snorkelling lesson in the morning and in the afternoon we are going to go snorkelling amongst all the coral and reefs, On Wednesday we are going to view the coral and reef again, but this time from the inside of a real submarine which will take us 100 feet down below the water, On Thursday we are going to take dance lessons, to try and learn the native dance Bodu Beru and on Friday I thought we could just go shopping in Male and get some nice souvenirs and presents for the others back home.” He stopped and looked at Sonia who was looking at him in shock. “When did you arrange all that? We haven’t been apart for more than 5 minutes the whole time we’ve been here.” He grinned and said “I booked it all when I booked the whole honeymoon, are you happy with my choices?” “Happy, of course I’m happy babe, I can’t believe how much thought you put into all of this.” she looked at him then said “What time do we have to be at the boat for the trip? Is there time for us to maybe do what you were suggesting when you woke up? Just as a thank you, of course!” and she grinned at him. He looked at his watch and said “As much as I really love that idea hun, I’m afraid not, we have to be there in 15 minutes.” he stood up and took her hand and leaned in close to her and said “But, I will remember you said that and will make sure we have time later on.” and kissed her. She put her arm through his and they walked down to the marina to catch the boat.

Carlos frowned, he wasn’t happy and the other lads could tell something was up but he wasn’t telling them what. They had been back at work for a couple of weeks now and they had got all the news and seen all the photo’s of the honeymoon and were now in America rehearsing for their two month tour with Barbara Streisand. Everything he did lacked the spirit of the Carlos they all knew, they just couldn’t figure out why. He had been fine before they had flown to America but had been quiet and wasn’t flirting the way he usually did since they had got there. Even with Michelle around he couldn’t help himself, but he wasn’t even doing that which is why the guys were worried, nothing stopped Carlos from flirting, he even did it when he was in bed sick.

*Later that day*

The guys were talking about Carlos while he was with Auds and Steve going over some stuff they had coming up. Urs shook his head and said “If I didn’t know that things were alright with him and Michelle, I would say that is what’s bothering him, but they have never been better.” Seb sighed and said “But he is acting the way I was when I was missing Sonia. Maybe that’s what it is?” David shook his head and said “It has to be something more than that, he’s travelled without Michelle before and he’s never been like this. I think we’ll just have to wait until he wants to talk.” The fell silent then as they each tried to think of something they could do to help Carlos.
He walked towards them then with Auds and he said “What’s going on here, you lot are never this silent.” then smiled. Auds sat down beside Urs and watched as the three of them looked at each other before Urs said “Nothing is going on, can we not just be enjoying the peace for a while?” Carlos shook his head and said “Maybe you and Seb can, but David and the word quiet don’t usually go together.” Auds grinned then looked down as David noticed and shook his head. He stood up then and said “Well, if I’m not needed for anything else I am going to go and get some sleep. I didn’t sleep well last night.” He looked at Auds who shook her head and said “No, you’re free to go Carlos, just be back down here for 6.30pm please.” He nodded and left the group alone. Auds turned to them and said “Okay, so what was that all about? What are you guys up to?” Urs put his arm round her and pulled her close into him and said “We’re worried about Carlos, he’s not himself and he won’t say what’s bugging him.” Auds sighed and said “God, what is it with you lot, there is always one of you not happy about something.” David looked at her and said “You seriously haven’t noticed anything wrong with him? He hasn’t been right since we came to America.” Auds shook her head and said “He hasn’t seemed any different to me, are you sure you guys aren’t just seeing things?” “Auds, he isn’t flirting with all the women around here, even with Michelle around he would be doing that, there is something not right with him.” said Seb. Auds thought about it and said “You’re right, maybe I should try talking to him.” Urs shook his head “No, I don’t think it would work hun, he will come to us or to you when he’s ready. But it’s a lovely thought.” and kissed her on the cheek.

*Chapter 43*

Up in his room Carlos was lying on the bed unable to sleep, he put a hand up to his face to wipe away the tears that were falling and turned over onto his side, curled up into a ball and closed his eyes. He could still see it happening, and he opened his eyes again. He knew he wouldn’t be able to close his eyes without seeing it happening every time. But how long was he going to be able to cope without sleeping. The guys were already suspicious of him, he knew they were just not admitting it to him. He got up of the bed and went and stood under the shower turning it up as hot as he could stand hoping it would burn the vision in his head out of him. When that didn’t work he got out and wrapped a towel round his waist picked up his phone and tried to phone Michelle. He got her voicemail and left her a quick message then threw the phone down and tried once again to close his eyes and get some sleep.

He must of managed to fall asleep as he woke up and looked at his watch and saw that it was almost 6pm. He got up and had another shower, got himself dressed tried phoning Michelle again and then headed down to meet the others. There was only Auds there and she looked up and smiled at him as he sat down. “Did you manage to get any sleep?” she asked. He nodded and said “A little thanks” she looked at his face , he looked pale and she said “Is everything alright Carlos? With you, Michelle, Work? You know I’m always here if you want to talk don’t you?” He turned to look at Auds for a minute then he said “Well, there is….just then David, Seb and Urs all appeared and Carlos said quickly….nothing wrong Auds, everything is fine.” and he stood up and moved away from her. She looked at the others and snapped “just for once, could you not all have been late?” and walked off past them. The three of them all looked at each other and David said “What was that about?” Urs shrugged and said “But, going by past experience, its best to do everything she says tonight without any fuss.” Seb grinned and said “You mean we don’t usually?” David laughed and Urs said “Please guys, don’t annoy her tonight, I have to cope with her when you all go to your own rooms.” Auds appeared back then and shouted “Is anyone actually coming tonight or do I have to phone the TV Show and tell them we can’t make it because you’re all far to busy in the hotel bar to make the effort to go appear on their show?” They all followed her out quietly and Urs put his arm through hers and said “Are you okay babe? You seem a bit mad about something.” “Not something Urs, Someone.” and pulled her arm free and walked off. They did the performance and interview and went back to the hotel still being quiet and once in Carlos went straight to his room and Urs asked Auds if she wanted a drink. She shook her head and said “I’m going to go find Janice and Sonia. I’ll see you later.” Urs went over to David and Seb and said “What happened tonight? When she left our room she was fine, then she turned into that moody, snappy person.” They both shook their heads and Seb said “I don’t know mate, but I hope she comes out of it soon, she’s scary like that.”

