WARNING: This story will contain a couple of major spoilers for the Black & Blue tour. If you don't wanta know, then don't read!

"Hello, Trinity Cathedral ..." The phone call came late on a Friday afternoon, twenty minutes before official quitting time. There I was, desperately attempting to lay down an accompaniment track for Sunday's early service. If I could just have a few more minutes' peace ... but no. That's never the way it works, is it? It would be too much to ask for even a somewhat isolated existence in which to give free reign to my creativity. I sighed, knowing inherently that whatever was about to come my way would most certainly ruin whatever free time I actually had remaining for the weekend.

I hadn't a clue.

Great, I mumbled. My cathedral ... why did they have to pick *my* cathedral in which to hone their craft? Well, ok, so it wasn't *my* cathedral, but I spent so much of my life there I tended to be possessive. So here I sit, on a Friday night, waiting for some local talent to show up for a rehearsal. I know why they didn't pick some other church, this one was acoustically superior to anything else in the area. In fact, numerous recordings had been engineered within these walls for the sole purpose of replicating the "cathedral sound". And they were late. Twenty minutes, to be exact, but who's counting?

Sighing, I turned back to my work. Might as well get something accomplished while I waited.

Totally absorbed in my work, I barely registered that the energy level in the room had suddenly risen exponentially as this evening's project bounded down the center aisle towards the choir loft.

Almost done .... just a few more measures ... there. Got it! All I had to do now was plug in the file on Sunday morning, and ... I nearly jumped out of my skin as I felt the headphones pulled gently away from my ear. Whoever it was stood right behind me, and I could feel their breath on my neck.

A soft southern voice drawled, "Why, Rebecca Dawn, you're all grown up."

Oh my heavens ... only one person besides my mother *ever* called me that.

"Kevin?!" I spun around ready to throw myself into his arms but caught myself as I finally got a good look at my old friend. There were the deep, forest green eyes I remembered, but nothing else even vaguely resembled the young man I had known years before. In the place of an awkward youth stood a grown man. Oh, my, how he had grown. The softness of his face had hardened into the well-defined contours of adulthood. His shoulders had broadened and filled out ... his hair was long now, not the barber-cut that I remembered. He was, in short, gorgeous.

"What? No hug for an old friend?" He smiled that killer smile of his, opening his arms as I tumbled into them. We held each other for the longest time, reconnecting and renewing our friendship.

"How are you? What are you doing here?!"

"Well, I was under the impression that we had hired us the best vocal coach and rehearsal hall in town."

I laughed. "Rehearsal hall? You're too much. This is a cathedral, Kevin. A church. Surely you remember what one of those looks like on the inside?"

From behind us, I heard the muffled snickers of his bandmates and was mortified. I had been so caught up in our reunion it hadn't even occurred to me to see if he was alone. Flushing three shades of scarlet, I turned to be introduced to the others. There were a couple of new ones since I'd last seen Kevin, but then it had been .... wow. Quite a few years. I hadn't actually been in contact with him since the group first gelled together and headed overseas to carve out their niche in pop music.

Introductions were made, all except one. I shook hands with the others, my curiosity beginning to get the better of me. Last, but certainly not the very least, was a tall blond god. Don't get me wrong, Kevin was a masterpiece, but this one ... *this* one almost defied description. Well over six feet tall, he even towered over Kevin. His hair was a tousled mess; a blond mop that was either the result of too many days at the beach or carefully crafted to perpetually look as if he'd just crawled out of bed. For some reason that thought was terribly unsettling and I found myself blushing yet again as he looked me up and down, mentally undressing me.

"Gee, Kev, I think she's forgotten me. I'm crushed."

Oh god, I wracked my brain suddenly wishing I'd kept up with Kevin's group all these years. I knew their songs, but they were usually just a pleasant diversion on the radio to and from work. Who ....who *is* he? And suddenly it hit me.

"Nick?! You can't be Nick ... my god you're..."

"Legal?" smirked the jokester with the tattoos and dark glasses.

Damn, I blushed even more and hated myself for it. The last time I'd seen Nick he was just about my height and probably all of fourteen or fifteen years old. He was like a kid brother to me, but there was certainly nothing remotely brotherly about the way he was sizing me up. And I was enjoying every minute of it. And I was in a church for crying all night. Now I knew I was going to hell.

"Well," I said, dragging my eyes away from his, "what's this all about?"

"The new tour starts in a few weeks, and one of our pieces needs expert help."

"From a church choir director?!" They had to be joking.

"Well, yeah," Brian said. "There's this one song, our finale, that has a chorale part in the bridge. It worked really great in the session, but onstage it's turning out to be a major pain in the-"

"Brian!" I was appalled.

