A few hours later, Marshall finally got up the nerve and returned to the hotel. He stopped and signed a few autographs but went away quickly and up to the room.

He stood at the door for a moment, wondering, hoping that she would have at least cooled down a little. In the car he’d thought about what he’d said, what he’d done, and again he was wrong. He should have let it go.

Marshall opened the door and was surprised to hear laughter echoing through the room. As he stepped into the living room he realized the guys had come over and they were watching some random movie on TV.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Marshall asked as he walked over.

“Oh nothing just watching, this, whatever it is. You get your head out yo’ ass by now or what?” Regina asked as she didn’t bother looking at him.

“Yeah, I shouldn’t have,”

“I know, now shut up. Hey, come on Proof, we’re watching this,” Regina snorted as Proof changed the channel.

“The video is almost on, number one again!” Proof said with a grin.

“God man, aren’t you tired of it yet?” Regina whined.

“Nope! Hey, what the fuck they got Ja Rule on for?” Proof snapped when he saw the man on the screen.

“Ah, Regina Contini, eh, what a ploy. Em ain’t got nothing left so he’s bringing her in to boost him up. She ain’t got nothing going for her. Her rap was simple and she didn’t write it herself. She’s a waste. She should just be doing videos instead of fucking Eminem to get some money.” The room was quiet.

“Oh that motherfucker is in for it now,” Marshall growled.

“Can’t keep his fucking mouth shut for five seconds can he?” Kuniva asked in a similar tone. “Chill guys, he’s just shooting his mouth off, not much different than what you guys do once in a while,” Regina said nonchalantly.

“He’s totally smashing you, how can you take it and not give a damn?” Swifty asked.

“Cause I know it’s a good song, and I did good writing, and good rapping, so is Marshall’s, I don’t look at Ja Rule as an authority on my stuff or Marshall’s, I don’t look at anyone as an authority to my stuff, I don’t give a fuck what anyone says or thinks about me. So now, all of you, have to swear to me, right now, that you will not, start anything, say anything, do anything that would be really stupid and get you in trouble,” Regina replied looking around at them.

“But he just,” Kon started but Regina held up her hand.

“No, you heard me. This bullshit of rap wars and crap has gone far enough. He’s just blowing hot air, trying to get you riled. He’ll say something, you’ll get started, and before you know it we’re dodging bullets and shit. No, and I mean it. If anyone says anything, I will kill you, we all clear?” Regina asked as she stood up.

“He’s got no right though, son of a bitch,” Marshall muttered.

“You especially. Besides, if anyone was going to say something it would be me, considering it was me he was bitching about. So let it go, I’m warning you, or I cut off the supply of Real World reruns for you Proof, and the rest of you, I’ll have them shut off the porn channel in all ya rooms,” Regina said with a serious tone to her voice.

“You heard her boys,” Marshall laughed.

“What you so cocky about?” Fifty asked with a furrowed brow.

“Cause his porno channel is his girlfriend, that’s why,” Kuniva quipped.

“Oh you think you’re funny don’t you, but I meant it, and that means all the channels, even mine,” Regina said smacking Marshall’s cheek slightly.

The mood however did not change. Everyone was still pissed about what Ja Rule had said but there were other things on their minds. Tonight was Regina and Marshall’s first official appearance at an event. Tonight they would be going to the MTV movie awards and performing their song.

Regina didn’t seem nervous, and Marshall was only pumped to be back on stage after so long. After a while he was just plain hyper and ready to be out there. Regina looked like she was starting to turn green.

“All right, everybody, lets move out, we hit the red carpet in thirty minutes,” Dre called into their room at five. Regina did look green right about then.

“Come on Reggie Veggie, lets go!” Marshall called as he went into the bedroom. He’d been so hyper he’d started rhyming random things. Finally the guys had gotten so annoyed they left Regina to fend for herself. Regina had spent most of the time trying on clothes to figure out what to wear to the big event. Dre had sent up the wardrobe person from the tour and provided her with an array of stuff to wear. There had been everything from full blown gowns to shorts and t-shirts. Regina was never exactly picky about what she wore, but tonight, ah, that was different. She wanted to make a good impression, though how to make a good impression on an MTV crowd she wasn’t sure.

After several changes she finally decided on a nice pair of jeans, fashionably embroidered and bangled, her favorite black boots, the heart earrings Marshall had given her, but she was at a loss for a shirt. That was until, Kristin, from wardrobe, pulled out a gift box.

“This is from me and the girls on the crew, since you have been so nice to everybody,” Kristin said awkwardly. Regina made it a point to be friendly with everyone she met on the crew. She wanted to act like she was normal person and not have people worrying about not be able to talk to her like they were afraid of Marshall.