Auds had found the girls in Janice and David’s room and had slumped onto the bed without saying a word then flung three pillows across the room. She saw the girls staring at her in surprise and said “I was just imagining that they were David, Seb and Urs. I feel a bit better now.” Janice grinned and said “What did they do?” Auds sighed and sat up properly before saying “I almost had Carlos talking to me about whats wrong with him and the three of them walked in and he clammed up again. It just kinda made me snap at them and then I shouted at them, it wasn’t pretty and now I have to apologise.” She fell back onto the bed again and groaned. Sonia grinned and said “I wouldn’t worry too much Auds, they probably got more of a shock then anything else seeing you mad, it has to be the first time doesn’t it?” “Well, for David and Seb yes, Urs has seen me mad on plenty of occasions!!” then smiled. “I better do this now before they all go to bed, you girls fancy a drink down in the bar with me?” They both grinned and Janice said “Wouldn’t miss this for anything, just wish I had seen you shouting at them!!” They made their way down to the bar where they saw the three guys sitting at a table. Auds went to the bar to get the drinks while Sonia and Janice went to sit down with the guys. David kissed Janice then said “Have you managed to find out what made her so mad? We just walked in the door and she snapped at us.” Sonia nodded “You interrupted her, she almost had Carlos talking to her then you three appeared and he shut up again. But she is going to apologise, that’s why we came down.” Auds appeared then with the drinks and before she sat down she looked at the guys and said “I want to apologise for my behaviour tonight, it was very unprofessional of me to take out my frustration on you three. I was talking to Carlos and he was about to tell me something about what was bugging him and you lot walked in and he changed immediately and said he was fine and walked away.” Urs took her arm and pulled her down so she was sitting and put his arm round her and said “I’m sorry too, if we had known he was talking to you, we wouldn’t have come in, we would have waited for you outside in the foyer.” David grinned and said “Although I have to say I thought it was quite funny you telling Urs that he should have been late, when have you ever know Mr Swiss be late, intentionally or not?” Seb grinned and said “Well, there was that one time in Edinburgh!” Everyone burst out laughing and Urs went bright red and shook his head saying “You are never going to let me forget that are you?” David and Seb shook their heads and grinned.

They stayed down for a couple of drinks then all headed for their rooms. Urs got ready for bed and was under the covers when Auds came out of the bathroom, she climbed in beside him and cuddled into his side with him letting his fingers wander over her shoulder and arm. “I really am quite worried about Carlos now, he wanted to tell me something tonight, but he couldn’t seem to be able to get it out.” It can’t be good for him to keep it inside, he’s not sleeping, so how long is he going to be able to cope during the days without any sleep?” Urs kissed her gently and said “I don’t know babe, when I lost you, I lost the will to do anything and sleeping by myself was impossible, I just couldn’t do it without you beside me. So that made me more irritable and cranky. If he really isn’t sleeping or just not sleeping well, then it will start to show in his behaviour sooner or later.” Auds sighed and said “Well, I might try and talk to him again, go to him this time and not do it when I’m waiting for you all to turn up for work.” Urs nodded and pulled her in closer to him and he kissed her then switched the light beside him off and they drifted off to sleep.

*Chapter 44*

The next morning Auds was up and away to see Carlos before Urs had even woken up. She knocked on his door and she heard him moving about and then the door opened. He stood in front of her wearing a robe looking terrible. His eyes were all red and his hair was sticking up. She just stared at him and said “Oh Carlos, tell me what’s wrong please?” He stood to the side and let her in then shut the door behind her. He got back into the bed and pulled the duvet up round him and looked at Auds. She had sat down and curled her legs underneath her, she smiled and said “Take your time, I’m not going anywhere.” He nodded and said “I just don’t know where to start.” “At the beginning, from when it all started and don’t miss anything out.” said Auds. He looked down and said “Well, the day before we left for here I got a letter, but I was running late and didn’t have time to open it and dropped it into my case and forgot about it. It was only when we arrived here and I opened the case and saw it again that I opened it.” He stopped and closed his eyes for a moment then opening them said “I sank onto the bed in shock at what was in it.” a tear ran down his face and he brushed it aside. Auds could see how hard this was for him, but also knew he had to tell someone. “What was in it Carlos?” she asked gently. He looked up at her with more tears running down his face and said “It was from Michelle’s ex, the one that she had just got out of the relationship with before she met me.” “The one that hit her and destroyed her self confidence?” asked Auds. Carlos nodded. “I don’t know how he got my address or even how he knew about me and Michelle.” “What did it say?” she asked again. Carlos took a deep breath and said “It said that Michelle was his and would always be his and that he wasn’t going to let some sleazy foreigner think he was going to take her away from him. That he knew when I was and wasn’t in the country and that he was going to get her back one day when I’m not there to protect her. He even told me what he was going to do to her when he does take her, that’s why I can’t sleep, I keep seeing this image of her and what he’s going to do to her and it scares the hell out of me.” Auds didn’t know what to say, she just stared at him in shock then she said “”Does Michelle know, have you told her?” He shook his head and said “I haven’t been able to get in touch with her, she’s not answering her phone, the house or the mobile.” then the tears fell again. “I’m scared Auds, what if he already has her, I couldn’t cope if anything happened to her.” Auds moved over to the bed and gave him a hug and said “We have to tell Simon, he’s over there and he can go check on her for you and I’m sure he could have someone keep an eye on her all the time for you.” He nodded and she took her phone out of her pocket and dialled Simon’s number, she told him everything Carlos had told her and he agreed that he would go and make sure that Michelle was alright and he would find someone to be with her all the time and that he would get back to her when he found her.” She hung up and said “I think you should tell the other guys as well. They’re all worried about you.” He nodded again and she said “I’ll leave you to shower and dress, but I’ll tell the others to meet in our room in half an hour, is that okay?” “Yes, that’s fine and thanks Auds.” “No problem, you know I’ll do anything for you guys.” then she left him alone and went back to the room she shared with Urs calling Janice and Sonia to let them know they had to be in her room in 30 minutes.