"Behind. I was gonna say *behind*."

"All right, so tell me about it." The professional that was buried somewhere within me rose to the challenge and we got down to work. Kevin handed over a cd of "The Call" that had the full recording as well as just the instrumental tracks. I listened in awe to the contrasts between gritty sexuality and piety. This was definitely a departure for them, and could well be a defining turn in their career.

I skipped ahead to the instrumental track and nodded to the guys. "Let's hear what you can do with this when you're not in a soundproof booth." It was amazing. I'd never seen a group work together like they did; they fed off each other and even the ad-libs were perfectly placed as they flawlessly anticipated each others' vocal moves.

I was on my feet applauding before the last sounds died away. "Oh my God! That's awesome!"

They beamed. Just like little boys who had just made the winning touchdown, they smiled broadly."

"Kick-ass song, huh?" AJ grinned.

"But I don't see the problem. As long as your sound guys kick in the reverb at the right time, you should get the right effect..."

"Actually," Kevin replied, "it's the staging that's causing the problems."

"Don't tell me you're actually *dancing* during the chorale?!" I was aghast at the thought that some flunky choreographer would try to make them move during one of the most beautiful pieces of five-part harmony I'd ever heard.

"Not exactly," Howie said.

I looked at them for enlightenment, raising my eyebrows in question.

"Ok, it's like this." They all lined up in formation, and began singing at *say again, you're dropping out, my battery is low, so you know, we're going to a place nearby ... gotta go*

"Right at this point, the trap doors we're standing on-"

I interrupted Kevin. "Trap doors?!"

"Yeah, trap doors. Anyway, they open up and we drop completely below the stage where-" Nick elbowed him in the ribs and continued.

"As the chorale begins, we rise back up in ...um ... in a new lighting scheme. The problem is, well, we're not really sure *what* the problem is. I mean, the sound techs have everything covered, but something just isn't right."

"I don't know what to tell you. I guess I should really see the setup first."

Kevin nodded his head in agreement. "That can be arranged. How about we pick you up tomorrow at about four? We can head over to the arena and you can check it out."

"Sounds like a plan."

Everyone headed their separate ways; AJ off to visit friends, Brian & Howie back to the hotel, leaving Kevin, Nick and I in an uneasy silence.

"So ..." I said. Kevin and I just watched each other, hoping someone would say something intelligent. It took Nick to break the ice.

"Let's go somewhere." He was met with dead silence. "You know, *out*? Like for food? Or a drink?"

"Oh. Ok." Another brilliant, lightning quick response on my part. I sighed.

"Can we leave your car here?" Kevin asked, pulling on his jacket.

"Oh, I don't have one. I mean, I don't have one *here*. I usually ride the bus in, it's easier."

"Great! You can ride with us." Nick pulled me toward the door, it seemed my plans for the evening were just settled.

Several hours and too many drinks later, we piled back into the Corvette that Kevin had rented. When we left the cathedral, it had been quite humorous that I was stuffed into a two-seater sportscar with these two, but now ... now, it was just too close for my tipsy, hormonal comfort. God, there I was ... partially on the stickshift, but mostly on Nick's lap, holding onto Kevin's shoulder for balance. Nick had his arm around me, and every time we took a sharp corner my breast pressed against him and my heart flip-flopped. I gasped at one turn, glancing over at Nick, and he was staring intently at me. This was certainly not the Nick that I remembered. Thank God.

Twenty eternal minutes later we arrived at my house. It practically took an act of God to extricate me from the car, and both the guys insisted on walking me to the door. Kevin had his arm around me, Nick followed close behind and the sexual tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

I came *this* close to inviting them in, but at the last moment I backed out. I turned to bid them both good night.

"It's been great seeing you again. We'll pick you up tomorrow afternoon, around four." Kevin pulled me into a bear hug and I felt his lips brush the top of my head. I think he sighed as he released me, and then he tipped my face to his a placed a whisper soft kiss against the corner of my mouth. "'Night Rebecca Dawn."

"I had a super time tonight, too, Bec. See you tomorrow," Nick said.

I turned to say good night just as he moved toward me. He was closer than I thought, and, startled, I looked up. He captured my mouth under his and kissed me. Oh, God, did he kiss me. It was brief, but it rocked my world. For those few seconds that he moved his lips over mine, I was blinded to everything else around me. Tucking my hair behind my ear he smiled and whispered "Sleep tight."

Hardly an option any more, now was it?

I watched them drive away and made my way into the house, settling in for a long night of internet research. I had a lot to catch up on.
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