“Aww, that is so sweet, thank you Kristin,” Regina said as she gave Kristin a hug. She then opened the box to see what it was and burst out laughing. “I love it!” Regina laughed as she pulled the shirt on. “Perfect! Absolutely perfect!” After she had fixed her own hair and makeup, she rushed out to meet Marshall. He snorted at the shirt. “You’re actually gonna do that to me?” he asked. “What, it just says the truth, ‘I’m With the Mean Yellow-Haired Man,’ right?” she laughed.

“You owe me later,” he said grabbing her ass and growling in her ear.

“Ooh, you think so?” she asked with a grab of her own at him.

They arrived on the red carpet. The guys were buzzing. Marshall was hyper, Regina was two shades of green.

“Reggie, you’ll be fine, it’s just a bunch of photographers and shit, you’ve dealt with that before,” Swifty assured her.

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” she replied, looking as though she was going to be seasick.

“You worried about the performance?” Marshall asked looking over at her.

“Uh, yeah, lots of people, first time, ever, just a little,” she looked apprehensively towards the limo door waiting for it to open. God she was starting to feel claustrophobic.

“You’ll kill ‘em,” Bizarre said punching her lightly.

“I doubt it, damn it, can’t we just get this over with,” Regina said completely nervous by now.

“Hey, Lyric, come baby, you’ll be fine, we ain’t going anywhere, you gon’ be great,” Marshall said grabbing her chin and making her look at him. He gave her a quick kiss on her cheek and smiled at her. The door to the limo burst open and lights flooded into the car.

“Lets go, remember you two, united front,” Dre reminded winking at them. Regina swallowed hard as Marshall pulled her out of the car.

In a blast of camera lights Regina stood next to Marshall and flashed her smile as she waved.

“Regina, Eminem, give us a kiss!” one of the photographers called.

“Not in your life,” Regina said through gritted teeth so only Marshall could hear.

“You still that nervous?” Marshall asked looking over at her.

“What do you think?” she asked as she continued to smile and wave.

“Well, time to take care of that then,” he said as he turned to her.

“What are you doing, hey!” Marshall picked her up and swung her around until she was laughing.

“All right, okay,” she laughed. But he wasn’t finished and pulled her in for a deep long kiss. The cameras seemed to flash with even more ferocity but neither of them seemed to notice. Regina closed her eyes and flung her arms around him holding him close until she felt someone tapping her on the shoulder. Reluctantly she let go of Marshall and turned to Dre.

“Uh, not that united guys,” he laughed.

They talked to a couple interviewers on the way in, took some more pictures and even signed some autographs for fans on the sides. After that they were rushed inside to their dressing room. Regina collapsed on the couch, they had three hours until their performance, she was a nervous wreck. How the hell was she going to make it another three hours?

“Reggie, you’re gonna be fine! Come on girl, perk up!” Swifty said flopping down beside her and giving her a squeeze.

“Really Lyric, what’s the matter, you’ve stood up in front of people before, what’s the difference?” Marshall asked as he sat on the other side of Regina.

“Those were debates, I just stood up and talked about stuff, this is, way different, this is…insane! What the hell was I thinking I can’t do this!” Regina popped off the couch and began to pace. Nine steps towards the door and nine steps back. Marshall and Swifty watched Regina pace for a couple minutes then both got up. One at each end point of her pacing.

“Regina, you need to calm down.” Marshall said as she walked towards him.

“I can’t calm down, I’m going to break out into hives in a minute,” Regina replied, her eyes wide as she wrung her hands.

“Reggie, you are going to,” Kuniva started as she paced back in his direction.

“Kill, I know, I’m sorry, but right now, I’m not in a murdering kind of mood.” Regina replied and turned to pace the other nine steps.

“What is it that’s bothering you Lyric, you’ve been in rehearsals all friggen summer, you’ve free flowed, you’ve recorded, what is the big deal now?” Marshall looked at her seriously.

“Lot more people. I only have like, what, three minutes to make my point? And all my research, all my notes, all the stuff I do, doesn’t mean shit if I can’t get the guts to go out there and actually do it,” Regina replied.

“You’re getting yourself worked up over nothing,” Kon added as he stood up.

“I can’t do this, I really can’t, I’ll forget the words, or I’ll just fucking freeze up, I’m gonna fucking choke,” Regina began to ramble.

“Yo Reggie, take a pill or something, you’re gonna freak out on us or something,” Kuniva said as he looked over at Regina.

“I can’t stay in here for three hours, I’m gonna go insane, I’m gonna go for a walk or something,” Regina said going for the door. Marshall grabbed her wrist and asked,

“You not going AWOL on us are you?” he asked.

“Of course I am, not get off me, I’ll be back in a few minutes,” she snapped and ripped her hand away as she slammed the door behind her.