Everyone looked at Carlos in shock, he had just told them what he had told Auds. David finally said “Has Simon got back in touch yet?” Auds shook her head and said “Not with me.” “Or me” said Carlos. They all sat there in silence for a while then Seb said “What are we doing today Auds?” She opened her laptop to see and said “Most of the day is in rehearsal as the show starts in a couple of days.” He sighed and said “I thought maybe there would be enough time for Carlos to go and check on Michelle himself, but there isn’t.” David said “And I know from experience that its not a good idea to travel between America and the UK within a few days of each other.” Auds was about to say something when her phone rang. She picked it up and answered it then said “Hey Simon, did you find her, is she alright?” She listened to him for a while, the others watching her face for a reaction, but it wasn’t showing one. Eventually she said “You should talk to Carlos, tell him this.” and she handed her phone over to him. He took it and went and sat down to listen to Simon. She looked at the others and shook her head. “What did he say babe?” asked Urs. She looked at them and said “He couldn’t find her, he went to her work who said that she had taken some time off and had gone to see her family. He spoke to her mum on the phone who said that she hadn’t seen Michelle for about 3 months. He went to her apartment and the neighbours said she hasn’t been around for the last couple of days.” David pulled Janice into him as she looked like she was about to cry and Seb did the same with Sonia then said “That doesn’t mean that he has her though, it could just be that she has taken herself away to somewhere without telling anyone where she was going.” Urs nodded and said “It could be, but its not looking like that, I mean Carlos gets this letter threatening him and Michelle and a week later she goes missing. What else can it be.” Auds leaned against Urs and he put an arm round her. Carlos came back then looking awfully pale and said “Simon is going to keep looking for her, he’s going to get people he knows onto it as well.” He sat down and let his head drop then said “This is all my fault, if I had opened that letter before I left, I would have taken her with me, I wouldn’t have left her there by herself and now she’s missing and probably with him and I can’t bear to think of what he is doing to her.” he let the tears fall freely and leaning back against the wall he curled himself into a ball

*Chapter 45*

*A Couple of Days Earlier*

Michelle was walking back to her apartment at the end of the day. She had just booked some time off work and was going to visit her folks, she was really excited as she hadn’t seen them for months. She took her phone out of her bag to phone Carlos and tell him and discovered the battery was flat. She sighed as she realised that was what she had meant to do last night. She would have to phone him when she got home. She climbed the few steps up to her floor and looking for her keys found them and opened the door and went inside. She took her jacket off and threw her keys onto the table. She kicked her shoes off and padded through to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of red wine then went back through and sat down. She picked up the phone to ring Carlos and then dropped it and the glass of wine when she heard a voice she recognised well say “Hello Michelle” She turned slowly and said “Jake, what are you doing here and how did you get in?” He stared at her and said “I took a copy of your key when we were going out. And as for what I’m doing here, well, you didn’t really think I was going to let you go that easily did you?” Michelle reached down for the phone and picked it up. Jake moved round and took it off her saying “Now, who would you be calling, your Spanish boyfriend by any chance?” Michelle gasped and said “What have you done to Carlos?” “I have done nothing to Carlos, I simply sent him a letter telling him that there was no way I was letting you go and that you would always be mine. And that I would come and get you back when I knew he was out of the country and not able to protect you.” Michelle stared at him in shock and said “When did you send it?” Jake looked surprised and said “You mean he never told you about it, he never tried to warn you that I was around? Some boyfriend he is, he got it the day before they left for America.” Michelle shook her head and said “No, he would have told me, you’re lying, just like you always do.” Jake sat down beside her on the couch and ran a finger along her shoulder then said “Now that’s not a very nice thing to say is it?” Michelle pulled back at his touch and said “Get your hands off me.” Jake looked at her and said “Interesting, he must be some guy this Carlos, you never used to answer me back before.” he suddenly hit out and caught her across the face with his hand and said “I’ll soon knock that out of you.” Michelle had a hand on her face where he had hit her and said “Why are you doing this, why can’t you just leave me alone?” He hit her again and said “Everytime you answer me back or say something out of place you are going to get hit. Do you understand?” Michelle shook her head and said “I’m not going to let you do this to me again, I’m different now.” Jake laughed and ran a hand across her face and into her hair then pulled it back sharply and said “Nobody changes that much, now you are going to do what I say when I say it or there will be serious consequences, you understand me?” He let go of her and she nodded her head slowly. He stood up and said “Good, now I want you to pack a bag, we’re going on a little trip.” Michelle stood up and said “Where are we going?” then felt something warm run down her face. She put a hand up to touch it and realised it was blood. He’d just busted her lip open, she walked slowly into her bedroom and pulled out a bag and started filling it with some clothes. She wiped away the tears that were falling, she didn’t want him to see he was getting to her. She was going to try and fight him this time. She wondered why Carlos hadn’t phoned her to tell her when he had got the letter, did he not care if anything happened to her?

Auds was back on the phone with Simon, he had gone back to Michelle’s apartment and had gone round all the neighbours until he found one that had a spare key to let him in and he had found her keys lying on a table and her shoes lying on the floor. But what had really scared him was the smashed wine glass on the floor and the red stain on the white couch. There was also a towel lying in the kitchen with a little blood on it. His heart had sunk as he realised that meant he was too late and that her ex had Michelle and that he had hurt her and he had no idea where he had taken her. He didn’t know Michelle as well as the other guys girlfriends, but he did know how much she meant to Carlos and that he would be heartbroken if anything happened to her. He had taken out his phone and called the police first, he had to get them involved now, there was no way he could find her by himself. Then he’d called Auds and told her what he’d found and asked to speak to Carlos. He asked him if there was anything at all that Michelle had said to him about her ex that might help them figure out where he had taken her. Carlos had said that she hadn’t liked talking about him so he had never pushed her about it and didn’t know anything about the guy other than the fact he’d hit her when they were going out. Simon thanked him and hung up then the doorbell rang and he opened it to discover a couple of policemen, he let them in and told them everything he knew and showed them the broken glass and the towel with blood on it.

Carlos was going mad over in America, he couldn’t concentrate and kept getting his words mixed up. Eventually he just threw his microphone on the floor and walked off muttering in Spanish. Auds went after him and found him standing beside a window staring out of it. She put a hand on his arm and said “I know this must be really hard on you Carlos, its hard on all of us. Michelle became part of our little family when she met you, we’re all worried about her.” He turned to look at her and said “But this is my fault, I could have stopped it from happening. Its my fault that malparido (b*****d) has her and if he does any of what he said he was going to do then I won’t be able to forgive myself.” He looked out the window again and said sadly “I told her that I would never hurt her and that I would never let anything bad happen to her again as long as she was with me.” Auds looked at him and said “You can’t keep blaming yourself for this, its not your fault. You didn’t tell the guy to come back and help himself to your girlfriend, did you? You didn’t tell him to send you a letter telling you what he was going to do to her when he took her, did you?” He shook his head and said “No, but I didn’t open the letter in time to help her, that makes it my fault.” Auds sighed and said “You can’t think like that, you just have to focus on the positive side, Simon is doing everything he can to find her and the police are involved now as well. They will find her Carlos and that guy will get locked up for a very long time.” He turned to look at her and gave her a hug and she said “What you can do for her right now is to get back into that hall, start rehearsing again and put on the kind of show that she and all of us know that you are capable of, yeah?” He nodded and said “Si” and the two of them walked back into the room and they carried on with the rehearsal.

*Chapter 46*

Michelle was wearing a blindfold so she couldn’t tell where they were and she had her hands tied so she couldn’t try and get away. She was being led somewhere and was then told to sit down which she did slowly, not knowing what she was about to sit on. She felt something soft underneath her and sank into it glad it was nothing horrible. She felt herself being turned and pulled up something. Jake removed the blindfold and she blinked as her eyes became used to the light again and she realised that she was sitting on a bed. He was beside her loosening the rope on her arms and then retying them to the bed post. She stared at him and said “Why are you tying me to the bed, I’m not likely to run away when I haven’t a clue where I am.” He stared at her and said “I don’t know what you’re likely to do anymore, you’ve changed and not for the better. I’m going to have to leave you tied up until I know for sure that you aren’t going to do anything I don’t want you to.” He sat down beside her and ran his eyes over her body and then let his hand rest on her arm before running it down and over her chest and onto her stomach. “I’ve missed you Michelle, you don’t know how much I missed you and when I saw a picture of you in the paper with that Spanish guy it made me sick to think of him touching you the way I used to.” Michelle tried to pull away from his touch, but couldn’t move due to the ropes and said “He never touched me the way you did, he is a gentleman.” Jake jerked his hand off her and slapped her hard then walked out of the room locking it behind him. She tried to pull her hands free from the rope but he had it tied to tight and it wasn’t moving. She laid back on the bed and started to cry. She wondered what Carlos was doing now, he obviously wasn’t worried about her or he would have warned her that Jake was around and after her.

She must have fallen asleep as she woke up with a jump when she heard a door banging and then the door to the room she was in opened and Jake walked in. He was carrying a tray with a glass of water and a plate of food on it. He sat it down beside her and said “Now, I’m not going to untie you, so I will have to feed you it.” Michelle stared at him and said “I’m not hungry.” He shook his head and said “You need to eat Michelle.” She shook her head and said “I will eat when Carlos comes and finds me, there is no way I am eating or drinking anything you have made.” He looked at her and said “You mean the Carlos that I just spoke to on the phone? He said that he wasn’t able to leave America right now because of tour commitments.” Michelle stared at him and said “No, he wouldn’t do that, he wouldn’t leave me here with you. You’re lying, you haven’t spoken to him at all.” Jake took out a phone from his pocket and Michelle saw that it was her phone. I went and got it from your place so that I would have his number for when I needed to speak to him.” He touched her hair then and said “I don’t think I need to ask why he calls you Red.” Michelle couldn’t believe it and she felt a tear running down her face, but couldn’t push it away. Jake laughed and walked off leaving the tray sitting beside her. She brought her legs up and kicked the tray across the room. How could he do that, put the tour over her, did she mean that little to him?

Everyone was in the bar having a drink before they had to leave for the arena, it was the opening night of the tour and what should have been a big thing for them all had turned into something they were just going along with now because they had signed a contract to do it. Carlos had tried to get out of it so that he could get back to London and look for Michelle, he felt so helpless just sitting around in America when he knew she was out there somewhere needing him. They were about to leave when his phone rang, everyone stopped as he looked at the screen and saw the name Red flashing up. “Its Michelle.” he said and quickly answered it saying “OMG, you have no idea how good it is to hear from you red, I have been so worried about you.” his face fell then when he heard this male voice saying “Red, is that what you call her? I thought you Spanish men came up with much better names than that for the people they loved.” “If you have done anything to hurt her you Hijo de puta (S.O.B) I will…..” he was cut off by Jake saying “You won’t do anything, I’m surprised that you never warned Michelle that I was after her when you read the letter and so is she, you should have seen her face when I told her that you’d got it the day before you left for America.” The guys looked worried as they watched all the colour disappear from his face and he said quietly “No, I didn’t read it til I got here, that’s why I never told her, she never answered her phone. I tried to tell her, you have to tell her that, she knows I wouldn’t just abandon her.” Jake laughed and said “Then why are you still in America, if you’ve known for the last few days about me, why have you not come back to make sure she was okay?” Carlos took a shaky breath and said “I have tried everything to get out of this tour to come back and get her, but” “But nothing, if she meant anything to you, you would be back here looking for her.” Carlos lost his temper then and started shouting down the phone in Spanish until Steve took it off him and said “I’m just warning you, whoever the hell you are, that the police have been called and they are looking for you right now. Carlos is only still here because he has been banned from walking out on the tour and Michelle will know that once she is back in his arms and safe again.” He heard laughing on the other end of the phone and said “By the time I’m finished with her, she won’t want to be back in his arms.” then hung up the phone.

It was a couple of days later and Steve was finding it harder and harder to keep Carlos from just walking out and getting the next plane back to go looking for Michelle. Auds was the only person he seemed to listen to, but even she was struggling to keep him calm. He wasn’t putting any passion into his singing at all and he didn’t care if he looked bad. They hadn’t heard from Jake again, he had tried phoning Michelle’s phone but he had switched it off. Steve hadn’t told him what Jake had said before hanging up, he didn’t think it would help him to know what he’d said. Simon was in touch every day keeping them updated on how the police were getting on, but so far they hadn’t had much luck. The guys took it in turns to stay with Carlos during the night as he still wasn’t sleeping and they didn’t like leaving him alone for too long.

*Chapter 47*

Urs and Auds were in bed and they were talking about how bad he was. “I really don’t think he can take much more. I can feel him slipping away from us.” said Urs. Auds nodded and said “He’s not listening to me as well either, it takes me a lot longer to get him to calm down and I think that one of these days we’re going to find out that he’s just walked out on everything and gone to look for her.” She laid her head on Urs shoulder then and he put his arm round her and said “I don’t know what the fans must think of us, he is so obviously not performing well, I’m amazed that we haven’t had Barbara complaining about us.” Auds looked up at him and said “She knows what’s happened and understands what he’s going through.” Urs sat up then pulling his arm from round her and said “How do you know that?” “I am a PA, I talk to a lot of people everyday and I spoke to someone who works closely with her and they said that she hopes that they find Carlos' girlfriend soon.” Urs shook his head and said “We were wondering why she hadn’t said anything about his performance.” He laid back down again and Auds said “Sorry babe, I’d forgotten about that until you said that.” He ran his hand through her hair and said “Don’t worry, its good to know that she isn’t mad at us for being so unprofessional.” He kissed her gently then they cuddled into each other and switched off the light and drifted off to sleep.

Seb was in with Carlos and was watching him sleep. He was restless, always moving and mumbling. Seb couldn’t stand seeing him like this and wished there was more he could be doing to help. He sat there thinking back to when they had first met Michelle, she had been watching them in a café and they had assumed she was just another fan. Then she had run out when she’d realised they had noticed her. Carlos hadn’t shut up about her for days afterwards. Then during one of their shows in Paris she had turned up in the audience with a friend. He suddenly shot upright, her friend, what was her name again…he couldn’t think of it right then, but surely she would know more about this guy than they did and would maybe be able to offer some ideas on where he had her. He took out his phone to call Simon and when he answered said “I think I may have some news for you.” When we met Michelle in Paris she had a friend with her and it was her who told us that she had just come out of a relationship with this guy who had hit her and destroyed her life. I can’t remember her name, but Carlos is sleeping and I don‘t want to wake him up cos it took him a long time to fall asleep, I’ll let you know when he wakes up and I ask him. Oh, and she works in the same offices as Michelle does, she might be able to give the police some information.” He listened to Simon for a few minutes and then said “Yeah, its about 2.30am here, but I thought I should let you know straight away when I remembered about her.” They talked for a few more minutes then he said “Okay, I’ll call you when I find out what her name is.” then hung up. He settled himself back down into the chair he was in and tried to get comfy but gave up and just pulled the blanket he had round him and sat there eventually letting his eyes close. He woke up a few hours later and uncurled himself slowly from the position he seemed to have got himself into and stretched. It was only then that he looked over to the bed and saw that it was empty, the covers thrown back and left lying open. He got up quickly and checked the bathroom…empty. He cursed and ran out the door and headed down to the foyer of the hotel which was empty and he checked the bar and the dining room, both empty. He ran up the stairs back to the floor the guys were all on and started knocking on David and Urs' doors. After what seemed like ages both doors opened and the two men appeared yawning and rubbing their eyes. “What’s all the noise for Seb?” asked Urs. “Its Carlos, he’s gone.” This woke them both up and David said “What do you mean gone?” I mean gone, I fell asleep while watching him and when I woke up his bed was empty and he wasn’t in the bathroom, I’ve checked downstairs and he’s not in the hotel anywhere.” Urs groaned and said “Oh god, this is not good.” he turned and went back into his room and came back with Auds who said “He’s obviously gone to the airport. We just need to follow him and make sure he doesn’t get on a plane.” The others nodded and went to get dressed when David said “He won’t get very far without his passport though. Steve took it out of his room the night he stayed up with him, cos he knew that he might get round us at some point.” Auds thought for a minute then said “Okay, you three get Steve and go find him and I’ll stay here and try and sort something out with Barbara’s team for tonight in case you can’t get him back.” They agreed and went to get dressed quickly and left for the airport picking Steve up on the way.

They all arrived at the airport and split up to look for him. Urs was walking through all the shops and take away places looking for him and ignoring the people staring at him. He finally spotted him standing at a check in desk. He ran over and touching him on the arm said “Carlos, what are you doing?” He looked at Urs and said “I’m trying to check in, but this woman won’t let me on the plane without my passport.” He took his arm and said “Come and sit down and talk to me, please. You gave us all a hell of a scare just running of like that, especially Seb who woke up to find you missing.” Carlos shook his head and said “I have to get on the plane, I need to go back and find Michelle, I can’t just sit around doing nothing any longer.” Urs turned to look at the queue behind them and said quietly “Please Carlos, don’t make a fuss, there is a whole crowd of people staring at us and you are holding them up by standing here.” he then looked at the lady behind the desk and said “I’m sorry about this.” and smiling at her tightened his grip on Carlos' arm and dragged him away from the desk and towards the nearest chairs. He made him sit down and he got out his phone and dialled a number then said “I found him, we’re at the seats beside the check in desks.” then hung up and sat down beside him and said “I know how you feel Carlos, you’re lost, helpless and you just want to punch something or someone because it’s the only thing you can do.” Carlos shook his head and said “You’re right, I do feel lost and helpless, but more than anything I feel sick, that guy has taken my girlfriend, my Michelle and he is making her believe that I don’t care about her, that I’m not willing to go looking for her.” he looked up as he heard footsteps running towards them and saw the other guys coming. “I can’t let her think that, that is what is scaring me more than anything now, that she is being held somewhere and thinking that I don’t love her enough to go rescue her.” David reached them first and sat down beside Carlos just as Seb and Steve arrived. They looked at Carlos who seemed to be just staring into space now and muttering to himself. Urs said “We’re not going to get him back, he’s not going to go anywhere unless its on a plane to London. He’s gone past the stage of worrying about the tour, the group, what anyone else thinks. He’s not even worried about this guy hurting Michelle anymore, he’s scared that she is lying hurt somewhere and thinking that he doesn’t care about her.” Steve looked at the others and said “I understand what you’re saying, but we can’t just let him go, you can’t do the concerts without him.” David nodded and said “I know that, but look at him, he’s not right, and he’s not performing when he is there, he just sings and nowhere near as good as he can.” Steve ran a hand through his hair and sighed. He knelt down in front of Carlos and said “Carlos, I know you just want to go and find Michelle, believe me, we all would love to help you find her. But we can’t let you walk away from this tour.” Carlos looked at him and was about to speak when Steve continued “Auds is back at the hotel talking to Barbara’s team about trying to figure out something. We just need you to come back to the hotel with us until she is finished and lets us know what they’ve decided.” He looked at the other guys and saw the worry on their faces. He looked back to Carlos and said “I promise you that we will do everything we can to figure out a way that you can get back to London and go looking for her, but right now you have to come back with us. Carlos please, we can’t stay in the airport all day.” Carlos looked up at him and the guys and said “I’m not singing tonight, I just can’t do it anymore.” Seb said “That’s alright, just come back to the hotel then.” he suddenly remembered the friend and said “Can you remember what the name of her friend was? I phoned Simon in the middle of the night to tell him about her, but couldn’t remember her name. She might know more about this guy than we do.” Carlos looked at him and said “it was Julie, no Jenny, no it was Jane, that’s it Jane.” Seb smiled and said “Okay, I’ll just call Simon and tell him, this is good, means the police will have someone who can give them information on him.” He went away from them a bit to phone Simon while the others stayed with Carlos. He came back and said “He’s going to go and talk to her himself first. Are we ready to go back?” He looked at the others who nodded then looked at Carlos who ran a hand over his forehead then stood up and said “I’m only going to the hotel, I’m not singing.” and walked off with his head down.

*Chapter 48*

Michelle didn’t want to sleep, every time she closed her eyes she could see Carlos laughing and joking with the guys and not worrying about her. She had thought he was different, that he had cared about her. She shook her head then and scolded herself. Of course he cared about her, he told her often enough, but then how would Jake have known he called her Red. She felt a tear running down her face then, her and Carlos were the only two that knew that was his pet name for her. She tried to pull herself up into a more comfy position, the rope was really digging into her wrists. She tried again to wriggle them loose, but that just made them cut into her even more. She slumped back against the bed post. She was tired, hungry and thirsty, but she was still refusing to eat or drink anything Jake brought her. She looked up as the door opened and Jake walked in. He was smiling and he said “Good news babe, I just spoke to Carlos again, he said that the tour is going great and that he’s tried to phone you a couple of times, but your phone is off.” Michelle stared at him and said “Don’t ever call me babe again, I am not your babe and I don’t believe you.” Jake came and sat down right beside her and he put a hand up to her face and stroked it gently. He moved it down over her neck and onto her shoulder. “That’s up to you if you don’t believe me babe, but if you’re waiting for your wonderful Spaniard to come save you then you’ll be here a very long time. You know that I’m the only one that has ever cared for you, nobody could ever care as much about you as I do.” He leaned forward then and kissed her . Michelle tried to pull back but couldn’t as she was already against the wall. She closed her eyes and tried not to be sick. He got up and left her then and she just leaned her head against the wall and let the tears flow freely as she finally let the one thought she had been trying so hard to keep out of her head into it. ‘He really isn’t coming’

Jane had just arrived back at her apartment when there was a knock on her door. She frowned and wondered who it was. She went to open it and almost fell over in shock when she realised that it was Simon Cowell. She stood there for a few seconds just staring at him then came to as he said “Hello, I’m sorry to just appear at your doorstep, but I really need to talk to you. I went to your offices, but they said that you were away on holiday, but you were due back today.” Jane just looked blankly at him then said “Emm, I suppose you had better come inside then.” and let him in the door. She shut the door and followed him through telling him to sit down. He did so gratefully and looking around the room he spotted a picture of her and Michelle together sitting on a table. He sighed and then said “When was the last time you heard from Michelle?” Jane looked shocked and said “Michelle, I think it was before I went away, why?” Simon looked down at the floor then said “Carlos got a letter the day before they left for America, from her ex telling him that she was his and that he wasn’t going to let him take her away from him and that he was going to come back and get her when he was out of the country.” He looked up to see a look of horror on Jane’s face. “Unfortunately, Carlos didn’t open the letter when it arrived, he was running late, so dropped it into the case and never read it until they got to America the end of the next day. Once he found out they phoned me to go check on her and I couldn’t find her. Then Carlos got a phone call from him telling him that he had her and he had taken her somewhere. He lost his temper with him and started ranting in Spanish and the guy hung up.” Jane was in shock and had gone pale. She shook her head and said “No, she can’t go through this again, he destroyed her life the last time he was near her and she was starting over with Carlos, she was happier than I have seen her for a long time.” Simon nodded and then said “Jane, the police are doing everything they can to find her, but we don’t have much to go on. Can you tell us everything you know about this guy and where you think he might have taken her, please?” She nodded then said “How is Carlos?” Simon sighed and said “He’s not good, he’s still over in America, going mad, won’t sleep, isn’t performing well, not eating. He can’t get out of this tour, he’s tried everything to get back here. He’s just wanting to come back and look for her, he’s worried that she is going to be thinking that he doesn’t care and just isn’t bothering to come help her.” Jane stood up then and went to get something out of a cupboard. She came back with a photo album and looking through it quickly she took out a photo and said “This is him, his name is Jake and they were together for 5 years. The only place I can think of that he would take her is to this little place they always went to for a holiday, it was a small cottage in the middle of nowhere. I can’t remember exactly where it is though.” Simon took the photo and said “Thank you, I shall pass this and the information on to the police, they may want to speak to you as well though.” She nodded and said “Please, keep me informed when you hear anything.” Simon nodded and said “Don’t worry, they’ll find her.” then he left.

*Chapter 49*

Carlos didn’t care anymore, he stood there in the hotel room just staring out of the window. He could hear everyone else talking behind him but wasn’t even making an effort to listen to them. He knew he wouldn’t be left alone at all now, after his attempt to get away this morning, but he just needed to be alone, somewhere peaceful and quiet where he could do some thinking. He turned round and said “I need to go somewhere quiet and I want to be alone to think. I promise I won’t try and leave again, I just want to be by myself.” The guys looked at each other and then Urs said You definatly won’t run away again?” Carlos shook his head and Urs said “Alright, but keep your phone with you, we’ll call you when Auds gets back.” He nodded and walked out of the door. David said “Do you think that was wise, letting him go?” Urs shook his head and said “No, but if we give him what he wants now, then he might not react as bad when Auds gets back and says she wasn’t able to work anything out.” “So you don’t really think she’s going to be able to get him out of here then?” asked Seb. Urs shook his head and said “How can she? There is no way we can sing as a three piece and there is no way that we are all going to be allowed off the tour. Its just not possible.” The three of them sighed and David and Seb left then to go to their own rooms and Urs sat down and waited for Auds to come back.

Carlos had found a secluded spot in the hotel garden and had sat down on the grass to think things through. He knew this was all his fault, if he hadn’t flung the letter in his case, if he had read it when it arrived, if he had even told someone sooner about it. These things and more were running through his head constantly and he just wished that they would shut up. He tried to think back to when he spoke to the guy, was there anyway he could have picked up on to figure out where he was. He shook his head, all he could see was Michelle tied up somewhere thinking that he wasn’t coming for her. He really hoped she wasn’t, but he had a feeling that guy was probably doing everything he could to make her believe it. He pushed away a tear with his sleeve, but they kept coming and he just sat there letting them fall as he stared into thin air. He never heard the person sitting down beside him and pulling him into their side and let him cry until he was finished. He pulled himself upright then and turned to see Auds offering him a tissue. He took it and said “I’m sorry, I can’t seem to stop crying just now.” Auds smiled and said “I understand, now can you come with me, I’ve just come back from meeting with Barbara and her team and she wants to see you.” His eyes grew wide and he said “She wants to see me? What for?” “I don’t know Carlos, she didn’t say, just asked me to come and get you.” said Auds. He nodded and then said “Okay, where is she?” and they walked back to the hotel together.

*An hour later*

The other guys were back in Urs room, they weren’t sure if they should be getting ready for the show or what they should be doing. Auds came in then and Urs said “Have you been with her for all this time?” She nodded and he said “Well, what happened?” She sat down and said “I don’t know what to say, I always thought that she was such a diva, from what I’ve heard about her in the press and stuff.” The others looked at her their hearts sinking. “But, she has to be the most amazing person I know, she listened to me talk about Carlos and how I’ve travelled with you guys for the last few months and that he has been shattered by this and then she asked me to go and get him so that she could speak to him herself.” she continued. “She talked to him by herself for over an hour and when they came out of the room she said that she was letting him and you out of the contract for the tour. She is going to carry on without you and say that one of you had a personal emergency and you wouldn’t be touring with her anymore.” She looked up to see three confused faces looking at her. “Does that mean we can go back to London?” said Urs. “She is just letting us go, with no problems?” said Seb. Auds nodded. “I left Carlos in his room packing his stuff, so I would suggest that you all do the same so we can get to the airport. Oh, and I already told Steve and I thought we would phone Simon on the way.” Seb and David nodded and went off to get their stuff packed and tell the girls they were going home. Urs wrapped his arms round Auds and kissed her on the cheek then said “You are one amazing woman, you know that. I don’t know what we would do without you here to sort out our problems for us.” Auds smiled and said “Its all part of the job baby, although It does help that the other three mean almost as much to me as you do. I don’t know what I would do without one of you around.” She kissed him back then removing his arms went to pack all her stuff. He sighed and did the same.

They were all downstairs within half an hour and were on their way to the airport, they checked in and were all on the next plane back to London. Simon had been told they were coming and was going to meet them at the airport when they landed. Carlos looked out of the little window and smiled for the first time in days. He was finally going to get his Michelle back in his arms, where she belonged.

*Chapter 50*

*The Next Day*

As they had caught a late flight they had flown overnight and landed in the morning and were met by Simon who was shocked to see how bad Carlos looked. They all got into the waiting cars that Simon had for them. Carlos sat with Simon and demanded to know everything that the police had found out about the guy and what they were doing to find him. Carlos made them stop off at the police station so that he could talk to the Inspector in charge and he got told everything they knew and he was assured that he would be told immediately if they had any leads or news. They each got dropped off at their various apartments with Carlos refusing to go to one of the other guys places, saying he just wanted to go to Michelle’s flat, so that he could be close to her in someway. He got dropped of last with Simon making sure that he knew the red stain on the couch was wine and not blood, so he wouldn’t get freaked out. He entered the flat and dropped the keys on the table beside the ones she’d dropped days earlier. He walked through to the living room and saw the wine stain Simon had warned him about and was glad he knew it wasn’t blood. He wandered through to the kitchen and saw nothing different in there, the police had taken away the blood stained towel, He opened the fridge and took out a bottle of the beer she kept for when he was around. He went back into the living room and picking up a framed picture of the two of them she had, he sat down and just looked at it. They were sitting on a rug and she was leaning against him and he had his arms round her. He smiled as he remembered that day. They had gone for a picnic with the others and they’d had so much fun together. He picked up the beer and carrying it and the picture through to the bedroom he stripped to his boxers and slipped into her bed. He put a hand under the pillow and felt her nightie and he pulled it out and with her scent still on it he cuddled it and the picture into his chest and let the tears fall. He awoke later to the sound of the doorbell ringing and he got up and wandered through to answer it and saw Simon there who walked in and said “The police have got a lead, they think they know where Jake has Michelle. They’re waiting at the station for us to get there.” Carlos’s eyes grew large and he very quickly threw on his clothes and then they went out to Simon’s car. Carlos suddenly realised that it was getting dark and looking at his watch realised that he’d been sleeping for most of the day. They arrived at the station and found them just loading stuff into a van and they got into it and sat down listening to what the Inspector had to say whilst the van made its way to where they thought Michelle was.

Jake came into the room again, carrying another glass and plate. He knew she wouldn’t take it, but he still brought it anyway. Michelle stared at him, she had stopped talking to him as well, she hadn’t opened her mouth to even shout at him since she had let the idea of Carlos not actually coming for her into her head. She just sat there in silence and let him say whatever he had to say then he would leave. Today was different though, today he wanted something. He sat down beside her on the bed and said “Why won’t you talk to me Michelle, am I really that bad a person?” She looked away and he said “I’m not a bad person I just wanted to have my girlfriend back, that’s all.” Michelle flinched at the word girlfriend, but stayed quiet. Jake took her face in his hand and turned it so that she was looking at him. He ran his thumb over her cheek and said “Don’t you miss us baby, I miss us and I just want us to be together again, properly.” He ran his eyes down over her and then he reached out and he opened one of the buttons on her shirt. She looked away again and he opened another and another until they were all open. He pulled it open to reveal her bra and then he ran his hand over her bare skin and up over her chest. He turned her head to face him again and saw that she had tears running down her face. He leaned in close and kissed her then moving so that he was sitting over her he ran his hands back down her body and came to a stop at the top of her trousers. He opened the buttons and was just about to pull them down when he heard this massive crashing noise and then the door to the room flew open and a couple of police officers ran in and shouted out that they’d found them. Jake tried to get up and run past the men, but he was stopped by more officers who had appeared in the room. He put up a struggle but was eventually handcuffed and he was just about to be taken out to the van when the Inspector appeared with Simon and Carlos. Simon looked around the room in shock at what he was seeing, Carlos had gone straight to the bed and was trying to untie Michelle’s ropes. He had tears running down his face and he was saying “Michelle, I am so sorry, baby, I am so sorry” over and over. He couldn’t get the ropes free and he hit the wall in frustration. “I will get you out of here soon baby, don’t worry.” Just then a police officer appeared in the room with a knife and he took it from him and cut her free. He tried to help her off the bed, but she wouldn’t move, she wouldn’t even look at him. He turned to look at Simon who was still shocked at how she looked. He went over and said something to Michelle then gathered her up in his arms and carried her outside. Carlos followed behind them worried about her silent refusal to let him help her. There was an ambulance just arriving for Michelle and the paramedics came out and one took Michelle of Simon and laid her down on a stretcher. Carlos went straight to her side but she turned her head away from him. They loaded her into the ambulance and just as Carlos was about to get into it with her a police officer walked out of the house with Jake. He went towards them and punched Jake as hard as he could in the face. Jake staggered backwards and Carlos punched him again, harder. He fell to the ground and Carlos started to say something when Simon touched him on the shoulder and he turned to see the ambulance doors being shut. He ran over and jumped in beside Michelle and went to the hospital with her. Simon phoned all of the other guys to let them know the news and then thanking the policemen followed the ambulance in his car.

When he got to the hospital he found Carlos sitting in the waiting room with a bandage on his hand. He looked at him and said “Where have they taken her?” Carlos said in a shaky voice “To an examination room, they need to do tests and stuff to see if he hurt her in anyway.” He looked at Simon and was about to speak when the others all appeared in the room as well. Seeing his friends and the looks of concern on their faces made him start crying again and he sat down. Seb looked at Simon and said “How is she? He didn’t hurt her did he?” Simon looked at Carlos and said quietly “She hasn’t said a word since we found her and we don’t know, they’re doing tests right now to find that out, although when the police officer walked in, she was tied to a bed and he was sitting on top of her with her shirt lying open and her trousers unbuttoned.” Auds, Janice and Sonia all shuddered and moved nearer to their guys. Carlos stood up then and said “She wouldn’t look at me, when I was trying to get the ropes of her, she wouldn’t look at me and she wouldn’t let me help her off the bed when she was free and in the ambulance, she just looked the other way the whole time.” Urs put an arm round him and said “I’m sure she just needs time to get her head round it all, she’ll soon be asking for you.” He shook his head and said “I really wish that was true, but I think that he has been playing games with her and that he has managed to convince her that she doesn’t belong with me.” Seb and David exchanged worried looks then David said “You can’t think like that. Think of all the times that the two of you have spent together, how much fun you’ve had and you go and sit beside her and remind her off all those times. Even if she doesn’t look at you, she’ll still be able to hear you and she will start remembering the good times as well and realise that whatever that guy said to her about you will fade and she’ll come back to you then.” Carlos nodded and hugged David saying “Thanks man, I’ll do that.” Just then a nurse came into the room and said “Mr Marin?” Carlos stepped forward and said “That’s me.” “You can come and see Michelle now, we have her settled in.” He followed her out of the door and they went into this ward and he saw her sitting in a chair beside a bed. She looked up at the nurse then saw Carlos behind her and turned away again. Carlos tried not to show the hurt he was feeling and sat down on another chair. He started to talk to her about everything and anything he could think of.

A week had passed and Carlos was spending all his time at the hospital with Michelle. He was worried that she still wasn’t talking, not just to him, but to anyone. The other guys had been in as had the girls and although she seemed to be fine physically, the tests had all come back negative, it was mentally she seemed to be having problems. The doctors said that she had closed the part of her brain that knew what had happened and that she would start talking again when she was ready to. Until then it was just a case of waiting and talking to her a lot, reminding her of good times and letting her know what was happening in the news etc..